Sincere free offer

[Charles Johnson]

That’s strange semantics. It’s a type of covenant of works. I believe it’s semi-pelagian.———————————————————-
Q. 85. What doth God require of us that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.
Q. 76. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby, out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, and upon the apprehension of God's mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, he so grieves for and hates his sins, as that he turns from them all to God, purposing and endeavoring constantly to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience.

This is all part of the active and passive Christian experience. We are taught and instructed in what we need, what we do, who we are, and why that is. .... One truth does not negate the other. There is the paradox, the compliment and the balance. So we offer, we command, we hope, we expect.... I don’t think we need to place any limits. I don’t believe the command for a dead sinner to believe and repent places limits. To not do so does.

I'm sorry Anthony, I'm not following your logic. The Covenant of Grace requires repentance. Repentance is a work. The Covenant of Grace is not a covenant of works. So therefore, requiring works in any sense is not sufficient to make a covenant a covenant of works. To show that something is a covenant of works, we must also show to what end it requires works. Does it ask for works in order to merit eternal life? That would be a covenant of works. Does it ask for works in fulfilment of the moral law as a law of faith and repentance for those who believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life? That would not be a covenant of works. Both the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace require man to uphold God's moral law, but they don't require it in the same way.

 

[BRK]

And yet it is not preached: hope God may enable you to repent and believe. I actually sat in a church like that for 10 years. Do you know what that amounts to? Drudgery.​

Of course, brother, the command to repent and believe the gospel is proclaimed in Scripture (e.g., Mk. 1:15). This ought to spurn a sense of urgency to turn from sin and trust in Christ alone as savior. Yet, it is also true that God must grant what he commands because man in his fallen estate cannot submit to the law of God (Rom. 8:7-8, WCF 6.4). If God did not graciously supply that which he requires of man for salvation, none could or would want to cling to Christ! Both faith (Phil. 1:29) and repentance (Acts 11:18, 2 Tim. 2:25) are gifts of God which are supplied by his free grace unto the elect only, having been bought by the blood of Christ (see Head IV of the SOSK below). Hence we can preach as did Paul (Eph. 2:8-9) that salvation is by grace alone (free) through the instrumentation of faith (condition), which God grants not according to works (merit). Note, if there be confusion of the terms "condition" and "merit", I mean by the former a requirement as opposed to the latter which intimates reward.

The Sum of Saving Knowledge
HEAD IV​

​

The blessings which are effectually conveyed by these means to the Lord’s elect, or chosen ones. Mat. 22:14. Many are called, but few are chosen.​

​

I. BY these outward ordinances, as our Lord makes the reprobate inexcusable, so, by the power of his Spirit, he applies unto the elect, effectually, all saving graces purchased to them in the covenant of redemption, and maketh a change in their persons. In particular, ​

1. He doth convert or regenerate them, by giving spiritual life to them, in opening their understandings, renewing their wills, affections, and faculties, for giving spiritual obedience to his commands. ​
2. He gives them saving faith, by making them, in the sense of deserved condemnation, to give their consent heartily to the covenant of grace, and to embrace Jesus Christ unfeignedly. ​
3. He gives them repentance, by making them, with godly sorrow, in the hatred of sin, and love of righteousness, turn from all iniquity to the service of God. And ​
4. He sanctifies them, by making them go on and persevere in faith and spiritual obedience to the law of God, manifested by fruitfulness in all duties, and doing good works, as God offereth occasion.​

II. Together with this inward change of their persons, God changes also their state: for so soon as they are brought by faith into the covenant of grace, ​

1. He justifies them, by imputing unto them that perfect obedience with Christ gave to the law, and the satisfaction also which upon the cross Christ gave unto justice in their name. ​
2. He reconciles them, and makes them friends to God, who were before enemies to God. ​
3. He adopts them, that they shall be no more children of Satan, but children of God, enriched with all spiritual privileges of his sons. And, last of all, after their warfare in this life is ended, he perfects the holiness and blessedness, first of their souls at their death, and then both of their souls and their bodies, being joyfully joined together again in the resurrection, at the day of his glorious coming to judgment, when all the wicked shall be sent away to hell, with Satan whom they have served: but Christ’s own chosen and redeemed ones, true believers, students of holiness, shall remain with himself for ever, in the state of glorification.​

Westminster Assembly. (1851). The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition (p. 435). Philadelphia: William S. Young.​

 

[SeanPatrickCornell]

The Covenant of Grace requires repentance. Repentance is a work. The Covenant of Grace is not a covenant of works. S

Repentance and faith are conditions but they are not works.

