Good News Indeed!

 Martin Luther wrote that Justification by Faith alone was “the article by which the church stands or falls”. John Calvin wrote that “it is the main hinge on which religion turns.”  And Thomas Cranmer wrote (Article XI) that:  “… Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort...”   What these three Reformers were attesting to was that the gospel, inasmuch as it be good news to those who hear it, is embodied in the doctrine of Justification by Faith.  Whether of Germany, Switzerland, or England the Reformer's Biblical understanding of salvation led them to

conclude that to diminish or reject this doctrine of  faith alone was to retreat from the good news of Jesus Christ and fall back into the works-righteousness-justification fog of the Medieval Church.
Sola Fideism (by faith alone), a much misunderstood phrase, embodies the gospel.  Dr. R.Scott Clark at Heidelblog writes that sola fide is a shorthand way of saying that “faith - receiving and resting in the perfect, finished, whole, active and passive obedience of Christ for his people - is the alone instrument through which a sinner is justified before God.”  The questions then to be addressed is: why and how is sola fide essential to the good news?  To answer that we must look to the Law.
I think for many, who look to diminish or dismantle sola fide in God’s redemptive scheme, there exists an underestimation of the absolute righteous demands of God’s law (be ye perfect even as My Father is perfect) upon all mankind and the unbridgeable chasm between our most righteous works (filthy rags all before God's holy law) and the unblemished holiness required in order to stand justified before that law.

[Gal. 3:10-11] For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them. Now that no man is justified by the law before God, is evident: for, The righteous shall live by faith…  [Rom.2:5-6] but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works;  [3:8] as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; [3:19b-20a]… that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight…

This is some serious bad news!   And there is nothing one can do to change the “rules of the game.”  Yet something within us doesn’t buy this bad news as being quite as condemning as it really is.  Something inherent resides within us (Calvin calls it the relic of the flesh) that supposes there is some good we can and must bring to the table of God’s redemption.  That something which dwells within us is the sinful self-regard that "thinks more highly of himself than he ought" [Rom 12:8].  It is that which does not believe the truth that surely "nothing good dwells within my flesh." And, despite agreeing with the law via the benefit of a new heart and right-will through regeneration, I yet slip into the sin (Rom. 7) which subtly insists that my righteous intentions, prayers, faith, meditations, experiences, and works have some inherent value in climbing a meritorious ladder to God.
It doesn’t matter if one says, though erroneously, “but His grace has infused in me an inherent righteousness from which to live unto justification.”  It is not an "on and off" proposition with the law.  The law demands that I live not only in a righteous manner continually (no mulligans... we are forgiven - yet the Law demands complete holiness of life), but that my righteousness be as perfect as that of our divine Father in heaven... God Himself.  That the creature should somehow ascend toward the holiness of the Creator and from within himself produce virtue that matches God's Righteousness is pride and folly in the extreme.  Thus as Thomas Cranmer wrote in his Homily on the Salvation of Man (Of Justification), “but every man of necessity is constrained to seek for another righteousness or justification, to be received at GOD’S own hands...”

Where then is “another righteousness or justification” to be found for the inherently unrighteous sinner?  And how then is he to receive it at God’s own hands?  But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested… even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ… being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood… that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus… We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. [Rom. 3]
This good news of the Divine Transaction of the cross is that Jesus Christ, made like us, fully Man yet without sin, takes our sin upon Himself, bearing it and the condemnation and penalty rightly due our disobedience (to the law) by his suffering and death on the cross; but not only that. The penalty paid, He has risen in righteousness and, in exchange for our sins before the law, Christ now offers to his own the merit of His perfect obedience before that very law, which God imputes to us who receive it through faith... Christ's fulfilling of the Law for the redeemed.  The penalty for man's sin demanded by God's law is paid. The perfection of obedience demanded of the law is accomplished; both by the infinitely worthy God-Man Jesus. God is now both the just (His law is not compromised) and the justifier of the unjust. 

This Divine Transaction of grace rightly cuts against any pride of self-regard.  Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. [Romans 3:27]
Regarding this justification Dr. R. Scott Clark writes that, “That faith is never alone. [Yet] it does not justify because it is not alone. Those graces that accompany justifying faith do not constitute faith justifying. Only Christ, the object of faith, makes faith justifying. This is the difference between Rome and the Reformation. For the Reformation, the accompanying graces are evidence and fruit of true faith. They tell us that one has a living faith. In that way, they are necessary.”

It is good news because by a free gratuitous act of favor and love, God has sought out and rescued the sinner, who though justly under the condemnation of the law, receives forgiveness of sins and salvation through faith in Christ’s death and resurrection on his behalf. Through faith in Him the sinner receives the gift of this Divine Transaction, exchanging the filthy rags of his imperfect works for Jesus's penalty-bearing and perfect obedience in all of the law. Thus the one who trusts in Christ’s work is declared justified before the same law that once condemned him.  This justification, completed and freely given, is not a blessing restricted solely to initial saving faith, but is the secure ground of the Christian’s life going forward from which all good works spring.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus... [Rom. 8:1]  This is the solid rock upon which the believer stands as he, with increasing gratitude, follows his Lord and Savior Jesus; Who, as his Advocate and Mediator in heaven, is ever his sure Justification before God. And by grace given, this sinner/saint walks in those good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in [Eph. 2:10b], not unto his own insufficient merit and righteousness, but unto the glory of God in Christ Jesus.

Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law. [Rom. 3:31]
Good news of justification received through the gift of faith apart from any works of our own. 
Good news of God’s freely given grace - cleansing from sin by Jesus’ blood and His righteous merit before the Law accounted to us - apprehended by faith alone.  This grace sustains, upholds, and comforts as we, with increasing gratitude and trust in His finished work, yield ourselves to works of righteousness through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
Good news indeed!  ... for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them. [Eph. 2:8-10]  But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. [Rom. 11:6]

Originally posted July 29, 2010

A Case for the Reformed/Calvinist Roots of Anglicanism

The case for the Reformed/Calvinist roots of Anglicanism has been made by many Anglicans over the years; Augustus Toplady, J.C. Ryle, J.I. Packer to name a few. One can go back to primary sources such as the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion which has always been included in the lists

of Reformed confessions along with the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity (Dordt, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Belgic Confession). Unfortunately over the years the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion has undergone a number of reinventions by those who wished and largely succeeded to move the Church of England and worldwide Anglicanism away from its early Calvinist connections towards a more broad church or Anglo-Catholic position. Well, this just doesn't stand up when actual history is brought into focus.

Continental historians, both Protestant and Catholic, rank the Church of England among the Reformed Churches as distinct from the Lutheran, and her Articles are found in every collection of Reformed Confessions... the theological interpretation of the Articles by English writers has been mostly conducted in a controversial rather than an historical spirit. (Philip Schaff as quoted by J.I. Packer in his book The Thirty-Nine Articles - Their Place and Use Today, p 33)

One can have their own interpretation of the Articles, but not their own history. As Packer notes in the same book, "it is crooked thinking when the case for redefining Anglicanism is presented as the verdict of Anglican history" (p 36).

Below is an extended excerpt from what is commonly referred to as Nowell's Catechism. The catechism teaches the theology of Anglicanism as it stood a mere 16 years after the martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer when it was officially adopted by the Church of England in 1572. It presents the Reformed teachings on justification and good works echoing Calvin as well as unpacking doctrines found in the Westminster Confession of Faith (esp. Chapter 11 - Of Justification and Chapter 16 - Of Good Works) sixty years before the Westminster Assembly met! Go figure...

Dive in. Carefully read and you'll find mainstream Reformed soteriology as held by Anglicanism in its earliest years.

____________________________________________________

From Nowell's Catechism:

Master:  Now thou hast declared the Creed, that is the sum of the Christian faith, tell me, what profit get we of this faith?

Student:  Righteousness before God, by which we are made.

Master:  Doth not then our own godliness toward God, and leading of our life honestly and holily among men justify us before God?

Student:  Of this we have said somewhat already after the declaring of the law, and in other places, to this effect. If any man were able to live uprightly according to the precise rule of the law of God, he should worthily be counted justified by his good works. But seeing we are all most far from that perfection of life, yea, and be so oppressed with conscience of our sins, we must take another course, and find another way, how God may receive us into favour, than by our own deserving.

Master:  What way?

Student:  We must flee to the mercy of God, whereby he freely embraceth us with love and goodwill in Christ, without any our deserving, or respect of works, both forgiving us our sins, and so giving us the righteousness of Christ by faith in him, that for the same Christ’s righteousness he so accepteth us, as if it were our own. To God’s mercy therefore through Christ we ought to impute all our justification .

Master:  How do we know it to be thus?

Student:  By the gospel, which containeth the promises of God by Christ, to the which when we adjoin faith, that is to say, an assured persuasion of mind and stedfast confidence of God’s goodwill, such as hath been set out in the whole Creed, we do, as it were, take state and possession of this justification that I speak of.

Master:  Dost not thou then say that faith is the principal cause of this justification, so as by the merit of faith we are counted righteous before God?

Student:   No; for that were to set faith in the place of Christ. But the spring-head of this justification is the mercy of God, which is conveyed to us by Christ, and is offered to us by the gospel, and received of us by faith as with a hand.

Master: Thou sayest then that faith is not the cause but the instrument of justification; for that it embraceth Christ which is our justification; coupling us with so strait bond to him, that it maketh us partakers of all his good things?

Student:  Yea forsooth.

Master:  But can this justification be so severed from good works, that he that hath it can want them?

Student:  No: for by faith we receive Christ such as he delivereth himself unto us. But he doth not only set us at liberty from sins and death, and make us at one with God, but also with the divine inspiration and virtue of the Holy Ghost doth regenerate and newly form us to the endeavour of innocency and holiness, which we call newness of life.

Master:  Thou sayest then that justice, faith, and good works, do naturally cleave thogether, and therefor ought no more to be severed, than Christ, the of them in us, can be severed from himself.

Student:  It is true.

Master:  Then this doctrine of faith doth not withdraw men's minds from godly works and duties?

Student:  Nothing less. For good works do stand upon faith as upon their root. So far, therefore, is faith from withdrawing our hearts from living uprightly, that, contrariwise, it doth most vehemently stir us up to the endeavour of good life; yea and so far, that he is not truly faithful that doth not also to his power both shun vices and embrace virtues, so living always as one that looketh to give an account.

