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The second subject I would like to treat from the days of Noah is that he found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8), and by the faith which God graciously worked in his heart, he prepared an ark to the saving of his house (Heb. 11:7).
What a wonder for Noah to find grace in the eyes of Jehovah as he stood in the midst of a wicked world doomed to utter destruction in the flood! How amazing to see revealed in the eyes of God what lay deep inside God's heart toward him, an attitude of pure saving grace! “It would be difficult indeed,” writes Homer C. Hoeksema, “to conceive of five words concerning Noah - or any other man - and his place in history more important than those words. There is no more blessed and no more significant statement to be made, not only about a man’s personal history, but also about his place in history as a whole, than that he found grace in the eyes of Jehovah!” (p. 291, Unfolding Covenant History, Volume 1).
“Why me?” Noah must have thought, “I too am a sinner, and by nature no better than all these ungodly men around me, because I too think evil thoughts and have evil desires in my heart! Why me, O Lord?” The Arminian would answer him, “Noah, the reason is that you have made yourself to differ from those evil men around you by the superior use of your free will! God offered his grace to you, and you accepted it, unlike them! Moses will write about you that he was “a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). That means you made yourself better than others by freely choosing to follow God. That is why God shines the light of his countenance upon you! But Noah would have been repulsed by that answer.
The Reformed would answer him, “Noah, the reason God smiles upon you is that before the foundation of the world, God determined in his decree of election, according to the sovereign good pleasure of his will, to bestow the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus upon a certain number of persons who by nature are neither better nor more deserving than the rest of the sinful human race (Canons of Dordt I.7). You are one of those persons whom God has graciously determined to elect in Christ. That is why you find grace in his eyes. That is why you have faith in your heart, why you believe in God and hope for the promised Messiah. That is why you experience that you are righteous before God by faith in that coming Messiah, and by faith alone. That is why you walk with God in thankful joy and strive to live a life of justice and integrity in the midst of this wicked generation. The reason is that God elected you out of mere grace and according to his free good pleasure. Give all glory to God, Noah!”
The pure and mighty grace of God explains why God warned Noah of things not seen as yet, the looming flood that would soon destroy all flesh on the face of the earth. It explains why God instructed Noah to build a huge ark of gopher wood as the vessel in which he would save him and his family through the flood. It explains the fact that Noah believed this mind-boggling divine revelation concerning phenomena he had never seen before. It explains the fact that Noah did not sit down and wait passively for God to build that ark, but set himself to the massive task and labored faithfully for 120 years until it was finished. Grace motivated him to build because he knew that he didn’t have to build in order to obtain that grace, but he already had it and would never lose it! What soul-liberating and heart-motivating gratitude that gives to the believer! Grace empowered him to build because if left to himself he could not have cut a single gopher tree or set one board upon another, but God was perpetually there in his heart working and preserving his faith.
Homer Hoeksema: “When God establishes his covenant with Noah, the result is not that Noah becomes what we would call an antinomian, or a passive “stock and block.” He does not assume the attitude, ‘If God does it all, then I can sit down and do nothing but wait until the flood comes.’ On the contrary, Noah becomes of God’s party… Through the grace of the covenant God, Noah and his family are God’s people… And they have a calling that follows from the very fact that they are God’s covenant people, a calling that they can fulfill only as his covenant people: the calling to manifest themselves as the friend-servants of God in the midst of a world that lies in darkness. So Noah must be busy in the work of the Lord, the work of faith…” (p. 306, UCH, Vol. 1).
May the sweet taste of God’s amazing grace and the light of his ever smiling face motivate and strengthen us to build our ark by faith, to strive to live the Christian life, to build families, to maintain schools, to send missionaries, and to abound in all the work of the Lord.
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Many parents would agree that it would be a great thing to teach our children the various catechisms that expound the great truths of biblical doctrine. But then when we go to approach that task, it almost seems overwhelming. There are so many questions and answers to teach/learn. The language is often antiquated and words and phrases are unfamiliar to children today. Where do we even begin such a noble, but seemingly impossible task? Well, like eating an elephant, you need to start with one bite at a time.
In her book, I Belong, Joyce Holstege takes the smallest incremental steps to teach your child the Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 1. That’s it. A whole book – 50 pages – for one catechism question and answer. You can be assured, though, by the time you finish this book with your child, he or she will be able to recite the question and answer and explain what it means. How does she do it?
Holstege first presents the question (What is thy only comfort in life and death?) with its rather lengthy answer at the beginning of the book with a note to the parents. She encourages parents to work through this book one phrase at a time and only one phrase per week. Then, starting with the question, she restates it in simpler words and then provides an entire page explaining what it means in language that is simple and filled with examples and analogies that a child age 4-7 would understand. She continues the rest of the book by taking the very briefest of phrases, like “That I with body” or “both in life” or “henceforth to live with him” and she applies that same formula: rephrase and explain. She completes each page with a verse that fits very nicely with the concept being presented. As she works her way through this catechism question in 23 lessons, she clearly presents the character of God, our lost condition, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the hope of salvation. Spending this kind of focused time on a single catechism question will ensure that it is internalized by your child. There are 23 verses s/he can memorize along the way and, by the end, have a solid knowledge base of doctrine.
I am very impressed with this book. Holstege clearly put a great deal of thought and study into presenting this material to young children. I am hopeful that she will make this into a series that explores many more, if not all, of the Heidelberg Catechism questions.
Kristin Stiles is a home-school mom, a Sunday School teacher, and helps lead the “Young, Reading, & Reformed” children’s ministry at Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia, PA.
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A review on The Church's Hope: The Reformed Doctrine of the End Vol 2, The Coming of Christ
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The Coming of Christ, the second volume of The Church’s Hope: the Reformed Doctrine of the End, completes Professor David Engelsma’s thorough treatment and development of Reformed eschatology. Having devoted his first volume to the necessary task of clearing the ground of persistent millennial errors, the author now proceeds in eleven chapters to elucidate and expound the Bible’s main teachings concerning the last days, the end of this present age, and the inauguration of the age to come.
The first half of the book occupies itself with a study of the precursory signs revealed primarily in Matthew 24. The precursory signs are the “forerunners” of the coming Christ. These signs consist of certain biblically designated occurrences in nature, in the nations of the world, and in the church, which occurrences indicate that Jesus Christ is coming, and coming quickly, just as He promised. These signs, like birth pangs of an expectant mother, increase in both frequency and intensity as the Day of Christ draws nearer. The author takes the reader through each sign revealed in Scripture, not only explaining them individually, but bringing out their interrelation with one another. For example, the author highlights how the outstanding sign, the sign of the preaching of the gospel, cutting as it does like double edge sword, is in fact one of the driving factors behind the increasing prevalence of apostasy and the eventual rise of Antichrist Himself. The author, in good biblical and Reformed fashion, sets forth the sovereignty of God over the end and all things pertaining to it. He sheds light on the comfort and hope that eschatology, rightly understood, brings to the faithful believer and church. The white horse of the gospel goes forth conquering and unconquered. The conquering Christ comes quickly, and His salvation is with Him. Believers are more than conquerors through Him that loved them. Even as the days grow darker—and we see it all around us—the Church’s hope shines no less brightly, indeed, more brightly!
The second half of the book focuses on the rise of Antichrist and his swift downfall at the Second Coming of Christ. Just as Scripture itself tends toward the final consummation of all things on the day of Christ’s second coming, so too this book builds up this ultimate hope of the church: the return of her Lord. The reader is given a sober description of Antichrist, who he will be, how he will rise, what power he shall wield, what short-lived kingdom he shall build, the part the false church will play, and the tribulation he shall bring upon the church. The fullness of Scripture’s teaching on the subject is here explained. The reader who is interested in gaining a better understanding of difficult eschatological passages of Scripture, such as in Daniel and Revelation, will be well rewarded by reading this work.
The book’s final chapters lead the reader through the coming triumph of Christ the King and His bride the Church. The great event toward which all history inexorably moves is the Second Coming of Christ, or Parousia. Upon the completion of His work of gathering the elect from the nations, the Lord Jesus will come again on the clouds of glory. His coming will be a real, visible coming, which every eye shall see. Whereas His first advent was marked by lowliness and meekness, Christ’s Second Coming will be marked by power and majesty. His first advent was for the purpose of humbling Himself unto death to redeem His people. His Second Coming will be for the purpose of judgment and the final vindication of the kingdom and cause of Christ. After explaining the Bible’s teaching on the Parousia, the book concludes with the last great works Jesus Christ shall perform after His Second Coming. These works are the general resurrection of the dead, the final judgment of all moral-rational creatures, and the inauguration of the eternal state, hell for the reprobate wicked, eternal life in the new creation for the elect. The last pages are filled with the Church’s hope fulfilled. The glory God has prepared for those who love Him!
This volume is excellent. There are many points to recommend this book to the Christian reader. I limit myself to a few prominent things that stood out to this reviewer.
First, the book is exegetically grounded and interpretively sound. This was an outstanding characteristic of the first volume, and it is happily carried through in the second. The author draws eschatology from the Bible and develops it in harmony with the whole of Scripture and line with the Reformed Creeds. The author consistently supports his assertions with ample and appropriate scriptural proof. The interpretive principle that Scripture interprets Scripture is faithfully followed in the exposition of difficult passages. The outcome is a theological work of uncompromising fidelity to the Word of God. That is the highest praise that can be given to a work of theology. The reader may be assured that his understanding of the truth of God’s Word will be enriched by reading this volume.
Second, this book is written with the sincere earnestness of a pastor who cares for Christ’s sheep. The book explains eschatology with lucid brevity and simplicity. The author does not forget his audience. He is writing for the believer. His concerns are first of all for the believer’s growth in understanding and the believer’s spiritual edification. Eschatology is no mere academic matter, but is a matter of the utmost relevance to the Christian life here and now. The author impresses this reality upon the reader. The Bible’s teaching on the End is truth in light of which the church must live right now. It is truth that should define the character of life here and now. In the exposition of doctrine the practical application is not forgotten. Through the printed page, the author teaches, warns, exhorts, and comforts as a faithful pastor who loves God’s people.
Third, this volume, like the first, never loses sight of its overall theme: the Church’s hope. The undercurrent the reader feels in each chapter is hope. Even as the reader is led through the Bible’s unsettling description of Antichrist and the dreadful events surrounding him, hope remains the keynote. The hope of the Church is hope that maketh not ashamed.
In sum, Professor Engelsma’s second volume, the Coming of Christ, is highly recommended. The Christian reader who wants his understanding of the end times to be shaped and informed by the Word of God, rather than the imaginations of men, will find this book to be exactly what he is looking for.
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“The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose… There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:2, 4).
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In the congregation the Lord has called me to serve, Wingham Protestant Reformed Church, I have been preaching a series through the opening chapters of Genesis entitled “In the Beginning.” When I was asked to write for this blog, after considering various topics, I decided to make use of my recent studies in Genesis and focus on a few relevant subjects from the days of Noah. So off we go…
The first subject I wish to treat is intermarriage. Always a timely topic, and how much more so as we move farther into the last days? In the centuries before the flood, the intermarriage of the boys of the church with the girls of the world was one of the primary causes of the apostasy which eventually diminished the covenant community to eight souls and filled the world’s cup of iniquity, making it ripe for judgment.
“The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose… There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:2, 4).
Some said these “sons of God” were fallen angels who lusted after the good-looking “daughters of men” and somehow took physical form so they could have sexual intercourse with them. The offspring of those demonic-human relations were the “giants” or “nephilim,” a supposedly superhuman race of towering demon-human creatures. God cast those lustful demons into “chains of darkness” (II Peter 2:4) and sent the flood partly to wipe out the fearful nephilim. But that theory is sheer speculation and utter nonsense.
The sober and correct interpretation is that the sons of God were the boys of the church, the sons of believers in the line of Seth. The daughters of men were the girls of the world, the daughters of unbelievers from the line of Cain. The boys of the church looked at the girls of the world and fixated on their beauty, their physical form and smooth lips, their seductive dress and loose morals. They didn’t care that those young women had been taught a worldview of proud humanism or that they danced with the devil. They lusted after their beauty in their hearts. They ignored the daughters of God with whom they had grown up in the covenant community, who like them had been taught the faith of their fathers and whose mothers had taught them that the price of a virtuous woman is “far above rubies” and “a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Prov. 31:10, 30).
The subtle and wily serpent cast the fiery darts of sensuality and sexuality at the boys of the church and led them astray into the evil of intermarriage. The sons of God manifested the carnality of their hearts and lack of love for God when they took for themselves wives of all which they chose. They unequally yoked themselves to unbelieving women in marriage, and the results were not good. Those women drew their hearts away from the Lord, away from the church. The homes of those marriages were characterized by godlessness. They brought forth children who were giants of iniquity and pride, giants of violence and greed. As this went on year after year, decade after decade, the darkness spread throughout human society, and the church diminished to eight souls.
“As the days of Noe (Noah) were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:37-39).
Here in Wingham, we have been reading and discussing the book Dating Differently by Rev. Josh Engelsma, published by the RFPA, with our single young people and young adults. I have been very pleased with the excellent attendance and hearty discussions we have been having. Let me use this blog post to recommend the book and conclude this post with a couple quotes from it:
“In worldly dating, the main interest is sex… After a couple has been exclusive for a while, they are encouraged to live together… The world’s view of dating is essentially lawlessness… This attitude toward dating is spread by heavy propaganda… There is no denying that the world’s attitude toward dating has an influence upon Christian young people… The reality of this pressure and influence requires that we have our thinking rebooted and reset. Romans 12:2 says, ‘Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind’” (pp. 5-6).
“Many in the Reformed faith trace their origins to the Netherlands… A common phrase once was, ‘Twee geloven op een kussen, daar slaapt de duivel tussen’: ‘Where there are two faiths on one pillow, the devil sleeps between them there’… We must not try to be wiser than God, who clearly states in his word that we are not to date and marry an unbeliever… Marriage is not a mission field. Dating is not evangelism. We may not date an unbeliever” (pp. 53-54).
I recommend you get this book into the hands of the young people who are near and dear to you and pray that they will take to heart God’s will that they date and marry only in the Lord.
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"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Acts 17:11
Two things Scripture tells us about the Bereans’ reception of the Word: first it was “with all readiness of mind” and; second, the Bereans received it only because it agreed with the Scriptures, which they searched daily.
First, “they received the word with all readiness of mind” (v. 11). The phrase “readiness of mind” is with eagerness, willingness, and even passion. The Bereans were very keen, very eager, and very enthusiastic to hear. The Bereans were thrilled to find a man sent from God to explain the Scriptures to them; they readily received Paul’s message as from God. Only very unwillingly, therefore, would the Bereans have missed a service at the synagogue. They had been regular, enthusiastic listeners before Paul arrived; and their zeal was only doubled when they heard Paul’s message. The Bereans were the kind of people who said on the Sabbath: “Quick: let’s get ready! Paul is going to explain the Scriptures to us!” They eagerly prepared for the preaching and looked forward to it.
Specifically, the Bereans were keen to hear, listen to, and understand Paul’s teaching concerning the Messiah (Jesus). They eagerly looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, and they were excited to hear a man who could teach them about him from the Old Testament. They were keen to know as much about this Jesus as Paul could tell them. They wanted to know who this Messiah was, what salvation he had come to bring, and how the cross and resurrection fit into God’s plan for his people. Unlike the Thessalonians the Bereans did not dismiss the gospel out of hand: they heard Paul, they considered what he said, and finally they believed.
Do you receive the Word with readiness of mind—with all readiness of mind? Do you receive it with eagerness, willingness, passion, and zeal? If you do, then you are like the Bereans. The Bereans received the Word, as it should be received, because it is God’s Word. They did not despise it, or criticize it; they did not mock it or show disdain. They were not indifferent to it, but they submitted to it and they obeyed it. They embraced the Word not as something intellectually stimulating, but as authoritative: as authoritative as the Old Testament Scriptures, as we shall see. Therefore, the Bereans believed the Word, they lived according to it, and the Word changed them: if Jesus was the Messiah who suffered, died, and rose again, as Paul proved, then they believed in this Messiah and turned from sin.
Again, I ask—is that our response to the Word of God? On Sunday morning—or even on Saturday evening—do we prepare to hear the Word, so that we can receive it with all readiness of mind? Do we pray on Sunday morning before we come to worship: “Father, give me readiness of mind to receive thy Word” and “Father, give our pastor readiness of mind to preach thy Word so that we hear thy Word through thy servant”? Is that readiness of mind reflected in your attitude to the Word at home: do you come with all readiness of mind to personal and family devotions? Do you—as much as you are able—come with all readiness of mind to the weekly Bible studies? Do your children come with all readiness of mind—and with ample preparation too—to the catechism classes? That is the mark of a faithful church: the minister and the members receive the Word with readiness of mind, with all readiness of mind. Then you are Bereans.
But there is a second thing—perhaps even more famous—for which the Bereans are known: their ready reception of the Word was not gullibility, but it urged them to a serious search of the Scriptures. They tested Paul’s message by the Scriptures. We need to be careful to understand what the Bereans were doing here. The Bereans were not skeptics, for they were eager: they received the Word with all readiness of mind. Certainly, they had no skepticism about the inspired Scriptures. They believed that the books of Genesis through Malachi were the Word of God. They did not search the Scriptures, whether the Scriptures were true. They knew—they believed and were confident—that the Scriptures were true. The “new thing” that they had to check was Paul’s claim from the Scriptures that Jesus of Nazareth, the one who suffered, died, and rose, was the Christ. That was new revelation, if you will—they had not heard that before.
The Bereans’ readiness of mind compelled them to search the Scriptures. They were not satisfied simply to take Paul’s word for it: indeed, he claimed (as an apostle) divine authority, but they needed to test his message. In addition, they were not satisfied simply to hear one or two sermons on the Sabbath: they wanted to know more—much more—and so they went to the source, which was the source of Paul’s preaching: the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, they searched the Scriptures daily. Every day they examined the sacred writings, poring over the law, the prophets, the psalms, and the writings, to discover for themselves what the Scriptures taught. Notice that they searched the Scriptures: they did not search the writings of the rabbis or the traditions of the Jewish fathers; for them the Scriptures had authority.
This was not an unhealthy skepticism, but faithfulness to the truth. Consider what an undertaking this was for the Bereans. Private ownership of the Scriptures was rare because the copying of scrolls was a slow, laborious, and costly process. Therefore, it was probable that there was only one copy of the Scriptures in Berea: in the synagogue. The Bereans came to the synagogue and asked permission to use one of the scrolls of the sacred writings: perhaps a group came together to study the sacred writings. Furthermore, it was difficult to search the Scriptures in that day. We open our Bibles at certain pages; we find chapters and verses. The Bereans had scrolls, which had to be unfurled at particular places, and that was not an easy thing to do. You can imagine these Bereans studying the Scriptures, looking up passages, comparing Scripture with Scripture. They compared what they found in the Holy Writings with what Paul was preaching: “whether these things concerning Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah were so.” (Could it be true—did the Messiah really have to suffer? Could it be true—did the Messiah really have to rise again from the dead? Could it be true—is Jesus, this man whom Paul preaches, the promised Messiah, Christ, and Savior?).
As I said, this was not unhealthy skepticism—they were not trying to prove Paul wrong; they were not trying to trap Paul: they were open to his message, but they were not willing to receive just any message without proper scrutiny. This behavior of the Bereans is commendable and it presupposes a number of things about the Scriptures and about all believing recipients of the Word of God.
First, this presupposes the authority of the Holy Scriptures. There are many supposed authorities in the world. For some the majority is the authority, but the Bereans were a minority: they did not determine truth by the numbers who accepted it. For some tradition is the authority, but the Bereans did not examine the writings of the rabbis and the fathers. For some family is the authority, but the Bereans did not choose the way that pleased their family. The only authority for the Bereans—and for us—is the Holy Scripture. In the context of Acts 17, the Holy Scripture was the Old Testament, but for us the Holy Scripture consists of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. Even then, the new revelation of the apostles had to be tested by the earlier authority of the Old Testament.
Paul does not complain that the Bereans examined his teaching by the Scriptures: he welcomed it; he even insisted upon it. If the apostle allowed his teachings to be subject to the authority of Scripture, every preacher today must expect—and must demand—that his teaching is tested by Scripture. Examine what your pastor preaches and test it by the Scriptures. Listen to the sermons with your Bible open and compare what he says with the Bible.
Second, this presupposes the clarity or the perspicuity of the Scriptures. The ordinary believer in Berea with the Scriptures was able to test the apostle Paul. The ordinary believer in Berea was able to understand the Scriptures. The ordinary believer can understand Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the Messiah sufficiently to know that they prophesy his death and resurrection. One does not need a degree in Greek or Hebrew or advanced studies in theology to understand the Scriptures: the simplest believer with a Bible can detect and refute false doctrine and can recognize and receive the true gospel of God’s Word.
Third, this presupposes the Reformation principle of the office of all believers. Every believer has the Holy Spirit and is a prophet, priest, and king in Jesus Christ. Therefore, every believer has the right, responsibility, and ability to read the Scriptures. Therefore, no believer may ever blindly follow an ecclesiastical authority—a priest, bishop, or pope; or a pastor or theological professor. And yet we should issue a caution: there is a difference between the listening of the Bereans and hypercritical listening. Some people come to sermons only to criticize and only to find fault. They find fault with the content, the exegesis, the homiletics, and the delivery. They do not detect false doctrine, but they don’t like the phraseology of a minister perhaps. They become carping critics of the pastor, always waiting for him to say something to which they might take offense, and they criticize the preaching in front of their children. The Bereans were not like that: they received the preaching with all readiness of mind, not with a hypercritical attitude. We need to find the correct balance.
That is hard to do because the minister is not Christ, and he never claims to be. The minister is a weak and sinful man. His sermons are not perfect. His delivery is not always good. Sometimes, he does not explain things with sufficient depth. Sometimes, he even misses the main idea of the text, and says good things, but does not identify the most important things from the text. Perhaps, you do not like his style, or you prefer another man’s style. Then there is the temptation to despise the pastor: then you go home and spend the afternoon criticizing the sermon. And you do this in front of your children, which will have disastrous consequences, for you undermine the authority of the Word of God in their minds. If you do not respect the preaching, why should they? If you despise the pastor, why should they respect their catechism teacher, since he is the same man?
Remember that there is a fine line between discernment (which is important) and hypercriticism (which is a sinful and proud attitude). Do not come to the preaching to judge it; the preaching judges you and it judges me. Even when the pastor is not a great swordsman, the Word of God is still a sword: “For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12)..
Finally, Luke gives us an inspired insight into the Bereans when he mentions their nobility. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica” (v. 11). The word “noble” means, literally, “well born” or “high born.” A nobleman is one with a noble pedigree: his parents and grandparents were members of the upper class; perhaps he has royal blood in his veins. Of course, that is not the meaning here, for the Bereans were ordinary Jews. The word “noble” also means noble in a different sense: of a noble character.
But the real meaning of “well born” in verse 11 is spiritual nobility. One is spiritually noble when his father is the king and his elder brother is the Lord. One is spiritually noble when he is an heir of God and a joint heir of Christ. In other words, these Bereans were born of a noble birth from above: they were born from heaven; they were born again; and because they were born again they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily.
Show your spiritual pedigree. Show your spiritual nobility. Show that you have been born from above. You show that by your noble reception of God’s Word.
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From the same author
]]>A book review of The Savior's Farewell: Comfort from the Upper Room
Another excellent work by author Martyn McGeown. It is not a biblical/historical narrative as it may seem since it explains an event that took place in the upper room with Jesus and his disciples the night of his arrest and subsequent death. This book is, rather, an exposition of one of the most difficult discourses of Jesus recorded for us in the gospel accounts. Few writers would tackle a detailed explanation of it. Chapters 14-16 of John’s gospel account comprise last minute instruction Jesus imparted to his disciples before he left the upper room to make his way with them to the Garden of Gethsemane. Rev. McGeown divides his book into three parts along the lines of each of the three chapters, attributing to each chapter its own particular title while at the same time blending them together to emphasize the comfort Jesus imparts to his disciples and his church.
