Two Laws, Two Righteousnesses...

I'm reading an excellent book (1814) written by the 18th century Scottish divine, Thomas Bell. I came across it on Nick Batzig's blog Feeding On Christ. This work arguably had influence on the likes of John Colquhoun, someone I have quoted quite a bit on this blog. Below is a small section of the larger first part of the book on the covenants of works and grace in which he goes through Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia. I imagine this excerpt might be seen today as somewhat controversial among some. Yet as I see it, Bell makes sense of Paul as does the rest of what I have read so far.

"6thly. We read of two laws, Rom. iii. 27. The one is called the law of works, the other the law of faith. The one justifies by deeds of obedience to it, i. e. if men would satisfy its demands, it would justify them. The other justifies by faith. The one justifies in such a manner that boasting is not excluded, inasmuch as it promises life to sinners, on condition of their own personal obedience only. For Adam the head of the first covenant having

failed, if any of his posterity will still have life by that covenant, they themselves must yield it perfect obedience in their own persons, and by their own strength; for the law supposeth strength, promiseth none. Now if they could do this, they might boast indeed, as of some mighty achievements performed by themselves. Every one might glory in himself as the cause of his own salvation. And thus, boasting instead of being excluded, would be established. But the apostle expressly tells us that boasting is excluded, and that by the law ot faith. Now faith is not a working, but a receiving of righteousness, the righteousness of another: and therefore it effectually excludes all boasting of personal worth or works. He that is justified by faith, can no more boast of any thing done by himself, than a beggar enriched by the undeserved gift of another, can boast of it as his own acquisition. In the one case, it becomes the poor man to magnify his generous friend; and in the other, the believer glorieth only in the Lord his righteousness. Now these two laws, the one establishing, and the other excluding boasting, what are they? What else can they be, but the two covenants of works and of grace? For by grace are we saved, through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast, Eph. ii. 8, 9.

"These two laws of works and of faith, I take to be the same with those mentioned, Rom. viii. 2. called the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, and the law of sin and death. The covenant of works is called the law of sin and death, because it bindeth sin and death upon us till Christ set us free. The covenant of grace is called the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, because it enables and quickens a man to spiritual life through Christ. (Practical use of Saving Knowledge *). To these two laws of works and of faith, may be referred the two very different answers given by our Lord and the disciples, to sinners enquiring after happiness. The one says to the haughty young man, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, Matth. xix. 17. This is the law of works. The others say to the trembling jailor, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, Acts xvi. 31. This is the law of faith. The law of works saith, the man who doeth those things, shall live by them, Rom. x. 5). The law of faith says, the just by faith, shall live by it, Gal. iii. 1 1. li. 20.

Footnote * If any would rather refer the two laws, Ram. viii. 2. to the two opposite principles in the believer, I should not contradict. For certain it is, that agreeably to the apostle's phraseology, chap. vii. 28. there is a law in the members, the law of sin warring against the law of the mind. What is called the law of sin, may he called the law of death, as well as the body of death, verse 24. inasmuch as to be carnally minded is death, chap. viii. 6.: the law of the Spirit of Life may very fitly be under stood of the law of the mind, chap- vii. 23. inasmuch as to be spiritually minded is life, chap. viii. 6. Taking the passage thus, it has reference to the words immediately preceding, "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." How or whence is it that they who are in Christ do so walk? The apostle answers, The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. The law of the spiritual mind, which I have from Christ Jesus, delivers me from absolute bondage to the law of sin and death, which is in my members. Though I feel its awful power, and am at times ready to succumb in the conflict, yet I am not brought under its dominion. I walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. This freedom therefore from the law of sin and death is not absolute, as appears from chap. vii. 21, 23. but comparative. The man being dead to sin, liveth no longer in it, chap. vi. 2. though still it liveth and lusteth in him, chap. vii. 17.; he that is dead is freed from sin; it hath not dominion over him, chap. vi. 7, 14. After all, it is obvious that the two laws taken in this sense, necessarily imply the two covenants.

"7thly. We read of two righteousnesses, Rom. x. 5 — 10. The one is called the righteousness of the law, the other, the righteousness of faith. The one is described by Moses, that the man who doeth these things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith speaketh in a very different strain, viz. that salvation is to be obtained, not by doing, but by a cordial believing unto, or resting upon, a righteousness already wrought out by the Lord Jesus Christ. Here the blessing sought is the same, viz. life and salvation. But two very opposite ways of obtaining it are pointed out, doing and believing. The one according to the law, or covenant of works; the other according to the gos pel, or covenant of grace. The one according to the Sinai covenant, Lev. xviii. .5.; the other according to

the covenant in the land of Moab, which was very dif ferent from it, Deut. xxix. 1. xxx. 11-14. The two righteousnesses here are just as opposite as the law and faith: And we know that the law is not of faith: but the man that doeth them, shall live in them. The law commands doing, in order to obtain Ijife: the gospel directs to believing. The one points out the old way, once practicable indeed, but now impossible. The other reveals a new way to reach the same end, even Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, Rom. x. 4. Thus these two righteousnesses are perfectly consonant to the two covenants. The one is the man's own, who seeks it as it were by the works of the law. And therefore if the least imperfection be found in it, he must be subject to the curse of that law by which he seeks to be justified. The other righteousness is not the sinner's own, that is, it is not wrought out in whole, or in part by him, but by the Surety, the Son of God, and apprehended by the sinner's faith: therefore called the righteousness of God, Rom. x. 3. and the righteousness of faith, verse 6. Phil. iii. 9. And as sure as this righteousness is altogether perfect, so sure shall that sinner's salvation be, who renouncing every other ground of dependence, rests on it alone."

