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Edward Taylor, Meditation 31, Begraced by Glory.5

14 Sunday Feb 2021

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Stanza 5

By me all lost, by thee all are regained.

All things are thus fall’n now into thy hand.

And thou steep’st in thy blood what sin had stained

That th’stains and poisons may not therein stand.

And having stuck thy grace o’re all the same (35)

Thou giv’st it as a glorious gift again.

Summary: The eschatology of Christianity is both personal and universal; it is both in time and beyond time. The time before the Fall is brought forward into eternity. The tree of life which was lost in the Fall in the Garden is in the New Heavens and New Earth. (Rev. 22:2) The rivers of Eden return as the River of Life. (Rev. 22:1) What was had – and lost – is given “as a glorious gift again.” There is also the person eschatology: The damage done by sin is remedied by blood of Christ – which is both a healing gift of grace, and what makes the poet fit to receive grace.

Notes:

By me all lost, by thee all are regained.

This language of “all” comes directly from motto for this poem, “All things are yours .. the world or life or death or the present or the future”. This theme of “all” played a substantial element of Puritan theology. Thomas Watson wrote an entire book on the subject, “The Christian’s Charter.” Often this “all things” is contrasted at length with good which we can have in this world: goods which do not keep. So for instance, George Swinnock, in chapters 14 & 15 of The Fading of the Flesh, contrasts the difference between what is had the graceless and gracious (one who has received grace) in this world and the different between the sinner’s and the saint’s portion in the life to come. 

The all received by grace is not merely the consummation of the world and a life to come. It is a thing present now in this life. 

A passage by Thomas Brooks may help to understand what is regained:

O sirs! if God be your portion, 

then every promise in the book of God is yours, 

and every attribute in the book of God is yours, 

and every privilege in the book of God is yours, 

and every comfort in the book of God is yours, 

and every blessing in the book of God is yours, 

and every treasury in the book of God is yours, 

and every mercy in the book of God is yours, 

and every ordinance in the book of God is yours, 

and every sweet in the book of God is yours; 

if God be yours, all is yours.

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 66.

All things are thus fall’n now into thy hand.

There is an irony in this line: in the fall all was lost; but now through the reversal of sin and death by Christ suffering death for others sin, and thus the “all” falls into his hands.

And thou steep’st in thy blood what sin had stained

That th’stains and poisons may not therein stand.

There has been an irony in Christian imagery that the blood of Christ washes the sinner clean. A much later song which became well-known through the Salvation Army’s use:

Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

The perhaps the most direct biblical allusions which line behind this line

Isaiah 1:18 (AV)

18 Come now, and let us reason together, 

saith the LORD: 

though your sins be as scarlet, 

they shall be as white as snow; 

though they be red like crimson, 

they shall be as wool.

There is also the imagery of the sacrifice which runs through the Bible. What is always so strange of these passages is how something can be cleansed with blood? Blood would never make anything clean. 

Taylor explains that the sin which has stained his life is removed by means of the blood shed, because the blood takes the place of the sin stained.  The garment becomes so soaked in blood that there is no room for the poison and stains

There is an implied image of the thing being cleansed being a garment. The image of the garment being cleansed is present in certain rules concerning being unclean, but perhaps is most directly taken from Jude 18, “the garment spotted by the flesh.”

And having stuck thy grace o’re all the same (35)

Thou giv’st it as a glorious gift again.

The restored garment – the restoration of the entire life – is given back to Taylor as a gift. One relationship here is found in the return of the Prodigal Son. The son who has hatefully rebelled against his father and lost his inheritance returns home to hope for the life of a servant is given a glorious robe and invited to a feast. 

This also is similar to the imagery of Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian is given glorious clothing to make his new life. 

Also note that the grace conveys “glory”. The hope of the Christian is glorious, but is also glory:

1 Peter 1:3–9 (AV)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Thus, while the renovation of the Creation will be glorious, there also will be glory of each individual. We will become glorious. In the Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis wrote, ““the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.” 

Union with Christ

One final note on this stanza is the blood which is graciously given which makes him fit to receive the grace. Blood is as intimate as could exist. Moreover, the life is in the blood. Lev. 11:17. The is this life blood which works the transformation. His identification as being covered in this blood is the gracious condition which makes “all yours.”

Musical:

And thou STeep’Tt in thy blood what Sin had STained

That th’STains and poiSonS may not therein STtand.

And having STuck thy Grace o’re all the Same (35)

Thou Giv’ST it as a Glorious Gift aGain.

The repetition of the sounds as noted, tied these lines together. 

The scansion has some interesting features:

and thou STEEP’ST in THY BLOOD what SIN had STAINED

that TH’STAINS and POIsons may NOT therein STAND

and having STUCK thy GRACE o’re ALL the SAME

THOU GIV’ST it as a GLORious GIFT aGAIN

The accents tracks the alliteration, so that each underscores the other. Thus, the rhythm and the sounds each seek to press the emphasis on meaning of the words. 

Edward Taylor, Meditation 31, Begraced by Glory.5

12 Friday Feb 2021

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Stanza 5:

What e’re we want, we cannot cry for, nay, (25)

If that we could, we could not have it thus. 

The angels can’t devise, nor yet convey

Help in their gold pipes from God to us.

But thou my Lord (heart leap for joy and sing)

Hast done the deed: and’t makes the heavens ring. (30)

Summary: The poet undertakes an interesting distance from himself throughout this poem. First, he has been operating from an interesting psychological point of view because he sees himself addicted helpless to sin and simultaneously sees himself from the outside as some sort of loathsome beast. He is an addict who cannot put down the needle and who in the same moment wretches for the vile creature he has become. 

In this stanza the looks to find some relief, but knows it is impossible:

We e’re want [that is, whatever it is we lack] we cannot cry for.

There is something we need but there is no way to fulfill this need: we cannot even cry for it.

We cannot look to angels, because we need is from God, and angels cannot convey this to us. Only God himself can do so – and has done so. This unwarranted and unobtained benefit is a cause for joy.

Notes:

We cannot cry: Crying out in distress is the refrain of the book of Judges. The people of Israel repeatedly turn to idolatry. In response, God leaves them to their unfriendly neighbors. The Israelites then cry out to God, who in turn says them. In the beginning of chapter 2 (the book is not chronological), the Angel of the Lord “went up from Gilgal to Bochim.” Bochim is a Hebrew word which means “weeping.”  The Angel tells the people that since they have refused to keep their covenant with God, God will no longer hear their cries and defend them. 