The reader will probably not consume this book in one or two sittings. It is the type of book that must be placed on the end table next to your recliner or easy chair. At that specific time of day that we set aside to read, pick up the book and read a chapter or two. You will discover that each chapter teaches a distinct, comforting truth that will leave you eagerly anticipating the next opportunity to read further. Rev. McGeown tackles the various concepts of Scripture such as love, faith, peace (and many more) using precise yet easy to understand language. Certainly, this is something the average reader is looking for! At times a book can become so abstract that we lose the line of thought and find ourselves rereading the last several paragraphs over again. I do not believe that this will be the case with this book. At the same time the young preacher will find this an excellent commentary on these chapters of the Bible that he can use to help stimulate his preparation of a sound, biblical sermon for his congregation.
But let the book speak for itself.
A striking feature of the upper room discourse is Jesus’ instruction concerning the Person and work of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. After identifying the Spirit as our Comforter Rev. McGeown writes on pages 67 and 68,
Therefore, we know how the Comforter comforts: he comforts, strengthens, supports, consoles, and helps by bringing and applying the truth. When we are distressed and anxious, the only thing that we require is truth. We need something that corresponds to reality: we need to know about the true God and his love for us, we need to know about Jesus Christ and his perfect and finished work on the cross, and we need to know about his resurrection from the dead...
When we are sad, the Spirit, bringing the gospel, cheers our soul. When we are lonely and distressed, the Spirit, bringing the gospel, reminds us of God’s promise never to leave or forsake us. When we are suffering, the Spirit, bringing the gospel, reminds us that God’s grace is always sufficient to sustain us, and that truth does sustain us. Empty, seemingly pious platitudes do not comfort us: only the truth can do that.
In chapter 7 Rev. McGeown no longer keeps the reader in suspense as to the divinity of the Spirit. In this chapter he points out the necessity of the Comforter to be divine if he is to perform the work of comforting us. Chapter 18 explains that the Spirit is not only the third Person of the Trinity but that he was given to Christ in order to testify of Christ’s work for and in us. In chapters 21 and 22 Rev. McGeown carefully exegetes John 16:8-15 where Jesus speaks of the two-fold function of the Spirit in reproving the world while also guiding the church of Christ into the truth. If you are searching for an insightful explanation of the work of the Spirit in salvation then this book is a must read.
We are prone often times when reading the Bible for ourselves to give a cursory consideration of those passages that contain various truths we deem a little too deep for our understanding. Rev. McGeown treats the reader to simple but thorough explanations of some key concepts of Scripture. For example, the truth concerning love. The apostle John both in his epistles as well as his gospel account is known for his dissertations on love. It is not unusual then that John draws our attention to this concept in our Savior’s farewell to his disciples. This is especially true in John 15:9-13 where Jesus commands us to love one another as he has loved us. McGeown writes on page 191,
We as God’s people truly need a good dose of such love – especially in our dealings with others in the church. This is but a small quote of Rev. McGeown’s development on the concept of love. The reader can indulge in much more when he or she picks up the book for themselves.
The same is true in McGeown’s development of the concept of faith. He details for us using Jesus’ imagery of a vine and its branches the whole idea of faith as a power by which we are grafted into Christ and, as a result, the activity of faith as knowledge and confidence. He does not shy away from the truth that faith reveals itself by way of our good works. At the same time on page 143 he explains that believers look to Christ “to maintain us and support us, to produce fruit in us or to cause us to bear fruit, to make us holy, to give us grace and the Spirit, to give us peace, and for help in temptation. In short, we look to Christ for everything.” Chapter 11 was a highlight to me.
Again, the reader will find for himself or herself throughout the various chapters of this book a thorough development of such concepts as the world, temptation, tribulation, suffering, and more. As Christ addresses each of these in his farewell, Rev. McGeown refuses to slide over them without explaining them in detail.
At the same time he does not lose himself in the details of Jesus’ discourse without keeping in mind the historical context in which this instruction was given. The disciples of Jesus were confused. How could Jesus’ departure from this earth aid in the establishment of his kingdom as the Messiah? It hurt them deeply to know that he was soon to die; no, that Jesus was consciously walking in the way that led to death. Why? The instruction of these three chapters of John was specifically given by Christ to comfort his disciples and show the advantage of his departing in death. McGeown does not lose sight of thiscontext. His explanation of the various truths of this discourse in every chapter are written on a personal level bearing in mind the struggles of Jesus’ disciples.
The book is certainly a worthy read. The RFPA has succeeded again in printing literature that will stimulate the reader in his faith.
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]]>Mr. Gutenberg's Dangerous Invention
Imagine if you didn’t have a single Bible in your home. No good books to read and no good magazines. No Standard Bearer. No Beacon Lights. No Ignited by the Word.
It’s hard to imagine, but for most of the history of the church, people didn’t have Bibles in their homes. This was before computers and copy machines and printers. Each Bible had to be carefully written out, copied word by word from another Bible.
Think how long it would take to copy even one page of the Bible that way. And then another page. And then another, until you had copied the whole Bible. It would take months and months. And when you were finished, you would only add one Bible. So, a Bible was a rare and expensive thing.
In the 1440s, about seventy-five years before the Reformation, a German named Johannes Gutenberg developed an improved printing press, using movable type. He took lots of little blocks, and carved each one in the shape of a single letter. Then he arranged the blocks to create a page of writing. By rolling ink on top of the letters and pressing a sheet of paper on them, he could print a whole page in just a moment. Then he could re-ink the letters, press another sheet of paper on them, and print another page. That was so much quicker than the old way.
Other printers followed Mr. Gutenberg’s example and built their own printing presses. Some made improvements to his process. There were also improvements in paper making and in the production of ink.
Then came the day in 1517 when Martin Luther wrote his ninety-five theses against abuses of the Roman Catholic Church. He hand-printed them in Latin, hoping to begin a scholarly debate. But those theses were soon translated into the language of common Germans and printed using the process that Mr. Gutenberg had developed. Hundreds, then thousands of copies of Martin Luther’s writings made their way into the hands of people all over Germany.
That was the beginning of a great Reformation. Later, when Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, those same printers made sure that more and more people could have their own copy of the Bible to read and study.
The Roman Catholic Church was not happy with printers who dared to publish the writings of Martin Luther. And they didn’t want common people to have Bibles printed in their own language.
Printers and booksellers were arrested and even killed for distributing Reformed writings and Bible translations. And not just in Germany. In the Netherlands, a man named Jacob van Liesveldt published a Dutch translation of the Bible. As a result, he was arrested and killed. In Hungary, a bookseller was burned at the stake, his Bibles stacked around him to feed the flames.
Today, we thank God that we have Bibles in our homes. And other good books. And good magazines. But having them in our homes isn’t enough. We can only learn from them if we pick them up and read them. Like you are doing right now!
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"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Acts 17:11
There is in the Bible no Epistle to the Bereans. There are, however, two epistles to the Thessalonians. Yet, although the apostle Paul did not write an epistle to the Bereans, the Bereans are a very famous church. In fact, most Christians are very familiar with the Bereans. The Bereans are famous for their reception of the word. Therefore, if they had received a letter from the apostle, they would have read it and carefully studied it in light of the Holy Scriptures that they had. And of course they did (in due course) receive all of the apostolic letters, which we have in the New Testament as Scripture.
The Bereans are set forth by Luke, and by the Holy Spirit who inspired Luke, as an example worthy of our emulation. Be like the Bereans in your reception of the word. Do not be like the Jews of Thessalonica, many of whom rejected the word out of hand, but be like the Bereans in receiving the word with all readiness of mind. And be like the Bereans by testing the word that you hear against the only infallible standard, which is the Holy Scriptures.
Since the reception of the word by the Bereans is compared favorably with the rejection of that same word by the Thessalonians, we can identify that word from the context. The word is Paul’s message concerning the Messiah or Christ elicited from the Old Testament. The emphasis is on the preaching or teaching of the apostolic word. Luke does not say, “They received the Old Testament Scriptures,” but they received “the word” (v. 11). The “word” is the message about Jesus: Jesus is the Word and the apostolic message or the apostolic gospel centers on him. But that message was not divorced from the Old Testament Scriptures: Paul drew it out of the Old Testament Scriptures.
From Acts 17:2-3 we see the kind of biblical instruction that was rejected in Thessalonica, but received in Berea. First, Paul’s textbook (if you will) or the source of Paul’s teaching in Thessalonica, and also in Berea, was the “Scriptures.” In the context of Paul’s missionary labors, the Scriptures refer to the Old Testament Scriptures. This was the Bible that the Jews in Thessalonica and in Berea already knew. Among the Jews there was no dispute about their veracity or their authority. Paul did not seek to prove the gospel to these Jews by means of human reason, or by scientific demonstration, or by the writings of the rabbis: “he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures” (v. 2). That must also be our method. These were the same Scriptures—the law, the prophets and the psalms; or the law, the prophets, and the writings—that the Bereans searched daily.
Second, Paul did not simply read the Scriptures to the Thessalonians and then to the Bereans: he preached them; he explained them; and he applied them. This is why we have preaching in the New Testament Church: we simply follow the apostolic method; we reason from the Scriptures. The Scriptures—which in our case include the Old Testament and the New Testament Scriptures—must not simply be read, but the Scriptures must also be preached. The text of the sermon must be the Bible itself, a specific passage or a specific theme from the Bible, and that passage must be explained and applied. Luke (the human writer of the book of Acts) uses three verbs to explain Paul’s method: Paul “reasoned” (v. 2); he “opened” (v. 3); and he “alleged” (v. 3). And he did these three things from the Scriptures: he reasoned from the Scriptures; he opened the Scriptures; and he alleged from the Scriptures.
Paul reasoned (v. 2). This word is commonly used of Paul’s preaching and teaching activities in Acts. “Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him” (Acts 17:17). “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” (Acts 18:4). “And he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8). “When the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them” (Acts 20:7). The idea of “reasoning” is to discourse, argue, dispute, discuss, or debate. It was not just reading, therefore: Paul drew arguments out of the Scriptures.
Paul opened (v. 3). The word means “to open completely” or to “open wide.” The idea is not only that Paul opened the scroll, unfurling it to find the appropriate place in the Scriptures, but he also drew out or opened up the meaning of the Scriptures. This required familiarity with the Scriptures. In Paul’s day the Bible did not have chapter or verse divisions. Paul had to know where the passage was, so that he could show it to the people; or he had to quote it from memory to them. And he had to know the meaning and the significance of the passages that he read. Paul did, therefore, what had been done in Nehemiah’s day: “So they read in the book distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (Neh. 8:8). This opening the Thessalonians rejected and the Bereans received.
Paul alleged (v. 3). To “allege” is to set something before someone else. The verb is used, for example, of food: Jesus commanded his disciples to eat whatever was set before them. The idea here is to set the meaning of the Scriptures before someone, so that we could render the verb “explain,” “expound,” or “exposit.” That is what true preaching is: anyone can read the Scriptures, but a preacher explains, expounds, exposits, or sets forth the meaning of the Scriptures. For that purpose he is employed to search the Scriptures and bring out their meaning. Thus we have the basic formula for sermons taught in Reformed seminaries: state the point, explain the point, prove the point, and apply the point.
But what specifically did Paul preach—what did he reason, open, and allege—from the Scriptures? What was the content of his instruction? Answer: Jesus Christ. In verse 3 we learn what Paul’s message was from the Scriptures: “Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.” It appears that the Jews in Thessalonica had heard about Jesus of Nazareth. In verse 6 they complain, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” The message of the apostles must have been well known. The Jews had probably heard that Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified at the instigation of the Jewish leaders on the authority of Pilate in Jerusalem. If they knew that, they probably held the common Jewish view: Jesus of Nazareth was a false prophet and a blasphemer who died under God’s curse. Therefore, in order to convince the Jews Paul had to overcome their prejudice. Paul needed to prove to the Jews of Thessalonica and Berea that they were wrong about Jesus: and the only way in which he could prove that was from the Scriptures, which the Jews accepted as their authority.
Paul proved—he reasoned, he opened, and he alleged—that the Christ (the Messiah) “must needs have suffered” (v. 3). This was a stumbling block to the Jews, for they expected a political Messiah or Savior, not a suffering Savior. Moreover, a crucified Messiah was difficult for them to accept, because they knew the significance of crucifixion: a Messiah under God’s curse. Paul opened the Old Testament, pointed to passages from Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, and proved that the Messiah had to suffer and even be crucified.
Paul proved—he reasoned, he opened, and he alleged—that Christ “must needs have… risen from the dead” (v. 3). It was not possible that the Messiah should remain dead, but he must be glorified in the resurrection. Paul opened the Old Testament, pointed to passages from Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, and proved that the Messiah had to rise again from the dead.
Paul announced his conclusion: since only one person has suffered and then risen from the dead, he is the Messiah or he is the Christ: “this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ” (v. 3). This was not an intellectual exercise for Paul: he desired to prove that Jesus is the promised Messiah, so that by the grace of God they would believe and embrace Jesus Christ for salvation.
That is the basic message that our ministers preach every week and it is the message of all faithful, apostolic churches. Christ died for our sins and rose again according to the Scriptures. Jesus Christ suffered on the cross because of our sins. God punished him on the cross in our place in order to redeem us from all iniquity, God placed his curse on him so that we would be delivered from the curse of the law. And Jesus rose again: he did not stay in the tomb. In fact, Peter says, “God loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it” (Acts 2:24). Christ rose again for our justification. We preach that message from the Scriptures of the Old Testament and the New Testament: we reason, we open, we allege, and we preach and announce the gospel of salvation.
That message was by and large rejected in Thessalonica—the Thessalonian Jews detested it and dismissed it out of hand—while it was received in Berea. The unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica reacted in fury against the gospel. In verse 5 we read, “The Jews which believed not [were] moved with envy.” They were envious because they wanted salvation through obedience to the Law of Moses, which was the teaching of the rabbis and the Jewish tradition. They would not submit to salvation consisting in the forgiveness of sins by grace through faith in a crucified and resurrected Messiah. In addition, they were envious because many Greeks and Gentiles believed:. The unbelieving Jews could not tolerate salvation for Gentiles. If Gentiles must be saved, let them become Jewish proselytes. In response, the Jews raised a riot against Paul so that he had to be hurried out of the city. Yet not all the Thessalonians reacted in that way. Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica: “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard from us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). Notice: the word that the apostles preached was the Word of God and the preaching of Scripture today is the Word of God.
When Paul was run out of town, he made his way to Berea, where he did the same thing that he had done in Thessalonica: he went to the synagogue, he reasoned, he opened, and he alleged out of the Scriptures. Paul—you will notice—did not change his message or his method. He preached the same message (Jesus is the crucified and resurrected Messiah), from the same source (the Scriptures) in the same way. The difference is in the response: the Bereans, unlike the Thessalonians, received the Word.
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From the same author:
]]>Here is an overview of part 1 of the speech, the reason for doctrinal devotions.
Why do we teach children doctrine in our devotions?
- By the grace of God, little children know and love God, just as we do. They can see God in creation, but only when they are shown how to look for him there. They can learn about God, but they need to be taught from God's word to truly know him.
- But it isn't enough to teach our children about God. We need to teach them about their relationship to God. Whether our times of devotions are spent telling our children Bible stories like the story of Cain and Abel, or whether they center around Scripture verses that we teach our children to memorize (such as Ephesians 4:32, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another..."), our goal must be that we explain to them how these stories and verses fit into the whole message of the gospel of Christ.
- We need to arm our children with the truth. If we aren't teaching them, there are many, many people, organizations, and social groups who will indoctrinate them with the lie.
- We need to teach our children doctrinal truth so that when tough times come, our children will have a real comfort to hang onto. If they face the death of a loved one or other serious conflicts, they know that even then, God has a sovereign, good plan for their lives.
Be sure to watch the complete speech to hear some of Joyce's great tips about how to teach doctrine to children when they're still young.
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Promising an abundance into the kingdom
“For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly….” (2 Peter 1:11)
The key to the text is the first two words, “For so…”
“For” means “because:” it gives a reason for the earlier statements. That reason must be identified and examined. It gives a reason for a number of things. First, it gives a reason for the apostle’s assertion, “If ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” Why not—for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you…” Second, it gives a reason why we should make our calling and election sure. Why—“for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you…” Third, it gives a reason why we must add to our faith godliness, knowledge, temperance, patience, godlines, brotherly kindness, and charity. Why—“for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you…”
“So means “in this way” or “in this manner.” Perhaps the most famous verse in which the word “so” appears is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth should not perish but have everlasting life.” Many people read “so” as “so much.” “For God loved the world so much,” but the real meaning is, “For God loved the world in this way/in this manner/like this.”
The word “so” in verse 11 describes the way in which we enter the kingdom. We do not enter the kingdom as those who lack “these things.” We do not enter the kingdom as those who lack virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity—such people are blind, they cannot see afar off, and they have forgotten that they were purged from our old sins (v. 9). Instead, we enter in this manner: first, as those who, doing these things, shall never fall (v. 10); second, as those who make our calling and election sure (v. 10); third, as those in whom “these things” are present and abound (v. 8); fourth, as those who are neither barren (idle) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 8); and, fifth, as those who add to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity (vv. 5-7). “For so (in this way, in this manner) an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
The text, then, provides a further reason, or a further incentive, to the godly living described in the context. Verses 5-11 are really a unit in which the apostle exhorts us to live a certain kind of life. And he gives us reasons, incentives, promises, and even warnings to press his point home to us. Perhaps, you do not like incentives or promises of reward. If that is your opinion, you need to reconsider because the Bible is full of them. God in his wisdom knows that we need them; God in his mercy gives them to us. Wise parents give their children incentives and promises of reward too: yes, they should expect obedience; but out of love they graciously reward their children. Such parents are simply treating their children as God treats his children.
Do you think that obedience is simply spontaneous, even automatic, that it springs from us as an expression of our gratitude? It should be, but it is not. Incentives are necessary, first, because of the weakness of our flesh; second, they are necessary because of the difficulty of the way; third, they are necessary because of the opposition of the enemy. Fourth, they are given by the grace of our God. It is Reformed to speak of incentives: “The consideration of this benefit should serve as an incentive to a serious and constant practice of gratitude and good works, as appears from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the saints” (Canons 5:12). So, dear reader, when you feel like giving up, when you ask yourself, “What is the point in adding to my faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity?” then remember the incentive, “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
The Kingdom
The promise of verse 11 concerns an entrance into the kingdom of Christ. Our first task is to identify that kingdom. At its most basic the Kingdom of Jesus Christ—called here “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”—is the rule of Jesus Christ. The kingdom, then, is not so much a place/location, as it is a sphere of authority/power. The kingdom is wherever Jesus Christ rules as the king. That is how the Word of God, especially the New Testament, presents it. In the Old Testament the kingdom of God was the whole universe, and especially the nation of Israel; in the New Testament the kingdom of Jesus Christ is still the whole universe, and especially the church. But the meaning cannot be the universe. We are already in the universe, as are the wicked. The meaning also cannot be the church. We are already members of the church. An entrance into that kingdom is not the promise here.
In fact, in a certain sense we are already in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. We entered the kingdom, or the kingdom entered us, at regeneration. In Colossians 1:12-13 we read, “Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” Jesus says about the kingdom: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and “cannot enter the kingdom” (v. 5). But the text speaks of a future entrance into the kingdom of Christ; therefore, regeneration cannot be the meaning: “for so an entrance shall be ministered.”
In another sense, we are always entering the kingdom of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you.” If we are already in the kingdom—as the disciples were—and if we already have the righteousness of God in justification—as the disciples did—then there must be another sense in which we seek the kingdom/righteousness. We seek the kingdom by deliberately, consciously, and repeatedly placing ourselves under the rule of Jesus Christ; by seeking to bring our whole lives into conformity to the righteous rule of our Savior out of gratitude to him. Part of that activity in the kingdom is adding to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.
Another example of our entering the kingdom is found in Acts 14:22. We read, “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Paul and Barnabas had just witnessed the conversion of Gentiles: these people were already in the kingdom, and they were seeking the kingdom and God’s righteousness, but that does not prevent the exhortation: “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” The reference is not to regeneration: tribulation comes after regeneration and because of it. The reference is to the Christian life: do not, say Paul and Barnabas, expect an easy, carefree life, but expect opposition, trials, and painful circumstances to accompany you as you make your way to the kingdom.
The reference, then, is not to regeneration or to the Christian life lived under the rule of Jesus Christ with its tribulations, but the reference is to heaven itself: we might paraphrase, “For in this way, or in this manner, heaven shall be opened to you.”
About heaven we learn a number of things. First, heaven is the kingdom of Christ: “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 11). We do not always view heaven in those terms, and the world of the ungodly certainly does not view heaven in those terms. If you ask the world, “What is heaven?”, you will receive many answers. Some will say, “Heaven is a happy place, a place of no pain/suffering.” Others will say, “Heaven is a beautiful place of light and glory.” Still others will say, “Heaven is where my friends and family are; it is a place of never ending pleasure and fun.” But how few view heaven as “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”?
Heaven is more than a beautiful garden, rivers of living waters, a splendid city, streets of gold: it is where Jesus Christ rules perfectly and completely. Jesus Christ rules in this world too: all power in heaven/earth is his. But here Christ rules over rebels and in the hearts of imperfect believers. Imagine a place where Jesus Christ’s rule is so perfect that every citizen of that happy place is perfectly, and willingly, in submission to Jesus Christ, so that every thought, word, and deed is in perfect harmony with the will of Jesus Christ, and where nobody—whether man or angel—rebels against Jesus Christ. Imagine a place where everyone perfectly loves God and his neighbor as himself, and where there is no sin, because sin is permanently banished. That is heaven: “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
That kingdom is the “everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” That means that those who are in the kingdom are saved by the king. The kingdom was purchased by Jesus Christ for us. The king descended from his exalted throne; he took to himself our human nature; he placed himself under the law of God in order to obey it; he suffered the penalty of the law; and he shed his blood on the cross so that we might be in his kingdom. Therefore, the kingdom is not earned/merited by works, but purchased/earned/merited/obtained by Jesus Christ for us.
Yes, it is true that only believers enter the kingdom; yes, it is true that only the holy shall inherit the kingdom and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14); yes, it is true that the one who expects to enter heaven must add to his faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity; but those things do not earn/merit the heavenly kingdom. Jesus the Savior—and only he—obtains the kingdom for us. The kingdom is prepared for the elect, purchased on the cross, and given by the Holy Spirit; it is in its entirety the gift of God’s grace.
Second, heaven is everlasting: “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” “Everlasting” simply means that the kingdom of Jesus Christ never ends. It is different from every other kingdom: the kingdoms of men come to an end. Either the men die, or they are replaced; or the kingdoms themselves perish. Such has been the case throughout history: at one time, Egypt was the superpower; later, it was Babylon; then, it was Persia; later, it was Rome. Men’s kingdoms are temporary: where are the Pharaohs, where is Nebuchadnezzar, where are the Caesars? One day, Antichrist will rule, but only for a short time. Their kingdoms and their kings are not everlasting. But the kingdom of Jesus Christ lasts forever. Daniel 7:14 says, “And there was given him dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
Not only is the kingdom itself everlasting, but so is its blessedness and glory. Peter describes it in his first epistle: “An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1:4). The inheritance which awaits us (which is the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ) never spoils; moths/rust do not corrupt it; thieves do not break in to steal it; it never loses its value; it is the same perfect, pristine kingdom forever. How different that it is from the kingdoms of men! They have a heyday when they are in their prime—think of the glories of Solomon; think of the glories of the Roman Empire; think even of the glories of this nation. Earthly glory does not last, but the heavenly glory of Christ’s kingdom lasts forever. And, adds Peter in 1 Peter 2:5 we “are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” The kingdom is reserved in heaven, the kingdom is incorruptible, and we are kept for the kingdom. Do those words not encourage you to press on: do they not encourage you to add to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity? Or to ask another question from 2 Peter 3:11: “Seeing all these things—earthly things, but not the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ—shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” The answer is clear: we ought to be the kind of people who add to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity; and we ought to be the kind of people who are neither barren (idle) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; we ought to be those who are diligent to make our calling and election sure; and we certainly ought not to be blind, who do not see afar off, because we have forgotten that we have been purged from our old sins.
