Main Lines of Reformed Doctrine is a series written by Rev. John H. Piersma, pastor of the Bethany Christian Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois. This series is for church societies, study groups, and all others interested. Two lessons appear each month.
LESSON 13
The Way of Salvation (A) Scripture Readings: John 3:1–16; Romans 5:1–8.
Reformed doctrine spenks of an order or way of salvation, discIIs5ing then the various aspects of thai wonderful treasure which is ollr personal redemption through Christ, as it is applied by the Holy Spirit. We will discuss briefly in this lesson (1) the idea of a way of salvation, (2) calling and regeneration, (3) faith and conversion, (4) justification and sanctification, and (5) perseverance and glorification.
The Idea of a Way of Salvation
Our redemption has been earned by Christ, the second Adam. But this salvation is applied to us by the Holy Spirit. For that purpose Christ sent His Holy Spirit from heaven. At the outpouring on the Day of Pentecost this Spirit came to dwell with us. Throughout the Old Testament, however, the Spirit prepared the hearts of God‘s people for the pentecostal indwelling.
The application of salvation takes place in an certain order. For that reason we speak of a way of salvation. The way of salvation is the order in which the Holy Spirit applies to us the benefits earned by our Savior.
The earning and the application of salvation are to be distinguished, but both ought to be viewed as a single, proper work of God. Some overlook the work of application, seeing only the work of Christ by which He earns salvation for His own. This tends to the position that faith alone has a place in salvation, and that there is no need to talk about anything else in this “day of grace.” Others see the application of salvation as solely men’s work, viewing the gospel and its required faith as “a new law.” These tend to minimize the fact that our salvation has been earned by Christ, and ultimately, they tend to end up in Pelagianism (the heresy that man can at least appropriate for himself by his own decision the salvation promised by the gospel).
We offer the following remarks as an introduction to the way of salvation:
a. By regeneration Scripture usually means the total renewal of hearts. This renewal is then presented as a unique work of God. In that sense regeneration includes all other saving benefits. This comprehensive use of the idea of renewal must be kept in mind when we engage in Bible study.
b. Calling must be mentioned ahead of regeneration because God in the work of renewal follows the same pattern as He used originally in creation, namely, to call the things that are not as though they were (Rom. 4:17; Gen. 1:3ff). God’s calling really governs all of salvation. It indicates among other things, that salvation is both a gift of God and a demand by God, that it involves both a gift from God and a demand by God, that it involves both grace and responsibility. On the one hand God’s calling is an immediate and direct act of God by which He opens the heart and actuates the will so that we may believe and love the Savior (cf. Canons of Dort, III–IV, 11–13).
On the other hand the call of God which comes by His revelation in His works and Word is indirect and mediate. That is, it comes to us for example, through the preaching of the gospel. It might be helpful to state here that sometimes Reformed thinkers speak of regeneration in a very limited sense. It is then merely that enlivening, turning and activating of the heart which precedes all conscious knowledge of salvation. In fact, regeneration is tllen limited to the subconscious, to that which takes place prior to any awareness of faith in and love for the Lord. Calling then becomes that act of God by which lie awakens the yet slumbering new life, and in that sense, is said to follow after regeneration. Others, such as we, prefer to speak as Paul does in Romans 4:17. Then calling may be said to precede regeneration.
c. By conversion Scripture does not only indicate the manifestation of the fruits of tnle faith in the life of the Christian. but also the very turn from unbelief to God. This turning is possible only by faith, and it always results in growth in grace. It is also an abandonment of all trust in self in favor of an exclusive trust in the Lord. For that reason Scripture sometimes places conversion ahead of faith (Mark 1:14, 15, “Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel”). It can therefore also speak of “fruits worthy of your repentance.” In the light of this it is extremely important that we distinguish very sharply between conversion, even daily conversion, and sanctification.
We would offer the following arrangement of the way of salvation: first. calling and regeneration, which includes the changing of the heart, faith and conversion, justification and sanctification, perseverance and glorification.
Calling and Regeneration (the Changing of the Heart)
There is a direct, immediate divine calling. Even as God spoke in His work of creation, so He also brings into existence our recreation by His powerful Word. “For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9). And again: He “calleth the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom. 4:17). “By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen is not made out of things which appear” (Heb. 11:3). By this immediate calling God directs the heart to His revelation. By means of this immediate calling of God that comes about which is first in regeneration: the changing or turning of the heart. There is, however, also a calling of God which comes to man by means of His revelation.
