Chapter 4
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN SALVATION
"O the depths of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out"
Romans 11:33
"Salvation
is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9); but the Lord does not save all. Why not? He
does save some; then if He saves some, why not others? Is it because they are
too sinful and depraved? No; for the apostle wrote, "This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners; of whom 1 am chief" (1 Tim. 1:15). Therefore, if God saved
the "chief" of sinners, none are excluded because
of their depravity. Why then does not God save all? Is it because some are too
stony-hearted to be won? No; because of the most stony-hearted people of all it
is written, that God will yet "take the stony heart out of their flesh,
and will give them a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 11:19). Then is it because
some are so stubborn, so intractable, so defiant that God is unable to woo them
to Himself? Before we answer this question let us ask
another; let us appeal to the experience of the Christian reader.
Friend; was there not a time
when you walked in the counsel of the ungodly, stood in the way of sinners, sat
in the seat of the scorners, and with them said, "We will not
have this Man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14)? Was there not a time when
you "would not come to Christ that you might have life" (John 5:40)?
Yea, was there not a time when you mingled your voice with those who said unto
God, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways. What is
the Almighty, that we should serve Him? and what profit should we have, if we
pray unto Him?" (Job 21:14, 15)? With shamed face you
have to acknowledge there was. But how is it that all is now changed? What was
it that brought you from haughty self-sufficiency to a humble suppliant, from
one that was at enmity with God to one that is at peace with Him, from
lawlessness to subjection, from hate to love? And, as one ‘born of the Spirit,’
you will readily reply, "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor.
15:10). Then do you not see that it is due to no lack of
power in God, nor to His refusal to coerce man, that other rebels are not saved
too? If God was able to subdue your will and win your heart, and that without
interfering with your moral responsibility, then is He not able to do the same
for others? Assuredly He is. Then how inconsistent, how illogical, how foolish
of you, in seeking to account for the present course of the
wicked and their ultimate fate, to argue that God is unable to save them, that
they will not let Him. Do you say, "But the time came when I was willing,
willing to receive Christ as my Saviour"? True, but it was the Lord who
made you willing (Ps. 110:3; Phil. 2:13) why then does He not make all sinners
willing? Why, but for the fact that He is sovereign and does as He pleases! But
to return to our opening inquiry.
Why is it that all are not
saved, particularly all who hear the Gospel? Do you still answer, Because the
majority refuse to believe? Well, that is true, but it is only a part of the
truth. It is the truth from the human side. But there is a Divine side too, and this side of the truth needs to be stressed or God will be
robbed of His glory. The unsaved are lost because they refuse to believe; the
others are saved because they believe. But why do these others believe? What is
it that causes them to put their trust in Christ? Is it because they are more
intelligent than their fellows, and quicker to discern their need of salvation?
Perish the thought—"Who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst
receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (1
Cor. 4:7). It is God Himself who maketh the difference between the elect and
the non-elect, for of His own it is written, "And we know that the Son of
God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is
true" (1 John 5:20).
Faith is God’s gift, and
"all men have not faith" (2 Thess. 3:2); therefore, we see that God
does not bestow this gift upon all. Upon whom then does He bestow this saving
favor? And we answer, upon His own elect—"As many as were ordained to
eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). Hence it is that we read of "the
faith of God’s elect" (Titus 1:1). But is God partial
in the distribution of His favors? Has He not the right to be? Are there still
some who ‘murmur against the Good-Man of the house’? Then His own words are
sufficient reply—"Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine
own?" (Matt. 20:15). God is sovereign in the bestowment of His gifts, both
in the natural and in the spiritual realms. So much then for a general statement, and now to particularize.
1.
The Sovereignty of God the Father in Salvation.
Perhaps the one Scripture
which most emphatically of all asserts the absolute sovereignty
of God in connection with His determining the destiny of His creatures, is the
ninth of Romans. We shall not attempt to review here the entire chapter, but
will confine ourselves to verses 21-23—"Hath not the potter power over the
clay of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto
dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known,
endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted
to destruction: And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory?" These verses
represent fallen mankind as inert and as impotent as a lump of lifeless clay.
This Scripture evidences that there is "no difference," in
themselves, between the elect and the non-elect: they are clay of "the
same lump," which agrees with Ephesians 2:3, where we
are told, that all are by nature "children of wrath." It teaches us
that the ultimate destiny of every individual is decided by the will of God,
and blessed it is that such be the case; if it were left to our wills, the
ultimate destination of us all would be the Lake of Fire. It declares that God
Himself does make a difference in the respective destinations to which He
assigns His creatures, for one vessel is made "unto
honor and another unto dishonor;" some are "vessels of wrath fitted
to destruction," others are "vessels of mercy, which He had afore
prepared unto glory."
We readily acknowledge that it
is very humbling to the proud heart of the creature to
behold all mankind in the hand of God as the clay is in the potter’s hand, yet
this is precisely how the Scriptures of Truth represent the case. In this day
of human boasting, intellectual pride, and deification of man, it needs to be
insisted upon that the potter forms his vessels for himself. Let man strive
with his Maker as he will, the fact remains that he is nothing more than clay
in the Heavenly Potter’s hands, and while we know that God
will deal justly with His creatures, that the Judge of all the earth will do
right, nevertheless, He shapes His vessels for His own purpose and according to
His own pleasure. God claims the indisputable right to do as He wills with His
own.
Not only
has God the right to do as He wills with the creatures of His own hands, but He
exercises this right, and nowhere is that seen more plainly than in His
predestinating grace. Before the foundation of the world God made a choice, a
selection, an election. Before His omniscient eye stood the whole of Adam’s
race, and from it He singled out a people and predestinated them "unto the
adoption of children," predestinated them "to be
conformed to the image of His Son," "ordained" them unto eternal
life. Many are the Scriptures which set forth this blessed truth, seven of
which will now engage our attention.
"As many as were ordained
to eternal life, believed" (Acts 13:48). Every artifice of human ingenuity has been employed to blunt the sharp edge of
this Scripture and to explain away the obvious meaning of these words, but it
has been employed in vain, though nothing will ever be able to reconcile this
and similar passages to the mind of the natural man. "As many as were
ordained to eternal life, believed." Here we learn four things: First,
that believing is the consequence and not the cause of God’s decree.
Second, that a limited number only are "ordained to eternal life,"
for if all men without exception were thus ordained by God, then the words
"as many as are a meaningless qualification. Third, that this
"ordination" of God is not to mere external privileges but to
"eternal life," not to service but to salvation itself. Fourth, that
all—"as many as," not one less—who are thus ordained by God to
eternal life will most certainly believe.