A Promised Entrance
Into this kingdom we are promised an entrance: “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly…” (v. 11). An entrance is the way into something. Literally, the meaning of the word that Peter uses is “the way into.” An entrance can be a path leading to a door/gate; it can refer to the door/gate itself; it can be the act/manner of entering; or it can refer to access.
To speak negatively, we need not fear that heaven’s doors will be shut in our face; or that the path to heaven will be blocked; or that we will have no access to the blessedness of the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The promise is, “An entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly.” The believer who trusts in Jesus the Savior shall have an entrance into heaven. The believer who adds to his faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity shall find heaven opened to him. The believer who makes his calling and election sure shall have access to the kingdom. The believer who is neither barren (idle) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ shall find the way to the everlasting kingdom of Jesus. The believer who is not blind or shortsighted about spiritual things, and who has not forgotten that he has been purged from his old sins shall enter glory. Not because he believes, not because he adds, not because of his activity or fruitfulness, not because of his diligence, but because of the perfect work of Jesus, who is the way to the kingdom of God.
The entrance, writes the apostle, “shall be ministered unto you” (v. 11). “Ministered” is the word that the apostle, guided by the Spirit, deliberately uses. “Ministered” is actually the same word as “add” in verse 5. “Giving all diligence, add to your faith.” Here, “An entrance shall be ministered/added unto you.” And now recall what we learned about that word “add.” The word means to supply lavishly. The word always has the idea of generosity. The word has the idea of supplying a choir or an orchestra.
This means that our entrance into the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ is by grace, by grace alone. The source of our entrance is the supply of God’s generous grace. In eternity he planned to give us the kingdom: to lavish it upon us graciously. At the cross Christ purchased the kingdom for us: he lavishes it upon us graciously. In regeneration the Spirit translates us into the kingdom graciously. And on the Last Day he will give us a gracious entrance into his kingdom. We are actually overwhelmed—or should be—by his generosity. We do not deserve to be in the kingdom of Jesus Christ: because of our sins we belong outside—forever excluded. We have no power to get there, for unless the entrance is added to us/supplied to us/lavished upon us we can never go. God supplies everything, just as a patron of the arts supplies everything for his concert, his choir, or his orchestra, so God supplies everything to us.
But Peter is not satisfied to write, “An entrance shall be ministered unto you.” The Spirit prompts him to add a word, to underline God’s grace further. That word is “abundantly;” “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly.” The word “abundantly” means “richly.” Think of a very wealthy choir director putting on a performance. He supplies everything richly. He cuts no corners; he spares no expense; he wants the best performance that he can possibly arrange. Now apply that to our entrance into the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ. When we come to heaven, we will not sneak in through the back door, but an abundant, rich entrance and welcome has been arranged for us. God, as it were, wil put out the red carpet for us, to welcome us home. That’s “abundantly.”
Try to picture that by using examples from Scripture. Think of poor Lazarus, the beggar in Jesus’ parable in Luke 16:22: “And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.” When we die, our soul will be carried to heaven by angels. That’s a rich entrance. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things: I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matt. 25:21). Entering the joy of our Lord. That’s a rich entrance. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:8-9: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing.” A crown of righteousness. That’s a rich entrance. That’s a rich entrance. “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Briefly, we return to the words, “for so,” or “so” with which the text begins—those words describe the manner of entering the kingdom. We enter into the kingdom richly or abundantly with lavish supplies of God’s grace. “So” expresses something else. It expresses what we call “in the way of.” In this way, in this manner, a rich entrance into the kingdom shall be supplied to you.
Not in the way of neglecting virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. One who walks without virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity cannot expect—and is not promised—an abundant entrance into the kingdom. Such a person who lacks these things, warns the apostle, is blind, shortsighted, and has forgotten that his sins have been purged.
Not on the basis of, or because of, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, as if by these things we earned/merited an abundant entrance into the kingdom—that would be a denial of the gospel of grace.
But in this way, in this manner, along this path—and only along this path—the abundant entrance into the kingdom is promised. In the way of is the best expression: in the way of adding virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to our faith; in the way of practicing and cultivating such graces in our lives.
So when we feel like giving up virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity; when we are tempted to the opposite vices; then we remember God’s gracious incentive. There is a gracious end, a glorious end, an abundant and rich end for us after this life: “For so, in this way, an entrance shall be ministered (or graciously supplied) unto us abundantly (or richly) into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
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“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (1 Peter 1:10)
The apostle Peter begins with faith: “like precious faith” in verse 1. This faith is the gift of God: we have obtained it (it has been allotted to us, is the idea). We have obtained it—it has been allotted to us—through the righteousness of God, which is theological shorthand for the work of Jesus Christ. By faith we are complete: we have “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (v. 3); we have “exceeding great and precious promises” (v. 4); and we are even “partakers of the divine nature,” having escaped the corruption of the world” (v. 4).
To that faith the apostle urges us to be diligent—to give all diligence—to add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity” (vv. 5-7). The idea of “add” is to supply lavishly from the supplies that we have by God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The verb is used of a patron of the arts supplying an orchestra or a choir so that it gives a beautiful performance; similarly, when we add these things to our faith we bring glory to our God. In verses 8-9 the apostle adds an incentive and a warning. The incentive is that “if these things—virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity—are in us and abound our faith will not be barren (that is, idle/lazy/unproductive) or unfruitful; but our faith will be active and fruitful to the glory of God and the welfare of the neighbor. The warning is that “he that lacketh these things—virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity—is spiritually shortsighted and suffers from forgetfulness: he has forgotten that he has been purged from his sins.
To that warning the apostle gives an alternative in v. 10: Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” The alternative to spiritual shortsightedness and forgetfulness is to make our calling and election sure.
Election and Calling
The apostle mentions two things in verse 10—two aspects of our salvation—calling and election. Although the apostle speaks of “calling and election,” we will start with election. Election is God’s act of choosing us unto everlasting salvation. The word “elect” means “to choose out for oneself” or “to select.” In election there are always options: in this case the options are people. Before God’s mind stood all the people whom he would create—from Adam all the way to the last human being who will live. Some of those people God chose, while the rest God rejected. God’s act of choosing some is election, while God’s act of rejecting the rest is reprobation.
It is important to emphasize that election is personal: God chose persons; he did not choose conditions or states of being, but persons. Canons 1:10: “Election does not consist herein that out of all possibilities and actions of men God has chosen some as a condition of salvation, but that he was pleased out of the common mass of sinners to adopt some certain persons as a peculiar people to himself.” And the text itself refers to persons: “make your calling and election sure.” “Your!” Other passages teach the same thing: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).
This election of God has certain characteristics or qualities.
First, election is eternal: God did not make this choice in time after we were created, after we had begun to do good or evil, but he set his love upon us and chose us before time began. “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:10). “Chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).
Second, election is unconditional. When we choose something or someone, we do so because of some quality in the thing/person chosen. The reason for God’s choice is not in us; it is in him: it is because of his own good pleasure. “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph. 1:5).
Third, election is in Jesus Christ: he is the elect one (God chose him to be the Head of his people) and we are chosen in him, chosen to be his people, chosen to be his church, and chosen to be his sheep. Therefore, we are given to him, and he suffers and dies for us in order to make full satisfaction for our sins.
There is, therefore, nothing surer and nothing more certain than election. Election is God’s eternal, sovereign, unconditional, unchangeable choice of his people. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom. 8:33-34).
Calling is the address of God’s voice to the heart of the elect, regenerated sinner to bring him to conscious faith. Election is God’s eternal choice; whereas calling is God’s speaking by his voice to the heart of the elect, regenerated sinner in time. Paul writes, “[God] hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:10). Elsewhere he writes, “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called” (Rom. 9:30). The purpose and grace of God are before the world began, but the calling happens in time and history, in the lifetime of the elect sinner. There was a point in time, dear reader, when you were called, a time when God addressed your heart, a time when God drew you to himself, and a time when by grace you came in faith to Jesus Christ.
In calling his people God adopts a certain order: regeneration, calling, faith. Although we are eternally God’s elect, and therefore eternally the objects of his love and favor, we are born into this world as sinners; indeed, we are conceived and born in sin and, therefore, we begin life “dead in sin.” Therefore, the first step must be regeneration. God makes us alive; then, having made us alive, he calls us: “Come,” he says, in the preaching of the gospel and “Come,” he says, as the Spirit addresses our hearts. Jesus speaks of this in John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The fruit of the calling is that we come in conscious faith to Jesus Christ. God’s election is sure. God’s calling is equally sure. God, says Paul, “quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17). And elsewhere he writes, “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom. 11:29), which means that God does not change his mind about those whom he calls.
Making Them Sure
Given that there is nothing surer or more certain than election and calling—they are rooted in the eternal good pleasure and purpose of Almighty God—we might wonder: why does the apostle write, “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” The meaning is not, “Make them sure for God,” but “Make them sure for yourself.” That, too, is why the order is calling and election. The apostle wants his readers to know that they are called and elected by God.
This means, first, that it is possible to know and that it is normal to know. In some churches, even some Reformed churches, the members do not know whether or not they are called and elected. In fact, the preaching is such that they are encouraged—even commanded—to doubt. If you ask such people they might say, “I faithfully attend church twice every Sunday, and I try to live a godly life; and I think that I believe in Jesus, but I do not know if God has really called me or if I am an elect.” There is no more miserable existence for a child of God than that: to be a child of God and not to know it; to be a child of God and to be constantly unsure and doubting it; to be a child of God and to be afraid that you are not really called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light; to be a child of God and to be afraid that you are reprobate, heading for hell, not heaven.
The preaching—and believing—of doubt is Arminianism; it is not the Reformed faith; the Canons of Dordt are opposed to a theology of doubt. “The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in diff measures, attain the assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election” (Canons 1:12). The Arminians taught, “There is in this life no fruit and no consciousness of the unchangeable election to glory, nor any certainty” (Canons 1.R.7). “Of this preservation of the elect to salvation, and of their perseverance in the faith, true believers for themselves may and do obtain assurance according to the measure of their faith” (Canons 5:10). “This assurance is not produced by any peculiar revelation contrary to, or independent of the Word of God” (Canons 5:10). The Arminians taught, “Without a special revelation we can have no certainty of future perseverance in this life,” which the Canons call “the doubts of the papist” (Canons 5:R:5). Peter says, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure,” which he could not—and would not—write if assurance of salvation were impossible.
This, too, is a personal matter: “Make your calling and election sure.” The only person’s calling and election you can make sure is yours. The apostle does not write to the pastor or the elders, “Make the calling and election of the congregation sure.” Preaching and teaching will affect the congregation’s assurance, but the officebearers cannot give assurance. The apostle does not write to husbands or wives, “Make the calling and election of your spouse sure.” Nor does he write to parents, “Make the calling and election of your children sure.” Nor does he write to children, “Make the calling and election of your parents, siblings, and friends, sure.” Nor does he write, “Make the calling and election of your neighbors sure.” You are to make your own calling and election sure. This is similar to Philippians 2:12: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
This, too, explains the apostle’s order: calling and election, not election and calling. The former is the order of our experience. If you start with election you will become hopelessly lost in a labyrinth. We cannot possibly ascend into the heavens to take a peek into the Lamb’s book of life to see whether our name is written there. The number and the names of the elect are known only to God; we cannot first make election sure. Instead, we start with calling: we ask, “Has God called me? Has he called me out of darkness into his marvelous light? Has he translated me from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son? Has he worked by his grace and Holy Spirit in my heart so that I believe in Jesus Christ for my salvation?” Then I know without any doubt that I am one of God’s elect. “For whom he did predestinate, them he also called” (Rom. 8:30). If he called me in time and history (in my life when I heard and responded in faith to the gospel), then he elected me in eternity; and if he elected me in eternity, he shall surely save me to the end. Thus I make my calling and election sure.
Therefore, assurance of salvation—assurance of calling and assurance of election—is not only for a special class of Christian: the elderly perhaps, who obtain assurance after many years; or the officebearers; or those who have a special experience to convince them that they are truly saved: Assurance of calling and assurance of election are gifts of God to all his children: to men, women, young people, and children. You can know—you should know, and you should make it your business to know—that you are called and elected by God.
Assurance of our calling and election is the gift of God: the only one who can convince us that we are called and elected is God himself. Yet the apostle writes, “Give diligence,” using the same word as in verse 5, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, etc. Assurance of calling and election is by faith: we know that we have been called and, therefore, chosen to salvation through believing the gospel. That, I remind you, is where the apostle begins; and no amount of diligence will assure us without faith, that is, if we do not first believe in Jesus Christ.
Remember what the apostle has said about faith in the context. In verse 1 he writes “to them which have obtained like precious faith.” In verses 2-3 he writes about “the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,” and “the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” In verse 4 he writes about “exceeding great and precious promises.” In verse 5 he commands us to “add to [our] faith” and in verse 8 he promises that we will be “neither nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Remember that knowledge of God and of Christ is faith.
Therefore, if you have faith—and if you are exercising faith; if you are trusting in Jesus Christ—you have assurance of your calling and election. The more you believe, the stronger your faith, the greater your assurance. That, too, is the testimony of the Reformed confessions. In Lord’s Day 7, Answer 21 faith “is a certain knowledge and an assured confidence.” That does not mean that every believer has the same measure/level of assurance or that every believer is equally assured at every point in his/her life. Canons 1:12 speaks of “observing in [ourselves] … the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the Word of God—such as a true faith in Christ.” Canons 5:10 says that assurance [of persevering] “springs from faith in God’s promises.” Canons 5:9 speaks of “[obtaining] assurance according to the measure of [our] faith.” and Canons 5:11 speaks of “believers [struggling] with various carnal doubts … and grievous temptations [so that] they are not always sensible of this full assurance.” Canons 5:5 even speaks of “[interrupting] the exercise of faith” by our sins, which affects assurance. In short, we can speak of the being of faith and the wellbeing of faith.
Assurance and Works
The apostle in verse 10 does not limit himself to faith—the exercise of faith. He writes, “If ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” The doing refers to the making our calling and election sure (the word “make” and “do” are the same); the “these things” refer to the “these things” in verse 8: “If these things be in you, and abound; and the “these things” in verse 9: “he that lacketh these things.” These things, then, are virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. There is, therefore, a relationship between “these things” and the assurance of our calling and election.
First, these things (we can call them good works) are not the basis of assurance. The basis/ground of our assurance is that in which we put our trust. We do not put our trust in our good works. We do not say, “My trust is in my virtue, my knowledge, my temperance, my patience, my godliness, my brotherly kindness, and my charity”—God forbid that we should think that! Our trust—our confidence—is found only in Jesus Christ, in his perfect obedience, in his lifelong sufferings, and in his redemptive death. We must never seek salvation—or the assurance of salvation—in our works.
Second, these things are not the instrument of assurance. The instrument/means of our assurance is that by which we lay hold of it, or that by which we embrace it, or that by which we appropriate it, or that by which we take it to ourselves so that we consciously enjoy/possess it. We do not embrace our salvation or the assurance of our salvation by our good works. We do not say, “I obtain Jesus Christ and his benefits by my virtue, by my knowledge, by my temperance, by my patience, by my godliness, by my brotherly kindness, and by my charity”—God forbid that we should say that! The Bible teaches that we are saved—and that we have the assurance and consciousness of our salvation—by faith. The Bible teaches that by its use of the prepositions “by/through.” “By grace are ye saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). “Being justified by faith we have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1).
Third, our good works are not the condition that we must fulfill before God grants us the gift of assurance of our calling and election. It is not this, “If you bring forth virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, then God will give you the assurance of your calling and election, so that God is waiting for you to do these things before he gives you the assurance of your calling and election.” God forbid that we should say that!
But we cannot simply say what the relationship is not; we have to do justice to the apostle’s inspired instruction: “Be diligent—there’s activity on our part—to make your calling and election sure….if ye do these things ye shall never fall.” Assurance is given and enjoyed in a certain sphere, or along a certain path; and we are required to see to it that we are walking along that path. That is what we mean by “in the way of.” A way is a path—there is a way/path/manner of life where assurance of calling and election is enjoyed. The one who enjoys assurance of his calling and election walks in obedience. In the context of this chapter the one who enjoys assurance of his calling and election is the one who adds—and who is always adding—virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to his faith.
How then do we make our calling and election sure: we make every effort to add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to our faith; and, in this way, along this path, we enjoy assurance. Canons 1:12: “[We observe in ourselves] … the infallible fruits of election… true faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc.” Canons 5:10: “This assurance… springs from… a serious and holy desire to preserve a good conscience and to perform good works.” Canons 5:13: “[We are] much more careful and solicitous to continue in the ways of the Lord, which he hath ordained that they who walk therein may maintain an assurance of persevering.” “In the way of righteousness is life and in the pathway thereof there is no death” (Prov. 12:28).
There is also a way/path/manner of life where the assurance of our calling and election is not enjoyed: that is the way/path of disobedience and sin. That is the way of verse 9: “he that lacketh these things—virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity—is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” If you have forgotten that you were purged/cleansed from your old sins, then, obviously, you do not have the assurance of your calling (for we are called out of darkness); and if you do not have the assurance of your calling, you do not have the assurance of your election. The fruit of such forgetfulness is either despair or presumption, leading a person to plunge himself into his old sins. The result is a life of vice, ignorance, recklessness/indulgence, impatience/covetousness, impiety/ungodliness, malice, envy, and hatred. Along such a path God withholds the assurance of calling and election.
The apostle presents a different path: the path/the way of adding to our faith or supplying to our faith, so that our life is a harmonious chorus of praise to God. Along that path/in that way we enjoy the assurance of our calling and election. That comes out in the opening words of the text, “Wherefore the rather…” Those words express a contrast or alternative: rather than being the spiritually short sighted and forgetful man of verse 9, obey the exhortation of verse 10. Or as opposed to the sad example of verse 9, be the diligent person of verse 10. “Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make…”
So the idea is this: not that we are always looking at our works to see if we have sufficient evidence of our calling and election; but rather this, we are always diligently adding virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to our faith. We are adding these things because we are already saved and we already enjoy assurance; and that makes us thankful, with the result that we are even more diligent in these things. It is a kind of virtuous circle: not a vicious circle, but a virtuous circle.
A believer who is diligently adding virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to his faith does not think of doubting his calling and election. Why would he—he is busy living the Christian life. Would one living the Christian life not be a Christian, and one who is a Christian not be called, and would one who is called not be an elect?
But the one who is lax in these things, or worse is cultivating the opposite vices in his life, he will begin to doubt his calling and election; he will doubt his calling and election because of God’s chastisement of him, which lead him to repentance, with the result that he returns to his first love and begins again to give diligence to making his calling and election sure.
And the one who does not take heed, but goes on in his sin, really has no right to call himself a called and elected child of God. His fall will be terrible indeed. To him the call comes—urgently—repent! “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.”
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“For if these things be in you, and abound…” (2 Peter 1:8)
#1 The promise of fruitfulness
Last time we noticed the exhortation, “Add:” “Add to your faith virtue, etc.” Verse 8 gives the reason for the admonition of verse 5. That is why it begins with the word “for” which means “because.”
Recall the context: Peter writes to those who have “obtained” faith (v. 1); literally, that faith has been allotted to us; that faith is “precious” (v. 1); that faith is equal to the faith of others in the church (“like precious faith or “equally precious faith”—v. 1); that faith makes us partakers of Jesus Christ and it is ours because of the work of Jesus Christ (“through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ”—v. 1); by that faith we have “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (v. 3); and by that faith we have “exceeding great and precious promises” (v. 4).
Recall the admonition: “add:” the meaning of “add” to supply lavishly or generously from the supplies that we have by God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The idea is to adorn or decorate our faith. The word “add” comes from the world of music: a patron of the arts will supply an orchestra or a choir with those elements necessary to give a pleasing performance. Similarly when we add “virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity” to our faith, our life is like a beautiful chorus performed to the glory of God.
The admonition of verse 5, “add,” is difficult: it requires effort to be virtuous, to have knowledge, to be temperate, patient, and godly, and to exercise brotherly kindness and charity. That is why Peter writes “Giving all diligence…” There is opposition—our sinful flesh opposes it; the devil hates it and seeks to tempt us to the opposite vices; false teachers corrupt it; and the wicked world ridicules it. The world takes advantage of and mocks the one who adds virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to his faith.
Therefore, God in his mercy grants us an incentive: an incentive is the promise of a reward as an encouragement to do our duty, especially when our duty is difficult. The reward or the incentive is always gracious: it is never merited or deserved. We do not deserve to be active and fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; we deserve to be barren and unfruitful. Indeed, we do not deserve to know Jesus Christ at all: that we do know him by faith is a gift of grace to us. But no faithful Christian wants to be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The promise of the text is this: “Ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 8). The apostle expresses it negatively. He does that in order to emphasize the positive. If I say, “You’ll not be sorry,” I mean, “You’ll be glad.” If I say, “He’s no fool,” I mean, “He’s smart.” Similarly, the apostle writes, “Ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful,” and he means, “You shall be fertile and fruitful.” Two words are used: barren and unfruitful.
The first word is barren: “ye shall [not] be barren” (v. 8). In English the word “barren” means unable to produce fruit. We speak of a barren wasteland where nothing can be planted and where nothing can be expected to grow because of the quality of the soil. “Barren” might leave the impression that, if someone does not bear fruit, he can be excused: it is not his fault that he bears no fruit; he just happens to be barren. Or perhaps it might suggest that, although we really desire to have this fruitful knowledge, and although we make every effort, we remain fruitless—we are barren. But that is not at all the idea. The word that Peter uses expresses a very different idea: the word means idle. Idle is another word for lazy or inactive. An idle person refuses to be active; he refuses to make any effort; and for that reason—his own fault—he is fruitless. He is, to use the language of Proverbs, a slothful man or a sluggard, a spiritually slothful man. Such a person is too lazy, and therefore refuses to add to his faith. He is too lazy, and therefore refuses to supply the virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity of verses 5-7. He is too lazy to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling. He is a spiritual couch potato: you know the person who lies on his couch all day eating potato chips, drinking pop, and watching TV or playing video games instead of working. Titus 1:12 says about the inhabitants of Crete: “always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.” A slow belly is a lazy glutton: he overeats and does not work. The member of the church who does not obey the admonition of verse 5 (“Giving all diligence, add to your faith”) is, spiritually speaking, a slow belly.
Let me illustrate that from the context: verse 5 says, “Giving all diligence, add to your faith.” The idle man says, “No, I won’t do that. I won’t make any effort to add: I will do the bare minimum to get by, going through the motions, to keep the elders or my parents happy, but I won’t make much effort, if any.” He might have a theological excuse for his laziness; he might say, “Well, God is sovereign; and it is his work, so if God wants me to bear fruit, well and good; he will make it happen whether I am diligent or not.”
But it takes effort to add virtue to your faith. Virtue is moral excellence and ethical integrity. It is that spiritual manliness that causes us to say “no” to sin. Our virtue is our active fighting against sin. It is much easier to yield to temptation, to take the path of least resistance, and to do what everyone else does; it is much easier to please the flesh than to please God.
It takes effort to add knowledge to virtue. God does not simply zap us by his Spirit so that we become knowledgeable of him and his truth. It requires study: it is easier to neglect God’s Word; easier to stop paying attention and to daydream in church; and easier to be lazy at school and in catechism.
It takes effort to add temperance to knowledge. Temperance by definition is hard work: temperance is self-denial and self-discipline. It is much easier to give in to our lusts and pleasures than to master our desires and passions.
It takes effort to add patience to temperance. Patience is endurance, bearing up under trials and hardships, putting up with situations that we don’t like, and being content when we don’t have what we want. It is much easier to murmur or to give up in despair than to exercise patience.
It takes effort to add godliness to patience. Godliness is reverence towards God and personal piety, which costs time and effort; often it brings hardship into our life, when we have to give up pleasures for the sake of our devotion to God; sometimes, it even leads to persecution.
