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.
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