01.22. Sanctification.

22. Sanctification.

Since the image of God existed not only in knowledge and righteousness, but also in holiness, the re-creation must restore man to his right relationship to God, and at the same time renew his inner self according to the demands of His holy law. Sin is guilt, but also blemish. Justification frees him from the guilt, and sanctification frees him from the stain of sin. Through the latter his consciousness is changed, through this his being. Through the first mankind regains his good standing, through the second he regains his ability to be good and do good. The word holy appears on almost every page of the Holy Scriptures. What the original, natural meaning of the Hebrew word was, which has been transferred to our language as holy, cannot be determined with certainty, because the word is never found in Scripture in this sense, but is always used in a religious sense; however, it is probably derived from a root which means to cut off, to separate. Nor is it possible to say with certainty in what sense the word was first introduced in the religious sphere. According to some people and things were first called holy because they were separated from others and withdrawn from common use - the opposite of holy is unholy, unconsecrated, common, profane, Leviticus 10:10, 1 Samuel 21:5, Ezekiel 22:6. According to others the original meaning contained an indication, that persons and things had a certain relation to God, and therefore were separated from others. The latter opinion argues that people and things are never automatically, naturally holy, but can only become so through a certain action that happens to them. Neither can they sanctify themselves, because all sanctity and holiness come from God. Jehovah is holy, and therefore He wants a holy people, a holy priesthood, a holy dwelling, Exodus 19:6, Exodus 29:43, Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, etc., to be holy. He designates who is His and who is holy, Numbers 16:5.

Countless times, therefore, God is called the Holy One in the Old Testament; only in Daniel 4:8-9, Daniel 4:18, Daniel 5:11, Daniel 5:11 also Nebuchadnezzar speaks of his holy gods. It does not refer to a special quality in the divine being next to others; but the name serves especially to express his divine greatness, elevation, majesty, inaccessibility. There is no one holy like the Lord, for there is no one but He, 1 Samuel 2:2. He is God and no man, the Holy One, Hosea 11:9; no one can exist before Him, 1 Samuel 6:20; He is exalted above the gods, glorified in holiness, fearful in songs of praise, doing wonders, Exodus 15:11; He is fearful out of His sanctuary, Psalms 68:35; His name is great and fearful, Psalms 99:2-3; to swear by His holiness is to swear by oneself, Amos 4:2, Amos 6:8. In a word, holiness indicates God in His distinction from and exaltation above all creatures; He is the Holy One, because He is God; and especially Isaiah prefers to use this name, Isaiah 5:16, Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 6:11-12, etc. cf. Ezekiel 37:28-20, Ezekiel 39:7, Habakkuk 1:12, Habakkuk 3:3 etc. The holiness of God is manifested in all the relations in which He has placed Himself with His people; the whole legislation of Israel has its principle in the holiness of Jehovah and its goal in the sanctification of the people. Holy is He in all His manifestation, in all that emanates from Him; holy is His name, Leviticus 3:1, His arm, Psalms 98:1, His covenant, Daniel 11:28, His word, Psalms 105:42, His Spirit, Psalms 51:11, Isaiah 63:10, Isaiah 63:17. And therefore He wants His people also to be holy, Exodus 19:6, Exodus 29:43-46, Leviticus 11:44, Leviticus 19:2, and in that people again especially the priests and the Levites, who serve the holy things and are consecrated to their office by special ceremonies, Exodus 29:1-46. Yes, everything connected with God’s service, places, times, sacrifices, the priestly garments, the temple, etc. must be consecrated and holy to the Lord. The whole law means that Israel shall be to the Lord a priestly kingdom and a holy nation, Exodus 19:6. And a people is holy when it complies in all things with the law which the Lord has given.

Now that law under Israel contained not only moral, but also many civil and ceremonial commandments. Holiness, therefore, consisted in perfection, in total conformity with the law, but this perfection was not only of a moral, but also of a civil and ceremonial nature. The people, however, often fell into one-sidedness and sought the essence of religion in external, Levitical purity.

Then the prophets rose up against it, and proclaimed, that to obey is better than the victim, and to look up is better than the fat of the rams, 1 Samuel 15:22, that the Lord is pleased with charity and not with sacrifice, with the knowledge of God more than with burnt offerings, Hosea 6:6, that the Lord demands nothing else than to do right, to love charity, and to walk humbly with God, Mids. 6 : 8. They showed that the holiness of God consisted especially in his moral nakedness, in his elevation above and in contrast with all the sinfulness of the creature, Isaiah 6:3-7. When men profane His name and His covenant, He sanctifies Himself in the way of right and justice, Isaiah 5:16, Ezekiel 28:22; as the Holy One He punishes the enemies, so that they may know that He is the Lord, Jeremiah 50:29, Ezekiel 36:23, Ezekiel 39:7, but He will redeem His people, by cleansing them from all iniquity, establishing a new covenant with them, and causing them to walk in His ways with a new heart, Jeremiah 31:34-31, Ezekiel 36:25-29 etc. And He will do this, not for Israel’s sake, but for His great name’s sake, Isa. 43:35, Ezekiel 36:22, Ezekiel 36:32, etc. In the same way that God in the New Covenant has provided righteousness in Christ for His people, He has also provided holiness in the Son of His love. Christ is our holiness in the same way and in the same sense as He is our wisdom, our redemption. Now, first of all, He possessed a personal holiness, otherwise He could not have acquired holiness for us. What was received in Mary from the Holy Spirit and born of her, was Holy and received the name of the Son of God, Luke 1:35. Later, at baptism, He received the Holy Spirit without measure and was full of the Holy Spirit, Luke 3:22, Luke 4:1. Those who were possessed recognized Him as the Holy One of God, Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34, and the disciples confessed through Peter: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we have believed and known that thou art the Holy One of God, John 6:69 (according to another interpretation). In Acts 4:27, cf. Acts 3:14, the same apostle speaks of Him as God’s holy child (or God’s holy servant), and in Revelation 3:9 He calls Himself the Holy One and the One True. Just as Christ himself was aware of his sinlessness, Matthew 12:50, John 4:34, John 8:46, so also all his apostles say that he did no wrong and there was no deceit in his mouth, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, Hebrews 7:26, 1 Peter 1:19, 1 Peter 2:22, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 2:1, 1 John 3:5. With Christ, however, a distinction must be made between the holiness He possessed by nature and that which He acquired through His perfect obedience. His holy conception and birth had first of all this usefulness, that He could be our Mediator, Heid. Catech. Exh. 16, but secondly also this power, that He, being our Mediator from the moment of conception, with His innocence and complete holiness covers the sin in which we are conceptualized and born before God, Heid. Catech. The holiness into which He was born was immediately made by Him a part of that holiness which, all His life until His death, He had to acquire for His congregation. After all, the Father had already sanctified Him by His coming in the flesh, ordained Him for the ministry of mediator, and sent Him into the world for that very reason (John 10:36). And Christ Himself sanctified Himself and gave Himself over to the will of His Father before He was conceived and born in Mary; His incarnation was already an accomplishment of the Father’s will, an act of sanctification. It was not enough that Christ was holy, He had to sanctify Himself from His conception to His death. As Mediator, He was subjected to the severest tests and trials, especially after He had received the baptism, had been anointed with the Holy Spirit and had begun to exercise His ministry in public. The temptation of which we read in the Gospels was the beginning of a life full of struggles; after it had ended, the devil only departed from Him for a time, Luke 4:13. We cannot conceive of these temptations, but it is expressly written that He became like our brothers in all things, and was tempted in all things, as we are, yet without sin, Hebrews 2:17, Hebrews 4:15; there is no weakness in us, or He knows it, and no temptation, or He can come to our aid. But while we succumb every moment, He remained faithful to the end; He was tempted in all things, yet without sin; He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Php 2:8. He did not pray that death would spare him, but he made a strong appeal and supplication to the One who could deliver him from death, that he might endure suffering and gain life through death; and he was heard in this plea, Hebrews 5:7. But although He was the Son, He still had to learn obedience from what He suffered, Hebrews 5:8. He was obedient from the very beginning and He wanted to be obedient; to do the Father’s will was His food, John 4:34. But in suffering He received the opportunity to show this obedience; through suffering He had to turn His mind and will to obey into action. Thus, through suffering, He was sanctified (Hebrews 2:11, Hebrews 5:9), that is, not sanctified in a moral sense, but completed, brought to the goal He had set out for, crowned with honor and glory because of the suffering of death (Hebrews 2:9, Hebrews 12:2), formed into the chief conductor of the salvation of God’s children and into the finisher of their faith (Hebrews 2:10, Hebrews 12:2). By enduring the cross and despising the shame, in view of the joy that awaited Him after His humiliation, He became the leader, the forerunner, the architect of His own salvation, and also the one who begins and completes faith in them. By perfecting Himself in the way of obedience, by seeking the glory at the right hand of the Father only through the deepest humiliation, He has become a cause of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him, Hebrews 5:9. He sanctified Himself, gave Himself as a sacrifice in death, that His disciples might be sanctified in truth, John 17:19. And thus He was given to us by God for our holiness, 1 Corinthians 1:30. In order to properly understand the sanctification of believers, it must be clearly understood that Christ is our holiness in the same sense in which He is our righteousness. He is a complete and sufficient Saviour; He does not complete His work half-heartedly, but truly and completely saves us; and He does not rest until He has made us fully partakers of eternal life and heavenly glory. Through his righteousness, he does not only bring us back to the state of the righteous, who go free in the judgment of God, to leave it up to us to reform ourselves in God’s image by doing good works and to earn eternal life. But Christ has accomplished everything for us; He bore for us the guilt and punishment of sin, and He also kept the law for us and acquired life. His obedience was ״lateral" and ״decent" at the same time. Of this his resurrection gave proof. God did not leave his soul in hell (that is not the place of the damned, because Christ’s soul was in paradise after his death, Luke 23:43, but the grave, or the realm of the dead, to which Christ also belonged as long as he was in the state of death) and did not surrender his Holy One to corruption according to the body, but made known to him the ways of life and filled him with joy through his face, Acts 2:27-28, Acts 13:35-37. In accordance with the Spirit of holiness which dwelt in Him, He was appointed by God from the resurrection of the dead, and appointed as His Son in power, Romans 1:5, as a Prince and Saviour, to give Israel repentance and the forgiveness of sins, Acts 5:31, as a Prince who has acquired eternal life and now distributes it to His own, Acts 3:15. But this holiness, which Christ has acquired for his congregation, does not remain outside us, but is truly communicated to us. In justification we are acquitted of guilt and punishment on the basis of a righteousness that is outside of us, in Christ Jesus, and that is imputed to us by God’s grace and is accepted by us in faith. In sanctification, however, the holiness of Christ is properly poured out in us by the Holy Spirit. So when Rome speaks of an infused grace, we do not object to that in itself; we only object to this infused grace being considered a piece of righteousness on the basis of which we would be acquitted by God. For then justification and sanctification, liberation from guilt and the removal of stain, would be confused with one another; then Christ would be deprived of the fullness of his righteousness and the believing soul of its comfort and security. But there is indeed an infused grace, a Christ in us as well as a Christ for us, a renewal in the image of God as certain as a transition to the state of the righteous, a change in our moral condition no less than in our relationship to God.

