To the Rich Young Ruler: The Law and Salvation

“By the law is the knowledge of sin. It is the test of men being sinners. If it were kept, this would prove that we were not sinners. It entered, that the offense might abound; and the Lord applied this test for the young man’s conviction. Yet what he said was truth: if the young man had kept the commandments, he would, as a holy creature, have enjoyed life; he would not have been a sinner. But he was so ignorant as to say he had kept them all. The Lord replied, ‘One thing thou lackest,’ and said, ‘Follow Me.’ If he had really kept the commandments, he would have had no need of a Savior; but he was a sinner, and Christ informed him of the only way of salvation. The law could not give life to one by whom it was forfeited.”

Robert Haldane: On Romans 8:4, Romans Commentary, 343-345

Racism and the Church: Some Reflections...

Is racism a special category of sin to be dealt with by means other than those set forth in Scripture? I think not.

As understood in Reformational circles, God's Moral Law diagnoses sin (see WLC 93-98) as well as points believers to godly living. All deviation from the Moral Law is condemned as sin by God. This includes sins like adultery, theft, bearing false witness, etc.... or racism; which are a subset of violating the second table (i.e. not loving neighbor). And defined as sin, these acts are worthy of God's wrath. The Gospel, on the other hand, is the only remedy for sin and disobedience given by God, as taught in Scripture (WLC 31-36, Romans 1:16). The Gospel promises and offers forgiveness of sin, salvation, and eternal life by God's grace alone through Christ to all those who believe, including all saving graces unto a changed heart and a new obedience.

Yet when the Church diagnoses a sin problem (e.g. racism) in such a way that Christ (as he is offered in the Gospel) is Not the Answer or Remedy for sin, past and present, then she has not fully or Biblically diagnosed the problem. When this is the case, I would conjecture that the Church may be too optimistically intent on eradicating outward symptoms rather than exposing the iceberg heart of sin below the waterline. All too often we focus on eradicating outward behaviors as proof of "solving the problem", i.e. righting the wrongs. This is understandable given that the symptoms of sin (bigotry, adultery...) are horrible and painful. Yet a diagnosistic goal primarily focused on stopping outward symptoms often leads to an ends justifies the means prescription. Broad brushes in Law prescriptions lathered with explicit or implicit guilt-assigning offer possible remedies for shaping things up more quickly. Whereas sanctification as a grace of the Gospel seems relatively slow and weak. In my view, when this course is taken, the Gospel is in danger of being clouded if not set aside. Isn’t it Christ crucified, as he is presented in the Gospel, who alone cleanses from sin and changes sinful hearts through the accompanying work of the Holy Spirit? 

John Owen's Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit -

This whole matter of sanctification and holiness is peculiarly joined with and limited unto the doctrine, truth, and grace of the gospel; for holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing, and realizing of the gospel in our souls... 

The “law,” indeed, for certain ends, “was given by Moses,” but all “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” There neither is, nor ever was, in the world, nor ever shall be, the least dram of holiness, but what, flowing from Jesus Christ, is communicated by the Spirit, according to the truth and promise of the gospel.

When the gospel is then diminished or relegated to the role of merely a means to an end, as good as that end may be, then Jesus Christ is no longer held up as preeminent (Col 1:18b) and the Church's path has likely deviated to a moral mission away from its redemptive mission.

It is faith and repentance in the gospel of Christ crucified which lead sinners to not just forgiveness of sins and a righteous standing before God, but a new heart-direction of holiness and obedience, i.e. walking away from one’s former manner of life towards one of loving God and neighbor (Ephesians 4:21-24). The goal of the gospel (that which God guarantees to all who believe) is nothing less than Christ himself received as Savior and Lord for the forgiveness of sins and the promise of his Spirit leading to changed hearts and lives inclined towards holiness with... wait for it... a modest and gradual increase of a changed social outlook for the good of others. Growth in godliness is slow.

Heidelberg Catechism Q. 114. But can those who are converted to God perfectly keep these commandments? 

A. No: but even the holiest men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of this obedience; yet so, that with a sincere resolution they begin to live, not only according to some, but all the commandments of God.

Christians are redeemed-yet-sinners, sojourners in this age of grace awaiting the new creation, the new age. Yes, the church is the in-breaking of that new holy creation. But we still live in a fallen world rife with sin, our sin. We desire that which should be, but is not yet.  So where to go? 

