Category Archives: Galatians

On the Death of an Infant: “She is not lost to you who is found to Christ.”

27 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Charles Hodge, Charles Spurgeon, Galatians, John MacArthur, Ministry, Samuel Rutherford

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This is from a short address I gave on what happens when babies die?

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What happens when an infant dies? That child stands before the Lord with glory and honor as a joint heir of Christ. How can I say this? Because God is good and Christ died for sinners. The 19th Century Princeton theologian, Charles Hodge explained in his Systematic Theology: “[A]ccording to the common doctrine of evangelical Protestants [] all who die in infancy are saved.”
Hodge explains that the death of Christ, according to Romans 5:18-19, undoes the work of death wrought by Adam:
We have no right to put any limit on these general terms, except what the Bible itself places on them. The Scriptures nowhere exclude any class of infants, baptized or unbaptized, born in Christian or in heathen lands, from the benefits of the redemption of Christ.
In short, Jesus saves infants.
This doctrine is quite dear to me. At nine months of age, my first son died. He had a seizure late at night, then his heart stopped and his breathing stopped. He died while his mother held him. The paramedics came, and despite their best efforts, his heart would not start again. A few hours later, as the sun came-up, a man came to our house and laid a sheet on the floor of my son’s bedroom. He took the body of myson, laid him in the middle of the cloth and wrapped him like a package and then carried him away.

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If Galatians Were Published in Christianity Today

07 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by in Galatians

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Dear Christianity Today:

In response to Paul D. Apostle’s article about the Galatian church in your January issue, I have to say how appalled I am by the unchristian tone of this hit piece. Why the negativity? Has he been to the Galatian church recently? I happen to know some of the people at that church, and they are the most loving, caring people I’ve ever met.

Phyllis Snodgrass; Ann Arbor, MI

Read the whole thing:
http://sacredsandwich.com/archives/2781

Thomas Manton on Psalm 119.1b

01 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Faith, Galatians, Obedience, Preaching, Psalms, Thomas Manton, Uncategorized

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The previous post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/thomas-manton-on-psalm-119-1-a/

The second doctrine Manton sets forth from Psalm119:1 is “That sincere, constant, uniform obedience to God’s law is the only way to true blessedness.” He derives this doctrine from the present participle “walk”, “in this way we must walk, which notes both uniformity and constancy”.

To walk must be in accord with some rule. The way in which must walk is the law of God, “First, The rule is the law of God. All created beings have a rule. Christ’s human nature was the highest of all creatures, and yet it is to be in subjection to God; he is under a rule.”

Here Maton makes a striking observation, the rule of inanimate creatures is a rule of covenant, “Inanimate creatures, sun, moon, stars, are under a law of providence, under a covenant of night and day”.

This rule must most especially apply to those redeemed of God. Hebrews 8:10 quotes the promise of the New Covenant from Jeremiah 31:

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Now if the promise of the New Covenant is to have the law of God written on one’s heart, the law must be a blessing to know,. As Manton writes,

If the law might be disannulled as to new creatures, then why doth the Spirit of God write it with such legible characters in their hearts? This is promised as the great blessing of the covenant of grace, Heb. 8:10. Now, that which the Spirit engraves upon the heart, would Christ come to deface and abolish? The law was written upon tables of stone, and the great work of the Spirit is to write it upon the table of the heart;

If we are to follow the rule we must not fall too short, nor overshoot the mark.

Not short. There are many false rules with which men please themselves, and are but so many byways that lead us off from our own happiness. For instance, good meaning, that is a false rule; the world lives by guess and devout aims. But if good meaning were a rule, a man may oppose the interest of Christ, destroy his servants, and all upon good meaning: John 16:2, ‘Those that kill you will think they do God good service

Neither may we overshoot the mark:

That we may not act over. There is a superstitious and apocryphal holiness which is contrary to a genuine and scriptural holiness, yea, destructive to it: it is like the concubine to the wife: it draws away respects due to the true religion. Now, what is this kind of holiness? It is a temporary flesh-pleasing religion, which consists in a conformity to outward rites and ceremonies and external mortifications,

If there must be obedience, then let be such obedience as will bring blessing. “If you would be blessed, there must be a sincere, constant, uniform obedience. The will of God must not only be known but practised.”