Even this sanctification must be maintained with no less certainty and force than the justification. There have always been those who have held the forgiveness of sins to be the one great act of Christ, and who have denied or at least neglected and overshadowed the inner renewal of man in the image of God. They believe that if man is justified and conscious of this in faith, nothing else needs to happen to him; through the consciousness of the forgiveness of sins he has already become another man; justification and regeneration are two names for the same thing.

Now it is perfectly true that the Christian, who with a true faith trusts that all his sins, by pure grace, only through the merit of Christ, have been forgiven, becomes by this consciousness indeed another person; he feels freed from all guilt, he has, being justified by faith, peace with God, he stands in the freedom with which Christ has set him free, and he can jubilate with David : Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity! Such a change can even be called a rebirth in a certain sense, a renewal of consciousness. But if it is now deduced from this that justification and rebirth are completely the same, then there is no ground for this conclusion and one is also definitely in conflict with the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. True salvation faith, which accepts Christ’s righteousness and becomes aware of the forgiveness of sins, does not come from a natural man, but is the fruit of the rebirth, and thus already presupposes a spiritual change that has taken place in man through the Holy Spirit ; And the heartfelt joy and peace, which the believer enjoys through the certainty of the forgiveness of his sins, are characteristics of the spiritual man, who in the fellowship with Christ has risen from the death of sin.

Furthermore, there is a difference between the state in which someone is, and the state in which he is. The two are so far apart that sometimes an innocent person is charged and convicted, and a guilty person is acquitted by the judge. Therefore, a person’s state has not changed, nor has the other way around. This is true in the natural, but also in the spiritual realm. Sin is not only guilt, but also blemish; we are freed from the first in justification, and from the second in sanctification. Perfect salvation consists not only of knowledge and righteousness, but also of holiness and redemption. And that is why Christ brought both, forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And whatever the case, Scripture distinguishes as clearly as possible between justification and regeneration. The promise in the Old Testament was that in the new covenant the Lord would forgive the iniquities of His people, but also give them a new heart and write His law in it (Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 31:34, Ezekiel 36:25-26). He would give His Spirit within them, and make them walk in His statutes and keep and do His rights, Ezekiel 36:27. In order to fulfill this promise, Christ not only gave his soul as a ransom for many, but also, after his exaltation at the right hand of the Father, sent the Holy Spirit, that he might dwell and work in the congregation. And what He does, we have already seen (p. 437 ff.): in and through the Spirit, Chris distributes Himself and all His benefits to the congregation.

After Paul, therefore, had first dealt with justification in his letter to the Romans, he proceeded to sanctification in Romans 6:1-23. Just as in later times, there were already people in the apostle’s day who expected moral damage from the doctrine of free justification. They feared that by confessing such a thing one would commit sin, so that good would come from it and grace would increase through it (Romans 3:8, Romans 6:1). Paul refutes this accusation and says that it is impossible for those who have died of sin to still be alive in it, Romans 6:2.

He proves here that the believers, who through their faith have received the forgiveness of sins and peace with God, are also, according to their baptism, buried in the death of Christ and have risen with Him to a new life, Romans 6:3-11. Paul always calls believers those people who not only accepted God’s righteousness in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, but who also died and were raised personally in the fellowship of Christ, and are therefore dead to sin and alive to God, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 2:12. For Christ’s death has not only the power to justify, but also to save and to make alive, 2 Corinthians 5:15; and faith, which is of the true stamp, accepts Christ not only as righteousness, but also as holiness; one is not possible even without the other. For Christ is not divisible, and his acts of goodness are inseparable from his person. He is at once our wisdom and our righteousness, our holiness and our salvation, 1 Corinthians 1:30. Thus He became to us from God, and thus He is given to us by God. The holiness, which we must partake of, is thus fully available to us in Christ. There are many Christians who, at least in the practice of life, think differently about this. They acknowledge that they are justified by the righteousness which Christ has wrought, but they pretend or act as if they were to be sanctified by a holiness which they themselves had to work out. If that were the case, contrary to the apostolic testimony, Romans 6:14, Galatians 4:31, Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13, we would not be living under grace and freedom, but still under the law. Gospel sanctification, however, is as distinct from legal sanctification as the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel differs from that required by the law, not in content, but in manner of communication. It consists in God granting us in Christ, with righteousness, also perfect holiness, and communicating it to us inwardly through the regenerating and renewing action of the Holy Spirit.

Sanctification is thus God’s work, a work of His righteousness and of His grace as well. He first imputes Christ to us with all His benefits, and then He communicates Him to us with all the fullness that is in Him. It is He who circumcises the hearts, Deuteronomy 30:6, who takes away the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 12:19, who pours out the Spirit on them, Joel 2:28, gives a new spirit in their hearts, Ezekiel 12:19, Ezekiel 36:26, who writes the law in their hearts, makes them walk in His ways, and thus makes them His people, Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 32:38, Ezekiel 36:27-28. Perhaps even more strongly, the New Testament says that believers are God’s work, created in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:10, a new creature, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15, God’s work, Romans 14:20, God’s work and building, 1 Corinthians 3:9, Ephesians 2:20, Colossians 2:7, 1 Peter 2:5; all is of God, 2 Corinthians 5:18. When they died and were raised with Christ, they were also washed and sanctified in Him, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 1 Corinthians 6:2, Titus 3:5, and they are sanctified continually, John 17:17, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 1 Corinthians 3:6, and 2 Corinthians 3:6. 17: 17, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Ephesians 5:26, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 13:20-21, until they are fully conformed to the image of the Son, Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 15:49, Php 3:21. The chain of salvation is unbreakable, because it is God’s work from beginning to end; whom He has known, called and justified, He also glorifies, Romans 8:30. On the basis of this work of sanctification, which God accomplishes in the congregation through the Spirit of Christ, the believers are always called saints in Scripture. Israel was already so called in the old days, Exodus 19:6; it was separated from the nations, in order to be the property of the Lord, Leviticus 20:26, and to walk in His ways, Exodus 19:5; and in the future, when God would establish His new covenant, it would be called with even more right and in a much deeper sense the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, Isaiah 62:12, Joel 3:17, Obadiah 1:1-21. If in the days of the New Testament the High Priest sanctified himself for his people, that they also might be sanctified in truth, John 17:19, the believers therefore immediately receive the name of saints, Acts 9:13, Acts 9:32, Acts 9:41, Acts 26:10, Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, etc. It does not imply that in a moral sense they are free from all sins and above all sins, but it expresses that the New Testament congregation has now taken the place of the old Israel and has become the property of the Lord, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Galatians 6:16, 1 Peter 2:5, because she is sanctified in Christ and is a temple of the Holy Spirit, John 17:19, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:11, 1 Corinthians 6:19. But this holiness, which is given to the congregation in Christ and initially imparted to it by the Holy Spirit, imposes an expensive obligation on believers. Sanctification is a work of God, but it is therefore destined to become a work in which the believers themselves participate in the power of God. In the Old Testament it is sometimes said that the Lord Himself sanctifies His people, Exodus 31:13, Leviticus 20:8, Leviticus 21:8, etc., and then again that the people themselves must sanctify themselves, Leviticus 11:44, Leviticus 20:7, Numbers 11:18, etc. Sometimes it is called that the Lord circumcises the heart, Deuteronomy 30:6, and another time Israel herself is called to circumcise the foreskin of her heart, Deuteronomy 10:16, Jeremiah 4:4. Repentance is sometimes a work of God, Jeremiah 31:18, Lamentations 5:21, and then a duty of man, Jeremiah 3:12-13, etc. And so it is in the New Testament. And likewise in the New Testament sanctification occurs as a gift of God in Christ and as a work of the Holy Spirit, through whom believers are sanctified, John 17:17, John 17:19, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, etc., And yet they are repeatedly exhorted to be perfect, as their Father in heaven is perfect, Matthew 5:48, to do good works that glorify the Father, Matthew 5:16, John 15:8, to make their members holy, and to be faithful to the Father. John 15:8, to make their members obedient to righteousness for the purpose of sanctification, Romans 6:19, to become holy in all their conduct, 1 Peter 1:15, 2 Peter 3:11, to pursue and perfect their sanctification in the fear of God, 2 Corinthians 7:1, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, for without it no one shall see the Lord, Hebrews 12:14. The one is by no means in conflict with the other. Rather, the believers’ work on their own sanctification is only possible because of this, since it is God’s work, which He accomplishes in them. Grace does not destroy nature, but restores it. While man, through sin, lacked the desire and the power to walk in the ways of the Lord, in the re-creation he again receives the disposition and the ability, at least in principle, to live in sincerity, not according to some, but according to all of God’s commandments. When God, with the powerful activity of His regenerating Spirit, penetrates the inner parts of man, He opens the heart that is closed, hardens the hard, and cuts off the uncircumcised. He pours new qualities into the will and makes the will that was dead become alive; the will that was evil become good; the will that was unwilling become willing; the will that was stubborn become obedient. He moves and strengthens the will in such a way that it, like a good tree, can produce fruits of good works. When the Reformed Church expresses itself in this way in its confession (Can. Dordr. Ill IV 11), it is standing on the basis of the Holy Scriptures, and finds specific support in the profound words of the Apostle Paul: Work with fear and trembling for your own salvation; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do, according to His good pleasure, Phil. Just as in justification the forgiveness of sins, which is fully available in Christ, can only be received and enjoyed by us through a living and active faith, so God only brings about sanctification in us through us; He does not destroy our personality, but raises it up; He does not kill our intellect, will or affections, but makes them alive, since they were dead, and puts them to work; He makes us His fellow workers and allies. But this sanctification of believers must be properly understood; it must not become a legal sanctification, but it is and must remain a Gospel sanctification. It does not, therefore, consist in believers sanctifying themselves by means of a holiness which they themselves bring about new and for the first time, or which does exist, but which they must acquire by their own efforts and good works. The holiness revealed by God in the Gospel is not only fully available in Christ, but is also applied and worked out in our hearts by His Spirit. Paul says it so beautifully in Ephesians 2:10; we are God’s creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared so that we may walk in them. Just as the first creation was brought about by the Word, so the re-creation receives its existence in the fellowship with Christ: the believers are crucified, die, are buried, and they are also raised up and reborn to a new life in the fellowship with Christ. And this re-creation has a specific goal; it finds its purpose in the good works produced by believers; God is not concerned with the tree, but with the fruit, and in that fruit His own glorification. But these good works are not produced by the believers independently and from scratch. They are finished and acquired for them by Christ, who fulfilled all righteousness and the whole law in their place; and they are worked out in them by the Holy Spirit, who takes everything from Christ and distributes it to each according to his will. The entire holiness and all good works of the church, of all believers together and of each individual, they do not οπ/stand first through the believers, but they exist long before them in the good pleasure of the Father, in the work of the Son, and in the application of the Holy Spirit. Hence all glory is also excluded from sanctification. Thus God is never indebted to us, and never has to thank us if we do good works; but, on the contrary, we are kept in God, and have to thank Him for the good works we do (Gel. art. 24). This also shows the importance of faith in sanctification. Not only in justification, but also in sanctification, faith alone saves. For we cannot accept Christ and His benefits in any other way, and make them our property, than by faith. If righteousness and holiness were from the law, we would have to accomplish both by doing good works. But in the Evangeline they are a gift of God, given to us in the person of Christ; in Him is the fullness of grace and truth, John 1:17, of wisdom and knowledge, Colossians 2:3, of righteousness and holiness, 1 Corinthians 1:30; all spiritual blessings are contained in Him, Ephesians 1:3, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, Colossians 2:9. This Christ communicates Himself to us by the Holy Spirit, and unites Himself as closely and intimately with us, as the vine with the vine, John 15:2 f., as the head with the body, Ephesians 1:22-23, as the husband with the wife, Ephesians 5:32, as He Himself as Mediator is united with the Father, John 14:20, John 17:21-23. The faithful are one spirit with Him, 1 Corinthians 6:17, and one flesh, Ephesians 5:30-31. Christ lives in them, and they live in Christ, Galatians 2:20. Christ is all in them, Colossians 3:11.

