08.03.07. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Faith—It’s warrant—Hypothesis of post-poned Atonement, as illustrative of the warrant of faith, in connection with particular redemption

ASSUMING, therefore, this acquaintance with God, and this new insight into his glorious character and name, let us return to his word or testimony, which is more directly the ground or foundation of that faith of which we speak.

Here we might enumerate all the commands, and invitations, and promises of the gospel, and we might show how full and free a warrant these afford to every individual sinner of the human race to lay hold of Christ, and to appropriate him as his own Saviour; hut adverting once more to the hearing of a right knowledge of God’s name on the kind of credit or assent which we give to his testimony, we may practically consider that testimony as threefold.

1. God testifies, in his Word, to my guilt, depravity, and condemnation. This testimony, did it stand apart from the manifestation which he makes to me of his character, might irritate and provoke me, or simply drive me to angry and dogged despair. But now, if I am spiritually enlightened to know God, how differently does it affect me! I can suspect nothing arbitrary or harsh in his sentence that condemns me; I can expect nothing weak or capricious in his treatment of me. I learn that I am condemned; I perceive that it must be so; I have no excuse—my mouth is stopped; nor has God any alternative. Looking to the cross, I see the principle on which God punishes such sin as mine—not vindictively, or merely because he has said the word—hut necessarily, from his very nature being such as it is. I believe, therefore, God’s testimony concerning my own condemnation; but my belief of it now, in my relenting and softened frame of mind, arising out of my being enabled to see, and to do justice to, the real character of God, and the obligation I am under to love and serve him because he is what he is—is very different from the conviction of mortified pride and insolent defiance, which might have been forced on me by the mere thunder of wrath. I have sinned against God, and am justly judged. “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” (Psalms 51:4) Again,

2. God testifies to me, in his Word, of the complete safety and blessedness of all who are once in Christ. And here, also, the importance of an acquaintance with his character, with a view to its bearing on my belief of his testimony, becomes very apparent. He tells me how he treats sinners in Christ Jesus—what favours he bestows upon them—what complete blessedness he secures to them. Well; but I might hear all this with a feeling of envy, or of mere wonder; or with an idle, indefinite hope, that I might, perhaps, one day, have a share in these benefits. There might seem to me to be in all this gracious treatment of his people, nothing more, on the part of God, than great kindness and indulgence, or, at best, a sort of inflexible favouritism, and a determination to stand true to what He may once have said to them. But let me acquaint myself with God; and then, when he testifies to me of the grace which he dispenses to them that are in Christ, I not only admit that it may be so, or that it is so; but I perceive that it must be so. I see the principle on which he so graciously deals with them. I apprehend, not only the certainty, but the reasonableness, of their joyous security. It must be so. For such is the inherent efficacy of the atonement, as a real transaction, and a real infliction of the sentence of judgment on the surety instead of the actual offenders—that God cannot but justify those who are in Christ; if he did not so justify them, he must cease to be what he is. Hence, instead of grudging and suspicious envy, as regards others, or vague wishes, as regards myself, in the view of that state in which the Word of God assures me that those who believe in Jesus are, there is wrought in me the single, solitary conviction, that in all this, God is righteous—that his ways are just and true, and that, as there cannot possibly be salvation out of Christ, so in Christ there can be no condemnation.

It may be necessary here to explain, that throughout the whole of our present argument, in speaking of Christ’s work of atonement as a real transaction, and as, on that account, by its own inherent efficacy, rendering infallibly and necessarily certain the justification of all that are in him—we have been considering it as a manifestation of the character of God to men, and not simply as a ground or reason of His own procedure. There are two distinct senses in which that work of Christ, viewed in its connection with the name, or character, of God, may be said to secure the salvation of those whom, as their covenant head, he represents. Thus, in the first place, for his name’s sake, God, being such as he is, must necessarily provide for all the seed of Christ being in due time brought to him, and savingly made one with him: otherwise, were any of them to be finally lost—the punishment of their sins having been actually borne by Christ—there would be injustice and inconsistency with God; it is, in fact, an impossibility—so long as his character remains what it is. This is a precious truth, making it certain that “all whom the Father giveth Christ shall come unto him.” But it is not to our present purpose, though it bears upon the remaining part of our subject. We observe, therefore, secondly, that, for his name’s sake, God, being such as he is, cannot but justify all who are in Christ. This is the open and revealed side of the pillar, which becomes the warrant of the sinner’s faith. In the cross, he sees not only how God may, but how he must, his nature being such as it is, receive graciously, and rejoice over, all who come unto him through Christ, and who, by faith, become one with his own beloved Son. But to return, we observe once more,

3. God testifies to me of his willingness to make me a partaker of the same benefits, on these very terms, which I now see to be so reasonable and necessary. At this stage, especially, my knowledge of the name, or character of God, obtained through a clear and spiritually enlightened insight into the meaning of the transaction completed on the cross, goes far to determine the sort of credit which I give to the divine testimony, and the confidence I repose in it; for it has the effect at once of silencing and of satisfying me—silencing my inquisitive presumption, and satisfying my real anxiety.

Thus, in the first place, if I am disposed to call in question the sufficiency of the mere word of God, addressed to me, a miserable sinner, who, after all, may not turn out to be one of the chosen—if I am tempted to demand an explanation of that, or any other similar difficulty, as a preliminary to my believing God’s word—I am met at once with the appeal to his name; for I find that what I am to believe is not an arbitrary rule or law, which becomes true and certain because God has said it, but a fact or principle that is, in its very nature, unchangeably sure, and must be so as long as God is what he is. It is not by a simple act of his will, or utterance of his voice, that God brings in the whole world, out of Christ, as guilty before him, and accepts believers in Christ, alone, as righteous. His character, or name, being what it is, he could not do otherwise. The atoning death, or rather the meritorious obedience unto death, of his own Son, in the character of a surety and substitute, being once admitted as a fact—there is no more room for discretion, on the part of God, in this matter; to speak with reverence, he has no choice now, and no alternative;—those who are out of Christ he cannot hut condemn, being what he is; and those who are in Christ he cannot hut justify, accept, and save. It is thus simply IMPOSSIBLE THAT, COMING UNTO HIM, THROUGH CHRIST, I SHOULD BE CAST OUT. Now, this is precisely what I have to believe, on the assurance of the word or testimony of God. He explicitly and unequivocally declares that, coming unto him through Christ, I shall not be cast out. Can I hesitate to believe this, when I find that this is an intimation, on his part, not only of what shall be, but of what must be; that he has so revealed his name, or character, or nature, as to make it absolutely certain, that if I will but come unto him, through Christ, I shall be necessarily saved? I have now not only God’s word for it, but God’s nature; and what more would I ask? But this is not all. For, In the second place, to satisfy real anxiety, as well as to silence idle questioning, God appeals to his name, in this transaction, and gives it, as it were, in pledge and pawn, to the hesitating and trembling soul. Have I endless misgivings as to whether, vile as I am, I may venture to come to God, through Christ? or whether, even coming through Christ, I may not be too vile to be accepted? God assures me, most emphatically, that I may freely come, and that, coming, I shall surely be received most graciously. Is this to me too good news to be true? Am I incredulous from the very greatness of the glad surprise, like the disciples of whom it is said, that they “believed not for joy?” Such is the condescension of God, that when I would even question his word, he is ready to give me the assurance of his name. Am I apprehensive that I may miss my aim, and be disappointed in my timid and trembling expectation of finding rest, peace, and all saving blessings in Christ? It cannot be. For his word’s sake, he would not suffer it; nor for his name’s sake. He cannot deny himself. It would be not merely a breach of the promise that has gone out of his mouth, but an outrage on his very nature, were he to suffer any poor sinner to perish, when he would fain cling to Christ, or any anxious soul to seek his face in vain. The passages of Scripture are innumerable in which this use is made of the name of God, either by God himself pledging it, and swearing by it, as the confirmation of his promises to his believing people, or by poor and perishing sinners, helpless and hopeless, pleading it, and appealing to it, in their cries to him. This name, or nature, of God, furnishes a good reason why God should extend mercy to me, the chief of sinners, and I should reckon on that mercy as both sure and gracious—infallibly certain, and altogether gratuitous and free. “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” (1 Timothy 1:16) It is alleged by God himself, as his motive for imparting sanctification as well as justification—a new heart as well as newness of life—and so completing the salvation of all that come unto him. “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.” (Ezekiel 36:21-38) And it is the security or guarantee implied in God’s swearing by himself, that his blessing, once bestowed, is irrevocable; as when he gives to those who might be discouraged by the fear of falling away, the pledge of two “immutable things—wherein it is impossible for him to lie”—that is, his immutable word and his immutable nature—to prove the impossibility of his casting off his people, and “show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, that they might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to the hope set before them.” (Hebrews 6:9-20) In all these instances, men are asked and expected to believe, not merely on the ground of what God says, but on the ground, also, of what God is; and God is seen to challenge their credit and confidence, not by the authority of his word exclusively, but in respect of the necessity arising out of the very immutability of his nature, and the absolute perfection of his glorious character and name. The view now given of the warrant of saving faith may be rendered still more clear, when we go on to consider the remaining particular embraced in this inquiry, namely, the source and origin of that faith. But, even as we have now endeavoured to present it, it has an important bearing on the general question of the extent and nature of Christ’s work of atonement. For, in this view, it is of consequence to observe, that much less than is usually imagined depends on the explicitness and preciseness of any verbal statement regarding it; such as may be applicable to a sinner, even before he believes; and much more, on the exhibition of character which it gives, and which a sinner, so situated, may apprehend, as his chief encouragement to believe. It is not so much what God says, as what God is, that gives boldness to confide in him; or, at least, what he says, were it ever so articulate, would go but a little way to assure my heart, were it not for my apprehension of what he is. Were the warrant of my faith the simple ipse dixit of God, or his bare word, I might have some reason for requiring very express information as to my actual and ultimate interest in the salvation of which he speaks to me, before believing or taking it to be mine. But the ground on which I am to believe, being not so much that he says so and so, as that he who says so and so, is of such and such a character, and cannot but act in such and such a way—I am less concerned about knowing beforehand what I am, or am to be, to him, and more occupied with the thought of what I shall assuredly find Him to be to me.

And, here, let us sum up, in a few brief statements, the information which, as we have seen, the cross gives concerning God; and which, rightly and spiritually apprehended, becomes the ground and foundation of appropriating faith.

1. The objective revelation or discovery which the cross gives of God, and of the name, or nature, or character of God, is evidently general and universal. It is a manifestation of the divine perfections, and the divine manner of dealing with sin and sinful men, to all alike and indiscriminately. Hence it is a warrant of faith to all. But,

2. That it may serve this purpose, of a universal manifestation of God’s real character and actual mode of procedure, the transaction accomplished on the cross must be a real transaction. It must be the real infliction of judicial and retributive punishment on him who suffers there; otherwise it is no manifestation of the principle on which God, being what he is, must necessarily deal with sin; so that he can acquit or justify the guilty, only when their punishment is vicariously borne by an infinitely worthy substitute in their stead, while, on the other hand, he cannot but acquit and justify them, when they are thus represented and redeemed. It is needless to say that this implies a limitation of the efficacy of Christ’s death to those ultimately saved; but it is important to observe, that this very limitation of it to those, in reference to whom alone it can be a real transaction, is essential to its being a manifestation of God’s real character universally and alike to all. For,

3. This real and actual, and therefore particular and personal, work of substitution, becomes a sufficient warrant of faith to all, through the discovery which it makes of what God is, and must necessarily be, as an avenging Judge, to all who are out of Christ; and of what he is, and must necessarily be, as a gracious Father and justifying Lord, to all who are in Christ. It reveals the impossibility, from the very nature of God, and his being what he is, of pardon out of Christ, and of condemnation in Christ. Not by any arbitrary arrangement, or mere spontaneous act of will, do I find God acquitting some for Christ’s sake, and rejecting others; but, by the very necessity of his nature, I perceive him (with reverence be it said) shut up to the acceptance of all who are in Christ, because their punishment has been actually endured by him—and to the acceptance of them alone: and it is this perception of the inevitable sentence under which every sinner out of Christ lies, and the absolute certainty and necessity of its removal from all who are in him, which shuts me up to the belief of his testimony, when he assures me, that I have but to come unto him, through Christ, and that so coming, I cannot fail to be saved. Nor,

4. Can it really be any practical hindrance, that Christ’s death is a real atonement only for those who come to him, and not for all mankind. For, let us suppose ourselves to have lived before Jesus suffered on the cross; or, which is the same thing, let us suppose his blessed work to have been postponed till the end of time. Let us regard him as, from the beginning, waiting to receive accessions of individuals, from age to age, made willing to take him as their surety, and covenant head, and representative. Let us conceive of him as thus waiting to have the number of his seed actually made up, and all who are to receive salvation at his hands effectually called and united to him. Then, when the last soul is gathered in, and the entire multitude of the elect race who are to stand to him, as the second Adam, in the same relation in which the family of man stands to the first Adam that fell, is ascertained, not only in the eternal counsels of the Godhead, and the covenant between the Father and the Son, but in the actual result accomplished—then at last, the Son, on their behalf and in their stead, performs the work, in which, by anticipation, they had all been enabled to believe, and satisfies divine justice, and makes reconciliation for them all. Where, in such circumstances, would be the necessity of a general or unlimited reference in his atonement? No one called to believe, with the knowledge that Christ was to be the surety of believers alone, and in that character alone was to be ultimately nailed to the cross, could have any embarrassment on that account. There might still be difficulties in his way, arising out of the decree of election, or the special grace of the Holy Ghost; but the limitation of the work which Christ had yet to do, to those who, before he did it, should be found to be all that would ever consent to take him as their Saviour, could not, in such a case, occasion any hesitation. And is the case really altered, in this respect, when we contemplate the cross as erected in the middle, rather than at the end, of time? On the supposition we have ventured to make, there would be the same absolute certainty, as to the parties in whose stead Christ should ultimately make atonement, that there is now, as to those for whom he has made it; and yet it would be enough for every sinner to be assured, that he might freely believe on him for the remission of sins; and that, so believing, he would undoubtedly find himself among the number of those for whom, in due time, atonement would be made, and whom, for his own name’s sake, God must needs justify, on that all-sufficient ground. Is it really any assurance less than this that we can give to the sinner now? Surely there is a strange fallacy here. The essential nature of this great transaction does not depend on the time of its accomplishment. It would be a real propitiation for the sins of all who should ever take him as their surety, were it yet to be accomplished; it is all that, and nothing more, now that it is accomplished, eighteen hundred years ago. Nor is it practically more difficult to reconcile a limited atonement with a universal offer, in the one view than in the other. It is enough, in either view, to proclaim, that whosoever believeth in Jesus will assuredly find an efficacy in his blood to cleanse from all sin—an infinite merit in his righteousness, and an infinite fulness in his grace.