God Loves… Himself

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

The Gospel of grace alone is distorted and adjusted far from its original purpose when it is taken from the God-centered and God-focused origin and plan of it to make it focus on man. Soli Deo Gloria is a grand truth that is set forth in Scripture and has echoed in the pages of the writers of great theologies for all history. As the Gospel of grace alone was not discovered at the time of the Reformation, so Soli Deo Gloria was not discovered at that time either. These were great truths that were recovered from the Bible and history by the Reformers and it is no accident that these great truths were rediscovered at the same time. It will also be no accident if the Gospel of the glory of God is ever trumpeted again in our nation or any other nation, but instead it will come from the living and true God who works all things for His own glory and He will make His Gospel and His purpose of His glory known. The two things (Grace alone and His Glory alone) cannot be separated in reality. Wherever the true Gospel of grace alone is proclaimed the truth of His glory alone will be proclaimed as well. It cannot be otherwise.

In one sense the Gospel of grace alone protects and preserves the glorious teaching of Soli Deo Gloria, but in another sense Soli Deo Gloria protects and preserves the Gospel of grace alone. When one teaching is distorted or the focus of it is changed, the other is changed as well. I am not sure how it can be denied that the focus of grace in our day has been placed on man and what it does for man rather than its real intent which is to preserve the fact that God does all for His own glory. Oh how this simple matter of the intent and focus of God in the Gospel is so vital as to change that to make man His focus is to change the Gospel itself. The Gospel is only and can only be by grace alone if God saves sinner for His own glory alone. If at any point and in any way the focus of God is on man and He does this for any cause or reason that can be found in man, the Gospel is no longer of grace alone.

Once again, God is triune and within this one God there is three Divine Persons. The one God consists of three Divine Persons. When God is said to do all for Himself, it tells us that the three Persons do what they do out of love for each other and as a way to manifest the glory of the thrice holy God. If God loved human beings enough to save them based on themselves, then this destroys the holiness of God in that He would love human beings more than Himself. This is to say that it would have the Father loving human beings more than the Son and the Son loving human beings more than the Father. This simply cannot be as one Person in the Trinity loving a human being more than another Person in the Trinity would be idolatrous. When the Son comes to die for sinners out of a primary love for the Father and His glory as He was sent by the Father who also loved and sent the Son out of a love for the son, we have a Gospel that is all to the glory of God and a Gospel that is all of grace.

The Gospel of grace alone is primarily the good news of how God loves Himself as triune and out of love for Himself as triune (and nothing but demerit and sin in the human) He can be moved to save sinners and bring them to share in His love for Himself. In all of this the very glory that God is filled with is manifested to sinners, in sinners, and then through sinners. When God acts out of love for Himself He is being perfectly holy in that there is no one else worthy of being love but Himself. When God is said to love a human being, what we can understand by that is that the unworthy human being is changed and viewed as in Christ and as such brought to share in the love of God for Himself. This is great news. God is then said to love sinners when He sets His love on them and works repentance from their self-love and gives and works in them a love for Himself which has to come from Himself. Sinners are truly saved by grace alone and they are truly saved in a way which is to the glory of His name both now and for all eternity. So the Gospel of grace alone and Soli Deo Gloria were not invented at the Reformation, but instead both reveal eternal truths of God as triune and His holiness.

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

The Gospel of grace alone in Christ alone is the means or vehicle of how God glorifies Himself on earth and in the heavenlies as well. The purpose or reason for the Church is to proclaim and defend this Gospel of grace alone in Christ alone. The purpose for each human being is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, but when God glorifies Himself through Christ and by the Gospel of grace alone this teaches us that human beings glorify God when they are converted by hearing the Gospel and by living in accordance with it. When people distort the Gospel of grace alone, they are distorting the truths about creation, humanity, and God Himself.

God calls sinners to Himself by the grace of Christ, so when a person changes the Gospel of grace alone to something else (though it may appear to be small), that person is cutting off the calling of God (in this sense) and is distorting the nature of God and of Christ. The Scriptures also teach us very clearly and in multiple places that the Gospel is the Gospel of the glory of God. The true Gospel is not about the worth and glory of man, but it is the display of the beauty and majesty of the glory of God. The Gospel is by grace alone so that it may be to the glory of God alone. When the Gospel is distorted, it is the glory of God that is attacked and distorted.