Master:  Therefore tell me plainly how our works be acceptable to God, and what rewards be given to them?

Student:  In good works, two things are principally required. First, that we do those works that are prescribed by the law of God; secondly, that they be done with that mind and faith which God requireth. For no doings or thoughts enterprised or conceived without faith can please God.

Master:  Go forward.

Student:  It is evident, therefore, that all works whatsoever we do, before that we be born again and renewed by the Spirit of God, such as may properly be called our own works are faulty. For whatsoever shew of brightness and worthiness they represent and give to the eyes of men, since they spring and proceed from a faulty and corrupted heart, which God chiefly considereth, they cannot but be defiled and corrupted, and so grievously offend God. Such works, therefore, as evil fruits, growing out of an evil tree, God despiseth and rejecteth from him.

Master:  Can we not, therefore, go before God with any works or deservings, whereby we may first provoke him to love us, and be good unto us?

Student:  Surely, with none. For Gos loved and chose us in Christ, not only when we were his enemies, that is, sinners, but also before the foundations of the world were laid. And this is the same spring-head and original of our justification, whereof I spake before.

Master:  What thinkest thou of those works which we, after that we be reconciled to God's favour, do by the instinct of the Holy ghost?

Student:  The dutiful works of godliness, which proceedeth out of faith, working be charity, are indeed acceptable to God, yet not by their own deserving; but for that he, of his liberality, vouchsafeth them his favour. For though they be derived from the Spirit of God, as little streams from the spring-head, yet of our flesh, that mingleth itself with them, in the doing by the way, they receive corruption, as it were by infection, like as a river, otherwise pure and clear, is troubled and mudded with mire and slime, wherethrough it runneth.

Master:  How then dost thou say that they please God?

Student:  It is faith that procureth God's favour to our works, while it is assured that he will not deal with us after extremity of law, nor call our doings to exact account, nor try them as it were by the square: that is, he will not, in valuing and weighing them use severity, but remitting and pardoning all their corruptness, for Christ's sake and his deservings, will account them for fully perfect.

Master:  Then thou standest still in this, that we cannot by merit of works obtain to be justified before God, seeing thou thinkest that all doings of men, even the perfectest, do need pardon?

Student:  God himself hath so decreed in his word; and his Holy Spirit doth teach us to pray that he bring us not into judgment. For where righteousness, such as God the Judge shall allow, ought to be throughly absolute, and in all parts and points fully perfect, such as is to be directed and tried by the most precise rule, and, as it were, by the plumb-line of God's law and judgment; and therefore our works, even the best of them, for that they swerve and differ most far from the rule and prescription of God's law and justice, are many ways to be blamed and condemned; we can in no wise be justified before God by works.

Master:  Doth not this doctrine withdraw men's minds from the duties of godliness, and make them slacker and slower to good works, or at least less cheerful and ready to godly endeavours?

Student:  No: for we may not therefore say that good works are unprofitable or done in vain and without cause, for that we obtain not justification by them. For they serve both to the profit of our neighbour and to the glory of God; and they do, as by certain testimonies, assure us of God's goodwill toward us, and of our love again to God-ward, and of our faith, and so consequently of our salvation. And the reason it is, that we being redeemed with the blood of Christ the Son of God, and having beside received innumerable and infinite benefits of God, should live and wholly frame ourselves after the will and appointment of our Redeemer, and so shew ourselves mindful and thankful to the Author of our salvation, and by our example procure and win other unto him. The man that calleth these thoughts to mind may sufficiently rejoice in his good endeavours and works.

Master:  But God doth allure us to good doing with certain rewards, both in this life and in the life to come, and doth covenant with us as it were for certain wages.

Student:  That reward, as I have said, is not given to our works for their worthiness, and rendered to them as recompence for deservings, but by the bountifulness of God is freely bestowed upon us without deserving. And justification God doth give us as a gift of his own dear love toward us, and of his liberality through Christ. When I speak of God's gift and liberality, I mean it free and bountiful, without any our desert or merit: that it be God's mere and sincere liberality, which he applieth to or salvation only whom he loveth and which trust in him, not hired or procured for wages, as it were a merchandise of his commodities and benefits used by him for some profit to himself, requiring again of us some recompence or price, which once to think were to abate both the liberality and majesty of God.

Master:  Whereas then God doth by faith both give us justification, and by the same faith alloweth and accepteth our works, tell me, dost thou think that this faith is a quality of nature, or the gift of God?

Student:  Faith is the gift of God, and a singular and excellent gift. For both our wits are too gross and dull to conceive and understand the wisdom of God, whose fountains are opened by faith, and our hearts are more apt either to distrust, or to wrongful and corrupt trust in ourselves, or in other creatures, than to true trust in God. But God, instructing us with his word and lightening our minds with his Holy Spirit, maketh us apt to learn those things that otherwise would be far from entering into the dull capacity of our wits; and sealing the promises of salvation in our souls, he so informeth us that we are most surely persuaded of the truth of them. These things the apostles understanding, do pray to increase their faith.