Thomas Bell,  A View of the Covenant of Works and Grace and a Treatise on the Nature and Effects of Saving Faith: pp. 156-159

Needed... more grace?

[From the Archives: Originally posted March 10, 2012]

At Old Life, Darryl Hart has a post with this comment of his:

... the way to blur law and gospel is by sneaking grace into the relationship. If the law is gracious (which it is in a sense), then it must be salvific. But then there is Paul’s stop sign, the law is not of faith. Must be a different kind of grace.

What the law-is-gracious crowd forget is that Rome says salvation is entirely gracious — good works and all.   

The language of grace clarifies nothing. In some cases it obscures, as in “grace before the fall.”

This got me to thinking about the thrust of so many sermons that are preached today. Too often when Christian living and good works are exhorted from the pulpit, I hear grace invoked as some kind of seasoning or spice that enables the believer to think, speak, and act as God intends. As in: Jesus died for you sins. You’re now forgiven and have his Spirit. So, relying on the grace that he gives, go out and love your neighbor as yourself… The gospel is functionally reduced to “grace added” and gets presented as a means to an end kind of thing, something given in order that you can do it, i.e. live as God teaches in his law.

But we're not in need of mere renovation by grace.  Our problem is not that we're lacking some missing ingredient with which we could live a holy life.   The gospel isn't an offer of  grace with which to turn our lives around.  Rather, the gospel is God's personal and merciful response to the unyielding verdict of the law.

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; and the law is not of faith; but, He that doeth them shall live in them.  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal.3:10-114)

Yet moral law-keeping as that which we can and need to do leads us back in the direction of that curse.  But you'll say, "Jesus has saved us from the curse of the law.  He bore the curse in our place."  Indeed he did!  And yet, too many sermons relegate that good news to the status of a past historical event.  Something to rejoice in and be thankful for, but now it's our turn.  Our job now, it seems, is to depend on present grace supplied in order to get on with the business of moral law-keeping.  But aren't we supposed to live holy lives?  Yes!  But the problem comes in when the implicit (or explicit) understanding is that, redeemed from the curse of the law, we now can live up to the law.  Grace offered is invoked as a means to that end.  If only we trust and believe more, then by grace we can live as we ought...

But there's a problem and the problem is us!  Still sinners, we keep getting in the way of our own renovation project.  Where is one to turn?

Two Mothers, Two Covenants, Two Children...

"This must follow, unless we break the chain of the apostle's reasoning. If Sara and Hagar were the typical mothers of believers and of unbelievers respectively, then indeed they were very expressive types of these two opposite covenants under which their respective seeds do stand. — As the one mother was a handmaid or servant to the other, so in the depths of adorable wisdom, the one covenant was made subservient to the other. The law is our school-master to bring us unto Christ, Gal. iii. 24. The covenant of works drives sinners to that of grace. Sara was prior to Hagar, and the Abrahamic covenant to that from Sinai. Sara excelled Hagar in dignity, and so does the Abrahamic covenant the Sinaitic. Hagar, however, soon brought forth a son, not so Sara. The children of the bond-woman are always older than those of the free. Never a saint, but he was a sinner first. The flesh is elder than the Spirit, nature than grace. How fitly may the two covenants be compared to mothers? In virtue of the covenant of works we are born the children of wrath, Eph. ii. 3. In virtue of the promise of the covenant of grace we are born again, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. In both cases we are merely passive, corruption being conveyed by the curse of the one covenant, and regeneration by the promise of the other. These two mothers divide the whole of the human race betwixt them. Not a man but is a son of the one, or of the other. And, says our apostle, we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise, Gal. iv. 28." [emphasis added]

Thomas Bell, A View of the Covenants of Works and Grace. 1814 

Righteouseness imputed to believer "because it is already his" - John Colquhoun

"From what has been stated, we may learn a satisfactory answer to this question, How shall man be just with God? How can an unrighteous person be accepted as righteous, by an infinitely righteous Judge? It can not possibly be on the ground of his own performances; for though he should even from the moment of his birth till that of his death, obey the law perfectly, it could never satisfy for the sin in which he was born. It is by the consummate righteousness of Jesus Christ received by faith, that he can be just in the eye of the law, or the sight of God. 

"Hence learn, that the righteousness which is the ground of a sinner's justification, is not the believer's because it is imputed to him; but it is imputed to him because it is already his. In God's imputation of it, he reckons it to be what it is already, the believer's justifying righteousness. It is the believer's, in virtue of his legal union with Christ from eternity, and of his vital union with him in time.