This second kind of calling may be distinguished into a general and a more particular, the calling which comes through His revelation in the works of His hands and that which comes in His Word, the Scriptures. The first comes in God’s general revelation to all men. This calling does not by itself, apart from the calling which is in the Word. bring man to conversion (Psalm 19 is very illuminating at this point: the heavens tell God’s glory and the firmament shows His handiwork, but it is only the law of God, that is, the Word of God. which changes the heart). This general calling is a continuous complaint against man’s conscience because of his rejection of God’s Word. The result of this calling is that men lire without excuse (Rom. 1:20).
By thc calling which comes through His Word, God brings His own to faith and conversion. Also this is distinguishable in Iwo parts. Many people hear the Word but do not come to faith, while others give themselves in faith to the Word of God. In the last instance we see the opening of the heart by the Holy Spirit so that the heart is moved by the Word to believe. In the first instance, that of the hearer who does not believe, the heart remains closed. In connection with this we speak of external calling (Matt. 22:14, “For many are called, but few chosen”). In the second instance we see the internal call (Rom. 8:30, “and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified”). As the Canons of Dort teach, regeneration is not effected “merely by the eternal preaching of the Gospel . . . but it is evidently a supernatural work . . . not inferior in efficacy to creation or the resurrection from the dead” (III–IV, 12).
Regeneration is spoken of in a threefold sense:
a. The regeneration of the heavens and the earth: Matthew 19:28, “And Jesus si!id lInto them, Verily 1 say unto you, that ye who have followed mc, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes or Israel.”
b. Regeneration is the divine renewal of our whole life. As John 3:5 says, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” The Belgic Confession states: “We believe that this true faith, being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God and the operation of the Holy Spirit, regenerates him and makes him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the bondage of sin” (Art. XXIV).
c. Regeneration is frequently spoken of as renewal of the heart, and this is distinguishable from the renewing of our whole life. This distinction was made in connection with the position that younger children who die in the Lord are regenerate, and by observance of those believers who fall into sin so far as to lose even “the sense of God’s favor” (Canons of Dort, V, 5). These may vocally deny the Lord, cf. John 18:27. God’s work of regeneration is, however, a total renewal of our lives. It is also from beginning to end one great and indivisible work of God. It must not be broken down into pieces, nor may it be represented as something which is capable of interruption or frustration by man. To go back to the Canons. Cod preserves in us “the incorruptible seed of regeneration” (V, 7). In this life regeneration is known only in principle, and our best works, therefore, fall far short of the perfection this work promises in the life to come. It is indeed possible for children to be regenerated even though it be only insofar as is possible for people at that stage of development.
Incidentally, we reject the idea of “baptismal regeneration,” the teaching that the new life is effected by means of baptism. Further comment on this will be made when we take up the doctrine of the church and the means of grace.
When we speak of regeneration as a real change in a man’s heart we must recognize that it is primarily something immediate in origin. It is a direct act of God. There is a direct working of the Holy Spirit on the heart which is to be distinguished from the working of the Spirit through the Word. We read in Scripture that “a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things which were spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). Other passages indicating the direct working of the Spirit are I Corinthians 2:12–15 and Ephesians 1:17–20.
But even this immediate working of the Spirit is never separate from the Word, since ours is the promise that Christ “with respect to His Godhead, majesty, grace, and Spirit” (Heidelberg Catechism XVIII:47 ) will never fail to accompany the hearers of the gospel (“and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,” Matt. 28:20b). And especially when we speak of regeneration in the all–comprehensive sense, as something which extends to all of life, we recognize that it takes place through the Word, for we have been “begotten again, not of corruptible seed , but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth” (I Pet. 1:23). By such a working of the Spirit we arc ingrafted into Christ so that we are reborn in Him and with Him. He is our life (Col. 3:4).
Two views of regeneration must be rejected:
a. The Pelagian view. It regards regeneration as a rearrangement of life according to a different purpose, and that this is done by ourselves. Surely we are called as return Christians to live a new life, but regeneration is more radical than that. It is in very fact a new birth (in contrast with a mere restoration or reformation). Regeneration as a word stresses the primarily passive aspect of this renewal. In it we are the objects of God’s grace. This must he maintained!
b. The Anabaptist view. It speaks of regeneration as the infusion of a new substance, which means that it would be an endowment of man with something totally and absolutely different or new. This goes too far in the opposite direction from Pelagianism. The Bible speaks of believers as the same persons both before and after God’s regenerative working: “And such were some of you [immoral unbelievers, JHP]; but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God” (I Cor. 6:11, cf. also vss. 9, 10). The Canons of Dort say, therefore, that in regeneration God “infuses new qualities into the will” (III–IV, 11) We understand this to mean that the believer ns regenerate is not on alien in God’s world but is rather re-born so that he begins again to live for God. Regeneration’s first meaning is a change or one’s life’s direction.