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In short, I affirm, that not by our own merit but by faith alone, are both our persons and works justified [i.e. accepted]; and that the justification of works depends on the justification of the person, as the effect on the cause. (John Calvin, Acts of the Council of Trent with the Antidote)

See also this post:  John Calvin: The Recompense of Good Works

Anglican Baptismal Regeneration: Yes or No?

 J.I. Packer's excellent new and final book, The Heritage of Anglican Theology, shows the value of putting theology in its proper historical context. An example is the selection below (pp 282-285) which helps bring clarification to often contentious debates over the Anglican doctrines of infant baptism and baptismal regeneration:

"A word must be said also about the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. In the early 1800s, the final court of appeal in matters of dispute about the doctrine of the Church of England was the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Now, the Privy Council was a company of people who were thought of as the monarch's most intimate advisers. This committee was a subcommittee of that larger body consisting of experts in the law who functioned as the highest court of judicial appeal in England when legal questions arose about the meaning of the law. These were legal experts, all laymen, but competent at interpreting documents and checking the precedents of case law and so forth.

One case that eventually came before the Judicial Committee involved a scholarly clergyman named George Cornelius Gorham. The case was brought by a High Church bishop in Exeter named Henry Phillpotts. Gorham had been nominated to a pastorate in Brampford Speke, Devon. Phillpotts suspected that Gorham was an evangelical, and indeed he was. Phillpotts asked him some questions at the bishop's discretion, which Phillpotts expected would expose Gorham's evangelicalism and allow Phillpotts to pronounce him unfit to minister in the Church of England and therefore to refuse to institute him to the pastorate for which he had been nominated in that diocese.

One of the questions was whether Gorham believed in baptismal regeneration. Gorham said no. Phillpotts replied, in effect, "Then I am not going to institute you because the Prayer Book affirms baptismal regeneration, and the Articles do also."

Gorham, the learned man, replied that, on the contrary, that is an interpretation of the Articles and Prayer Book that some hold, but it is not the only possible interpretation, and it is not the interpretation that the authors of the Prayer Book and Articles--the sixteenth-century Reformers--held themselves. Phillpotts thought this was nonsense, but Gorham appealed the verdict of Phillpotts against him. Gorham was confident he could prove his case.

So he took Phillpotts to court, demanding to be instituted to the pastorate to which he had been nominated. The case ended up before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It took two years for the case to get there. During that time, an evangelical scholar named William Goode wrote a learned treatise canvassing all the Reformers who had ever hon into print on this subject. Goode's treatise was called The Effects of Infant Baptism, and the hinge of its argument was that all these Reformers had insisted that salvation is through being justified by faith alone, and without faith no one is justified.

That, of course, does not match baptismal regeneration. In all that the Reformers said about the effects of infant baptism they did not go as far as affirming baptismal regeneration. They did celebrate the fact that the rite of baptism--water on the forehead, representing going under the water--symbolizes, signifies, and personalizes the promise of Christ, the promise of new life to those who will receive it through faith. In baptism, that promise is personally delivered to the candidate. This includes infant baptism, which Anglicanism has always regarded as consistent with the institution of Christ.

As the infant grows up, he or she has to learn to exercise the faith that was in the hearts of the parents and godparents when they brought the child to baptism. Their faith was that God would work in their child's heart to bring that child to faith, and that God would sanctify the rite of baptism whereby, in his mercy, God would personalize the promise to this child. This would be explained to the child as soon as he or she were old enough to understand it. God then sanctifies all that as a means of grace to bring the child to a living, personal faith.

William Goode demonstrated all this in The Effects of Infant Baptism, and in 1850 the Judicial Committee found that Gorham's view was a permitted interpretation of Anglican doctrine. His claim was vindicate, and Phillpotts had to institute him. Otherwise, Phillpotts would have been breaking the law.

The Gorham case--decided in this way against a cherished Anglo-Catholic doctrine and decided by a company of laypeople, rather than by the clergy or by bishops--became a great cause of offense to High Churchmen and Anglo-Catholics who disagreed with the verdict (and with Gorham's view). Furthermore, they thought the church should settle its own legal problems, and that bishops and clergy--not secular lawyers--should be having the last word. One of the effects of the Gorham decision was quite a flurry of Anglican-Catholics becoming Roman Catholics. For the Church of England to settle matters of faith this way destroyed Anglican credibility, in their minds.

Today Anglo-Catholics who know about the Gorham judgment will smile and shake their heads and basically say, "It ought not to have been done that way." Remember, the verdict was only that George Gorham's interpretation of the church's foundational documents was possible. Certain of the Catholic clergymen will counter that is not the interpretation one ought to embrace. Thus, Anglican-Catholics go on maintaining baptismal regeneration.

Evangelical Anglicans, as you would expect, go along with the Gorham judgment, and they are backed by quite a bit of writing. But because of the caution with which the Prayer Book and Articles were phrased back in the sixteenth century--so as not to give offense to people who believed in baptismal regeneration--an ambiguity is there. It is a matter of fact, and some of us feel that this is a pity."

Relevant portions of The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion [emphasis added]:

XI. Of the Justification of Man.

We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

XXV. Of the Sacraments.

Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God's good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him.

There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.

XXVII. Of Baptism.

Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New-Birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed, Faith is confirmed, and Grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God.

The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ. 