How can such obedience be perfect?

Then, sincere obedience is required: ‘Blessed is the undefiled in the way.’ At first hearing of these words, a man might reply, Oh, then, none can be blessed, if that be the qualification; ‘for who can say, My heart is clean?’ Prov. 20:9. I answer—This undefiledness is to be understood according to the tenor of the second covenant, which doth not exclude the mercy of God and the justification of penitent sinners;

What does this mean in practice?

Ps. 84:11, ‘The Lord will be a sun and a shield’, &c. To whom? ‘To those that walk uprightly.’ This is possible enough; here is no ground of despair. This is that will lead us to blessedness, when we are troubled for our failings, and there is a diligent exercise in the purification of our hearts.

Such obedience must be constant, and it must be as to all things which God commands: we cannot chose this and ignore that.

To what use can we put this knowledge:

To show you that carnal men live as if they sought misery rather than happiness: Prov. 8:36, ‘He that sins against me wrongs his own soul; all that hate me love death.’ If a man were travelling to York, who would say his aim was to come to London? Do these men pursue happiness that walk in such defilement?

Also, if we will be blessed, we must take the law of God for our rule.

Take the law of God for your rule. Study the mind of God, and know the way to heaven, and keep exactly in it. It is an argument of sincerity when a man is careful to practise all that he knows, and to be inquisitive to know more, even the whole will of God, and when the heart is held under awe of God’s word.

We must also take the Spirit as our guide:

Take the Spirit of God for your guide. We can never walk in God’s way without the conduct of God’s Spirit. We must not only have a way, but a voice to direct us when we are wandering.

The work of obedience runs contrary to the course of this world. To aim for a constant sincere obedience, to walk in the law of the Lord will bring difficulty and discouragement. We will not be able to past through discouragement if we walk only by faith, “The promises for your encouragement. If you look elsewhere, and live by sense, and not by faith, you shall have discouragements enough.”

Moreover, the difficulties of obedience will be disorienting; we will loss our way unless with an unmoving mark at which to aim:

Fix the glory of God for your aim; else it is but a carnal course. The spiritual life is a living to God, Gal. 2:20, when he is made the end of every action. You have a journey to take, and whether you sleep or wake, your journey is still a-going. As in a ship, whether men sit, lie, or walk, whether they eat or sleep, the ship holds on its course, and makes towards its port; so you all are going into another world, either to heaven or hell, the broad or the narrow way.

If we go on at all

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Faith, Galatians, John, Philippians, Union With Christ, William Romaine

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It is easy to forget that all the Christian life must and can be only in Christ — in union and comunion with him. We forget this because we easily fall to the idea that our life is a doing of some-thing or other as a bare act, which, if performed, satisfies God. Such thoughts dishonor our Lord and suffocate our faith.

Sin suffuses through the entire human life, because sin — in one aspect — is the absence of the life of God. The human being without God is twisted, unnatural, sullen, without true hope or love. Redemption is to be in Christ.

Consider Paul’s words here; note the language to “be found in him”:

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Phil. 3:7-11. Or in Colossians 3, our life is with Christ in God: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). Our Paul writes elsewhere: our life is now the life of Christ in us: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20.

The Christian life can never be a life without Christ, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).

Sin is death necessarily. The death does not lie in the bare action — it lies in the Godlessness of sin. The Sahara desert has many attributes – especially that it contains no water. One dies of thirst in the desert, not because one does not move hand to mouth, open in the mouth and swallow. One dies because there is no water. Without water, the action is lifeless; it is a charade, a parody of drinking. Without God, even our best acts can never be more than parodies of life.

Yes it is worse to not do “good works” — and yet such good works will fall short of the beauty they were meant to convey:

VII. Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands, and of good use both to themselves and others; yet, because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith; nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word; nor to a right end, the glory of God; they are therefore sinful and can not please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God. And yet their neglect of them is more sinful, and displeasing unto God.

