Since, therefore, the Head and the members are viewed in the same position of infinite favor and acceptance before God, it is perfectly evident that all the members stand in one acceptance, in one salvation, in one life, in one righteousness. There are no degrees in justification. The babe in Christ stands in the same justification as the saint of fifty years' experience. The one is in Christ, and so is the other; and this, as it is the only ground of life, so it is the only ground of justification. There are not two kinds of life, neither are there two kinds of justification. No doubt there are various measures of enjoyment of this justification--various degrees in the knowledge of its fullness and extent--various degrees in the ability to exhibit its power upon the heart and life; and these things are frequently confounded with the justification itself, which, as being divine, is necessarily eternal, absolute, unvarying, entirely unaffected by the fluctuations of human feeling and experience. But, further, there is no such thing as progress in justification. The believer is not more justified today than he was yesterday; nor will he be more justified to-morrow than he is to-day; yea, a soul who is "in Christ Jesus" is as completely justified as if he were before the throne. He is "_complete_ in Christ;" he is "_as_" Christ. He is, on Christ's own authority, "clean every whit." (John xiii. 10.) What more could he be at this side of the glory? He may [and if he walks in the Spirit, will] make progress in the sense and enjoyment of this glorious reality; but, as to the thing itself, the moment he, by the power of the Holy Ghost, believed the gospel, he passed from a positive state of unrighteousness and condemnation into a positive state of righteousness and acceptance. All this is based upon the divine perfectness of Christ's work; just as, in the case of the burnt-offering, the worshiper's acceptance was based upon the acceptableness of his offering. It was not a question of what he was, but simply of what the sacrifice was.--"_It_ shall be accepted _for him_, to make atonement for him."