John Calvin and The OPC Third Membership Vow: To Abhor or not to Abhor? (Part 6)

The Third membership vow of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church...
As unpacked in the previous posts, the vow summarizes the Reformed understanding of sinners/saints and their repentance before God. The following prayer of John Calvin seems to be, as it were, an expanded two-part template for the entire third vow:

The Vow (3) 
Do you confess that because of your sinfulness you abhor and humble yourself before God, that you repent of your sin, and that you trust for salvation not in yourself...

John Calvin:  "Grant, Almighty God, that since we are too secure and torpid in our sins, thy dread majesty may come to our minds, to humble us, and to remove our fear, that we may learn anxiously to seek reconciliation through Christ, and so abhor ourselves for our sins, that thou mayest then be prepared to receive us: and that unbelief may not shut the door against us, enable us to regard thee to be such as thou hast revealed thyself, and to acknowledge that thou art not like us... 

 ... but in Jesus Christ alone?

Calvin continues: "... but the fountain of all mercy, that we may thus be led to entertain a firm hope of salvation, and that, relying on the Mediator, thy only-begotten Son, we may know him as the throne of grace, full of compassion and mercy. O grant, that we may thus come to thee, that through him we may certainly know that thou art our Father, so that the covenant thou hast made with us may never fail through our fault, even this, that we are thy people, because thou hast once adopted us in thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."*

*Prayer of John Calvin from his commentary on Hosea

To Abhor or Not To Abhor? That Is The Question - Part 1

The Pharisee and the Publican

The 3rd membership vow of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church reads as follows:

(3) Do you confess that because of your sinfulness you abhor and humble yourself before God, that you repent of your sin, and that you trust for salvation not in yourself but in Jesus Christ alone

Abhor... such an antiquated and negative word, at least as many understand it today. I submit that we moderns really need to refresh ourselves with a biblically and theologically sound understanding of the word abhor. It isn't a word commonly used anymore. Today, the shorthand definition or synonym is "to hate." Yet the word abhor classically understood, in a theological sense and as used in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church 3rd membership vow, does not mean "to hate" (i.e. to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; to detest). And why, you ask, is this the subject of a blog post? Because in some corners of the OPC the third membership vow is indeed controversial because the understood meaning is that to abhor myself means to hate or detest myself, which I agree is a somewhat negative and extreme position to take as a Christian. And, as the thinking goes, for a Christian to abhor himself because of his sinfulness is to deny that God loves him as he is now in Christ and therefore the use of the word abhor in the vow should be rejected.

My purpose in this post is limited to showing that a believer abhorring himself as a sinner doesn't deny God's love, grace, and redemption in Christ, but rather more clearly affirms it. Or put another way, to abhor oneself because of one's sinfulness and at the same time to affirm God's love in Christ are not inconsistent positions.

From what can easily be found, consulting various dictionary sources, Abhor essentially is defined as "to regard with horror or loathing" and comes from the Latin word *abhorrre* which means to shrink. 

Let's look at a verse from the early Christian hymn (Ambrose), Te Deum Laudamus: 

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man : thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb

And the Christmas carol, O Come, All Ye Faithful:

God of God, light of light, Lo, he abhors not the Virgin's womb

Let me ask a question or two with the synonym hate in focus. Are we to understand that prior to the incarnation God hated or detested the Virgin's womb? That would not make sense since children, the fruit of the womb, are a blessing of God (Ps. 127:3). Scripture teaches that God, in the person of his Son, did not abhor taking humanity upon himself (Luke 1:26-38; Matt. 1:20). Are we to understand that prior the incarnation God hated and detested  humanity? Certainly the answer is no.

In the beginning God created humanity and saw that man, along with all creation, was very good (Gen. 1:31). Yet after the Fall with the introduction of sin into humanity God shrank back and separated from man, i.e. He removed His immediate presence and communion from sinful man so much so that in the Old Testament sinful man was threatened with death if certain rituals of cleansing from sin were not followed by the Israelites when approaching God in Temple worship. It wasn't because God hated humanity or the Israelites. But God, who is Holy, abhorred or looked upon His once holy but now sinful couple with an holy horror and separated from or shrank back from them. There were two reasons for this separation. First, an holy God and sinful man could not continue to dwell together face to face without the resultant death of man. Secondly, God, though abhorring Adam and Eve as sinners, yet already had a plan for their redemption born of His love (Eph. 1:4-6). God's protection, care, and love for man and his abhorrence of man as a sinner therefore were not inconsistent with one another.

So we see that after the Fall and because of man's sinfulness, God abhorred the sinner in that He looked upon the corrupted man and woman with horror in what they had done and become. He separated Himself or shrank back from sinful humanity (Gen. 3:22-24) as He drove Adam and Eve from the Garden. He did this because of man's sinfulness. And yet God also did this because He had, and has, in His eternal plan a caring and providential love for mankind and a redemptive love specifically for Adam and Eve and their children of promise (Gen. 3:20-21). To stay in God's immediate presence would have meant death for them. In a true sense we can say that for God to abhor the sinners Adam and Eve didn't exclude for God to love the sinners Adam and Eve. And we can thus deduce that if God had not abhorred sinful man by separating from Adam and Eve, then mankind would have died (in them) as can be understood by the warning God gave to Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Ex. 33:20). So God's abhorring or shrinking back from the sinner did not and does not exclude His love for the sinner.