It takes effort to add brotherly kindness to godliness. Loving our fellow believers is not as easy as we might think. We are sinners; they are sinners; we irritate them; and they annoy or offend us. We are selfish and so are they, and yet they are, as Psalm 16:3, “the excellent, in whom is all my delight.”
Finally, it takes effort to add charity to brotherly kindness. Seeking the good of others, while we put our needs behind theirs, is exhausting at times, especially when our efforts are often unrecognized or met with hostility. “Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil” (1 Cor. 13:4-5). That is difficult.
But, writes the apostle, “Ye shall not be barren.” Instead, you will be very active in your faith, adding to it, supplying it, fitting it out, and adorning it.
The second word is “unfruitful:” “ye shall [not] be unfruitful” (v. 8). Unfruitfulness is the obvious and inevitable result of idleness/laziness. Proverbs 20:4 says, “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore, he shall beg in harvest and have nothing.” Galatians 6:7-9 describes a principle: you reap what you sow; if you sow nothing (because you are too lazy to sow), you reap nothing. If you are barren/lazy when it comes to adding to your faith, you will be unfruitful. If you refuse to supply virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, you will be unfruitful.
Or consider the patron of the arts who wants to put on a good performance of a choir or orchestra: we saw earlier that that is the idea of the word “add.” He does not say, “Oh, I couldn’t be bothered to get singers and musicians; I couldn’t be bothered to supply them with equipment and training.” If so, he shouldn’t be surprised if there is no concert or, if there is one, the performance is a disaster, out of tune, with no harmony. A fruitless man is really a worthless man in Biblical terms. A fruitless man produces nothing of value, nothing worthwhile, nothing useful, nothing that glorifies God or helps the neighbor. Such a fruitless man will hear the dreadful words, “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground” (Luke 13:7). But the promise of the text is this, “Ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 8).
#2 Fruitful knowledge
Fruitful in what or fruitful with respect to what? The answer is fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 8). The knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is our knowledge of him. This is actually one of the great themes of Second Peter. The word “knowledge” appears six times in three short chapters. The verb “to know” appears four times. That is ten references to knowledge in this book. Here are some examples: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (1:2). “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (1:3). “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18).
That knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ consists of two main things. First, there is the truth of God and of his Son Jesus Christ, as that truth is revealed in the gospel. This is personal acquaintance with Jesus the Savior. It is the knowledge of love—to be loved by him, and to be known to be loved by him. It is in a word the knowledge of the covenant. As Reformed believers we know the covenant as a relationship of intimate fellowship with God in Jesus Christ. That knowledge takes a lifetime to learn as we study God’s Word, hear the preaching, and live in fellowship with our Savior. Second, there is the knowledge of personal salvation, which is expressed negatively in verse 9: “he hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” Fruitful knowledge belongs to one who has not forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. If we have fruitful knowledge, we know that we are sinners; we know what our sins are; we know that we have the forgiveness of sins; we know that we have been justified; we know that we have been sanctified. Without that knowledge we either were not purged from our old sins (we are hypocrites who make a vain show of being believers) or we have forgotten it (we are in a backsliding condition), so that it no longer lives in our consciousness.
This knowledge is presented as fruitful—neither barren nor unfruitful—so that, as it were, knowledge is a root from which spring fruit. This knowledge is faith. This is the emphasis of our Reformed confessions; by faith we know. The Heidelberg Catechism defines faith as “a certain knowledge and an assured confidence” (A 21). About faith the Belgic Confession says in Article 24: “Therefore it is impossible that this holy faith can be unfruitful in man (the word unfruitful here is idle, as in verse 8—“it is impossible that this holy faith can be idle in man”), for we do not speak of a vain faith, but of such a faith which is called in Scripture a faith that worketh by love, which excites man to the practice of those works which God has commanded in His Word.” An idle faith is the faith of one who refuses to add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.
Fruitful knowledge, then, is fruitful faith, or faith which is not barren (or idle) and fruitless. It is a faith which brings forth much fruit to the glory of God and for the benefit/welfare of the neighbor. If your faith is fruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, you will know Jesus Christ with the intimate knowledge of love and close personal fellowship. And you will also communicate that knowledge to others, so that by your witness they will also know Jesus Christ. A faith to which is added, or which is supplied with, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, will be a fruitful faith. On the other hand, one who lacks such things—and worse, is characterized by the opposite vices—will not be fruitful to the glory of God. In fact, such faith (which is really hypocrisy) is pernicious and harmful to the one who has it and to those around him. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness—which are completely incompatible with virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity—but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11).
Be careful not to misunderstand. The meaning is not that by practicing these virtues, you earn or merit God’s favor. The meaning is this: the more virtue you practice, the more knowledgeable you become, the more temperate you are, the more patience you develop, the godlier you are, the more brotherly kindness you demonstrate, and the more charity you practice, the more your faith will bear fruit to the glory of God and for the benefit or welfare of your neighbor. “If these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The words, “If these things be in you, and abound” and the implied warning against barrenness (idleness) and unfruitfulness are a call to activity. Verse 5 was an explicit call to activity—“Giving all diligence, add.” Verse 8 is an implicit call to activity.
Understand the exhortation. The call is not this: “Do nothing—make no effort, or make minimal effort—because these things (virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity) will be in you and abound regardless of your activity or without your activity.” The call is also not this: “Work very hard at cultivating virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity in your life because everything depends on your activity.” Instead, the call is this: “Because God has already given you all things that pertain unto life and godliness, and because you already have exceeding great and precious promises, give all diligence. And as you give all diligence, seek and rely upon God’s grace to work in you so that you add these things to your faith.” The text is similar to, although less explicit than, Philippians 2:12-13: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling [there’s our activity]: for [here’s the reason] for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Therefore, we may not say, “I cannot be virtuous; I cannot be knowledgeable; I cannot be temperate, patient, or godly; I cannot practice brotherly kindness or charity.” Yes, you can—and you must. You have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Yes, we are prone to be lazy, tempted to slack off, to do the bare minimum. That is why we need exhortations like this one.
Sometimes, I think that some pastors are deathly afraid of such texts. We are terrified that if we preach the admonitions of the Bible (such as “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, etc.), and if we add incentives and warnings, as Peter does here, we will be accused of two things. First, we are afraid that we will be accused of emphasizing man, of saying that we must do something. The emphasis, we are told, should not be on what man does or must do, but on what God does in us and through us by his grace and Holy Spirit. But those two things are not mutually exclusive: God works in us, and we do. Second, we are afraid that we will be accused of teaching conditional theology or, even worse, of teaching merit. Peter says, Add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to our faith. And then he says that we will not be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we preach and teach that, does that not mean that we merit something by our activity or that something depends on our activity?
In response, remember this: Peter had no such fears, and no preacher should be afraid of preaching what the Bible says. There are passages that are difficult to understand, but there are no verses that teach false doctrine. Peter is ready to die, and this is his last letter; and what does he do just after his initial greetings? He exhorts his readers to activity, “And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith.” Then he gives an incentive to spur them on to that activity, “For if these things (virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity) be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful.” And then he issues a warning to those who refuse to perform that activity, “But he that lacketh these things (virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, etc) is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.”
Peter has no fear that he is emphasizing man (in the context he has just explained that the source of these things is God’s grace, so that he does not need to repeat himself in verse 8); Peter is not afraid to call man to be active; Peter does not teach merit; and Peter certainly does not allow such fears to make him teach that we may be passive, idle, or lazy in the Christian life. “Be it far from either instructors or instructed to presume to tempt God in the church by separating what he of his good pleasure hath most intimately joined together. For grace is conferred by means of admonitions” (Canons 3-4:17).
Here, then, is the kind of person who has a deep root in Jesus Christ, or who is fruitful. “These things—virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity—are in him and abound.” They are in him: they belong to him, they are given to him, they are cultivated by him. They abound: they are increasing, they are overflowing, they are multiplying in him. Such a person is growing (he is far from perfect, but he is growing), he is not going backwards, and he is not standing still: he is neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing and an incentive to continue!
#3 A Fearful Warning
What if a person is without virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity? What if he lives in the opposite vices? First, there is something wrong with his eyesight: “He is blind and cannot see afar off” (v. 9). When the apostle says he cannot see afar off he uses a word from which we get our word “myopic.” Myopic means shortsighted or nearsighted. A shortsighted person can see things close up, but he cannot see things far away. A spiritually shortsighted person sees the things of this world, enjoys the pleasures of sin, and gratifies himself in the here and now, but he cannot see things that are far away: the things of the kingdom of God. He lives for the moment with little concern for the future. Literally, Peter writes, “He is blind, being myopic.” Myopia is the reason for his blindness, and in this case the blindness is his own fault. That is because myopia means to shut one’s eyes or to close one’s eyelids. He shuts his eyes, or closes his eyelids, to things that are far away, so that he is blind to them. Contrast this with 2 Corinthians 4:17-18: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” In 2 Corinthians 4 we have a man who looks at faraway things, eternal, invisible things; in 2 Peter 1:9 we have a man who closes his eyes to faraway things, so that he is blind to them.
Second, there is something wrong with his memory: “He hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (v. 9). He does not look far away—he has spiritual myopia—and he does not look backwards either; he has spiritual amnesia. He has forgotten what God has done in Jesus Christ: he has forgotten not only that he has been forgiven, but that he has been purged, or cleansed, from his old sins. If a person forgets that, he thinks that he has the right to live in such sins. But one who lives in the consciousness that he has been purged says, “I never want to return to the filth from which I was delivered,” and “I will add to my faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.” A person who suffers from amnesia of this kind could very well be a hypocrite, and not a regenerate, justified, sanctified child of God at all.
What are we to make of such a warning? The apostle moves from the second person (“If these things be in you… ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful”) to the third person (“he that lacketh these things…”). By doing that, he makes it not a promise (“you”) or an accusation (“you”), but a warning, a hypothetical situation, a possibility. May God graciously forbid that it be true of us! But its hypothetical nature does not mean that we ignore the warning. There are hypocrites in the church; there are apostates—chapter 2 speaks of them at great length. God uses warnings to prevent the thing that is warned against. God’s children take heed to the warning, while hypocrites scoff at the warning. “And as it hath pleased God, by the preaching of the gospel, to begin this work of grace in us, so he preserves, continues, and perfects it by the hearing of his Word, by meditation thereon, and by the exhortations, threatenings, and promises thereof, as well as by the use of the sacraments” (Canons 5:14).
So, dear reader, I repeat the exhortation: “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.” And here is the incentive: “You will not be barren or unfruitful (but abundantly fruitful) in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will not be a spiritual myope or amnesiac. May God graciously grant it.
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#2 The Necessary Addition
After introducing faith, then, the apostle Peter writes, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, etc.” We could translate it this way: “And for this very reason, or exactly because of this.” Exactly because our whole salvation is found in Christ, and exactly because our whole salvation is received by faith alone without faith’s works, and exactly because by faith alone God has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness, add to your faith virtue, etc.
That brings us to the exhortation: “Add to your faith.” The verb translated as “add” is rarely used in the New Testament. It always includes the idea of generosity so that to add to or supply lavishly or abundantly is a good translation. We often think of “add” in terms of increasing the size or quantity of something in order to make it bigger or larger. That is what addition is in mathematics: you add one number to another. In Matthew 6:27 Jesus asks, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?” In Acts 5:14 we read “And believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” If that were the meaning, the exhortation would be this: “Increase your faith by adding these extra components to it.” But these things are not components of faith: virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity are not components of faith. Instead, the meaning is similar to passages such as Titus 2:10: “showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” Virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity do not add anything to the doctrine of God, but they adorn it, they decorate it, and they make it beautiful in the sight of others. Thus, they bring glory to God. Similarly, when we adorn our faith with virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity, God’s glory shines. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works—we might add, that they may see your virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity—and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).
In fact, this verb “add” comes from the world of music—the world of choirs or orchestras. A wealthy person who supports music, a patron of the arts, generously supplies the needs for a musical performance: a choir concert or an orchestra. Thus he adds singers, musicians, musical instruments, and whatever else is necessary to give a great performance.
In addition, we should take note of the preposition “to” in these verses “Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, etc.” The Greek preposition that the apostle used is “in.” “In” has many meanings, but the best option here is “in connection with.” Thus a chain of virtues flows from faith: virtue in connection with faith; knowledge in connection with virtue; temperance in connection with knowledge, etc. Each of these links is necessary; none of them may be neglected. To omit one of them is like having a choir without alto, tenor, soprano, or bass; or an orchestra without woodwind, brass, strings, or percussion. Each voice and each instrument contributes to the harmony.
Perhaps, then, we can capture the meaning like this: “And for this very reason, making every effort, supply your orchestra or your choir generously or lavishy: in connection with your faith, supply virtue; and in connection with virtue, supply knowledge; and in connection with knowledge, supply temperance; and in connection with temperance, supply patience; and in connection with patience, supply godliness; and in connection with godliness, supply brotherly kindness; and in connection with brotherly kindness, supply charity.” Supply all these things generously, and your chorus/orchestra will be harmonious. Neglect them, and you will make a discordant, even obnoxious, sound.
#3 A Beautiful Chorus
Let us briefly examine the orchestra/choir. I call these things “the chorus of virtues” or “the orchestra of graces.” I call them “the chorus of virtues” because they are activities of the believer—we practice virtue; we know; we practice temperance, patience, and godliness; and we exercise brotherly kindness and charity. I call them “the orchestra of graces” because God gives them to us. God works virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity in our hearts and lives by his grace and Holy Spirit. These things are part of the “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (v. 3). These things are part of the “exceeding great and precious promises” (v. 4). These things are the fruits of faith. As God works them in our hearts and lives, we bring them forth.
First is virtue: “add to your faith virtue” (v. 5). The English word virtue comes from the Latin for man, vir. Virile means manly, strong, and energetic. But virtue is a particular kind of strength or manliness: it is moral excellence or ethical strength. A virtuous man is mighty in holiness. A virtuous man is honest, trustworthy; he is a man of integrity. A virtuous man is not like Samson—Samson was strong and physically virile, and women loved him and were attracted to him, but he was very weak in virtue. There are virtuous women, too, who are strong when faced with temptation. About Ruth Boaz said, “All the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman” (Ruth 3:11). Proverbs 12:4 says, “A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.” Are you virtuous? I am not asking if you are mighty in your studies, mighty in music, mighty in sports, or physically attractive, but are you mighty in virtue? Do you pursue moral excellence? “In connection with your faith, supply your choir or your orchestra with virtue.”
Second is knowledge: “add [to virtue] knowledge” (v. 5). Knowledge is your understanding of the truth of God’s Word. Without knowledge you cannot be virtuous, for the opposite of knowledge is ignorance and error. Ignorance and error invariably lead to wickedness and ungodliness. If you do not know God, you will not love, obey, and praise him. Do you have the knowledge of God and are you growing in that knowledge? “In connection with virtue, supply your choir or your orchestra with knowledge.”
Third is temperance: “add [to knowledge] temperance” (v. 6). Temperance is the ability to master your own desires and passions, to be self-disciplined, or self-controlled, so that you are balanced and not given to excess. Such temperance applies to bodily passions—eating, drinking, and the like—and to emotions. The opposite of temperance is to indulge your every lust and whim. A good example of temperance is 1 Corinthians 9:25: “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” If you want to excel in athletics—running, for example—you practice self-discipline and even self-denial. You get up early to run, you watch what you eat, you avoid unhealthy habits, you stick to your training schedule, and you obey your coach. “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us” (Heb. 12:2). A temperate person controls his passions so that he can better serve God: “In connection with knowledge, supply your choir or orchestra with temperance.”
Fourth is patience: “add [to temperance] patience” (v. 6). Patience is endurance, the ability by God’s grace to remain under trials and afflictions. If God gives a patient man what he does not want, or if he withholds from him what he desires, he reacts without grumbling, complaining, or giving up in despair. A patient person responds like Job, “The LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Remember this exhortation from Hebrews 10:36: “Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Are you patient, or are you irritable so that everything unpleasant in your life makes you angry and bitter? Are you the kind of person whose bad temper makes other people nervous, so that they walk on eggshells around you? “In connection with temperance, supply your choir or orchestra with patience.” A grumbling, murmuring complainer will bring a discordant sound.
Fifth is godliness: “add [to patience] godliness” (v. 6). Godliness is a reverent, worshipful, pious attitude toward God. A godly person prays, reads Scripture, and comes to public worship not because he has to, not because he is expected to, not because his parents make him come, but because he delights in God. A godly person is devoted to God, and he shows his devotion by keeping God’s commandments. A godly person is like Joseph who, when faced with temptation, cried out in horror, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). A godly person is like Mary who in the midst of the busyness of life, and in the midst of the fussing of her sister Martha, chose the better part of sitting at the feet of Jesus to commune with him (Luke 10:42). “In connection with patience, supply your choir or orchestra with godliness.”
Sixth is brotherly kindness: “add [to godliness] brotherly kindness” (v. 7). The phrase “brotherly kindness” is the one word philadelphia. Literally, philadelphia is “affection for the brother.” The brother is the fellow believer. Hebrews 13:1: “Let brotherly love continue.” 1 Peter 1:22: “Love one another with a pure heart fervently.” Do you have deep, genuine affection for your fellow believers in the church? “In connection with godliness, supply your choir/orchestra with brotherly kindness.” What a delightful sound is philadelphia!
Finally, seventh is charity: “add [to brotherly kindness] charity” (v. 7). Charity is love: love in the Bible is the determination to do good to a person. It begins with a deep affection in the heart so that we long to do good to a person, we long to make that person’s life better (by helping him, by supporting him, by showing kindness to him, and by serving, as much as we are able, his salvation), and we long to draw nigh to that person and, where possible, to establish a relationship with him. This love is not shown only to believers in the church—it begins there, in a Christian home, in a Christian church, in a Christian school—but we love our neighbors, and even our enemies. Does your life evidence charity, the love of 1 Corinthians 13? “In connection with brotherly kindness, supply your choir/orchestra with charity/love.”
What a beautiful choir or band concert it would be if the special numbers were virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity! How delightful to see our fellow church members live, work, play, and perform with virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity!
#4 Necessary Diligence
So where do these things—these components in an orchestra/choir—come from? We are called to “add” them, to supply them in connection with our faith. Where do we get the supplies, the singers, the instruments, the equipment? The answer is that God gives them to us: in fact, we have them already; we are called to exercise them or to work them out. They are included in “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (v. 3); they are included in the “exceeding great and precious promises” (v. 4); they belong to our “being partakers of the divine nature” (v. 4).
And yet, we are called to activity: “And beside this, giving all diligence.” Not no diligence or no effort; not some diligence or a little bit of effort; but all diligence—wholehearted pursuit after these things. Do not sit idly and expect God to give you virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity without any effort on your part. We are called to add these things to our faith: we are called to pursue these things, we are called to seek these things.
When a patron of the arts wants a fine performance, he makes every effort to find the best singers, the best musicians, the best instruments, and the best equipment for his choir and orchestra performance. He does not expect them to drop into his lap out of heaven while he makes no effort. And no band/orchestra performs a glorious night of music to the glory of God without countless hours of effort and practice. And If you cannot see how our effort fits with God’s grace, you do not understand what grace is: it is God’s favor, undeserved and free; and also a power which makes us active. Canons 3:17 express it beautifully: “Grace is conferred by means of admonitions—such as this admonition in 2 Peter 1:5-7—and the more readily we perform our duty (the duty here of adding virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to our faith), the more eminent usually is this blessing of God working in us, and the more directly is his work advanced, to whom alone all the glory, both of means and their saving fruit and efficacy, is forever due.”
In this way, your life will be one grand choir or orchestra performed to the glory of God.]]>__________________
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith” (2 Peter 1:5)
#1 Precious Faith
The apostle Peter in his second, and final, epistle to the churches begins with an exhortation, “Add.” “Add to your faith.” 2 Peter 1:5-11 constitute one idea, an exhortation to grow and persevere in true faith. Peter begins his epistle this way, and ends it the same way (see 2 Peter 3:17-18), for a number of reasons. First, Peter is near death and this is his final opportunity to admonish beloved believers: he speaks of his “tabernacle” (vv. 13-14) which he must soon “put off” (v. 14). Second, he understands, as every good teacher does, the need to repeat his instruction: he speaks of “putting [them] in remembrance” (vv. 13, 15). Third, as chapter two will explain at length, there is the ever present danger of false teachers and apostates in the church. The false teachers that Peter has in mind are, in fact, Antinomians, who promote ungodliness (2:10, 14, 18-20, etc.). To counter Antinomianism, the apostle reminds his readers not only of the gospel of grace, but also of the way of godliness in which sinners saved by grace are called to walk.
The apostle begins the epistle to believers by reminding them—and us—about the wonder of faith. First, faith is not natural; it is the gift of God worked in us by the Holy Spirit. That comes out in verse 1 where the apostle addresses his readers as, “them that have obtained like precious faith with us.” The word “obtained” means allotted or assigned. The idea is that God has allotted to each of his people a portion of faith as it has pleased him. Believing reader, as a member of the church you have faith; your neighbor has faith; your spouse has faith; your parents have faith; your children have faith; your siblings have faith; your friends have faith.
Second, faith is precious: “like precious faith.” The idea of “like precious” is equally precious, of the same precious quality. The faith that we have obtained, because God has allotted or assigned it to us, is as precious as the faith of the apostle Peter, or Paul, or John. Your faith is as precious as the faith of your spouse, your parents, your children, your siblings, your friends, and your neighbors in this church. Our faith is precious not because of its strength or quality (as if its preciousness were determined by how hard we believe or as if its preciousness were determined by our sincerity), but because by faith we have Jesus Christ, and he is precious (1 Peter 2:7). By faith we embrace, appropriate, and receive Jesus Christ—we believe with all other believers—and he is precious to us. The unbeliever who has not obtained this precious faith is a stranger to Jesus Christ; and, not having Jesus Christ, the unbeliever has nothing. He does not have the forgiveness of sins, or peace with God, or eternal life.
Third, we have obtained this faith—“like precious faith”—“through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 1). “The righteousness of God” is the apostle Peter’s way of making reference to the entirety of God’s work of salvation in Jesus Christ. When you see “the righteousness of God” in the New Testament, the reference is often, if not usually, to the gospel: it is usually to the truth that God has met his own perfect standard in the work of his Son, so that he has accomplished for us what we could never have accomplished for ourselves. The “righteousness of God” includes the incarnation of God’s Son (his becoming a man), the lifelong obedience of Jesus, the sufferings of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the bearing by Jesus of God’s wrath and curse in our place, and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Thus we obtained this “like precious faith” through the work of Christ: “and our Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 1). Christ purchased this faith for us; Christ purchased the Spirit for us who works this faith in our hearts; and this faith is the instrument by which we come into possession of Jesus Christ and all his benefits.
Our faith is precious indeed, the gift of God; for by that faith we obtain all the blessings of salvation in Jesus Christ which the apostle continues to describe. In verse 3 the apostle sets forth the benefits of salvation which we receive by faith. God hath “given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (v. 3). “Life” is not our life in the world (a life common to all men), but life in verse 3 is life with God and life lived unto God. Life is the eternal life of the soul which consists in knowing God in Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Things that “pertain to life” are blessings such as justification, sanctification, peace, joy, hope, and the like. “Godliness” is religious piety, our love for him manifested in our keeping of his commandments. That, too, is given to us. Things that pertain to godliness include a new heart out of which we fear and obey God; a renewed will by which we desire the good; renewed affections by which we love God; and the fruit of good works. We have, therefore, every reason to live in piety and worship of God.
In addition, God has given us promises, called “exceeding great and precious promises” (v. 4). God’s promises are his sure and certain words concerning good things to come, and since they are God’s promises they cannot fail. By these promises we become “partakers of the divine nature” (v. 4). The “divine nature” is not the divine essence or being: if we became partakers of that, we would become God, which is impossible. Partaking in the divine nature means that we are like God: we have his image (which we lost in Adam) and we reflect some of his attributes (his communicable ones—righteousness, holiness, wisdom, goodness, mercy, grace, and love). This is in contrast to what we were: we were mired in the corruption of the world; that corruption, says the apostle, is “in the world through lust” (v. 4).