The Church as instituted by God has the calling to preach the Gospel of Christ as God’s only remedy for man's sin. And this by calling sinners to salvation through faith and repentance, a call to trust in Jesus Christ, a call to holy living and forgiving others as we have been forgiven. The therefore of my thoughts on this matter?  In my mind it is rather straight forward. We are admonished and encouraged in Scripture to live each day by the grace of God in such a way that we would acknowledge and own our sins and, trusting in God's mercy in Christ, seek to turn around and live as obedient followers of Jesus. We fall short. We all are worthy of rejection and not acceptance. Yet as recipients of God's grace, each day we are called to confess our failures in the assurance of God's fatherly embrace and forgiveness in Christ... to set out again to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. 

This might prove helpful to keep in mind regarding racism and the church:

Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted you to the glory of God. (Romans 15:7)

Innovation and Church Worship

Some points worth considering not just by Anglicans, in my humble layman opinion...

C.S. Lewis -

I think our business as laymen is to take what we are given and make the best of it. And I think we should find this a great deal easier if what we were given was always and everywhere the same.

To judge from their practice, very few Anglican clergymen take this view. It looks as if they believed people can be lured to go to church by incessant brightenings, lightenings, lengthenings, abridgements, simplifications, and complications of the service. And it is probably true that a new, keen vicar will usually be able to form within his parish a minority who are in favour of his innovations. The majority, I believe, never are. Those who remain – many give up churchgoing altogether – merely endure. 

Is this simply because the majority are hide-bound? I think not. They have a good reason for their conservatism. Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And they don’t go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best – if you like, it “works” best – when, through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice… The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God. 

But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshiping. The important question about the Grail was “for what does it serve?” “Tis mad idolatry that makes the service greater than the God.”

A still worse thing may happen. Novelty may fix our attention not even on the service but on the celebrant. You know what I mean. Try as one may to exclude it, the question “What on earth is he up to now?” will intrude. It lays one’s devotion waste. There is really some excuse for the man who said, “I wish they’d remember that the charge to Peter was Feed my sheep; not Try experiments on my rats, or even, Teach my performing dogs new tricks.” 

Thus my whole liturgiological position really boils down to an entreaty for permanence and uniformity. I can make do with almost any kind of service whatever, if only it will stay put. But if each form is snatched away just when I am beginning to feel at home in it, then I can never make any progress in the art of worship. 

– from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

Confessing Imputation: Christ’s Righteousness

Imputation

In justification the righteousness of Christ's death and obedience are accounted, credited, or imputed to sinners by faith alone, not infused or worked inherently into 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.

Law and Gospel: Tom Wenger Introduces William Tyndale

"Most know William Tyndale (1484-1536) as one of the most important figures in translating the Scriptures for the English-speaking world. But rarely discussed are his deep, pastoral concerns

that all who read those Scriptures must understand the distinction between the law and the gospel. In fact, Tyndale saw this as so crucial that he wrote a lengthy Prologue for his new translation that focused on unpacking the importance of this distinction. Knowing that many of his readers would be handling the Scriptures themselves for the first time, Tyndale's Prologue is an impassioned plea for them to understand the roles of the law and the gospel before they read the Bible so that they will divide it rightly from the very beginning. As he says at the outset:"

Nevertheless, seeing that it hath pleased God to send unto our Englishmen...the scripture in their mother tongue, considering that there be in every place false teachers and blind leaders; that ye should be deceived of no man, I supposed it very necessary to prepare this Pathway into the scripture for you, that ye might walk surely, and ever know the true from the false: and, above all, to put you in remembrance of certain points, which are, that ye well understand what these words mean; the Old Testament; the New Testament; the law, the gospel; Moses, Christ; nature, grace; working and believing; deeds and faith; lest we ascribe to the one that which belongeth to the other, and make of Christ Moses; of the gospel, the law; despise grace, and rob faith.

Excerpted from Modern Reformation

The Essential Use of The Gospel Promise for Christians

"When true Christians are, at any time, in the dark about their personal interest in  Christ, they should as sinners, apply and trust the indefinite promises, directed in the gospel-offer to sinners as such; but, when they are assured of their interest in him, they may besides, apply and trust the definite promises, addressed to believers as such. 

Hebrews 8:10-12

"The absolute promises, as they are directed in the offer to sinners indefinitely, are of general use (Hebrews 8:10-12). They serve as a ground of faith to such sinners, as are beginning to believe in Jesus Christ; and also to such believers, as are not assured by reflection, that they are already saints. Presented as they are, to sinners indefinitely, they are of course addressed, as a warrant for trusting in Jesus for salvation, to believers, considered in themselves as sinners. They are directed, not only to sinners without exception, who hear the gospel; but to saints, and that not as saints, but sinners in themselves and in their own view. 