Now looking again at the OPC 3rd membership vow -

(3) Do you confess that because of your sinfulness you abhor and humble yourself before God, that you repent of your sin, and that you trust for salvation not in yourself but in Jesus Christ alone

My focus is the question: Is it unbiblical for the Christian, because of his sinfulness, to abhor and humble himself before God? Some would say yes. Why would someone think that? Well, as the thinking goes, to hate ourselves as Christians is to deny that God loves us! If God loves us and we are now His children it would be an act of unbelief on our part to hate that which God loves as well as a nonacceptance on our part of what Christ has accomplished on the cross to remove our sin and sinner-status before God. We are now children of God, new creatures! In short, the thinking is that to abhor ourselves because of our sinfulness and to be loved by God are exclusive of one another. We should not hate that which God loves. This conclusion is erroneous and based upon an insufficient knowledge of holiness of God and knowledge of the sinfulness of man.

Now back to the third membership vow. How are we to interpret the first clause of the third vow? It says that being sinners who have sinned against and do still regularly sin and offend our Creator's holiness, we should have a certain regard or attitude toward ourselves when it comes to salvation. The attitude we are to have is that because of our sinfulness, we should completely shrink back from or separate from any perceived ground of goodness or righteousness in ourselves. Why? Because even our righteousness are as filthy rags before God (Isa. 64:6; Rom 3:10-1, 7:18-19; Phil. 3:9a). And that we, remaining sinners in this life, should regard ourselves with a kind of self-separation, loathing, or horror of ourselves as sinners who have and still do rebelliously sin against God (Ez. 36:24-32), especially in light of the mercy and grace lavishly bestowed upon us in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian acknowledges a truth that is based on a biblically revealed knowledge of self:

That which is OF me produces no good or righteousness IN me. In other words, nothing OF me can move me toward an acceptance with God. Rather what I am in and of myself as a sinner can only move me away from God.

Thus the only ground, source, and hope for forgiveness and righteousness that secures everlasting fellowship with God, and indeed eternal salvation, lies in 1) abhorring oursleves (judging our sinful selves as completely wanting of any righteousness and shrinking from or turning away from ourselves), 2) in repentance humbling ourselves before God, and 3) trusting alone in the One who abhorred not the Virgin's womb. God in Christ Jesus, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, ended the separation between Himself and sinful man by uniting Himself with our humanity. Jesus took upon Himself our sins and judgment in order that we should be counted righteous and without sin unto eternal life solely on the basis of His work of the cross (Phil. 2:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:21; John 3:16).

In a word, there is a Gospel necessity, that because of our sinfulness we confess our self-abhorrence and humble ourselves in repentance before God as an integral part of placing our complete trust in Christ and his finished work alone for our salvation.

Calvin: Acceptable Good Works Justified By Faith Alone

"I say that it is owing to free imputation that we are considered righteous before God; I say that from this also another benefit proceeds, viz., that our works have the name of righteousness, though they are far from having the reality of righteousness.  

"In short, I affirm, that not by our own merit but by faith alone, are both our persons and works justified; and that the justification of works depends on the justification of the person, as the effect on the cause. Therefore, it is necessary that the righteousness of faith alone so precede in order, and be so pre-eminent in degree, that nothing can go before it or obscure it."

John Calvin, Acts of the Council of Trent with the Antidote

The Five Solas of the Reformation...

Scripture Alone
VI. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.
 Holy Scripture containeth all things
necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.
Articles of Religion, The Church of England

Grace Alone
Moreover, the message of free reconciliation with God is not promulgated for one or two days, but is declared to be perpetual in the Church, (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19.) Hence believers have not even to the end of life any other righteousness than that which is there described. Christ ever remains a Mediator to reconcile the Father to us, and there is a perpetual efficacy in his death, viz., cleansing, satisfaction, expiation; in short, perfect obedience, by which all our iniquities are covered. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, Paul says not that the beginning of salvation is of grace, but "by grace are ye saved," "not of works, lest any man should boast," (Ephesians 2:8, 9.)

John Calvin. Institutes of Religion. 3.14.11

Faith Alone
"For the Reformation, reconciliation precedes sanctification... Calvin insists that reconciliation means that the Christian is connected to the perfect righteousness of Christ by that faith that looks away from itself, which is [the] only… instrument of receiving the work of Christ." Faith is the vessel in which the riches of Christ's work are brought to us - reconciling us to God... Faith alone, which looks to Christ alone, has its works, but its works, its fruits, or its outcome are in no way part of justification.” … To say that one is saved by "grace alone" is not enough. The medieval [Roman Catholic] theologians taught that - that grace alone worked to so transform and sanctify one as to be the basis for final justification. Yet such improved life is still imperfect. What one needs to stand in the judgment is a perfect righteousness!

… ”Paul indeed taught that faith stands alone in receiving justification from the work of Christ (Rom. 3:24-26). Justification is not received or maintained by any kind of working, any kind of moral improvement, or any kind of sanctifying moral improvement."

… Peace with God comes only through faith in Christ alone - His merit, His sacrifice and satisfaction for sin...