Later in Judges 10:14, God again confronts the people who have turned from him. “God and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”

Taylor seems to have an illusion to these passages: I am so deeply embedded in sin that I cannot cry for help. In particular, the end of line 26 underscores this point: our cry – were able to make such a cry would be of no use, “we cannot have it thus.”

The Angels cannot convey: Even though angels are given as “ministering spirits set out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14) there are limits on the help they can convey. 

The degree help needed by Taylor in his state of sin exceeds the assistance of angels. The lack of the human being in the state of sin exceeds some external aid. The language used to describe the condition of sin speaks to an irremediable condition.  

The angels are said to have conveyed the law (Heb. 2:2, “the message declared by angels”). This seems to put something into human hands, but “by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

The “golden pipes” of the angels in end only could convey knowledge of guilt.

But thou my Lord … hast done the deed: This speaks to the work of Jesus who destroyed sin and death, and him who had the power of death (Heb. 2:14). 

 Heart leap for joy and sing … “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I will say rejoice.” (Phil. 4:4)

And’t makes the heavens ring: “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Heb. 1:6. 

Psalms 118:23-24

This is the Lord’s doing

It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day the Lord has made

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Musical

What e’re we want, we cannot cry for, nay

If that we could, we could not have it thus.

These lines have an interesting rhetorical structure: A conditional, followed by an unconditional rejection: Whatever it is we need, we cannot have it. And even if we could have it, we cannot. The structure of the clauses is held together by the repetition of the word “we”: we want, we cannot cry, we could, we could. 

This is an example of anaphora: http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/A/anaphora.htm

Edward Taylor, 28th Meditation.5

13 Tuesday Oct 2020

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Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?: The Samaritan Woman encounters Christ at the Well of ...
Paolo Veronese: Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well.

In this last stanza, Taylor shifts the metaphor slightly. Now rather than wine from a cask it is water in a spring. Just as he never directly uses the word “wine,” but rather makes the allusion, here he never uses the word “water.”

The concept of water is apparent from the words “font,” “sea,” “spring,” and to a lesser extent “flow.” The dispersion of the grace from God to Taylor is still one of great to small: a “sea” of grace which “drops” into a “vessel.” The vessel is still “earthen.” 

But here there is something new. The intake of the grace results in dispersion of the grace from Taylor, “Spring up O well. My cup with grace make flow.” The grace which comes to him is not stagnant, but flows out. 

Finally, there is one additional new movement: The reception of grace itself becomes praise: “They drops will on my vessel sing thy praise.” And finally, this will become the basis for Taylor’s praise, “I’ll sing this song, when these drops embrace.” This actually makes for an interesting move in Taylor’s poetry: As he works through a matter, we realize that the poem is not the recollection of some earlier event but is itself the working through the difficulty with God. The poem in the end is the praise which he is seeking to bring at the beginning. 

My earthen vessel make thy font also:

And let thy sea my spring of grace in’t raise

Spring up O well. My cup with grace make flow.

They drops will on my vessel sing thy praise.

I’ll sing this song, when these drops embrace.

My vessel now’s a vessel of thy grace.

In making this movement to the reception and then dispersal of grace under the image of water, Taylor is again mining the Gospel of John. There are two places in John which distinctly makes this move. The first is in John 4, where Jesus sits with the Samaritan woman at the well. He asks her for drink of water. She says the well is deep, and I have nothing to draw water. He then turns the question on her and says, she should ask him for living water:

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 

John 4:11–15. This is precisely the position of Taylor: He wants that living water. He knows that if he has this water, the water will well up within him so that he becomes a spring of the water:

My earthen vessel make thy font also:

And let thy sea my spring of grace in’t raise

Spring up O well. My cup with grace make flow.

He wants to become a font of the grace: it flows into and then through him.

The next source for Taylor’s imagery is found in John 7:

37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) 

John 7:37–39. Again, water flows in and then through. However, on this instance, the imagery is further complicated by introduction of the new element of the Spirit. 

Thus, in this accumulation and complication of imagery, Taylor is not operating in the “normal” vein of a poet who carefully develops a single image. But he is mining his source text for imagery concepts and is not operating in a manner contrary to John’s Gospel.

The final element in the poem comes from the final scene in John’s Gospel. When the Risen Christ appears to the Disciples, Thomas is not present and famously doubts. But when Thomas himself meets Jesus, Thomas praises, “My Lord and my God!” John 20:28.

Edward Taylor, 28th Meditation.3

08 Thursday Oct 2020

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Thou, thou my Lord, art full, top full of Grace,

The golden sea of grace whose springs thence come

And precious drills, boiling in every place.

Untap they cask and let my cup catch some

Although it is in an earthen vessel’s case

Let it no empty vessel be of grace.

This stanza begins with two stressed syllables separated by a pause: THOU — THOU my LORD…. The emphasis thus falls most heavily upon the addressee. This functions almost as a new invocation: he has asked to fill him, and here he repeats and makes even more emphatic the call for grace. 

In the second half of the line, Taylor does something similar where he repeats “full” with an emphasis falling on the second full (which is not merely full, but is “top full”). 

Although it is a “fault” with the line, it ends with an emphasized “grace”. The fault is that Taylor has put 6 stresses in a 5 stress line. Yet even though it is a technical fault, it helps underscore the desire of the poet. I truly need this. 

The second line smooths out with a fine alliteration of “g” from the end of the first line: grace … golden … grace.

The springs are rising up from the depth of the sea: the sea is so completely filled with grace, and grace wells-up continually so that the surface is “boiling” with rising streams of grace. And so matches the nature of the gospel of our grace: Our need is continual, but the grace of God in Jesus Christ is greater, inexhaustible. No matter the depth of our need, it cannot begin to exhaust the supply. 

A hymn has it

Grace, grace, God’s grace

Grace that is greater than all our sin.

The theology which underlies Taylor’s prayer in this poem: his own inability and need vs. Christ’s inexhaustive grace owes much to Luther’s statement in the Heidelberg Disputations no 18, “It is certain that one must utterly despair of oneself in order to be made fit to receive the grace of Christ.” Whether Taylor ever read the disputations, I do not know. But the theology set forth there was much developed by Lutheran and Reformed theologians and showed up theology which Taylor would have known.

He then uses the image of a cask filled with wine: He asks that the cask be tapped and that the grace flow into the empty, earthen vessel, until it is full:

Untap they cask and let my cup catch some

Although it is in an earthen vessel’s case

Let it no empty vessel be of grace.

