27. Chapter VII.

Chapter VII. Of the acts and duties of holiness.

Actual inherent righteousness, in duties of holiness and obedience, explained — The work of the Holy Spirit with respect to this — Distribution of the positive duties of holiness — Internal duties of holiness — External duties and their difference — Effectual operation of the Holy Spirit is necessary to every act of holiness — Dependence on providence with respect to natural things, and dependence on grace with respect to supernatural things, compared — Arguments to prove the necessity of actual grace to every duty of holiness — Contrary designs and expressions of the Scripture and that of some men, about duties of holiness.

II. The second part of the work of the Spirit of God in our sanctification respects the acts and duties of holy obedience. What we have addressed before chiefly concerns the principle of it as habitually resident in our souls, both as to its first infusion into us, as also its preservation and increase in us. But we are not endowed with such a principle or power to act it at our pleasure, or as we see good. Rather, God "works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure." And all these acts and duties of holiness or gospel obedience are of two sorts, or they may be referred to two heads:

First, those which have for their object the will of God in positive commands; they respect our internal and external duties — those in which we do what God requires.

Secondly, those which respect divine prohibitions, which consist in the actings of grace or holiness in opposition to sin, or in the mortification of it (see chap. VIII).

It must be declared what the work of the Holy Spirit is, and what aid he affords us, in both these sorts of duties:

First. The acts and duties of the first sort, respecting positive divine commands, fall under a double distinction; for in their own nature they are either, (1.) Internal only, or (2.) External also. There may be internal acts of holiness that have no external effects, but there are no external acts or duties that are any part of holiness, which are only external and no more: for it is required for this that they be quickened and sanctified by internal actings of grace. Two persons may therefore, at the same time, perform the same commanded duties, and in the same outward manner; and yet it may be the duty of evangelical holiness in one, but not in the other. This is how it was with Cain and Abel, and with the other apostles and Judas. For if faith and love are not acted in either of them, then what they do is duty, but only equivocally and not properly so.

(1.) By the duties of holiness that are internal only, I intend all acts of faith, love, trust, hope, fear, reverence, and delight, that have God for their immediate object, but they do not express or exert themselves in any external duties. Our spiritual life to God principally consists in these; for they are like the first acts of life, which principally evidence the strength or decays of it. And we may take from these the best measure of our spiritual health and interest in holiness. For we may abound in outward duties, and yet our hearts are very much alienated from the life of God. Indeed, sometimes men may endeavor to make up what is lacking in them by a multitude of outward duties, so that they may have "a name to live on" when they are "dead." The true nature of hypocrisy and superstition consists in this, Isaiah 1:11-15. But when the internal actings of faith — fear, trust, and love — abound and are constant in us, they evidence a vigorous and healthy condition of soul.

(2.) Duties that are external are of also two sorts, or they are distinguished with respect to their objects and ends; for —

[1.] God himself is the object and end of some of them, such as prayer and praises, whether private or more solemn.Those things which are commonly called "duties of the first tablet" are of this nature: all those which belong to the sanctification of the name of God in his worship.

[2.] Some respect men of all sorts in their various capacities, and our various relationships to them; or, they have men for their object, but God for their end. And among these I also include those which principally regard ourselves, or our own persons. The whole of what we intend is summarily expressed by our apostle in Tit 2.12.996

Concerning all these acts and duties — whether internal only or external also, whether their proper object is God, ourselves, or other men — insofar as they are acts of holiness and are accepted by God, they proceed from a particular operation of the Holy Spirit in us. To make our intention more evident, we may distinctly observe the following —

(1.) That there is in the minds, wills, and affections of all believers a meetness, fitness, readiness, and habitual disposition to perform all acts of obedience towards God, all duties of piety, charity, and righteousness that are required of them. They are internally and habitually distinguished by this, from those who are not so disposed. We declared before that this is so with them, and how it comes to be so: this power and disposition is worked and preserved in them by the Holy Ghost.

(2.) No believer can act of himself— that is, actually exert or exercise — this principle or power of a spiritual life, in any one instance, of any duty, whether internal or external, either towards God or men, such that it will be an act of holiness, or a duty accepted by God. He cannot, I say, do so of himself, by virtue of any power that is habitually inherent in him. In this world we are not entrusted with any such spiritual ability from God, to do anything that is good, without further actual aid and assistance. Therefore —

(3.) What I intend to prove at present is this: That the actual aid, assistance, and internal operation of the Spirit of God is necessary, required, and granted, to produce every holy act of our minds, wills, and affections, in every duty whatsoever — or that, notwithstanding the power or ability which believers have received in or by habitual grace, they still stand in need of actual grace, in, for, and to every single gracious, holy act or duty towards God.

I will now explain this a little further, and then confirm it. As it is in our natural lives with respect to God’s providence, so it is in our spiritual lives with respect to his grace. In the works of nature, God has endowed our body with a vital principle, or a quickening soul, by which our body is itself quickened. By virtue of this, we are enabled for all vital acts, whether natural and necessary, or voluntary, according to the constitution of our being, which is intellectual. "God breathed into man the breath of life; and man became a living soul," Genesis 2:7. Giving him a principle of life, man was fitted for and enabled to all the proper acts of that life. For a principle of life is an ability for and disposition to acts of life. Yet, whoever is thus made a living soul, whoever is endowed with this principle of life, is not able originally, as the first cause and independent of God, to exert or produce any vital act without any motion or acting from God. Whatever does not have this principle of life is like a dead carcass. It has no fitness for vital actions, nor is it capable either of motion or alteration, except as it receives impressions from an outward principle of force, or an inward principle of corruption. But the one who has a fitness, readiness, and habitual power for all vital actions, yet is without the concurrence of God in His energetic providence moving and acting him, can do nothing. For "in God we live, and move, and have our being," Acts 17:28. If anyone could perform an action of himself, without any concourse of divine operation, he must himself be absolutely the first and only cause of that action — that is, he is the creator of a new being.

It is the same, as to our spiritual life. By the grace of God through Jesus Christ, we are furnished with a principle of life, in the way and for the ends described before. Hereby we are enabled and disposed to live to God in the exercise of spiritually vital acts, or the performance of duties of holiness. And the one who does not have this principle of spiritual life, is spiritually dead, as we manifested at large before — he can do nothing at all that is spiritually good. He may be moved and, as it were, compelled by the power of convictions, to do many things that are materially good; but he can do nothing that, upon all considerations, is spiritually good and accepted by God. The question is this: Having received this principle of spiritual life, and being habitually sanctified by it, what can believers do as to actual duties, by virtue of this principle, without the new and immediate assistance and working of the Holy Spirit in them? I say that, without the particular concurrence and assistance of the grace of God for every act of this principle, they can no more do anything spiritually good, than a man can naturally act, move, or do anything in absolute independence of God, of his power and providence. The apostle expresses this relation between the works of God’s providence and of his grace, in Ephesians 2:10 : "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God ordained beforehand that we should walk in them." At the beginning, God made all things by a creating power, producing them out of nothing. And he did not leave them merely to themselves and their own powers when he created them; but he upholds, supports, sustains, and preserves them in the principles of their being and operations, acting powerfully in and by them, after their several kinds. Without his support of their being, by an actual incessant emanation of divine power, the whole fabric of nature would dissolve into confusion and nothingness. And without his influence into and concurrence with their ability for operation by the same power, all things would be dead and deformed, and not one act of nature would be exerted. So it also is in this work of the new creation of all things by Jesus Christ. "We are God’s workmanship." He has formed and fashioned us for himself, by the renovation of his image in us. Hereby we are fitted for good works and the fruits of righteousness, which he appointed as the way of our living to him. This new creature, this divine nature in us, he supports and preserves in such a way that without his continual influential power, it would perish and come to nothing. But this is not all. He moreover acts it, and effectively concurs to every singular duty, by new supplies of actual grace. So then, what we are to prove is that there is an actual operation of the Holy Ghost in us, necessary to every act and duty of holiness whatsoever, without which none either will or can be produced or performed by us. This is the second part of his work in our sanctification. And there are several ways by which this is confirmed to us:

1. The Scripture declares that we ourselves cannot, in and by ourselves — that is, by virtue of any strength or power that we have received — do anything that is spiritually good. Our Savior tells his apostles, and all sanctified believers: "Without me you can do nothing," John 15:5 — "without me;" "separated from me," as a branch may be separated from the vine. If a branch is separated from the root and body of the vine, so that it does not receive continual supplies of nourishment from them, if their influence into it is intercepted by any means, then it does not proceed in its growth; it produces no fruit, but immediately begins to decay. Our Savior says it is this way with believers in respect to him. Unless they have continual, uninterrupted influences of grace and spiritually vital nourishment from him, they can do nothing. The phrase "without me," expresses a denial of all the spiritual aid we have from Christ. If we lack this, "we can do nothing," — that is, we can do nothing by our own power, or by virtue of any habit or principle of grace that we have received. For when we have received it, whatever we can do without further actual assistance, we can do by ourselves. Thus, "you can do nothing" pertains to fruit-bearing to God. For in natural and civil things, we can do a little; and in sinful things we can do too much — we need no aid or assistance for any such purpose. But in fruit-bearing to God, we can do nothing.

Now, every act of faith and love, every motion of our minds or affections towards God, is a part of our fruit-bearing; and unquestionably, so are all external works and duties of holiness and obedience. Therefore, with our Savior himself as judge, believers who are really sanctified and made partakers of habitual grace, cannot of themselves, without new actual aid and assistance of grace from him, do anything that is spiritually good or acceptable with God. Our apostle confirms this same truth in 2 Corinthians 3:4-5 : "And we have such trust through Christ toward God: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." It is a great and eminent grace which he declares that he was acting — namely, trust in God through Christ in the discharge of his ministry, and for the blessed success of it. But he no sooner expressed it, than he seems to be jealous lest he appear to assume something to himself in this work, or in the trust he had for its success. No man was ever more cautious against this; and indeed it was incumbent on Paul to be cautious, because he was appointed to be the principal minister and preacher of the grace of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I say, he adds a caution against any such apprehensions; and he openly renounces any such power, ability, or sufficiency in himself, such that by its virtue he could act so excellent a grace, or perform so great a duty: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves." And he has asserted in countless places, the necessity and efficacy of grace in this matter, and our impotency without it. But in his own instance, he also made such a distinction between what was of himself, and what was of grace — with such an open disclaimer of any interest of his own in what was spiritually good, as distinct from grace — that it should be sufficient with all sober persons to determine all differences in this case. See 1 Corinthians 15:10, Galatians 2:20, and this place.997 I assume no such thing to myself, and I ascribe no such thing to any other, such that I or they should have in ourselves a sufficiency for any such purpose — for our apostle knew nothing of any sufficiency that needed any other thing than grace to make it effectual. And he does not exclude such a sufficiency in ourselves with respect to eminent actings of grace and greater duties, except with respect to every good thought, or whatever may have a tendency to any spiritual duty. We cannot conceive, we cannot engage in the beginning of any duty, by our own sufficiency. For it is the beginning of duties which the apostle expresses by "thinking," because our thoughts and projections are naturally the first thing that belongs to our actions. He does this on purpose, as it were, to obviate that Pelagian fiction that the beginning of good was from ourselves, and we had the help of grace only to perfect it.

"But what then? If we have no such sufficiency, to what purpose should we set about thinking or doing anything that is good? Who would be so unwise as to attempt what he has no strength to accomplish? And does the apostle not deny by this, that he himself had performed any holy duties, or acted out any grace, or done anything that was good, seeing that he had no sufficiency of himself to do so?" To obviate this quibble, Paul confines this denial of sufficiency to "ourselves;" we do not have it of ourselves. "But," he says, "our sufficiency is of God," — that is, we have it by actual supplies of that grace which is necessary for every duty. And he declares how God communicates this sufficiency, and how we receive it: 2 Corinthians 9:8, "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; so that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." God manifests the abounding of grace towards us when he works an effective sufficiency in us — which he does so as to enable us to abound in good works or duties of holiness. These are those supplies of grace which God gives us for all our duties, as He promised Paul in his own case, 2Cor 12.9.998 This is the first demonstration of the truth proposed for consideration — namely, the testimonies given in the Scripture that believers cannot, of themselves, perform any acts or duties of holiness, or anything that is spiritually good. Therefore, these things are effects of grace, and they must be worked in us by the Holy Ghost, who is the immediate author of all divine operations.

2. All actings of grace, all good duties, are actually ascribed to the operation of the Holy Ghost. The particular testimonies to this are so multiplied in the Scripture that it is not convenient or indeed possible to recall them distinctly; some of them may be asserted as instances, and these are reduced to three heads:

1st. There are many places in which we are said to be led, guided, or moved by the Spirit, to live in the Spirit, to walk after the Spirit, or to do things by the Spirit who dwells in us. Nothing can be meant by these expressions in general, but the actions of the Holy Spirit of God on our souls. Our obedience to God according to the gospel consists in complying with this activity, such as acting when we are moved by him: Galatians 5:16, "Walk in the Spirit." To walk in the Spirit is to walk in obedience to God, according to the supplies of grace which the Holy Ghost administers to us; for it is added that "we will not then fulfil the lusts of the flesh," — that is, we will be kept to holy obedience and the avoidance of sin. So we are said to be "led by the Spirit," verse 18, being moved by him, and not by the vicious, depraved principles of our corrupted nature.

Romans 8:4, "Do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit." To walk after the flesh is to have the principle of indwelling sin acting itself in us to produce and perpetrate actual sins. Therefore, to walk after the Spirit is to have the Spirit acting in us to effect all gracious acts and duties. And this is given to us in a command that we do not neglect his motions in us, but comply with them by way of diligence and duty: see Rom 8.14-15.999 So we are enjoined to attend to particular duties through "the Holy Ghost which dwells in us," 2 Timothy 1:14; that is, through his assistance, without which we can do nothing.

2dly. As we are said to be led and moved by him, so he is declared to be the author of all gracious actings in us: Galatians 5:22-23, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." All these things are worked and produced in us by the Spirit, for they are his fruits. And not only is the habit of them from Him, but all their actings, in all their exercise, are from him. Every act of faith is faith; and every act of love is love; and consequently no act of them is of ourselves, but every one of them is a fruit of the Spirit of God. So in another place he adds a universal affirmative, comprehending all instances of particular graces and their exercise: Ephesians 5:9, "The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." All actings of grace, all duties of obedience, all parts of holiness, may be reduced to these three things. And it is through the supplies of the Spirit that He trusts for a good issue of his obedience, Phi 1.19.1000 So it is expressly stated in the promise of the covenant, Ezekiel 36:27, "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments, and do them." This is the whole that God requires of us, and it is all worked in us by his Spirit, Ezekiel 11:19-20; Jeremiah 32:39-40. All the obedience and holiness that God requires of us in the covenant, all duties and actings of grace, are promised to be worked in us by the Spirit, after we are assured that, of ourselves, we can do nothing.

3dly. Particular graces and their exercise are assigned to his acting and working in us: Galatians 5:5, "We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." The hope of the righteousness of faith is the thing hoped for thereby. All that we look for or expect in this world, or hereafter, is by the righteousness of faith. Our quiet waiting for this is a special gospel grace and duty. We do not do this of ourselves, but "through the Spirit:" We "worship God in the Spirit," Php 3:3; love the brethren "in the Spirit," Colossians 1:8; we "purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in unfeigned love of the brethren," 1Pet 1.22.1001 It is expressly said about faith, that it is "not of ourselves; it is the gift of God," Ephesians 2:8.

3. There are express testimonies to the position laid down before: Php 2:13, "It is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." The things thus worked are all things that pertain to our obedience and salvation, as evident from the connection of these words with verse 12, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Two things are required for this:

1st. Power for such operations, or for all the duties of holiness and obedience that are required of us. It has been abundantly confirmed before that we are endowed with this, that it is worked in us, bestowed on us, by the Holy Ghost. But when this is done for us, is there anything else yet remaining to be done? Indeed,

2dly. There is the actual exercise of the grace we have received. How may this be exercised? The whole work of grace consists in the internal acts of our wills, and the external operations in duties suited to this. Therefore this is incumbent on us; we are to look for this in ourselves; it is our duty to do so — namely, to stir up and exercise the grace we have received in and for its proper operations. But it is so our duty, that we cannot perform it of ourselves. It is God who effectively works in us all those gracious acts of our wills, and all holy operations in a way of duty. Every act of our wills, so far as it is gracious and holy, is efficiently the act of the Spirit of God; he "works in us to will," or in the very act of willing. To say that He only persuades us, or excites and stirs up our wills by his grace, so that they produce their own acts, is to say that He does not do what the apostle affirms he does. For if the gracious actings of our wills are so much our own as not to be his, then he does not work in us to will, but he only persuades us to will. But the same apostle utterly excludes this pretense: 1 Corinthians 15:10, "I labored abundantly; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." He had a necessity incumbent on him to declare the great labor he had undergone, and the pains he had taken in "preaching the gospel;" yet immediately, lest anyone think that he ascribed anything to himself (any gracious, holy actings in those labors), he adds his usual epanorthosis,1002 "Not I;" — "Let me not be taken the wrong way; it was not I, by any power of mine, by anything in me; rather, it was all worked in me by the free grace of the Spirit of God." "Not I, but grace," is the apostle’s assertion.

Suppose now that by his grace God does no more than aid, assist, and excite the will in its actings — that he does not effectively work all the gracious actings of our souls in all our duties — the proposition would take on the reverse meaning, "Not grace, but I," seeing that the principal relation of the effect is to the next and immediate cause, and it has its designation from there. But truly, just as God works them "to will" in us, so He also works them "to do" — that is, to effectively perform those duties to which the gracious actings of our wills are required.

What has been said may suffice to prove that the Holy Spirit, as the author of our sanctification, also works in us all gracious acts of faith, love, and obedience, in which the first part of our actual holiness and righteousness consists. And the truth thus confirmed may be further improved for our instruction and edification by the following.