To help with discussion:
1. Why do we dare to say that we can, on the basis of Scripture, program the work of the Spirit in the life of the believer? Can this lead to something too mechanical and arbitrary? 2. By our acceptance of the idea of a way of salvation do We imply that we know exactly how the working of the Spirit will take place in the life as well as the heart of any individual believer? 3. Someone has said that we must think of the various “steps” in the way of salvation as organically rather than mechanically related. Do you agree? Does this mean that God might cover the whole range of the way of salvation in one moment? 4. Why do all evangelical Christians stress the fundamental necessity of being born again? What kind of “Christianity-so-called” do we get if we fail to emphasize the need to be born again? 5. What according to Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3: 10 is the precise nature of the new birth so far as the image of God in man is concerned? 6. If we must be born again to be saved, how do we come to know that we are saved (after all, none of us remembers the moment of our birth!)? Was L. L. Berkhof right when he said, “Regeneration is a secret and inscrutable work of God that is never directly perceived by man, but can be perceived only in its effects?” 7. What effects of regeneration ought to be noticeable in the life of the Christian? 8. Does the fact that there is a direct and immediate work of God in the heart of the believer by which we arc born again mean that we can do nothing about salvation anyway? If we can do something about it, what might it be? (Cf. Canons of Dort, III–IV, 17). 9. Many of us had parents and grandparents who spent many hours discussing the true marks of a Christian faith, or who spoke of “experimental Christianity.” Is there in the Reformed doctrine of regeneration any justification for such discussion?
LESSON 14
The Way of Salvation (B) Scripture Readings: John 3:1–16; Romans 5:1–8
We continue our discussion of the order or way of salvation. The headings will be: Faith and conversion, justification and sanctification, perseverance and glorification.
Faith and Conversion
The nature of faith is to accept something as true upon the testimony of someone else and by virtue of that acceptance to gain knowledge of that testimony. Certainty is the result if one knows that the witness is reliable and trustworthy. “True faith is a sure knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word” (Heidelberg Catechism, VII:21). We know God by His Word. We believe Him.
A second characteristic of true faith, distinguishable from the knowledge gained in the way of the truthful testimony of
God in His Word. is a personal acquiescence and obedience, the bowing of one’s head in agreement with the judgment that the Word speaks upon our lives. Obedience and faith are linked in Scripture (cf. Rom. 1:5).
God’s Word contains many Covenant promises and therefore faith includes trust and confidence as well as knowledge. This confidence, says the Catechism, is worked in my heart by the Holy Spirit through the gospel. This is not to say that faith-knowledge, in distinction from confidence, is not a result of the Spirit’s working. As the Canons of Dort emphaSize, God alone produces both the will to believe and the act of believing also (III–IV, 14).
Knowledge and confidence are not really separable: if we hear God’s Word as His Word then we will also rest in His grace. It is not helpful to distinguish between faith And the certainty or assurance of faith so as to suggest that faith is merely an acceptance of the historical truthfulness of the content of Scripture, and assurance is something extra, a confidence by which we know that we are the possession of Jesus Christ, with the latter obtainable only in the way of some confirming experience. Some have tried in this way to distinguish between the being and the well-being of faith. Others speak of refuge-taking (the fleeing of a sinner in panic to God) and assured faith. Actually, if we take refuge in God by faith we will never be without confidenee. All Faith includes assurance. The differences among us are merely of strength and clarity.
There are certain things that give an appearance of faith which must actually be set off from that true faith by which we are saved:
a. “Historical faith’: This seems to accept the content of Scripture as true. But the sacred Scriptures are reduced to something profane by such “believers,” for the sacred wonder of God’s grace is not appreciated. This kind of faith really amounts to little more than a rational conviction. The Scriptures speak of this when they speak of the faith of Agrippa (“King Aggrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that tho belivest,” Acts 26:27), and of the faith of Simon the Sorcerer (“And Simon himself also believed: and being baptized, he continued with Philip; and beholding signs and great miracles wrought, he was amazed,” Acts 8:13; cf. vs. 21). James speaks of this also when he writes, “Thou believest that God is one; thou does! well: the demons also believe, and shudder” (2:19).
b. “Temporary faith”: Of this Jesus speaks in the Parable of the Sower. In this pseudo-faith the emotions arc deeply stirred. It fails in the face of opposition.
c. “Miraculous faith”: According to I Corinthians 13:2 (“and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing”) this is an activity of man’s will. Miraculous faith either believes that one is or might be able to perform something miraculous or that one may expect something miraculous to happen to him. This kind of faith is not always accompanied by the faith that is unto salvation.