If the Christ in us is in this way the worker of our holiness, then on our part the work of sanctification can only be accomplished by faith. For holiness, like all other benefits, is so indissolubly connected with the person of Christ that we cannot receive it except in fellowship with Christ Himself, and this, on our part, can only be obtained and enjoyed by a true faith. It is by faith that Christ lives in our hearts, Ephesians 3:17, and that we live in Christ, Galatians 2:20, that we become children of God, Galatians 3:27, and receive the promise of the Spirit, Galatians 3:14, that we receive the forgiveness of sins, Romans 4:6, and eternal life, John 3:16. To live by faith is the other side of it, that Christ is in us, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Galatians 2:20. Just as the saints of the Bible in Hebrews 11 are presented before our eyes as heroes of faith, so we too are admonished to live by faith, Hebrews 10:38, to walk by faith, 2 Corinthians 5:7, to let faith work through love, Galatians 5:6, to quench all the fiery darts of evil with the shield of faith, Galatians 6:16, and to overcome the world, 1 John 5:4. And all these exhortations correspond with those which are given to the believers, not to walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, Romans 8:4 ff, to lay down the old man and put on the new man, Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:10, Romans 6:4 ff, to receive the Lord Christ and walk in Him, Colossians 2:6, 1 Peter 3:16, to put on the Lord Jesus and to perform all things in His name, Romans 13:14, Colossians 3:17, to become strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, Ephesians 6:10, 2 Timothy 2:1, to grow up in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, 2 Peter 3:18. In a word, sanctification in the evangelical sense is a continuous activity and exercise of faith.

Many people object to this teaching of Scripture; they consider it one-sided and dangerous for the moral life. Sometimes they still admit that in justification the law is excluded and faith alone intervenes; but when they speak of sanctification they think that faith alone is insufficient, and that the law with its commandments and prohibitions, with its rewards and punishments, must be added in order to spur one on to a holy walk and to the doing of good works. Although it is now perfectly true that the law remains the rule of life for Christians, nevertheless the Gospel never derives its exhortations to a holy walk from the terrors of the law, but from the high calling to which believers in Christ are called. Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 4:4-8). Jesus is the vine, the disciples are His branches; those who remain in Him bear much fruit, for without Him they can do nothing, John 15:5. The faithful have died to sin with Christ, but have become alive to God in Him, Romans 6:11. They are not under the law, but under grace, and therefore sin does not have dominion over them, Romans 6:14. They have died under the law of the law and belong to Christ, that they may bear fruit for God, Romans 7:4, Galatians 2:19. The night has passed, the day has come; the works of darkness must therefore be laid aside, and the weapons of light put on, Romans 13:12. The bodies of the believers are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit; they must therefore flee the sin of fornication, 1 Corinthians 6:15 f. They have been bought with a price, so they must glorify God in their bodies and minds, which are God’s, 1 Corinthians 6:20. They stand in the freedom with which Christ has set them free, and in Christ nothing has any power except faith working through love, Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:6. Of this Christ they have heard, and through Him they have learned, that they must lay aside the old man and put on the new man, who was created after God in true righteousness and holiness, Ephesians 4:21 f. As beloved children, they have to be imitators of God, Ephesians 5:6. They must walk in love, as Christ loved them, Ephesians 5:2. They are light in the Lord, and therefore have to walk as children of light, Ephesians 5:8. In short, we would have to write off all the moral exhortations in the New Testament, if we wanted to enumerate fully the reasons why believers must walk in holiness. But the words quoted are sufficient to show that they are all derived from the Gospel, and not from the law. Whether the apostles are addressing men or women, parents or children, lords or servants, wives or maidservants, principalities or subjects, they exhort them all in the Lord, Ephesians 5:22, Ephesians 6:1, Colossians 3:18, 1 Peter 2:13, 1 Peter 3:1. The solid foundation of God stands and bears this seal: Everyone who calls on the name of Christ, desist from iniquity, 2 Timothy 2:19.

Thus faith is the one great work which the Christian has to accomplish in sanctification according to the principles of the Gospel, John 6:29. Although it occurs in a different way in sanctification and is viewed from a different angle than in justification, yet in both benefits it is the only and sufficient means by which we partake of them. The Gospel requires nothing else than faith, confidence in God’s grace in Christ; that faith not only justifies us, it also makes us holy and blissful. And the sanctifying power of faith is very clearly revealed by the following considerations. In the first place it should be taken into account that true, unfeigned faith breaks down the false self-confidence in us, tears down our pride from its pedestal and puts an end to all our own righteousness. If we leave out those who do not care about God or His commandments, and who drink sin like water, and also those who externally do good only out of fear of punishment, harm or disgrace, there remain those who earnestly strive to fulfil the commandments of the moral law in their own strength. But they can never find the right attitude to take toward the moral law, nor the right starting point from which to carry it out. They stand above it or below it; they make the law subservient to themselves, or they make themselves subservient to the law. In the first case they say that the good must be done for the sake of the benefit and happiness which it brings to individuals or the community. In the second case they place the moral law high above man, but make its fulfillment all the more impossible the more seriously it is taken.

Natural man oscillates between Sadduceism and Pharisaism, between freedom and authority; he cannot find the harmony between the commandment of man and his will. But faith puts an end to this oscillation. It makes us realize that the moral law stands high above us and demands unconditional obedience, and yet it cannot be fulfilled in truth and give eternal life. And in that seemingly irreconcilable contradiction, they surrender themselves to God’s grace, trust in His mercy and glory in the righteousness that He Himself has provided. The true believer renounces the demand of the moral law and adapts it to his own situation; he leaves the moral ideal in all its splendor, but at the same time he gives up the hope of ever being able to fulfill it through his own efforts. And thus he clings to God, who has revealed his righteousness in the Law, but also in the Gospel. This faith is therefore at once the mother of numerous virtues; it breeds in man humility, dependence, trust, all qualities and characteristics that are of the greatest importance for moral life. Doing good becomes in religion a firm basis and an unconquerable strength.

These virtues are immediately accompanied by others. According to the order that God Himself has established in the church, the promises of the Gospel precede the commandments of the law. First He assures us of His favor, the forgiveness of our sins and our inheritance among the saints, and then He leads us into the path of His testimonies and statutes. The good tree precedes the good fruit; we do not live by, but for good works; we do not fulfill the law in order to, but out of the eternal life that has been planted in our hearts through faith. Only in this order can we attain a truly moral life. Whoever wants to reverse the order and draw comfort, security and salvation from his works will never reach the goal, will be tossed to and fro by doubt, and will be in fear all the time. God follows a different path; in the Evangeline He gives us everything for free, the forgiveness of sins, the atonement of guilt, the remission of punishment, salvation and glory. He says that by faith we may completely rely on his grace and gives us the certainty of that through the witness of the Holy Spirit. By its very nature, faith brings comfort, peace, joy and happiness, and these are again of inestimable value for the moral life. They are all together principles and reasons for a holy walk. The cleansing of the conscience from dead works has its end and goal in serving the living God, Heb. 9: 14. Those who are comforted by God are afterwards strengthened by Him in all good words and works, 2 Thessalonians 2:17. Joy in the Lord is the strength of His people, Nehemiah 8:11.

It turns the prodigal son from his sinful life and returns to the father’s house; it brings us into the fellowship of Christ’s death and resurrection; it crucifies us and raises us up to a new life. He who truly believes in Christ dies to sin; he feels heartily sorry for it, because it has angered God, and begins to hate it and to flee from it; he brings about a separation between himself and sin, so that he can honestly say: I want what is good, though I do not do it; and I do not want what is evil, Romans 7:19. And on the other hand, faith appropriates Christ with His righteousness and holiness; it makes Christ Himself live in the heart and becomes more and more firmly established in His fellowship; it makes Christ take shape in us and reforms us more and more in His image. Romans 4:13.

