On The Necessity of Grace Not To Sin

Augustine points poignantly to the necessity of grace both to the sinner and to the one who avoids sinning:

“What shall I render unto the Lord,” that whilst my memory recalls these things my soul is not appalled at them? I will love Thee, O Lord, and thank Thee, and confess unto Thy name, because Thou hast put away from me these so wicked and nefarious acts of mine. To Thy grace I attribute it, and to Thy mercy, that Thou has melted away my sin as it were ice. To Thy grace also I attribute whatsoever of evil I have not committed; for what might I not have committed, loving as I did the sin for the sin’s sake? Yea, all I confess to have been pardoned me, both those which I committed by my own perverseness, and those which, by Thy guidance, I committed not. Where is he who, reflecting upon his own infirmity, dares to ascribe his chastity and innocency to his own strength, so that he should love Thee the less, as if he had been in less need of Thy mercy, whereby Thou dost forgive the transgressions of those that turn to Thee? For whosoever, called by Thee, obeyed Thy voice, and shunned those things which he reads me recalling and confessing of myself, let him not despise me, who, being sick, was healed by that same Physician by whose aid it was that he was not sick, or rather was less sick. And for this let him love Thee as much, yea, all the more, since by whom he sees me to have been restored from so great a feebleness of sin, by Him he sees himself from a like feebleness to have been preserved.

—Augustine, Confessions II.15.

Perhaps there is a small adumbration here of the restraint-of-sin aspect of the much later Protestant conceptions of gratia communis.

Sermon: Psalm 36

On 5 December 2010 I delivered the following sermon on Psalm 36 (with Genesis 6-9 and Romans 3) at Trinity URC in Caledonia, MI: “Sin’s False Sight vs. The Lord’s Faithful Light.”

(Download MP3 or OGG via Internet Archive.)

The Double Blight of Pseudo Sight

The most fearful misery of sin consists not therein, that we are blind, but it consists in this: that we, being blind, nevertheless imagine that we see. Sin is guilt and pollution and shame, but above that, also foolishness and ignorance.

– Herman Bavinck, The Sacrifice of Praise: Meditations Before and After Receiving Access to the Table of the Lord, trans. John Dolfin, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Louis Kregel, 1922), 100.

Bavinck Books

Sin’s Skepticism and History’s Protest

In connection with the fact of sin, from which the whole antithesis between truth and falsehood is born, this phenomenon presents itself in such a form that one recognizes the fact of sin, and that the other denies it or does not reckon with it. Thus what is normal to one is absolutely abnormal to the other. This establishes for each an entirely different standard. And where both go to work from such subjective standards, the science of each must become entirely different, and the unity of science is gone. The one cannot be forced to accept what the other holds as truth, and what according to his view he has found to be truth.

Thus, taken by itself, the triumph of Scepticism ought to result from this, and Pilate’s exclamation, “What is truth,” should be the motto of highest wisdom. But the process of history is a protest against this. However often Scepticism has lifted up its head, it has never been able to maintain a standing for itself, and with unbroken courage and indefatigable power of will thinking humanity has ever started out anew upon the search after truth. And this fact claims an explanation.

– Abraham Kuyper, Encyclopedia of Sacred Theology: Its Principles, 118–119. (Read Kuyper’s book for free via Google Books.)

Books by Abraham Kuyper

“I entreat you now, in the morning of your life, to seek the Lord and His face” — Rutherford Thursdays No. 31

To Ninian Mure, a parishioner

Loving Friend,

I received your letter. I entreat you now, in the morning of your life, to seek the Lord and His face. Beware of the follies of dangerous youth, a perilous time for your soul. Love not the world. Keep faith and truth with all men in your covenants and bargains. Walk with God, for He seeth you. Do nothing but that which ye may and would do if your eye-strings were breaking, and your breath growing cold.

Ye heard the truth of God from me, my dear heart, follow it, and forsake it not. Prize Christ and salvation above all the world. To live after the guise and course of the rest of the world will not bring you to heaven; without faith in Christ, and repentance, ye cannot see God. Take pains for salvation; press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling. If ye watch not against evils night and day, which beset you, ye will come behind.

Beware of lying, swearing, uncleanness, and the rest of the works of the flesh; because ‘for these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience’. How sweet soever they may seem for the present, yet the end of these courses is the eternal wrath of God, and utter darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Grace be with you.

Your loving pastor.

Aberdeen, 1637

About “Rutherford Thursdays”

• See my introduction to the “Rutherford Thursdays” series of blog posts.
• Selection from His Letters is a public domain text hosted by CCEL. I have arranged and formatted Rutherford’s text and Hugh Martin’s editorial comments, added headings, paragraph separations, etc., for presentation on this blog.
• Letters of Samuel Rutherford is a nice print edition of Rutherford’s letters for under $5.
• For a brief biographical sketch of Rutherford’s life, see Hugh Martin’s forward to Selections. And see Martin’s glossary for help with outdated vocabulary.
• Rutherford Resources:
  • Samuel Rutherford by Andrew Thompson. This book, now freely available via Google Books, presents two parts: First, a biography of Rutherford’s life; Second, a selection of Rutherford’s letters entitled “Honey from the Honeycomb.”
  • Fire and Ice index to S. R.
  • Samuel Rutherford: A New Biography of the Man & His Ministry. This biography by Kingsley G Rendell provides an excellent introduction to Rutherford’s life and work.