The faith by which we are Sowed proceeds from the regenerated heart and thus controls the whole man. This faith is a work of the Holy Spirit, a gift of God: “for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). The Holy Spirit works and strengthens such faith by the means of grace: the preaching of the holy gospel and the administration of the holy sacraments. In faith we are, however, personally active: we accept the Word of the Lord as it is proclaimed in the preaching and as it is signified and sealed in the sacraments.
The Holy Spirit does not add some extra function or capacity when He works faith. so that a believer has some constituent element which the unbeliever lacks. Faith as a function of human nature was not lost in the Fall. Man’s faith was then redirected, its object became man himself and his idols. The granting of faith by God through the Spirit is not a new work but a recreation. In connection with the turning and renewing of our hearts the Holy Spirit directs our faith to the Word of God and thereby to God Himself. And by the Spirit the Word of grace endows that faith with new power so that attachment is made between faith and Word. Again, faith in the believer activates him. Having been moved, faith itself moves so that the Christian, having been brought to the Word, strives by all means to hold fast to that Word.
Conversion is that part of the way of salvation which involves a deliberate turning to God in repentance and faith. True conversion is not a turning from sin to virtue, but a turning of the sinner to God. Scripture speaks of godly and worldly sorrow (“For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death,” II Cor. 7:10). This “sorrow of the world” is a remorse because of the consequences of one’s sins. “Godly sorrow” is a sorrow after God, a sense of personal guilt and awareness of transgression against God.
Sorrow for sin is the outstanding feature of all kinds of conversion. This is not the sorrow of pessimism or despair, for these are the products of unbelief. It is rather a profound, sincere, “human” conviction that one has not been faithful to God and obedient to His law.
Scripture speaks of conversion also as a change of mind, which implies that one’s spirit is now directed to God, and as a change of life this means that the converted act and work for the glory of God.
Like regeneration and faith, conversion is an act of God, a working of the Spirit. Jeremiah says this in Lamentations 5:21, “Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.” It must be understood, however, that as, in faith, conversion is not only passive, that is, something done by God for and in us. It is also active, d1at is, God having infused new qualities into the will, that will now begins to function–showing evidences of a desire for the good, obedience, responsibility, etc. (cf. Canons of Dort, III–IV, 11). In conversion the heart is not merely turned to Cod. but man’s spirit also, changed and renewed by the power of Word and Spirit, now directs and adapts itself to God. Paul speaks in Romans 7:23 of “the law of my mind,” which is that rule he discovers in himself by which his spirit consciously moves toward and relates to God. Paul knows also of a contrary power which drives him toward sin. still present after his conversion, and which requires the continuous renewing activity of the Spirit to overcome.
Reformed thinkers distinguish also between a primary and a repeated or daily conversion, and of a renewed conversion. The Heidelberg Catechism speaks of conversion as the mortification of the old man and the quickening of the new man. The mortification of the old man is a “heartfelt sorrow that we have provoked God by our sins, and more and more to hate them and flee from them.” The quickening of the new man is a “heartfelt joy in God through Christ, and with love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works.”
Justification and Sanctification
Justification is that judicial or legal act of God whereby He declares the sinner free from guilt and punishment and grants him title to everlasting life.
Justification is a juridical act of God. The Romanists see justification as an ethical act of God, so that a Christian is righteous only insofar as he is sanctified. The Reformed faith teaches that justification is not based upon sanctification, but that sanctification follows from justification.
The ground of our justification lies in the righteousness earned by Christ. This righteousness is not infused but imputed to us (“For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of one shall the many be made righteous” Rom. 5:19). Justification consists of two parts: the forgiveness of sins and the entitlement to everlasting life. This is well stated in the Heidelberg Catechism (Lord’s Day XXIII, Ques. and Ans. 60):
How arc you righteous before God?
Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; that is, though my conscience accuse me that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil, yet God, without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never had nor committed any sins and myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me; if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.