Thomas Shepherd, Is Your Obedience “Evangelical” or “Legal”

03 Saturday Oct 2020

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In The Parable of the Ten Virgin, Thomas Shepherd asks the question of  how to discern whether we are “married to the law instead of to Christ.” The understanding of this question gets to the matter of what the Puritans called “evangelical obedience.”  This concept seems paradoxical: if we are saved by grace, and if we are not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6:14), then why would one such as Shepherd write, “When I speak of being married to the law instead of Christ, I do not hereby exempt yourselves from obedient to the law after you are in Christ?” (36)

He starts with the question of how do we respond when we are tempted and fall into sin. First, assume you have been troubled by sin, “what hath cheered thee?” How do you find relief for a subjective sense for the damage of sin. (36-37) 

Let us say you think to yourself, “”I have forsaken them, and cast out Jonah, and there has been a calm.” If so, you are reliant upon the law for your peace of mind.

Or if you fall into sin again, how do you calm your conscience? “I have repented and been sorry for them and purposed to do no more.” But that still is not reliance upon Christ, “This is the life of the law still.”

What if the sin has been unshakeable, habitual, “you find sins prevailing againt you, and you cannot part with them”?  Well, my “desire is good” and my heart has been resolved against them. “This desire is but a work of the law.” 

What if you say, “I have trusted Christ.” The answer, “You have done it.”

The proposition, “As obedience to the law done by the power of Christ an evangelical work, so to perform any evangelical work from a man’s self is a legal work.” (37)

This obviously is not a comprehensive answer, but it does put us in the right direction.

Richard Sibbes Sermons on Canticles, Sermon 2.5 Encouragement to Rejoice

20 Thursday Jun 2019

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The previous post on this sermon may be found here

He then concludes with the use of this doctrine that the graces, the worship of the Church is accepted (“Christ’s acceptation”). 

First, as it common in Sibbes he notes the comfort and encouragement this brings:

Use 1. If so be that God accepts the performances and graces, especially the prayers of his children, let it be an argument to encourage us to be much in all holy duties. 

Sibbes then makes an interesting observation about human psychology and motivation:

It would dead the heart of any man to perform service where it should not be accepted, and the eye turned aside, not vouchsafing a gracious look upon it. This would be a killing of all comfortable endeavours. 

As I consider this observation, it may be that a tacit belief that our prayer has been valueless weakens our resolve to pray. And that, perhaps, stems from a defective theology and understanding of prayer:

James 4:3 (AV)

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Sibbes makes a related observation about why our prayers misfire:

But when all that is good is accepted, and what is amiss is pardoned, when a broken desire, a cup of cold water shall not go unrespected, nay, unrewarded, Mat. 10:42, what can we desire more? It is infidelity which is dishonourable to God and uncomfortable to ourselves, that makes us so barren and cold in duties.

Sibbes then comes to the second observation — which is related to his questioning of why our worship may “fail.” If we do hope to have our worship acceptable, then our lives must be kept clear of sin:

Use 2. Only let our care be to approve our hearts unto Christ. When our hearts are right, we cannot but think comfortably of Christ. Those that have offended some great persons are afraid, when they hear from them, because they think they are in a state displeasing to them. So a soul that is under the guilt of any sin is so far from thinking that God accepts of it, that it looks to hear nothing from him but some message of anger and displeasure. But one that preserves acquaintance, due distance, and respect to a great person, hears from him with comfort. Before he breaks open a letter, or sees anything, he supposes it comes from a friend, one that loves him. So, as we would desire to hear nothing but good news from heaven, and acceptation of all that we do, let us be careful to preserve ourselves in a good estate, or else our souls will tremble upon any discovery of God’s wrath. The guilty conscience argues, what can God shew to me, being such a wretch? The heart of such an one cannot but misgive, as, where peace is made, it will speak comfort. It is said of Daniel that he was a man of God’s desires, Dan. 9:23; 10:11, 19; and of St John, that Christ so loved him that he leaned on his breast, John 21:20. Every one cannot be a Daniel, nor one that leans on Christ’s bosom. There are degrees of favour and love; but there is no child of God but he is beloved and accepted of him in some degree. 

In the worship of the temple, there were various rules which dealt with “uncleanness”, those things which kept one from being able to come worship. When one was unclean, there were rituals prescribed which permitted the worship to be cleaned and thus come into the fellowship of worship. 

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul writes about coming to the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner: 

1 Corinthians 11:27–34 (AV)

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

But with Christ there is always the offer of pardon and being made clean to enter into his presence:

1 John 1:5–10 (AV)

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

At this point, Sibbes but cannot help offer more encouragement to come to Christ.  He does this by referring to something from the previous chapter:

But something of this before in the former chapter.

‘I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,’ &c.

God not only accepts us, but delights in us:

That is, I have taken contentment in thy graces, together with acceptation. There is a delight, and God not only accepts, but he delights in the graces of his children. ‘All my delight,’ saith David, ‘is in those that are excellent,’ Ps. 16:3. But this is not all, Christ comes with an enlargement of what he finds.

He explains that Christ is the means by which the believer receives the blessing of God. All spiritual blessing is in Christ. The Spirit then communicates that blessing to those in union with Christ. And as that communion takes place, the capacity for the communion increases:

Those that have communion with Christ, therefore, have a comfortable communion, being sure to have it enlarged, for ‘to him that hath shall be given,’ Mat. 25:29. 

And then there is the promise of future good when Christ comes at last:

It is not only true of his last coming, when he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, ‘I come, and my reward is with me,’ Rev. 22:12, but also of all his intermediate comings that are between. 

Here is the real wonder: Christ accepts us and then lavishes good upon us. If we were permitted to visit the president or a king or queen or some other “important” person, we would think the honor of being accepted into their company honor enough. But when we come to Christ, he gives us his company and showers good upon us — and increases our capacity to receive the good:

When he comes to the soul, he comes not only to accept what is there, but still with his reward with him, the increase of grace, to recompense all that is good with the increase thereof. This made his presence so desired in the gospel with those that had gracious hearts. They knew all was the better for Christ, the company the better, for he never left any house or table where he was, but there was an increase of comfort, and of grace. And as it was in his personal, so it is in his spiritual presence. He never comes, but he increases grace and comfort.

What do we do with such information? We use it as encouragement to come to Christ:

Therefore, let us be stirred up to have communion with Christ, by this motive, that thus we shall have an increase of a further measure of grace. Let us labour to be such as Christ may delight in, for our graces are honey and spices to him, and where he tastes sweetness he will bring more with him. 