 

[JM]

London Baptist Confession of Faith:

This saving repentance is an evangelical grace, whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavour, by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things. ( Zechariah 12:10; Acts 11:18; Ezekiel 36:31; 2 Corinthians 7:11; Psalms 119:6; Psalms 119:128 ) chp. 15.3

John Gill:

Special faith in Christ is of the operation of the Spirit of God:
he produces it by his mighty power in the soul;
he enlightens the mind,
reveals the object,
brings near Christ, his righteousness and salvation, and
enables the sensible sinner to look unto him,
lay hold on him,
and receive his as his Savior and Redeemer;
hence he is called the Spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13);
because he is the author of it, who begins and carries on, and
will perform the work of faith with power:
the principal use of which grace is to receive all from Christ, and
give him the glory.

God has put this honor upon it, to constitute and appoint it to be the receiver-general of all the blessings of grace.

It receives Christ himself as the Father’s free-gift;
it receives out of the fulness of Christ,
even grace for grace,
or and abundance of it;
it receives the blessing of righteousness from the Lord of justification;
it receives the remission of sins through his blood, according to the gospel-declaration;
it receives the adoption of children,
in consequence of the way being opened for it through the redemption which is in Christ;
it receives the inheritance among them that are sanctified,
the right unto it, and the claim upon it; and to this post it is advanced,
that all the glory might redound to the grace of God; it is of faith, that it might be by grace (Rom. 4:16).

FAITH IN GOD AND HIS WORD, A Sermon, Preached at a Wednesday's Evening Lecture, in GREAT EAST-CHEAP, Dec. 27, 1753

Again, The London Baptist Confession of 1689 reads;

ch.14

“The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts,”

“By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the authority of God himself”

“and so is enabled to cast his soul upon the truth thus believed”

ch.15
“This saving repentance is an evangelical grace, whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin”

The idea that all men everywhere must repent is biblical, BUT, the repentance required of the reprobate is legal. All men are guilty of breaking God’s law and therefore must repent of their deeds and they never do. Sure, unsaved people feel guilt or regret over their sins but they still rage against the holy and living God. Only the elect are given the “evangelical grace” of repentance and faith that leads to eternal life.

John Gill’s comments on Acts 20.21 are useful in understanding this subject and so, I post them below.

Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,…. To the Jews first in their synagogue, and then to both Jews and Greeks, or Gentiles, in the school of Tyrannus; opening and explaining to both the nature and use, urging and insisting upon, and proving by undeniable testimonies the necessity,

of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ: the former of these is not a legal repentance, but an evangelical one; which flows from a sense of the love of God, and an application of pardoning grace and mercy, and is always attended with hope, at least of interest in it, and as here with faith in Christ Jesus:

it lies in a true sight and sense of sin, as exceeding sinful, being contrary to the nature and law of God, and a deformation of the image of God in man, as well as followed with dreadful and pernicious consequences; and in a godly sorrow for it, as it is committed against a God of infinite purity and holiness, and of love, grace, and mercy; and it shows itself in shame for sin, and blushing at it, and in an ingenious confession of it, and forsaking it: and the latter of these is not an historical faith, or an assent of the mind to whatsoever is true concerning the person, office, and grace of Christ; but is a spiritual act of the soul upon him;

it is a looking and going out to him, a laying hold and leaning on him, and trusting in him, for grace, righteousness, peace, pardon, life, and salvation. Now these two were the sum of the apostle’s ministry; this is a breviary or compendium of it; a form of sound words held fast and published by him: and as these two go together as doctrines in the ministry of the word, they go together as graces in the experience of the saints; where the one is, there the other is; they are wrought in the soul at one and the same time, by one and the same hand;

the one is not before the other in order of time, however it may be in order of working, or as to visible observation; repentance is mentioned before faith, not that it precedes it, though it may be discerned in its outward acts before it; yet faith as to its inward exercise on Christ is full as early, if not earlier; souls first look to Christ by faith, and then they mourn in tears of evangelical repentance, Zec 12:10 though the order of the Gospel ministry is very fitly here expressed, which is first to lay before sinners the evil of sin, and their danger by it, in order to convince of it, and bring to repentance for it; and then to direct and encourage them to faith in Christ Jesus, as in the case of the jailer, Ac 16:29 and this is, generally speaking, the order and method in which the Holy Spirit proceeds;

he is first a spirit of conviction and illumination, he shows to souls the exceeding sinfulness of sin, causes them to loath it and themselves for it, and humbles them under a sense of it; and then he is a spirit of faith, he reveals Christ unto them as God’s way or salvation, and works faith in them to believe in him. Moreover, these two, repentance and faith, were the two parts of Christ’s ministry, Mr 1:15 and are what, he would have published and insisted on, in the preaching of the word, Lu 24:47 so that the ministry of the apostle was very conformable to the mind and will of Christ. [end quote]

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[Charles Johnson]

Repentance and faith are conditions but they are not works.

Not so. Everything done in keeping with the moral law of God is a work. According to the words of Christ, even faith is a work commanded by the law.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith"

London Baptist Confession of Faith:

This saving repentance is an evangelical grace,

No one is disputing this. Grace and works are not opposed, except in justification. To call repentance a work is not to say it isn't of grace. WCF 16.3 says, "Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ."

 

[JM]

Beeke and Jones explain Goodwin’s position of justification in three points and I believe it's helpful.

1. Immanent in God towards us, as his Eternal love set and passed upon us, out of which He chose us, and designed this and all blessings to us;
2. Transient, in Christ done for us; in all He did or suffered representing for us, and in our stead; or
3. Applicatory, wrought in and upon us, in the endowing us with all those blessings by the Spirit; as calling, justification, sanctification, glorification.

“It is important to note that immanent works take place in eternity; transient works have in this context reference to work of impetration, (the part of salvation done by Christ as mediator) done in time; and God’s applicatory acts, which are existentially experienced, compete the process of redemption.” (Beeke & Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life. page 135)

A change that the authors of the Savoy Declaration made to the Westminster Confession of Faith reflects the dynamics of Goodwin’s position on this point, though one should be careful not to read too much into the change, because Owen clearly sought to distance himself from any form of justification from eternity, Chapter 11.4 of the Westminster Confession reads: ‘God did, from all eternity, decree to justify the elect; and Christ did, in the fullness of time, die for their sins, and rise again for their justification; nevertheless they are not justified until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time actually apply Christ unto them.’ The Confession rejects a form of eternal justification that would make existential faith merely the realization or manifestation of what is already true. However, the Savoy Declaration adds a significant adverb to this statement, making it read like this: ‘God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins, and raise again for their justification: nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them’ (11.4, emphasis added). By adding ‘personally’ to 11.4, the Congregationalists, no doubt influenced by Goodwin, still reject justification from eternity, but leave open the possibility for Goodwin to hold that the elect are eternity justified in their Head, though not personally. (Beeke & Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life. page 137)

I have yet to read Goodwin to any great extent but he’s approach seems to make good(win) sense. Particular Baptists of the 17th century followed the language of the Savoy and left the word personally in Chapter 11.4...just an observation.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[bookslover]

Beeke and Jones explain Goodwin’s position of justification in three points and I believe it's helpful.

1. Immanent in God towards us, as his Eternal love set and passed upon us, out of which He chose us, and designed this and all blessings to us;
2. Transient, in Christ done for us; in all He did or suffered representing for us, and in our stead; or
3. Applicatory, wrought in and upon us, in the endowing us with all those blessings by the Spirit; as calling, justification, sanctification, glorification.

“It is important to note that immanent works take place in eternity; transient works have in this context reference to work of impetration, (the part of salvation done by Christ as mediator) done in time; and God’s applicatory acts, which are existentially experienced, compete the process of redemption.” (Beeke & Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life. page 135)


I have yet to read Goodwin to any great extent but he’s approach seems to make good(win) sense. Particular Baptists of the 17th century followed the language of the Savoy and left the word personally in Chapter 11.4...just an observation.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

That's a terrific book, by the way, which I've almost finished reading (less than 300 pages to go - up to chapter 46).