The comments of the beloved
Spurgeon on the above passage are well worthy of our notice. Said he,
"Attempts have been made to prove that these words do not teach
predestination, but these attempts so clearly do violence to language that I
shall not waste time in answering them. I read: ‘As many as
were ordained to eternal life believed’, and I shall not twist the text but
shall glorify the grace of God by ascribing to that grace the faith of every
man. Is it not God who gives the disposition to believe? If men are disposed to
have eternal life, does not He—in every case—dispose them? Is it wrong for God
to give grace? If it be right for Him to give it, is it wrong
for Him to purpose to give it? Would you have Him give it by accident? If it is
right for Him to purpose to give grace today, it was right for Him to purpose
it before today—and, since He changes not—from eternity."
"Even so then at this
present time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more
grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no
more work" (Rom. 11:5, 6). The words "Even so" at the beginning
of this quotation refer us to the previous verse where we are told, "I
have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to
Baal." Note particularly the word "reserved."
In the days of Elijah there were seven thousand—a small minority—who were
Divinely preserved from idolatry and brought to the knowledge of the true God.
This preservation and illumination was not from anything in themselves, but
solely by God’s special influence and agency. How highly favored such
individuals were to be thus "reserved" by God! Now says the apostle,
Just as there was a "remnant" in Elijah’s days
"reserved by God", even so there is in this present dispensation.
"A remnant according to
the election of grace." Here the cause of election is traced back to its
source. The basis upon which God elected this "remnant" was not faith
foreseen in them, because a choice founded upon the
foresight of good works is just as truly made on the ground of works as any
choice can be, and in such a case, it would not be "of grace;" for,
says the apostle, "if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise
grace is no more grace;" which means that grace and works are opposites,
they have nothing in common, and will no more mingle than will oil and water. Thus the idea of inherent good foreseen in those
chosen, or of anything meritorious performed by them, is rigidly excluded.
"A remnant according to the election of grace," signifies an
unconditional choice resulting from the sovereign favor of God; in a word, it
is absolutely a gratuitous election.
"For
ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty: and base things of the world,
and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not,
to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should
glory in His presence" (1 Cor. 1:26-29). Three times over in this passage
reference is made to God’s choice, and choice necessarily supposes a selection,
the taking of some and the leaving of others. The Choser here is God Himself,
as said the Lord Jesus to the apostles, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have
chosen you" (John 15:16). The number chosen is strictly defined—"not
many wise men after the flesh, not many noble," etc., which agrees with
Matthew 20:16, "So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many
be called, but few chosen." So much then for the fact of God’s choice; now
mark the objects of His choice.
The ones
spoken of above as chosen of God are "the weak things of the world, base
things of the world, and things which are despised." But why? To
demonstrate and magnify His grace. God’s ways as well as His thoughts are
utterly at variance with man’s. The carnal mind would have supposed that a selection
had been made from the ranks of the opulent and influential, the amiable and
cultured, so that Christianity might have won the approval
and applause of the world by its pageantry and fleshly glory. Ah! but
"that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of
God" (Luke 16:15). God chooses the "base things." He did so in
Old Testament times. The nation which He singled out to be the depository of
His holy oracles and the channel through which the promised Seed should come, was not the ancient Egyptians, the imposing Babylonians, nor
the highly civilized and cultured Greeks. No; that people upon whom Jehovah set
His love and regarded as ‘the apple of His eye’, were the despised, nomadic
Hebrews. So it was when our Lord tabernacled among men. The ones whom He took
into favored intimacy with Himself and commissioned to go forth as His
ambassadors, were, for the most part, unlettered fishermen.
And so it has been ever since. So it is today: at the present rates of
increase, it will not be long before it is manifested that the Lord has more in
despised China who are really His, than He has in the highly favored U. S. A.;
more among the uncivilized blacks of Africa, than He has in cultured (?)
Germany! And the purpose of God’s choice, the raison d’etre of the selection He
has made is, "that no flesh should glory in His
presence"—there being nothing whatever in the objects of His choice which
should entitle them to His special favors, then, all the praise will be freely
ascribed to the exceeding riches of His manifold grace.
"Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ: According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him; In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. . . .In
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of
His own will" (Eph. 1:3-5, 11). Here again we are told at what point in
time—if time it could be called—when God made choice of those who were to be
His children by Jesus Christ. It was not after Adam had fallen and plunged his
race into sin and wretchedness, but long ere Adam saw the light, even before
the world itself was founded, that God chose us in Christ. Here also we learn the purpose which God had before Him in
connection with His own elect: it was that they "should be holy and
without blame before Him;" it was "unto the adoption of
children;" it was that they should "obtain an inheritance." Here
also we discover the motive which prompted Him. It was "in love that He
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself"—a statement which refutes the oft made and
wicked charge that, for God to decide the eternal destiny of His creatures
before they are born, is tyrannical and unjust. Finally, we are informed here,
that in this matter He took counsel with none, but that we are
"predestinated according to the good pleasure of His will."
"But
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thess. 2:13).
There are three things here which deserve special attention. First, the fact
that we are expressly told that God’s elect are "chosen to
salvation." Language could not be more explicit. How
summarily do these words dispose of the sophistries and equivocations of all
who would make election refer to nothing but external privileges or rank in
service! It is to "salvation" itself that God hath chosen us. Second,
we are warned here that election unto salvation does not disregard the use of
appropriate means: salvation is reached through "sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth." It is not true that
because God has chosen a certain one to salvation that he will be saved
willy-nilly, whether he believes or not: nowhere do the Scriptures so represent
it. The same God who predestined the end, also appointed the means; the same
God who "chose unto salvation", decreed that His purpose should be
realized through the work of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Third, that
God has chosen us unto salvation is a profound cause for
fervent praise. Note how strongly the apostle expresses this—"we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation," etc. Instead of
shrinking back in horror from the doctrine of predestination, the believer,
when he sees this blessed truth as it is unfolded in the Word, discovers a ground for gratitude and thanksgiving such as nothing else
affords, save the unspeakable gift of the Redeemer Himself.
"Who hath saved us, and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began" (2 Tim. 1:9). How plain and pointed is the language of
Holy Writ! It is man who, by his words, darkeneth counsel. It is impossible to
state the case more clearly, or strongly, than it is stated here. Our salvation
is not "according to our works;" that is to say, it is not due to
anything in us, nor the rewarding of anything from us; instead, it is the
result of God’s own "purpose and grace;" and this
grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It is by grace we
are saved, and in the purpose of God this grace was bestowed upon us not only
before we saw the light, not only before Adam’s fall, but even before that far
distant "beginning" of Genesis 1:1. And herein lies the unassailable
comfort of God’s people. If His choice has been from eternity it will last to
eternity! "Nothing can survive to eternity but what
came from eternity, and what has so come, will" (G. S. Bishop).
"Elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:2). Here again election by the Father precedes the work of the
Holy Spirit in, and the obedience of faith by, those who are saved; thus taking
it entirely off creature ground, and resting it in the sovereign pleasure of
the Almighty. The "foreknowledge of God the Father" does not here
refer to His prescience of all things, but signifies that the saints were all
eternally present in Christ before the mind of God. God did
not "foreknow" that certain ones who heard the Gospel would believe
it apart from the fact that He had "ordained" these certain ones to
eternal life. What God’s prescience saw in all men was, love of sin and hatred
of Himself. The "foreknowledge" of God is based upon His own decrees
as is clear from Acts 2:23—"Him, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain"—note the order here: first God’s
"determinate counsel" (His decree), and second His "foreknowledge."
So it is again in Romans 8:28, 29, "For whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son," but the first word
here, "for," looks back to the preceding verse and the last clause of
it reads, "to them who are the called according to His
purpose"—these are the ones whom He did "foreknow and
predestinate." Finally, it needs to be pointed out that when we read in
Scripture of God "knowing" certain people, the word is used in the
sense of knowing with approbation and love: "But if any man love God, the
same is known of Him" (1 Cor. 8:3). To the hypocrites Christ will yet say
"I never knew you"—He never loved them.
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" signifies,
then, chosen by Him as the special objects of His approbation and love.
Summarizing the teaching of
these seven passages we learn that, God has "ordained to
eternal life" certain ones, and that in consequence of His ordination
they, in due time, "believe;" that God’s ordination to salvation of His
own elect, is not due to any good thing in them nor to anything meritorious
from them, but solely of His "grace;" that God has designedly
selected the most unlikely objects to be the recipients of His special favors,
in order that "no flesh should glory in His presence;"
that God chose His people in Christ before the foundation of the world, not
because they were so, but in order that they "should be, holy and without
blame before him"; that having selected certain ones to salvation, He also
decreed the means by which His eternal counsel should be made good; that the
very "grace" by which we are saved was, in God’s purpose, "given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began;" that long
before they were actually created, God’s elect stood present before His mind,
were "foreknown" by Him, i.e., were the definite objects of His
eternal love.
Before turning to the next
division of this chapter, a further word concerning the subjects
of God’s predestinating grace. We go over this ground again because it is at this
point that the doctrine of God’s sovereignty in predestining certain ones to
salvation is most frequently assaulted. Perverters of this truth invariably
seek to find some cause outside God’s own will, which moves Him to bestow
salvation on sinners; something or other is attributed to the creature which
entitles him to receive mercy at the hands of the Creator.
We return then to the question, Why did God choose the ones He did?
What was there in the elect
themselves which attracted God’s heart to them? Was it because of certain
virtues they possessed? because they were generous-hearted, sweet
tempered, truth-speaking? in a word, because they were "good," that
God chose them? No; for our Lord said, "There is none good but one, that
is God" (Matt. 19:17). Was it because of any good works they had
performed? No; for it is written, "There is none that doeth good, no, not
one" (Rom. 3:12). Was it because they evidenced an earnestness and zeal in
inquiring after God? No; for it is written again,
"There is none that seeketh after God" (Rom. 3:11). Was it because
God foresaw they would believe? No; for how can those who are "dead in
trespasses and sins" believe in Christ? How could God foreknow some men as
believers when belief was impossible to them? Scripture declares that we
"believe through grace" (Acts 18:27). Faith is God’s gift, and apart
from this gift none would believe. The cause of His choice
then lies within Himself and not in the objects of His choice. He chose the
ones He did simply because He chose to choose them.
"Sons we are by God’s
election
Who on Jesus Christ believe,
Sovereign grace we now
receive,
Lord Thy mercy,
Doth both grace and glory
give!"
2. The Sovereignty of God the Son in Salvation.
For whom did Christ die? It
surely does not need arguing that the Father had an express purpose in giving
Him to die, or that God the Son had a definite design before Him in laying down
His life—"Known unto God are all His works from the beginning
of the world" (Acts 15:18). What then was the purpose of the Father and
the design of the Son? We answer, Christ died for "God’s elect."
We are not unmindful of the
fact that the limited design in the death of Christ has been the subject of
much controversy—what great truth revealed in Scripture has not?
Nor do we forget that anything which has to do with the person and work of our
blessed Lord requires to be handled with the utmost reverence, and that a
"Thus saith the Lord" must be given in support of every assertion we
make. Our appeal shall be to the Law and to the Testimony.
For whom
did Christ die? Who were the ones He intended to redeem by His blood-shedding?
Surely the Lord Jesus had some absolute determination before Him when He went
to the Cross. If He had, then it necessarily follows that the extent of that
purpose was limited, because an absolute determination or purpose must be
effected. If the absolute determination of Christ included all mankind, then
all mankind would most certainly be saved. To escape this
inevitable conclusion many have affirmed that there was no such absolute
determination before Christ, that in His death a merely conditional provision
of salvation has been made for all mankind. The refutation of this assertion is
found in the promises made by the Father to His Son before He went to the
Cross, yea, before He became incarnate. The Old Testament
Scriptures represent the Father as promising the Son a certain reward for His
sufferings on behalf of sinners. At this stage we shall confine ourselves to
one or two statements recorded in the well known fifty-third of Isaiah. There
we find God saying, "When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He
shall see His seed," that "He shall see of the travail of His soul,
and shall be satisfied," and that God’s righteous
Servant "should justify many" (vv. 10 and 11). But here we would
pause and ask, How could it be certain that Christ should "see His
seed," and "see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied,"
unless the salvation of certain members of the human race had been Divinely
decreed, and therefore was sure? How could it be certain that Christ should
"justify many," if no effectual provision was
made that any should receive Him as their Saviour? On the other hand, to insist
that the Lord Jesus did expressly purpose the salvation of all mankind, is to
charge Him with that which no intelligent being should be guilty of, namely, to
design that which by virtue of His omniscience He knew would never come to
pass. Hence, the only alternative left us is that, so far as the pre-determined
purpose of His death is concerned, Christ died for the
elect only. Summing up in a sentence, which we trust will be intelligible to
every reader, we would say, Christ died not merely to make possible the salvation
of all mankind, but to make certain the salvation of all that the Father had
given to Him. Christ died not simply to render sins pardonable, but "to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb. 9:26).
As to who’s "sin" (i.e., guilt, as in 1 John 1:7, etc.) has been
"put away," Scripture leaves us in no doubt—it was that of the elect,
the "world" (John 1:29) of God’s people!
(1.) The limited design in the
Atonement follows, necessarily, from the eternal choice of
the Father of certain ones unto salvation. The Scriptures inform us that,
before the Lord became incarnate He said, "Lo, I come, to do Thy will O
God" (Heb. 10:7), and after He had become incarnate He declared, "For
I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
Me" (John 6:38). If then God had from the beginning chosen certain ones to
salvation, then, because the will of Christ was in perfect
accord with the will of the Father, He would not seek to enlarge upon His
election. What we have just said is not merely a plausible deduction of our
own, but is in strict harmony with the express teaching of the Word. Again and
again our Lord referred to those whom the Father had "given" Him, and
concerning whom He was particularly exercised. Said He, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I
will in no wise cast out. . . . And this is the Father’s will which hath sent
Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day" (John 6:37, 39). And again, "These words
spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee;
As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given Him. . . .I have manifested Thy name unto the men
which Thou gayest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gayest them
Me; and they have kept Thy Word. . . . I pray for them: I pray not for the
world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. . . . Father,
I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou
lovest Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:1, 2, 6, 9, 24).
Before the foundation of the world the Father predestinated a people to be
conformed to the image of His Son, and the death and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus was in order to the carrying out of the Divine purpose.
(2.) The very nature of the
Atonement evidences that, in its application to sinners, it was limited in the
purpose of God. The Atonement of Christ may be considered from two chief
viewpoints—Godward and manward. Godwards, the Cross-work of Christ
was a propitiation, an appeasing of Divine wrath, a satisfaction rendered to
Divine justice and holiness; manwards, it was a substitution, the Innocent
taking the place of the guilty, the Just dying for the unjust. But a strict
substitution of a Person for persons, and the infliction upon Him of voluntary sufferings,
involve the definite recognition on the part of the Substitute and of the One
He is to propitiate of the persons for whom He acts, whose
sins He bears, whose legal obligations He discharges. Furthermore, if the
Law-giver accepts the satisfaction which is made by the Substitute then those
for whom the Substitute acts, whose place He takes, must necessarily be
acquitted. If I am in debt and unable to discharge it and another comes forward
and pays my creditor in full and receives a receipt in acknowledgment,
then, in the sight of the law, my creditor no longer has any claim upon me. On
the Cross the Lord Jesus gave Himself a ransom, and that it was accepted by God
was attested by the open grave three days later; the question we would here
raise is, For whom was this ransom offered? If it was offered for all mankind
then the debt incurred by every man has been cancelled. If Christ bore in His own body on the tree the sins of all men without
exception, then none will perish. If Christ was "made a curse" for
all of Adam’s race then none are now "under condemnation."
"Payment God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding Surety’s hand and
then again at mine." But Christ did not discharge the debt of all men
without exception, for some there are who will be "cast into prison"
(cf. 1 Pet. 3:19 where the same Greek word for
"prison" occurs), and they shall "by no means come out thence,
till they have paid the uttermost farthing" (Matt. 5:26), which, of
course, will never be. Christ did not bear the sins of all mankind, for some
there are who "die in their sins" (John 8:21), and whose "sin
remaineth" (John 9:41). Christ was not "made a curse" for all of
Adam’s race, for some there are to whom He will yet say,
"Depart from Me ye cursed" (Matt. 25:41). To say that Christ died for
all alike, to say that He became the Substitute and Surety of the whole human
race, to say that He suffered on behalf of and in the stead of all mankind, is
to say that He "bore the curse for many who are now bearing the curse for
themselves; that He suffered punishment for many who are now lifting up their
own eyes in Hell, being in torments; that He paid the
redemption price for many who shall yet pay in their own eternal anguish ‘the
wages of sin, which is death’" (G. S. Bishop). But, on the other hand, to
say as Scripture says, that Christ was stricken for the transgressions of God’s
people, to say that He gave His life for the sheep, to say that He gave His
life a ransom for many, is to say that He made an atonement which fully atones;
it is to say He paid a price which actually ransoms; it is
to say He was set forth a propitiation which really propitiates; it is to say
He is a Saviour who truly saves.
(3.) Closely connected with,
and confirmatory of what we have said above, is the teaching of Scripture
concerning our Lord’s priesthood. It is as the great High Priest
that Christ now makes intercession. But for whom does He intercede? for the
whole human race, or only for His own people? The answer furnished by the New
Testament to this question is clear as a sunbeam. Our Saviour has entered into
heaven itself "now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb.
9:24), that is, for those who are "partakers of the heavenly calling"
(Heb. 3:1). And again it is written, "Wherefore He is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He
ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25). This is in strict
accord with the Old Testament type. After slaying the sacrificial animal, Aaron
went into the holy of holies as the representative and on behalf of the people
of God: it was the names of Israel’s tribes which were engraven on his
breastplate, and it was in their interests he appeared
before God. Agreeable to this are our Lord’s words in John 17:9—"I pray
for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for
they are Thine." Another Scripture which deserves careful attention in
this connection is found in Romans 8. In verse 33 the question is asked,
"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?" and then follows the inspired answer— "It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us." Note particularly that the death and intercession of Christ have one
and the same objects! As it was in the type so it is with the
antitype—expiation and supplication are co-extensive. If then Christ intercedes for the elect only, and "not for the
world," then He died for them only. And observe further, that the death,
resurrection, exaltation and intercession of the Lord Jesus, are here assigned
as the reason why none can lay any "charge" against God’s elect. Let
those who would still take issue with what we are advancing weigh carefully the
following question—If the death of Christ extends equally to all, how does it become security against a "charge," seeing
that all who believe not are "under condemnation"? (John 3:18).
(4.) The number of those who
share the benefits of Christ’s death is determined not only by the nature of
the Atonement and the priesthood of Christ but also by His power.
Grant that the One who died upon the cross was God manifest in the flesh, and
it follows inevitably that what Christ has purposed that will He perform; that
what He has purchased that will He possess; that what He has set His heart upon
that will He secure. If the Lord Jesus possesses all power in heaven and earth,
then none can successfully resist His will. But it may be said, This is true in
the abstract, nevertheless, Christ refuses to exercise this
power, inasmuch as He will never force anyone to receive Him as their Saviour.