Finally, to mention nothing more, faith is often and rightly compared to a hand. But a hand is not only the organ through which we accept something and make it our property; it is also the instrument through which we express our thoughts and our will. Thus faith is not only a receiving organ, but also an active force. Faith, which justifies and saves, is not a dead faith, but a living faith; it produces of its own nature fruits of good works; it is active in love, Galatians 5:6. Man is not justified by love, but the faith that justifies him shows its living, active power in love. Without love, faith is not true, saving faith, 1 Corinthians 13:1; and with true faith is always connected the work of love, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, because the end of the commandment (of the whole apostolic preaching) is love, from a pure heart, a good conscience and an unfeigned faith, 1 Timothy 1:5. And this love is, as the fruit of faith, a perfect love, which excludes all fear, 1 John 4:18, and it is also the perfect fulfillment of the law, Matthew 22:37-40, Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8. The Gospel therefore does not nullify the Law, but restores and confirms it. But its demand and curse have come to an end, because Christ put Himself under the law, fulfilled its demand and bore its curse, Matthew 3:15, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 4:4; so we are no longer servants, but are set free and walk in the Spirit, Romans 7:1-6, Galatians 4:5, Galatians 4:26 ff. Galatians 5:1, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 5:18. But this freedom of faith does not abolish the law, but on the contrary brings it to fulfilment; the law’s right, that which the law demands in its commandments, is fulfilled in those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, Romans 8:4. While the flesh renders the law powerless because it cannot and will not submit to it, Romans 8:3, Romans 8:7, it is the Spirit of Christ who quickens man, 2 Corinthians 3:6, and enlightens his mind to know what God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will is, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 5:10, Php 1:10. And this will of God remains known to Jesus and the apostles from the Old Testament, even though the law in the above-mentioned sense has been abolished. Jesus did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them, Matthew 5:17; He does not speak of the abolition of the law except in so far as He foretells the fall of the city and the temple, of all civil government and of worship, Matthew 24:1-51, John 4:21-24, but He purifies the law. He returns to the prophets in their understanding of the law, penetrates into its inner character, puts the inner above the outer, Mark 7:15, mercy above sacrifice, Matthew 9:13, Matthew 12:7, and sums up the law and the prophets in the commandment of love towards God and neighbour, Mark 12:28-34, compare. Matthew 7:12. The moral commandments retain their power. The same attitude was adopted by all the apostles towards the law and the prophets. For them the Old Testament retains divine authority; it is inspired by God, 2 Timothy 3:15, written by holy men under the guidance of God’s Spirit, 2 Peter 1:21, for our instruction and comfort, Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:11, 2 Timothy 3:15, 1 Peter 1:12. The Old Testament is constantly quoted in order to make God’s will known to the Christian congregation; Paul, for example, appeals in 1 Corinthians 14:34 to Genesis 3:16 for the subordination of the woman to the man; in 2 Corinthians 9:9 to Psalms 112:9 for the duty of generosity; in 1 Corinthians 1:31 to Jeremiah 9:23 for the exhortation to glory only in the Lord, etc. The moral law in particular is in the Old and New Testament, as far as its contents are concerned, completely the same; it is included in the one commandment of love, Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8. Christ speaks of the love that the disciples should have among themselves as a new commandment, John 13:34, Acts 15:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Peter 4:8, 1 John 3:23, 1 John 4:21, 2 John 1:5; but he does not mean by this that the disciples should love one another. 2 John 1:5; but he does not mean by this that the commandment to love one another as believers was completely unknown in the past, for Leviticus 19:18 clearly teaches the contrary, and Psalms 133:1-3 sings of the sweetness that lies in the brethren living together. But that love, which should bind the believers together, got another character in the New Testament. Because in the days of the Old Testament church and nation were one, the brotherly love could not yet be clearly distinguished. But in the New Testament this became different; the church was separated from the national existence of Israel, it became an independent community and received its own principle of life in the Holy Spirit. Now a distinction was made between brotherly love and love for all, Galatians 6:10, 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 2 Peter 1:7. To that extent brotherly love can be called a new commandment; it binds the believers together against the world. But otherwise there is one religion and one moral law in the Old and New Testaments. There is clarification, there is clarification, there is also different effect and application, but there is no external addition, no mechanical supplement. Christ was not a new lawgiver besides and above Moses, but He Himself fulfilled the Law in His life and death, and through His Spirit He brings it to fulfillment in all who are His disciples.

Because Christ and his apostles always traced the moral law of the Old Testament back to love of God and neighbor, the practice of explaining man’s virtues and duties on the basis of the Ten Commandments gradually developed in Christian morals. This practice was especially popular among the Reformers because they considered that one of the characteristics of good works is that they are done according to God’s will. With this they took a position against the Roman Church, which considered as good works also those actions that are based on human effort. (Rev. Cat. 91).

Rome distinguishes between commandments and counsels, and considers that the latter were added to the Law of Moses by Christ as a new and higher lawgiver; in the early days of the Christian Church this distinction was not yet known; but when the times of persecution passed for the Church and all kinds of people joined it, seeking fellowship only for honor and sight, the moral standard dropped and many serious families withdrew into solitude. The monasticism which this brought into being tried to hold on to the moral ideal, but did so in a way which the ordinary Christians, living in their families and professions, could not follow. Thus a distinction gradually emerged between monks (clergy) and laity, and in connection with this between a higher and a lower morality, between commandments and counsels. The commandments, contained in the ten words, are obligatory for all Christians, but the councils are set at everyone’s discretion.

Among these counsels, the so-called chastity or the unmarried state, on the basis of Matthew 19:11-12, 1 Corinthians 7:7 f; poverty or the renunciation of all worldly possessions, with an appeal to Matthew 19:21, 1 Corinthians 9:14; and absolute obedience to the superior under whose guidance one is placed, in imitation of Matthew 16:24, Luke 14:26-27; but in the monastic orders they are often extended to all kinds of abstinence, chastisements and self-torture, in imitation of Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:39, Matthew 5:42 etc. At the same time, Rome maintains that the ideal of moral perfection is the same for all believers and must be pursued by all in the way of obedience to the commandments. But he who follows the commandments takes a quicker and safer way to reach the goal, and receives a greater dignity and a richer reward. While the ordinary believer, who obeys the law, remains a useless servant who has only done what he was obliged to do (Luke 17:10), the Christian, who has also followed the commandments, hears Jesus address him as the good and faithful servant, who has been faithful in little and is appointed to do much (Matthew 25:21).

It goes without saying that the Reformation did not agree with this distinction. Deeply convinced of the corruption of human nature, it taught that the born-again people could not even keep the law completely, that their best works were still tainted with sin, and that the most holy could not make it any further than a small principle of perfect obedience. Catech. 62, 114. The believer can never get around to following advice, because he already has enough to do with fulfilling the commandments. But moreover, God demands in the moral law that we should love Him with all our intelligence and all our strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, Matthew 22:37, Luke 10:27; how can there be any more advice with such a commandment? If God claims us completely, at all times and everywhere for his service, then there is nothing left over which we have free disposal, and which we can give or withhold at our own discretion.

There is, therefore, no ground for the assertion that Christ added councils as the law of freedom to the necessary commandments of the Mosaic law. For although there are cases in which a person must abstain from marriage, divest himself of his goods, and withdraw from his usual environment and occupation, no special counsel comes to him, which he may freely choose to follow or not to follow. The rich young man did not receive advice from Christ, which he could just as well reject as accept, but he received, as a test of the sincerity and firmness of his heart, a commandment to sell all his goods and give to the poor, so that it would become evident whether he was indeed willing to give everything for Christ and his kingdom. One must therefore distinguish between law and duty; the law is the same for everyone, but duty is that particular way of acting which each person must derive from the general moral law according to his nature and situation. The Reformers therefore rejected all works based on the will of man or the precepts of the Church, and returned to the will of God as the standard of good works. They found this will expressed briefly and objectively in the Ten Commandments. But the Law of the Ten Commandments does not stand alone; it is situated in the midst of a rich environment. It was originally written in the heart of man, made in the image of God, according to its pragmatic content; it is still partly preserved there, inasmuch as all men by nature do the things that are the law, and thereby show that the work of the law is written in their hearts (Romans 2:14-15); every man has the consciousness that he is bound by certain moral rules for his existence and actions, and when he transgresses these rules he feels accused by his conscience. Under Israel it was restored to its purity by a special revelation, made subservient to the covenant of grace which God, according to the introductory words, had established with his people, and incorporated into a body of rights and statutes which were to govern the entire life of the people. Moreover, in the history of Israel it was explained, elaborated and applied in all kinds of ways by the psalmists, proverbs and prophets, so that Jesus could say that the whole Law and the prophets depend on the two commandments of love of God and neighbour (Matthew 22:40). And when Christ brings about the fulfillment of all Old Testament salvation-promises, He does not abolish the Law, but fulfills all its righteousness; He paves the way by His perfect obedience, and gives in the Holy Spirit the power by which His disciples, in principle, can and will walk according to all the commandments of the Law. It may be said that the whole Gospel is directed to the fulfilment of the law in those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The spiritual life of regeneration is made available for the restoration of the moral life. The long series of exhortations with which the apostles generally conclude their epistles are an extension and application of the holy law of the Lord, and have the intention of causing the believers to live in accordance with God’s will and to glorify His name in all their relationships and situations. The Law of the Ten Commandments cannot be separated from this rich context; it must be considered and explained in the light of God’s entire revelation in nature and Scripture.

Thus understood, the Ten Commandments are a brief outline of the Christian moral teaching and an excellent rule for our lives. There are many other laws by which we are bound. God also gave laws for our thinking, for our enjoyment of the beautiful, for our dealings with others, for our use of the materials of nature; He laid down rules for all creatures, for heaven and earth, for the sun and moon and stars, for day and night, summer and winter, seed time and harvest, Genesis 8:22, Jeremiah 31:28. But the moral law goes far beyond all these orders, for, in distinction to all of them, it is directed to man’s will, or rather to man himself as a willing being, and thus to the innermost part of his existence, to the core of his personality. And it makes the demand that he shall conform completely to its rule, not only in his words and deeds, but also in his thoughts and desires, in his nature and his nature. The law is spiritual, Romans 7:14; we must be perfect, like our Father who is in heaven, Matthew 5:48; in the tenth commandment the law goes to the root of sin, to lust, and makes it guilty and unclean before God.

Furthermore, the Law deals with all the relationships in which man sees himself placed, with God, his fellow-beings, himself and all nature; with God in his essence, in his service, in his revelation, in his day; with his fellow-beings in their various ranks and positions, in their life, honour and property; To himself in the truth of his mind and in the purity of his heart; and in all this to all nature that surrounds him, to his office and call, to his work and leisure, to all living and lifeless creation. And in that inner being as well as in all those rich relations, the moral law demands that man shall do all that he does to the glory of God, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17.

If we understand the law in this deep, spiritual sense, it seems at first to frighten us and to make us doubt its fulfillment. If we knew of no other righteousness than that which the law requires of us, we would not be able to fulfill it, nor would we feel any desire to do so. We would then always try to strip the law of its spiritual content, to externalize it, to make it fit our fallen situation, and to delude ourselves into thinking that we could meet its strict demands with a civil, honorable life. The natural man is annoyed by the spiritual sense, that is, by the perfection of the law; he is internally vexed at the absolute righteousness and holiness which it demands. But as soon as we have learned to know that other righteousness and holiness, which God has given in Christ and makes our property through faith, our relationship to and our thought about the Law changes. We may well complain with Paul that we are still blindly sold under sin, but we let the law stand in its glory and no longer attempt to take it down; we honor it as holy and righteous and good, because it is the law of God. We love it precisely because it is so spiritual; we delight in it according to the inner man; and we thank God not only for His Gospel, but also for His law, for His holy, righteous, perfect law. It too becomes a revelation and a gift of His grace to us. How I love Thy law, it is my practise all the day long!

Although believers receive an inner desire and love to live according to God’s will in all good works right from the moment of regeneration, they are not perfect at once and never attain perfection, even in this life. Sanctification is unseparated from justification. The latter consists of divine acquittal, which is completed at once; it is repeated and applied to the consciences, but it is not supplemented and increased. But the life of sanctification, like all life among creatures, is subject to the law of development; it has its beginning in the rebirth, it needs nourishment in order to be strengthened and to be washed up, and it does not reach its culmination until it is fully revealed with Christ. In the Old Testament it is already said of the Messiah that he will pasture his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his lap; he will lead the suckled ones to health, Isaiah 40:11. Elsewhere it is even more extensively said of Him that the Lord has anointed Him to bring glad tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken in heart, to seek out freedom for the imprisoned, and to open up the prison for the bound, to comfort all the sorrowful, To dispose of the sorrowful Zion, that they may be given ornaments for ashes, oil of joy for sorrow, the garment of praise for a troubled spirit, that they may be called oak trees of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified, Isaiah 61:1-3, comp. Ezekiel 34:16.