 

[A.Joseph]

I'm sorry Anthony, I'm not following your logic. The Covenant of Grace requires repentance. Repentance is a work. The Covenant of Grace is not a covenant of works. So therefore, requiring works in any sense is not sufficient to make a covenant a covenant of works. To show that something is a covenant of works, we must also show to what end it requires works. Does it ask for works in order to merit eternal life? That would be a covenant of works. Does it ask for works in fulfilment of the moral law as a law of faith and repentance for those who believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life? That would not be a covenant of works. Both the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace require man to uphold God's moral law, but they don't require it in the same way.

i don’t consider it a work. I’m not comfortable with that word.

It’s a necessary mark or characteristic of the new birth - faith and repentance.

‘Work‘ has lots of baggage. It’s definitely not ‘our’ work as far as it is not within us to generate this work. We are passive and responsive...

But I reckon we are speaking of the same thing and are like minded on this matter.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

John Owen has a useful discussion of how the covenant of grace is both unconditional in one sense and conditional in another in Works 1: 440-41. If we do not affirm that the covenant is unconditional as to "the first communication of grace unto the elect", then we fall into Arminianism. Conversely, if we do not assert that the covenant is (improperly speaking) conditional as to the "many duties required of us", then we wall into Antinomianism.

 

[PaulAB]

Interesting angle. However, it is the Lord Himself Who fulfills the conditions of the Gospel call by regenerating the elect sinner so that he/she can repent and believe. So, in that way, does it not remain ever unconditional?

BTW, Daniel, I believe we met, last year, in the Covenanter Bookshop, Knockbracken?

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Interesting angle. However, it is the Lord Himself Who fulfills the conditions of the Gospel call by regenerating the elect sinner so that he/she can repent and believe. So, in that way, does it not remain ever unconditional?

BTW, Daniel, I believe we met, last year, in the Covenanter Bookshop, Knockbracken?

Properly speaking, the covenant of grace is unconditional, so, yes, you are correct. That is why we refer to the condition(s) of the covenant of grace as conditions in an improper sense.

Yes, I remember meeting you in the bookshop, Paul, though I must admit that I did not immediately recognise your name. Good to see you here, brother. I hope that all is well with you in Canada.

 

[arapahoepark]

Properly speaking, the covenant of grace is unconditional, so, yes, you are correct. That is why we refer to the condition(s) of the covenant of grace as conditions in an improper sense.

Yes, I remember meeting you in the bookshop, Paul, though I must admit that I did not immediately recognise your name. Good to see you here, brother. I hope that all is well with you in Canada.

Indeed!
So many here are using 'conditions' improperly.

 

[Charles Johnson]

If one accepts the premise that the covenant of grace is primarily between God and Christ, then it makes sense to call anything asked of man an improper condition, because man is not properly the covenanter. If memory serves, this is the doctrine of the seceeders. Personally I disagree with this view of the economy of the covenants. I don't think it does a good job of capturing how the administrative covenants are typically represented in Scripture, as being between Jehovah and his people, with real obligations, "restipulationes" in the language of the covenant theologians. Nor does it capture the reality of the covenant union between Christ and his bride, the church. Why not between the Father and the Son, if they are the contracting parties in the covenant of grace? Certainly I agree that Christ is a mediator and covenant head, but in the sense that "the man is the head of the woman" in a marriage. I don't think it's an accident that it was the seceeders, and not the earlier covenant theologians, who were fond of the language of "improper conditions" describing things earlier theologians simply recognized as conditions.

 

[Charles Johnson]

For what it's worth, Puritan Thomas Blake defends the proposition that "the covenant of grace is between God and man, and not between God and Christ" here.

 

[A.Joseph]

I think we can overthink....
In the covenant of grace there is an ultimate condition that is fulfilled by the blood of Jesus.
So the hidden condition is election. Jesus is a complete Savior. But again, that’s a hidden thing. The gospel is not: wait on the Lord to repent and believe. The word is the means to repent and believe (if we are spiritually compelled to do so).