Rutherford Reads

“Happy is your soul if Christ man the house” — Rutherford Thursdays No. 24

To William Livingstone

My Very Dear Brother,

I rejoice to hear that Christ has run away with your young love, and that ye are so early in the morning matched with such a Lord; for a young man is often a dressed lodging for the devil to dwell in. Be humble and thankful for grace; and weigh it not so much by weight, as if it be true. Christ will not cast water on your smoking coal; He never yet put out a dim candle that was lighted at the Sun of Righteousness.

I recommend to you prayer and watching over the sins of your youth; for I know that missive letters go between the devil and young blood. Satan has a friend at court in the heart of youth; and there pride, luxury, lust, revenge, forgetfulness of God, are hired as his agents. Happy is your soul if Christ man the house, and take the keys Himself, and command all, as it suiteth Him full well to rule wherever He is. Keep Christ, and entertain Him well. Cherish His grace; blow upon your own coal; and let Him tutor you.

Now for myself: know that I am fully agreed with my Lord. Christ has put the Father and me into each other’s arms. Many a sweet bargain He made before, and He has made this among the rest. I reign as king over my crosses. I will not flatter a temptation, nor give the devil a good word: I defy hell’s iron gates. God has passed over my quarreling of Him at my entry here, and now He feedeth and feasteth with me.

Praise, praise with me; and let us exalt His name together. Your brother in Christ.

Aberdeen, March 13, 1637

(Livingstone was probably one of his Anwoth parishioners.)

About “Rutherford Thursdays”

• See my introduction to the “Rutherford Thursdays” series of blog posts.
• Selection from His Letters is a public domain text hosted by CCEL. I have arranged and formatted Rutherford’s text and Hugh Martin’s editorial comments, added headings, paragraph separations, etc., for presentation on this blog.
• Letters of Samuel Rutherford is a nice print edition of Rutherford’s letters for under $5.
• For a brief biographical sketch of Rutherford’s life, see Hugh Martin’s forward to Selections. And see Martin’s glossary for help with outdated vocabulary.
• Rutherford Resources:
  • Samuel Rutherford by Andrew Thompson. This book, now freely available via Google Books, presents two parts: First, a biography of Rutherford’s life; Second, a selection of Rutherford’s letters entitled “Honey from the Honeycomb.”
  • Fire and Ice index to S. R.
  • Samuel Rutherford: A New Biography of the Man & His Ministry. This biography by Kingsley G Rendell provides an excellent introduction to Rutherford’s life and work.

Rutherford Reads

The Way of the Wicked: Psalm 1:1b

Psalm 1:1b¹

וּבְדֶ֣רֶךְ חַ֭טָּאִים לֹ֥א עָמָ֑ד

“…and in the way of sinners [he] does not stand”

As we enter the next phrase of v. 1, we begin to see a pattern in the Hebrew text. The person who is blessed by God is the one who (a) avoids a fealty-motivated, loving (i.e. loyal) action within (b) a context antithetical to or set against the One True God. For example, in 1:1a the heart-motivated action is “walking,” used metaphorically for living (as in a total way of life), and the antithetical context in which this blessed walker is to avoid is walking “in the counsel/advice/way-of-thinking of the wicked.” Now in 1:1b, the action is “standing” and the antithetical context is “in the way of sinners.” Let’s unpack this latter action and context.

לֹ֥א עָמָ֑ד

“Not stand.” The verbal concept of “standing”dips deep into biblical imagery. Standing is not seen in the abstract, as if the physical action in and of itself is important. Rather, what is in view is the relational (covenantal) aspect of the standing. One of these powerful images is “standing before God” as in a mediatorial role. Many times the mediator must stand before God on behalf of the people, such as when Abraham, Moses, and Samuel “stood before God” (Gen. 18:22; Gen. 19:27; Deut. 4:10; Jer. 15:1).¹

An important correlation is that not only did the mediator stand before God, but God’s people also stood before God via the representative head/mediator. As such it is important to pause and ponder before Whom humanity stands—the majestic Lord of Heaven and Earth:

As Joseph stood before Pharaoh (Gen 41:46), David before Saul (1Sam 16:21), Abishag and Bathsheba before David (1Kings 1:2, 28), and Nebuzaradan before Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 52:12); so the believer stands before Yahweh in a position of obedience, respect, and readiness to serve. Such a position is noble in proportion to the majesty of the one served. When a person stands before Yahweh for service, there is no higher honor to which he may aspire.²

Much more could be said about “standing.” (One interesting comparative usage of “stand” to note, for example, is Psalm 33:11. This verse uses both “stand” and “counsel,” the same two words we see in 1:1.) An important aspect to note for our reflection is that standing involves loyalty. You always stand before someone or something loyal to some foundation, whether it be yourself, a club or society, a religion—you’re feet are always planted somewhere. The man who would be blessed by God cannot plant his feet in the camp of the wicked; rather, the blessed man must plant his feet in the Lord’s camp.

וּבְדֶ֣רֶךְ חַ֭טָּאִים

“In the way of the wicked.” From the Fall (Gen. 3) onward, there have been two “ways”³ in which man can live: in obedience to God or in disobedience to God. At every point God’s people are faced with the fundamental choice: Do I believe God and follow His way of life in obedience, or do I disobey God and follow my own way.

The choices are mutually exclusive. Jesus boldly proclaimed: “I am the way,” precluding any other way to God⁴ In Acts believers’ identity itself is tied directly to being followers of “the Way.”⁵ The blessed man cannot follow the world’s wicked way of life since he is rather to be following God’s way. The cursed man is he who, having begun to listen to “the counsel of the wicked,” now is “forgetful of himself” and “grows hardened in wickedness”; It becomes easier and easier to sin and harder and harder to hear God’s counsel and to live in obedience to it.⁶

Footnotes

1 TWOT, I:673-5. Also see Psalm 106:23, in which Moses stands before God as the mediator; the same action is performed by Phinehas in Psalm 106:30.

2 TWOT, I:674.

3 “Way” is “the customary mode or manner of living.”

4 John 14:6

5 Acts 9:2; Acts 16:17; Acts 18:25f; Acts 19:9, 23; Acts 24:14, 22; Acts 25:3; Acts 26:13

6 Calvin points out the progression of sin: from listening to wicked counsel (walking with the wicked) to taking action upon that counsel (standing with the wicked) to scorning those who oppose the wicked (sitting in the seat of the wicked). John Calvin, commentary on Psalm 1.

Footnotes

1. To see the Hebrew text you need the free Ezra SIL SR unicode font. [↩ back]

Free Sins for Christians (What!?) Prescribed by a Dentist of Grace

Let’s face it, American Christianity is so strongly addicted to various form of Pelagianism that to speak of grace the way the Bible does is to put one at odds with most Christians. Long gone are the days, or so it seems, when sola gratia had teeth in a large part of the church. A grace-soaked letter such as the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (see below) has become repugnant to the Pelagian-soaked people to whom Paul wrote: Christ’s body. For this reason, the church needs more “dentists of grace” like The Old White Guy, Steve Brown, who are willing to perform root canal jobs on Pelagian rot.

Three Free Sins!

Steve understands the thick Pelagian veneer covering much of the church, and he skillfully uses tongue-in-cheek, shocking metaphors and double-take-inducing rhetoric to make Christians angry enough to stop and think like Christians (i.e. according to Scripture). For example, listen to him cut through the Pelagian crust in the area of sanctification as he tells Christians they get three free sins:

Every Christian I know wants to be better than he or she is. There may be an exception to that, but I haven’t found one. In other words, most Christians aren’t getting any better and sometimes are getting worse…but they really want to be better.

Do you know why most Christians don’t get any better or why you don’t get any better? It’s because you’re doing it wrong, dummy! You are obsessed with sin and your faith has become another “system of laws” whereby you feel guilty and try and try and try to do better. It doesn’t work, never has worked, and never will work. Only really shallow people keep doing the same thing over and over again with the same result, thinking that the next time the result will be different.

So stop it.

Why such shocking rhetoric? Many Christians think God saves them from hell, but they themselves have to work up to heaven, so to speak, effectively heaping a covenant of works upon themselves (i.e. living as if they can earn salvation merit with God by trying hard to keep His commandments even though Jesus has already kept God’s law perfectly in their stead).

But how could we ever earn (heaven and sanctification) what Christ has already won for us? Aren’t we who are united to Chrsit already “seated … with [Christ] in the heavenly places”? Only when we first understand our new identity in Christ are we then able to understand how to please God with our works, as a covenant of grace (i.e. living as if I am already a perfect law-keeper because I am one in Christ, and thus obeying God’s law not because I have to earn salvation, but because I have been freed by Christ to obey God’s law out of love!). In Paul’s words from Ephesians 2:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV; emhpasis and line breaks mine).

Christian, quit trying so hard to impress God with your obedience. Jesus has already pleased the Father; put your faith in Him. Who are you to think you could one up Jesus!?

Sin’s Fool Price

A penny of pleasure buys a dollar of pain.
Yet, rarely one sees it as an unfair trade.

For in the hot moment of vivacious passion,
man quickly loses all reasonable fashion.

But, iniquity’s ecstasy melts to thin air,
And sin’s penny pincher becomes guilt’s millionaire.

For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness. . . (Psalms 38:4-5, 18 ESV).

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