Spurgeon on Toning Down the Doctrines of Grace

"Oh to have done with all glory but glorying in the cross! . . . I am so sure about the whole matter, that if I were left alone in the world as the last believer in the doctrines of grace, I would not think of abandoning them, nor even toning them down to win a convert."

—C. H. Spurgeon, "The Search for Faith," in Miracles and Parables of Our Lord (vol. 3; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 453.

Grace Is All Gift

Augustin on grace:

Saint Paul teaches that he who sees ought not to boast as though what he sees, and even the power by which he sees, had not come to him by gift [1 Cor. 4:7]. For, whatever powers he has, did they not come to him by gift? [Rom. 7:22]. By the gift of grace he is not only shown how to see you, who are always the same, but is also given the strength to hold you. By your grace, too, if he is far from you and cannot see you, he is enabled to walk upon the path that leads him closer to you, so that he may see you and hold you.

—Saint Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (New York: Penguin, 1961), 155.

Augustin's Conversion Critiqued and Defended

Some have offered critique of how stylized or superstitious or otherwise faulty is the "conversion" of Augustin (e.g., Adolf von Harnack) as he tells his conversion story in book VIII of his justly famous Confessions.

Dealing with this criticism, B. B. Warfield sympathetically considers what Augustin was doing in writing the Confessions:

The person we meet in [the Confessions] is a person, we perceive, who towers in greatness of mind and heart, in the loftiness of his thought and in his soaring aspirations, far above ordinary mortals: and yet he is felt to be compacted of the same clay from which we have ourselves been molded. . . . It is the very purpose of this book to give the impression that Augustine himself was a weak and erring sinner, and that all of good that came into his life was of God. 

It is especially important for us precisely at this point to recall our minds to the fact that to give such an impression is the supreme purpose of the Confessions. This whole account of his life-history which we have tried to follow up to its crisis in his conversion is written, let us remind ourselves, not that we may know Augustine, but that we may know God: and it shows us Augustine only that we may see God. The seeking and saving grace of God is the fundamental theme throughout. The events of Augustine's life are not, then, set forth in it simpliciter. 

Speaking then of the aim of Augustin in recounting the sins of his infancy and childhood, Warfield says:

In these traits of the narrative, however, Augustine is not passing judgment on himself alone, but in himself on humanity at large in its state of sin and misery. By an analysis of his own life-history he realizes for himself, and wishes to make us realize with him, what man is in his sinful development on the earth, that our eyes may be raised from man to see what God is in his loving dealing with the children of men. We err, if from the strong, dark lines in which he paints his picture we should infer that he would have us believe that in his infancy, youth, or manhood he was a sinner far beyond the sinfulness of other men. . . .

He knew his own sinfulness as he knew the sinfulness of no other man, and it was his one burning desire that he should in his recovery to God recognize and celebrate the ineffableness of the grace of God. The pure grace of God is thus his theme throughout, and nowhere is it more completely so than in this culminating scene of his conversion. 

—"Augustine and his 'Confessions,'" in The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield: Studies in Tertullian and Augustine (vol. 4; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 267–268.

Grace

My stock lies dead, and no increase
Doth my dull husbandry improve:
O let thy graces without cease
                                      Drop from above!

If still the sun should hide his face,
Thy house would but a dungeon prove,
Thy works night's captives: O let grace
                                      Drop from above!

The dew doth ev'ry morning fall;
And shall the dew out-strip thy Dove?
The dew, for which grass cannot call,
                                      Drop from above.

Death is still working like a mole,
And digs my grave at each remove:
Let grace work too, and on my soul
                                     Drop from above.

Sin is still hammering my heart
Unto a hardness, void of love:
Let suppling grace, to cross his art,
                                      Drop from above.

O come! for thou dost know the way.
Or if to me thou wilt not move,
Remove me, where I need not say,
                                      Drop from above.

—George Herbert, The Complete English Poems (New York: Penguin, 1991), 54.

Calvin's Faith Facing Death

From Calvin's will, made on his deathbead:

I give thanks to God who had mercy on me. . . . He delivered me out of the deep darkness of idolatry in which I was plunged, that he might bring me into the light of the gospel. . . . I have no other defense or refuge for salvation than his free adoption, on which alone my salvation depends. With all my soul I embrace the mercy that he has exercised towards me through Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins with the merits of his death and passion, that in this way he might satisfy for all my offences and faults and blot them out form his remembrance. I testify also and declare that I earnestly beg him to be pleased so to wash and purify me in the blood that my Sovereign Redeemer has shed for the sins of mankind, that under his shadow I may be able to stand at the judgment-seat. . . . 

I also testify and declare that in all the battles and disputations in which I have been engaged with the enemies of the gospel, I have used no falsehood, no wicked and sophistical devices, but have acted straightforwardly and sincerely in defending the truth.  

Yet, alas, my ardour and zeal (if indeed worthy of the name) have been so slack and languid that I confess I have failed countless times to execute my office properly, and had not he, of his boundless goodness, assisted me . . . those mental powers that the Lord gave me would at his judgment-seat prove me more and more guilty of sin and sloth. 

For these reasons I testify and declare that I trust to no other security for my salvation than this alone, that as God is the Father of mercy, so he will show himself such a Father to me, who acknowledge myself to be a miserable sinner.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 16.

Parting with Your Isaac for God's Sake

From his Signs of Godliness notebook, Edwards commenting on Gen. 22:12:

God would teach us this by it: that that is a sign of the truth of grace, when men have a preparedness of mind to part with their Isaac, that is, that which is dearest to them of all things earthly, for God's sake.

—Jonathan Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith (ed. Sang Hyun Lee; vol. 21, Works; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 483.

The Fruits of Grace in the Life

From Edwards' Signs of Godliness notebook:

The fruits of grace in the life must needs be the proper evidences of it. What can be the proper evidence of a person's loving God above all but his actually preferring him, or preferring him indeed when it comes to a trial? What can be the proper evidences of the heart's forsaking all for Christ, or of his willingness to forsake all for him, than his actually doing of it, as there is occasion? What can be the proper evidence of trusting in the promises of God, than his actually running the venture of their truth when it comes to a trial? 

The act of the man must be the proper evidence of the act of the heart. The will must be shown by the voluntary actions. We find the promises of God sometimes made to conversion and sometimes to perseverance: 'tis because perseverance is but the actual fulfillment of that which is virtually done in conversion, and the accomplishment is the proper evidence of the virtual accomplishment. When two things are set before a man to see which he will choose, the proper evidence which he chooses, is which he takes. So is practice the evidence of sincerity, and the fruit that by which the tree is known. Surely the proper evidence of a man's heart's being prepared to cleave to Christ above all, is his actually doing it; the proper manifestation of choice is act. 

'Tis true it is the heart that God looks at; godliness lies in the disposition of the heart, but godliness consists not in an heart to purpose to fulfill God's commandments, but in an heart actually to do it.

—Jonathan Edwards, Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith (ed. Sang Hyun Lee; vol. 21, Works; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 476.

God Does All, and We Do All

Jonathan Edwards gives the most profound explanation I've ever read or heard for the interplay between divine sovereignty and human willing and acting (the italics are mine):

In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some, and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, and we act all. For that is what he produces, namely, our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we only are the proper actors. We are, in different respects, wholly passive and wholly active.

In the Scriptures the same things are represented as from God and from us. God is said to convert, and men are said to convert and turn. God makes a new heart, and we are commanded to make us a new heart. God circumcises the heart, and we are commanded to circumcise our own hearts; not merely because we must use the means in order to the effect, but the effect itself is our act and our duty. These things are agreeable to that text, "God worketh in you both to will and to do."

"God does all, and we do all. God produces all, and we act all." Now that is profound. Do you see it? If you don't, O ponder it long and hard. Peer as deep down as you can into this deep mystery! And ask yourself if this is not what Phil. 2:12-13 means when it says to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure."

So there is not the tension that some might think. God really does all, and we really do all.

—"Concerning Efficacious Grace," in Miscellaneous Observations on Important Theological Subjects (vol. 2, Works; Banner of Truth: Carlisle, 1997), 557.

Superabounding Grace

Commenting on the language of Rom. 5:17, 20, John Owen speaks of the natural tendency of the language, which natural tendency supports understanding the righteousness or justification taught in Romans 5 as imputed freely as a gift by faith apart from works. He says,

Where there is περισσεία χάριτος, and χάρις ὑπερπερίσσευουσα— “abounding grace,” “superabounding grace”—exerted in our justification, no more is required thereunto; for how can it be said to abound, yea, to superabound, not only to the freeing of us from condemnation, but the giving of us a title unto life, if in anything it is to be supplied and eked out by works and duties of our own?

—The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (vol. 5, Works; Banner of Truth: Carlisle, 1998), 330-331.

A Naturally Proud Person Made Humble

A snapshot of D. M. Lloyd-Jones as pictured by J. I. Packer:

He was a saint, a holy man of God: a naturally proud person whom God made humble; a naturally quick-tempered person to whom God taught patience; a naturally contentious person to whom God gave restraint and wisdom; a natural egoist, conscious of his own great ability, whom God set free from self-seeking to serve the servants of God.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 82.

God's Demands and Man's Inability

Augustin on God's demands in the face of human inability:

The Pelagians think that they know something great when they assert that "God would not command what He knew could not be done by man." But God commands some things which we cannot do, in order that we many know what we ought to ask of Him [italics mine]. For this is faith itself, which obtains by prayer what the law commands.

 —"On Grace and Free Will," in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (transl. Peter Holmes and Robert Ernest Wallis; transl. rev. Benjamin B. Warfield; vol. 5, ed. Philip Schaff; Hendrickson: Peabody, 1999), p. 457.

Sola Fide

No doubt many are aware that Luther's addition of the word "alone" in his translation of Rom. 3:28 caused quite a row. And to this day, it is frowned upon by Roman Catholics. A literal rendering of the verse reads thus: "For we reckon that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (translation mine). The word for "alone" is not there in the original. Yet Luther saw that the sense of the verse, the meaning intended, warranted it. 

But not all see this (I almost said, "not all have faith," 2 Thess. 3:2). Some still object to Luther's temerity to add a word where there isn't one to be found in the corresponding Greek. Moreover, increasing the temerity, it isn’t to be found anywhere in Pauline usage: Paul never explicitly says "justified by faith alone," or the like. To the shock of some Protestants, James alone does, only he adds the negative "not" to "justified by faith alone" (Jas. 2:24). But that's another post for another time.

So it'll be of interest to some that others preceded Luther in this "temerity": namely, Thomas Aquinas, Origen, Theodoret, Hilary, Basil, Ambrosiaster, Chyrsostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Bernard, and Theophylact (Joseph Fitzmyer, Romans, 360-361). These "fathers" used the "alone" language in their discussions of justification, and they weren't all expounding Jas. 2:24. It should be duly noted that Fitzmeyer, after listing these names in his commentary on Romans, appears to doubt the propriety of using "alone," stating that "it is a theological extension of Paul's teaching that presses beyond what he states" (362). He also asks "whether Luther meant by 'only' what his predecessors meant" (362). Nevertheless, such usage antedating Luther brings intrigue, even if only to point out that Luther was not the first to introduce it.

In any case, each has to reckon with whether or not Luther's translation and this Reformation sola bona fide comport with apostolic teaching. As for me and my house, the judgment of Moo undoubtedly stays the gospel course: “A serious erosion of the full significance of Paul’s gospel occurs if we soften this antithesis; no works, whatever their nature or their motivation, can play any part in making a sinner right with God” (Douglas Moo, Romans, 251).

The Christmas Spirit

From J. I. Packer's classic Knowing God (pp. 63-64):

We talk glibly of the "Christmas spirit," rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But . . . the phrase should in fact carry a tremendous weight of meaning. It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of him who for our sake became poor at the first Christmas. And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all year round.

It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christians—I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians—go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord's parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet those needs) averting their eyes and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians—alas, they are many—whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the submiddle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves.  

The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christmas snob. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor—spending and being spent—to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others—and not just their own friends—in whatever way there seems need. 

There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things he will do will be to work more of this spirit in our hearts and lives. If we desire spiritual quickening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5).

May the Spirit of this spirit be given to all who love the real Christmas, not the cultural accretions that have accumulated in our tidy little Middle American culture. May God be pleased to revive his churches to bear the likeness of the incarnate Christ who gave away his glory to give us glory, who became poor to make many rich.

Grace and Mercy Grounded in Love

Yesterday's Lord's Day sermon on Eph. 2:1-10, preached by NCC pastor Andrew Fulton, provided liberating food for the dull duty-bound believer. More than that, though, good as that was for me, it also stirred me to contemplate more clearly the nature of grace and mercy in relation to love, which I've wondered at for years. I think the Lord has given me some light.

So what is the mercy of God, what is the grace of God, and what is the love of God? And how do grace, mercy, and love relate? This text—Eph. 2:4-5—brings these together plainly and brightly. First, I'll give definitions that I believe are governed by the context of this text. Then I'll try to bring them together.

So what is the mercy of God? Simply stated, mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. This is the negative side, we might say. Born and dead in transgressions and sins (Eph. 2:1), God's mercy comes in and pities the suffering and misery of our condemnation and judgment under the Judge's just wrath. And God withholds exactly what we deserve. He does not condemn the guilty.

So then, what is the grace of God? Well, it is the positive side: grace is God giving us what we don't deserve. Grace gives us a free gift we didn't and can't earn. Grace gives lavish generosity to those who've been stubbornly and persistently stingy and sinful. It moves way beyond mercy.

Mercy says, "I will not sentence you to death, a death that is your due for rebelling against the law of the Lawgiver, for spitting in the face of your good and kind King, for worshiping (delighting in and desiring and loving) the creature and creation rather than (supremely delighting in and desiring and loving) the Creator—who is blessed forever! Amen!" (Rom. 1:25). So speaks Mercy. 


But Grace comes in, wonder of wonders, and says, "I will move beyond granting pardon. Wonderful as mercy is, I will do more. I will seat you in the heavenlies in my risen and exalted Son and make you a co-heir of all that is his (Eph. 2:6; cf. Rom. 8:17). The tripersonal God of infinite love and joy and sweetness will be your everlasting portion and treasure and enjoyment. I know you spit in my face. I know you disregarded my glory. And so I showed you stunning mercy. But that's not all. I also want to make you my son, with all the privileges and possessions of that status." So speaks Grace.


Well then, what is love, if it's not what's already been described? It is this: love is the infinite fountain-like heart of God that pours forth mercy and grace on greasy ingrates from all eternity and on into all eternity. "Because of the great love with which he loved us" (Eph. 2:4). Notice that love grounds the mercy that's gone before to deal with our condition in Eph. 2:1-3. And notice that love then also grounds the grace that lavishes upon us what follows in Eph. 2:5-7. Love is the bottom of all the free mercy and grace of God that comes to us through Christ in the gift of his Spirit. 


And this Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son, now poured out through the risen and living Savior and Lord of all—on us—on dirty, grimy, slimy, unholy idolaters. This Spirit is the life of God given to us in union with the risen Son—we who were cold corrupting corpses in trespasses and sins. Now, because of grace and mercy, bottomed in eternal love, now we live with the very life of the risen Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. He made us alive with him—by grace you have been saved! (Eph. 2:5). O praise the glory of this great triune grace! (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). This is the free, unfettered gift of God—so no boasting! (Eph. 2:8-9). Except of grace, glorious grace. God's grace.


So love is the bottom of this grace and mercy, the eternal love of the Father, Son, and Spirit (Eph. 1:4). But how may we know this love? What does it look like? I'm glad you asked, for I'm glad to tell you. It looks like this: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us" (1 Jn. 3:16); "God did not spare his own Son" (Rom. 8:32); "God gave his only unique Son" (Jn. 3:16); "Christ loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Love looks like the cross. Love looks like Christ crucified. Love looks like the King killed. For you, and for me. 

The Great Wisdom and Glorious Work of God

A while back I made a beginning at poking away at John Owen's Pneumatologia. On account of pressing responsibilities and unforeseen circumstances, I was sidetracked a while. But I've gotten back into Owen's unsurpassed work on the Spirit. And I'm enjoying it thoroughly. Here's a taste:

When God designed the great and glorious work of recovering fallen man and the saving of sinners, to the praise of the glory of his grace, he appointed, in his infinite wisdom, two great means thereof. The one was the giving of his Son for them, and the other was the giving of his Spirit unto them. 

And hereby was way made for the manifestation of the glory of the whole blessed Trinity; which is the utmost end of all the works of God. Hereby were the love, grace, and wisdom of the Father, in the design and projection of the whole; the love, grace, and condescension of the Son, in the execution, purchase, and procurement of grace and salvation for sinners; with the love, grace, and power of the Holy Spirit, in the effectual application of all unto the souls of men—made gloriously conspicuous.

 —John Owen, Works, vol. 3, p. 23. 

Social Grace and Supernatural Grace

I think I've put my finger upon something about middle class and upper middle class conservative Christian society, not least of the Wheaton variety: social grace, it seems, may well be mistaken for supernatural grace.  So here's a question: Are tidy, clean-nosed Christians who live in affluent societies with significant social expectations more prone to mistake social grace for supernatural grace?  I think so.  I think it's a danger for my corner of the Christian world. 

And by the way, I'm not slamming social grace!  That can be a proper outworking of Christian faith.  However, it mustn't ever be more influential than or mistaken for supernatural grace.  A tidy, clean life can go to hell while observing all the acceptable and respectable social graces.

Marks of Authentic Faith

In Ps. 40, we see the faith of David in action.  Amid his trials and tribulations, set before our eyes are two essential ingredients of genuine faith: (1) patient waiting; and (2) confident trust.  These are even two checks to discern whether or not there is true faith in our hearts amid our trials and tribulations.  Oftentimes we think, speak, and act as though faith is just intellectual assent.  It's not less than that, of course; but it's so much more.  And without that more, there is no saving, gracious faith.

Now David's faith in Ps. 40.  First, look at verse 1: "I waited patiently for YHWH; he inclined to me and heard my cry."  Here is patient waiting for the Lord's deliverence amid evils beyond number encompassing David, amid iniquities overtaking him so he could not see (v. 12).  True faith.  This is what it looks like.  How long David waited, we're not sure.  But he had to wait.  Deliverence was not immediate.  Fill in the blank with your evils-encompassing-you-beyond-number, with your iniquities-overtaking-you-so-you-cannot-see.  And then wait patiently for the Lord's deliverence.  It will come.  Count on it.

Second, note the confidence of verse 11:  "As for you, O YHWH, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!"  David knows his God, has tasted his ways and seen his heart, and so looks boldy for God to act in accordance with his revealed character and works.  He will do it again, David says to himself, this faithful, covenant-keeping God of steadfast love and mercy.  So as you wait patiently for the Lord's deliverance in your "pit of destruction," your "miry bog," remember who your God is and how he acts toward his own.  Consider and count on the grace, mercy, and love of God in Christ.  He'll put your feet on a rock, making your steps secure! (v. 2).  Do not doubt that!  He is faithful; he will bring it to pass.

So there it is: patient waiting, and confident trust.  The stuff of real faith.  May God be pleased to grant an increase of genuine faith in our churches.  And why do I pray this?  For the same reason David experienced deliverence in Ps. 40: that God's great deliverences might be told and sung in our congregations (vv. 9 and 10).

Communion with the Lord Jesus in Grace

"In the receiving of grace from God, we have not communion with Christ, who is yet the treasury and storehouse of it, unless we look upon it as his purchase" (John Owen, On Communion with God).

To put this in plain English, we do not have fellowship with Jesus when seeking grace from God unless we embrace grace as the special effect of the death of Christ.  In fact, there should be no expectation of grace apart from seeking it through Christ. So whatever grace we seek, whatever grace we enjoy, whatever growth there is in grace, all of it should be considered as the fruit of the purchase of the Lord Jesus.  As we fix our minds and hearts on the Lord Jesus when we are seeking still more grace to press on in the fight of faith, then—and only then—do we hold fellowship with the Son in grace.

Grace flowing directly from heaven apart from Christ's purchase and intercession is a chimera.  There is no such thing.  And sadly we Christians can act as though Christ's purchase and intercession are not necessary for God to give us more grace.  (Just listen to how we sometimes pray.)  But it isn't so.  We don't hold communion with the Lord Jesus in grace unless we embrace all the grace that comes our way as the fruit of his purchase and ongoing intercessory work.

So, all faith seeking grace should eye the Lord Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us, who ever lives to make intercession for us.

All I Have Is Christ

I really like this song.  You can listen to it at Vimeo.

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way.
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave.

I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will.
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still.

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross.

And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace.

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me.

Oh Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose.
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You.

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI), by Jordan Kauflin

Here is the four-part harmony sung at T4G.

HT: Justin Taylor

True Grace and Our Need

Thomas Brooks on true grace:

"The objects of true grace are supernatural.  True grace is conversant about the choicest and the highest objects, about the most soul-ennobling and soul-greatening objects, as God, Christ, precious promises that are more worth than a world, and a kingdom that shakes not, a crown of glory that withers not, and heavenly treasures that rust not.  The objects of temporary grace are low and poor, and always within the compass of reason's reach."

Oh for more soul-transforming and life-imparting grace in the soul!  Come down, Lord, rend the heavens, and visit your languishing church with supernatural grace and life.  We need change within, not methodological change without, that is, if ever we are going to make significant changes without and be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.  Come down, sovereign Lord, for your great name's sake!  Apart from you, we can do nothing.  This we confess openly and plainly.  Pour forth once more, more of the Spirit of grace from the heavenly throne of the risen and exalted Christ, for we are perishing, for we "have a reputation of being alive, but are dead."