Therefore, when Peter says, “Add to your faith,” he is not at all belittling our faith. He has said wonderful things about it: it is precious, we have it in common with all the other members of Christ’s church, it is allotted or assigned to us by God, it brings us into possession of great blessings, and it has promise of greater things to come.
Therefore, saving faith does not need virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly affection, and charity. These are not of the essence of faith, but they are faith’s fruits. They are necessary in their own place, but they do not belong to faith’s saving or justifying essence. In other words, while true faith bears virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly affection, and charity, these things do not save or justify us. We are not justified by faith and virtue, etc. We are justified by faith alone. Faith and virtue are not the instruments of justification. Justification is by faith alone. Salvation, and especially justification, is by faith alone because by faith alone we embrace Jesus Christ, who alone is our salvation.
What, then, does the apostle mean when he commands us to “add” to our faith? To that question we turn in the next blog post.
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Haggai 1:5. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
1:6. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; bye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Having pointed out and rebuked the sins of Judah, God now calls them to self-examination and repentance. He wishes them to see that their ways are sinful and displeasing to him by acknowledging their sin and turning from it. Though God does not explicitly call for repentance, that is what he has in mind. There is no value in considering our ways if this does not lead us to turn to ways that are pleasing to God. It is much the same with God as with an earthly father who says to his child, “Look what you’ve done.” He means, “Do you not see that you have done wrong? You must acknowledge it and turn from your wrongdoing.”
We should note too that dealing with our sins always involves a consideration of our ways and a turning from the old ways of sin. The person who considers his ways but goes on in them has not truly repented of his sins. This becomes abundantly clear in verses 7–8, where God does call Judah to new ways of obedience.
This call for repentance and conversion is addressed not only to Judah but also to us. If we have neglected the house of God, the church, or have shown a lack of care for the church as the place of God’s covenant, we too must consider our ways and turn from whatever evil we have done. We must consider our ways and see that Judah’s sins are ours and that God is speaking to us as well as to them. If we do not, we are as blind and ignorant as they were before this word of God came to them.
God enforces that call to self-examination and repentance by telling Judah that he had been punishing them for their sins, though they were unaware of it. Among the troubles they had suffered were famine, crop failure, bad weather, drought, and disease (see also 1:10–11; 2:17). These troubles had come from God as chastisement for their sin. Not all their problems, therefore, could be blamed on their enemies or on the decree of Artaxerxes. God makes sure that they see these things as his judgment and not as an excuse for forsaking the work of rebuilding.
God says that their crops had been small, so no one had enough to eat and drink or even sufficient clothing. These are the judgments that had been threatened in Deuteronomy as punishment for disobedience: poor crops in Deuteronomy 28:38, lack of food in Deuteronomy 8:10, and insufficient clothing in Deuteronomy 10:18; and God was fulfilling his own word in sending them. Under these judgments it had been as though everything they earned was put in a bag full of holes. And so it is always. Those who will not obey God cannot be and are not blessed and do not prosper.
All this raises the question concerning the relationship between obedience and material prosperity. Especially in the New Testament, is it true that those who live in obedience to God can expect material prosperity or receive it when it comes as a sign of God’s favor and blessing? That is a question that needs answering.
Material prosperity, according to scripture, can be an evidence of God’s blessing. That would be impossible to deny. In the Old Testament this was far truer than in the New Testament. God made it clear to Israel that prosperity in the land of Canaan was evidence of his good pleasure and that drought and enemies were signs of his displeasure. Even in the Old Testament, however, this was not true absolutely. The book of Job is a lengthy lesson otherwise and shows that prosperity does not equal blessing on a personal level. In the Old Testament therefore, prosperity was a sign of God’s blessing nationally, but not individually. Times of national prosperity did not mean that everyone in the nation was blessed by God, and times of trouble did not mean that every individual was under God’s curse.
What is more, there were times when God sent enemies and other troubles for reasons of his own and not because the nation as a whole was living wickedly. Had Hezekiah and Judah been unfaithful when God sent Rabshakeh and the Assyrians against them? There is no evidence that they had. The people of God, therefore, needed the prophets and the word of God to interpret their circumstances and to tell them that God was pleased or displeased with them.
What was true individually in the Old Testament continues to be true in the New. Individual prosperity or the lack of it cannot be interpreted as a sign of God’s favorable or unfavorable attitude. God can, as Psalm 73 so clearly teaches, send prosperity as a curse or send evil things for our good, so that all things work together for good to those who love God (Rom. 8:28). There is no common grace or favor or mercy of God in things, and those who think so have no explanation for God’s giving prosperity and earthly gifts to the ungodly whom he will send to hell, or for his sending cancer and other ills to those he loves.
However, we often feel that God is displeased with us when we are not living in obedience to God and when he, in those circumstances, sends trouble and grief into our lives. It is also possible that, walking in sinful ways, we have all we want and prosper in our wickedness. That is not proof of God’s blessing but of God’s setting us in slippery places (Ps. 73:18) or filling our mouths while he sends leanness in our souls (Ps. 106:15).
The only nation of God that now exists is a spiritual nation, the church. No earthly nation, not the USA, not Scotland, not the Netherlands, can claim to stand in the favored position that Israel had in the Old Testament, and even Israel in its favored position was a type and foreshadowing of the church. That the church is that favored nation is taught in 1 Peter 2:9: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
The prosperity that God gives his church when she is faithful and obedient is not crops and good weather and freedom from hunger and disease, but spiritual prosperity. The church that is being blessed by God is not necessarily the wealthiest church, but the church in which the members are enjoying all the riches of God’s grace and salvation. When the church is not prospering spiritually, when the people of God go spiritually hungry and thirsty, and when they are like the church of Laodicea, spiritually poor and blind and naked, they may certainly conclude that there is something desperately wrong and they must consider their ways.
Let us then, as members of the church, be always busy considering our ways. Let us observe the spiritual condition of the church and not be blind to the fact that God may very well be sending his judgments on the church for her unfaithfulness. Certainly we must not think that because the members of the church are prosperous in material things and because the church has many members and enough in the offerings to pay for all sorts of programs, these things are evidence of God’s blessing. The church is blessed when the members of the church are clothed in the spotless robes of Christ’s righteousness and when they have the bread of life as the food of their souls and the water of life as their refreshment.
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The Relationship Between God’s Forgiveness and Ours
What, then, is the relationship between these two acts of forgiveness: God’s forgiveness of us, and our forgiveness of others?
We begin with the negative.
Our act of forgiving the neighbor is not the ground/basis, or the reason, for God’s forgiving us. The ground is Christ’s blood, not our activity of putting away revenge, putting away bitterness, putting away resentment, and the like. In other words, our act of forgiving the neighbor does not make us worthy of God’s forgiveness. Our forgiveness of the neighbor is imperfect; it cannot make us worthy of anything. Our worthiness of being forgiven is the perfect worthiness of Jesus Christ, who shed his blood on the cross to obtain for us the forgiveness of our sins.
Our act of forgiving the neighbor is not the condition that we must fulfil in order to obtain from God the forgiveness of sins. It is true that Jesus expresses the relationship with the word “if.” “If ye forgive… your heavenly Father will also forgive” (v. 14). “If ye forgive not… neither will your Father forgive” (v. 15). The word “if” in Scripture does not necessarily indicate a condition. A condition is an activity of man on which the reception of a blessing of God depends. A condition is not necessarily an activity of man which precedes the reception of a blessing of God. God does not wait, withholding forgiveness from us, until we do something: rather, God works in us by his grace so that we forgive our neighbor from our heart. Our forgiving the neighbor is the fruit of the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit in us.
Positively, the fifth petition and the Heidelberg Catechism point to the word “as.” “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). “Even as we feel this evidence of thy grace in us, that it is our firm resolution from the heart to forgive our neighbor” (A 126). God’s grace is first: he forgives us, freely, graciously, without our works. We receive that forgiveness by faith alone, by embracing Jesus Christ with a believing heart. As a fruit of God’s grace we are thankful, and, being thankful, we forgive our neighbor. When we compare our enormous debt of guilt with our neighbor’s trifling transgression against us, we freely forgive him. It is, as the Catechism expresses it, “our firm resolution from the heart to forgive our neighbor.” The one who does not forgive his neighbor, but who lives in bitterness, anger, and resentment; the one who plots his revenge: he does not know the forgiveness of sins. He shows that he has not tasted that the Lord is gracious. This is the evidence that we have been forgiven: the testimony in our hearts that our sins have been put away: we forgive. Let us, then, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, not in order to be forgiven, but “even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us.”
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Third, forgiveness of sins does not necessarily remove the consequences of sin. If two brothers are fighting, and one injures the other, forgiveness can occur, and should occur, but the brother’s injury still remains. “I am sorry” does not heal a black eye or a broken arm. “I forgive you” does not reduce swelling or mend broken bones. Time for healing is necessary. Physical scars might even remain as a reminder of that sin, which was actually forgiven. The same applies to emotional wounds: name-calling, bullying, and abusive speech leave emotional scars. They do not go away when the aggressor says, “I am sorry” and the victim says, “I forgive you.” Perhaps it will take years for the emotional wounds to heal; perhaps the emotional scars will be lifelong. Those are the consequences of sin.
This applies especially in abusive relationships. An abusive husband might subject his wife to years of physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse: he destroys her body, he destroys her soul, he makes her feel worthless. He does the opposite of what he is called to do: to love, cherish, and nurture her. She brings his behavior to the attention of the elders: the husband, then, apologizes; he says he is “sorry.” Is that wife required to forgive him? Is she required to dismiss his sin (his sinful pattern of behavior), to remove that burden (under which she has suffered for years), and to forget that sin (to live as if it did not happen, and never to mention it again, never to bring it up again, and never to remind him of it again?)
The answer is that she is required to put away any ill will, malice, and desire for revenge; she is required to love him and seek his good; she is required to long for his love, to long that the marriage can be restored, but she is not required to place herself in danger, or to subject herself to continued abuse.
“I am sorry” on the husband’s part must be accompanied by a radical change of attitude and behavior. “I am sorry” must be the expression of genuine, heartfelt sorrow. “I am sorry” must mean, “I intend, by God’s grace, to change.” The wife, the family, and the consistory must demand that change. The wife might forgive him, but her physical and emotional scars do not vanish. The wife might forgive him, but she might never fully heal. The wife might forgive him, but she might be too frightened to live with him, and she might never again trust him. The wife might forgive him, but she might feel the trauma for a long time. Those are consequences of the husband’s sin—that is his fault. The husband must not become impatient, but he must live with those consequences. The words, “I am sorry,” do not remove the consequences of sin.
Consider David’s experience. In 2 Samuel 12:9 Nathan confronts David: “Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon” David’s response is, “I have sinned against the Lord.” This was not a general confession of guilt without specifics—Nathan had already laid out David’s sin in considerable detail, and David did not contradict one word. Nathan’s speech awakened David’s conscience, and pierced David’s heart, so that he sorrowed over his sin, repented, and turned from it. David’s response is not, “It was a misunderstanding,” or “I meant well,” or “Bathsheba is to blame—she asked for it.” David does not make any excuses, he does not attempt to hide or deny his sin, he does not lash out in anger against the prophet, he does not make a partial confession, or bemoan himself because he was caught: he simply says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” As proof of this, we find his full and frank confession in Psalm 51: “I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and clear when thou judgest” (vv. 3-4). That is the fruit of the Spirit’s work in David’s heart.
When David confessed his sin, and repented of it—and not before; see Psalm 32:3-5—God forgave him freely and graciously.
Nevertheless, consequences remained. David’s sin, although it was pardoned, ruined his family: “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou hast despised me… Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house… The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit because by this thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die” (2 Sam. 12:10, 11, 13-14). Sexual violence, murder, rebellion, death: these were the bitter fruit of David’s sin in his own household. When we forgive others, the bitter fruit of sin does not necessarily disappear. However, we should not inflict miserable consequences upon others. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says God.
Fourth, forgiveness of sins does not exclude justice. Forgiveness of sins is just and must have a just basis, which is the perfect righteousness, the lifelong obedience, and the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. God does not forgive sins without the satisfaction of his justice. God’s justice is satisfied at the cross. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). But there is also criminal justice: if someone commits a sin against you, which is also a crime, forgiveness does not require you to cover the crime up. Love covers a multitude of sins, but love does not cover a multitude of crimes. In some cases, a cover-up of a crime is itself a crime. It is not vindictive, unloving, or unforgiving, to report a crime to the authorities for them to investigate it, and, if necessary, punish it. Justice must be served. You can say, “I forgive you, I wish you no harm, and I have no desire for personal vengeance, but your sin against me is so serious that it must be punished, not by me, but by the proper authorities that God has ordained for that purpose.” Repentance and forgiveness do not remove the need for criminal penalties. Consistories must be aware of that: in some cases they are mandatory reporters.
Having made those qualifications, let us remember these main points. We put away our neighbor’s sins, as God has put away our sins. We remove the burden of our neighbor’s sins, not requiring him to pay, as God has removed our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. We forget our neighbor’s sins: we put them out of our mind; we do not hold them against him. We declare to him, so that he knows, “I forgive you.”
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God’s Forgiveness of Us
Forgiveness of sins is such a beautiful truth of the Word of God. Many theologians fittingly call it the chief benefit of salvation. Without it we can enjoy no other blessing of salvation. The word “forgive” in Hebrew and Greek illustrates its meaning beautifully. To forgive is to send away, to dismiss, to lift up. Sin is a heavy burden, which God then carries away, so that it no longer lies upon us to crush us. When God forgives our sins, he does not hold them against us so as to punish us for them: “Their iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 8:12). “He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (Ps. 103:10). When God forgives our sins, he does not impute them to us, so that he does not reckon them to our account, although we committed them, and he does not punish us for them.
The reason for God’s forgiveness is not that we deserve it—we certainly do not deserve it—but the reason is God’s grace, his free mercy and love, rooted in election, displayed at the cross, and proclaimed in the gospel. On the basis of the perfect righteousness, the lifelong obedience, the atoning sufferings, and accursed death of Christ Jesus our sins are forgiven, and we appropriate that forgiveness by faith alone without our good works.
Our Forgiving of the Neighbor
God’s forgiveness of us is designed to be a pattern for our forgiveness of our neighbors. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:14) is our plea in the prayer that Jesus taught us. We are debtors to God and we seek the canceling of the debt. Others are debtors to us and they seek the canceling of their debt. When we forgive others, we do what God does, but on a much lesser scale, mimicking what God has done for us: “Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Col. 3:13).
Let us apply that truth to specific examples in our lives.
In forgiving us, God lets go of our sins or he dismisses our sins. On our part, then, we refuse to harbor in our heart malice, bitterness, or a vengeful spirit against that person whom we forgive. We do not hold his sin against him. God removes the burden, taking away the obligation to pay. Similarly, we do not seize our brother by the throat, demanding, “Pay me what you owe me,” but we release him from that obligation to pay. God forgets our sin, refusing to bring it before his mind as a reason to punish us. When we forgive the brother, we do not bring up his sin to use it as a club with which to beat him. While it is impossible to forget, we refuse to dwell upon the brother’s sin.
In addition, we forgive our neighbor, as God forgives us, in the forum of our neighbor’s consciousness. We tell him, we assure him, that he is forgiven, that we have forgiven him, so that he knows. We make that declaration, “I forgive you.” In our relationships we must say, “I love you.” Since we are sinners, we also need to say, and to hear, “I forgive you.” We need to say, and to hear, that often.
Your child disobeys you, and later he comes to you, “Mom, Dad, I am sorry.” Your response is, and must always be, “I forgive you.” Your sister insults you, and later she comes to you, “I am sorry.” Your response is, and must always be, “I forgive you.” You and your brother get into a fight, and he hurts, even injures you. Later he says, “I am sorry.” Your response is, and must be, “I forgive you.” Your spouse, your husband or your wife, is impatient with you, snaps at you in anger, and hurts your feelings. Your spouse says, “I am sorry.” Your response is, and must be, “I forgive you.” A church member sins against you, and he apologizes. Your response is, and must be, “I forgive you.” The response must not be, “Do not worry about it. It does not matter. It is no big deal.” If it was important enough to confess, and if it was a sin, it is a big deal, and it does matter: you must say, with conviction, “I forgive you.” Those words, “I forgive you,” mean something: I put your sin away; I do not hold your sin against you; I will not use your sin against you; I harbor no ill-will or desire for revenge in my heart against you. I forgive you.” “I forgive you” is the only appropriate response.
Making Important Qualifications
Having said that, we need to make a few qualifications.
First, there is a relationship between forgiveness and repentance. God does not forgive impenitent sinners, those who refuse to confess and forsake their sins. Ordinarily, we are not called to forgive those who do not repent. If two brothers are fighting, it is not appropriate to say to the brother who is the aggressor, “I forgive you,” before he stops hitting you and before he says “I am sorry.” If a child is in the very act of disobedience, a parent does not say, “I forgive you.” The child should first say, “Sorry.” You do not say, “I forgive you” to your spouse before he/she stops the offensive behavior and apologizes. Luke 17:3-4: “Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.” Notice, we rebuke him, he repents, and we forgive, even seven times a day. In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asks, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” Jesus answers, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but, Until seventy times seven.” Although Jesus does not mention repentance, repentance is implied.
However, that does not mean that we simply wait passively for the brother to repent. As Jesus says, “Rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him.” We seek his repentance. We come to him in meekness, we lay before him his sin, and we call him to repent, holding out to him the promise of forgiveness. If he refuses to repent, we do not leave it there: we bring another person to witness his impenitence, and we seek his repentance again. Then if he still does not repent, we bring him to the elders, who then seek his repentance (Matt. 18:15-17). And even if he never repents, we put away, as much as we can, all bitterness from our hearts; we pray for him, and we do everything that we can to be reconciled to him. That is what God did: he came to us with the law, and he came to us in the gospel: he called us to repent, and he worked repentance in us, and he forgave our sins, and he told us that he forgave our sins so that we know and are assured of his forgiveness.
Second, while God perfectly forgives sins, we forgive sins only in a creaturely measure. Strictly speaking, only God can truly forgive sins. Our forgiveness is a dim reflection of his forgiveness of us. Forgiveness of sins is a divine activity. The Pharisees were right when they asked, “Who can forgive sins, but God only?” (Mark 2:7). They were wrong to deny Jesus’ divine right, as the Son of man, to forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins, which are committed against his commandments and against his most divine majesty. That is why, when you say, “I forgive you,” you must go with your neighbor in prayer to the cross, where our sins are blotted out. If your neighbor does not seek refuge in the blood of Christ, you might forgive him, but God does not. And God’s forgiveness is infinitely more important than your forgiveness.
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The chart below shows you how many books come with Level 1 membership and how many books come with Level 2 membership. As a thank you for signing up, leveled members also get to pick out some additional free books from our Complimentary Books Catalog.*
Level 1 Membership |
Level 2 Membership |
|
Books in membership |
4 |
8 |
Free books from the Complimentary Books Catalog* |
2 |
4 |
*Please note that the free books from the Complimentary Books Catalog are only available to those who sign up for the leveled membership program between now and October 15, 2022.
2. What’s the difference between the book club and leveled membership program?
Unlike book club members, leveled members have the option to select whichever books from the RFPA catalog they would like to purchase—four books for Level 1 members, and eight books for Level 2 members.
However, Level 1 and Level 2 members can still opt to receive books automatically: for Level 1 members, the four traditional “book club titles” that are released each year, and for Level 2 members, the four book club titles plus any books beyond these titles published during the year, including children’s books.
Another added bonus of leveled membership are magazine subscriptions: Level 1 membership includes a subscription to the Standard Bearer. Level 2 membership includes a subscription to the Standard Bearer and a subscription to Ignited by the Word.
3. How long are you offering free books to people who sign up for the leveled membership program?
Anyone who signs up for our leveled membership program before October 15, 2022 will be given the opportunity to pick out free books as a thank you for signing up.
4. As a leveled member, may I select multiple copies of one title from the Complimentary Books Catalog?
Absolutely! In fact, if you have a favorite book or books that you would like to give as a gift, this is a great way to do so. Level 1 members can choose two copies of the same title, and Level 2 members can choose up to 4 copies of the same title, OR 2 books of one title and 2 books of another title.
5. Do I get to choose which books I get as a leveled member?
Yes, you have the choice to pick which books you will receive as part of your membership. Anything in the RFPA catalog can be selected as one of your four books (Level 1) or eight books (Level 2). If you choose to pick your books, we will contact you whenever a new book comes out so that you can let us know if you would like to include it in your membership.
6. May I select multiple copies of one title from the complete catalog if I opt to choose which books I get as a leveled member?
Yes, you may select as many of one title as you would like if you decide to pick and choose your books as a leveled member.
7. Am I allowed to purchase additional books, after the books included in my leveled membership? Do I get a discounted rate on those books?
You may purchase as many additional books as you’d like. After you have received the books in your membership, you will be able to purchase any RFPA title at 35% off the retail price. You also get free shipping on every order!
8. How does my membership benefit me?
Joining the leveled membership program gives you access to sound, biblical materials that will help you grow in your knowledge of the Reformed faith and which will strengthen your trust in Jesus Christ. You will also have access to books from our complete catalog which you can use in personal evangelism or as gifts to friends and family who are building their own Reformed libraries. Another added perk to membership is that you no longer need to remember whether you paid your invoice for a new book or for your magazine subscription! Your annual payment or monthly payments for leveled membership cover the cost of your book and magazine(s).
9. I’m a book club member and I just want to keep getting all the books. How do I do that?
We recommend signing up for one of our membership levels. Level 1 members receive the four books that book club members do; Level 2 members receive all of these books, plus the four additional titles the RFPA publishes through the year, including children’s books.
10. Is my Standard Bearer subscription included in my membership?
Yes, a Standard Bearer subscription is included in the cost of both Level 1 and Level 2 memberships, and you do not have to pay a separate fee for your subscription. If you are already subscribing to the Standard Bearer, your subscription will automatically renew if you join the membership program.
11. I’m a Standard Bearer subscriber, but I want to become a leveled member. How does this work with payment?
Your Standard Bearer subscription will reset for another year when you become a leveled member.
12. I signed up for leveled membership but I haven’t been receiving an esubscription to the Standard Bearer. How do I access my esubscription?
Please contact the RFPA office (616-457-5970 or mail@rfpa.org) to begin receiving your esubscription.
13. How can I subscribe to Ignited by the Word, the RFPA’s children’s magazine?
Consider signing up for a Level 2 membership, which includes a subscription to Ignited by the Word. Alternatively, you can sign up for just a subscription to Ignited by the Word here:
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14. I’m a book club member. Do I have to switch to leveled membership?
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A new definition of condition has been coined recently, a definition which to my knowledge was never used by theologians of the Protestant Reformed Churches before. In earlier blog posts I provided abundant evidence from our literature to demonstrate what a “condition” is. The new definition is this: “A condition is any activity of man which must precede the reception of a blessing from God.” Therefore, if faith must precede justification, faith is a condition; if repentance must precede the forgiveness of sins, repentance is a condition; if prayer must precede the reception of blessings from God, prayer is a condition. These things are, according to the novel definition of condition, conditions even if they are worked in God’s children by the Holy Spirit, even if they are God-given or God-worked.
First, the fact of the matter is that faith does precede justification, repentance does precede the forgiveness of sins, and prayer does precede the reception of blessings from God. If we are afraid to say that, write that, confess that, and preach that, we are afraid of what the Bible plainly teaches. In other words, the Bible presents a certain relationship between activities of men and the blessings of God, a relationship that God himself in perfect wisdom has ordained. If we do not like that relationship, God will not change it to accommodate us. “We have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified” (Gal. 2:16), not “We were justified before we believed.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31), not “You were already saved before you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Yes, the Philippian jailor was regenerated—in that sense he was saved—but he was not saved in the sense of justified, consciously enjoying the forgiveness of sins, etc.). “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5), not “Ye shall be saved even without repentance.” “Let [the wicked] return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7), not “You have mercy and abundant pardon already, even if you do not turn from your sins.” “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8), not “You shall receive, find, and have opened to you, even if you do not ask, seek, and knock.” Could God give to the non-asker, non-seeker, and non-knocker? Yes, absolutely, and he gives us exceedingly abundantly above what we can ask or think (Eph. 3:20), but ordinarily he is pleased to give when we ask: “Ye have not, because ye ask not; ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:2b-3). “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). Or, to quote from the creeds: “God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only who with sincere desires continually ask them of him, and are thankful for them” (Heidelberg Catechism, A 116). But why multiply examples when the Word of God is so clear?