In one sense that is true, but in another sense it is positively untrue. The
salvation of any sinner is a matter of Divine power. By nature the sinner is at
enmity with God, and naught but Divine power operating within him, can overcome
this enmity; hence it is written, "No man can come unto Me,
except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (John 6:44). It is the Divine
power overcoming the sinner’s innate enmity which makes him willing to come to
Christ that he might have life. But this "enmity" is not overcome in
all—why? Is it because the enmity is too strong to be overcome? Are there some
hearts so steeled against Him that Christ is unable to gain entrance? To answer
in the affirmative is to deny His omnipotence. In the final
analysis it is not a question of the sinner’s willingness or unwillingness, for
by nature all are unwilling. Willingness to come to Christ is the finished
product of Divine power operating in the human heart and will in overcoming
man’s inherent and chronic "enmity," as it is written, "Thy
people shall be willing in the day of Thy power" (Ps. 110:3). To say that
Christ is unable to win to Himself those who are unwilling
is to deny that all power in heaven and earth is His. To say that Christ cannot
put forth His power without destroying man’s responsibility is a begging of the
question here raised, for He has put forth His power and made willing those who
have come to Him, and if He did this without destroying their responsibility,
why "cannot" He do so with others? If He is able to win
the heart of one sinner to Himself, why not that of another? To say, as is
usually said, the others will not let Him is to impeach His sufficiency. It is
a question of His will. If the Lord Jesus has decreed, desired, purposed the
salvation of all mankind, then the entire human race will be saved, or,
otherwise, He lacks the power to make good His intentions; and in such a case
it could never be said, "He shall see of the travail
of His soul and be satisfied." The issue raised involves the deity of the
Saviour, for a defeated Saviour cannot be God.
Having reviewed some of the
general principles which require us to believe that the death of Christ was
limited in its design, we turn now to consider some of the explicit
statements of Scripture which expressly affirm it. In that wondrous and
matchless fifty-third of Isaiah God tells us concerning His Son, "He was
taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? for
He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My
people was He stricken" (v. 8). In perfect harmony with this was the word
of the angel to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21) i.e. not
merely Israel, but all whom the Father had "given" Him. Our Lord
Himself declared, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28), but why
have said "for many" if all without exception were included? It was
"His people" whom He "redeemed" (Luke 1:68).
It was for "the sheep," and not the "goats", that the Good
Shepherd gave His life (John 10:11). It was the "Church of God" which
He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28).
If there is one Scripture more
than any other upon which we should be willing to rest our
case it is John 11:49-52. Here we are told, "And one of them, named
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing
at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for
the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of
himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die
for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that
also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered
abroad." Here we are told that Caiaphas "prophesied not of
himself," that is, like those employed by God in Old Testament times (see
2 Pet. 1:21), his prophecy originated not with himself, but he spake as he was
moved by the Holy Spirit; thus is the value of his utterance carefully guarded,
and the Divine source of this revelation expressly vouched
for. Here, too, we are definitely informed that Christ died for "that
nation," i.e., Israel, and also for the One Body, His Church, for it is
into the Church that the children of God—"scattered" among the
nations—are now being "gathered together in one." And is it not
remarkable that the members of the Church are here called "children of
God" even before Christ died, and therefore before He
commenced to build His Church! The vast majority of them had not then been
born, yet were they regarded as "children of God;" children of God
because they had been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and
therefore "predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself" (Eph. 1:4, 5). In like manner, Christ said, "Other sheep I have
(not "shall have") which are not of this
fold" (John 10:16).
If ever the real design of the
Cross was uppermost in the heart and speech of our blessed Saviour it was
during the last week of His earthly ministry. What then do the Scriptures which
treat of this portion of His ministry record in connection with our present inquiry? They say, "When Jesus knew that His
hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having
loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (John
13:1). They tell us how He said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that
a man lay down His life for His friends" (John 15:13). They record His
word, "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also
might be sanctified through the truth" (John 17:19); which means, that for
the sake of His own, those "given" to Him by the Father, He separated
Himself unto the death of the Cross. One may well ask, Why such discrimination
of terms if Christ died for all men indiscriminately?
Ere closing
this section of the chapter we shall consider briefly a few of those passages
which seem to teach most strongly an unlimited design in the death of Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 5:14 we read, "One died for all." But that is not
all this Scripture affirms. If the entire verse and passage from which these
words are quoted be carefully examined, it will be found that instead of
teaching an unlimited atonement, it emphatically argues a
limited design in the death of Christ. The whole verse reads, "For the love
of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all,
then were all dead." It should be pointed out that in the Greek there is
the definite article before the last "all," and that the verb here is
in the aorist tense, and therefore should read, "We thus judge: that if
One died for all, then they all died." The apostle is
here drawing a conclusion as is clear from the words "we thus judge, that
if . . . then were." His meaning is, that those for whom the One died are
regarded, judicially, as having died too. The next verse goes on to say,
"And He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again." The One not
only died but "rose again," and so, too, did the "all"
for whom He died, for it is here said they "live." Those for whom a
substitute acts are legally regarded as having acted themselves. In the sight
of the law the substitute and those whom he represents are one. So it is in the
sight of God. Christ was identified with His people and His people were
identified with Him, hence when He died they died (judicially) and when He rose they rose also. But further we are told in this passage
(v. 17), that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation; he has received a
new life in fact as well as in the sight of the law, hence the "all"
for whom Christ died are here bidden to live henceforth no more unto
themselves, "but unto Him which died for them, and rose again." In
other words, those who belonged to this "all" for whom Christ died,
are here exhorted to manifest practically in their daily
lives what is true of them judicially: they are to "live unto Christ who
died for them." Thus the "One died for all" is defined for us.
The "all" for which Christ died are the they which "live,"
and which are here bidden to live "unto Him." This passage then
teaches three important truths, and the better to show its scope we mention
them in their inverse order: certain ones are here bidden
to live no more unto themselves but unto Christ; the ones thus admonished are
"they which live," that is live spiritually, hence, the children of
God, for they alone of mankind possess spiritual life, all others being dead in
trespasses and sins; those who do thus live are the ones, the "all," the
"them," for whom Christ died and rose again. This passage therefore
teaches that Christ died for all His people, the elect,
those given to Him by the Father; that as the result of His death (and rising
again "for them") they "live"—and the elect are the only
ones who do thus "live;" and this life which is theirs through Christ
must be lived "unto Him," Christ’s love must now
"constrain" them.
"For
there is one God, and one Mediator, between God and men (not "man",
for this would have been a generic term and signified mankind. O the accuracy
of Holy Writ!), the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be
testified in due time" (1 Tim. 2:5, 6). It is upon the words "who
gave Himself a ransom for all" we would now comment. In Scripture the word
"all" (as applied to humankind) is used in two
senses—absolutely and relatively. In some passages it means all without
exception; in others it signifies all without distinction. As to which of these
meanings it bears in any particular passage, must be determined by the context
and decided by a comparison of parallel Scriptures. That the word
"all" is used in a relative and restricted sense, and in such case
means all without distinction and not all without exception,
is clear from a number of Scriptures, from which we select two or three as
samples. "And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of
Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their
sins" (Mark 1:5). Does this mean that every man, woman and child from
"all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem" were baptized of John
in Jordan? Surely not. Luke 7:30 distinctly says, "But
the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being
not baptized of him." Then what does "all baptized of him" mean?