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 16.

In short, our life must be in and through Christ. Our life must be in love and fellowship of union and communion — and that union and communion can be only be conveyed and received by means of a lively faith. As Romaine writes

“If we go on at all, it is by communion with him. We can receive only out of his fulness, grace for grace, to make us willing and able to go forward. Our fellowship with him is in every part and in every moment of our walk, and this is as necessary as our fellowship with the air and elements of this world is to every thing that concerns our natural walk. Our wisdom to guide our steps, our progress in the way, our courage and strength, our warfare and victory, every grace and every blessing is received by faith, and is the effect of our communion with Jehovah Jesus. We trust in his word, we rely on his arm, we wait on his faithfulness, and so go forward; for he makes good what he had promised to give us in our walk, which confirms the peace of God, establishes our hearts in his love, increases our faith, and thereby makes our daily walk more comfortable to us, and more glorious to him.”

William Romaine “Treatises on the life, walk, and triumph of faith.”

Holiness is Premised Upon a New Identity

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in 1 Peter, Ben Witherington III, Church History, Galatians, John Wesley, Puritan, Repentance

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Witherington writes of 1 Peter 1:22:

The basis of Christian community and brother/sisterhood is conversion, not patriarchy or ethnicity. What Elliot [a commentator on 1 Peter] misses altogether is that the fatherhood of God as here enunciated has nothing to do with propping up patriarchy in the physical family’s household or in the empire. It has to do with the intimate relationship of God with Christ in the first place and with those who are in Christ in the second place….Here we see the connection between love and holiness: love, if it is to be real and sincere and wholehearted must be pure and coming from a pure heart. Conversion leads to holiness which produces love in the believer, though the converse is also true — loving sanctifies the lover. Thus, Wesley stressed that holiness was a loving of God with whole heart and neighbor as self.

Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians, vol. 2, 110.

Love and holiness must flow from a right understanding of oneself, the other and God. The love and holiness commended and commanded, flows out of an understanding of one’s primary identity flowing from conversion — the new life in Christ:

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Gal. 3:27-29. Our new status in Christ overcomes and supplants our prior status as determined by our culture. In Christ, our new status dictates love for one-another, based upon the love of God for us and thus our love for others (1 John 3).

The discussion concerning Propoganda’s “Precious Puritans” seems in some places to have missed this point. That slaveholding based upon kidnapping was (and is) a grave sin cannot be denied. That we must understand that even men and women otherwise as careful Christians as the Puritans failed miserably in this respect must be admitted.

Here is the point which is missing in much (though not all) of the discussion. The premise of the discussion has been that the Puritans somehow more belong to Christians of European descent than to Christians of African descent (largely marked by skin — what is to be thought of Christians of descent from more than one place is not clear). Yet, as Peter and Paul make clear, the Puritans are more closely related to Propoganda than the African slaves who did not know Christ.

And the matter works in the direction: the African slaves belong to the Christians of European descent. First, there is only one race (Acts 17:26). Thus, when a man with white skin sees a slave with black skin, he must think, like me. Those who were enslaved where my family; that they differ from me in skin color tells me nothing more than members of a family may differ in skin color. Second, Jesus explains that when we come across the weak we must see them as Christ. Matthew 25:40. And while this applies most plainly to those who are in Christ; it is difficult to think of one who is more “least of these” than a man or woman enslaved – bought and sold like a chair or a cow. One should shudder at the wickedness of such disregard for the image of God.

Thus, the entire premise of much of the discussion is wrong. The slaves belong to us all, because we are all related in Adam. There is only one race. Second, the Puritans belong to all Christians. In short, my brothers and sisters (in Adam and often in Christ) were enslaved by my brothers and sisters (in Adam and often in Christ). Thus, even though my skin is white, when I see men and women enslaved, I must think my family, at least in Adam if not also in Christ. And when a man with black sin sees a slaveholder, he must think my family; at least in Adam, if not also in Christ.

One final point: The parable should frighten us all. That Christians could catch their culture sin so grotesquely means that we all stand in danger of catching our culture (1 Peter 1:18; Rom. 12:1-2). Were the Puritans to come to us, what sins would we be blindly accepting as somehow normal and acceptable. What of Christians from some other time or place: how deeply would they see our sin and shudder and wonder how anyone could be a Christian and sin so blindly.

This is not to make the sin of slaveholding less onerous; quite the contrary. Rather, we must own the sin more deeply. The fact that much of the discussion presumes that slaves belong more to the Africans and the slaveholders belong more to the Europeans shows how little even Christians have moved. To see the slaves and slaveholders as ours should only cause us to see the horror of the slavery with greater clarity — and spur us on to greater love.

We realize too little how conversion, how new birth has made us different, has made us new in Christ. This lack of understanding necessarily defeats our love and thus our holiness.

Here are some places to get started in looking through the Precious Puritan discussions:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/2012/10/02/the-puritans-are-not-that-precious/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2012/10/historical-heroes-and-precious-puritans/

Of Communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Part 2, Chapter 3d.2 (Christ as the only husband).

29 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by in 1 John, Biblical Counseling, Desire, Discipleship, Fellowship, Galatians, John, John Owen, Mortification, Puritan

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It is not the doing which makes one right. Right standing with God in Jesus entails resting solely upon the Christ and counting solely in Christ’s righteousness. Owen explains that this trusting solely upon Christ is the basis of Christian communion with the Son:

 

The accepting of Christ by the will, as its only husband, Lord, and Savior. This is called “receiving” of Christ, John 1:12; and is not intended only for that solemn act whereby at first entrance we close with him, but also for the constant frame of the soul in abiding with him and owning of him as such. When the soul consents to take Christ on his own terms, to save him in his own way, (Romans 9:31, 32, 10:3, 4) and says, “Lord, I would have had thee and salvation in my way, that it might have been partly of mine endeavors, and as it were by the works of the law; I am now willing to receive thee and to be saved in thy way, — merely by grace: and though I would have walked according is my own mind, yet now I wholly give up myself to be ruled by thy Spirit: for in thee have I righteousness and strength, (Isaiah 45:24) in thee am I justified and do glory;” — then does it carry on communion with Christ as to the grace of his person. This it is to receive the Lord Jesus in his comeliness and eminency.

 

Here is the numb of the matter with the Galatian church:

 

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Galatians 3:1–7 (ESV)

 

The particular action is not the point: God is in no need of obedience, as if we could ever add any good to God by obeying. He did not need the sacrifices, nor does he need our good works. All things will glorify him – even the wicked.

Let Every Man Keep Sentinel

18 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Galatians

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We sometimes can falsely believe that our regeneration has placed into a position where our former sin can no longer solicit, no longer beg for a hearing, no longer seduce. We will not continue in obedience if we fail to recognize that indwelling sin, remnant sin remains with the believer. This does not mean that we may not grow in holiness: indeed, we must and will. And yet, our life between conversion does not instantly evaporate (as much as we wish it could):

Character is a growth. Looked at in the light of what had just taken place at Jerusalem, Peter’s conduct in refusing to eat with the Gentiles would seem to be incredible; but regarded in the light of what we know of his previous history, there is, after all, something sadly natural about the position which he took up. It is not the rough nature that is always the bravest, though it may be most rash in some of its deeds and sayings. Peter did not possess the refinement, the delicacy, and the keen sensibilities which characterised Paul; and, though he was far more demonstrative, he was far less enduring in his courage. Once let the slumbering resolutions of his nature be aroused, and he could strike some deadly blow, or even die; but he could not plod on, and be patient, and live as could Paul. This incident at Antioch is in strange, sad harmony with previous events in his history. He walked on the water, but immediately his fear made him begin to sink. He affirmed his willingness to die for Christ, and soon after was found following “afar off.” He smote a man with his sword to show his zeal on behalf of his Master; but, ere a few hours had passed, he had denied that Master thrice. He had spoken boldly, plainly, forcibly in the church assembly at Jerusalem about the rights of the Gentiles to all the privileges of the Gospel; but, when old friends came on the scene at Antioch, he was found playing the coward. Doubtless these paralysing influences were at length shaken off; and we know enough of Peter to be sure that in the main he was true to his faith and his Saviour. *But what a lesson may we learn, if we will, about ourselves! Our worse self follows us through life, as much as in Peter’s case the habit of cursing and swearing—learned, perhaps, in fisher days long gone by—came back when he vehemently denied his Master. Grace does not, in the strictest sense, re-create men; but it regenerates them, and pours life-giving streams of spiritual energy over the old faculties, dispositions, and affections. It is with the soul as with the earth on which we live: fires slumber beneath, which circumstances may fan into a terrible flame. We bring, alas! our evil tendencies with us into the kingdom of God, to be curbed, restrained, overcome by higher and Divine tendencies. Let every man keep sentinel over himself; let him beware of old sins; let him guard his soul by prayer against attacks on his weak points; let him cast aside every weight, if he would run the true race, whose goal is perfection.