Second, as I indicated earlier, God is sovereign even with respect to our believing, our repenting, and our praying. God is not sitting in heaven fretting, “I have blessings for my people—justification, forgiveness of sins, grace, and the Holy Spirit—but I am waiting for them to believe, to repent, and to pray; and until they do, my hands are tied.” What an absurd, and utterly dishonorable, portrayal of God that would be! Whom God plans to justify he calls, and he gives to him (the elect, regenerated, called sinner) the gift of faith so that he believes and is justified. God does not leave it up to his children to decide whether to believe or not, as it pleases them. Whom God plans to forgive, he grants the gift of repentance, so that the elect, regenerated sinner changes his mind, and turns in true sorrow of heart, with hope in God’s mercy, toward the God of grace revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ. To the one whom God plans to bless with a particular blessing, he grants the gift of prayer, so that he brings the petitions that God himself has ordained, and in that way God gives the blessing that he has prepared.
God does not wait for us to do something as if his work depended on us, or as if his work were contingent on us. God does not give us the grace to believe, repent, pray, forgive our neighbor, and then leave it up to us whether we will do those things or not, which would be resistible grace. God’s grace is never resistible, ineffectual, or impotent. Instead, God has decreed to deal with us as rational, moral creatures and to bestow his gifts in a certain orderly fashion.
Take the much-debated James 4:8a: “Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you.” The grammar of the text is this: first, “Draw nigh” is in the imperative mood, which is the grammar of a command or an admonition; second, “he will draw nigh” is in the future tense, which is the grammar of a promise. Apply our understanding of Reformed theology to the text. God is always near his people, but clearly James’ readers were living sinfully and God had withdrawn from them. He calls them “sinners” and “double-minded” and calls them to “cleanse [their] hands” and “purify [their] hearts” (v. 8b). Therefore, God draws nigh to them in the preaching (or, in this case, in the inspired epistle) and commands them, “Draw nigh.” Does God then wait passively until these people stir up something in their hearts to draw near to God? Of course not. By means of the word, “Draw nigh,” he causes them by his sweetly irresistible grace to draw nigh, he causes them to believe, he causes them to repent and turn from sin, and in that way he draws nigh to them. God does not even work in their hearts by his grace and then leaves it up to them whether they will draw nigh or not, but he works irresistibly to draw them to himself, and they come. No other exegesis of the text does justice to the words that the Spirit inspires. To say that God draws nigh to us whether we draw nigh or not, is absurd. Then James had no good reason to write what he did. Rather, we believe that an exhortation such as this is a means that God uses to bring us closer to himself. Just as, when a husband says to his wife, “Come near,” in order that he might embrace her, or when a mother says to her daughter, “Come near,” in order that she might hug her, so God says to us, “Draw nigh.” The effect is that the wife comes, the child comes; and certainly, since God’s call to his elect is irresistible, the elect believer comes. That is not a condition that we must fulfill for fellowship with our God: God draws us so that we come.
Herman Hoeksema says it well: “Through the work of grace man becomes responsible in the highest sense of the word. Not, indeed, responsible for what God does, but freely responsible for the new obedience unto which he is called. Just because God works within him to will and to do of His good pleasure, he heeds the admonition to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12-13). Just because he has the glorious promises of God that He will dwell in them and walk in them and will be their God and they shall be His people, they cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1). God regenerates them, and they live. God calls them, and they come. God gives them faith, and they believe. God justifies them, and they are righteous. God sanctifies them, and they walk in a new and holy life. God preserves them, and they persevere even unto the end. And all this work of God is without condition. That is the relation between the work of God and our work, as it is expressed in Canons 3-4.12, the end of which we quote once more: ‘Whereupon the will thus renewed, is not only actuated and influenced by God, but in consequence of this influence, becomes itself active. Wherefore also, man is himself rightly said to believe and repent, by virtue of that grace received.’ By faith, through faith, and in the way of faith we are saved, but never on condition of faith” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 14 [April 15, 1950], 317-318).
In conclusion, the Protestant Reformed Churches and her sisters still reject conditions in salvation and in the covenant. We insist that faith is not a condition so that the believer makes himself to differ from the unbeliever, but it is the gift of God. We insist that grace is not wider than election, not on the mission field, and not in the covenant community, but God has grace, effectual, sovereign grace, only for his elect. We insist that God’s promise never fails because everything that God promises surely comes to pass. This is always how we have understood “conditions:” an activity of man on which salvation depends or on which it is contingent.
At the same time, we do not deny the clear word of God which teaches that God ordains certain activities of men before he grants certain blessings of salvation. To deny that is to seek to be wiser than God and to deny the explicit teaching of Holy Scripture.
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In an earlier blog post I wrote that at its most basic a condition reflects a relationship of necessity between two or more things. In English we often express such a relationship of necessity with words such as “only if,” “provided that,” “except that,” “without,” “only after,” “always before,” and the like. In this blog post I want to look at conditional grammar in God’s Word. Although the Bible never uses the word “condition” or “prerequisite,” it contains conditional sentences, that is, grammatical constructions with words such as “if,” “unless,” “except,” etc. Every seminarian remembers learning about different kinds of conditional sentences in Greek grammar class: first, second, third, and fourth class conditions.
Some conditional sentences use “if clauses” (the technical term is protasis) to state a fact. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above” (Col. 3:1) could be rendered “Since you are risen with Christ” because the “if clause” expresses what is true. Other first class conditions affirm something to be true, but only for the sake of argument: “If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised” (1 Cor. 15:16). If, for the sake of granting the premise of the adversary with whom the apostle is arguing, the dead do not rise (and they do), then, it logically follows, if the argument is correct (and it is not), that Christ also did not rise from the dead (but he did).
Those are, however, not conditions proper, and really are uncontroversial. There are many other examples of “if clauses” in the Bible which are more difficult to interpret. But, remember, conditional grammar does not a condition make! Let us look at a few examples.
“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love” (John 15:10). If that were an actual condition—and it is not—it would mean, “Your abiding in my love depends upon, or is contingent upon, your keeping of my commandments.” “If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14-15). If that were an actual condition—and it is not—it would mean, “My Father’s forgiveness of your sins depends upon, or is contingent upon, your pardoning of other men’s sins.” “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13). If that were an actual condition—and it is not—it would mean, “Your living and not dying depends upon, or is contingent upon, your mortifying the deeds of the body.” “To present you holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:22b-23). If that were an actual condition—and it is not—it would mean, “Your being presented holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight depends upon, or is contingent upon, your persevering in, and not departing from, the gospel.” Multitudes of other examples could be added, but these suffice to prove the point.
The explanation of such passages is not to deny them, to say that keeping Christ’s commandments, forgiving the neighbor, mortifying the flesh, and persevering in the truth of the gospel are not necessary—they are necessary—but to understand the relationship between these activities and the blessing of God described in the passages cited early, namely, abiding in Christ’s love, enjoying the forgiveness of sins, possessing life, and being presented holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight.
Let the reader remember that a conditional expresses a relationship of necessity between two or more things. Christ means what he says: keeping his commandments is necessary; forgiving the neighbor is necessary; mortifying the flesh is necessary; persevering in the truth is necessary. One who does not keep God’s commandments (but who lives impenitently in his sins all his days), one who refuses to forgive (but who harbors bitter resentment in his heart all his days), one who refuses to mortify the flesh (but who indulges his lusts to the full all his days), and one who does not persevere in the truth of the gospel (but who apostatizes from the truth and never returns) will not be saved—he will perish. That’s some necessity!
First, the language of “if clauses” (or conditional grammar) does not express a conditional relationship, that is, God’s giving you that depends upon, or is contingent upon, your doing this. God is not waiting for us to perform a certain activity before he gives us a certain blessing, so that God cannot act until we first act. To illustrate, Jesus is not waiting for us to keep his commandments before he allows us to experience his love; God is not waiting for us to repent before he forgives our sins; God is not waiting for us to forgive our neighbor before he forgives us; God is not waiting for us to believe before he grants us the blessing of justification; God is not waiting for us to mortify our sins before he gives us life. A god who waits for us to do something, instead of working the willing and the doing in us by the power of the Spirit (Phil. 2:12-13), is not sovereign. However, God works in such a way that we become active, so that in our experience our activity, which God works in us by his grace and Holy Spirit, precedes God’s gift. God is eternal, so that he is not affected by the progression of time or bound by time, but is infinitely exalted over time, which is but a creature. We, however, are time-bound, limited creatures: we experience and enjoy our salvation in a certain, God-ordained, temporal sequence, and God deals with us as with children. To express the God-ordained sequence in a way that is meaningful to us, God speaks to us in conditional grammar. For example, to encourage us, he promises, “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh [his sins] shall find mercy” (Prov. 28:13). We do not overanalyze his words, asking ourselves, “If I confess my sins, does that mean that God has first worked repentance in my heart?” (He has, but that is not the main point of the text). Nor do we say, “I have mercy already, even if I do not repent.” Nor do we say, “If God wants me to repent and have mercy, I will wait for him to act.” Instead, we repent, encouraged by this incentive: “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy.”
Second, the language of “if clauses” (or conditional grammar) serves to identify the recipients of the blessings of salvation. It is one thing to say, “God promises salvation to the elect,” which is undoubtedly true, but who are the elect: how can they be identified? Scripture identifies the elect as those who believe, repent, obey, walk in the light, are fruitful in good works, and persevere in faith and godliness. If you believe, you can be confident that you are one of the elect; if you repent, you can be sure that you are saved; if you walk in the light, you know sweet fellowship with the holy God; if you keep Christ’s commandments, you abide in his love. And if you do not do these things, you will not enjoy the promised blessings. Howl “conditions” all you want, but God does not change his word!
Quite simply, if you believe, repent, obey, walk in the light, are fruitful in good works, and persevere in faith and godliness, you show yourself to be one of God’s children exactly because God has worked such saving graces in you—you believe, you repent, you walk in the light, you keep God’s commandments not by virtue of your freewill, but by virtue of God’s grace given to you in regeneration and in sanctification. If God has given you the gift of faith, that faith will not remain hidden, but it will bear fruit. If, on the other hand, you remain unbelieving, impenitent, disobedient, and fruitless, you have no reason to apply the description of believers to yourself.
Third, the language of “if clauses” (or conditional grammar) serves to motivate or to warn the hearer or the reader. When we read or hear, “By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain” (1 Cor. 15:2) and “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23), we are encouraged to keep the gospel in memory, we are exhorted to continue in the faith, and we are warned against being moved away from the hope of the gospel, which encouragements, exhortation, and warnings are God’s means of preserving us, and without which God is not pleased to preserve us. At the same time, God uses such warnings, which the carnal and profane despise, to harden the reprobate in their sins and to leave them without excuse. “And as it hath pleased God, by the preaching of the gospel, to begin this work of grace in us, so He preserves, continues, and perfects it by the hearing and reading of His Word, by meditation thereon, and by the exhortations, threatenings, and promises thereof, as well as by the use of the sacraments” (Canons V:14). If we omit such exhortations and warnings—even the use of conditional grammar, when the text warrants it, which conditional grammar (although without the doctrine of conditions) should not simply be explained away but pointedly applied—we presume to “tempt God,” who “[confers grace] by means of admonitions” (Canons 3-4:17).
George M. Ophoff, another of the fathers of the Protestant Reformed Churches, gives a helpful explanation of conditional grammar. He writes, “The sole function and purpose of im [the Hebrew word for ‘if’—MMcG] in these connections is to establish conceptionally before the minds of the people of Israel the certain connection between obedience and blessing on the one hand, and disobedience and cursing, destruction on the other” (George M. Ophoff, “The ‘If’ Sentences In Deuteronomy,” Standard Bearer, volume 25, issue 18 [June 25, 1949], 423, Ophoff’s italics). Ophoff makes some interesting remarks. Writes he, mimicking in a somewhat mocking tone the god of conditions: “‘However eager I am to do thee well, my blessing thee is contingent on thy arbitrary and capricious willingness to originate faith and obedience in thee. Thy will is sovereign. Before it I must bow.’ This is again a terrible theology, isn’t it?” (ibid, 423, my italics). Ah, but what if God originates faith and obedience in his people: would the relationship between faith and obedience and the blessing of God still be conditional? Ophoff explains: “[The function of ‘if’] is to establish conceptionally connection between the faith of God’s people, their obedience and contrition of heart on the one hand and their life and salvation on the other as a connection of such a character that the two—faith and salvation—always go hand in hand with God the author of both. Mark you, with God the author of both. For, certainly, the idea is not that these callers upon the name of the Lord, these seekers after God, these wicked who forsake their abominations and turn to the Lord, do so in their capacity of sinners dead in trespasses and sins; and that they live and are saved as a result of their taking these action in the sense that they originate them. To the contrary, the fact of their seeking is the evidence that they have life in them abiding and are saved; and of this life their seeking is the fruit” (ibid, 425, my italics).
God says to the elect sinner, “If you believe,” and works faith in him so that he believes and is justified, while the reprobate who hears the same word (and implied command) does not believe because God does not grant him the gift of faith, so that he is not justified. Christ warns the elect sinner, “Except ye repent,” and he works repentance in him so that he repents and is saved, while the reprobate who hears the same word does not repent because God does not grant him the gift of repentance, so that he perishes. Faith and repentance are not only activities of men (they are), but they are first and foremost gifts of God, so that (to use that language of Ophoff) he originates them. “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Phil. 1:29). When God gives us to believe, we believe. When God gives us to repent, we repent. It is that simple and that beautiful.
There is an inseparable connection between faith and justification, between repentance and the forgiveness of sins, but that connection is not that one is a condition for the other, that is, that one depends upon, or is contingent upon, the other.
Consider 1 Peter 3:20: “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” The apostle writes that God’s longsuffering “waited.” That means that God could not send the flood until the ark was finished, which does not suggest that the coming of the floodwaters depended upon, or was contingent upon, Noah’s completion of the ark. Rather, it means this: God had eternally decreed that Event A (Noah’s construction of the ark) must precede Event B (the sending of the flood) and that without Event A (Noah’s construction of the ark) Event B (the sending of the flood) would not occur. So in that sense, God’s longsuffering waited. But God did not—and he never does—wait passively. If God decreed that Noah should construct the ark, God also worked in Noah the will to construct the ark and the actual constructing of the ark, so that Noah constructed the ark according to God’s eternal decree. Similarly, God has decreed that faith shall precede justification as the means of justification; that repentance shall precede the forgiveness of sins so that the impenitent sinner does not enjoy the pardon of sins; that prayer is the way in which we receive God’s grace and Holy Spirit; and, therefore, God works faith, repentance, prayer, and all other gifts and graces in the hearts of his people at the time that he himself has appointed.
Nothing is conditional, nothing is contingent, because God is sovereign. What God promises, he gives. What God requires, he bestows. Therefore, nothing ever depends on man. Beautiful, unconditional, wholly gracious theology, believed, taught, preached, and confessed in the Protestant Reformed Churches and her sisters!
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Herman Hoeksema, as we noted in the last blog post, emphatically rejected the notion that faith is the condition of salvation. Instead, faith is part of the salvation that God graciously gives to his elect people. We quoted a good number of statements from a series in the Standard Bearer, “As To Conditions.” Let us return to that series. Again, the addition of italics for emphasis is mine:
“Our Confessions uniformly present faith not as a condition which we must fulfill, but as a God-given means or instrument empowering the soul to cling to Christ and to receive all His benefits, and that is a radically different conception from that of condition” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 2 [Oct 15, 1949] 29).
“If faith is an instrument which God uses and works in the heart of man, it certainly cannot be, at the same time, a condition which man must fulfill in order to obtain salvation, or to enter into the covenant of God” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 2 [Oct 15, 1949], 30).
“This is far from saying that faith is a condition unto justification. It only means that the believer is able to receive the grace of justification by faith as a means which is given the sinner by God” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 2 [Oct 15, 1949] 30).
“If, however, faith is a God-given instrument it is completely outside of the category of condition, for the simple reason that, in that case, it belongs to salvation itself. It is part of the work of God whereby He brings sinners to Christ and makes them partakers of all His benefits of righteousness, life, and glory. And part of salvation cannot, at the same time, be a condition unto salvation” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 3 [Nov 1, 1949], 52).
“Faith is not of man. It is a God-ordained and God-given instrument, for ‘the Holy Ghost kindleth in our hearts an upright faith.’ The power or faculty of faith is wrought in the moment of regeneration, and active faith, which the article [Belgic Confession, Article 22—MMcG] has in mind especially, is wrought by the Spirit in our hearts through the preaching of the Word of God" (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 3 [Nov 1, 1949], 53).
“But what demands our special attention in this connection is the fact that faith, and that, too, conscious faith, which is wrought through the hearing of the Word of God, is here presented as part of our salvation, given to us by the Holy Ghost. And again I maintain that part of our salvation cannot, at the same time, be a condition which we must fulfill, or with which we must comply, to obtain salvation” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 3 [Nov 1, 1949], 53).
“The grace of faith is a free gift from God. Can, at the same time, faith be a condition with which we must comply to receive that free gift of God? We feel that this is absurd. Faith, moreover flows from God’s decree, and is bestowed only on the elect” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 3 [Nov 1, 1949], 53).
“We are not chosen, and therefore, we are not saved on condition of faith, or [on condition] of the obedience of faith; but we are chosen to faith, and to the obedience of faith, and, therefore, we are saved through the instrument of faith, and in the way of obedience. That, and that only is Reformed language” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 4 [Nov 15, 1949], 77).
“Faith never appears as a condition, but uniformly as a means or instrument which God works in the heart by the Holy Spirit. And to be sure, faith cannot be a condition which somehow man must fulfill and a God-given instrument, which He unconditionally works in man’s heart, at the same time” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 5 [Dec 1, 1949], 100).
“Faith, or believing the promise of the gospel, is either a condition the fulfillment of which God demands of man before He saves him, and in order that God may establish His covenant with Him; or the gift of faith, together with the act of believing, is the sovereign work of God, and then it is no condition. And only the latter is true” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 5 [Dec 1, 1949], 101).
God bestows the justifying faith. It belongs, therefore, to salvation itself. How then can a gift of salvation be a condition unto that gift? This is, evidently, absurd. Moreover, by this gift of justifying faith, bestowed upon us unconditionally by God, He leads us infallibly unto salvation. It is, therefore, all determined by God, faith and salvation, and there can be no conditions” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 6 [Dec 15, 1949], 126).
“Faith is also an instrument on the part of God in as far as He brings us through faith to the consciousness of our justification, and speaks to us of peace in foro conscientiae. And on our part faith becomes means in as far as we through the act of faith accept and appropriate unto ourselves the righteousness of God in Christ” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 9 [Feb 1, 1950], 197).
“According to the confessions faith is always presented as an instrument of God, part of salvation itself. And faith as an instrument which God works in our hearts certainly cannot be a condition at the same time” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 11 [March 1, 1950], 246).
“In the Reformed confessions faith has clearly been circumscribed not as a condition, but as an instrument of God whereby He implants us and engrafts us into Christ” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 11 [March 1, 1950], 246).
“Scripture never presents salvation as following immediately upon faith. In this sense, as salvation in time, it does not follow upon faith as a condition, but it includes faith. Faith is part of salvation itself” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 11 [March 1, 1950], 247).
“The Holy Spirit, who first pricked them in their hearts [in Acts 2], regenerated and called them, now through the same preaching of the apostle Peter rouses them into conscious activity of repentance and baptism. Mark you, in all this there is absolutely no condition. The hearers do not take the initiative whatsoever. It is the Holy Spirit, that regenerated them and called them to faith, that now unconditionally rouses them to the activity of repentance. And when they thus repent, that repentance is not a condition unto salvation and unto the remission of sins, but is the active fruit in the hearers of the grace of God that wrought in them and that was first and unconditional” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 12 [March 15, 1950], 273).
In summary, then, Hoeksema, the theological father of the Protestant Reformed churches taught that God promises salvation with all its benefits only to the elect, and that God works faith only in the elect, and that by means of that faith, which is God’s gift to the elect sinner, he makes the elect sinner possess salvation in time. Therefore, faith, which is part of salvation, cannot be a condition unto salvation. Such the Protestant Reformed Churches and her sisters teach, have always taught, and by God’s grace we trust shall continue to teach. We have also always taught that in the application of that salvation in our experience God employs a certain order, so that he grants certain benefits (decreed in election, purchased at the cross, and applied in time by the Holy Spirit) after he works in us to perform certain activities. Our activity of believing (which comes after God’s activity of regenerating and calling us) precedes God’s justification of us by means of that faith: we believe; then we are justified, and without faith we are not justified. Our activity of repenting (which is God’s gift to us, and which also comes after God’s activity of regenerating and calling us) precedes God’s pardon of our sins: we repent; then God forgives. That is how God deals with us as rational, moral, time-bound creatures without ever making our salvation depend upon or be contingent upon what we do.
In the next blog post, DV, we will examine conditional grammar in the Bible. If God’s Word does, in fact, not teach conditions, why does God speak to us with conditional grammar? Why is the Bible full of statements such as “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9)?
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Pastor Key has written a solidly biblical book on marriage. Not only does he treat several important doctrines concerning marriage; he gives many practical applications and encouragements for God’s people (married and unmarried) living in a sin-filled world. The author wants us “to understand what marriage is and what it requires for those who are redeemed by Christ’s precious blood” (p.4).
Part One deals with the “Essentials to Joyful Marriage.” The chapters in this section give foundational truths that apply to every aspect of marriage. The most foundational principle is captured in the first chapter, entitled “The Essence of Joy - Marriage to Christ.” “Joy is an expression of our marriage to Christ and the knowledge of God’s love for us in Christ” (p.14). The subsequent chapters build on this singular foundation. Chapter 2 tells of “The Divine Institution of Marriage.” In this chapter, the author shows that the woman God provides for man is “just what man needs to fill the void, the lack, in his own life” (p.30). Chapter 3 describes marriage as a “One-Flesh Relationship” and shows what is entailed in this relationship as designed by God. The author describes this relationship as “a complete intermingling of body and soul, an intimacy unmatched in any other earthly relationship” (p.38). Chapter 4, “A Broken Home,” shows that living joyfully in marriage requires us to understand how sin affects us and all our relationships. Chapter 5, “Marriage Restored,” points to God’s gracious provision of salvation as the possibility of living joyfully with Him and in marriage. Chapter 6, “Only in the Lord,” tells of the necessity of being spiritually united in order to enjoy a healthy marriage. Chapter 7, “To the Unmarried,” shows that single members must understand their identity as those who are part of the Bride, the church.
In the second part of the book, “Privileged to Make it Work,” Pastor Key lays out several reasons to make the marriage relationship work. These reasons are primarily centered in God’s purpose for marriage. One of the chief reasons to make marriage work is expressed in chapter 8, “The Permanence of This Momentary Marriage”: we want our marriages to reflect the eternal union of Christ and His Bride. Chapter 9, “Privileged to Reflect the Mystery,” expresses the privilege that married couples have to reflect the glorious relationship between Christ and the church. Chapter 10, “God’s Purpose for Us—Living Joyfully,” shows another reason for making our marriage work: as His people restored to fellowship with Him, God calls us to live joyfully in marriage. “The Divinely Required Intimacy of Marriage,” the title of chapter 11, expresses another reason to make our marriages work: God commands us to render due benevolence to one another.
