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John Newton On the Three Witnesses 1 John 5:10 [Annotated]

22 Monday May 2023

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This is letter 8 from “Forty One Letters on Religious Subjects. Comments are in italics. Outline markers are all added.

This letter concerns assurance of salvation. More particularly, what is the “witness” we have to this knowledge as referenced in 1 John 5:10. He states the issue thus:

Issue:  I readily offer you my thoughts on 1 John 5:10; “He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself;” though, perhaps, you will think I am writing a sermon, rather than a letter.

I.          Setting Up the Issue

A.         The Importance of the Topic

If we believe in the Son of God, whatever trials we may meet with in the present life, our best concerns are safe, and our happiness is sure. If we do not, whatever else we have, or seem to have, we are in a state of condemnation; and, living and dying so, must perish.

B.         Having stated the importance of the proposition, he sets forth the problem in two parts.

1.         What if we error in this knowledge?

Thousands, it is to be feared, persuade themselves that they are believers, though they cannot stand the test of Scripture. And there are many real believers, who, through the prevalence of remaining unbelief, and the temptations of Satan, form hard conclusions against themselves, though the Scripture speaks peace to them.

2.         How does this relate to the text?

But how does this correspond with the passage before us, which asserts universally, “He that believeth hath the witness in himself?” for can a man have the witness in himself, and yet not know it?

3.         The problem in ourselves: interpretation, not the text. The differences of opinions among Christians even to the point of error could result from a fault of the text or a fault of the reader. The “orthodox” position would be to put the fault in the reader. Newton takes that framework and applies to the question of this witness mentioned in 1 John 5:10. He affirms the witness and places any fault in the knowledge upon the one interpreting the text.

a.         It may be answered, the evidence, in its own nature, is sufficient and infallible; but we are very apt, when we would form a judgment of ourselves, to superadd rules and marks of trial, which are not given us (for that purpose) in the Bible.

i.          That the word and Spirit of God do witness for his children, is a point in which many are agreed, who are far from being agreed as to the nature and manner of that witness.

ii.         It is, therefore, very desirable, rightly to understand the evidence by which we are to judge whether we are believers or not.

II.        Examination of the Text

A.        Presentation of the Text in its Elements

The importance and truth of the Gospel salvation is witnessed to in heaven, by “the Father, the Word, and the Spirit.” It is witnessed to on earth by “the Spirit, the water, and the blood,” ver. 7, 8.

B.         Signification of the Terms

1.         The Spirit, in ver. 8, (I apprehend) denotes a Divine light in the understanding, communicated by the Spirit of God, enabling the soul to perceive and approve the truth.

2.         The water seems to intend the powerful influence of this knowledge and light in the work of sanctification.

 3.        And the blood, the application of the blood of Jesus to the conscience, relieving it from guilt and fear, and imparting a “peace which passes all understanding.”

C.         All Witnesses Must be Present

And he that believeth hath this united testimony of the Spirit, the water, and the blood; not by hearsay only, but in himself. According to the measure of his faith (for faith has various degrees), he has a living proof that the witness is true, by the effects wrought in his own heart.

III.       Where the Problem arises

One common fault of instruction is to simply state a proposition “the right way” and then expect someone to understand.  Careful instruction requires not merely making a correct presentation, but also explaining how misunderstanding or misapplication may occur. The most common faults are to be considered and resolved.

A.         The reason we face a difficulty with this passage is that we fail to require all of the witnesses to be present together.

1.         These things, which God has joined together, are too often attempted to be separated.

2.         Attempts of this kind have been a principal source and cause of most of the dangerous errors and mistakes which are to be found amongst professors of religion.

a.         Some say much concerning the Spirit; and lay claim to an inward light, whereby they think they know the things of God.

This was common among the Quakers. Contemporary examples of this often from Charismatic groups who claim to possess a unique revelation from God. We could see this also in the desire of many to obtain direct revelation as to what to do this or that situation. It is desire to have unmediated understanding of God; a revelation of the Spirit around the Word.

b.         Others lay great stress upon the water; maintaining a regular conversation, abstaining from the defilements of the world, and aiming at a mastery over their natural desires and tempers.

This is a sort of legalism which lays its weight upon behavior in isolation from a true adoption; works without faith or love. I don’t drink or chew and I don’t hang out with those who do.

c.         Both of these errors lead to a “Christianity” without Christian and without redemption.

But neither the one nor the other appear to be duly sensible of the value of the blood of atonement, as the sole ground of their acceptance, and the spring of their life and strength.

d.         Others, again, are all for the blood; can speak much of Jesus, and his blood and righteousness; though it does not appear that they are truly, spiritually enlightened to perceive the beauty and harmony of Gospel truths, or that they pay a due regard to that “holiness without which no man can see the Lord.”

These people are sometimes found under the banner of “free grace.” They believe they have been saved because they are imperfect. They want a savior who is not their Lord—which the confession of the Christian is Christ is Lord.

e.         Summary of the errors which follow from separating the witnesses

But Jesus came, not by water only, or by blood only, but by water and blood; and the Spirit bears witness to both, because the Spirit is truth.

i.          The water alone affords but a cold, starched form of godliness, destitute of that enlivening power which is derived from a knowledge of the preciousness of Jesus, as the Lamb that was slain.  [A narrow legalism]

ii.         And if any talk of the blood without the water, they do but turn the grace of God into licentiousness: [Grace is no excuse to sin.]

iii.        so, likewise, to pretend to the Spirit, and at the same time to have low thoughts of Jesus, is a delusion and vanity; for the true Spirit testifies and takes of his glory, and presents it to the soul. [Your own personal Jesus]

iv.        But the real believer receives the united testimony, and has the witness in himself that he does so.

B.         Conclusion

To have the witness in ourselves, is to have the truths that are declared in the Scripture revealed in our hearts.

III.       The Unity of the Witnesses Results in a Well-Founded Assurance of Salvation

This brings an experimental conviction, which may be safely depended on, “that we have received the grace of God in truth.”

A.         The Unity of Witnesses Comes from a True “Spiritual Perception”

A man born blind may believe that the sun is bright, upon the testimony of another; but, if he should obtain his sight, he would have the witness in himself. Believing springs from a sense and perception of the truths of the Gospel; and whoever hath this spiritual perception is a believer.

1.         This witness is given by the Spirit. This may seem a bit contradictory to his statement above concerning the one who seeks a witness of only the Spirit.  Such a witness of direct revelation around the Scripture, without sanctification is not a true revelation of the Spirit. Moreover, the Spirit is he who gives us an understanding of the Scripture which results in sanctification.

He has the witness in himself. He has received the Spirit: his understanding is enlightened, whereby he sees things to be as they are described in the word of God, respecting his own state by sin, and the utter impossibility of his obtaining relief by any other means than those proposed in the Gospel.

2.         The knowledge of these witnesses cannot be had around the revelation of God.

These things are hidden from us by nature.

3.         The complete revelation is needed so that we may avoid presumption or despair.

He has likewise received the blood. The knowledge of sin, and its demerits, if alone, would drive us to despair; but by the same light of the Spirit, Jesus is apprehended as a suitable and all-sufficient Saviour. All that is declared concerning his person, offices, love, sufferings, and obedience, is understood and approved. Here the wounded and weary souls find healing and rest.

B.        The knowledge afforded by these witnesses results in a transformed life. This may seem like a contradiction from proposition above that the life of behavioral change is not true knowledge. There is no contradiction, because behavioral transformation alone is not real sanctification. It may have some superficial behavioral correspondence. But bare behavior is never the telling mark. We are not saved by good works but for good works.  John Piper gives an illustration of a wife who presents his wife with flowers and then says I have done this out of duty. But flowers given as an unforced gesture arising from love is quite a different thing.

Then the Apostle’s language is adopted, “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” [Phil. 3:8 Newton here points to a correspondence in the doctrine between John and Paul.]

1.         He has likewise received the water, considered as the emblem of sanctification.

2.         Sanctification is a benefit of salvation

a.         To a believer, all that the Scripture teaches concerning the nature, beauty, and necessity of holiness, as a living principle in the heart, carries conviction and evidence.

b.         A deliverance from the power, as well as from the guilt of sin, appears to be an important and essential part of salvation.

c.         Notice that sanctification is offered as  a means to come to know and commune with God.

He sees his original and his proper happiness, that nothing less than communion with God and conformity to him, is worth his pursuit. And therefore he can say, “My soul thirsteth for thee: I delight in the law of God after the inward man.”

d.         Sanctification is a natural development of this three-fold knowledge:

In a word, his judgment and his choice are formed upon a new spiritual taste, derived from the written word, and correspondent with it, as the musical ear is adapted to relish harmony: so that what God has forbidden, appears hateful; what he has commanded, necessary; what he has promised, desirable; and what he has revealed, glorious.

C.         Conclusion

Whoever has these perceptions, has the witness in himself, that he has been taught of God, and believes in his Son.

IV.       Application

What then are the practical implications of this understanding of the passage?

A.         It is not a bare subjective knowledge

1.         If you think this explanation is agreeable to the Scripture, you will be satisfied that the witness spoken of in this passage, is very different from what some persons understand it to be.

2.         It is not an impulse, or strong persuasion, impressed upon us in a way of which we can give no account, that “we are the children of God,” and that our sins are freely forgiven: nor is the powerful application of a particular text of Scripture necessary to produce it: neither is it always connected with a very lively sensible comfort.

3.         While this subjective belief may be a result of a true witness, it is not the witness itself:

These things, in some persons and instances, may accompany the witness or testimony we are speaking of, but do not properly belong to it: and they may be, and often have been, counterfeited.

4.         But what I have described is inimitable and infallible; it is indubitably, as the magicians confessed of the miracles of Moses, the finger of God; as certainly the effect of his Divine power as the creation of the world.

B.         Not Everyone Will Experience Assurance

It is true, many who have this witness walk in darkness, and are harassed with many doubts and perplexities concerning their state:

C.         What is the Cause?

The trouble arises because they expect some preternatural evidence:

1.         but this is not because the witness is not sufficient to give them satisfaction, but because they do not account it so: being misled by the influence of self-will and a legal spirit, they overlook this evidence as too simple, and expect something extraordinary;

2.         at least, they think they cannot be right unless they are led in the same way in which the Lord has been pleased to lead others with whom they may have conversed.

D.        Do Not be Troubled That Not Everyone Experiences the Same Assurance

But the Lord the Spirit is sovereign and free in his operations: and though he gives to all, who are the subjects of his grace, the same views of sin, of themselves, and of the Saviour; yet, with respect to the circumstantials of his work, there is, as in the features of our faces, such an amazing variety, that perhaps no two persons can be found whose experiences have been exactly alike: but as the Apostle says, That “he that believeth,” that is, whosoever believeth (without exception), “has this witness in himself;” it must consequently arise from what is common to them all, and not from what is peculiar to a few.

V.         Final Observations

Before I conclude, I would make two or three observations.

A.         Justification Results in Sanctification

1.         In the first place, I think it is plain, that the supposition of a real believer’s living in sin, or taking encouragement from the Gospel so to do, is destitute of the least foundation in truth, and can proceed only from an ignorance of the subject.

2.         Justification causes one to hate sin

a.         Sin is the burden under which he groans; and he would account nothing short of a deliverance from it worthy the name of salvation.

b.         A principal part of his evidence that he is a believer, arises from that abhorrence of sin which he habitually feels. It is true, sin still dwelleth in him; but he loathes and resists it: upon this account he is in a state of continual warfare;

c.         if he was not so, he could not have the witness in himself, that he is born of God.

B.         A True Witness Will Affect Our Understanding of Scripture

1.         Again: From hence arises a solid evidence, that the Scripture is indeed the word of God, because it so exactly describes what is exemplified in the experience of all who are subjects of a work of grace.

2.         While we are in a natural state, it is to us as a sealed book: though we can read it, and perhaps assent to the facts, we can no more understand our own concernments in what we read, than if it was written in an unknown tongue. But when the mind is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the Scripture addresses us as it were by name, explains every difficulty under which we laboured, and proposes an adequate and effectual remedy for the relief of all our wants and fears.

C.         Subjective Assurance May not be Constant

1.         Lastly: It follows, that the hope of a believer is built upon a foundation that cannot be shaken, though it may and will be assaulted.

2.         It [assurance] does not depend upon occasional and changeable frames, upon any that is precarious and questionable, but upon a correspondence and agreement with the written word.

3.         [The subjective experience of assurance is not a bare logical argument.] Nor does this agreement depend upon a train of laboured arguments and deductions, but is self-evident, as light is to the eye, to every person who has a real participation of the grace of God. It is equally suited to all capacities.

1.         By this the unlearned are enabled to know their election of God, and “to rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

2.         And the wisest, if destitute of this perception, though they may be masters of all the external evidences of Christianity, and able to combat the cavils of infidels, can see no real beauty in the truths of the Gospel, nor derive any solid comfort from them.

I have only sent you a few hasty hints: it would be easy to enlarge; but I sat down, not to write a book, but a letter. May this inward witness preside with power in our hearts, to animate our hopes, and to mortify our corruptions!

I am, &c.

Some Advice on Reading the Bible from John Newton

05 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by in Hermeneutics, John Newton, Uncategorized

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In Letter IX in the collection entitled “Forty-One Letters”, John Newton answers the question from a young man concerning the doctrines of grace. What is most interesting in the letter is not Newton’s explication of the doctrines of grace per se, but rather his instruction on how to read the Bible.

First, Newton explains that we do not really understand anything if we can merely recite a creed or have a notional understanding of some theological propositions. For instance, I may know about the nature of the worship of a god by ancient Israelites, but I don’t really understand what those Israelites thought and felt in their worship — I can understand the outside, but I can’t feel and see what they felt and saw.

This truth is even more so when it comes to the knowledge of the true God. There is a level of apprehension which goes beyond mere emotional experience. As Newton writes:

We may become wise in notions, and so far masters of a system, or scheme of doctrine, as to be able to argue, object, and fight, in favour of our own hypothesis, by dint of application, and natural abilities; but we rightly understand what we say, and whereof we affirm, no farther than we have a spiritual perception of it wrought in our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is not, therefore, by noisy disputation, but by humble waiting upon God in prayer, and a careful perusal of his holy word, that we are to expect a satisfactory, experimental, and efficacious knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. I

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 188.

He then proceeds to list four guidelines for understanding the Scripture.

First, in handling difficult text or seeming obscure passages, rely upon the “analogy of faith”:

 there is a certain comprehensive view of scriptural truth, which opens hard places, solves objections, and happily reconciles, illustrates, and harmonizes many texts, which to those who have not this master-key, frequently styled the analogy of faith, appear little less than contradictory to each other. When you obtain this key, you will be sure that you have the right sense.

Here is a brief note on the analogy of faith:

Analogia fidei is a concept that has many advocates but few who carefully define it. Henri Blocher has carefully marked out four distinct meanings for the concept of the analogy of faith: 1) the traditional one as set forth by Georg Sohnius (c. 1585):3 “the apostle prescribes that interpretation be analogous to faith (Rom 12:6), that is, that it should agree with the first axioms or principles, so to speak, of faith, as well as with the whole body of heavenly doctrine”; 2) the “perspicuity” of Scripture definition, as championed by Martin Luther, in which the sense of the text is to be drawn from the clear verses in the Bible and thus issue in the topically selective type of analogia fidei; 3) the thematically selective understanding of the analogy of faith, as defended by John Calvin: “When Saint Paul decided that all prophecy should conform to the analogy and similitude of faith (Rom 12:6), he set a most certain rule to test every interpretation of Scripture”;4 and 4) the view held by the majority of Protestants, which may be described as a more formal definition, the analogia totius Scripturae. In this view all relevant Scriptures on any topic are brought to bear in order to establish a position that coheres with the whole of the Bible. The analogy of faith on this view is the harmony of all biblical statements where the text is expounded by a comparison of similar texts with dissimilar ones.

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Hermeneutics And The Theological Task Trinity Journal 12, no. 1 (1991): 2-4

Second, Newton cautions that one’s reading must be understood in light of real life “consult with experience.” Here is an example of how Newton applied this principle in his writing to the young man in this letter:

But we are assured that the broad road, which is thronged with the greatest multitudes, leads to destruction. Were not you and I in this road? Were we better than those who continue in it still? What has made us differ from our former selves? Grace. What has made us differ from those who are now as we once were? Grace. Then this grace, by the very terms, must be differencing, or distinguishing grace; that is, in other words, electing grace

Third, do not be prejudiced against the truth on the ground that it does not align with your current theological position. I recall R. C. Sproul saying that if John MacArthur were convinced of some truth from Scripture, and if that truth contradicted a position MacArthur held, that MacArthur would instantly change his mind. We need to be willing to allow the truth overrule our position.  Although offered in a very different context and for a different purpose, Emerson’s famous line has some applicability here, “A foolish consistent is the hobgoblin of little minds”.  We should never be stubborn against the truth.

Finally, Newton explains that we should favor those readings which make much of God and God’s glory:

This is an excellent rule, if we can fairly apply it. Whatever is from God, has a sure tendency to ascribe glory to him, to exclude boasting from the creature, to promote the love and practice of holiness, and increase our dependence upon his grace and faithfulness. The Calvinists have no reason to be afraid of resting the merits of their cause upon this issue; notwithstanding the unjust misrepresentations which have been often made of their principles, and the ungenerous treatment of those who would charge the miscarriages of a few individuals, as the necessary consequence of embracing those principles.

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 189–190.

 

Books John Newton Wouldn’t Read

03 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by in John Newton, Reading, Uncategorized

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Old John Newton once said that there were some books which he could not read, they were good and sound enough; but, said he, “they are books of halfpence; — you have to take so much in quantity before you have any value; there are other books of silver, and others of gold, but I have one book that is a book of bank notes; and every leaf is a bank note of immense value.”

-Charles Spurgeon, Sermons vol. 1, no. 4, “The Personality of the Holy Ghost”

John Newton, How to Preach the Doctrines of Grace.4

20 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in Ezekiel, John Newton, Preaching, Uncategorized

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IV. OBJECTION: THEY ARE DEAD

At this point, Newton raises the principle objection: According to Scripture, the human being without the operation of the Spirit is spiritually dead and thus utter unable in an of his own effort to respond with faith & obedience (Ephesians 2:1-3):

to exhort an unregenerate sinner to repent or believe, must be as vain and fruitless as to call a dead person out of his grave.

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 176. To this Newton gives four responses:

A. If God tell us to call them, we must.

To this it may be answered, That we might cheerfully and confidently undertake even to call the dead out of their graves, if we had the command and promise of God to warrant the attempt; for then we might expect his power would accompany our word.

Ibid. Newton presses this point by referencing Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezk. 37).  God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to a valley filed with dry bones:

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.Ezekiel 37:7–10 (ESV)

And, thus, if God commands us to speak, we do not not need to worry ourselves about the outcome.

B.  The effect is not from the preacher but from the Spirit

Preaching does not save. Rather, the Spirit using the words of the preacher does:

none of the means of grace by which he ordinarily works, can produce a real change in the heart, unless they are accompanied with the efficacious power of his Spirit

Id., at p. 177.

C.  The argument proves too much

Even when it comes to the redeemed, nothing can be done rightly without the power of the Spirit. Repentance from sin — even for a redeemed believer — is a supernatural work:

There is no power below that power that raised Christ from the dead, and that made the world, that can break the heart of a sinner or turn the heart of a sinner. Thou art as well able to melt adamant, as to melt thine own heart; to turn a flint into flesh, as to turn thine own heart to the Lord; to raise the dead and to make a world, as to repent. Repentance is a flower that grows not in nature’s garden. ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil,’ Jer. 13:23. Repentance is a gift that comes down from above

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 31. As Newton explains:

in each of these cases, we press them to acts for which they have no inherent power of their own; and, unless the Lord the Spirit is pleased to apply the word to their hearts, we do but speak into the air; and our endeavours can have no more effect in these instances, than if we were to say to a dead body, “Arise, and walk:” for an exertion of Divine power is no less necessary to the healing of a wounded conscience, than to the breaking of a hard heart; and only he who has begun the good work of grace, is able either to revive or to maintain it.

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 178.

D. We are speaking to men, not machines

That a man cannot do everything does not mean he can do nothing:

Though sinners are destitute of spiritual life, they are not therefore mere machines. They have a power to do many things, which they may be called upon to exert. They are capable of considering their ways: they know they are mortal; and ….

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 178. It is right to implore them to do what they can do:

though the Lord only can give them true faith and evangelical repentance, there seems no impropriety to invite them, upon the ground of the Gospel promises, to seek to him who is exalted to bestow these blessings, and who is able to do that for them which they cannot do for themselves;

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 179.

V.  CONCLUSION

Newton gives two bits of advice at the end. First, have a plan to preach through all of Scripture. If we follow and preach what is in the text, then we will have the proper portions and manners of preaching:

We need not wish to be more consistent than the inspired writers, nor be afraid of speaking as they have spoken before us. We

Ibid.

Finally, our preaching must be done in love, seeking the life of those to whom we preach:

Your soul will go forth with your words; and while your bowels yearn over poor sinners, you will not hesitate a moment, whether you ought to warn them of their danger or not.

Id. at p. 180.

 

John Newton: How to Preach the Doctrines of Grace.3

17 Friday Jun 2016

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III.  The Scriptural Testimony

Having considered the practical effects based upon his observation, Newton looked to the Scripture example:

But, not to insist on this, nor to rest the cause on the authority or examples of men, the best of whom are imperfect and fallible, let us consult the Scriptures, which, as they furnish us with the whole subject-matter of our ministry, so they afford us perfect precepts and patterns for its due and orderly dispensation.

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 175.

A.  Jesus

Jesus is unquestionably the greatest example of how to properly present the “Gospel”.

  1.  Jesus did not “tickle ears”

The Lord Jesus was the great preacher of free grace, “who spake as never man spake;” and his ministry, while it provided relief for the weary and heavy laden, was eminently designed to stain the pride of all human glory. He knew what was in man, and declared, that “none could come unto him, unless drawn and taught of God;” John 6:44–46.

Ibid.

2.  Yet Jesus did call to repentance.

Newton gives three examples of Jesus preaching which some might consider “legalistic” as opposed to “grace”:

John 6:27 (ESV)27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

John 12:35 (ESV)35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.”

Luke 13:24–27 (ESV)24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’

These passages show Jesus commanding people indiscriminately to obey the call of God. To these passages, one could easily append others:

Mark 1:14–15 (ESV)14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

This example is especially appropriate, because it calls all to repent in the direct context of proclaiming the “gospel”.

B.  The example of the Apostles

1.No one can fairly accuse the Apostles of having a Pelagian view of human ability

Consider their letters. For example, Paul writes:

Romans 9:16 (ESV) 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

John writes:

John 1:12–13 (ESV)12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

2.  The Apostles repeatedly called for repentance

There are numerous examples in Acts of an Apostle preaching repentance:

Acts 3:19 (ESV) 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

Newton relies primarily upon the case of Simon Magus. This is a particularly strong example, because Simon Magus was unquestionably an unbeliever at the time Peter calls him to repentance:

Peter’s advice to Simon Magus is very full and express to this point; for though he perceived him to be “in the very gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity,” he exhorted him “to repent, and to pray, if perhaps the thought of his heart might be forgiven.” It may be presumed, that we cannot have stronger evidence that any of our hearers are in a carnal and unconverted state, than Peter had in the case of Simon Magus; and therefore there seems no sufficient reason why we should hesitate to follow the Apostle’s example.

Id at p. 176.

John Newton: How to Preach the Doctrines of Grace.2

16 Thursday Jun 2016

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Having laid out the question and the options, Newton next evaluates the positions, first in the light of experience, second in the light of Scriptural examples:

II. Judgment by Experience

He calls this test, “the discernible effects of each.”

A.  Those who call repentance

Those preachers who call for repentance are most likely to see conversion:

those ministers whom the Lord has honoured with the greatest success in awakening and converting sinners, have generally been led to adopt the more popular way of exhortation and address;

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 174.

B. Those who do not call for repentance

These preachers may help those already within the fold, but see fewer conversions: “[T]heir labours have been more owned in building up those who have already received the knowledge of the truth, than in adding to their number.” (Ibid.)

 

C. The inference

From this observation, Newton draws the following inference:

this seems at least a presumptive argument in favour of those, who, besides stating the doctrines of the Gospel, endeavour, by earnest persuasions and expostulations, to impress them upon the hearts of their hearers, and entreat and warn them to consider “how they shall escape, if they neglect so great salvation.” For it is not easy to conceive, that the Lord should most signally bear testimony in favour of that mode of preaching which is least consistent with the truth, and with itself.

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 175.

John Newton: How to Preach the Doctrines of Grace. 1

14 Tuesday Jun 2016

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(Letter VII)

A minister asked John Newton whether a preacher should call upon one who is not regenerate to repent and believe the Gospel:

IN a late conversation, you desired my thoughts concerning a scriptural and consistent manner of addressing the consciences of unawakened sinners in the course of your ministry. It is a point on which many eminent ministers have been, and are, not a little divided; and it therefore becomes me to propose my sentiments with modesty and caution, so far as I am constrained to differ from any from whom in general I would be glad to learn.

John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1, “Letter VII” (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 173.

To understand the weight of the question, one must understand that prior to coming to salvation, a human being – although a morally significant actor – is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). Accordingly, one can be saved only if God graciously goes first and brings one to life.

The complex of doctrines which speak to the inability of unregenerate human beings to come to God, but graciously going first and saving his enemies, is known as the doctrines of grace.

The rub of the question is logical consistency: If an unregenerate man cannot repent, then why should I call upon him to repent? As Newton explains, the question misstates the case and misapprehends the doctrines of human inability and God’s gracious ability.

I.The Two Options

Newton begins with the two basic options.

A. The Preacher Who Makes no Call to Repent.

Some think, that it is sufficient to preach the great truths of the word of God in their hearing; to set forth the utterly ruined and helpless state of fallen man by nature, and the appointed method of salvation by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and then to leave the application entirely to the agency of the Holy Spirit[.]

In their effort to avoid “legalism” (the belief that human effort will be meritorious before God), such men do not call upon the unregenerate to respond. They are concerned they will “contradict themselves, and retract in their application what they had laboured to establish in the course of their sermons.”

B. The Preacher Calls for Repentance

There are a second class of preachers who hold just as fervently to the doctrines of grace and yet who call for repentance. As Newton says, such men:

think it their duty to deal with sinners as rational and moral agents: and as such, besides declaring the counsel of God in a doctrinal way, to warn them by the terrors of the Lord, and to beseech them by his tender mercies, that they receive not the grace of God, in a preached Gospel, in vain.[1]

 

(In the next post, we will look at Newton’s evaluation of the two positions, both from an experiential and a Scripture point of view.)

 

 

[1] John Newton, Richard Cecil, The Works of the John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 174.

John Newton, Mary to her Savior’s Tomb

22 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Olney Hymns

CXVII. Weeping Mary. Chap. 20:11–16

Rembrandt_Christ_Appearing_to_Mary_Magdalene,_‘Noli_me_tangere’

1 MARY to her Saviour’s tomb
Hasted at the early dawn;
Spice she brought, and sweet perfume;
But the Lord she lov’d was gone.
For a while she weeping stood,
Struck with sorrow and surprise,
Shedding tears, a plenteous flood,
For her heart supply’d her eyes.

2 Jesus, who is always near,
Though too often unperceiv’d,
Came, his drooping child to cheer,
Kindly asking why she griev’d.
Though at first she knew him not,
When he call’d her by her name,
Then her griefs were all forgot,
For she found he was the same.

3 Grief and sighing quickly fled
When she heard his welcome voice;
Just before she thought him dead,
Now he bids her heart rejoice.
What a change his word can make,
Turning darkness into day!
You who weep for Jesu’s sake,
He will wipe your tears away.