Justification is a once-for-all, definite pronouncement. Nevertheless Scripture reveals the following distinctions, an eternal justification in the divine decree which is carried out in various moments (not steps!) in the life of the believer. We may arrange these as follows:
a. Justification in God’s decree (“having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” Eph. 1:5). In this sense one can speak of justification from eternity.
b. In the resurrection of our Lord all His own were justified in Him as their Head (“who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised up for our justification,” Rom, 4:25).
c. At the moment of our regcneration viewed as the heginning of our renewal, for if God wills to renew sinful man then He must look lIpon him as forgiven in Christ. To this point we have been speaking of justification as something which precedes faith.
d. The justification which is by faith, by which we come to be free in our consciences from the guilt of sin. The gospel of God’s aquittal in Christ arouses faith in us, a faith which seizes that “good news” and clings to it.
e. Finally, there is the justification in the last judgment.
Justification is an act of God. It proceeds from Him alone. It takes place, however, only through faith. God gives us the righteousness of Christ, imputing or reckoning it unto us, but we must, however, put forth the hand of faith to receive it. For that reason it is urgently necessary to press upon men the need for faith. The fact that faith is a gift of God does not make this unnecessary or futile: faith is given only in the way of compliance with His demand. That is why it is wrong to say with the Arminians or Remonstrants that we are justified “on account of the worthiness of my faith” (Heidelberg Catechism, XXIII:61). Scripture always speaks of justification by or through or out of faith.
The forgiveness of sins in justification is total. It forgives even those sins yet to be committed. Nevertheless fellowship with God is always disturbed by our sins, arousing the pain of shame and guilt, the awareness that we are really worthy of God’s rejection. For that reason the prayer for forgiveness is always necessary.
The declaration that justification is “by faith” (Rom. 5:7), apart from the works of the law (Rom, 4:5) does not conflict with James 2:24, “Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.” James is looking at works not as the meritorious cause of our justification, hut as fruits of faith. The believer is justified by faith, hut this faith can function only in the sphere of Christian love and obedience.
Our good works cannot he meritorious because:
a. then the work of Christ would not be perfect;
b. good works come after justification;c. good works are themselves gifts of God which only make us the more indebted to Him;
d. our good works are imperfect and stained with sin (“For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away,” Is. 64:6).
By walking in good works we grow in God’s fellowship. Precisely therein lies the reward for our good works. This improvement of our fellowship with God has a significance that goes beyond this life. There is in the future a distinction in glory: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them” (Rev. 14:13).
Sanctification is an ethical act of God by which He writes His law upon our hearts and thus renews us after His own image.
Justification is juridical, legal; sanctification is ethical. The former removes the guilt, the latter the pollution of sin. Justification takes place but once; sanctification is a gradual process.
Sanctification is, however, also a benefit earned for us by Christ. It is given by God really and principally with faith (“For we Me his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them,” Eph. 2:10). It is further applied to us in the way of fellowship with Christ through faith in His Word.
The perfectionist teaching, very prominent in our day, is refuted by such passages as Romans 7:14, James 3:2, I John 1:8 (cf. also Heidelberg Catechism, XXIV:62).
Perseverance and Glorification
That believers can fall into sin hut cannot fall out of grace is, passively, their preservation, and, actively, their perseverance. Grounds for this teaching may be found in Romans 11:29, “For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of,” and in the golden chain of salvation found in Romans 8:30, “and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” The assurance of salvation relates directly to the truth of the perseverance of the saints “who also scaled us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” ( II Cor. 1:22).
We will deal with glorification in our final lesson.
To help with discussion:
1 Do you think that there is much pseudo-faith in evidence in our day? Why does there seem to be so much confusion as to the precise nature of faith? Do you think that the unbelieving climate of our twentieth century culture has something to do with this?
2. What is the relationship between faith and regeneration? What bearing does the truth of regeneration have upon nature and activity of true faith? 3. Is it perfectly accurate to substitute the expression born-again believer for converted Christian? Do you think that Reformed people in circles such as ours stress adequately the need for genuine conversion? 4. What is the place of conversion in family life? In national life? In congregational or church life? Why do we often resent more than welcome the suggestion that we might need conversion? 5. Does our emphasis on daily conversion sometimes result in a kind of postponement of a definite conversion in our lives? How ought these to he related? 6. What is the force of the doctrine of justification? Is it right to think of it as a cold, legal, objective reality which has little to do with our personal feelings and experience? 8. Does our radical criticism of good works mean that there are no good works in the life of the Christian? Ought we to pursue actively and enthusiastically the doing of good before God and for one another? How? 9. Does the truth of the perseverance of the saints tend to make us complacent and careless? (Should you think so, please read Canons of Dort, V, 14, 15.)