We answer it does not mean all without exception, but all without distinction,
that is, all classes and conditions of men. The same explanation applies to
Luke 3:21. Again we read, "And early in the morning He came again into the
Temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down,
and taught them" (John 8:2); are we to understand this expression
absolutely or relatively? Does "all the people" mean all without
exception or all without distinction, that is, all classes and conditions of
people? Manifestly the latter; for the Temple was not able to accommodate
everybody that was in Jerusalem at this time, namely, the Feast of Tabernacles. Again, we read in Acts 22:15, "For thou
(Paul) shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and
heard." Surely "all men" here does not mean every member of the
human race. Now we submit that the words "who gave Himself a ransom for
all" in 1 Timothy 2:6 mean all without distinction, and not all without
exception. He gave Himself a ransom for men of all nationalities, of all generations, of all classes; in a word, for all the elect, as
we read in Revelation 5:9, "For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to
God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and
nation." That this is not an arbitrary definition of the "all"
in our passage is clear from Matthew 20:28 where we read, "The Son of Man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many", which limitation would be quite
meaningless if He gave Himself a ransom for all without exception. Furthermore,
the qualifying words here, "to be testified in due time", must be
taken into consideration. If Christ gave Himself a ransom for the whole human
race, in what sense will this be "testified in due time"? seeing that
multitudes of men will certainly be eternally lost. But if our text
means that Christ gave Himself a ransom for God’s elect, for all without
distinction, without distinction of nationality, social prestige, moral
character, age or sex, then the meaning of these qualifying words is quite
intelligible, for in "due time" this will be "testified" in
the actual and accomplished salvation of every one of them.
"But we see Jesus, who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every
man" (Heb. 2:9). This passage need not detain us long. A false doctrine
has been erected here on a false translation. There is no word whatever in the Greek corresponding to "man" in our English
version. In the Greek it is left in the abstract—"He tasted death for
every." The Revised Version has correctly omitted "man" from the
text, but has wrongly inserted it in italics. Others suppose the word
"thing" should be supplied—"He tasted death for every
thing" —but this, too, we deem a mistake. It seems to us that the words
which immediately follow explain our text: "For it
became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing
many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings." It is of "sons" the apostle is here writing, and we
suggest an ellipsis of "son"—thus: "He tasted death for
every"—and supply son in italics. Thus instead of teaching the unlimited
design of Christ’s death, Hebrews 2:9, 10 is in perfect
accord with the other Scriptures we have quoted which set forth the restricted
purpose in the Atonement: it was for the "sons" and not the human
race our Lord "tasted death" (1 John 2:2 will be examined in detail
in Appendix 4).
In closing this section of the
chapter let us say that the only limitation in the Atonement
we have contended for arises from pure sovereignty; it is a limitation not of
value and virtue, but of design and application. We turn now to consider—
3.
The Sovereignty of God the Holy Spirit in Salvation.
Since the
Holy Spirit is one of the three Persons in the blessed Trinity, it necessarily
follows that He is in full sympathy with the will and design of the other
Persons of the Godhead. The eternal purpose of the Father in election, the
limited design in the death of the Son, and the restricted scope of the Holy
Spirit’s operations are in perfect accord. If the Father chose certain ones
before the foundation of the world and gave them to His
Son, and if it was for them that Christ gave Himself a ransom, then the Holy
Spirit is not now working to "bring the world to Christ." The mission
of the Holy Spirit in the world today is to apply the benefits of Christ’s
redemptive sacrifice. The question which is now to engage us is not the extent
of the Holy Spirit’s power—on that point there can be no doubt, it is
infinite—but what we shall seek to show is that, His power
and operations are directed by Divine wisdom and sovereignty.
We have just said that the
power and operations of the Holy Spirit are directed by Divine wisdom and
indisputable sovereignty. In proof of this assertion we appeal first
to our Lord’s words to Nicodemus in John 3:8—"The wind bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
A comparison is here drawn between the wind and the Spirit. The comparison is a
double one: first, both are sovereign in their actions, and second, both are
mysterious in their operations. The comparison is pointed
out in the word "so." The first point of analogy is seen in the words
"where it listeth" or "pleaseth"; the second is found in
the words "canst not tell." With the second point of analogy we are
not now concerned, but upon the first we would comment further.
"The
wind bloweth where it pleaseth . . . so is every one that is born of the
Spirit." The wind is an element which man can neither harness nor hinder.
The wind neither consults man’s pleasure nor can it be regulated by his
devices. So it is with the Spirit. The wind blows when it pleases, where it
pleases, as it pleases. So it is with the Spirit. The wind is regulated by
Divine wisdom, yet, so far as man is concerned, it is
absolutely sovereign in its operations. So it is with the Spirit. Sometimes the
wind blows so softly it scarcely rustles a leaf; at other times it blows so
loudly that its roar can be heard for miles. So it is in the matter of the new
birth; with some the Holy Spirit deals so gently, that His work is
imperceptible to human onlookers; with others His action is so powerful,
radical, revolutionary, that His operations are patent to
many. Sometimes the wind is purely local in its reach, at other times wide-spread
in its scope. So it is with the Spirit: today He acts on one or two souls,
tomorrow He may, as at Pentecost, "prick in the heart" a whole
multitude. But whether He works on few or many, He consults not man. He acts as
He pleases. The new birth is due to the sovereign will of the Spirit.
Each of the three Persons in
the blessed Trinity is concerned with our salvation: with the Father it is
predestination; with the Son propitiation; with the Spirit regeneration. The
Father chose us; the Son died for us; the Spirit quickens us. The Father was
concerned about us; the Son shed His blood for us, the Spirit performs His work within us. What the One did was eternal, what the
Other did was external, what the Spirit does is internal. It is with the work
of the Spirit we are now concerned, with His work in the new birth, and
particularly His sovereign operations in the new birth. The Father purposed our
new birth; the Son has made possible (by His "travail") the new
birth; but it is the Spirit who effects the new birth—"Born
of the Spirit" (John 3:6).
The new birth is solely the
work of God the Spirit and man has no part or lot in it. This from the very
nature of the case. Birth altogether excludes the idea of any effort or work on
the part of the one who is born. Personally we have no more to do with our spiritual birth than we had with our natural birth.
The new birth is a spiritual resurrection, a "passing from death unto
life" (John 5:24) and, clearly, resurrection is altogether outside of
man’s province. No corpse can reanimate itself. Hence it is written, "It
is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:63).
But the Spirit does not "quicken" everybody—why? The usual answer returned to this question is, Because everybody does not trust
in Christ. It is supposed that the Holy Spirit quickens only those who believe.
But this is to put the cart before the horse. Faith is not the cause of the new
birth, but the consequence of it. This ought not to need arguing. Faith (in
God) is an exotic, something that is not native to the human heart. If faith
were a natural product of the human heart, the exercise of
a principle common to human nature, it would never have been written, "All
men have not faith" (2 Thess. 3:2). Faith is a spiritual grace, the fruit
of the spiritual nature, and because the unregenerate are spiritually
dead—"dead in trespasses and sins"—then it follows that faith from
them is impossible, for a dead man cannot believe anything. "So then they
that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom.
8:8)—but they could if it were possible for the flesh to believe. Compare with
this last-quoted Scripture Hebrews 11:6—"But without faith it is
impossible to please Him." Can God be "pleased" or satisfied
with any thing which does not have its origin in Himself?
That the
work of the Holy Spirit precedes our believing is unequivocally established by
2 Thessalonians 2:13—"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Note that
"sanctification of the Spirit" comes before and makes possible
"belief of the truth." What then is the "sanctification of the
Spirit"? We answer, the new birth. In Scripture "sanctification"
always means "separation," separation from something and unto something
or someone. Let us now amplify our assertion that the "sanctification of
the Spirit" corresponds to the new birth and points to the positional
effect of it.
Here is a servant of God who
preaches the Gospel to a congregation in which are an hundred
unsaved people. He brings before them the teaching of Scripture concerning
their ruined and lost condition; he speaks of God, His character and righteous
demands; he tells of Christ meeting God’s demands, and dying the Just for the
unjust, and declares that through "this Man" is now preached the
forgiveness of sins; he closes by urging the lost to believe what God has said
in His Word and receive His Son as their own personal
Saviour. The meeting is over; the congregation disperses; ninety-nine of the
unsaved have refused to come to Christ that they might have life, and go out
into the night having no hope, and without God in the world. But the hundredth
heard the Word of life; the Seed sown fell into ground which had been prepared
by God; he believed the Good News, and goes home rejoicing
that his name is written in heaven. He has been "born again," and
just as a newly-born babe in the natural world begins life by clinging
instinctively, in its helplessness, to its mother, so this newborn soul has
clung to Christ. Just as we read, "The Lord opened" the heart of
Lydia "that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul"
(Acts 16:14), so in the case supposed above, the Holy Spirit
quickened that one before he believed the Gospel message. Here then is the
"sanctification of the Spirit:" this one soul who has been born again
has, by virtue of his new birth, been separated from the other ninety-nine.
Those born again are, by the Spirit, set apart from those who are dead in
trespasses and sins.
A
beautiful type of the operations of the Holy Spirit antecedent to the sinner’s
"belief of the truth", is found in the first chapter of Genesis. We
read in verse 2, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness
was upon the face of the deep." The original Hebrew here might be
literally rendered thus: "And the earth had become a desolate ruin, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep." In "the beginning"
the earth was not created in the condition described in verse 2. Between the
first two verses of Genesis 1 some awful catastrophe had occurred [the Gap
Theory-ed.]—possibly the fall of Satan—and, as the consequence, the earth had
been blasted and blighted, and had become a "desolate ruin", lying
beneath a pall of "darkness." Such also is the history of man. Today,
man is not in the condition in which he left the hands of
his Creator: an awful catastrophe has happened, and now man is a "desolate
ruin" and in total "darkness" concerning spiritual things. Next
we read in Genesis 1 how God refashioned the ruined earth and created new
beings to inhabit it. First we read, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters." Next we are told, "And God said, Let there be
light; and there was light." The order is the same in
the new creation: there is first the action of the Spirit, and then the Word of
God giving light. Before the Word found entrance into the scene of desolation
and darkness, bringing with it the light, the Spirit of God "moved."
So it is in the new creation. "The entrance of Thy words giveth
light" (Ps. 119:130), but before it can enter the darkened human heart the
Spirit of God must operate upon it. [1]
To return to 2 Thessalonians
2:13: "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."
The order of thought here is most important and
instructive. First, God’s eternal choice; second, the sanctification of the
Spirit; third, belief of the truth. Precisely the same order is found in 1
Peter 1:2—"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ." We take it that the "obedience" here is the
"obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5), which
appropriates the virtues of the sprinkled blood of the Lord Jesus. So then
before the "obedience" (of faith, cf. Heb. 5:9), there is the work of
the Spirit setting us apart, and behind that is the election of God the Father.
The ones "sanctified of the Spirit" then, are they whom "God
hath from the beginning chosen to salvation" (2 Thess. 2:13), those who
are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father" (1 Pet. 1:2).
But, it may be said, is not the
present mission of the Holy Spirit to "convict the world of sin"? And
we answer, It is not. The mission of the Spirit is threefold; to glorify
Christ, to vivify the elect, to edify the saints. John 16:8-11 does not
describe the "mission" of the Spirit, but sets
forth the significance of His presence here in the world. It treats not of His
subjective work in sinners, showing them their need of Christ, by searching
their consciences and striking terror to their hearts; what we have there is
entirely objective. To illustrate. Suppose I saw a man hanging on the gallows,
of what would that "convince" me? Why, that he was a murderer. How would I thus be convinced? By reading the record of his trial?
by hearing a confession from his own lips? No; but by the fact that he was
hanging there. So the fact that the Holy Spirit is here furnishes proof of the
world’s guilt, of God’s righteousness, and of the Devil’s judgment.
The Holy
Spirit ought not to be here at all. That is a startling statement, but we make
it deliberately. Christ is the One who ought to be here. He was sent here by
the Father, but the world did not want Him, would not have Him, hated Him, and
cast Him out. And the presence of the Spirit here instead evidences its guilt.
The coming of the Spirit was a proof to demonstration of the resurrection,
ascension, and glory of the Lord Jesus. His presence on
earth reverses the world’s verdict, showing that God has set aside the
blasphemous judgment in the palace of Israel’s high priest and in the hall of
the Roman governor. The "reproof" of the Spirit abides, and abides
altogether irrespective of the world’s reception or rejection of His testimony.
Had our Lord been referring
here to the gracious work which the Spirit would perform in those who should be
brought to feel their need of Him, He had said that the Spirit would convict
men of their unrighteousness, their lack of righteousness. But this is not the
thought here at all. The descent of the Spirit from heaven establishes
God’s righteousness, Christ’s righteousness. The proof of that is, Christ has
gone to the Father. Had Christ been an Imposter, as the religious world
insisted when they cast Him out, the Father had not received Him. The fact that
the Father did exalt Him to His own right hand, demonstrates that He was
innocent of the charges laid against Him; and the proof that the Father has
received Him, is the presence now of the Holy Spirit on
earth, for Christ has sent Him from the Father (John 16:7)! The world was
unrighteous in casting Him out, the Father righteous in glorifying Him; and
this is what the Spirit’s presence here establishes.
"Of judgment, because the
Prince of this world is judged" (v. 11). This is the logical and inevitable climax. The world is brought in guilty for
their rejection of, for their refusal to receive, Christ. Its condemnation is
exhibited by the Father’s exaltation of the spurned One. Therefore nothing
awaits the world, and its Prince, but judgment. The "judgment" of
Satan is already established by The Spirit’s presence here, for Christ, through
death, set at nought him who had the power of death, that is, the Devil (Heb. 2:14). When God’s time comes for the Spirit to
depart from the earth, then His sentence will be executed, both on the world
and its Prince. In the light of this unspeakably solemn passage, we need not be
surprised to find Christ saying, "The Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him". No, the
world wants Him not; He condemns the world.
"And when He is come, He
will reprove (or, better, "convict"—bring in guilty) the world of
sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on
Me; Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; Of
judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John 16:8-11).
Three things, then, the presence of the Holy Spirit on
earth demonstrates to the world: first, its sin, because the world refused to
believe on Christ; second, God’s righteousness in exalting to His own right hand
the One cast out, and now no more seen by the world; third, judgment, because
Satan the world’s prince is already judged, though execution of his judgment is
yet future. Thus the Holy Spirit’s presence here displays
things as they really are.
The Holy Spirit is sovereign
in His operations and His mission is confined to God’s elect: they are the ones
He "comforts," "seals," guides into all truth, shews things
to come, etc. The work of the Spirit is necessary in order to the complete accomplishment of the Father’s eternal purpose. Speaking
hypothetically, but reverently, be it said, that if God had done nothing more
than given Christ to die for sinners, not a single sinner would ever have been
saved. In order for any sinner to see his need of a Saviour and be willing to
receive the Saviour he needs, the work of the Holy Spirit upon and within him
were imperatively required. Had God done nothing more than
given Christ to die for sinners and then sent forth His servants to proclaim
salvation through Christ, leaving sinners entirely to themselves to accept or
reject as they pleased, then every sinner would have rejected, because at heart
every man hates God and is at enmity with Him. Therefore the work of the Holy
Spirit was needed to bring the sinner to Christ, to overcome his innate
opposition, and compel him to accept the provision God has
made. We say "compel" the sinner, for this is precisely what the Holy
Spirit does, has to do, and this leads us to consider at some length, though as
briefly as possible, the parable of the "Marriage Supper."
In Luke 14:16 we read, "A
certain man made a great supper, and bade many." By comparing
carefully what follows here with Matthew 22:2-10 several important distinctions
will be observed. We take it that these passages are two independent accounts
of the same parable, differing in detail according to the distinctive purpose
and design of the Holy Spirit in each Gospel. Matthew’s account—in harmony with
the Spirit’s presentation there of Christ as the Son of David, the King of the
Jews—says, "A certain king made a marriage for his
son." Luke’s account—where the Spirit presents Christ as the Son of
Man—says, "A certain man made a great supper and bade many." Matthew
22:3 says, "And sent forth His servants;" Luke 14:17 says, "And
sent His servant." Now what we wish particularly to call attention to is,
that all through Matthew’s account it is "servants," whereas in Luke
it is always "servant." The class of readers for
whom we are writing are those that believe, unreservedly, in the verbal
inspiration of the Scriptures, and such will readily acknowledge there must be
some reason for this change from the plural number in Matthew to the singular
number in Luke. We believe the reason is a weighty one and that attention to
this variation reveals an important truth. We believe that
the "servants" in Matthew, speaking generally, are all who go forth
preaching the Gospel, but that the "Servant" in Luke 14 is the Holy
Spirit Himself. This is not incongruous, or derogatory to the Holy Spirit, for
God the Son, in the days of His earthly ministry, was the Servant of Jehovah
(Isa. 42:1). It will be observed that in Matthew 22 the "servants"
are sent forth to do three things: first, to
"call" to the wedding (v. 3); second, to "tell those which are
bidden . . . all things are ready: come unto the marriage" (v. 4); third,
to "bid to the marriage" (v. 9); and these three are the things which
those who minister the Gospel today are now doing. In Luke 14 the Servant is
also sent forth to do three things: first, He is "to say to them that were
bidden, Come: for all things are now ready" (v. 17) ; second, He is to "bring in the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and
the blind" (v. 21); third, He is to "compel them to come in" (v.
23), and the last two of these the Holy Spirit alone can do!
In the above Scripture we see
that "the Servant," the Holy Spirit, compels certain ones
to come in to the "supper" and herein is seen His sovereignty, His
omnipotency, His Divine sufficiency. The clear implication from this word
"compel" is, that those whom the Holy Spirit does "bring
in" are not willing of themselves to come. This is exactly what we have
sought to show in previous paragraphs. By nature, God’s elect are children of
wrath even as others (Eph. 2:3), and as such their hearts
are at enmity with God. But this "enmity" of theirs is overcome by
the Spirit and He "compels" them to come in. Is it not clear then
that the reason why others are left outside, is not only because they are
unwilling to go in, but also because the Holy Spirit does not
"compel" them to come in? Is it not manifest that the Holy Spirit is
sovereign in the exercise of His power, that as the wind "bloweth where it
pleaseth", so the Holy Spirit operates where He
pleases?
And now to sum up. We have
sought to show the perfect consistency of God’s ways: that each Person in the
Godhead acts in sympathy and harmony with the Others. God the Father elected
certain ones to salvation, God the Son died for the elect, and God
the Spirit quickens the elect. Well may we sing,
Praise God from whom all
blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here
below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly
host,
Praise
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
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[1] The priority contended for
above is rather in order of nature than of time, just as the effect must ever
be preceded by the cause. A blind man must have his eyes opened before he can
see, and yet there is no interval of time between the one and the
other. As soon as his eyes are opened, he sees. So a man must be born again
before he can “see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Seeing the Son is necessary
to believing in Him. Unbelief is attributed to spiritual blindness—those who
believed not the “report” of the Gospel “saw no beauty” in Christ that they
should desire Him. The work of the Spirit in “quickening” the one dead in
sins, precedes faith in Christ, just as cause ever precedes
effect. But no sooner is the heart turned toward Christ by the Spirit, than
the Saviour is embraced by the sinner.