Our present communion then fits us for future communion with him:

For, except there be a mutual joy in one another, there is not communion. Therefore Christ furnisheth his church with so much grace as is necessary for a state of absence here, that may fit her for communion with him for ever in heaven.

If we are receiving such good and comfort from Christ, how then should we respond? Joy. Paul says that we are to rejoice always. In what, that our name is written in the book of Life:

We ought to rejoice in the comforts and graces of others, and of ourselves.

He makes a subtle observation here: There are benefits we receive from the Spirit: (1) the grace he gives; and (2) the understanding, the realization of the grace he gives. It would be very disappointing to receive a great treasure and then never know that it was present. We become like Little-Faith of Pilgrim’s Progress who possessed a great jewel and yet lived in poverty, unless the Spirit give us knowledge of what we have:

He had need to stir her up to enjoy the comfort of her own grace; for they are two distinct benefits, to have grace, and to know that we have it, though one Spirit work both, 1 Cor. 2:12. The Spirit works grace, and shews us the things that God hath given us, yet sometimes it doth the one, and not the other. In the time of desertion and of temptation, we have grace, but we know it not; right to comfort, but we feel it not. There is no comfort of a secret, unknown treasure; but so it is with the church, she doth not always take notice of her own graces, and the right she hath to comfort.

We have need to have Christ’s Spirit to help us to know what good is in us. 

At this point, Sibbes gives instruction which saves us from morbid introspection. We must examine ourselves. Some fail in this duty altogether. Others inspect, but only to find sorrow and sores, infection and failing. Sibbes gives different counsel:

And indeed a Christian should not only examine his heart for the evil that is in him, to be humbled; but what good there is, that he may joy and be thankful. And since Christ accepts the very first fruits, the earnest, and delights in them, we should know what he delights in, that we may go boldly to him; considering that it is not of ourselves, but of Christ, whatsoever is graciously good. Therefore we ought to know our own graces; for Christ, when he will have us comfortable indeed, will discover to us what cause we have to rejoice, and shew us what is the work of his own Spirit, and our right to all comfort.

An introspection which can both see the need of repentance and the good grace of the Spirit’s work will improve rather than become discouraged.

And then we should look around and rejoice in the good work of God in other people, in other circumstances. We should look in Creation and rejoice and praise God for his good work. We should look to providence and give God glory for his provision and protection, There is a wealth of good lying about us in which we could rejoice, if we were to only look.

Look then at those around you. Give God glory for the repentance of our own sins and the sins of others; of the growing in grace in our heart and in others. Look to the sky and the sea and ground and rejoice at all that God has done. It is the Devil’s work to be discontented. It is the work of children to rejoice in their Father’s World.

 

Thomas Manton Sermon on Titus 2:11-14 1.3

21 Wednesday Nov 2018

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For the previous post on this sermon see here: 

DOCTRINE 2:

Hath appeared unto all men.—The word ἐπεφάνη, appeared, signifies it is broken out of a sudden, like a star, or like a light that was not seen before; and so it refers to the late manifestation of the gospel in the apostle’s days. Now on a sudden it broke out. So Luke 1:78, 79, ‘Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.’ It is meant of the breaking out of the gospel, as the day doth after a dark night; so here the word ἐπεφάνη implieth the same.
Doct. 2. That grace in the discoveries of the gospel hath shined out in a greater brightness than ever it did before.

This grace appeareth in the gospel; there and there only is it clearly manifested.
In the prosecution of this point I shall show—
1. What darkness there was as to the knowledge of grace before.
2. How much of grace is now discovered.

I. First, What a darkness there was before the eternal gospel was brought out of the bosom of God. There was a darkness both among Jews and Gentiles. In the greatest part of the world there was utter darkness as to the knowledge of grace, and in the church nothing but shadows and figures.

A. This grace was not known in the world, only a little of it was:

1. [Common Grace]: Ps. 33:5, ‘The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.’ Some inferior grace was made known to them in the creation and in the course of providence, by showers of rain and fruitful seasons, grace on this side heaven; but nothing of the secrets of God’s bosom, of the incarnation of God, of the expiation of sin by his death, of salvation by faith in the Mediator.

2. [Special Grace] This depends not upon the connection of natural causes, but the free pleasure of God; therefore the angels knew it not till it was revealed in the church. Eph. 3:10

a. The gentiles, by looking into the order of causes, could never find it out.

b. They might find a first being, and the chiefest good, but not a Christ, not a saviour;

c. Much of God may be seen in the known courses of nature, rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, but nothing of Christ. …Though he gave them not the gospel, yet he gave them the light of nature, and the looking-glass of the creatures.

B. To the Jews this grace began to dawn, but it was veiled in figures and shadows, that they could not see clearly….

1. Grace is opposed to the condemnation of the moral law, and truth to the shadows of the ceremonial law.

2. Christ’s offices, his benefices, his person, were but darkly propounded to them. Take but one place for all.

II. Secondly, What and how much of grace is now discovered? I answer—

A. The wisdom of grace. The gospel is a mere riddle to carnal reason, a great mystery: 1 Tim. 3:16, ‘Great is the mystery of godliness.’

1. There we read of God and man brought together, and justice and mercy brought together by the contrivance of grace; here only we see this mystery, that is without controversy great, for these things could not come into the heads of any creatures.

2. If angels and men had been put to study, and set down their way of reconciliation to God, how it should be, they could never have thought of such a remedy as the bringing of God and man together in the person of Christ, and justice and mercy together by the blood and satisfaction of Christ; this came out of no breast but God; he brought the secret out of his own bosom. …

3. When God redeemed the world, he had a greater work to do than to make the world at first. The object of creation was pure nothing, but then, as there was no help, so no hindrance; but now, in redemption, there was sin to be taken away, and that was worse than anything.

B. We discern the freeness of grace in the gospel, both in giving and accepting.

1. Whatever God doth is a gift, and what we do, it is accepted of grace. In giving there is a great deal of grace made known there. The Lord doth all freely: John 1:16, ‘And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace;’ that is, for grace’s sake he gives Christ, gives faith, gives pardon; he gives the condition as well as the blessing.

2. Certainly now we have to do with a God of grace, who sits upon a throne of grace, that he might bestow freely

3. Under the law it was figured out by the mercy-seat between the cherubims, from whence God was giving out answers; but there the high priest could enter but once a year, and the way within the veil was not fully made manifest, Heb. 9:8. There was a throne of grace then, but more God’s tribunal of justice; there was smoke and thundering about his throne; but now let us draw near that we may obtain grace, take all freely out of God’s hand.

C. The efficacy and power of grace is discovered in the gospel. Christ sendeth his Spirit to apply what he himself hath purchased. One person comes to merit, and the other to accomplish the fruit of his merit. Mark, to stop the course of grace, divine justice did not only put in an impediment, but there was our infidelity that hindered the application of that which Christ was to merit; and therefore, as the second person is to satisfy God, so the third person is to work upon us. There was a double hindrance against the business of our salvation—God’s justice, for the glory of God was to be repaired, therefore Christ was to merit; and there was our unbelief, therefore the Spirit must come and apply it. First, Christ suffered, and when he was ascended, then was the Spirit poured out. Had it not been for the gospel, we should never have known the efficacy and power of grace.

D. We are acquainted with the largeness and bounty of grace.

1. The benefits that come by Christ were not so clearly revealed in the law; there was no type that I know of which figured union with Christ.

2. The blood of Christ was figured by the blood of bulls and goats, justification by the fleeing away of the scape-goat, sanctification by the water of purification.

3. But now eternal life is rarely mentioned in express terms;

a. sometimes it is shadowed out in the promise of inheriting the land of Canaan, as hell is by going into captivity; but otherwise it is seldom mentioned: 2 Tim. 1:10, ‘But now it is made manifest’ (speaking of the grace of God) ‘by the appearing of our Saviour Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.’

b. The gentiles had but glimmerings and gross fancies about the future state.

c. Life and immortality was never known to the purpose till Christ came in the flesh; and therefore heaven is as sparingly mentioned in the Old Testament as temporal blessings are in the new.

d. In the New Testament we hear much of the cross, of sufferings, and afflictions. Why? Because there is much of heaven discovered. The eternal reward is strong enough, but temporals are not of consideration. Carnal men are of a temper quite contrary to the gospel; they could be content to be under the old dispensation, to have temporal blessings, and let God keep heaven to himself.

But this is the great privilege of the gospel, that life and immortality, the blessed hope, the eternal recompenses are now mentioned so expressly, and propounded to our desires and hopes.

E. In the gospel we learn the sureness of grace. God will no more be disappointed; the whole business lies without us, in other hands. In the first covenant, our salvation was committed to the indeterminate freedom of man’s will; but now Christ is both a redeemer and a surety.

Thomas Manton Sermon on Titus 2:11-14 1.2

19 Monday Nov 2018

Posted by in Puritan, Thomas Manton, Titus, Uncategorized

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The first post on this sermon may be found here: 

Part Two: Use

I. Use 1. To persuade us, if grace be the cause of all the good we enjoy, not to wrong grace.

A. Why? For this is to close and stop up the fountain; yea, to make grace our enemy; and if grace be our enemy, who shall plead for us?

B. But how do we wrong grace? I answer—five ways—

1. By neglecting the offers of grace. Such make God speak in vain, and to spend his best arguments to no purpose: 2 Cor. 6:1,

a. It is a great affront you put upon God to despise him when he speaks in the still voice. Look, as when David had sent a courteous message to Nabal, and he returns a churlish answer, it put him in a fury: 1 Sam. 25:34,

b. It may be you do not return a rough and churlish answer, and are not scorners and opposers of the word, but you slight God’s sweetest message, when he comes in the sweetest and mildest way. … It is great salvation that is offered; there is an offer of pardon and eternal life, but it worketh not if you neglect it. There is a sort of men that do not openly deny, reject, or persecute the gospel, but they receive it carelessly, and are no more moved with it than with a story of golden mountains, or rubies or diamonds fallen from heaven in a night-dream. You make God spend his best arguments in vain if you neglect this grace.

….They do not absolutely deny, but make excuse; they do not say, non placet, but non vacant—they are not at leisure; and this made the king angry. When all things are ready, and God sets forth the treasures and riches of his grace, and men will not bethink themselves, their hearts are not ready. How will this make God angry? Such kind of neglecters are said to ‘judge themselves unworthy of eternal life,’ Acts 13:46. …Grace comes to save them, and God makes them an offer as though they were worthy; and they judge themselves unworthy, and plainly declare they were altogether not worthy of this grace.

2. Another sort of men that wrong grace are those that refuse grace out of legal dejection.

(a) Many poor creatures are so vile in their own eyes that they think it impossible they should ever find favour in God’s eyes. Oh! but consider, cannot the riches of grace save? When God shall set himself on purpose to glorify grace to the full, cannot it make thee accepted? Wherefore doth God bring creatures to see their unworthiness, but that grace might be the more glorious? Grace would not be so much grace if the creature were not so unworthy; therefore you should be glad you have your hearts at that advantage, to be sensible of your own vileness.

(b) It is a wrong to grace if you do not fly to it; you straiten the riches and darken the glory of it. It is as if an emperor’s revenue could not discharge a beggar’s debt. …
Take heed of slighting the grace of God; it is God’s treasure: so far as you lessen grace, you make God a poor God. Mark that expression, Eph. 2:4, ‘God, who is rich in mercy.’ God is lord of all things, but he counts nothing to be his treasure but his goodness and mercy. He doth not say, rich in power, though he is able to do beyond what we can ask or think; nor rich in justice, though he be righteous in all his ways and just in all his works; nor doth he say rich in creatures, though his are the cattle of a thousand hills; but rich in mercy. Therefore take heed of straitening mercy, for so far you lessen God’s wealth and treasure.

3. Grace is wronged by intercepting the glory of grace.

(a) It is the greatest sacrilege that can be to rob God of his glory, especially the glory of his grace.

(b) Grace is wronged also when you are puffed up with anything you have done for God, as if it were done by your own power and strength.

(c) So, when we have done anything for the glory of God, let us send for God to take the honour.

4. Grace is wronged by turning it into wantonness.

(a) It is a heavy charge, and a black note is set on them: Jude 4, ‘Ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness;’ …It is a mighty wrong to grace when we make it pliable to such a vile purpose.

(b) You dishonour God and disparage grace when you would make it to father the bastards of your own carnal hearts. You are vile and sinful, and you are so under the encouragements of grace, and the rather because of the abundance of grace; and, like the spider, suck poison out of the flower, and turn it into the nourishment of your lust;

( c) Grace giveth no such liberty to sin. This is done grievously by the Antinomians, who say grace gives them freedom from the moral law. It is true, grace makes us free, but to duty, not to sin.