Accordingly, during His circumambulation on earth Christ does not only address the adults among Israel, but also the children and proclaims to them the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 18:1-6, Matthew 19:13-14. He calls not only the inhabitants of Chorazin and Bethsaida, Capernaum and Jerusalem, but also the tax collectors and sinners to repentance, and invites all the weary and burdened to Himself to give them rest. He calls the heirs of the kingdom by various names, and speaks of them as poor and mourning, hungry and thirsty, meek and peaceful, Matthew 5:30, and distinguishes between those who are less than and those who are more, the first and the last in the kingdom, Matthew 11:11, Matthew 20:16. He complains many times about the small faith, the fearfulness and the unreadiness of His disciples, Matthew 6:30, Matthew 8:26, Matthew 14:31, Luke 16:8, Luke 24:25, and He rejoices when He discovers a great faith in some, Matthew 8:10, Matthew 15:28. And towards all He proves Himself to be the good Shepherd, who gathers all His sheep into one flock, gives life and abundance to all, keeps them all and does not let any of them perish, John 10:1-30.

Similar distinctions are found among the believers in the apostolic churches. The believers under the Old Testament were still infants, who were placed under guardians and caregivers and in that respect were not yet different from a servant, Galatians 4:1-2. Compared to them, the New Testament believers are free sons and daughters, adopted by God as His children and heirs, and standing in the freedom with which Christ has made them free, Galatians 4:4-7. Nevertheless, there are still all kinds of differences among them. The faith that is given to the members of the congregation is the same in all of them, but it is given to each according to his nature in a certain measure, Romans 12:3; the gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes in the congregation are different, Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1, 1 Corinthians 8:7 f., 1 Corinthians 9:22, 1 Corinthians 10:25, between those who are still fleshly and those who are spiritual, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Galatians 6:1, between children, those just beginning, who still need milk, 1 Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:12, 1 Peter 2:7, and the perfected, adults, who can endure solid food and have acquired the ability to discern good and evil through practice, 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 3:2, 1 Corinthians 14:20, Php 3:15, Hebrews 5:14, between young people who have overcome evil, but still have to take care not to lose this victory, and fathers who have long since left this battle behind and have gained a deeper insight into the knowledge of Christ, who was from the beginning, 1 John 2:12-14. And in addition to all this, there was, even in Apostolic times, the difference between congregations or believers who were firm in the faith, abounding in love, enduring in tribulation, and others who allowed themselves to be misled by all sorts of error and were guilty of all sorts of sins; the letters of the Apostles, and especially those of Christ to the seven congregations in Asia Minor, Revelation 1:1-20, Revelation 2:1-29, Revelation 3:1-22, make us acquainted with these different situations in detail.

All this teaches us that in the spiritual realm, as in the natural, man is born small and weak and in need of help, and that he must continually grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). If the spiritual life develops in a healthy and normal way, if it feeds itself with spiritual food and drinks with the spiritual drink, which is Christ, John 6:48, 1 Corinthians 10:3-4, then there is a continual strengthening and confirmation in grace, a continual renewal in the image of Christ, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Ephesians 3:16, 1 Peter 5:10. But all kinds of obstacles stand in the way of this normal development; the life of the Christian is not a quiet growth, but a constant struggle, a struggle against enemies from outside, and no less against the enemy who dwells within. In order to understand this battle properly, we must first note that even the unregenerate are often engaged in a battle. But this is not a spiritual battle, but a rational one, a struggle between the man’s reason and conscience on the one hand, and his will and affections on the other. Through his reason and conscience man is still bound to the moral law, to the world of unseen and eternal things; in his heart the words: thou shalt, still echo; as soon as he wants to do evil, his better judgment resists, warns and tries to stop him. There is no man so far astray and so deeply sunk, or he knows something of this discord in his being. In this struggle man can, under favorable circumstances, also gain the victory; he can use his reason to counteract his desires, suppress them, silence them; then he becomes a good, virtuous man and leads an honorable life. But that is not true morality, Christian sanctification. For the struggle in the natural man is only between reason and lust, duty and inclination, conscience and passion; it is not waged against all, but only against some, and usually only against some external, annoying sins; It is not against sin as sin, because it offends God, but against some sins, which are held in high esteem by the world and are charged with damage or disgrace; it suppresses and at best curbs the evil inclination, but it does not eradicate it, nor does it bring about any inner change in the heart of man. The spiritual battle that believers have to wage in their souls is of an entirely different nature. For this battle is not between reason and lust, but between flesh and spirit, between the old and the new man, between the sin that still lives in the believer and the spiritual principle of life that has been planted in his heart. These two forces are not locally separated in believers, as if one part of him, for example the intellect, had been born again, and another part of him, for example the heart, had not. But they both extend to mankind and to all his powers and faculties, so that each of them can be called a man, one the old man and the other the new man. As a rule, Paul expresses the contrast in this way, but in Romans 7:1-25 he uses other names: he refers to the spiritual, new man as the will, which loves and wants to do good, as the internal man, who has pleasure in God’s law; and to the old man he calls the flesh, the sin that dwells in him, the law in his members, which fights against the law of his mind and imprisons him under the law of sin that is in his members. There is, however, a difference of expression here, but not in the matter itself. For Paul often uses the word flesh to describe all the sinful things that still remain in the believer, and which also dwell within his soul, heart and mind; the works of the flesh are not only uncleanness, fornication, etc., but also idolatry, enmity, strife, wrath, etc, And by the inner man the Apostle does not refer exclusively to something inside man that remains quietly hidden and does not come out in any respect, for he says explicitly that the believers walk according to the Spirit and make their members weapons of righteousness; but he calls the new man in this connection, because in the bitter struggle against the flesh he is so often undermined and comes so little to light. The struggle between the two forces consists in the fact that the Spirit of Christ, who dwells in the believers, tries to awaken in their minds, hearts and wills all kinds of good thoughts, deliberations, affections and movements (such as love, joy, peace, etc. Galatians 5:22), and that the flesh then immediately raises its voice against this and seeks to pollute mankind with its evil lusts and desires, Galatians 5:19-20. And this flesh always proves to be so powerful that the believers do not do, or do not do in such a way and to such an extent, what they want to do, Galatians 5:17; if they want to do good, evil comes along, Romans 7:21; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, Matthew 26:41. The battle is therefore not between reason and will, duty and inclination, but quite differently between will and action, between the inner mind and the sinful power that puts itself in its way, between the inner man of the heart, who has been recreated after God in true righteousness and holiness, and the old man, who, driven out of the center, still wants to maintain himself in his existence, and fights more fiercely the more he loses ground. The battle is not waged between two faculties or parts of mankind, as would be the case if it were between head and heart, reason and lust, soul and body; but across the whole area of man’s personality the two powers stand armed against each other. In the same mind of the same person there is a struggle between faith and unbelief, between truth and lies; in the same heart there is a conflict between pure and impure motives and qualities; in the same will there is an evil desire opposed to a good and pure disposition. It is indeed a struggle between two people in the same man. From a spiritual point of view this can be explained by the fact that in the field of consciousness two groups of ideas and in the field of heart and affections two series of lusts have taken their place and are struggling with each other. We sometimes speak of the old and new man in the believer, and thereby express that the new life has changed the whole man in principle, and that the power of sin still dwells in all his faculties and members. But actually they are two groups of dispositions, ideas, inclinations, qualities, which are in conflict with each other, and neither of them, one the other, has yet been able to drive out of any capacity of mankind completely. If the truth of God had completely taken over the consciousness of the believer, there would of course be no room left for error and lies, and if the love of God filled the whole of mankind, there would be no room left for hatred, envy, wrath, etc. But that, as everyone knows from experience, is not the case. But that, as everyone knows by experience, is not the case; and the Scriptures testify that we cannot expect such a perfect state in this life. There is a struggle to the end, because faith, hope, love and all the Christian virtues are never perfected in this life, and therefore leave room in our souls for unbelief, doubt, despondency, fear, etc. The degree to which both are present in a thought or deed varies greatly, but in all conceptions and actions there is something of the old and of the new man. All thoughts, words and deeds are thus tainted with sin; they need reconciliation and purification, but they may still be called good works, insofar as they are mixed with faith. For all these reasons we must be on our guard against antinomianism, which separates the old and new in the believer and sets them in opposition to each other, just as spirit is opposed to matter and soul to body. For this leads to the pernicious doctrine that sinful thoughts and deeds are the responsibility of the old man and have nothing to do with the new man. On the other hand, Scripture and experience clearly teach that the believer is not an external union of two people, but that he remains one person, with one self, one consciousness, one heart, one will, and that not two independent beings, but two groups of qualities and characteristics battle with one another in him. The seriousness of this struggle already suggests that it will take a long time before victory is achieved by the new man. Nevertheless, many Christians believe that the faithful already attain perfection on earth and can overcome all sinful acts and tendencies. The Pelagians already taught this; Rome expressed itself in the same spirit at the Council of Trent, and many Protestant circles hold the same opinion. They refer mainly to the fact that the Holy Scriptures repeatedly speak in such splendid terms about the Christian position, e.g. 1 Peter 2:9-10, 2 Peter 1:4, 1 John 2:20. Paul, in particular, is fully assured of his salvation after his conversion and only remembers his sinful past; that the exhortations to a holy and irreproachable walk are as complete as possible, e.g. Matthew 5:48, and presuppose the attainment of perfection, Php 2:5, 1 Thessalonians 2:10, 1 Thessalonians 3:13; and that the grace of God, which can be obtained through prayer, can do all things, John 14:13-14, Ephesians 3:20, 2 Corinthians 12:10, Php 4:13. It would be an understatement to the omnipotence and riches of God’s love to consider moral perfection in this life unattainable for the faithful, and at the same time to deprive them of a powerful incentive to strive for it with all their might.

Indeed, there is no doubt that the Holy Scriptures speak of the privilege and status of God’s people in the most striking manner. In the Old Testament she calls Israel a priestly kingdom, which God has chosen as His own out of all the peoples of the earth, an object of His love, His share and honour, His son and servant, His bride, whom He has adorned and perfected with the glory which He has laid upon her, Exodus 19:5-6, Exodus 29:43, Deuteronomy 7:6 ff, Deuteronomy 32:6 ff, Isaiah 41:8 ff, Ezekiel 16:14 etc. And the New Testament believers are called the salt of the earth, Matthew 5:13, the light of the world, Matthew 5:14, children of God, born of God and adopted by Him, John 1:13, Galatians 4:5, chosen, called, saints and sanctified, 1 Corinthians 1:2, chosen generation and royal priesthood, 1 Peter 2:9-10, partakers of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1:4, anointed with the Holy Spirit, 1 John 2:20, made kings and priests by Christ, Revelation 1:5, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, Romans 8:17. What the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor ascended into the heart of man, God has now prepared in the days of the New Testament for those who love Him, 1 Corinthians 2:8.

Whoever rejects the teaching of Scripture about sin and grace can only see gross exaggeration in this; a radical change, as takes place in justification and rebirth, is then neither necessary nor possible. But for the Scriptures, the change which man undergoes in faith and conversion is a transition from darkness to light, from death to life, from servitude to freedom, from falsehood to truth, from sin to righteousness, from the expectation of God’s wrath to the hope of His glory. And the believers who appear before us in the Old and New Testaments and who are aware of this change, glory in the God of their salvation and rejoice in His fellowship. How far behind them are we in this joy of faith!