One of the five points of the Reformation (so to speak) was Soli Deo Gloria, which means to God alone be the glory. This is precisely what the Gospel of grace alone does. It is all to the glory of God because it is the Gospel of grace alone by Christ alone. God has created the whole universe in order to manifest His inter-trinitarian glory or His love for Himself within Hmself. He created the planet earth to display His glory, yes, but He created it to sustain life and be a means of the manifestation of His grace in Christ by saving sinners to the glory of His grace. How dare any person devise a way of salvation or a way of living that is not aimed primarily at the glory of God in all things and in all ways. How dare a worm of the earth try to distort the true Gospel and make it a way for puny man who has no ability to contribute to his own salvation! That is an attack upon the very being of God, the attributes of God, and the decrees of God.

The great and glorious fact that God saves sinners for His own glory is great news to sinners who have reached the point of realizing that God does all things for His own glory and that they are dead in sin and have no ability to save themselves in whole or in the smallest part. God saves sinner according to His power, His wisdom, His self-sufficiency; which are all ways of focused on manifesting His grace to the glory of His name. When sinners try to focus on their own power, own wisdom, own sufficiency; they are then focused on the glory and ability of man rather than the glory of God despite their words.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism simply nails the point when it tells us that the man’s primary (chief) purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. What it does not say, however, is whether this is God’s purpose for man, the purpose God gave man, or whether it is both. It also does not say that man has no ability to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, but instead both of those thing (glorify God and enjoyment of Him) must come by grace alone. Man must not seek to glorify God in his own strength and enjoy God in his own way, for that is doing things in the strength and wisdom of man rather than doing them by grace which glorifies God.

The Gospel of grace alone delivers man from having any part of salvation and leaves all the work up to God. In that God is glorified. Man must realize that if his sanctification, which can be looked at as a being saved from sin and the world in a sense, is from himself then he has the power to overcome sin in his own power. But the Reformation principle (Soli Deo Gloria) and the Westminster Shorter Catechism (glorify and enjoy God as man’s primary purpose) teach us that all things must be done by grace so that it is to the glory of God. If we distort the Gospel of grace alone, we will end up with a distorted gospel and a distorted way of sanctification as well that distorts God’s purpose of glorifying Himself in and through man. God justifies man by grace alone to His glory and He sanctifies man by grace alone to His glory as well.

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ and of Grace alone cannot be preached too much. The Church and the churches must be given to preaching this and defending it. The Church is to be the pillar and foundation of the truth and the Gospel of grace alone and of Jesus Christ must be the main part of that. Whether a church is Reformed or not, this is a major issue. Whether a pastor is Reformed or not, this is a major issue. But again, what is the use of preaching, teaching, and believing solid doctrine if there is no Gospel at the heart of it? The Gospel is not some little canned message that people say a prayer in response to, but it is the good news of Jesus Christ and it is the good news about all of Christ. The Gospel is the good news of the grace that Jesus Christ is and of what He has purchased for sinners. There is no real Christ preached unless there is a real grace preached, but it is also the case that there is no real grace preached unless the real Christ is preached.

In the history of the Reformation, which includes a century or so after it, some important doctrines were set out. We had the five sola’s of the Reformation and the five points of Calvinism, though the five points of Calvinism were actually set out in contrast or in answer to the Remonstrants or the Arminian points. In all of these points, I will contend, the Gospel is at the heart of the whole issue as originally set out. For example, while Sola Scriptura may not seem to have the Gospel of grace alone at the heart of it, in the time of the Reformation it did. The issue with Sola Scriptura was over authority or should we listen to Scripture or to the leaders of Roman Catholicism. Luther was setting out the glorious Gospel of grace alone and Rome was opposed to what he said based on what they said others in history had said. Luther used and exposited the Scriptures and said that it was the authority and not the Church Councils nor the Pope.

I Tim 3:14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. 16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

The Scriptures are the very out breathing of God and the Church is built by Him as well. There can be no true or real contradiction between the Scriptures and what God has taught the Church, so when there is a contradiction between the two only one of them can be right. The Church is to defend Scripture and what it teaches as opposed to those who try to distort Scripture and the Gospel of Christ. In this sense, then, Scripture stands as the authority rather than the words and works of men so that the Gospel of grace alone can be set out in purity and power. The Church is not to change the Gospel or deviate from it in the slightest, but instead it is to set out the pure Gospel of grace alone and Christ alone. The Church is not there to be comfortable and enjoy all the creature comforts, but instead it is there to proclaim and defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It must be stressed once again, however, that the Gospel of grace alone and Christ alone is not a simple little message. It is the good news of the whole Christ and all that He did and is still doing. It is the good news of how Christ reigns and rules in the hearts of His people. It is the good news of how the sovereign Lord of the universe rules over all things for the purposes of His Church, but even more than that the sovereign Lord rules over all things for His own glory. The Church is to stand for the Gospel because it is also the Gospel of His glory. The Church is a vehicle for the glory of God rather than all the other things it is so busy doing. The Gospel of grace alone is the vehicle by which God’s glory is proclaimed among men. But the Scriptures are the guide of that all. The Gospel is taught to us by Christ who uses His Scriptures to do so. One of the great purposes of Scripture is to be the written testimony to the Gospel of grace alone and in that Sola Scriptura is the servant of the Gospel.

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

The Gospel of grace alone is a fundamental truth of Scripture. Apart from this Gospel, the whole of Scripture does not fit together. Apart from this Gospel, the central truth of Scripture, the rest of the message of the Bible is nothing more than morality and philosophy. Apart from this Gospel, the attributes of God are missing some revealed beauty and glory. Apart from this Gospel, the character of Christ and the cross don’t fit with the rest of Scripture and the attributes of God. All the doctrines of the Bible are off kilter or unbalanced apart from this teaching of how God saves sinners by grace alone.

Pelagian thinking which focuses on the ability of man as virtually or fully untouched by the fall is simply far from biblical Christianity and has no Gospel of grace alone in any real sense of the word. Semi-Pelagianism, which is Arminianism, may teach many things that are mostly orthodox, but the point that this theology takes off from in reality is the point of grace alone. The Semi-Pelagian (or Arminian) by definition believes in the free-will of man and the ability of man to choose Christ from that will rather than a Gospel of grace alone which teaches that grace must bring the person to Christ.

In the passage of Scripture above (Galatians 1:6), it is important to know that this calling of the Gospel is by grace alone as well. This calling is one that comes to the sinner who has no ability to respond in any way but by self-love and hatred for God, but this calling makes the sinner willing and is in fact Christ coming to the sinner and Christ giving the sinner a new heart by His Spirit. Sinners respond to Christ in a positive way only after they have received life and this comes by being united to Christ. The will is not free from the death of depravity and so it cannot come to Christ apart from His giving it life. The will that is free of grace, which the soul must have if it is truly a free-will, cannot hold to a Gospel of grace alone. These things must be made clear.

The truth of the mater, however, is that in the modern day it seems as if much of Reformed theology is inconsistent (at best) with the Gospel of grace alone. The Gospel of grace alone stands firm and all other doctrines and teachings must be judged by it and be viewed as inconsistent with they contradict the Gospel of grace alone. When other teachings stand over and judge the Gospel of grace alone and try to get it to conform to their teachings, this is changing the Gospel. It is possible to teach the doctrine of election as a doctrine that fits with a creed rather than teach election as fitting with the Gospel of grace alone. The whole reason for teaching the doctrine of election is to set forth the inability of the sinner and the glorious and freeness of the grace of God. The doctrine of election is not just a teaching that we must teach in order to be in accordance with our creeds, but it is a doctrine to teach in order to set forth the glory of God in the grace of the Gospel.

While the academics study Scripture using various ways of hermeneutics (science of interpretation), it should be kept in mind that there is a spiritual understanding of Scripture that is beyond the reach of the human intellect (and so the academic way of study). This is not to say that academics is totally worthless, but it is simply to set out that the Gospel cannot be truly understood by the natural man and also the spiritual man using the reasoning of the natural man. It is the totally sufficient God who saves sinners out of love for Himself and His own glory (comes to us as grace and by grace) and nothing in the sinner can move Him to save sinners. Salvation is totally free of causation within the sinner and all causes are found in God alone and His love within Himself as triune. Regardless of a person’s external theology or stated theology or creed, it is possible for the poison of free-will to come in by the front door or by a side door. Whether it is academic theology in the Reformed tradition or a feeling oriented theology of others, the Gospel of grace alone must be stringently set forth and guarded. Anything less than grace alone is a distortion of the Gospel and as such is condemned by Paul. It must be condemned by us as well.

Christ is too high and glorious for nature so much as to touch. There must be a divine nature first put into the soul, to make it lay hold on Him. He lies so infinitely beyond the sight or reach of nature. That Christ which natural free-will can apprehend, is but a natural Christ or a man’s own making, not the Father’s Christ, nor Jesus the Son of the living God, to whom none can come without the Father’s drawing (John 6:44). Thomas Willcox

John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

It is possible to look at the passage in John 6 and think of it as so negative or against us, but instead it is very instructive and positive. The natural man cannot see or reach Christ and cannot infuse anything in himself to do so, but as usual when Scripture sets out what is impossible for man it states what God alone can do. The natural man in his natural “free-will” cannot teach itself what it must do and it has no power to do what it must do, but God does not have the limitations of the natural man. The natural man can only apprehend a natural Christ, but the living God can work in man and give him a new nature so man can apprehend the true Christ. The natural man cannot apprehend any Christ but that of his own devices and a natural deduction from Scripture (perhaps), but that is not the Jesus Christ of God the Father and it is not the Jesus Christ who is the Son of the living God.

The natural man is often drawn to the “Christ” of the natural man’s efforts in evangelism and in doing service to the natural “God” that is devised in the religion of natural men, but the only way to come to the true Father of heaven and earth is to be taught of Him and to be drawn by Him. This is encouraging to the person who has tried to come to the Father in his or her own strength as that is impossible to do. So for the person who has tried and tried to come to the Father, stop trying in your own strength and look to God to do the drawing. All who hear and learn from the Father will come to Christ. So human beings need to be pointed to God rather than to self. Human beings need to learn to quit their striving and know that God is God. Human beings need to learn that they are dead in sin and God alone can make them alive. Human beings need to learn that they have no strength in the spiritual realm and that God must give them that strength. Human beings need to learn that the will is not free and that God alone can draw them rather than for their own will to enable them to come.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so glorious that it is beyond man to apprehend it, so it takes man to quit his efforts in his own strength to do it and look to God alone. The Gospel teaches us that it is nothing but grace and grace alone that will save a man, but the Gospel also teaches us that it is nothing but grace and grace alone that can awaken a poor sinner and to be brought to Christ. Grace alone can bring us to Christ and His Father and nothing else. If anything but grace could bring us to Christ, then the Gospel would be less or something other than grace alone. It is not the will of man that can bring a soul or enable a soul to come to Christ, but it is grace alone that can do so.

John 6:45 tells us quite clearly that no one “can” come to Me unless the Father draws him. The word “can” is a word that tells us of ability. In other words, no one has the ability to come to Christ unless the Father draws him. There is no ability in the will of man and there is no ability in any other part or aspect of man either. The ability or power that is needed to bring a man to Christ is a Divine power and that alone will do it. The power of man cannot possibly do what is needed especially when man has no power at all. Man must bow to the wisdom and power of God in Christ and ask to be drawn rather than trying to do it in the strength of self.

Without question, according to Scripture, there is only one reason that God will draw a sinner to Christ. That is to the praise of the glory of His grace. Sinners, whether true believers or not, must be drawn to Christ by grace. Sinners need to stop their striving as if these things come by works and seek the Lord for grace. The striving must come from the strength of grace which works out of love from God and for God, but it must not be an effort to obtain grace or earn it in some way. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us salvation is by grace and grace alone. We must not add one thing to it in order that it would be all from Him and would be to His glory.