(d) A man hath never the more carnal liberty for being acquainted with the gospel. This is the great thing which puts us upon duty and watchfulness, and melts the heart for sin, and awes it, and disposeth it to obedience.

5. Grace is wronged by slighting it after a taste, as carnal professors do: 1 Peter 2:3, ‘If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.’

(a) A man hath at first a taste, that he may have trial how sweet the ways of God are. Now, if after trial, you are not satisfied, but make choice of the world again, it is a mighty wrong and contempt you put upon grace; for you do as it were declare and pronounce that you have made trial, and upon experience have found the pleasures and profits of the world are better than all the comforts that flowed from the grace of God.

(b) The whole aim of the word is to persuade men to make trial of the sweetness of grace: Ps. 34:8, ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good,’ and that his grace is good. But now your experience is a flat negative and contradiction to the word, and you do as it were say, I have made trial, and I find no such sweetness in it. None wrong grace so much as they that have tasted of grace, and yet have turned aside to the profits and pleasures of the world again, and grow weary after some strictness of profession.

II. Use 2. To press you to glorify grace.

A. This is the glory God expects from you. ..Certainly he that is a partaker of it must needs be most affected with it. Let us see a little what cause we have to praise God, above the angels, and above other men.

1. Above the angels. I do not mean the bad angels, with whom God entered not into treaty; he dealeth with them in justice, not in grace; but even the good angels. …

(a) In some respects we have more cause to bless God than even the good angels…. It is true God hath been exceeding good and bountiful to the angels, in creating them out of nothing, that they are the courtiers of heaven; but mark how good and gracious he is to us above them. The angels never offended him, but he is bountiful and gracious to us, notwithstanding the demerits of our sin; his wronged justice interposed and put in a bar, yet grace breaks out, and is manifested to us unworthy creatures.

2. Above other men.

(a) There is a common and inferior sort of grace, which is made known to all the world. [“Common grace”]

(b) The whole earth is full of his goodness, but this grace that bringeth salvation, that is peculiar to the elect, to a few poor base creatures in themselves, a little handful whom God hath chosen out of the world.’’

But when God comes to look among the sons of men, many times he chooseth the most crabbed pieces, and calls them with a holy calling, according to the purpose of his grace. It is a wonder sometimes to see how grace makes the difference between two persons involved in the same guilt. Justice can make no separation; when men are in a like case, they must look for the same judgment; but grace makes a great separation. Many of God’s elect are as deep in sin as those now in hell, yet God makes a difference. Both the good and bad thief were involved in the same condemnation, yet one is taken into paradise, and the other went unto his own place. Thus praise and glorify grace.

Hypergrace is not Grace

13 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by in Sanctification, Theology, Uncategorized

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(This are some notes for a lecture in Chile on the matter of “hypergrace” — hence the Spanish Bible translations)

The pattern throughout Scripture is that God rescues and redeems his people, then God transforms the life of his people through the Word and Spirit of God. Thus, while good works never save; we are in fact saved to good works. This understanding is a key to pastoral work, to biblical counseling, and is a hallmark of Reformed Theology.

Unfortunately, there is a movement in place – again – to claim that salvation means it does not matter if we sin. This argument has been around in various guises throughout Church History. On common version of the argument claims that since we are saved by Grace, and we are not under the Law, that the commands of the Bible do not pertain to us.

This is completely false. It is a dangerous lie. It misrepresents God. It also misrepresents the godo work of many men who have labored in the Scripture to help us understand and to live godly lives.

Before we take a close look at some texts, I would like to provide you a series of quotations from the Scripture and from some of the giants of Reformation theology. We can make these notes available to you.

If we are going to examine this issue, let’s start with the Ten Commandments. God has rescued and redeemed His people from Egypt. He has brought them to Mount Sinai. He then begins to speak:

20:1 Y habló Dios todas estas palabras, diciendo:
20:2 Yo soy Jehová tu Dios, que te saqué de la tierra de Egipto, de casa de servidumbre.
20:3 No tendrás dioses ajenos delante de mí.

Ex. 20:1-3. Notice the order: I saved you. Therefore, and God gives his commandments. The grace of salvation came before the grace of commandment.

When we look to the Psalms, we see how often the law of God is praised:

Psalm 1:

1:1 Bienaventurado el varón que no anduvo en consejo de malos,
Ni estuvo en camino de pecadores,
Ni en silla de escarnecedores se ha sentado;
1:2 Sino que en la ley de Jehová está su delicia,
Y en su ley medita de día y de noche.

Psalm 19:

19:7 La ley de Jehová es perfecta, que convierte el alma;
El testimonio de Jehová es fiel, que hace sabio al sencillo.
19:8 Los mandamientos de Jehová son rectos, que alegran el corazón;
El precepto de Jehová es puro, que alumbra los ojos.
Psalm 119:

119:9 ¿Con qué limpiará el joven su camino?
Con guardar tu palabra.

119:33 Enséñame, oh Jehová, el camino de tus estatutos,
Y lo guardaré hasta el fin.

119:60 Me apresuré y no me retardé
En guardar tus mandamientos.

119:97 ¡Oh, cuánto amo yo tu ley!
Todo el día es ella mi meditación.

119:145 Clamé con todo mi corazón; respóndeme, Jehová,
Y guardaré tus estatutos.

We could read this entire Psalm. Nearly every verse praises the law of God.

But, someone will say, that is in the Old Testament. Okay. Take a look at Jeremiah 31. In this chapter God promises that he will make a New Covenant – the Covenant under which we now live. Look at this promise God makes for the New Covenant:

31:33 Pero este es el pacto que haré con la casa de Israel después de aquellos días, dice Jehová: Daré mi ley en su mente, y la escribiré en su corazón; y yo seré a ellos por Dios, y ellos me serán por pueblo.
And look at what Jesus says as he goes to the cross:

Juan 14:15:

14:15 Si me amáis, guardad mis mandamientos.

15:14 Vosotros sois mis amigos, si hacéis lo que yo os mando.

15:17 Esto os mando: Que os améis unos a otros.

And what of the Apostles. Paul, writing to Christians says:

Romans

6:1 ¿Qué, pues, diremos? ¿Perseveraremos en el pecado para que la gracia abunde?
6:2 En ninguna manera. Porque los que hemos muerto al pecado, ¿cómo viviremos aún en él?
6:3 ¿O no sabéis que todos los que hemos sido bautizados en Cristo Jesús, hemos sido bautizados en su muerte?
6:4 Porque somos sepultados juntamente con él para muerte por el bautismo, a fin de que como Cristo resucitó de los muertos por la gloria del Padre, así también nosotros andemos en vida nueva.

