God Loves… Himself

For several blogs we have been looking at A.A. Hodge’s statements of the three main historical positions regarding man’s inability and therefore of the ability of God’s grace. While these points (as stated by Hodge or even the recognition of the positions) are ignored in our modern day in our rush to civility and unity, there is simply no excuse for ignoring these main points. These are vital issues in any day as they relate to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His ability to save sinners. We must always remember in our rush to unity and civility that the Gospel of peace will bring the hatred of very religious people who hate Christ in reality. Some of those religious people are conservative and evangelical in name. In light of that, we need to travel back a few centuries in order to hear what people who were more concerned with the truth and the glory of God than anything else used to think.

In 1625 William Pemble published a work entitled A Treatise on Justification. This has been reprinted in our day by Soli Deo Gloria under the title of The Justification of A Sinner. In chapter five he refutes what he terms the Arminian error. By that he is meaning the Arminian position that the act of faith is what is counted as righteousness. While that is the traditional Arminian position, I am sure there are many modern Arminians that might dispute that position and adamantly assert that they do not hold that. However, if one holds to the freedom of the will and therefore that the final choice in salvation is at least part of the human choice and will, the conclusion is inevitable. The sinner is either counted righteous by the work of Christ alone or not. While it may sound honoring to Christ and orthodox in many ways, the “alone” part of the Gospel simply means Christ apart from any works at all. Many stumble at the “alone” part of justification and the Arminian position is a logical denial of it.

Let us work through this part with the help of William Pemble. The believer is justified by Christ alone or he is not. The believer is declared righteous by the righteousness of Christ alone or he is not. Remember, the word “alone” means that there can be utterly nothing else but the righteousness of Christ counted to the sinner’s righteousness if justification is to be by Christ alone. If the will of man acts in any way that is free from the grace of God in making a choice in salvation, then that is a righteous act apart from Christ and the Gospel is not by grace alone and a sinner is justified by one righteous act and by the righteousness of Christ. We simply cannot allow any view that allows for the act of a sinner as being necessary for salvation apart from grace alone. It matters not whether a person claims to be Reformed or Arminian or some sort of hybrid position, any act of the will that is not moved completely by grace is an act of the will that destroys justification by faith alone which depends on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone.

Pemble notes that we cannot be justified by “two righteousnesses existing in two various subjects.” If we are justified on account of our faith in any way then we are justified by the righteousness of Christ and of something in ourselves. This is the logical position of all who hold that the will is free and must make some movement apart from the grace of God in order to be saved. That is the heart of the Arminian position. Any move away from the righteousness of Christ alone is a denial of Christ alone, faith alone, and grace alone. In other words, the Arminian position is utterly fatal to the Gospel. This is not to say that all Arminians themselves are not converted, but it is simply to say that the position is a denial of the Gospel as it came forth from the Reformation. The Reformers and the Puritans either taught the biblical Gospel or they did not. If they did, then let us hold to the biblical Gospel no matter how unpopular it is. If it is not, then let us show where the Reformers and the Puritans erred and set out where they erred at. But we cannot claim to follow the Reformers and the Puritans if we do not preach and teach the same Gospel that they did.

Pemble points out that God can only count that as perfect righteousness which is so in deed and truth. But faith is not the perfect fulfilling of the law and is not a perfect act. It cannot, therefore, be judged by God as righteousness and so cannot be counted as righteous in the court of a judge that is perfectly righteous Himself. The assertion of the Arminian of an act of the will that is free from the grace of God is an assault on the Gospel of grace alone by Christ alone. If we think back through the positions as Hodge set them out, we immediately see that these things are true. The Arminian position rests on an act of the will that is free from grace and that God meets with grace. This may sound ungracious to many, but in fact it is simply holding forth the teaching of grace alone that is found in the Bible. When Romans 3:24-25 and Ephesians 2:4-9 teach that God justifies by the cause of grace and that is not caused by an act of the human will or work, it is teaching grace alone apart from the human act. Grace alone, which denies acts of the human will can be free from grace at any point and so righteous, is the Gospel and nothing else.

This entry was posted on March 22, 2008 at 10:10 am and is filed under History & Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.