The third part of the book is entitled, “Dedicated to Expressing the Joy.” What will it look like when we are dedicated to expressing in marriage the joy we have in the Lord? The following chapters explain principles that apply to every child of God; nevertheless the author also shows their particular importance in marriage. Chapter 12 shows that our lives will be characterized by “The Exercise of Love.” Such love will necessarily involve what is taught in Chapter 13: “Dying to Self.” Thirdly, Chapter 14 points to “Forgiving One Another” as another essential element of our dedication to expressing our joy in marriage. In the fourth place, Chapter 15 points to the necessity of “Pulling the Weeds Out of Our Gardens.” Here, the author points out the necessity of rooting out sin in our own lives and warns us not to think “My marriage, My family life, is good enough” (p.184). Chapter 16 emphasizes the need for “Careful Communication,” which communication will be edifying and minister grace to the hearers. Chapter 17, has the title “Walking in the Spirit” and shows the necessity of walking actively in godly submission to the word of God in the consciousness of the wonder of the gospel, and in the fellowship of believers, all by the power of the Spirit. Appropriately, the book ends by calling us in Chapter 18 to be “On Your Knees Together.” We must be people of prayer because “God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only who with sincere desires continually ask them of him, and are thankful for them” (Lord’s Day 45).
As the above summary indicates, the author deals with key issues connected to living joyfully in marriage. Since these issues are foundational to the Christian life in general, the truths expressed are applicable not just to married couples, but also to young people who want to be married, to singles who never married or have lost a spouse to divorce or death, indeed to every child of God. Thus, every child of God will benefit from the book.
The strength of this book is that it takes Scripture as the ultimate authority as regards what is best for us in marriage (and all of life) and how properly to respond to difficulties in marriage. Each chapter is based on a specific Scripture text which is explained and applied as one would expect in a book based on a sermon series. In addition, the author takes into account many other Scripture passages to support the points he makes. When Scripture is taken as God’s revealed truth, we will know there was a first man and a first woman, who were tempted by a serpent, and ate of the forbidden fruit, and thus brought the wages of sin upon the whole human race. When Scripture is given its proper place, as the author does throughout the book, we will see our hope in Christ alone.
As it is based on Scripture, the book expounds many important doctrines. For example, the unbreakable bond between Christ and the church points to the permanence of the marriage bond between husband and wife (Chapter 8). Another doctrine expressed is the sovereignty of God, which touches every aspect of marriage including whether we find a spouse or remain single (p.138), or whether or not we are fruitful and multiply (p.138). Another foundational doctrine is the fall of mankind into sin and the far-reaching effects that are passed down to us from Adam. The fall, of course, has devastating effects on the marriage relationship (p.32,47). Not only does the fall mean that we must we deal with the old man within us, we have to live in a fallen sinful world that affects us (p.10). The doctrine of Christ’s saving work for us and in us as well as the covenant fellowship into which God has brought us figures large throughout the book as earthly marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church. As God’s children we have been “redeemed and sanctified and brought under the dominion of Christ and his word” (p.5). Christ’s atoning sacrifice “is what it took to cleanse us and to clothe us with the white robes of righteousness, the glorious garments of Christ’s bride” (p.108). These are just a few of the doctrines taught and implied throughout the pages of this book.
Flowing from its doctrinal footing, the author makes many practical applications. These applications include advice for married couples (whether newly married or married for many years), young adults who are dating, young adults who desire to be married but don’t see any prospect of marriage, widows and widowers, and every child of God in general.
For the married in general, he warns “If you as a husband think you are just fine, and if you as a wife think that there are no personal issues you must address, that any troubles in your marriage are entirely your spouse’s fault, then you have a very superficial view of Christianity and a very faulty view of yourself” (p.207). Rather, he advises, “There is never a time when we can be lazy in a marriage relationship and expect it to be healthy” (p.191). For the married with children, he says, “The marriage relationship must also have precedence over the parent-child relationship” (p.34).
Regarding singles he says, “Also our singles—those bereaved, those who have been forsaken, as well as those unmarried—are yet married” (p.36), thus encouraging them with the truth of our marriage to Christ. The author warns, “the purpose of single life is not to live a carefree life of personal freedom and self-seeking” (p. 87).
To those who are dating, he gives this warning: “[I]f you, thinking of marrying, begin a relationship with one who has grown up in the same church but who is not interested in having a serious spiritual conversation, who shows no desire to study God’s word and to grow spiritually, that relationship is to end immediately.” (p.70). About dating and marrying others from different backgrounds, he discusses the restriction that not only must we marry “in the Lord in a general way, but that you two must be agreed” (p.72) as regards other important matters that will affect the marriage.
To all in general, the author warns about the danger of letting lust have its way: “A man or woman who fails to exercise self-control is one soon given over to the lust of the flesh” (p.210). When we are plagued by some besetting sin, he gives an example of how we should deal with it: “If your inappropriate use of that smartphone has damaged the necessary time for communication with your spouse, and that device has such a hold on you that you are unable to break yourself from its enticement, then you best take a sledgehammer to that device, break it into a million pieces, and buy yourself a cheap, no-frill flip phone for being able to make calls when necessary” (p.216).
The content of the book evidences the that the author has distilled years of pastoral experience into this work. Every saint, married and single, would benefit from reading this material. Highly recommended.
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In the late 1940s and early 1950s the topic of conditions was debated in the Protestant Reformed Churches in the Standard Bearer and one of the chief proponents of conditional theology was the Rev. Andrew Petter with whom a number of men, especially Herman Hoeksema, discussed the issue in a robust, but cordial and respectful, manner. One such series, found in volume 26 of the Standard Bearer, is titled “As to Conditions,” although some articles around the same time are titled “Faith: A Condition According to Scripture.” In those articles, Hoeksema seeks to define and explain “conditions.” The whole series is worth reading (the reader can find the articles on pages 28, 52, 76, 100, 124, 196, 220, 244, 269, 292, 316, 364, and 388 of volume 26 of the bound volumes of the SB).
Now, I should add that Hoeksema is not the authority in the PRC, nor would he want to be called the authority—Scripture as it is summarized in the Reformed Confessions is the authority—yet, Hoeksema’s teaching on conditions (namely, why we must reject conditional theology and the term “condition”) is very helpful and insightful. I will quote a lot of examples below, and I ask the reader’s indulgence; I had to restrain myself and limit myself to a limited number of quotes. The whole series, as I said, is excellent.
In the following quotes I have added italics for emphasis, where appropriate, so I will not repeat “my italics” after the quotes below. Assume, unless otherwise stated, that the italics are mine.
“The question is, of course, whether faith may be presented as a condition of salvation, and whether the establishment and continuation of God’s covenant with us is in any sense of the word contingent upon our fulfilling the conditions of faith and obedience. This, unless we juggle words, is the plain and simple meaning of the question” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 2 [Oct 15, 1949] 29).
“The term condition undoubtedly stands for some notion that makes salvation dependent on something man must do” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 3 [Nov. 1, 1949] 52).
“How utterly impossible it is, then, to conceive of faith as a condition which man must fulfill in order to obtain salvation, or to enter into the covenant of God!” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 4 [Nov 15, 1949], 77).
“A condition is either something which man must fulfill in order to receive grace from God, or it is no condition, but simply a work of God. Faith, or believing the promise of the gospel, is either a condition the fulfillment of which God demands of man before He saves him, and in order that God may establish His covenant with Him; or the gift of faith, together with the act of believing, is the sovereign work of God, and then it is no condition. And only the latter is true” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 5 [Dec 1, 1949], 101).
“Always a condition is something, some requirement man must fulfill. That means that the entire way of salvation, from beginning to end is, ultimately, dependent on the will of man. Let us, therefore, reject this Pelegian heresy, together with the term that is used to express it.” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 6 [Dec 15, 1949], 125).
“There simply is no room for anything that man must fulfill before he can attain to salvation” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 6 [Dec 15, 1949], 126).
“Faith can in no wise be presented as a condition which in some way must be fulfilled by man, and is, therefore, in some way dependent on the will of man” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 10 [Feb 15, 1950], 222).
“The question is simply whether there is any part of the work of salvation as God works it within us left to man, so that the work of God’s salvation is really not complete, or so that at any stage of that work of God in us His work is conditioned by and contingent upon anything that we must still do. And also this is most emphatically denied by Canons 3-4.12” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 12 [March 15, 1950], 270).
“We do not say ever, to any man, whether he be elect or reprobate: ‘God will save you on condition that you believe; you must first fulfill a condition before God will ever save you.’ That certainly is not the gospel; and it certainly is not the Reformed conception of the relation between faith and salvation” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 13 [April 1, 1950], 294).
“Whatever else it (condition) may mean, it certainly denotes something that must be fulfilled prior to something else … It is a conditional promise, for a condition is something demanded or required as a prerequisite to the granting or performance of something else. It is something that must exist if something else is to take place; and that something else is contingent on the condition” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 14 [April 15, 1950], 316).
“The grace of preservation is God’s part in the covenant. But the grace of perseverance is man’s part, which always is the fruit of God’s part. But these two parts are never so related that man’s part is a condition which he must fulfill in order that God may fulfill His part. The grace of God is always unconditional” (Herman Hoeksema, “As to Conditions,” Standard Bearer, vol. 26, issue 17 [June 1, 1950], 390).
From these statements it is clear that if something is a condition it is something that man must do, perform, produce, or contribute on which his reception of salvation depends, or on which it is contingent. Such a condition must be contrasted, explains Hoeksema, from something that God gives or something that God works in the sinner whom he saves; for, since it is God-given or God-worked, it is not a condition for salvation, but part of the salvation that God gives. That remains true even if in God’s good pleasure certain activities of man (believing, repenting, etc.) precede God’s giving—and man’s receiving—of certain blessings of salvation. Temporal sequence is not decisive in the determination of whether or not something can be called a “condition’ in salvation or in the covenant.
]]>We have been working as quickly as possible to correct these errors. We have completed Wonder of Grace and are currently working on The Triple Knowledge, books 1-3. To continue with our current book projects while also correcting these original works adds workload to our staff and increases our need for copy editors. The work is significant, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to work on this important project.
Please contact the office to get your updated, and faithful, version of Wonder of Grace today.
Some have asked if these changes warranted the investment in time and energy to fix the issue. A recent letter by Prof. David J. Engelsma distributed to his family concerning repentance in relation to forgiveness shows the importance of this work. In the letter, Prof. Engelsma demonstrated that the confession, "repentance precedes forgiveness, so that without repentance the sinner does not receive forgiveness" is "faithful to the Protestant Reformed Churches’ (PRC) tradition" by quoting from three portions of Voice of Our Fathers. Each quote reflects improper editing. The quote from page 685 of the original version of The Voice of Our Fathers has been entirely omitted in the new version. The quote from page 665 from the original version, in the new version has the main thought intact, but the phrases “the soul does” and “burden of sin through” are unnecessarily changed along with surrounding context. The final quote from page 669 of the original version has a significant phrase removed in the new version (namely: “in case we have completely departed from the way of sanctification, until we return into the way of life through earnest repentance”). Thankfully, the quote Prof. Engelsma provides from Herman Hoeksema’s The Triple Knowledge, remains intact in the improperly edited version, although there are other instances in this version that warrant serious concern.
While the reformed phrase “only in the way of repentance” is being challenged by some as conditional theology let us remember another point as well. The 1980 version of Voice of Our Fathers is a collection of 274 Standard Bearer articles that first appeared in 1953 and stretched out over many years with the series finally concluding in 1965. The three specific quotes Prof. Englesma provided are from March 1, 1959, January 15, 1959, and December 15, 1958. The Triple Knowledge also appeared as a series in the Standard Bearer and the specific quote Prof. Engelsma pointed to is from the Feb 15, 1956 issue. These were years where the denomination was still reeling from the Schism of 1953. It was a time when all the forefathers labored hard for the small denomination that they loved and where the battle against conditional theology was still fresh.
We would like to encourage our readers once again to promptly discard the improperly edited books. These quotes provide increasing evidence that our work to reprint is necessary. We seek to ensure that deletions, changing of thoughts, the scale of the changes, and the substantial change in ‘voice’ to the books are addressed. These authors speak to us in the theological battles we face today, and it is important that we hear those voices clearly as their writings are Biblical and Reformed explanations.
We reiterate that we are deeply sorry that this happened and that we have implemented new policies to safeguard against this regrettable error in publication. Please know also, that all of our current copy editors are faithful in their work. The policy changes address the work of copy editing, the staff, and the approvals that the board needs to make when publishing a book.
Here are extended quotes from the original versions, and links to the original Standard Bearer articles so that you can read the quotes in context. The items in bold are what Prof. Engelsma quoted in his letter.
The Triple Knowledge, volume 3, page 604 , original version:
This, then, is a beautiful illustration of the limiting clause in the fifth petition, “as we forgive our debtors.” Let us not fail to note the comparison: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” This means that we fashion our forgiveness of one another after the model of God’s forgiving our trespasses, and that we are so conscious that we have actually done this that we are now able to pray that God may forgive us in the same manner as we have forgiven one, another. This implies several ideas. It means that our debtors desire forgiveness, are sorry for their sins committed against us, and confess their wrong doings. Only in the way of repentance and confession can we obtain forgiveness from God. And only in that same way can we forgive one another. It means more. Perhaps you are strongly inclined to agree with our last remark, and, being rather of an unforgiving spirit, you decide to wait until the brother that sinned against you will come to humble himself before you. But you must remember that God did not wait until you came to Him; but He came to you while you were enemies of God, dead in trespasses and sins, and by His grace quickened you and led you to repentance. Hence, you cannot afford to wait, but must seek the offending brother, and seek to bring him to repentance. It also means that we forgive one another abundantly. There is never an end to God’s forgiveness. Never does God say to us: “So often have I forgiven you, and always you commit the same sins. I will forgive you no more.” There is never a last time with God. He forgiveth abundantly. His mercy is without limit. And so there can be no last time with us. Always again we must forgive the brother that repents, and that too, for Christ’s sake. And the reason for all this is not that our forgiving of one another is a ground or condition for our prayer for forgiveness, for that is Christ and His atoning blood absolutely alone. But in order to receive forgiveness of God, I must have receptivity for that blessed gift of grace. I must be truly sorry for my sins. I must behold and long for the unspeakable mercy of God in Christ. All this is not present as long as I am assuming an unforgiving attitude toward the brethren. There is no more unmistakable sign that I have no true need of forgiveness, and that therefore I am in no condition to receive it from the Lord, than that I shut up my heart against the brethren and assume an attitude of unforgiving pride over against him. If we love not the brother whom we have seen, how can we love God Whom we have not seen? With what measure ye mete, it surely shall be measured to you again. Hence, it is quite impossible to beseech the Lord for forgiveness, unless we can truly add: “As we forgive our debtors.”
Voice of Our Fathers, page 685, original version:
"The result of that effectual renewal unto repentance is that the child of God actively repents and walks in sanctification. This result is stated in the article, and is five-fold. We need not go into detail in this connection, for the language of the article speaks for itself. Besides, these elements are mentioned in another connection later in the chapter. For the present: we want to emphasize two things:
1) The order of this five-fold result as stated in the article must be maintained, and that too, strictly. Thus, for example, there is no desiring and obtaining of forgiveness in the blood of the Mediator until there is first a sincere sorrow after God over the sins committed.
2) This result is one, with a five-fold aspect. Wherever through His Spirit and Word God effectually renews unto repentance, all five of these aspects will result: a) sorrow over the sins committed; b) the desire for and obtaining of forgiveness in the blood of Christ; c) the renewed experience of God’s favor when we are reconciled to Him; d) the adoring of His mercies; e) a renewed diligence to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling."
Voice of Our Fathers, page 685, original version:
“In the second place, the article asserts that by such enormous sins the saints incur a deadly guilt. We immediately wonder, of course how this assertion can stand in the light of the fact that in the cross the saints are forever and perfectly justified from all sin, and that by the blood of Christ they are purged from all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before or after believing.’ We probably wonder how this statement can stand in the light of the fact that the saints are justified from all eternity in the counsel of God. In reply, we state, in the first place, that whether we can explain this statement or not, we all know by experience that it is true. On account of our sins we are guilty and feel that we are guilty. Otherwise we would never pray, “Forgive us our debts.” In the second place, we hasten to add that the statement does not refer to, our objective position before the bar of God’s justice: from this point of view we are forever justified. But, in the third place, we must remember: 1) That all these sins are in themselves worthy of death. 2) That the saints feel the guilt of their sins before God. 3) That as long as the soul does not get rid of its burden of sin through confession and the seeking of forgiveness through the blood of Calvary, that soul must carry the burden of guilt. 4) That therefore, in the case of gross sins for which the saints do not immediately come to repentance, sins in which they walk, sins which go unconfessed for a time, the result can only be that the saints feel themselves to be in a state of damnation. And when finally they come to the spiritual consciousness of these sins, the saints can give expression to this very hopeless feeling. In fact, we must remember that this is fundamentally true of any one of our sins. As long as it goes unconfessed, as long as we do not get rid of it in the prayer for forgiveness, we can only feel a deadly guilt.”
Voice of Our Fathers, page 669, original version:
But the point is that until we repent, or, in case we have completely departed from the way of sanctification, until we return into the way of life through earnest repentance, the fatherly countenance of God does not shine upon us again. The way of life is the way of repentance, not the way of sin and impenitence. And only in the way of repentance can we have the sense of God’s favor.
The sum of the matter, therefore, is this. The believer in the sure preservation of the saints does not lightly consider the matter of sin. He does not deny, but affirms, the dread consequences of the sins of the saints. He does not deny, but affirms, the need of a very real repentance.
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Instinctively, we all think that we know what a condition is, but a precise definition is elusive. The word “condition” is from the Latin condicere which means to “say with” or “to agree upon.” At its most basic a condition reflects a relationship of necessity between two or more things. In English we often express such a relationship of necessity with words such as “only if,” “provided that,” “except that,” “without,” “only after,” “always before,” and the like. We might call such expressions “conditional” as far as the grammar is concerned (or “conditions in the formal sense”), even if the word “condition” is not used. As we shall see in a later blog post, God willing, such language is frequently used in Holy Scripture, so that we cannot simply ignore it or try to explain it away.
A search of the Three Forms of Unity for the word “condition” yields the following results: the Heidelberg Catechism does not contain the word “condition;” the Belgic Confession uses the word twice, but only with the meaning of a circumstance or a state of being (see Articles 28 and 36; someone might be in a good or bad condition); and the Canons use the word “condition” only to reject the ideas behind it, ideas proposed by the Arminians. Let us, then, briefly survey the Canons.
Canons 1:9 rejects “[any] good quality or disposition in man, as the prerequisite, cause, or condition on which [eternal election] depended.” Canons I:10 rejects the idea that God has chosen anything in man “as a condition of salvation.” Canons I:R2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 reject “conditional election” (I:R:2); they reject “faith…as well as its incomplete obedience, as a condition of salvation” (I:R:3); they reject the teaching that “in the election unto faith this condition is beforehand demanded, namely, that man should [...]” (I:R:4); they reject the teaching that “faith, the obedience of faith, holiness, godliness, and perseverance are not fruits of the unchangeable election unto glory, but are conditions required beforehand” (I:R:5); and they reject the teaching that the certainty of election “depends upon a changeable and uncertain condition” (I:R:7).
Furthermore, Canons II:R:3 rejects the teaching that “[God prescribes] new conditions as he might desire, obedience to which, however, depended on the freewill of man, so that it might have come to pass that either none or all should fulfill these conditions.” Finally, Canons V:R:1 rejects the teaching that “perseverance is… a condition of the new covenant, which … man before his decisive election and justification must fulfill through his freewill;” instead, the same article teaches that perseverance is “a fruit of election” and “a gift of God gained by the death of Christ.”
From the Canons we learn a few things about the kind of conditions that Reformed theologians reject. First, the Reformed reject that in salvation anything could be a prerequisite, that is, something in man, something that man has, or something that man is, or something that man does—not something that God gives—that is required beforehand. Second, the Canons contrast conditions with “fountain” (see Canons I:9), “fruit” (Canons I:R:5 and Canons V:R:1), and “gift” (Canons V:R:1). So, important aspects of a condition include something that man must produce, in contrast to what God gives, something which is required before God will give to man the gift of salvation, so that it is something of man on which his salvation depends.
So far our review of the Three Forms of Unity.
It is striking that, although the Protestant Reformed Churches in their history have always rejected the theology of conditions, a precise definition of “condition” in Protestant Reformed literature is difficult to find. One could search through the many volumes of the Standard Bearer, but that would be very time-consuming. Later, I will quote from some SB articles from the 1950’s when the debate about conditions raged in the Protestant Reformed Churches. One could also look in some of the books published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association (RFPA) where conditional theology is discussed and refuted.
One such place is Voice of Our Fathers by Homer C. Hoeksema, where in his comments on Canons I:9 he writes, “A condition is a prerequisite (something required beforehand) which one must fulfill or comply with in order to receive something or to have something done unto him” (Voice of Our Fathers [Grand Rapids, MI: RFPA, 1980], 179).
David. J. Engelsma, one of the most prolific authors of the RFPA, has written often about the theology of the conditional covenant. In one work he writes about Herman Bavinck: “Bavinck denies, absolutely, that the covenant is conditional in the proper sense of the term ‘condition.’” Engelsma then identifies the meaning of the term which he rejects, namely, “a decision or work of a member of the covenant upon which the covenant and its salvation depend” or the idea that “the member of the covenant must make a decision or perform a work that is decisive for the maintenance of the covenant” so that “by performing a demand a member of the covenant makes himself to differ from others who, like himself, are objects of the covenant grace of God” (Covenant and Election in the Reformed Tradition [Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2011], 170, my italics).
Here, too, the important aspects of a condition are, first, it is something that has its source in man, although sometimes it is performed with the help of God’s grace; second, that it is something on which the reception of salvation depends; and, third, it makes man’s activity decisive because God’s grace is supposedly wider than election, so that one person can make himself differ from another. Implied in such conditional theology is resistible grace.
Elsewhere Engelsma writes that a condition is “a deed of the child [i.e., a child born in the church] upon which the covenant depends” and contrasts this with the Reformed teaching about the role of faith in justification: ”Faith is the means, or instrument, by which God gives and the elect believer receives righteousness and all salvation. Faith is not a human work that makes one worthy of salvation, or upon which one’s righteousness and salvation depend” (Federal Vision: Heresy at the Root [Jenision, MI: RFPA, 2012], 101, my italics).
Later he writes, “To teach that faith is the condition of a gracious covenant established with many more than the elect is to teach that faith is a work of the children upon which the covenant depends and by which some distinguish themselves from others” (ibid, 112, Engelsma’s italics) and “Faith is a demand upon the child, and upon the child’s compliance with this demand everything depends. Faith is a condition in this sense” (ibid, 113, Engelsma’s italics).
Writing about Norman Shepherd, one of the fathers of the heresy of the federal vision, Engelsma adds, “For Shepherd, faith is not part of grace, as it is in Romans 4:16, Ephesians 2:8, and the third and fourth heads of the Canons. Nor is it part of the promise, as is the teaching of Westminster Larger Catechism, question and answer 32. But it is an entirely separate element of the covenant. Faith is not God’s grace, neither is it included in God’s gracious promise. Rather, it is man’s obligation, man’s work, man’s effort, man’s willing and running. And upon this second element, which is not part of grace, does the grace of God depend from beginning to end” (ibid, 113, my italics).
Contrasting the use of the word “condition” by orthodox theologians of the past with that of modern federal vision proponents, Engelsma writes, “The federal vision does not mean by condition the necessary means by which God certainly realizes his covenant with the elect. The federal vision does not refer to faith as the necessary means of covenant salvation that God promises to the elect in Christ, and to them alone, and that he works in them by his sovereign Holy Spirit. Not at all! The federal vision and the conditional covenant doctrine that the federal vision is developing mean by condition a work of the child upon which the covenant and its salvation depend and a work of some children by which they distinguish themselves from others, who are as much the objects of the gracious promise and as much the recipients of covenant grace as themselves (ibid, 113-114, my italics).
In fact, orthodox theologians have used the word “condition” to denote a necessary means. The Presbyterian Westminster Larger Catechism is a case in point: “How is the grace of God manifested in the second covenant? A. The grace of God is manifested in the second covenant, in that he freely provideth and offereth to sinners a mediator, and life and salvation by him; and, requiring faith as the condition to interest them in him, promiseth and giveth his Holy Spirit to all his elect, to work in them that faith, with all other saving graces; and to enable them unto all holy obedience, as the evidence of the truth of their faith, and thankfulness to God, and as the way which he hath appointed them to salvation” (Q&A 32). When the Westminster Larger Catechism calls faith a “condition,” it simply refers to the necessary means of salvation; and, in fact, the same answer reminds us that God promises to his elect the Holy Spirit who works that faith in their hearts so that they believe.