8:12 Así que, hermanos, deudores somos, no a la carne, para que vivamos conforme a la carne;
8:13 porque si vivís conforme a la carne, moriréis; mas si por el Espíritu hacéis morir las obras de la carne, viviréis.

1 Corinthians:

5:9 Os he escrito por carta, que no os juntéis con los fornicarios;
5:10 no absolutamente con los fornicarios de este mundo, o con los avaros, o con los ladrones, o con los idólatras; pues en tal caso os sería necesario salir del mundo.
5:11 Más bien os escribí que no os juntéis con ninguno que, llamándose hermano, fuere fornicario, o avaro, o idólatra, o maldiciente, o borracho, o ladrón; con el tal ni aun comáis.
5:12 Porque ¿qué razón tendría yo para juzgar a los que están fuera? ¿No juzgáis vosotros a los que están dentro?
5:13 Porque a los que están fuera, Dios juzgará. Quitad, pues, a ese perverso de entre vosotros.
Ephesians

2:8 Porque por gracia sois salvos por medio de la fe; y esto no de vosotros, pues es don de Dios;
2:9 no por obras, para que nadie se gloríe.
2:10 Porque somos hechura suya, creados en Cristo Jesús para buenas obras, las cuales Dios preparó de antemano para que anduviésemos en ellas.

Salvation by grace leads to Good Works.

5:3 Pero fornicación y toda inmundicia, o avaricia, ni aun se nombre entre vosotros, como conviene a santos;
5:4 ni palabras deshonestas, ni necedades, ni truhanerías, que no convienen, sino antes bien acciones de gracias.
5:5 Porque sabéis esto, que ningún fornicario, o inmundo, o avaro, que es idólatra, tiene herencia en el reino de Cristo y de Dios.

Or Paul, in Colossians, again writing to redeemed believers, saved by grace:

3:5 Haced morir, pues, lo terrenal en vosotros: fornicación, impureza, pasiones desordenadas, malos deseos y avaricia, que es idolatría;
3:6 cosas por las cuales la ira de Dios viene sobre los hijos de desobediencia,
3:7 en las cuales vosotros también anduvisteis en otro tiempo cuando vivíais en ellas.

1 Thessalonians

4:2 Porque ya sabéis qué instrucciones os dimos por el Señor Jesús;
4:3 pues la voluntad de Dios es vuestra santificación; que os apartéis de fornicación;

Titus:

2:11 Porque la gracia de Dios se ha manifestado para salvación a todos los hombres,
2:12 enseñándonos que, renunciando a la impiedad y a los deseos mundanos, vivamos en este siglo sobria, justa y piadosamente,
2:13 aguardando la esperanza bienaventurada y la manifestación gloriosa de nuestro gran Dios y Salvador Jesucristo,
2:14 quien se dio a sí mismo por nosotros para redimirnos de toda iniquidad y purificar para sí un pueblo propio, celoso de buenas obras.

Hebrews:

12:14 Seguid la paz con todos, y la santidad, sin la cual nadie verá al Señor.

Peter writing to Christians in 1 Peter:

1:14 como hijos obedientes, no os conforméis a los deseos que antes teníais estando en vuestra ignorancia;
1:15 sino, como aquel que os llamó es santo, sed también vosotros santos en toda vuestra manera de vivir;
1:16 porque escrito está: Sed santos, porque yo soy santo.

In fact, in 2 Peter, Peter writes of those who make prey of you and seek to lead you away from obedience to the truth:

2:1 Pero hubo también falsos profetas entre el pueblo, como habrá entre vosotros falsos maestros, que introducirán encubiertamente herejías destructoras, y aun negarán al Señor que los rescató, atrayendo sobre sí mismos destrucción repentina.
2:2 Y muchos seguirán sus disoluciones, por causa de los cuales el camino de la verdad será blasfemado,
2:3 y por avaricia harán mercadería de vosotros con palabras fingidas. Sobre los tales ya de largo tiempo la condenación no se tarda, y su perdición no se duerme.

And finally the Apostle John, writing to believers, in 1 John:

1:5 Este es el mensaje que hemos oído de él, y os anunciamos: Dios es luz, y no hay ningunas tinieblas en él.
1:6 Si decimos que tenemos comunión con él, y andamos en tinieblas, mentimos, y no practicamos la verdad;
1:7 pero si andamos en luz, como él está en luz, tenemos comunión unos con otros, y la sangre de Jesucristo su Hijo nos limpia de todo pecado.
1:8 Si decimos que no tenemos pecado, nos engañamos a nosotros mismos, y la verdad no está en nosotros.
1:9 Si confesamos nuestros pecados, él es fiel y justo para perdonar nuestros pecados, y limpiarnos de toda maldad.
1:10 Si decimos que no hemos pecado, le hacemos a él mentiroso, y su palabra no está en nosotros.

— We will come back to that text in a moment.

Now to the Reformers. Martin Luther stands at the head of the Reformation of the Christian Church. In 1529 Luther published his Large Catechism for the instruction of pastors. That catechism – writing specifically for redeemed pastors to teach redeemed saints – begins with an exposition of the Ten Commandments as directions for the Christian life.

In his commentary on Galatians, commenting on chapter 5, Luther writes:

The Apostle therefore earnestly exhorts the Christians to exercise themselves in good works, after that they have heard and received the pure doctrine of faith.

Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 487.

John Calvin in his commentary on Romans 6 calls the teaching that grace is something which gives us permission to sin to be a “slander” on “the doctrine of grace”

Throughout this chapter the Apostle proves, that they who imagine that gratuitous righteousness is given us by him, apart from newness of life, shamefully rend Christ asunder: nay, he goes further, and refers to this objection, — that there seems in this case to be an opportunity for the display of grace, if men continued fixed in sin. We indeed know that nothing is more natural than that the flesh should indulge itself under any excuse, and also that Satan should invent all kinds of slander, in order to discredit the doctrine of grace; which to him is by no means difficult.

John Calvin, Romans, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Ro 6:1. And commenting on Romans 8:13, Calvin writes:

It is indeed true, that we are justified in Christ through the mercy of God alone; but it is equally true and certain, that all who are justified are called by the Lord, that they may live worthy of their vocation.

John Calvin, Romans, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Ro 8:13.

