Instead of Complaining…

From a letter by John Newton on May 31, 1775:

“My experience is made up of enigmas, but the sum and solution of all is, that I am a vile creature, but I have a good Lord.  He has chosen me; and I through his rich grace have chosen him.  I trust there is an engagement between him and my soul, which shall never be broken, because he has undertaken for both parts, that he will never forsake me, and that I shall never forsake him.”

“Oh, I like those royal, sovereign words “I will” and “You shall.”  How sweetly are they suited to the sense and long experience he has given me of my own weakness, and the power and subtlety of Satan.  If my conflicts terminate in victory, it must be owing to his arm, and for his own name’s sake, for I in myself have neither strength nor plea.  If I were not so poor, so sick, so foolish, the power, skill, riches, wisdom, and mercy of my Physician, Shepherd, and Savior would not be so signally illustrated in my own case.”

“Upon this account, instead of complaining, we may glory in our infirmities.  Oh, it is pleasant to be deeply indebted to him, to find him, and own him, all in all: ‘Our Husband, Shepherd, Brother, Friend / Our Guide, and Guard, our Way, and End!’”

The Works of John Newton, VI, page 275-276.

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Luther on Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)

This is a repost from March 15, 2011.

Here are some great words from Martin Luther on salvation by grace alone.  These quotes are from a sermon on Titus 3:4-8 and can be found in volume 3 of Baker’s 7-volume set of Luther’s sermons (edited by J. N. Lenker and others).

“So he [Paul in Titus 3:5-7] discards all boasted free will, all human virtue, righteousness, and good works.  He concludes that they are all nothing and are wholly perverted, however brilliant and worthy they may appear, and teaches that we must be saved solely by the grace of God, which is effective for all believers who desire it from a correct conception of their own ruin and nothingness.”

“Yes, dear friend, you must first possess heaven and salvation before you can do good works.  Works never merit heaven; heaven is conferred purely of grace.”

“The delusive doctrine of works blinds the Christian’s eyes, perverts a right understanding of faith, and forces him from the way of truth and salvation.”

“He who does not receive salvation purely through grace, independently of all good works, certainly will never secure it.”

“Truly, then, we are saved by grace alone, without works or other merit.”

“Notice [from John 3:16], all who believe have eternal life.  That being true, believers certainly are just and holy without works.  Works contribute nothing to justification.  It is effected by pure grace richly poured out upon us.”

“We receive absolution [forgiveness] and grace at no cost or labor on our part, but not without cost and labor on the part of Christ.”

“Our salvation must exist, not in our righteousness, but…in Christ’s righteousness. …Let his righteousness and grace, not yours, be your refuge” (p. 3.2.142ff)

Luther’s words remind me of the great hymn by H. Bonar that we often sing in the liturgy after the absolution (assurance of pardon): “Thy grace alone O God / to me can pardon speak; / thy power alone O Son of God / can this sore bondage break / No other work save thine / no other blood will do / no strength save that which is divine / can bear me safely through!”

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Second Clement, Effectual Calling, and Regeneration

2 Clement is an early sermon or “word of exhortation” that was written around 100 AD (or possible around 130 AD).  It was written not by Clement, but by an anonymous presbyter.  Michael Holmes calls it “the oldest surviving complete Christian sermon outside the New Testament.”

The sermon opens with an exhortation to “think of Jesus Christ as we do of God.”  The preacher then states that since Christ has suffered so greatly for us to save us, we owe him our praise.  Here’s how he explains this salvation (in 1:7-8).

“Our minds were blinded, and we worshiped stones and wood and gold and silver and brass, things made by humans; indeed, our whole life was nothing but death.  So while we were thus wrapped in darkness and our vision was filled with this thick mist we recovered our sight, by his will laying aside the cloud wrapped around us.”

“For he had mercy upon us and in his compassion he saved us when we had no hope of salvation except that which comes from him, even though he had seen in us much deception and destruction.  For he called us (ekalesen) when we did not exist (ouk ontaj), and out of nothing (ek mh ontoj) willed us into being.”

These are great phrases that describe God’s sovereign grace in effectual calling and regeneration.  The Apostle put it this way: God…gives life to the dead and calls (kalountoj) into existence the things that do not exist (ta mh onta wj onta) (Rom 4.17).  Even when we were dead in our trespasses [he] made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved (Eph 2:5).

This passage from 2 Clement is a great reminder that the Protestant Reformers didn’t make up the doctrines of grace; they stood in line with the historic Christian church, and on the shoulders of the Apostle Paul.

The above quote from 2 Clement can be found in The Apostolic Fathers, 3rd edition, edited and translated by Michael W. Holmes.

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We Do Not Bear Him

Here’s a wonderful excerpt from a sermon Martin Luther preached on Isaiah 9:1-7 (Christmas Day, 1532).

“Thus, now, we hear how wonderfully and lovingly the prophet Isaiah describes Christ.  He is a child and son, he says, who is born and given to us, is a Lord and possesses a government.  But what kind of a Lord is he?  He is a Lord who bears us and on whose shoulder we lie.  If he does not bear us, we are lost.  If pope, bishops, monks, and priests believed this, they would deal much differently with this matter.  However, they do not want to be borne by Christ; instead they bear Christ, as they seem to think, and to them Christ is merely a painted Christ.  For in their thinking they believe they are to live in this or that manner, fast and pray, do enough to pay for their sins and appease God’s anger.”

“But that sort of carrying is contradictory.  If Christ does not bear you but you try to bear him, that will be a very heavy load for you, just as if a lost and strayed sheep would say to its shepherd who wanted to carry it: No, dear shepherd, you are not to carry me; I wish to carry you; sit on me!  Obviously that sheep would be crushed by the load.”

“But if the sheep is to be helped, the sheep must speak like this: Accept my thanks, dear Shepherd, for seeking and carrying me; I cannot carry you, but I shall let you carry me.”

“So also in Christ’s kingdom!  Christ wants to carry his sheep, just like a shepherd carries a poor, wretched, strayed sheep.  He speaks to a poor sinner in this manner: You are conceived and born in sin, you have angered God by many sins and are condemned to death; but you are not to suffer anguish on account of this, for your sins are forgiven you; simply lie on my shoulder, I want to carry you before God.”

This sermon and quote is in Volume 7 (pages 227-8) of The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther.

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Salvation: All of God, All of Grace

  (This is a repost from November 2011)

Here’s a great section from a great book:

“The doctrines of grace [a.k.a. TULIP] stand or fall together, and together they point to one central truth: salvation is all of grace because it is all of God; and because it is all of God, it is all for his glory.”

“To fully appreciate the glory of God in the doctrines of grace, it helps to recognize the role of each person of the Trinity in the Five Points of Calvinism.  Election is the choice of God the Father.  The atonement is the sacrifice of God the Son.  The grace that draws us to Christ and enables us to persevere to the very end is the work of God the Holy Spirit.  Thus salvation is all God’s work from beginning to end – the coordinated work of the triune God – as it must be, if we are to be saved.”

“Consider: if we are actually dead in ours sins (radical depravity), then only God could choose us in Christ (unconditional election), only Christ could atone for our sins (particular redemption), and only the Spirit could draw us to Christ (efficacious grace) and preserve us in him (persevering grace).  Therefore, all praise and glory belong to God alone: ‘For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever!’ (Rom. 11:36).

James M. Boice and Phillip Graham Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace (Wheaton: Crossway 2009), pages 32-33.

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