"The apostle Paul, long after his conversion, accounted himself the chief of sinners. In proportion as believers grow in grace, and in spiritual knowledge, the more sin, do they perceive in their hearts, and in all their thoughts, words, and actions. The less of remaining sin they have, the more of it do they see and feel. And sometimes, when their evidences of grace are veiled from their view, they can discern nothing in their hearts but sin; nothing in their past experience, but what appears counterfeit; and nothing in their present frame of mind, but strong, impetuous, and prevailing corruption. Now, the absolute promises are perfectly adapted to believers, when in such distressing cases. They are directed to sinners, and to believers as sinners; in order that they may warrantably apply, and trust, and plead them anew; or, that it may be warrantable for them, to come as sinners and trust them, as if this were but the beginning of their confidence. They are promises, not only of the first grace, but of all the future degrees of grace. Believers, therefore, have need to apply and trust them, at all time, and more especially, when they cannot discern their evidences of union with Christ. They are addressed in offer to them as sinners; that they may see their Divine warrant, for applying and pleading them, even in their deepest defection of spirit. When they can discern nothing in themselves, but sinfulness, then, they have the more need to look to, and fasten upon, the Lord Jesus in absolutely free promises. Whatever grace or degree of grace, they want, they are commanded, as sinners in themselves, to believe in the compassionate Saviour, and in believing, to take and trust those most comprehensive promises, as their security for it. —- 

"On the other hand, when a believer is assured of his personal interest in Christ, he may then apply and trust the definite promises, which are addressed, in the gospel, to believers as such. Now that he is satisfied of his evidences of vital union with Christ, and so, of the reality of his union and communion with Him, he should embrace and trust, not only the indefinite, but the definite promises; in order that, he may be filled with all joy and peace in believing, and may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

John Colquhoun, A Collection of the Promises Of The Gospel; pp 17-20

Thomas Bell: The Law Accompanies The Gospel in the Administration of The Covenant of Grace

The implications for preaching?

“The covenant of works cannot but attend the covenant of grace, considering the state of those to whom this last is administered. They are all such as are by nature under the covenant of works. And if they refuse to enter into the one, they mnst of necessity abide under the other. This being the truth, they are fairly warned of it. Hence it is no uncommon thing to find the doctrine of the two covenants, law and gospel, in one and the same text of scripture. So Mark xvi. 16. “He that believeth, shall be saved:” there is gospel. “ He that believeth not shall be damned:” there is law. So also John iii. 36. Meanwhile this offer of the one covenant accompanied with the high command of the other, cannot be called a gospel-covenant made with sinners. It is a setting life and death before them, blessing and cursing: bidding them choose the one, and flee from the other, Deut. xxx. 19. Were it a covenant, it would not be more a covenant of grace, than of wrath, of life than of death. “For while the one part would be, If thou believe, thou shalt be saved: the other would be, If thou do not believe, thou shalt be damned.” It is not a covenant therefore, but the solemn administration of the covenant of grace.”

Thomas Bell, A Treatise on The Covenants of Works and Grace

The Gospel via Thomas Boston...

Lastly, Here is a demonstration of the absolute necessity of being united to the

Second Adam, who kept the second covenant, and thereby fulfilled the demands of the first covenant. See your absolute need of him; prize him, and flee to him by faith. Behold him with an eye of faith, who has repaired the breach. The first Adam broke the first covenant, by eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree; Christ has repaired the breach, by hanging on a tree, and bearing the curse, for his people. Adam's preposterous love to his wife made him sin: Christ's love to his spouse made him suffer and satisfy. In a garden Adam sinned, and therefore in a garden Christ was buried. Eating ruined man, and by eating he is saved again. By eating the forbidden fruit all died; and by eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood by faith, the soul gets life again, (John vi. 57). O then have recourse to Christ; and thus shall you be saved from the ruins of the fall, and have an interest in the covenant made with Christ, the condition of which being already fulfilled by him, can never be broken, or they who are once in it ever fall out of it again. 

Thomas Boston on The Covenant of Works

Some Thoughts On How Then To Live...

When beginning the day once again with the hope of living in a manner pleasing to the Lord, a question may arise in the heart, "How then?", which can cause one to somewhat tremble and fall prey to a necessity-driven kind of response. The way in which one deals with this moment (a moment that often reoccurs throughout the day) can lead to either a resting trust in Christ as the ground of Christian living or an unsure-works-direction based on the unconscious faulty notion that one's acceptance before God is somehow dependent in part upon one's obedience rather than that of Christ’s obedience and sacrificial death on the cross.

