| Back | Contents | Next |
Many true believers are weak and seriously doubt if they will ever be sure of the soundness of their own faith and effectual calling43 or be made certain of their justification and salvation. This is exacerbated when they see that many who profess faith are found to have deceived themselves. Let us see how every believer may be made strong in the faith and sure of his own election and salvation upon solid grounds by sure warrants and true evidences of faith. For this purpose, among many other Scriptures, take these following.
First, for laying solid grounds of faith, consider: “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:10 ESV). [These qualities are faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love, which qualities are further discussed later in this Sum.] In these words, the Apostle teaches us these four things for help and direction concerning how to be made strong in the faith.
Those who believe in Christ Jesus and are fled to Him for relief from sin and wrath, even though they are weak in the faith, they are indeed children of the same Father with the Apostles. For so he considers them by calling them brothers.44
Although we may not be sure of our election or of the time of our effectual calling, yet we may be made sure of both, if we use diligence; this is implied by: “be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.”
We must not be discouraged when we see many seeming believers prove to be rotten branches and defect from Christ. Rather, we must take better heed to ourselves: “Therefore, brothers,” he says, “be all the more diligent.”
The way to be sure both of our election and effectual calling is to make sure work of our faith by laying the grounds of it solidly and bringing forth the fruits of our faith in new [and growing and improving] obedience constantly. “For if you practice these qualities,” he says, “you will never fall,” understanding by “these qualities,” what he had said concerning sound faith in 2 Peter 1–4,45 and what he had said of the bringing out of the fruits of faith in 2 Peter 1:5–8.46
To this same purpose, consider: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1–4 ESV). In this passage, the Apostle teaches us these four things for laying the ground of faith solidly:
Everyone is a true believer, who:
From the sense of his sin and from fear of God’s wrath, flees for full relief from both of them to Jesus Christ alone, the only Mediator and all-sufficient Redeemer of men, and
Being fled to Christ, strives against his own flesh, or corrupt inclination of nature. He also studies and strives to follow the rule of God’s Spirit set down in His Word.
For the one whom the Apostle here blesses as a true believer is a person in Christ Jesus “who walks not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
All who have fled to Christ and strive against sin, however much they may possibly be exercised under the sense of wrath and fear of condemnation, they are not actually in any danger, for “There is no condemnation,” he says, “for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The Apostle himself (brought in here by way of example) and all other true believers in Christ are by nature under the Law of sin and death, also called the Covenant of Works. It is called the “Law of sin and death” because it binds sin and death upon us till Christ sets us free. Yet the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, or the Covenant of Grace, sets the Apostle and all true believers free from the Law of sin and death, or the Covenant of Works. The Law of the Spirit of Life is called so, because it enables and enlivens a person to a spiritual life through Christ. Thus, everybody may say with the Apostle, “The Law of the Spirit of life, or Covenant of Grace has freed me from the Law of sin and death, or the Covenant of Works.
The source and first ground from which our freedom from the curse of the Law flows is the Covenant of Redemption, established between God the Father and God the Son as the God-Man.47 In this Covenant, Christ takes the curse of the Law upon Himself for sin, so that the believer, who could not otherwise be delivered from the Covenant of Works, may be delivered from it. And the Apostle shows forth this teaching in these four branches:
That it was utterly impossible for the Law, or Covenant of Works, to bring righteousness and life to a sinner because it was weak.
That this weakness and inability of the Law, or Covenant of Works, is not the fault of the Law, but the fault of sinful flesh, which is neither able to pay the penalty of sin, nor able to give perfect obedience to the Law (presupposing past sins were forgiven). The Law was weak, he said, “through the flesh.”48
That the righteousness and salvation of sinners, which were impossible to be brought about by the Law, are brought to pass by sending God’s own son, Jesus Christ in the flesh, in whose flesh sin is condemned and punished to make satisfaction on behalf of the Elect that they might be set free.
That by this means, the Law is fully satisfied because the righteousness of the Law is best fulfilled this way: First by Christ, giving perfect active obedience in our name to the Law in all things. Next, by His paying the penalty in our name (due to our sins) in his death. And lastly, by His working sanctification in us who are true believers and who strive to give new, [growing, and improving] obedience to the Law and “who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Navigation, Practical Use, Present: It can be difficult to be assured that God wants you to be His lovingly adopted child, yes, you individually and personally, with all your sins, weaknesses, and defects. Four warrants from God’s Word are presented to show that God really means it.
43 God continually calls all people to Christ. The Elect were chosen before the world was even created. Then there comes a time in the life of an elect person when the Holy Spirit actually regenerates his or her heart and grants saving faith and repentance. This event is called effectual calling in theology or getting saved in colloquial discourse.
44 Notice also the phrase, “a faith of equal standing with ours” in verse one below. The emphasis is not on the strength of the faith, but on the standing with respect to God brought about by the gift of faith. “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1 ESV).
45 “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:1–4 ESV).
46 “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:5–10 ESV). These passages will be further explained later in this Sum.
47 When Mary conceived the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God attached to Himself a full and complete human nature of body and soul. Both His divine and human natures are full and complete in one Person, but without mixture between the two. This event is frequently termed the incarnation of Christ.
48 “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3 ESV).
| Back | Contents | Next |