(1.) From this it is easily discernible how contrary the designs and expressions of the Scripture are to the notions of some men among us. There is nothing that is good in us, nothing that is done well by us in the way of obedience, that the Scripture does not expressly and frequently assign it to the immediate operations of the Holy Spirit in us. It does so in general as to all gracious actings whatsoever — and not content with that, it proposes that the Holy Ghost is the immediate author of every grace and every holy duty, distinctly affirming them. And when it comes to mentioning us, the Scripture indeed positively prescribes our duty to us; but just as plainly, it lets us know that we have no power in or from ourselves to perform it. But some men say, preach, and write to another purpose altogether. The subjects of their discourses are the freedom, liberty, power, and ability of our own wills; the light, guidance, and direction of our own minds or reasons; and from all of these, our own performance of all the duties of faith and obedience. And that is done in opposition to what is ascribed in the Scriptures to the immediate operations of the Holy Ghost; the Scriptures are all for grace. Scripture says, "Not I, but grace; not I, but Christ; without him we can do nothing." But these men are all for our wills: "Not grace, but our wills do it all." It is plainly affirmed in the Scripture that God created heaven and earth, and that he sustains and preserves all things by his power. It is no less plainly affirmed that he creates grace in the hearts of believers, preserves it, acts it, and makes it effectual, working all our works for us, and all our duties in us. But evasions must be found out — strange, forced, uncouth senses must be put on plain and frequently repeated expressions — to secure the honor of our wills, and to take care that all the good we do may not be assigned to the grace of God. To this purpose, distinctions are coined, evasions are invented, and such an explanation is given of all divine operations as to render them useless and insignificant. Indeed, in the judgment of some, it has grown weak and ridiculous (if not criminal) for anyone to assign those works and operations to the Spirit of God, which the Scripture assigns to Him; and they use the very words that the Scripture uses! To lessen the corruption and depravation of our nature by sin; to extol the integrity and power of our reason; to maintain the freedom and ability of our wills in and to things that are spiritually good; to say that the conversion of men to God can be attributed to their natural good dispositions, inclinations, and the right use of their reason; to consider holiness to be only a probity of life1003 or honesty in conduct, done on rational motives and considerations — these are the things that men are now almost wearied with repeating. There is scarcely a person who would build a reputation for himself in the world, who does not immediately furnish himself with some new tinkling ornaments for these old Pelagian figments. But whoever takes an impartial view of the design and constant doctrine of the Scripture in this matter, will not easily be carried away with the plausible pretenses of men who exalt their own wills and abilities, in opposition to the Spirit and grace of God by Jesus Christ.

(2.) From what has been discussed, a further discovery is made of the nature of gospel obedience, from all the acts of our souls in this, and the duties that belong to it. It is commonly granted that there is a great difference between those acts and duties which are truly gracious, and those which are called gracious but are not so — such as duties of faith, prayer, or charity. But this difference is generally supposed to be in the adjuncts of those duties, in some of their properties, but not in the kind, nature, or substance of the acts of our minds in these things. Indeed, it is commonly said that because wicked men say they believe, and gladly do many things out of obedience, the substance of what they do is the same as the acts of those who are truly regenerated and sanctified. They may differ in their principle and end, but as to their substance or essence, they are the same. But there is no small mistake in this. All gracious actings of our minds and souls, whether internal only, in faith, love, or delight, or extending to external duties required in the gospel — both are worked in us by the immediate efficacy of the Spirit of grace. And so they differ in their kind (in the essence and substance of the acts themselves) only from whatever is not worked or effected in us by the Spirit grace. For whatever may be done by anyone — in any acting of common grace or in the performance of any duty of obedience — if these are educed out of the power of the natural faculties of men, excited by convictions, as directed and enforced by reasons and exhortations, or as assisted by common aids of whatever nature, they are natural as to their kind; they have no other substance or being than what is natural. But what is worked in us by the special grace of the Holy Ghost in the way mentioned, is supernatural. It is not educed out of the powers of our natural faculties, but it is an immediate effect of the almighty supernatural efficacy of the grace of God. And therefore, the sole reason why God accepts and rewards duties of obedience in those who are sanctified, and disregards those duties of others which are the same as to their outward matter and manner of performance,1004 is not only because of the state and condition of the persons who perform them— though that has an influence in this — but also from the nature of the acts and duties themselves. He never accepts and rejects duties of the same kind absolutely with respect to the persons who perform them. The duties themselves are of a different kind. Those which he accepts are supernatural effects of his own Spirit in us; and so he rewards and crowns the fruits of his own grace. As for what he rejects, whatever appearance it may have of complying with the outward command, it has nothing in it that is supernaturally gracious; and so it is not of the same kind as what he accepts.