The Heidelberg Confession of Faith is one of the three great Reformed confessions. We all have seen that when we are saved by grace, we called to do good works: not to become saved, but because we are saved. Well, what are good works. Question 91 of the confession answers that question:

Q. What are good works?
A. Only those which
are done out of true faith,
conform to God’s law,
and are done for God’s glory;
and not those based
on our own opinion
or human tradition.

Chapter 16 of the Westminster Confession of Faith also says that the good works required of Christians are good works done in obedience to God’s commands.

John Owen, the greatest Puritan theology wrote a master work to direct believers to kill sin. This work is called The Mortification of Sin in Believers.

It is our duty to be “perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” 2 Cor. 7:1; to be “growing in grace” every day, 1 Pet. 2:2, 2 Pet. 3:18; to be “renewing our inward man day by day,” 2 Cor. 4:16. Now, this cannot be done without the daily mortifying of sin. Sin sets its strength against every act of holiness, and against every degree we grow to. Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts. He who doth not kill sin in his way takes no steps towards his journey’s end. He who finds not opposition from it, and who sets not himself in every particular to its mortification, is at peace with it, not dying to it

John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 14. Owen specifically speaks of taking sinful impulses to the law to be killed:

For instance, when the heart finds sin at any time at work, seducing, forming imaginations to make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, it instantly apprehends sin, and brings it to the law of God and love of Christ, condemns it, follows it with execution to the uttermost

John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 32.

Christopher Love, another Puritan wrote, The Mortified Christian, which also speaks of killing sin, as did Thomas Wolfal.

The great reformed theology Berkof in his systematic theology writes that sanctification is first made to happen by using the Word of God – including the commandments in the Scripture:

Scripture presents all the objective conditions for holy exercises and acts. It serves to excite spiritual activity by presenting motives and inducements, and gives direction to it by prohibitions, exhortations, and examples, 1 Pet. 1:22; 2:2; 2 Pet. 1:4.

L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 535.

The German Lutheran theology Dietrich Bonhoeffer railed against the lie that grace is some magic which gives us freedom to sin. He called this “cheap grace” and said it is a denial of Chrisitianity:

Cheap grace is, thus, denial of God’s living word, denial of the incarnation[2] of the word of God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 43.

An Irrational Question (Romans 6:1)

14 Thursday Jun 2018

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Romans 6:1(ESV)

 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

Paul has developed the doctrine that (1) human beings are accountable to God; (2) that humans beings are rebellion against God, and that no good acts can atone for the rebellion; (3) but God has graciously made provision for our reconciliation by giving Christ in our place:

Romans 5:8–11 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This then leads to a possible conclusion: If God gets glory by graciously forgiving me of my sin, then would it not make sense to continue sinning so that God can continue to forgive with the result that he will bestow more grace and thus get more glory?

Paul answers the question with the Greek words, “μὴ γένοιτο”. It is difficult to get exactly the correct tone and translation: This is something that could not possibly be true, it is not a possible state of affairs — maybe better: “How irrational!” (I recall reading a book about the translation of the Bible. The author tells a story about translating this passage in a class in Britain. One student “adventurously” translated it, “not bloody likely” — which some of the feel.

Now Paul will provide a number of arguments for why sin is not a possible response to grace. But I want to draw out the sheer irrationality of that question. Sin from grace is reckless, thankless, evil, spiteful, a denial of forgiveness in the first place, illogical, unnecessary — but it is sheer irrationality at heart.

There is a passage in Bunyan’s Holy War which shows the irrationality of sin from grace. We come to a portion of the story where the Prince has retaken the Town of Mansoul, that had been in rebellion and under the sway of Diabolus. The rebel leaders are captured and brought to the Prince:

And thus was the manner of their going down. Captain Boanerges went with a guard before them, and Captain Conviction came behind, and the prisoners went down bound in chains in the midst; so, I say, the prisoners went in the midst, and the guard went with flying colours behind and before, but the prisoners went with drooping spirits. Or, more particularly, thus: The prisoners went down all in mourning; they put ropes upon themselves; they went on smiting themselves on the breasts, but durst not lift up their eyes to heaven. Thus they went out at the gate of Mansoul, till they came into the midst of the Prince’s army, the sight and glory of which did greatly heighten their affliction. Nor could they now longer forbear, but cry out aloud, O unhappy men! O wretched men of Mansoul! Their chains still mixing their dolorous notes with the cries of the prisoners, made noise more lamentable. f199 So, when they were come to the door of the Prince’s pavilion, they cast themselves prostrate upon the place. Then one went in and told his Lord that the prisoners were come down. The Prince then ascended a throne of state, and sent for the prisoners in; who when they came, did tremble before him, also they covered their faces with shame. Now as they drew near to the place where he sat, they threw themselves down before him.

When questioned, they admit their guilt, their inability to make restitution and the fact they deserve death. Then something wonderful happens:

Then the Prince called for the prisoners to come and to stand again before him, and they came and stood trembling. And he said unto them, The sins, trespasses, iniquities, that you, with the whole town of Mansoul, have from time to time committed against my Father and me, I have power and commandment from my Father to forgive to the town of Mansoul; and do forgive you accordingly. And having so said, he gave them written in parchment, and sealed with seven seals, a large and general pardon, commanding both my Lord Mayor, my Lord Will-be-will, and Mr. Recorder, to proclaim, and cause it to be proclaimed to-morrow by that the sun is up, throughout the whole town of Mansoul.

But forgiveness was not the end of the Prince’s pardon:

Moreover, the Prince stripped the prisoners of their mourning weeds, and gave them ‘beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness’ (Isa. 61: 3) Then he gave to each of the three, jewels of gold, and precious stones, and took away their ropes, and put chains of gold about their necks, and ear-rings in their ears. Now the prisoners, when they did hear the gracious words of Prince Emmanuel, and had beheld all that was done unto them, fainted almost quite away; for the grace, the benefit, the pardon, was sudden, glorious, and so big, that they were not able, without staggering, to stand up under it.

Having received grace, pardon, restoration and elevation from their Prince — against whom they willfully and shamefully rebelled — would it not be complete madness to think that further rebellion would be fitting? Rebellion after restoration would be the act of a madman.

If you were to receive a priceless gemstone and then were to take it and fling it into the ocean, you would accounted insane. It would be irrational to destroy great wealth. How much more irrational would it be for the forgiven prisoners to rush back into town and burn it down.  Sin is irrational in at all times. It thrice irrational to rebel against grace.