Samuel Pearson, Sermons on the Epistle to the Galatians: Old Thoughts for New Times (London: James Clarke & Co.; Hodder & Stoughton, 1874), 41-42.

Sowing and Reaping

12 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by in Galatians, Hosea

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Hosea 10:

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
13 You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors,
14 therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

Galatians 6:

6 One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Not Only Spiritual But

06 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by in Galatians

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It is clichéd to speak of a “personal relationship” with Jesus – and yet, such a transformative personal relationship is the thing which lies at the heart of being a “Christian”.  Discipleship is to become like him. But at heart, the matter of being a Christian is the matter of relationship; it is the matter of communion and fellowship with the Father, and with the Son as made possible by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Samuel Pearson explains how many things short of the actual true new life can be had and held and yet be short of true life in Christ:

It is pre-eminently a Christian doctrine, though the word is often used to express changes of a superficial or temporal character. And it is Christian in this sense, that it is expressive of a change that has special reference to Christ Jesus. A man may be convinced of the error of his religious opinions, may see that his ecclesiastical position is untenable, or may, after years of scepticism and doubt, be brought to believe that the Gospel is a supernatural revelation given by God. Yet in these cases the change will be but intellectual, having reference, doubtless, to spiritual truths; but to spiritual truths expressed and defined in intellectual and rational forms. When, however, the nature trembles in love towards Christ, and the warm rays of Divine mercy penetrate into the very depths of the soul, then the change is of a very different character. The conversion is in this case pre-eminently Christian; it is not only intellectual, but moral; not only moral, but spiritual; not only spiritual, but it involves a new relationship, which enables the man to hold communion with God, and thus to possess eternal life.

Samuel Pearson, Sermons on the Epistle to the Galatians: Old Thoughts for New Times (London: James Clarke & Co.; Hodder & Stoughton, 1874), 25-26. Perhaps one reason so much of professing Christianity looks like something far from Christianity is that so few people who call themselves Christians have ever met the Christ, much less hold communion with him.

They Buried Themselves

21 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Galatians

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O what fatal ravages had sin already made in their hearts! That God, whose favour and presence they had hitherto enjoyed, now became an object of terror and alarm. They fled from Him! They buried themselves amidst the thick shades of the garden! They could not support His look! What a deadly thing is sin! How it separates from God, thrusts the sinner away from Him, and inflicts terror upon the conscience! Thus Peter trembled; “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” And thus Isaiah exclaimed, when the glory of the Lord was revealed to him (Isaiah 6:5:) “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell among a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Hosts!” From the fatal moment when man ate the forbidden fruit, all his sinful offspring have by nature instinctively dreaded a Holy God. See, my brethren, the immediate consequences of transgression! See our first parents hiding their guilty heads amidst the trees of the garden, and learn from that humbling sight the dreadful nature of sin!

 

Francis Close, The Book of Genesis Considered and Illustrated in a Series of Historical Discourses, Preached in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Cheltenham (London: Thomas Arnold, Paternoster-Row, 1841), 31-32.