Furthermore, Scripture always has the highest moral ideal in mind for believers. Nowadays we all aspire to it. The moral life which Christianity desires is one-sided, excessively religious, almost exclusively oriented toward heaven, averse to the pursuit of worldly interests, hostile to culture, comforting the poor and wretched with a glimpse of eternity, but indifferent to the improvement of their worldly lot, rich perhaps in passive virtues, in precepts of submission, patience, and patience; but poor in active virtues, capable of conquering and reforming the world. Many, therefore, strive for a different, better, higher morality, for a moral teaching that makes dedication to the service of mankind the highest goal and limits its vision to earthly life. The protection of earthly interests, however, is in itself so little in conflict with Christian morality that it is rather founded and guaranteed in the creation of man in God’s image. Man was and still is in a certain sense an image bearer of God and therefore called to subdue the earth, and to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air and all the beasts that crawl upon the earth (Genesis 1:26, Genesis 1:28 and Psalms 8:1-9). There is no book that is more freely opposed to all of nature than the Holy Scriptures. Paganism is always swinging back and forth between overconfident abuse of the world, and slavish superstitious fear of its mysterious power. But Moses and the prophets, Christ and the apostles have complete freedom from the world, because they are elevated above it by their fellowship with God. It is true that the Christians of the early days, being a small flock, had to withdraw from many circles and abstain from many things, because in the world of that time almost everything was permeated by the spirit of the heathen; but Christianity, in principle, embraced all elements that gave it not only freedom, but also right and calling to conquer the world and subdue the earth.

Indeed, the Christian moral teaching is no other than that which is briefly and to the point contained in the Ten Commandments and further explained throughout Scripture. In these commandments, love of God is in the foreground, but love of neighbour is the second commandment, equal to it. In this love of neighbor, the duty of the mission, of the reformation and of culture lies embedded, provided it is properly understood and not interpreted in a Buddhist, passive sense, but in its Christian, hands-on character. The mission brings the religious and moral goods, which Christianity possesses, to all people and nations who are still deprived of them ; Reformation, which is not confined to a single period in the Church of Christ or to a single moment in the life of a Christian, but must continue unceasingly, is the ongoing renewal of heart and life, of family and society according to the Lord’s will; and culture is the subjugation of the earth to the hand of man, the dominion of spirit over matter, of reason over nature. The kingdom of heaven, which must first be sought, brings with it all other things, Matthew 6:33. Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the present and of the life to come, 1 Timothy 4:8. No thing is unclean in itself, for all God’s creatures are good, and nothing is rejected, being taken with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer, Romans 14:14, 1 Timothy 4:4. Christianity, which finds its foundation in the creation of man in the image of God, and teaches the restoration of all culture in the resurrection of Christ, exhorts its faithful believers to consider whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is bright, and if there is any virtue and any praise, Php 4:8.

There is no higher morality, nor a higher religion, conceivable, than that which is preached to us in the Gospel. One may seek another, but then one goes astray immediately. The times in which we live offer us the strongest evidence of this. The morality of Scripture is rejected, but what stands in its place at any moment contradicts the simplest rules of moral life. At once they begin to remove from the moral teaching all those commandments which concern the love of God. Love of God, of his name, of his truth, of his service, is almost out of the question: how can one love God when one doubts and disputes his visibility, his revelation, even his existence? But this makes the ground for the commandments of the second table disappear, for if there is no God who obliges me to love my neighbour, what ground can there be for such love? The advocates of a moral doctrine independent of religion are hopelessly divided about the question from which principle the love for one’s fellow man can and must derive. One tries to build it on self-interest, another on happiness, a third on pity, a fourth on conscience, but all give proof that without divine authority there can be no question of a duty which binds me to my conscience. As a result, every commandment in which love for one’s neighbor is elaborated and described in more detail, is embarrassing. It is generally said that people, although they may differ in religion, remain close to each other in the area of morality. There may be some truth in this, because nature is fortunately stronger than doctrine and the work of the law is written in everyone’s heart, but reality teaches something else. There is not one commandment in the second table of God’s law that remains untouched today. The authority of father and mother and of all those who are appointed over us is openly contested and rejected. Manslaughter is taken less and less seriously, suicide is often condoned, and the deprivation of life is often defended. Marriage is considered to be a contract that is entered into arbitrarily, and adultery and fornication find protection and intercession among many. Ownership is on many lips another name for theft. Truth is made subservient to utility, thought dependent on development, and distinguished from falsehood only in time and place, in form and degree. And as for desire - it celebrates its triumph in the Mamonist spirit of this century.

Against all these bastard forms of morality, Scripture upholds the moral ideal in an unabridged and uncompromised sense. It never agrees with the holiness of God and the holiness of His law, but places them in all their majesty before the consciences of men. What Jesus called his disciples: be perfect like your Father in heaven, is repeated with different words by all the apostles in their exhortations to the faithful. Sin never has a right to exist, not even in those who are called by the name of Christ. The demand of the moral law may never be abandoned, not even by those who have died with Christ from sin and have risen to a new life. If, then, according to God’s order, the old man in the believers only gradually dies away, and the new man only gradually grows up and only attains perfection hereafter, this indicates a great forbearance and tolerance on the part of God, which He is able to exercise, since Christ covers the sin of the community with His righteousness and holiness and guarantees its perfection.

While the moral law, which is the rule for the life of the faithful, wants and can suffice with nothing else than a perfect love for God and neighbour, it is no less clear that, according to Scripture, no believer has ever met that perfection in this life, or can meet it. The saints of the Bible are all people who stumble in many things, and sometimes, like David and Peter, fall into serious sins, but who then confess them again in deep humility. Whoever of them you listen to, you will never hear from them the statement that is sometimes heard from the lips of Christians: I do and I have no more sin. On the contrary, Abraham, Genesis 12:12, Isaac Genesis 26:5, Jacob Genesis 26:35, Moses Genesis 20:7-12, Psalms 106:33, David 51, Solomon 1 Kings 8:46, Isaiah 6:5, Daniel 9:4, etc., all are guilty of transgressions and confess their sins and errors.

He has been crucified with Christ and now walks in newness of the Spirit; he stands righteous before God and is fully assured of his salvation; he bears the pride of his apostolic work and is conscious of his faithful fulfilment of his office, speaking humanly, Romans 15:17 ff. 1 Corinthians 4:3, 1 Corinthians 4:9, 1 Corinthians 4:15, 1 Corinthians 15:31, 2 Corinthians 1:12, 2 Corinthians 6:3, 2 Corinthians 11:5, Php 2:16, Php 3:4, 1 Thessalonians 2:10; but besides attributing all this to God’s grace, 1 Corinthians 15:10, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Php 4:3, he confesses that no good thing dwells in his flesh, Romans 7:18, that the flesh always desires to oppose the Spirit, Galatians 5:17, that his will and his actions are continually contrary, Romans 7:7-26, and that he is in pursuit of perfection, but has not yet attained it, Php 3:12.

Moses and the prophets testify to the people of Israel in the same way, Christ to his disciples and the apostles to the churches entrusted to their care. Jesus calls His disciples to perfection, Matthew 5:48, and yet puts the prayer on their lips for forgiveness of their debts, Matthew 6:12. The Christians in Rome have been raised up with Christ to walk in newness of life, Matthew 6:3 ff, and yet are exhorted to make their members servants of righteousness to sanctification, Matthew 6:19. The Corinthians were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 6:11, and yet were still fleshly, 1 Corinthians 3:1-4. The Galatians had received the Spirit through the preaching of faith, Galatians 3:2, and yet were tempted to disobey the truth, Galatians 3:1. In the Philippians the good work had begun, but was not finished, Php 1:6. In all churches there are situations, errors and vices which are not in accordance with the Christian life. And the apostles themselves were all convinced that sin remains with the believers as long as they are in this life. We all stumble in many, James 3:2. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, 1 John 1:8.

However, even though perfection is not attainable in this life, the exhortations to a holy walk are not useless and devoid of seriousness. Those who advocate the perfectibility of the faithful in this life do raise this objection, and judge that exhortations which cannot be obeyed, or at least not fully, lose their power and cause the faithful to lose their zeal. But they are guilty of false reasoning: the obligation does not follow the ability; he who has to pay a sum of money is not always able to do so and, if he is unable to do so, remains obliged to do so; and so the moral law can never give up its demand, even if man is incapable of fulfilling it because of sin. Conversely, it can be asserted with much more justification that whoever teaches the perfectibility of the faithful must always come to a lowering of the moral ideal and to a less serious conception of sin.

Who, after all, who thinks of sin not only in terms of external sinful acts but also in terms of all sinful thoughts and inclinations, would dare to claim that the faithful can be fully freed from it in this life? Perfection can only be learned by disregarding the sinful nature of human nature, by not considering sinful thoughts and inclinations as sin, and thus by disregarding the absolute holiness of the law. In the sacrament meeting form of the Reformed churches it is said that we shall be sure that no sin or weakness which is left in us against our will, can hinder us from accepting God in grace; and there has been much debate whether sins can still fall into the hands of the born-again, which do not merely occur out of weakness, but have an intentional character and must therefore be called sins of wickedness. Two things, however, are certain: first, that in those who have truly been born again, not only the conscience but also the new life, the disposition and the will resist these sins to a greater or lesser degree; and second, that sins committed against our will, even actual sins of weakness, are sins and are contrary to the holiness of the law.

But, furthermore, the exhortations to a holy walk are so little in vain that they are precisely the means by which God applies and works out in believers the righteousness and holiness bestowed in Christ. Jesus himself prays in the high priestly prayer that the Father may sanctify his disciples in the truth, that is, through his word, which is the truth, John 17:17, cf. John 15:3. The Word that God gave us is indeed the primary means of our sanctification; the blessing that has flowed not only from public preaching, but also from reading, examining and contemplating that Word in solitude or in the domestic circle for the cultivation of a Christian life, is simply incalculable. To this word as a means of sanctification should be added the prayer in Jesus’ name, John 14:13-14, John 16:23-24, which opens the door to the divine majesty and fills us with confidence, because there is no one, either in heaven or on earth, who prefers us to Jesus Christ (Col. 14: 26); furthermore the singing of prayers in the name of Jesus, which opens the door to the divine majesty and fills us with confidence, because there is no one, either in heaven or on earth, who prefers us to Jesus Christ (Col. 14: 26). 26); also the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16, which has a profound effect on the mood of the heart and the readiness of the will; and then also vigils and fasts, Matthew 27:21, Matthew 26:41, Ephesians 6:18, Ephesians 4:3, which have fallen almost entirely into disuse. All these means of sanctification prove that also in this His work God does not neglect the way of means. Of course God, who is the Almighty, could have made all His children completely holy at the same time during the rebirth. But apparently that has not been His will; in the re-creation He does not deny Himself as Creator. All creature life is born, grows up, and gradually reaches its peak. Because spiritual life is real life, it arises and develops in the same way. God does not pour Christ’s righteousness and holiness into us mechanically, like water into a vessel, but He works them out organically in us and through us. Thus the one does not conflict with the other if Scripture always presents it in such a way that believers must become what they are. The kingdom of heaven is a gift of God, Luke 12:32, and yet a treasure of great value which must be sought after, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 13:46. The believers are vines on the vine, who can do nothing without Christ, and yet are admonished to remain in Him, in His word, in His love, John 15:1-27. They are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and yet must hasten to make their calling and election sure, Ephesians 1:4, 2 Peter 1:19. They are sanctified by the one sacrifice of Christ, and yet must pursue sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord, Hebrews 10:10, Hebrews 12:14.

They have put on the new man, and still have to put him on, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10 They have crucified the flesh with the lusts, and still have to kill their members who are on the earth, Galatians 5:24, Colossians 3:5. It is God who works in them, both to will and to do, according to His good pleasure, and yet they have to work their own salvation with joy and life, Php 2:12-13.

All this is not in conflict with one another; the one is the basis and guarantee of the other. Because sanctification, as well as all salvation, is God’s work, we are admonished, obliged and also enabled to new obedience. He gives us abundant grace, not so that we can suddenly and at once be holy and rest in this holiness, but so that we can persevere in the struggle and remain standing. He hears and answers prayer, but in accordance with the order and law He has set for spiritual life. Therefore we always have good courage, because He, who started a good work in us, will also finish it until the day of Jesus Christ. The faithful can and will become holy because they are holy in Christ. But is that not too boyishly spoken? May the believers indeed confess that they are not only living members of the church of Christ, but that they will also remain so forever? It is disputed by many; as a rule, those who advocate the perfectibility of the saints are at the same time defenders of the possibility of their apostasy. The one is closely related to the other and arises from the same root; both views are based on the idea that man’s sanctification is his own work and must come about by his own will. If the believer, with the help of grace, makes a good use of his will and exerts all his powers, he can already in this life bring it to perfection; on the other hand, if he slackens in zeal, backslides and falls into sin, then he can throw himself out again from the state of grace in which he was first admitted; he can again become an ungodly man and be lost forever. And as both views arise from the same error concerning the will and work of mankind in sanctification, so they are also supported by the same fear; if the perseverance of the saints is taught, the moral life will suffer damage, diligence and effort will be deprived of incentive, and wickedness will be given a licence under the slogan: once elected, always remains elected.

If we were to look for our strength in man’s will and strength in this doctrine of the endurance of the saints, we should lose all ground under our feet and doubt the endurance of any believer. For all the saints have but a small principle of perfect obedience; they are still, according to the testimony of their consciences, inclined to all wickedness, and daily stumble in many; every moment they forfeit and lose the grace that has been given them. If it depended only on themselves, no believer would persevere to the end. Those who contend with the confession of perseverance can only escape this conclusion by distinguishing between sins and perseverance. Since all believers are still guilty of all kinds of violations of God’s law, they should actually learn that the apostasy of the saints is not only possible, but that it really occurs to all of them. If, nevertheless, they assume that some, many, or even most of them retain the grace they have received, they can only maintain this by distinguishing in some way between mortal and venial sins, and by allowing grace to be lost not through the latter, but only through the former.

This, however, introduces a highly questionable division into the doctrine of sin, for the various sins are not separate, independent of each other, but all flow from one unclean fountain, therefore all lead to death, and yet all, with the exception of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, are forgivable through the grace of God which is in Christ Jesus. But moreover, who can decide for himself, or which priest can decide for another, whether in a certain case he is guilty of a so-called mortal sin, or of a forgivable sin, and thus has lost or still retains grace? Offences that are considered small and insignificant by men, are often big in the eyes of God, who searches the hearts and tests the kidneys; and sins that the unmerciful world speaks of as shameful, are judged quite differently by Him, who knows all situations and circumstances. The consequence can only be that the believer is continually in doubt as to whether he has committed a mortal sin and lost grace, or whether he relies in false comfort on the statement of a priest.

All these doubts and uncertainties come to an end, if the endurance of the saints is not an act of man’s will, but a work of God, which is accomplished by Him from beginning to end; if, in other words, it is a preservation of God, before it becomes the endurance of man. Scripture leaves no doubt about this, but gives us an abundance of proof in the work of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, in the covenant of grace with all its good deeds. The Father chose the believers in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4, predestined them to eternal life, Acts 13:48, to be conformed to the image of His Son, Romans 8:29; and this election is unchangeable, Romans 9:11, Hebrews 6:17, and in due time brings about calling, justification and glorification, Romans 8:30. Christ, in whom all God’s promises are yes and amen, 2 Corinthians 1:20, died for those given to Him by the Father, John 17:6, John 17:12, that He might give them eternal life and not lose any of them, John 6:39-40, John 10:28, John 17:2. The Holy Spirit, who regenerates them, abides with them forever, John 14:16, and seals them until the day of redemption, Ephesians 2:13, Ephesians 4:30. The covenant of grace is fixed and confirmed with an oath, Hebrews 6:16-18, Hebrews 13:20, unbreakable like a marriage, Ephesians 5:31-32, or a will, Hebrews 9:17 ; and by virtue of that covenant God calls his chosen ones, writes the law in their hearts, puts his fear in their hearts, Hebrews 8:10, Hebrews 10:14, does not let them be tempted beyond their ability, 1 Corinthians 10:13, confirms and completes the good work which He has begun in them, 1 Corinthians 1:9, Php 1:6, and preserves them for the future of Christ, to make them partakers of the heavenly inheritance, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 2 Thessalonians 3:13, 1 Peter 1:4-5. Through His intercession with the Father Christ is always working on their behalf, so that their faith may not cease, Luke 22:32, they may be preserved from evil in the world, John 17:11, John 17:20, may be completely saved, Hebrews 7:25, may receive the forgiveness of sins, John 2:1, and may all be with Him one day and behold His glory, John 17:24. The benefits of Christ at last, which the Holy Spirit makes part of them, are all unrepentant, Romans 11:29, and mutually indissolubly bound up; he that is called is justified and glorified, Romans 8:30; he that is adopted as a child of God is an heir of eternal life, Romans 8:17, Galatians 4:17; he that believeth hath eternal life herewith, John 3:16. And that life itself, being eternal, is also undefeatable; it cannot sin 1 John 3:9, nor die, John 11:25-26. But just like the sanctification, the preservation of the believers is applied and worked out in them by the Holy Spirit in such a way, that they themselves also persevere in the grace given to them by God. God never forces, but acts with man in a reasonable manner. In the rebirth He pours out new qualities and makes the will, which did not want to, so that it actually wants to. And in the same spiritual way He continues to work in the hearts of believers; He does not make them weak in a false sense, but raises them up and makes them walk in the good works prepared for them. To this end He uses His Word as a means in His hands.

He does not cease to exhort them to persevere to the end, Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:13, Romans 2:7-8; that they remain in Christ, in his word and in his love, John 15:1-10, 1 John 2:6, 1 John 2:24, 1 John 2:27, 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:24, 1 John 4:12, that they watch and be sober, Matthew 24:42, Matthew 25:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, 1 Peter 5:8, that they keep the faith and are faithful to the Lord and be faithful unto death, Colossians 1:23, Hebrews 2:1, Hebrews 3:14, Hebrews 6:11, Revelation 2:10,Revelation 2:26, etc. He warns against high-mindedness and threatens in case of unfaithfulness with heavy punishment, John 15:2, Romans 11:20-22, 2 Timothy 2:12, Hebrews 4:1, Hebrews 6:4-8, Hebrews 10:26-31, 2 Peter 2:18-22, but also connects to sanctification and perseverance rich promises of reward, Matthew 5:12, Matthew 6:4, Matthew 10:22, Matthew 16:27, Matthew 24:13, Matthew 25:21, Matthew 25:31, Romans 2:7, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:10, Revelation 22:12 etc. Even in the persons of David and Peter examples of a deep fall are set before us, and in people like Hymenaeus, Alexander, 1 Timothy 1:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:17-18, Demas, 2 Timothy 4:10, and others, Hebrews 6:4-8, 1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Peter 2:1, examples of general apostasy are set before us in warning. But all these exhortations and warnings do not prove the apostasy of the truly sanctified. For of the latter examples the word of John applies, that they went out of the church, but did not belong to it with their hearts, 1 John 2:19. And the examples of David and Peter show us clearly that God’s grace did not leave them completely in their fall, but on the contrary preserved them and led them again to confession and repentance. They are a warning to us, but also a comfort, so that, if we sometimes fall into sin out of weakness, we may not despair of God’s grace nor remain in sin, but strengthen ourselves with the thought that we have an everlasting covenant of grace with God. And in the way of that covenant, He causes His people to walk by His word and Spirit. Whoever teaches the apostasy of the saints, does not do justice to God’s faithfulness, makes man’s perseverance and salvation dependent and therefore changeable and uncertain, and also misjudges the unity and progress of the spiritual life; he must come to say that this life can always be broken off and can always be started anew. But he who believes in the preservation of the saints finds his standpoint and resting place in God’s grace, boasts in His faithfulness, and at the same time maintains the coherence of spiritual and eternal life. For although this life in the believer, as long as the old man still lives in him, is subject to all kinds of changes, it is in its nature indestructible; the seed that God has planted remains in him, 1 John 3:9. That is how far it is from this that faith in the preservation of God should make true believers haughty and careless, but on the contrary, it is a true root of humility, filial fear, true godliness, endurance in all battles, fervent prayers, steadfastness in the cross and in the confession of the truth, as well as firm joy in God ; and that the contemplation of that goodness is a stimulus to them to the earnest and continual practice of gratitude and good works, as appears from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the saints. (Can. Dordr. V 12). In order to produce this precious fruit, the deposit of the saints must be believed as God wishes us to believe them. Has God revealed it in His Word for that purpose, that we may accept it only as a doctrine and say to others: this is sound doctrine and pure truth? Certainly, this is also what God intended with his revelation, for truth has great value in itself. But that is not the only and the main intention. Because if we embrace the preservation of the saints with true faith, then that includes the confession that He still works this way with His children. The preservation of the saints is not an historical truth, not a fact that took place somewhere in the past; it is also not a scientific truth, like the result of an addition or multiplication; but it is an eternal truth, a truth which God upholds from century to century and from generation to generation; an activity in the midst of which we live, and which God establishes and upholds in the lives of all His children. To believe in the preservation of the saints in this sense is only possible if one knows oneself to be the object of it and has experience of its reality. And then it goes without saying that anyone who believes in the preservation of the saints in this way cannot misuse their confession as a cause for the flesh, just as it is not possible that anyone who has been implanted with Christ by a true faith will not produce fruits of gratitude. But then something else follows. If the deposit of saints is a work of God, which He always performs in the hearts and lives of all believers, it follows that they must also in due time receive the assurance of this in their consciousness. If there is no preservation of the saints, no believer can ever have complete assurance of his salvation for a single moment, because he lives in constant fear whether tomorrow or the day after he will lose God’s grace through a serious sin. But if God preserves his own, then the believer not only can, but he may and will also obtain a firm assurance of this in his heart; for without such a certainty of salvation, the preservation of the saints would be of no value to the believer in the practice of life. What would the doctrine of the deposit of the saints profit the children of God, if they could never know with certainty that they are His children! Preservation of the saints and security of salvation are thus inseparable; without the latter, the former would not be possible, and the latter makes the former a support for the believers and a comfort for their hearts.