As Luther wrote, "A man is justified, not by the works of the law, by by faith alone.”
Dr. Robert Godfrey

Christ Alone
If Christ provides only a part of our salvation, leaving us to provide the rest, then we are still hopeless under the load of sin. For no matter how small the gap which must be bridged before salvation can be attained, the awakened conscience sees clearly that our wretched attempt at goodness is insufficient even to bridge that gap. The guilty soul enters again into the hopeless reckoning with God, to determine whether we have really done our part. And thus we groan again under the old bondage of the law. Such an attempt to piece out the work of Christ by our own merit, Paul saw clearly, is the very essence of unbelief; Christ will do everything or nothing, and the only hope is to throw ourselves unreservedly on His mercy and trust Him for all.

J. Gresham Machen: Christianity and Liberalism

To God Be The Glory Alone
And because all this is brought to pass through the only merits and deservings of our Saviour Christ and not through our merits or through the merit of any virtue that we have within us or of any work that cometh from us, therefore in that respect of merit and deserving we forsake, as it were, altogether again faith, works, and all other virtues. For our own imperfection is so great through the corruption of original sin, that all is imperfect that is within us: faith, charity, hope, dread, thoughts, words, and works, and therefore is not apt to merit and deserve any part of our justification for us. And this form of speaking use we in the humbling of ourselves to God and to give all the glory to our Saviour Christ, who is best worthy to have it…

And the said benefits of God, deeply considered, move us for his sake also to be ever ready to give ourselves to our neighbours and, as much as lieth in us, to study with all our endeavour to do good to every man. These be the fruits of true faith: to do good as much as lieth in us to every man, and above all things and in all things to advance the glory of God, of whom only we have our sanctification, justification, salvation and redemption; to whom be ever glory, praise, and honour, world without end. Amen.
Thomas Cranmer, Sermon on the Salvation of Man

a Christ for You and for Me...

"Now preaching ought to have the object of promoting faith in Him, so that He may not only be Christ, but a Christ for you and for me, and that what is said of Him, and what He is called, may work in us. And this faith is produced and is maintained by preaching why Christ came, what He has brought us and given to us, and to what profit and advantage He is to be received."

Martin Luther, Concerning Christian Liberty

Sinners Justified By Faith Receive the Righteousness of Christ Imputed by God to the Elect

Imputation
Justified sinners are those called by God's grace who, through faith in Christ alone, receive God's imputation to them of the satisfaction of Jesus's atoning death and righteous obedience, which for Christ's sake are accounted - credited - reckoned to them as righteousness for their unqualified pardon and acceptance before God as if really performed by them; not a righteousness infused or worked inherently into them, but imputed to them.

Heidelberg Catechism 60  Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them, and am still inclined to all evil, yet God, without any merit of my own, out of mere grace, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart. 

Belgic Confession 22 Jesus Christ, imputing to us all his merits and so many holy works which he has done for us, and in our stead, is our Righteousness.

Westminster Confession of Faith 11.1 Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them. 

Westminster Larger Catechism 71 Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepts the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace. 

Westminster Shorter Catechism 33 Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. 

Article XI Of the Justification of Man We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings; Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

The Priority of Justifying Faith - Owen

 "Wherefore we say the faith by which we are justified is such as is not found in any but those who are made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and by him united to Christ - whose nature is renewed, and in whom there is a principle of all grace and purpose of obedience. Only we say that it is not any other grace, nor any obedience that gives life and form unto this faith; but it is this faith that gives life and efficacy to all other graces, and form to all evangelical obedience; all gospel holiness and good works presupposes faith as their root and principle: and without which there are no such things. Yet we do not assign to them the same influence to our justification which faith hath, nor indeed any influence whatever. We are justified by faith alone. For no other grace is capable of the office of faith in justification nor can be joined with it, to receive Christ and the promise of life by him, and to give glory to God on their account."

John Owen: The Doctrine of Justification by Faith Through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ - Explained, Confirmed, and Defended,  p. 60

[emphasis added]

Confessing Christ's Righteousness Imputed to Sinners - Justification Received Through Faith Alone.

The righteousness of Christ is reckoned or imputed to sinners, not infused or worked in them, and is received through faith alone for their justification.  Good works done by the believer play no part in his justification. Rather it is Jesus Christ's obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross that is the sole meritorious ground upon which a sinner is accepted by God.

Heidelberg Catechism 60 Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them, and am still inclined to all evil, yet God, without any merit of my own, out of mere grace, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.  

Belgic Confession 22 Jesus Christ, imputing to us all his merits and so many holy works which he has done for us, and in our stead, is our Righteousness.  

Westminster Confession of Faith 11.1 Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them.  

Westminster Larger Catechism 71 Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepts the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace.  

Westminster Shorter Catechism 33 Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

______________________

Romans 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that having died to sins we might live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 

Romans 6:1-7 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. We know that our old man was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be done away, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. For one who has died has been justified from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death no more hath dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. [see Robert Haldane's Romans Commentary]

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 

1 John 2:2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 

1 Corinthians 1:30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 

Romans 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

Romans 3:20-26 For by works of the law no human being[c] will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Psalm 32:2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 

Hebrews 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 

Hebrews 9:28 So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. 