Herman C. Hanko, another prolific author, explains the development of the word “condition” in Reformed writings: “If one studies the history of the covenant both in English and in continental thought, one will discover that the idea of a conditional covenant was often, though not always, maintained. However, those who were Reformed in their approach to this doctrine, i.e., those who proceeded from the truths of the five points of Calvinism, especially the truth of sovereign and double predestination, when speaking of a conditional covenant, used the word ‘condition’ in an altogether different sense from which it is commonly used in our day. They meant by ‘condition’ ‘way’ or ‘means’ by which God realizes His covenant sovereignly. They wished to emphasize by the use of this term the fact that faith is the God-given and God-ordained way or means by which the covenant is realized and maintained. God establishes and maintains His own covenant and does so by imparting faith to His people according to the decree of predestination so that faith becomes the means of the realization of that covenant. Used in this way, we can hardly have any objection to the term” (God’s Everlasting Covenant of Grace [Grand Rapids, MI: RFPA, 1988], 192, my italics). Hanko then warns the reader against using the term today: “The problem is, however, that this term has taken on quite a different meaning in today’s discussion of the covenant” (ibid, 192).
Elsewhere, Hanko writes, “The PRC are aware of the fact that the use of the word ‘condition’ has not always been Arminian. As was shown at the time of the controversy in the early 1950s, many ministers, including the leaders of the denomination, had used the word repeatedly. The word was often used in the past as a way of making God’s work of salvation a particular and not a general work. The condition defined the objects of salvation. ‘If one believes, he will be saved.’ That is, only believers will be saved. No one else can or ever will inherit salvation. And, in connection with the use of the term as a limiting clause, a condition also expressed the way in which God saved. When God says in His Word, If you believe, you will be saved, God not only limits salvation to believers, but He also defines faith as the way in which salvation is given. For salvation is by grace, and through faith. That use of the term was frequent and legitimate. But gradually the word itself was abandoned. This was done for two reasons. One reason was that the term ‘condition’ is not once found in all the Reformed confessions—except as a term used by the Arminians. The other reason was that the term had taken on so many Arminian connotations that its very use conjured up in the mind of the listener Arminian thoughts” (For Thy Truth’s Sake: A Doctrinal History of the Protestant Reformed Churches [Grandville, MI: RFPA, 2000], 358).
Another important book in this connection is Ready to Give An Answer: A Catechism of Reformed Distinctives by Herman Hoeksema and Herman Hanko of which Section III, 4, is titled “The Question of Conditions.” This book was written to explain both the controversy in 1924 over common grace and the controversy in 1953 over the conditional covenant. A dictionary definition is cited: “1. [A condition is] something established or agreed upon as a requisite to the doing or taking effect of something else; a stipulation or provision; hence, an agreement determining one or more such prerequisite. 2. That which exists as an occasion of something else; a prerequisite” (Ready to Give An Answer: A Catechism of Reformed Distinctives [Grandville, MI: RFPA, 1997], 189).
The book then explains conditions when applied to salvation, “When faith is made a condition, the meaning is that salvation will not be granted to anyone unless he fulfills the condition of faith. Man must first believe for salvation to be given to him” (ibid, 189). But, asks this Catechism, can condition not simply refer to “necessary means”? The answer is astute: “Yes, but when the term ‘condition’ is applied to the work of salvation in connection with a general promise, it can no longer refer to ‘means’” (ibid, 190, my italics). The issue is, as always, the general promise: we reject a general promise, but we do not reject the necessary means of faith or the necessity of the sinner’s believing!
Later, the role of faith is clearly defined: “Faith is the means which God uses to save his people” (ibid, 192). “Faith is the God-given gift which unites us to Christ and by which the life of Christ comes to us, so that all the blessings of salvation are given us by Christ” (ibid, 193). In answer to the question, “Why then cannot faith be a condition to salvation?” we read, “Faith is one of the blessings of salvation, included in salvation, and part of salvation” (ibid, 193).
In another question, “Why then does Scripture speak of faith as the way to salvation?” we receive this insightful answer: “Scripture does this because it is God’s purpose to give us the blessings of salvation in such a way that we consciously experience them. God works faith in our hearts by which we come to Christ, embrace him as our only Savior, and find in him all our salvation. In this way we are given the conscious experience of salvation” (ibid, 193).
In reference to the Philippian jailor of Acts 16:30-31 we read, “When that command of the gospel comes through the preaching, God so works by his Spirit in the hearts of his people that they believe in Christ, receive him as their Savior, and receive, by faith, the blessings of salvation” (ibid, 193, my italics). As to responsibility this Catechism affirms, “Elect believers are responsible before God for believing and walking in love and obedience. But they are enabled to do this by God’s grace” (ibid, 194).
We notice again the elements of conditional theology that the Protestant Reformed Churches and her sisters reject. First, grace is wider than election or the promise is general and for more than the elect; second, man is able to—and, therefore, must—do something (believe, obey, persevere, etc.) on which the covenant depends; and, third, the “something” (believing, repenting, obeying, persevering, etc.) that a man does is not given to him by grace or included in God’s promise, but is his contribution to salvation. Faith is not—and cannot be—a condition because it is the God-given and God-worked means by which God makes us partakers of salvation, and it is part of salvation itself. And in that sense—necessary means—the older Reformed writers used the term “condition.” Because of its ambiguity, many modern Reformed writers avoid the term, and because of its erroneous nature, we reject both the term and the theology behind it.
The Heidelberg Catechism teaches, not that God promises to save any and all of the children of believers if they believe (which is the teaching of conditional theology), but “redemption from sin by the blood of Christ, and the Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is promised to them” (A74, my italics), so that they believe, and through faith they are saved. If God promises to give the Holy Spirit to work faith in his people, their believing (which is the fruit of God’s promise and the work of the Holy Spirit in them) is not a condition. Instead, faith is God’s gift to his elect people, and the necessary means or instrument by which they appropriate to themselves, and thus enjoy, the salvation purchased for them by Christ and decreed for them in election.
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One of the hallmarks of the theology of the Protestant Reformed churches and her sisters is our rejection of conditions, whether in election, or in salvation. Or to express it differently, our churches teach that the whole of salvation—from eternal election to everlasting glorification—is the work of God’s grace. The sinner who is the object of salvation (the one who is saved) is not the doer of salvation, that is, he does not save himself, he does not contribute to his salvation, and no part of God’s salvation depends on any activity that he performs, either by or without the grace of God. Of course, once God begins to save a sinner, he makes that sinner active and conscious, but the sinner’s activity, even his conscious activity (believing, repenting, etc.) is always only the fruit of God’s activity, or God’s saving work by the Spirit of Christ in him.
In God’s accomplishment of the salvation of his elect God has ordained a certain, logical order in which he, by the Holy Spirit working in rational moral creatures, applies the benefits of salvation secured on the cross. In the past, Reformed theologians spoke of “conditions,” by which they meant necessary means and temporal sequences. These necessary means or temporal sequences (sometimes called “conditions”) are necessary not because God depends on man for the fulfillment of salvation, so that man’s salvation is contingent on them, but because God ordained salvation to be so. God’s eternal counsel makes them necessary, so that, for example, God has determined that faith precedes justification, that repentance precedes the forgiveness of sins, and that prayer precedes his giving—and our receiving—of certain blessings. This is how the eternal God deals with time-bound sinners: we live in time; therefore, we experience our salvation in time and in temporal sequences.
Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck writes “In the beginning, Reformed theologians spoke freely of ‘the conditions’ of the covenant. But after the nature of the covenant of grace had been more carefully considered and had to be defended against Catholics, Lutherans, and Remonstrants, many of them took exception to the term and avoided it” (Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt; trans. John Vriend [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006] 3:229).
Contrary to the Reformed teaching of unconditional election, the Arminians teach conditional election, that is, that God chooses his people based upon their foreseen faith and perseverance. Canons I:9 opposes this idea: “This election was not founded upon foreseen faith, and the obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in man, as the prerequisite, cause, or condition on which it depended.”
Contrary to the Reformed teaching of unconditional regeneration, that is, that God grants the new birth to elect sinners without their cooperation, contribution, or consent, the Arminians teach conditional regeneration. The Reformed faith teaches, “All in whose heart God works in this marvelous manner are certainly, infallibly, and effectually regenerated” (Canons 3-4.12). Contrary to this, the Arminians claimed, “[God’s] grace [of regeneration], in order of working, does not precede the working of the [sinner’s] will; that is, God does not efficiently help the will of man unto conversion until the will of man moves and determines to do this” (Canons 3-4.R.9). In other words, God will grant the new birth if man first believes and accepts Jesus Christ, which, of course, denies that unregenerate man is dead in sin, and which posits that man has a freewill before regeneration, and presupposes resistible grace, which false teachings the Reformed reject.
Contrary to the Reformed teaching of unconditional preservation, the Arminians teach conditional preservation, that is, that God will supply his grace and Holy Spirit to sinners to persevere if they desire it, seek it, use it, and cooperate with it. “Though all things which are necessary to persevere in faith and which God will use to preserve faith are made use of, it even then ever depends on the pleasure of the will whether it will persevere or not” (Canons V:R:2). Contrary to this, the Reformed teach that God works in his people in such a manner that they do persevere, and that they must, notwithstanding many stumbles and falls along the way, enter the everlasting glory prepared for them. “God is faithful, who, having conferred grace, mercifully confirms and powerfully preserves them therein, even to the end” (Canons V:3). That God uses means (even necessary means) to accomplish this, does not make God’s preservation of his elect conditional.
The Protestant Reformed Churches and her sisters also confess the unconditionality of the covenant. The covenant of grace, which is God’s relationship of friendship and communion with his people in Jesus Christ, so that he is their God and they are his people, is unconditional. Quite simply, this means that God—and not man—determines everything about the covenant. It is God’s covenant, which he establishes, which he confirms, and which he maintains. This also means that God’s covenant is governed by election, that is, God has chosen the members of his covenant. The covenant is not made with anyone except the elect so that only the elect are in the covenant. The reprobate, who are and remain unbelieving and impenitent, are not, and never shall be, in God’s covenant. This is true also of the reprobate who for a time are part of the Christian community and church. Cain, although a child of Adam and Eve and a brother of Abel (who were elect children of God), was not in the covenant, but he was of that wicked one (1 John 3:12). Nor were many others, such as Esau, Absalom, Adonijah, and Judas Iscariot. “They are not all Israel [that is, truly in God’s covenant], which are of Israel [in the covenant community or in the sphere of the covenant]” (Rom. 9:6).
The Protestant Reformed Churches suffered a painful schism in the 1950s over the unconditionality of the covenant. Some taught, contrary to what had been the teaching of the churches until that point, that God promises salvation to all the members of the visible church—especially to all the baptized members, to all the children of believers—on condition of their faith. The infamous statement, “God promises to everyone of you that, if you believe, you shall be saved,” was condemned not because it taught that faith (believing) is necessary, but because it taught a general, conditional promise (“to everyone of you”), the fulfillment of which depends on the activity of believing (“if you believe”). “If you believe, you shall be saved” is true (see Rom. 10:9); “God promises to everyone of you that, if you believe, you will be saved” is false.
Around that time “The Declaration of Principles,” which summarizes the teachings of the creeds on the covenant, was adopted by the Protestant Reformed Churches. The aforementioned document states, “God’s promise is unconditionally for [the elect] only: for God cannot promise what was not objectively merited by Christ” (II.B.2). “Faith is not a prerequisite or condition unto salvation, but a gift of God, and a God-given instrument whereby we appropriate the salvation in Christ” (II.C.). “We repudiate the teaching that the promise of the covenant is conditional and for all that are baptized” (III.A.1.a). “We maintain that God surely and infallibly fulfills his promise to the elect” (III.B.1). The same document teaches, “The sure promise of God which He realizes in us as rational and moral creatures not only makes it impossible that we should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness but also confronts us with the obligation of love, to walk in a new and holy life, and constantly to watch unto prayer” (III.A.B.2). (See The Confessions and the Church Order of the Protestant Reformed Churches [Grandville, MI: the PRCA, 2005], 410-431).
Conditional theology, as it is rejected by the Protestant Reformed Churches, has these elements, any one of which is a mark of conditional theology. First, salvation and the promises of salvation are severed from election, so that God promises salvation to more than the elect. In practice, this means that God promises to save all the baptized children of believers if they believe and obey. Second, salvation and the promise of salvation cannot be realized unless man does something, that is, performs some activity (faith, repentance, good works, obedience, etc) which is a condition on which salvation depends. Third, and necessarily so, God’s promise with respect to many in the covenant community fails. God promises certain blessings to certain people who, because they do not fulfill the conditions, whatever those conditions might be, do not receive the promised blessings. That is exactly the point in Romans 9:6: “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.”
The Declaration of Principles states about “the sure promise of God which he realizes in us” that, because we are “rational and moral creatures,” he causes us “to bring forth fruits of thankfulness” (which it would be impossible for us not to bring forth) and he “confronts us with the obligation of love, to walk in a new and holy life, and constantly to watch unto prayer” (III.B.2). Those fruits of thankfulness are not conditions, but are part of the promised salvation that God works in us. If we were not rational, moral creatures, then God would realize his promise of salvation without our activity; yet, our activity which God works in us—he works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13)—is never a condition that we fulfill on which God’s salvation of us depends. Our activity of believing, repenting, obeying, and persevering is always and only the fruit of God’s gracious work in us.
Having explained the error of conditional theology, we need to be clear as to what a condition is and to what it is not. To that subject we turn next time, God willing.
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After his resurrection from the dead Jesus commanded: “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name” (Luke 24:47). Two concepts are included and, clearly there is a relationship between them. Quite simply, God forgives the sins of those who repent, or God forgives sinners when they repent. “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Ps. 32:5). “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7). “I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:17b-18). That should be enough—God forgives us when we repent—but to dispel confusion, we should explain the relationship further.
First, repentance is not the ground of the forgiveness of our sins. We do not earn forgiveness by changing our mind (repenting) or turning. It is not theologically precise to say, “God forgives us because we repent.” Repentance does not make us worthy of the forgiveness of our sins. By repenting we do not make atonement for, or make amends for, any of our sins. In other words, sorrow over sin, while important, is not meritorious. The Westminster Confession of Faith explains in 15:3: “Although repentance be not to be rested in, as any satisfaction for sin, or any cause of the pardon thereof, which is the act of God’s free grace in Christ; yet is it of such necessity to all sinners, that none may expect pardon without it.”
Second, repentance is not a condition that we fulfill in order to get or obtain forgiveness. It is true that repentance precedes or comes before forgiveness, so that God forgives us after—not before—we repent, but that does not make repentance a condition for forgiveness. A condition is not something that comes before another thing, but a condition is something that we must do upon which the obtaining of something depends. If repentance were a condition, it would be something which we must do upon which the forgiveness of our sins depends. But that is impossible because God gives us repentance, he works repentance in us, and when we repent, he forgives our sins. Repentance is not our contribution to salvation on which it depends, but it is part of the gracious salvation that God gives to us: it flows from election (the fountain of every saving good) and is purchased for us on the cross. If it is part of salvation, it cannot also be a condition to salvation.
If God forgave our sins without repentance or before we repented, he would be communicating to us that sin does not matter. We might conclude that God approves of our sin, and it would even encourage us to continue in sin. “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11). “Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). God has joined forgiveness and repentance—and we may not separate them. God will not forgive the person who does not repent. Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Justification, which is not the same thing as forgiveness, is by faith alone without works; and repentance is not a work that we perform in order to obtain any blessing from God.
One final thing: why does Jesus call his disciples to preach repentance and remission after his resurrection from the dead? Why is this to be the focus of the apostles’ preaching post-Pentecost? Jesus grounds the call to repent in the mercy of God. Christ has come, and he has suffered: he suffered the death of the cross to make full atonement and complete satisfaction for sins: that gives the judicial or legal basis for the forgiveness of our sins. God forgives sins not because we do good works, not because we obey, not because we repent, and not even because we believe. God forgives sins because Jesus had paid the penalty for sins. And Christ has risen again: if not, we would still be in our sins, for a dead Christ cannot give to us eternal life. Thus, says Jesus, these things (repentance and remission) must be preached in my name, in the name of the Savior who has purchased forgiveness of sins for his people on the cross by his sufferings and death.
That is why we repent: because we know God’s mercy in Jesus Christ. There would be no point in having a change of mind about sin if there were no mercy for penitent sinners. No sinner turns from sin to God unless he knows that God is merciful in the cross of Jesus Christ. That is why we change our mind, and why we turn—we seek the mercy that we know God has for penitent sinners. Without the knowledge of God’s mercy, we would never repent. We would flee from God in fear, dread, and terror. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7). He will pardon because Christ has suffered and has risen again from the dead the third day. What a wonderful message of gracious salvation to miserable sinners!
]]>These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:44-48).
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Third, we speak of justification by faith alone: God justifies us by faith alone without works when we believe in Jesus Christ. The ground or basis of our justification is the perfect lifelong obedience of Jesus Christ, as well as his atoning sufferings and death. In one word, Scripture calls that Christ’s righteousness. We are not justified on the basis of our righteousness, whether our good works, our faith, or our repentance. We are justified on the basis of Christ’s righteousness alone. “God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ” (Heidelberg Catechism A 60). “Only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God” (A 61). “Jesus Christ, imputing to us all his merits and so many holy works which he has done for us and in our stead, is our righteousness” (Belgic Confession Art. 22). “The obedience of Christ crucified alone… is sufficient to cover all our iniquities and to give us confidence in approaching to God” (Belgic 23).
How, then, do we become partakers of Christ’s perfect righteousness so that it becomes ours? God imputes it to us or he reckons it to our account by faith. The instrument or means of justification is faith, not works. Faith is the only appropriating instrument: we are not justified by working, or by repenting, but by believing. “But what doth it profit thee that thou believest all this? That I am righteous in Christ, before God, and an heir of eternal life… inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a believing heart” (Q&A 59, A 60). “I cannot receive and apply the same to myself any other way than by faith only” (A 61). Justification by faith alone is the chief way in which Scripture and the creeds speak of justification.
If we have been justified, our sins have been forgiven. Yet even after justification we commit sin. When that happens, we do not need—strictly speaking—to be justified again (although we might use that terminology); we need to be forgiven. We need to be forgiven in our consciousness concerning particular sins so that we know God’s forgiveness and are assured of it. Or to use Jesus’ illustration “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit” (John 13:10). We are washed—we have had a bath, as it were (or we are justified by faith)—and when we get our feet dirty as we walk through this world, we do not need to be justified again; we need to be forgiven.
The Canons distinguish between the state of justification and the forgiveness of particular sins. We learn this especially in Head Five. When a believer (who has already been justified) commits a gross transgression of God’s law he “incurs a deadly guilt” (Canons 5:5); yet Canons 5:6 says that such a believer “does not forfeit the state of justification.” As far as his status before God is concerned, he is justified—unchangeably so—but as far as that particular sin is concerned he is guilty, he knows himself to be guilty, he comes under God’s chastisement, and he needs to be forgiven, forgiven in his own consciousness. He needs to hear God say about that particular sin, “I forgive you, my child; I put away—I send away, I let go of—your sin.” And there are times when God withholds that word of pardon from his children to chastise them, to show them the seriousness of their transgressions, and to teach them the bitterness of his fatherly anger. The Westminster Confession 11:5 is strikingly similar to the Canons at this point: “God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified; and although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may by their sins fall under God's fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance”
An impenitent child of God is miserable until “God certainly and effectually renews him to repentance, to a sincere and godly sorrow for his sin, that he (the believer) may seek and obtain remission (forgiveness) in the blood of the Mediator” (Canons 5:7). That was David’s experience and confession: he was justified before God (that was his state); yet when he committed the gross sins of adultery and murder God’s hand lay heavy upon him, and he had no peace of conscience. How miserable David was until he repented! How miserable we are when we walk impenitently in sin! Canons 5:5 shows us the path that God has ordained for us: “[And they] sometimes lose the sense of God’s favor for a time, until, on their returning into the right way of serious repentance, the light of God’s fatherly countenance again shines upon them.”
God willing, next time we want to examine more closely the relationship between repentance and the remission of sins.
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To arrive at an accurate conception of the operation of the will of God, we cannot proceed from the meaning of the word grace in our everyday usage of the term, nor even from its usage in Holy Scripture. We must study specific terms and the use of words, but it must be done with great care. We always run into the danger of arguing from something in man to what is in God. That is the re- verse order. We must work theologically. God Himself determines the character of His will, grace, love, hate, wrath, and so forth. But it is also true that we know nothing definite about God apart from God’s revelation in Scripture. And so we must have a clearly defined idea of God and the operation of His will, which we get from God’s self-revelation, before we say anything at all. Such submission to the same Word of God’s revelation must also be present when we consider election by His grace, and the accompanying reprobation of His wrath, because both are the operation of His eternal will.
The word grace in Scripture has the meaning of beauty, pleasantness, goodness, benevolence, favor, helpfulness. It also means bowing down, giving of thanks, and showing unrestrained guilt- forgiving love for the unworthy. These meanings are found in the ancient and modern languages that come into consideration in our present study. The last meaning of the word for grace, show- ing unrestrained guilt-forgiving love for the unworthy, does not actually have that meaning outside of the New Testament, but in Scripture that meaning stands on the foreground, especially in the epistles of Paul. It is then contrasted with such concepts as law, work, duty, and reward.
The word sometimes has similar meanings in our modern languages. The Latin word gratia, from gratus (gratifying), and likely related to the Greek charis (in the sense of “glad,” or “favor,” or “gracious”), has approximately the same meaning. In Psalm 45, ac- cording to the metrical version, we sing this in regard to Israel’s king: “Supremely fair Thou art,/ Thy lips with grace o’erflow;/ His richest blessings evermore /doth God on Thee bestow.” It refers to the appealing appearance of this King, given by God in His grace. According to Ephesians 2:8, we are saved by grace, and not by our works of the law.
Also the Dutch language speaks of a gracious figure, of being in the favor of some one, of being king by the grace of God, or of being an artist by the grace of God. It refers to asking favor, granting, making grace available, as well as gratifying or gratification. In the English we also speak of grace as gratitude; in the Dutch we use gaarne (willingly), graag (gladly), and begeeren (desirable); in the German gerne; and in the Italian grazia (thanks). All of these translations can be used for the Greek charis (grace). These various meanings of the word tell us that grace is rich in content.
But this is by no means sufficient to reach an accurate concept of the grace of God. Indeed, we are not dealing with the use of the word grace, but with the idea of grace—grace as it is in God. Regardless of that, in determining the concept of grace we must emphatically take note of the use that is made of the word in Holy Scripture, the translations of God’s Word, the confessions, the liturgical forms, the metrical version of the Psalms, the works of Reformed theologians, and our own usage; and we must take note of many related words, such as benevolence, mercy, compassion, patience, kindness, pity, and (though the word is rarely used) endurance. Compare, for example, Hos. 2:22; Rom. 9:23, 25; 1 Pet. 2:10; 2 Pet. 3:9, 15; James 5:7, 11; Rom. 3:25; and the metrical version of the Psalms: 6 verse 1; 24 verse 3; 25 verses 3–6, 8, 9; 36 verse 2; 51 verse 1; 77 verses 5–7; 79 verse 4; 86 verse 3; 89; 95; 99; and 103;[11] and the Baptism Form. This comparative study will enable us to see that the same concrete idea is expressed by all these words, and many others, even though it is true that each of these words, some with interchangeable meanings, usually shows us the rich grace of God from a particular viewpoint and in a special relationship.
A study of all sorts of words, terms, and figures that deal with reprobation, such as hate, wrath, anger, and rage, must obviously still be added. This twofold revelation of God’s will (electing grace and reprobating wrath) must be carried through in regard to their object, their historical development, and their eternal result.
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