All the saints who appear before us in the Old and New Testaments therefore share this assurance of salvation. Not only an Abraham, Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:18 ff, a Jacob, Genesis 49:18, a David, 2 Samuel 22:2 ff, Habakkuk 3:17-19, but also all the faithful, whose situations are described by psalmists, proverbs and prophets. They are often in deep misery, oppressed by their enemies, persecuted, scorned: where is your God now? You have turned to the Lord, that He may now help you out! Psalms 22:9, Psalms 42:4, Psalms 71:11. Sometimes the doubt takes hold of their soul, whether God has forgotten them and has closed up His mercies through wrath, Psalms 10:1, Psalms 10:11 ff, Psalms 13:2, Psalms 28:1, Psalms 44:10 ff, Psalms 77:8 ff etc. They also acknowledge the right of God’s judgments, confessing their sins, Psalms 51:6, Nehemiah 9:33, Daniel 9:14 etc. But nevertheless, God is their Father, and they are His people, the sheep of His pasture, Psalms 95:7, Psalms 100:3, Isaiah 63:16, Isaiah 64:8; He cannot leave them for His name’s sake, for His covenant’s sake, Psalms 79:8-9. There may be a moment in His wrath, but there is life in His mercy, Psalms 30:6. He does not do according to their sins, nor reimburse according to their iniquities, Psalms 103:10. He forgives their transgressions and covers their sins, Psalms 32:1. The Lord is their rock and their fortress, their tower and their high place, their shield and the horn of their salvation, their light and their joy, their one and their all, Psalms 18:3, Psalms 73:25 etc.

Equally certain is the tone in which the apostles and the faithful of the New Testament speak of their salvation. They know that God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for them all and with him will now give them all things, Romans 8:32, that they are justified by faith, have peace with God and can no longer be accused by anyone, Romans 5:1, Romans 8:33, that they have been born again to a living hope and have passed from death to life, 1 Peter 1:3, James 1:18, 1 John 3:14, that they have received the Spirit of adoption, and that this Spirit bears witness with their spirit that they are the children of God, Romans 8:15-16. And this knowledge does not only apply to the present, to what they are, but it also extends to the future, to what they will be. For whom God has known, called, and justified, he also glorifies, Romans 8:30. If they are children, then they are also heirs, Romans 8:17. They have already received eternal life by faith and cannot lose it anymore, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:1. They are born again to a living hope, and are kept for salvation in the power of God, as it was for them, 1 Peter 1:3-5. The good work begun in them is also completed by God to the day of Jesus Christ, Php 1:6. In a word, they are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a pledge and guarantee until the day of promise, Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30.

There would be more power and influence emanating from the believers, if they always stood in this firm assurance of faith. But often they are not sure of their own case; how then can they speak with enthusiasm, and by their joyful testimony arouse the envy of the world? In the Roman Church, even faith is denied certainty; the believer can only be absolutely sure of his salvation by a special revelation, which is given to only a few; all other believers can only come to a suspicion, a hope, a probability. And Rome thinks that this is not a harm, but an advantage, because it preserves in the believers a salutary fear and awakens an aspiration to sanctification. The Roman Christian therefore does not rely on the testimony of the Holy Spirit in his own heart, but on the judgment of the priest, on the guarantee that the church gives him for his salvation; and with that he generally feels very secure. The Reformation understood justification and faith, and thus the security of salvation, quite differently. With Rome, faith is only permission to the doctrine of the Church; justification consists in the influx of supernatural grace and serves to enable mankind to do good works and thereby earn eternal life. So, of course, faith cannot provide a certainty of salvation; insofar as it is possible, it can only be derived from love and good works, but that is why it never becomes absolute and why it always remains a weaker or stronger presumption and hope. But the Reformation attributed an independent significance to justification, saw in it the restoration of man’s relationship to God, and thus had to see in faith something more and something else than a mere assent to the truth, namely, a personal trust of the heart in God’s grace in Christ Jesus. This faith now included security. But the Lutherans and the Remonstrants made this certainty refer only to the present; a believer may be absolutely certain that he believes now, but not that he will continue to believe to the end and thus be saved in reality. The Reformed, however, included in the certainty of faith also that concerning the future; and that is why the search for certainty of salvation occupies such an important place in the life of the devout of the Reformed confession. In the early days, when a revived, powerful faith was flourishing, such a deliberate search for certainty was not yet necessary; people lived and spoke from the abundance of their hearts, as is so clearly heard in our confessions, forms and prayers. But when faith faded, reflection and searching for signs of faith began. Instead of finding certainty, we became more and more entangled in the snares of doubt. For the certainty of faith cannot be obtained by reasoning and deduction; it results only from the faith itself. If this faith is strong enough, it brings the certainty of its own accord; if, on the other hand, it withers and hides away, the certainty also disappears from the heart and cannot be restored by any artificial means. The Dordrecht Confession says it so beautifully: the elect are assured of their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation in due time, although in different stages and to an unequal degree; not when they curiously investigate the mysteries and depths of God, but when they recognise the infallible fruits of their election, indicated in the word of God (such as true faith in Christ, filial fear of God, sorrow toward God for sin, hunger and thirst for righteousness, etc.). ) in themselves with spiritual joy and holy delight, I 12. In the fifth chapter, § 9 and 10, this is still more fully unfolded: The believers themselves may be assured of the preservation of the elect in salvation and of the perseverance of true believers in faith, and they are, according to the degree of faith with which they certainly believe that they are and always will be true and living members of the church, that they have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And consequently, this assurance does not spring from some special revelation, without or outside of the word, but from faith in the promises of God, which He has revealed in His word in abundance for our comfort; from the witness of the Holy Spirit, who bears witness with our spirit that we are children and heirs of God; finally, from the earnest and holy practice of a good conscience and of good works. The security of salvation thus does not come to the life of faith from outside, but it blossoms from this life of faith itself, is connected to it, and goes up and down with it. The degree of security thus varies; in this life believers have to contend with various doubts of the flesh, they are sometimes subjected to severe temptations, and hence they do not always feel the full confidence of faith and the security of perseverance, T.a.p. V 11. But all this does not alter the fact that the beatific faith, as the Scriptures describe it and as the Reformation restored it, is, according to its inner nature, certainty, and increases in certainty as it grows stronger. It does not stand against knowing and being known, but it is opposed to all doubt; doubt does not arise from the new man, doubt does not arise from the new man, but from the old man, not from the Spirit, but from the flesh. Faith says yes and amen to all of God’s promises, embraces them and rests on them. And when it does this, and as it does this, it gives the believer the boldness to apply all God’s promises to himself and to appropriate them for himself; it becomes a firm trust that not only others, but also I, have been granted forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness and salvation by God, through pure grace, solely because of the merit of Christ. And this confidence extends automatically, not through artificial reasoning, but according to its nature and essence also to the future. That would be a strange kind of faith to say: ηύ I am a child of God, but I do not know whether I will still be one tomorrow. If faith is real and powerful, then it will jubilate: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me. And so faith testifies and rejoices, not because it trusts in itself, but because it trusts in God’s vows. Those vows also include: I will be your God now and forever; I have loved you with an everlasting love, and will never leave you or forsake you. Faith, which is not a certainty for the present and the future, does not do justice to the truth of God’s promises and the faithfulness of His love.

Now, in the second place, there is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the great and almighty Witness to Christ, who takes up the cause of Christ in our hearts, leads us to faith in His name, and makes us know the things that are given to us by God in His Christ, John 15:26, John 16:13-15, 1 Corinthians 12:3, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, etc. But this Spirit of Christ then makes us know the truth of God’s promises and His faithfulness to us. But this Spirit of Christ also makes us know ourselves, not only in our guilt and impurity, but also in our fellowship with and participation in Christ. He also reveals us in our faith to ourselves. Having first convinced us of sin, righteousness and judgment, and having worked faith in us as the Spirit of faith, 2 Corinthians 4:13, He then comes to assure us of our faith. He becomes a Spirit of adoption, Galatians 4:6, a Spirit as befits children and dwells in them, Romans 8:15, and makes us aware of our childhood.

He does this in various ways and by various means. Romans 5:1, Romans 5:5; by awakening a new life in us, by guiding us continually, and by filling our souls with a joy previously unknown, Romans 8:10-11, Romans 14:17, Romans 15:13; He does it, to mention no more, by sealing us up to the day of redemption.

Sometimes sealing is done, to put persons or things (letters for example) out of other people’s reach, to keep them from being violated, etc., Deuteronomy 32:34, Highl. 4: 12,Isaiah 8:16, Isaiah 29:11, Daniel 6:18, Daniel 12:4, Ezekiel 9:1-6, Matthew 27:66, Revelation 5:5-6, Revelation 7:1-4, Revelation 20:3, Revelation 22:10; sometimes, to authenticate persons or testimonies as genuine, to confirm, Esther 3:12-13, Esther 8:8, Esther 8:10, 1 Kings 21:8, Nehemiah 9:38, Jeremiah 32:10, John 3:13, John 6:27 Romans 4:11, 1 Corinthians 9:2. In this last sense believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a pledge until the day of redemption, Romans 8:33, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 1 Corinthians 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30. The Holy Spirit, who is given to the believers, who has planted the faith in them and constantly sustains it, who testifies in them, who leads them, etc., is the Holy Spirit. In and through all this He also serves as a pledge and guarantee for believers that they will be preserved until the day of redemption and will inherit heavenly salvation. For that Spirit will never depart from them, but remains with them forever, John 14:16, and he who has that Spirit belongs to Christ, is his property, Romans 8:19, and is preserved by him for eternity, John 17:24. Christ in heaven and the Holy Spirit on earth guarantee the salvation of the elect, and assure them of it in their hearts.

These two ways by which the assurance of salvation arises in believers are not actually two and do not run parallel to each other, but are one way seen from different points of view. The Holy Spirit does not work and testify and seal apart from or through faith, but always in and through faith. That faith, however, is not a dead faith, but a living faith; it reveals its essence and demonstrates its power in good works.

Therefore, together with faith in the promises of God and the testimony of the Holy Spirit, these may be considered in the third place as a means by which God assures believers of their childhood, Heid. Catech. vr. 86. Can. Dordr. V 10 - But then it should be noted that one cannot begin the search for security with these good works, that faith can never firmly rest on them, and that they can even less be done by us with this intention, in order that we may come to security by them. For all good works are imperfect, and become less or more perfect as they result from a weaker or stronger faith. But in so far as they result from faith, they can serve as means of assurance. As faith shows and proves itself in them, so it is also confirmed and strengthened by them. And when men see our good works, they glorify the Father who is in Heaven.