"See also the glorious design of Jehovah in imputing the surety-righteousness of Jesus Christ to his spiritual seed. It is that you, believer, may live; may have a legal right to spiritual, temporal, and eternal life. Your sin was imputed to Christ that he might die: his righteousness is imputed to you that you may live."

John Colquhoun, Sermon IX - Justification

Justification - John Colquhoun

"Hence learn the meaning of these expressions in the thirty-second Psalm, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven," and "blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." The first expresses the way in which God in justification pardons past and present sins; and the last, the way in which he forgives the sins, that the justified person afterwards commits: he pardons the first formally, and the last by securing the non-imputation of them. 

"From what has been said, the exercised Christian may see how to treat the law as a covenant, when it presents its indictment to his conscience, and demands eternal death. He is to send it to Jesus his responsible Surety, and it cannot refuse to go. He is united to Christ as his glorious Husband, and justified in him: and whatever claim the law may have upon him, he is to refer it to his Husband. It is the husband that pays the debts. 

"Hence, we may see the reason why the believer's good works are accepted by God: it is neither for their sake, nor his sake, but for Christ's righteousness' sake; it is because the believer's person is accepted in Christ the Beloved, in whom he is declared righteous. In the covenant of grace, acceptance begins with the person, and passes on to the work."

John Colquhoun, Sermon IX - Justification

A Saving Faith...

"Much more than being a mode of knowledge, faith involves a sincere trust in Christ and his gospel for salvation. 

"Question and Answer 86 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism provides a concise and helpful statement of this insight. In response to the question of what faith in Jesus Christ is, the catechism answers: "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel." Not only must the mind grasp the things about Christ and his gospel, but also the heart must rest upon him as the perfect Savior from sins. This character of justifying faith as trust in Christ has prompted some theologians to speak of faith as "extraspective." The term introspective is familiar to most people: it refers to looking within oneself. Something that is extraspective, then, concerns looking outside oneself. That is precisely what faith as trust does: it looks outside of oneself (thereby forsaking all self-confidence) and rests upon another, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has done all things necessary for our salvation."

David VanDrunen, The Nature of Justifying Faith. Modern Reformation: Sept./Oct. 2007
Volume: 16 Issue: 5

Spiritual Contentment...

"The comfort of justification, because it is founded upon a righteousness which is perfect, and always the same, is more stable and permanent, than that of sanctification." 

John Colquhoun, A Treatise on Spiritual Comfort

Gospel Remedy For A Guilty Conscience...

"The cause of the Israelites' distress arose from the Egyptians marching behind them, with full purpose to ruin and destroy them, Exod. xiv. 10. The anti-type of this type shows the cause of the soul's abovesaid distress, which is the letting in of the soul's guilt of sin upon him, which, like a huge army, pursues the soul day and night, and like so many devouring lions with open mouths, standing ready to devour the soul; which makes the soul, as the Jews did, oftentimes to cry out for a grave to bury his distressed body, judging death to be preferred before life. There is no trouble in the world like to this trouble. A man had better stand in the field against all the armies and cannon in the world, than to stand to behold a guilty conscience....

"If any soul wants relief in such a condition, then let him make unto Jesus Christ for it, for he is thy Leader in this case, as Moses was the leader of the Jews in the other: read Deut. xviii. 15, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." Now, where were the Jews to go in a time of danger, but to Moses? So, soul, if ever thou wouldest have ease and refreshment, thou must go to Christ alone. Some run to creatures, and think to find comfort there; others run to their duties and works of mercy, and think to get it from hence: again there are some that will send thee to thy inward qualifications, or work of God within thee, as they call it, or the light within the soul. I am not hereby undervaluing the works of grace, as they are signs or evidences of our union with Christ, but I send thee to thy true Leader, Christ, who is at the right hand of God, to make daily intercession for such as thou art, Rom. viii. 34. O, look out, and look up to him by faith, for this is the way to it, Isa. xlv. 22."

Thomas Worden, 1664. THE TYPES UNVEILED - THE GOSPEL PICKED OUT OF THE CEREMONIES; WHEREBY WE MAY COMPARE THE SUBSTANCE WITH THE SHADOW, abridged edition 1840. pp 47, 49-50

Sanctification: Look On Christ in the Gospel...

"Let faith look on Christ in the gospel as he is set forth dying and crucified for us. Look on him under the weight of our sins, praying, bleeding, dying; bring him in that condition into thy heart by faith; apply his blood so shed to thy corruptions: do this daily."

John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers 

We Know in Part...

"Hence it is with peculiar reference to Moses that it is said, “No man hath seen God at any time,” John i. 18; of him in comparison with Christ doth he speak, verse 17; and of him it is here said, “No man,” no, not Moses, the most eminent among them, “hath seen God at any time.” We speak much of God, can talk of him, his ways, his works, his counsels, all the day long; the truth is, we know very little of him. Our thoughts, our meditations, our expressions of him are low, many of them unworthy of his glory, none of them reaching his perfections."

- John Owen. Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers