Certain Passages Considered.
Zion's Advocate, Vol. 45, No. 1, January 1906
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:38.
Many mockers were in the multitude addressed by the apostles on the day of Pentecost, who charged them with being full of new wine. Others were pricked in their heart, or pierced by the Holy Spirit, and cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter had shown in his sermon that the great crime of crucifying Jesus was chargeable to the Jewish nation, from which those who understood and believed his preaching were led to conclude that some great calamity would befall that nation for the perpetration of such a crime. Filled with alarm and dread, these quickened ones cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" These were children of God, for they were believers in Christ.Peter told them to repent; that is, to turn away from their Jewish rites and from their evil practices, and then be baptized for the remission of sins. The Greek word from which "for" is here translated is eis. This word has many significations. It is translated into in Matthew 2:13, 14 and Acts 16:40; unto in Matthew 15:24, 22:4 and John 11:31, 32; among in Luke 24:47 and John 6:9; for (on account of) in Mark 1:4 and I. Corinthians 16:1. Its signification in the text we are considering has been a matter of much dispute. If it means, as some say, in order to, then the remission of sins is spoken of in a figurative and not a literal sense. We deny that this is the essential meaning in this text. The English word for often means because of, and it is our candid opinion that such is the meaning of the original in this text, so that "for remission of sins" means because of or on account of the remission of sins.
A promise is given that they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; not the Holy Ghost itself, but its gift. There is a great blessing of rest bestowed upon believers in the act of baptism. Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest." This rest if the gift of the Spirit bestowed upon the children of God who are baptized.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Matthew 23:37.
This does not teach the absurd theory that Christ had been trying to save the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their sins and make them his children but could not because they would not let him. A construction of this passage that would represent Jesus as weeping over his own inability to save is certainly to be abhorred by all intelligent minds. If that were true he would continue to be a weeping Christ through all time and to all eternity, while Satan would be dancing with exultation. Who could trust such a weakling as that? It teaches no such thing. The authorities in the Jewish capital are addressed. The protection of its inhabitants under the old covenant is referred to. They had the promise of many blessings and the protecting care of God under that covenant if they would be obedient to his laws, but they rebelled and therefore "would not." A curse is here pronounced upon them for their rebellion by Jesus, for he says, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."
"Behold I stand a the door and knock: if any hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me." Rev. 2:20.
Jesus does not teach us in this passage that he is standing at the door of the heart of the ungodly sinner, knocking for entrance, and being unable to enter or unwilling to do so unless the sinner opens the heart to him. Such an idea is a positive denial that he is "mighty to save." He has represented himself as stronger than the "strong man armed," which would be a false representation if he were trying to save sinners but could not because they would not let him. But this is not the meaning of this passage, because neither heart nor sinner are mentioned in the entire chapter. Besides, such an interpretation of it would imply that the sinner is inside his heart, whereas the sinner's heart is in him. The Saviour does not propose to come into the person who opens the door. there are two words used to express the relation, in and to, instead of the one word, into. Coming in to him signifies an entering of the apartment where he is dwelling, and not an entering of his person. His saying I will come in to him signifies that he will enter into where he is and be with him there.
In this chapter and the one preceding it we find this statement repeated, "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." This shows that it is the churches of Christ whom the Saviour is alluding to and not ungodly sinners.
The church of the Laodiceans was neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm. The members were boasting of being rich and increased with goods. They did not know they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. To these Jesus, who is the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, appeals, and promises that if any will open the door by obedience he will come in to where he is, be his companion, and feast with him in blessed communion.
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.
Joshua is here addressing the Israelites. He does not tell them to take their choice in serving God or serving Satan, as some have taught. If he had commanded them to make such a choice, they would have obeyed if they had chosen the service of Satan just as certainly as if they had chosen the service of the Lord. Moses said in Deuteronomy 30:19: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." He did not command them to choose either life or death, taking their choice of the two. If he had they would have obeyed no matter which they would have chosen. God in his word has nowhere called upon man to choose between his service and that of Satan. Such a command on his part would have licensed man to choose the service of Satan. The life that Moses commanded the Israelites to choose was not eternal life, but the perpetuation of their natural life with the temporal blessings that God had promised them. It is impossible for one to choose a life he dos not have, and the only way he can choose a life he has is to choose to have it preserved and perpetuated.