Is this experience necessarily a bad thing? I don't so. In fact, it seems that it necessarily follows given that we are sinners who by nature look to excuse ourselves from the accusations of our conscience (Rom. 2:15). So can't it can be said that, in part, this is the normal Christian life? On one level we certainly know that to be a believer means more than just "believing." After all, we have been saved from our sin that we might begin to live more righteous and holy lives. We are saved unto good works in Christ Jesus (Titus 2:11-14). But, if we are honest with ourselves (always a challenge) and have a modicum of self-knowledge, we know how desperately short we fall of the obedient living to which we are called. In our sense of failure is the nagging thought that something very crucial is missing, some clearer truth, stronger determination or power that enables one to Do this! Hence a threatening imperative presses in on the conscience to find some way to do a better obedience! Or more likely, the demands of the day simply take over, hours fly by before realizing another day has passed, and not much has changed. Maybe tomorrow...

If we are keeping score, up to this point the Law has been the dominant player. And again, this is not a bad thing. The Law, in fact, is doing its assigned work. The problem lies, as the apostle Paul tells us, not in the Law which is holy and good but in me the sinner/saint (Romans 7:12-13, 22-23). Someone/Something in me says, "Do this or else!" And that someone is sin in me! "What?", you say?! Yes. Within our hearts still lives the legal tenor of unbelief willfully expressed as seeking at least a partial acceptance before God which we can personally hold as formed in part by our own works and obedience.

So then how to respond to this legal attitude or leaning that infects the heart? To fight it by seeking to measure up to it is a sure way to increase condemnation and a resultant weakening faith. Rather, to embrace the implication or indictment that my wavering faith and lack of obedience brings is to actually yield to the Law's purpose in the hand of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), i.e. to convict of sin and to us lead to Christ (Galatians 3:24), the mercy of God's forgiveness and cleansing found in him. This is the solid ground of our sanctification and holiness.

From John Owen's Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit -

This whole matter of sanctification and holiness is peculiarly joined with and limited unto the doctrine, truth, and grace of the gospel; for holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing, and realizing of the gospel in our souls...

The “law,” indeed, for certain ends, “was given by Moses,” but all “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” There neither is, nor ever was, in the world, nor ever shall be, the least dram of holiness, but what, flowing from Jesus Christ, is communicated by the Spirit, according to the truth and promise of the gospel.

From The Westminster Larger Catechism:

Q. 97. What special use is there of the moral law to the regenerate?A. Although they that are regenerate, and believe in Christ, be delivered from the moral law as a covenant of works, so as thereby they are neither justified nor condemned; yet besides the general uses thereof common to them with all men (see WLC Q/A 95), it is of special use, to show them how much they are bound to Christ for his fulfilling it, and enduring the curse thereof in their stead, and for their good; and thereby to provoke them to more thankfulness, and to express the same in their greater care to conform themselves thereunto as the rule of their obedience.

And an encouragement from Thomas Boston, A View of the Covenant of Works, from the Sacred Records: Exhortation to Believers, pp 230-231 -

Secondly, Believers in Christ, delivered from this covenant [of works],

(1.) Be thankful for your deliverance, as a deliverance from the Curse. Let the warmest gratitude glow in your breasts for so great a deliverance; and let your soul, and all that is within you, be stirred up to bless your glorious deliverer for this unspeakable blessing. 

(2.) Walk holily and fruitfully in good works, since the bands of death are removed, and your souls are healed. Be holy in all manner of life and conversation; adorning the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things. Let the whole tenor of your lives testify that you are not under the curse, but that you inherit the blessing of eternal life, by living to the praise and honour of Christ, who hath delivered you from the wrath to come.

(3.) Turn not back to the broken covenant of works again, in legal principles, nor in legal practices. The more the temper and frame of your spirit lies that way, the more unholy will ye be; and the more your duties savour of it, the less savoury will they be unto your God. It is only by being dead to the law, that ye. will live unto God.

How Not To Make God Relevant

“The piety in which many of us were raised encourages a heavenly mindedness that sometimes tends to denigrate our common lives and callings here and now. Reacting against this flight away from the here and now, others preach a more this-worldly salvation. This message comes in two seemingly different packages: a prosperity gospel, focusing on either personal peace and happiness, or a social gospel, focusing on redemptive political policies and action. But whether it promises “your best life now” or “our best world now,” the assumptions are similar. We’re tired of waiting for “pie in the sky bye and bye,” and if God is going to be relevant, we have to see results now. Both versions make God a means to an end and make us rather than Christ alone the agent of redemption. Either one plays better in our culture than the call of Jesus Christ to die to ourselves and be raised with Christ. It is being baptized into Christ as the firstfruits of the age to come that gives us faith, hope, and love to endure the present evil age with neither resentment nor triumphalism.” [emphasis added]

Michael Horton. Calvin On The Christian Life: Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever