Objections to Grace, Examined Carefully, Answered ,and Rejected

[Iconoclast]

Iconoclast,
I visited your website. I think you did a good job on it. It's informative and easy to follow. It's also very impressive from a reformers point of view, but that isn't my cup of tea, because I'm really no longer interested in what this giy said or that guy. Same goes for Paul who wrote a good portion of scripture because Paul himself said,
For while one saith, Iam of Paul; and another, I am ofApollos; are ye not carnal? 1Cor.3:4 KJV

He said Look at what Jesus said first.
I would join and talk to you there, but I know the reformed position, 5 solas, rite of baptism, sacraments, etc. It's dry reading for me. Not because I'm a know-it-all, but because I belonged to a Reformed Baptist Church for many years. That was the only "Christian teaching" I knew.

It's like I was looking at Jesus the way humanity sees things. The way we as humans perceive good and evil, justice and injustice, mercy and cruelty, versus how our Heavenly Father sees them.

interesting, who was the Pastor? I have visit many of the churches in each state

 

[journeyman]

interesting, who was the Pastor? I have visit many of the churches in each state

I will call him to see if he minds me posting his name. He went to a Hyles Anderson Bible college where reformed theology is taught.
His wife passed away Christmas day.

 

[Iconoclast]

I will call him to see if he minds me posting his name. He went to a Hyles Anderson Bible college where reformed theology is taught.
His wife passed away Christmas day.

what City and State, I might have visited already,lol

 

[journeyman]

what City and State, I might have visited already,lol

Buffalo NY, but I spend the winter in Ft Meyers Fl. I know there's another member who lives in Florida. Is it you?
I did call him but he didn't answer.

I wanted to ask him what he thought of,

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Heb.12:4

What do you think that means?

If you applied that verse (and surrounding passage) to Jesus what would it mean?

 

[electedbyhim]

Buffalo NY, but I spend the winter in Ft Meyers Fl. I know there's another member who lives in Florida. Is it you?
I did call him but he didn't answer.

I wanted to ask him what he thought of,

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Heb.12:4

What do you think that means?

If you applied that verse (and surrounding passage) to Jesus what would it mean?

Hebrews 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.

My understanding is this verse is talking about being persecuted unto death.

bloodshed. None of the Hebrews had experienced such intense exhaustion or persecution that it brought them to death or martyrdom. Since Stephen (Act_7:60), James (Act_12:1), and others (cf. Act_9:1; Act_22:4; Act_26:10) had faced martyrdom in Jerusalem, it would appear to rule out that city as the residence of this epistle's recipients.

 

[journeyman]

Also I don't at all mean to imply that Christians must all be persecuted to death or they're not believers.
God knows our hearts and will not allow a trial or temptation to overtake us if we cling tight to our faith. There will always be a way of escape.

 

[Iconoclast]

Hebrews 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.

My understanding is this verse is talking about being persecuted unto death.

I think it has to be a reference to Jesus sweating drops of blood in the garden, and an exhortation to the Hebrews who might face persecution/

Hebrews 12 Commentary - A.W. Pink's Commentary on John and Hebrews

Hebrews 12 Commentary, this work deals with two of the most important books of the New Testament.

www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com

Gundry writes "Though already persecuted (Hebrews 10:32–34), the audience—unlike Jesus, who shed his blood (Heb 9:12, 14; 10:19, 29; 12:24; 13:12, 20)—“haven’t yet resisted [their persecutors’ attempts to make them apostatize] to the point of [shedding their own] blood.” But they might have to in the future (“haven’t yet …”). Since “struggling” is the verbal equivalent of the noun “race” in Heb 12:1, “while struggling against sin” refers to running the Christian race with endurance so as not to commit the sin of apostasy—or other sins, which would hamper the running and tend toward apostasy." (Commentary on the New Testament - this is a verse by verse commentary of the entire NT! A magnum opus!)

E. The motivation for striving to the point of shedding blood is to consider the Savior who died for me.

The author has just said, "Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb 12:3).

Jesus did not deserve any suffering, much less death, in that He had no sin. By way of contrast, all of us deserve far more suffering than we actually receive, were God to repay us for every sin that we commit. So rather than complaining or shaking your fist at God for what you’re suffering, consider Jesus, who suffered innocently on your behalf. Consider what you deserve, if God were to give you perfect justice. (Read full message God's Loving Discipline)

 

[electedbyhim]

I think it has to be a reference to Jesus sweating drops of blood in the garden, and an exhortation to the Hebrews who might face persecution/

Hebrews 12 Commentary - A.W. Pink's Commentary on John and Hebrews

Hebrews 12 Commentary, this work deals with two of the most important books of the New Testament.

www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com

Gundry writes "Though already persecuted (Hebrews 10:32–34), the audience—unlike Jesus, who shed his blood (Heb 9:12, 14; 10:19, 29; 12:24; 13:12, 20)—“haven’t yet resisted [their persecutors’ attempts to make them apostatize] to the point of [shedding their own] blood.” But they might have to in the future (“haven’t yet …”). Since “struggling” is the verbal equivalent of the noun “race” in Heb 12:1, “while struggling against sin” refers to running the Christian race with endurance so as not to commit the sin of apostasy—or other sins, which would hamper the running and tend toward apostasy." (Commentary on the New Testament - this is a verse by verse commentary of the entire NT! A magnum opus!)

I agree with the reference to Christ sweating drops of blood.

I have Pinks commentary as well. I have a lot of his works and have really enjoy them.

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin" (verse 4). The persons here immediately addressed—the "ye"—were the Hebrews themselves. Because of their profession of Christianity, because of their loyalty to Christ, they had suffered severely in various ways. Plain reference to something of what they had already been called on to endure is made in 10:32-34, "But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly whilst ye were made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods." Thus, the Hebrew saints had been sorely oppressed by their unbelieving brethren among the Jews; it is that which gave such point to the exhortation and warning in the previous verse.

"Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Here is the second consideration which the apostle pressed upon his afflicted brethren: not only to ponder the far greater opposition which their Savior encountered, but also to bear in mind that their own sufferings were not so severe as they might have been, or as possibly they would yet be. It is an argument made by reasoning from the greater to the less, and from comparing their present state with that which might await them: what could be expected to sustain their hearts and deliver from apostasy when under the supreme test of death by violence, if they fainted beneath lesser afflictions? We, too, should honestly face the same alternative: if unkind words and sneers make us waver now, how would we acquit ourselves if called on to face a martyr’s death!

The present state of the oppressed Hebrews is here expressed negatively: "ye have not yet resisted unto blood." True, they had already met with various forms of suffering, but not yet had they been called upon to lay down their lives. As Hebrews 10:32-34 clearly intimates, they had well acquitted themselves during the first stages of their trials, but their warfare was not yet ended. They had need to bear in mind that word of Christ, "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1); and that exhortation of the Holy Spirit, "let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Gal. 6:9).

"Ye have not yet resisted unto blood." The apostle here hinted to the Hebrews what might yet have to be endured by them, namely a bloody and violent death—by stoning, or the sword, or fire. That is the utmost which fiendish persecutors can afflict. Men may kill the body, but when they have done that, they can do no more. God has set bounds to their rage: none will hound or harm His people in the next world! Those who engage in the Christian profession, who serve under the banner of Christ, have no guarantee that they may not be called unto the utmost suffering of blood on account of their allegiance to him; for that is what His adversaries have always desired. Hence, Christ bids us to "sit down and count the cost" (Luke 14:28), of being His disciples. God has decreed that many, in different ages should be martyred for His own praise, the glory of Christ and the honor of the Gospel.

"Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." "Sin" is here personified, regarded as a combatant which has to be overcome. The various persecutions, hardships, afflictions, difficulties of the way, in consequence of our attachment to Christ, become so many occasions and means which sin seeks to employ in order to hinder and oppose us. The Christian is called to a contest with sin. The apostle continues his allusion to the Grecian Games, changing from the racer to the combatant. The great contest is in the believer’s heart between grace and sin, the flesh and the spirit (Gal. 5:17). Sin seeks to quench faith and kill obedience: therefore sin is to be "striven against" for our very souls are at stake. There is no place for sloth in this deadly contest; no furloughs are granted!


"Striving against sin." That which the Hebrews were striving against was apostasy, going to the full lengths of sin—abandoning their Christian profession. Persecution was the means which indwelling depravity sought to use, to employ in slaying faith and fidelity to Christ. That terrible wickedness was to be steadfastly resisted, by fighting against weariness in the conflict. O to say with the apostle, "I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 21:13): but in order to reach that state of soul, there has to be a close walking with Him day by day, and a patient bearing of the minor trials. "If thou hast run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" (Jer. 12:5).

 

[electedbyhim]

Also I don't at all mean to imply that Christians must all be persecuted to death or they're not believers.
God knows our hearts and will not allow a trial or temptation to overtake us if we cling tight to our faith. There will always be a way of escape.

I was just listening to a sermon today about how we do not endure enough suffering and persecution, which I agree with.

Persecution draws us closer to the Lord, strengthens our prayer life, gives assurance and so on.

 

[electedbyhim]

@Iconoclast

Never seen this site before, thanks for posting that commentary. I will be checking it out.

https://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/index.php

 

[journeyman]

I was just listening to a sermon today about how we do not endure enough suffering and persecution, which I agree with.

Persecution draws us closer to the Lord, strengthens our prayer life, gives assurance and so on.

So can you see the cross of our Savior that way? Not suffering "the judgment of God", but unjust persecution and not enforcing His law against them?

 

[Iconoclast]

from monergism
The “Ordo salutis” is a Latin term which means “the order of salvation”. It speaks of a way of organizing all the events of redemption in the consecutive order that they show up in an individual's life (as revealed in the bible) when he is joined to Christ by the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind we must never separate the benefits (regeneration, justification, sanctification) from the Benefactor (Jesus Christ). The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration, etc.) is the work of God in Christ and is by grace alone.

All the benefits of redemption such as conversion (faith & repentance), justification, sanctification and perseverance presuppose a renewed heart (the existence of spiritual life) which believes. The work of applying God's grace is a unitary process given to the elect simultaneously in Christ. This is instantaneous, but there is a causal order between regeneration and the rest of Christ's redemptive benefits which spring from it. Though these benefits cannot be separated, it is helpful to distinguish them. Therefore, instead of imposing a chronological order we should view these as a unitary work of God to bring us into union with Christ. We must always keep in mind that the orders expressed in the following articles occur together or happen simultaneously like heat and fire. All aspects of the work of God continue together throughout the life of a Christian.

Jesus Christ is the source of all redemptive blessings, including regeneration, justification, sanctification (1 Cor 1:30). Election is the superstructure of our ordo salutis (a blueprint, so to speak, of what God intends to do for elect sinners in time), but not itself the application of redemption. Regeneration, the work of the Holy Spirit which brings us into a living union with Christ, has a causal priority over the other aspects of the process of salvation.

• God opens our eyes, we see.
• God circumcises/ unplugs our ears, we hear.
• Jesus calls a dead and buried Lazarus out of the grave, he comes; (Eph 2:5)
• In the same way, the Holy Spirit applies regeneration, (opening our spiritual eyes and renewing our affections), immediately and infallibly resulting in faith. (John 6:63, 65)

Historically in the Church there has been disagreement about the order of salvation, especially between those in the Reformed and Arminian camps. The following two perspectives of God's order in carrying out His redemptive work reveals the stark contrast between these two main historic views. Keep in mind that both viewpoints are based on the redemptive work which Christ accomplished for His people in history:

In the Reformed camp, the ordo salutis is 1) election/predestination (in Christ), 2) Atonement 3) gospel call 4) inward call 5) regeneration, 6) conversion (faith & repentance), 7) justification, 8) sanctification, and 9) glorification. (Rom 8:29-30). To be more precise see the following chart with text overlapping and the redemptive benefits of Christ springing from our (Spirit-initiated) union with Christ:

In the Arminian camp, the ordo salutis is 1) outward call 2) faith/election, 3) repentance, 4) regeneration, 5) justification, 6) perseverance, 7) glorification.

Note: Remember the Reformed understanding ordo is not linear, so redemptive benefits such as regeneration, faith, repentance, justification and sanctification occur concurrantly. In other words, by placing repentance prior to justification in the above chart it does not mean, in any way, that repentance causes justification, or is a condition for pardon.

[See our essay on Repentance in the Ordo Salutis for a detailed explanation] Also see Horatius Bonar's essay Insensibility.

Remember all else springs from Christ and our union with Him. He gives faith... He gives repentance. Salvation springs from Christ alone. Faith and repentance are fruits of the Spirit's regenerating work in the soul. This biblical order is that regeneration precedes faith (John 6:63, 65, 6:37) and ensures us that our salvation is wholly of God and by grace alone, not a cooperation of man and God. "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (1 Cor 1:30-31). So we ought not to see this order as a linear order, but as a unitary work of God. Consider, if you strike the cue ball with a pool stick (cue), it rolls across the table a strikes the ball that you intend to sink into the pocket. The cue ball and the other ball stike simultaneously, yet it is the cue ball which causes the other ball to move. Likewise it is the regenerating grace of God in Christ which gives rise to the other aspects of the application of redemption.

See Chart

 

[Iconoclast]

The Ordo Salutis (The Order of Salvation)​

The “Ordo salutis” is a Latin term which means “the order of salvation”. It speaks of a way of organizing all the events and realities in the process of salvation, in the order that they show up in an individual's life when he is joined to Christ by the Holy Spirit. This first thing to remember is that we must never separate the benefits (regeneration, justification, sanctification) from the Benefactor (Jesus Christ). The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration, etc.) is the work of God in Christ and is by grace alone.
All the benefits of redemption such as conversion (faith & repentance), justification, sanctification and perseverance presuppose a renewed heart (the existence of spiritual life) which believes. The work of applying God's grace is a unitary process given to the elect simultaneously. This is instantaneous, but there is definitely a causal order (regeneration giving rise to all the rest). Though these benefits cannot be separated, it is helpful to distinguish them. Therefore, instead of imposing a chronological order we should view these as a unitary work of God to bring us into union with Christ. We must always keep in mind that the orders expressed in the following articles occur together or happen simultaneously like heat and fire. All aspects of the work of God continue together throughout the life of a Christian.
Jesus Christ is the source of all redemptive blessings, including regeneration, justification, sanctification (1 Cor 1:30). Election is the superstructure of our ordo salutis (a blueprint, so to speak, of what God intends to do for elect sinners in time), but not itself the application of redemption. Regeneration, the work of the Holy Spirit which brings us into a living union with Christ, has a causal priority over the other aspects of the process of salvation.

• God opens our eyes, we see.
• God circumcises/ unplugs our ears, we hear.
• Jesus calls a dead and buried Lazarus out of the grave, he comes;
• In the same way, the Holy Spirit applies regeneration, (opening our spiritual eyes and renewing our affections), immediately and infallibly resulting in faith.

Historically in the Church there has been disagreement about the order of salvation, especially between those in the Reformed and Arminian camps. The following two perspectives of God's order in carrying out His redemptive work reveals the stark contrast between these two main historic views. Keep in mind that both viewpoints are based on the redemptive work which Christ accomplished for His people in history:

In the Reformed camp, the ordo salutis is 1) election/predestination (in Christ), 2) Atonement 3) gospel call 4) inward call 5) regeneration, 6) conversion (faith & repentance), 7) justification, 8) sanctification, and 9) glorification. (Rom 8:29-30)
In the Arminian camp, the ordo salutis is 1) outward call 2) faith/election, 3) repentance, 4) regeneration, 5) justification, 6) perseverance, 7) glorification.

Notice the crucial difference in the orders of regeneration and faith. While the Reformed position believes spiritual life is a prerequisite for the existence of the other aspects of salvation, the Arminians believe that fallen, natural man retains the moral capacity to receive or reject the gospel of his own power. Even with the help of grace he still must find it within himself to believe or reject Christ. This has broad implications and raises questions like why does one man believe and not another? You might also notice that, according to Arminians, election is dependent on faith, not the other way around. This is no small matter ...understanding the biblical order, while keeping in mind its unitary process, is crucial and has a profound impact on how one views God, the gospel, and the Bible as a whole.
But how can regeneration (life) come before justification? some might ask. This is because causes and effects usually happen at the same time. God creates the world and it exists. It did not hesitate 5 seconds but sprung into existence the same moment he called it into existence. When a pool ball hits another, they touch at the same time, but only ONE is the cause of the other moving. Likewise, God breathes new life into us and we breathe. God opens our eyes and we see, He gives us a new heart and we believe. no time delay takes place. They occur simultaneously, but one actually CAUSES the other. Faith is the fruit of grace and as such we can only ascribe all glory to God.

 

[Iconoclast]

Iconoclast, could you post that helpful article that was mentioned? Yes, here it is!

Insensibility​

by Horatius Bonar
You say that you do not feel yourself to be a sinner; that you are not "anxious" enough; that you are not "penitent" enough.
Be it so. Let me, however, ask you such questions as the following:
1. Does your want of feeling alter the gospel? Does it make the good news less free, less suitable? Is it not glad tidings of God's love to the unworthy, the unlovable, the insensible? Your not feeling your burdens does not affect the nature of the gospel, nor change the gracious character of Him from whom it comes. It suits you as you are, and you suit it exactly. It comes up to you on the spot, and says, Here is a whole Christ for you; a Christ containing everything you need. Remember the invitation: it is to him "that has no money" (Isa. 55: 1). Is not this just your state? Your acquisition of feeling would not qualify you for it, nor bring it nearer, nor buy its blessings, nor make you more welcome, nor persuade God to do anything for you, that He is not at this moment most willing to do.
2. Is your want of feeling an excuse for your unbelief? Faith does not spring out of feeling, but feeling out of faith. The less you feel, the more you should trust. You cannot feel aright till you have believed. As all true repentance has its root in faith, so all true feeling has the same. It is vain for you to attempt to reverse God's order of things.
3. Is your want of feeling a reason for your staying away from Christ? A sense of want should lead you to Christ, and not keep you away. "More are drawn to Christ," says old Thomas Shepherd, "under a sense of a dead, blind heart, than by all sorrows, humiliations, and terrors." The less of feeling or conviction that you have, the more needy you are; and is that a reason for keeping aloof from Him? Instead of being less fit for coming, you are more fit. The blindness of Bartimeus was his reason for coming to Christ, not for staying away. If you have more blindness and deadness than others, you have so many more reasons for coming, so many fewer for standing far off. Whatever others may do who have convictions, you who have none dare not stay away, nor even wait an hour. You must come!
4. Will your want of feeling make you less welcome to Christ? How is this? What makes you think so? Has He said so, or did He act, when on earth, as if this were His rule of procedure? Had the woman of Sychar any feeling when He spoke to her so lovingly? (John 4: 10). Was it the amount of conviction in Zaccheus that made the Lord address him so graciously, "Make haste, for today I must abide at thy house"? The balm will not be the less suitable for you, nor the physician the less affectionate and cordial, because, in addition to other diseases, you are afflicted with the benumbing palsy. Your greater need only gives Him an opportunity of shewing the extent of His fullness, as well as the riches of His grace. Come to Him, then, just because you do not feel. "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Whatever you may feel, or may not feel, it is still "a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners". Do not limit the grace of God, nor suspect the love of Christ Confidence in that grace and love will do everything for you; want of confidence, nothing. Christ wants you to come; not to wait, nor to stay away.
5. Will your remaining away from Christ remove your want of feeling? No. It will only make it worse; for it is a disease which He only can remove. So that a double necessity is laid upon you for going to Him. Others who feel more than you may linger. You cannot afford to do so. You must go immediately to Him who is "a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and the forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5: 31). Seeing that distance and distrust will do nothing for you, try what "drawing near*1 and "confidence" will do. To you, though the chief of sinners, the message is, "Let us draw near" (Heb. 10: 22).
God commands you to come, without any further delay or preparation; to bring with you your sins, your unbelief, your insensibility, your heart, your will, your whole man, and to put them into Christ's hands. God demands your immediate confidence and instant surrender to Christ. "Kiss the Son" is His message (Psa. 2: 12). His word insists on your return: "Return unto the Lord thy God" (Hos. 14: 1). It shews you that the real cause of the continuance of this distance is your unwillingness to let Christ save you in His own way, and a desire to have the credit of removing your insensibility by your own prayers and tears.

 

[Iconoclast]

6. Is not your insensibility one of your worst sins? A hardhearted child is one of the most hateful of beings. You may pity and excuse many things, but not hard-heartedness. Cease then to pity yourself, and learn only to condemn. Give this sin no quarter. Treat it, not as a misfortune, but as unmingled guiltiness. You may call it a disease; but remember that it is an inexcusable sin. It is one great all-pervading sin added to your innumerable others. This should shut you up to Christ As an incurable leper, you must go to Him for cure. As a desperate criminal, you must go to Him for pardon. Do not, I beseech you, add to this awful sin the yet more damning sin of refusing to acknowledge Christ as the Healer of all diseases, and the Forgiver of all iniquities.
Repentance is only to be got from Christ. Why then should you make the want of it a reason for staying away from him? Go to Him for it. He is exalted to give it. If you speak of "waiting", you only shew that you are not sincere in your desire to have it. No man in such circumstances would think of waiting. Your conviction of sin is to come not by waiting, but by looking; looking to Him whom your sins have crucified, and whom by your distrust and unbelief you are crucifying afresh. It is written, 'They shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn" (Zech. 12: 10). It is not, they shall mourn and look, but they shall look and mourn.
Beware of fancying that convictions are to save you, or that they are to be desired for their own sakes. An old writer says. "Sense of a dead, hard heart is an effectual means to draw to Christ; yea, more effectual than any other can because it is the poor, the blind, the naked, the miserable, that are invited".
As to what is called a "law-work", preparatory to faith in Christ, let us consult the Acts of the Apostles. There we have the preaching of the apostolic gospel, and the fruits of it, in the conversion of thousands. We have several inspired sermons, addressed both to Jew and Gentile; but into none of these is the law introduced. That which pricked the hearts of the three thousand at Pentecost was a simple narrative of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, concluding with these awful words, which must have sounded like the trumpet of doom to those who heard them, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2: 36). These were words more terrible than law; more overwhelming than Sinai heard. Awful as it would have been to be told, "You have broken the whole law of God"; it was not so awful as being told. "You nave crucified His Son!" The sin of crucifying the Lord of glory was greater than that of breaking a thousand laws. And yet in that very deed of consummate wickedness was contained the gospel of the grace of God. That which pronounced the sinner's condemnation, declared also his deliverance. There was life in that death; and the nails which fastened the Son of God to the cross, let out the pent-up stream of divine love upon the murderers themselves!
The gospel was the apostolic hammer for breaking hard hearts in pieces; for producing "repentance unto life". It was a believed gospel that melted the obduracy of the self-righteous Jew; and nothing but the good news of God's free love, condemning the sin yet pardoning the sinner, will, in our own day, melt the heart of stone. "Law and terrors do but harden"; and their power, though wielded by an Elijah, is feeble in comparison with that of a preached cross.
The word "repentance" signifies in the Greek, "change of mind"; and this change the Holy Spirit produces in connection with the gospel, not the law. "Repent and believe the gospel" (Mark 1: 15) does not mean, "get repentance by the law, and then believe the gospel"; but "let this good news about the kingdom which I am preaching, lead you to change your views and receive the gospel". Repentance being put before faith here, simply implies, that there must be a turning from what is false in order to the reception of what is true. If I would turn my face to the north, I must turn it from the south; yet I should not think of calling the one of these preparatory to the other. If I want to get rid of the darkness, I must let in the light; but I should not say that the getting rid of the darkness is a preparation for receiving the light. These must, in the nature of things, go together. Repentance then is not, in any sense, a preliminary qualification for faith; least of all in the sense of sorrow for sin. "It must be reckoned a settled point," says Calvin, (Institutes, Book III, ch. 3, sect 1.) "that repentance not only immediately follows upon faith, but springs out of it. ... They who think that repentance goes before faith, instead of flowing from or being produced by it, as fruit from a tree, have never understood its nature."
That terror of conscience may go before faith. I do not doubt. But such terror is very unlike Bible repentance; and its tendency is to draw men away from, not to, the cross. That sinners may be awakened by the thunders of law I know. But these alarms are not godly sorrow. They are not uncommon among unbelieving men, such as Ahab and Judas. They will be heard with awful distinctness in hell; but they are not repentance. Sorrow for sin comes from "apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ*1, from the sight of the cross and of the love which the cross reveals. The broken and the contrite heart is the result of our believing the glad tidings of God's free love. In so far as repentance means sorrow for sin, or a change of mind respecting sin, it is produced only by looking to the cross. In so far as it is a change of mind in reference to God or Christ, it is the same with believing the gospel.
Few things are more dangerous to the anxious soul than the endeavours to get convictions, and terrors, and humiliations, as preliminaries to believing the gospel. They who would tell a sinner that the reason of his not finding peace is that he is not anxious enough, nor convicted enough, nor humbled enough, are enemies to the cross of Christ. They who would inculcate a course of prayer, and humiliation, and self-examination, and dealing with the law, in order to believing in Christ, are teaching what is the very essence of popery; not the less poisonous and perilous, because refined from Romish grossness, and administered under the name of gospel.
Christ asks no preparation of any kind whatsoever, legal or evangelical, outward or inward, in the coming sinner. And he that will not come as he is shall never be received at all. It is not "exercised souls", nor "penitent believers", nor "well humbled seekers", nor earnest "users of the means", nor any of the better class of Adam's sons and daughters: but sinners, that Christ welcomes. "He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5: 32).
Spurious repentance, the product and expression of unbelief and self-righteousness, may be found previous to faith; just as all manner of evils abound in the soul before it believes. But when faith comes, it comes not as the result of this self-wrought repentance—but in spite of it; and this so-called repentance will be afterwards regarded by the believing soul as one of those self-righteous efforts, whose only tendency was to keep the sinner from the Saviour. They who call on "penitent sinners" to believe, mistake both repentance and faith; and that which they teach is no glad tidings to the sinner. To the better class of sinners (if such there be) who have by laborious efforts got themselves sufficiently humbled, it may be glad tidings; but not to those who are "without strength**, the lost, the ungodly, the hard-hearted, the insensible, the lame, the blind, the halt, the maimed.
("It is not sound doctrine," says Dr. Colquhoun, "to teach that Christ will receive none but the true penitent, or that none else is warranted to come by faith to him for salvation. The evil of that doctrine is that it sets needy sinners on spinning repentance, as it were, out of their own bowels, and on bringing it with them to Christ, instead of coming to Him by faith to receive it from Him. If none be invited but the true penitent then impenitent sinners are not bound to come to Christ; and cannot be blamed for not coming."
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From God's Way of Peace, by Horatius Bonar (Ch 11)[