Joshua says, "If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord," thus setting the service of the Lord entirely aside. With that consideration, he liberates them to choose who they will serve, which of the heathen gods. It did not matter to him which of these idols they chose to serve as they were all false gods. There is not a passage in the Bible that tells man to choose between right and wrong, between holiness and sin, between heaven and hell, or God and the Devil.
We have heard preachers call upon those whom they regarded as being in a lost state in their audiences to take their choice and pretend to offer them an opportunity to do so. This is wholly absurd, for fallen beings have already taken their choice. Jesus says, "Light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light."
CERTAIN PASSAGES CONSIDERED.
Zion's Advocate, Vol. 45, No. 3, March 1906.
"But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Romans 6:17, 18.
Paul thanked God that the Roman brethren had obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which had been delivered them, and not that they had been the servants of sin. The thought is this, "God be thanked that though ye were the servants of sin, yet ye have obeyed," etc. They had been servants of sin until they were made free from it; then they became servants of righteousness. They did not, then, do anything as servants of righteousness in order to be made free from sin. The word "then" is not an adverb of time, but one that expresses a consequence, and is equivalent to therefore. "Being therefore made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Their obedience from the heart proved they were the servants of righteousness and was evidence of their being made free from sin. The corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. Matthew 7:18. When they were the servants of sin they were corrupt trees. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Romans 8:8,9. When they were the servants of sin they were in the flesh, having not the Spirit of God dwelling in them. The conclusion was unavoidable, that they had not obeyed in order to be made free from sin.
"Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, said the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." Ezekiel 18:31,32.
The prophet is here addressing the house of national Israel. The covenant under which that nation was living was a conditional one. Eternal life was never promised to them on the condition of their keeping that covenant. The blessings promised to them as a result of obedience rendered to that covenant were temporal blessings, and the punishment inflicted on them for their disobedience to it was likewise temporal. Zedekiah the king of Judah had been advised by false prophets not to submit to the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, but Jeremiah was inspired to say to him, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence?" This is the nature of the death referred to in the text we are considering. The Israelites are exhorted to make themselves a new heart and a new spirit. This cannot mean any more than to form a resolution to obey the Lord according to the covenant they were then under. The new heart and spirit given to qualify a sinner to render spiritual service is wholly the Lord's work. God, by the same prophet, declares, in speaking of that work, "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 heaert 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." Ezekiel 36:25-27. The new heart (resolution) and the new spirit (determination) to render formal service to the Mosaic law they could make for themselves, but the new heart and new spirit required to enable them to render spiritual obedience was entirely the Lord's work. The first covenant was faulty, so there was found a place for the second. Hebrews 8:7. Christ obtained a more excellent ministry or service than those priests who officiated under the first covenant. His was a ministry of grace; theirs was a ministry of works. For that reason he became the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. He completely fulfilled the first, that he might firmly establish the second. The Lord did not regard the Israelites, because they failed to continue in the covenant of works, but with his spiritual Israel he made a new covenant that was not like the former one. Into their mind he puts his laws, and in their hearts he writes them. He promises to be merciful to their unrighteousness and to remember their sins no more. Jeremiah 31: 31; Hebrews 8:8-12. It is not at all according to their works that he saves them, but according to his own mercy, and according to his purpose and grace which was given them in Christ before the world began. Titus 3:5; II. Timothy 1:9.
"For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Hebrews 10:26, 27.
The sacrifice of Christ is the only atonement for sins, so there remains no more. God's regenerated children are under his parental government. It is for their good that he punishes them when they willfully disobey him by neglecting what he has commanded or doing what he has commanded or doing what he has forbidden. This punishment is parental, and is not designed to atone for their sin. The blood of Christ alone has done that already, and there remains no more sacrifice that will do it. On the part of the disobedient children of God, however, there is a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour, not those children, for he loves them with an everlasting love, but the adversaries. The evil in their nature will be consumed as the dross, but the genuine gold of their character will be refined. "He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Malachi 3:2,3. Paul advised the Corinthians to deliver a certain one unto Satan "for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." I. Corinthians 5:5. This was an extreme case, and yet there was final salvation. The judgment and fiery indignation that come upon such are fearful, but being administered by a Father's hand they are for the good of the punished and for the glory of his name. Though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds them with his hand. Psalms 37:24.
CERTAIN PASSAGES CONSIDERED.
Zion's Advocate, Vol. 45, No. 4, April 1906.
"In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." II. Thessalonians 1:8.
The apostle had expressed gratitude to God for the growth of the saint's faith and charity and patience in all their persecutions and tribulations. he calls all these things a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that they might be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which they were called upon to suffer. He showed it to be a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to those who troubled them, and to give them rest, "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel."
It is certain, therefore, that the persecutors of the saints are meant, who are ignorant of God and opposed in their hearts to the gospel of Christ. "Obey" is translated from the Greek word hupakouos, which is derived from akouos, the signification of which is to hear, to hearken, to understand. Hence the term "obey not" has reference to the hatred and opposition to the gospel by the persecutors of the saints. The eyes of their understanding had not been enlightened. Ephesians 1:18. Their understanding was darkened, "being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." Ephesians 4:18. They did not obey the gospel. Moreover they could not do so, because of their hatred of it. Being in the flesh, they could not please God. Romans 8:8.
"God will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile." Romans 2:6-9.
In the chapter that follows this one, the apostle collects a number of passages that teach the depravity of the human race, and deduces the conclusion that "there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Since there is no difference, all Jews and all Gentiles are exactly alike. This is true of them in their natural standing. Now if we apply this passage to them in that state, and represent it as teaching that such only as continue patiently in well doing, and seek for glory and honor and immortality, receive eternal life because of having done so, we prove by it that none will ever have eternal life. Since there is no difference, "there is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God; they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one." The conclusion is unavoidable, that if the condition of receiving eternal life should be a patient continuance in well doing, and seeking for glory and honor and immortality, none will receive eternal life. This is the perplexity into which Arminians are plunged in trying to apply this text to favor conditionalism, and from it there is no escape for them.
The apostle is not looking forward and proposing conditions to alien sinners to be complied with by them in order to obtain eternal life. He takes his stand at the "great day of wrath and revelation of the righteousness judgment of God," and retrospectively surveys the race of mankind. In that survey he sees two classes, one of which have borne the fruits of being born of God and of having been made to differ from the others as the "workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." These had received eternal life in the soul, for Jesus declared, "He that heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." It is the resurrection of the body into the same eternal life that the apostle refers to here. The others, who were as corrupt trees that had never been made good, and had therefore borne the corrupt fruits of unrighteousness, receive indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. He thus "renders to every man according to his deeds," his deeds being the fruits of his character as a good or bad tree. If he has borne the good fruits mentioned, it is because he was first made to be a good tree, which was entirely the Lord's work, for the preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord. Proverbs 16:1. In the sense that he treats Jews and Gentiles alike there is no respect of persons with God. He does not respect one man's person because he is a Jew. National distinctions are not regarded by him.
"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." Acts 10:34, 35.
Cornelius was a Gentile. We have no account of the gospel ever having been preached to him before Peter visited him. The disciples had not understood that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles, so a miraculous vision seemed necessary to convince Peter that it was his duty to go and preach the gospel to Cornelius and his household. Cornelius was a devout man, was one that feared God, was charitable, and was a praying man. In all this he pleased God, for an angel visited him in a vision and said to him, "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." This was unmistakable proof that he was a child of God. The vessel that descended in Peter's vision on the house-top contained unclean beasts, and Peter refused to eat them. These represented the Gentiles. The Lord said to him, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." This was intended to teach him that God had cleansed the Gentiles to whom he was about to be sent, and he should not refuse to go because they were Gentiles. This proves that Cornelius and those that dwelt with him were cleansed, and were, therefore, children of God. The three men sent by Cornelius called as Peter thought on the vision, and the spirit bade him go with them, doubting nothing. The next day Peter and certain brethren from Joppa went with the three messengers to Cesarea where Cornelius lived. After Cornelius had stated to him the circumstance that caused him to send for him, Peter began with the words of the passage we are considering and preached a sermon. Peter found Cornelius fearing God and working righteousness, and knew by these evidences that he was accepted with God. As Cornelius was a Gentile it showed that God is not a respecter of persons; that is, that he does not respect nationality. That he does respect some persons rather than others is a truth abundantly taught in his word. He had respect unto Abel and his offering, while unto Cain and his offering he did not have respect. This is true of all his children, and of those who are not his children. He has respect to the former and their service, while to the latter and whatever service they may pretend to render he does not have respect. He has respect to the person first and then to the offering. He does not have respect to the person because of the offering, but has respect to the offering because of the person. But in regard to distinctions of society or nationality, God is no respecter of persons; for "in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."
J. R. D.
Copyright c. 2005. All rights reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