Romans 7:1-4 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 

John Calvin: The Recompense of Good Works

Concerning works of believers and their justification, John Calvin writes in The Necessity of Reforming the Church:

Lastly, there was another most pestilential error, which not only occupied the minds of men, but was regarded as one of the principal articles of faith, of which it was impious to doubt, viz., that believers ought to be perpetually in suspense and uncertainty as to their interest in the divine favor. By this suggestion of the devil, the power of faith was completely extinguished, the benefits of Christ’s purchase destroyed, and the salvation of men overthrown. For, as Paul declares, that faith only is Christian faith which inspires our hearts with confidence, and emboldens us to appear in the presence of God, (Romans 5:2.) On no other view could his doctrine in another passage be maintained, viz., that 

“we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,” (Romans 8:15.)

But what is the effect of that hesitancy which our enemies require in their disciples, save to annihilate all confidence in the promises of God? Paul argues, that

“If they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect,” (Romans 4:14.)

Why so? Just because the law keeps a man in doubt, and does not permit him to entertain a sure and firm confidence. But they, on the other hand, dream of a faith, which, excluding and repelling man from that confidence which Paul requires, throws him back upon conjecture, to be tossed like a reed shaken by the wind. And it is not surprising that after they had once founded their hope of salvation on the merit of works, they plunged into all this absurdity. It could not but happen, that from such a precipice they should have such a fall. For what can man find in his works but materials for doubt, and, finally, for despair? We thus see how error led to error...

It would seem that the error Calvin refers to was similar to the one Paul confronted in his letter to the Galatians. Those first century believers had reverted to a grace plus works understanding of salvation, i.e. faith in Christ's death and resurrection for forgiveness of sins and justification - to which was added grace-enabled works under the Law for final salvation. Concerning the Judaizers and those who followed their teaching, J. Gresham Machen wrote:

They, believed, moreover, that faith in Christ was necessary to salvation. But the trouble was, they also believed that something else was also necessary; they believed that what Christ had done needed to be pieced out by the believer's own effort to keep the Law..

Paul saw very clearly that the difference between the Judaizers and himself was the difference between a religion of merit and a religion of grace..

The difference which divided him from the Judaizers was no mere theological subtlety, but concerned the very heart and core of the religion of Christ. "Just as I am without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me" - that is what Paul was contending for in Galatia; That hymn would never have been written if the Judaizers had won. And without the thing which that hymn expresses there is no Christianity at all...

If Christ provides only a part of our salvation, leaving us to provide the rest, then we are still hopeless under the load of sin. For no matter how small the gap which must be bridged before salvation can be attained, the awakened conscience sees clearly that our wretched attempt at goodness is insufficient even to bridge that gap. The guilty soul enters again into the hopeless reckoning with God, to determine whether we have really done our part. And thus we groan again under the old bondage of the law. Such an attempt to piece out the work of Christ by our own merit, Paul saw clearly, is the very essence of unbelief; Christ will do everything or nothing, and the only hope is to throw ourselves unreservedly on His mercy and trust Him for all. (Christianity and Liberalism)

For Paul, though believers in Christ are obligated to do good works as evidence of their faith and thankfulness in Christ (faith working through love), their good works of themselves contribute nothing of moral weight, acquittal, or vindication in their final salvation.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

So then how are we to think about the good works of believers who are justified through faith alone? How do they contribute to their sanctification? Do they contribute in any way to salvation that is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone?  And in what way are the good works of believers judged? Again, Calvin:

... Our third and last exception relates to the recompence of works — we maintaining that it depends not on their own value or merit, but rather on the mere benignity of God. Our opponents, indeed, admit that there is no proportion between the merit of the work and its reward; but they do not attend to what is of primary moment in the matter, viz., that the good works of believers are never so pure as that they can please without pardon. They consider not, I say, that they are always sprinkled with some spots or blemishes, because they never proceed from that pure and perfect love of God which is demanded by the Law. Our doctrine, therefore, is, that the good works of believers are always devoid of a spotless purity which can stand the inspection of God; nay, that when they are tried by the strict rule of justice, they are, to a certain extent, impure. But, when once God has graciously adopted believers, he not only accepts and loves their persons, but their works also, and condescends to honor them with a reward. In one word, as we said of man, so we may say of works, - they are justified [i.e. accepted] not by their own desert, but by the merits of Christ alone; the faults by which they would otherwise displease being covered by the sacrifice of Christ. This consideration is of very great practical importance, both in retaining men in the fear of God, that they may not arrogate to their works that which proceeds from his fatherly kindness; and also in inspiring them with the best consolation, and so preventing them from giving way to despondency, when they reflect on the imperfection or impurity of their works, by reminding them that God, of his paternal indulgence, is pleased to pardon it. (The Necessity of Reforming the Church)

I doubt that on that wonderful Judgment Day any who belong to Christ will be thinking about, looking upon, or dare to offer up their best works of sanctification. Then we will be robed both within and without in only the Righteousness of the Lamb; and yet even our blood-washed garments of righteousness will not draw our attention. Rather, all eyes will be fixed on him who died for us.

“The Bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of grace:
Not at the crown He giveth,
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory,
And my eternal stand!”
– O Christ, He is the Fountain

[emphasis added in above texts]