4 He who came to comfort her,
When she thought her all was lost,
Will for your relief appear,
Though you now are tempest-toss’d:
On his word your burden cast,
On his love your thoughts employ;
Weeping for a while may last,
But the morning brings the joy.
John Newton and Richard Cecil, The Works of John Newton, vol. 3 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 436.

We were once as you are

10 Thursday Mar 2016

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John Newton

1 Shall men pretend to pleasure

Who never knew the Lord?

Can all the worldling’s treasure

True peace of mind afford?

They shall obtain this jewel,

And what their hearts desire,

When they, by adding fuel,

Can quench the flame of fire.
2 Till you can bid the ocean,

When furious tempests roar,

Forget its wonted motion,

And rage and swell no more:

In vain your expectation

To find content in sin;

Or freedom from vexation

While passions reign within.
3 Come turn your thoughts to Jesus,

If you would good possess;

’Tis he alone that frees us

From guilt and from distress:

When he by faith is present,

The sinner’s troubles cease;

His ways are truly pleasant,

And all his paths are peace.
4 Our time in sin we wasted,

And fed upon the wind;

Until his love we tasted,

No comfort could we find:

But now we stand to witness

His pow’r and grace to you;

May you perceive its fitness,

And call upon him too!
5 Our pleasure and our duty,

Though opposite before,

Since we have seen his beauty,

Are join’d to part no more:

It is our highest pleasure,

No less than duty’s call,

To love him beyond measure,

And serve him with our all.

John Newton on the Practical Effects of Faith

15 Monday Feb 2016

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Letter VI

Sir,

INTRODUCTION

In the introduction, Newton raises three issues:

1. Faith is more than the means of justification: faith effects a changed life.

The use and importance of faith, as it respects a sinner’s justification before God, has been largely insisted on; but it is likewise of great use and importance in the daily concerns of life. It gives evidence and subsistence to things not seen, and realizes the great truths of the Gospel, so as that they become abiding and living principles of support and direction while we are passing through this wilderness. Thus, it is as the eye and the hand, without which we cannot take one step with certainty, or attempt any service with success.

2A. We should wish that all believers saw the importance of faith transforming their life in practice:

It is to be wished, that this practical exercise of faith were duly attended to by all professors. We should not then meet with so many cases that put us to a stand, and leave us at a great difficulty to reconcile what we see in some of whom we would willingly hope well, with what we read in Scripture of the inseparable concomitants of a true and lively faith.

2B. It should shock us of little those who claim to be Christians differ from others:

For how can we but be staggered, when we hear persons speaking the language of assurance,—that they know their acceptance with God through Christ, and have not the least doubt of their interest in all the promises,—while at the same time we see them under the influence of unsanctified tempers, of a proud, passionate, positive, worldly, selfish, or churlish carriage?

FIRST SECTION: WHAT SHOULD BE THE EVIDENCES OF A TRUE FAITH?

1. True faith would demonstrate itself in a changed life. Too often, Christians are willing to have a change in something drug addictions or profligate sexual immorality: But the Scripture envisions a change “smaller” personal sins, such as pride, material discontentment, harsh speech.

It is not only plain, from the general tenor of Scripture, that a covetous, a proud, or a censorious spirit, are no more consistent with the spirit of the Gospel, than drunkenness or whoredom; but there are many express texts directly pointed against the evils which too often are found amongst professors.

He proves this point from Scripture:

Thus the Apostle James assures us, “That if any man seemeth to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, his religion is vain;” [James 1:26]

and the Apostle John, “That if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him;” and he seems to apply this character to any man, whatever his profession or pretences may be, “who having this world’s goods, and seeing his brother have need, shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him.” [1 John 3:17]

Surely these texts more than intimate, that the faith which justifies the soul does likewise receive from Jesus grace for grace, whereby the heart is purified, and the conversation regulated as becomes the Gospel of Christ.

Objection: Isn’t looking for a changed life “legalism”?

There are too many who would have the ministry of the Gospel restrained to the privileges of believers; and when the fruits of faith, and the tempers of the mind, which should be manifest in those who have “tasted that the Lord is gracious,” are inculcated, think they sufficiently evade all that is said, by calling it legal preaching.

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