Chapter 3 – The Great Change (part 3)
Section One
Those who have carefully read this magazine, if for only one year, must recognize that whatever be its faults and failings, it cannot fairly be charged with presenting a toned-down picture of a genuine Christian, or that we hail as “Brother and Sister” all who style themselves such. More and more during the last ten years have we sought to expose windy professors and sweep away the sandy foundations on which so many of them rest their worthless hopes. Yet that does not warrant us going to the opposite extreme and cutting off those who are entitled to enjoy a Scriptural assurance; and when we see some doing so themselves, we deem it a duty to stretch forth a helping hand. It was in that spirit we wrote the three articles (included in this booklet) which have already appeared under our present title, for we know some who have concluded that the language of 2 Corinthians 5:17 prohibits them from regarding themselves as regenerated souls; and though others of God’s little ones do not go so far as that, yet its terms have much perplexed their minds.
Having endeavored to remove a stumbling-stone from the path of conscientious souls by showing that 2 Corinthians 5:13-21 does not describe the work of the Holy Spirit within God’s people, but rather that which results legally from what Christ did for them, it seems needful that we should now seek to probe and search out a different class by considering what does take place in one who is supernaturally quickened. In other words, having dealt with the great dispensational change which the death and resurrection of Christ effected, we turn now to contemplate the great experimental change which, in due time, is wrought in each one of those for whom the Redeemer shed His precious blood. There are many in Christendom today who give no evidence that they have been made the subjects of such a change, who nevertheless are fully persuaded they are journeying heavenwards; while there are not a few souls perplexed because uncertain of what this great change consists of.
That which we now propose to treat of may perhaps be best designated “the miracle of grace.” First, because it is produced by the supernatural operations of God. Second, because those operations are wholly of His sovereign benignity, and not because of any worthiness in those who are the favored subjects of it.
Third, because those operations are profoundly mysterious to human ken [knowledge]. Furthermore, that expression, “a miracle of grace,” is sufficiently abstract and general as to include all such terms as being “born again,” “converted,” etc.—which really refer to only one phase or aspect of it. Moreover, it possesses the advantage of placing the emphasis where it properly belongs and ascribes the glory unto Him to whom alone it is due, for God is the sole and unassisted Author—whatever instruments or means He may or may not be pleased to use in the effectuation of the same—in a sinner’s salvation. “It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy” (Romans 9:16). By “a miracle of grace,” we include the whole of God’s work in His people, and not simply His initial act of quickening them.
Nothing short of a miracle of grace can change a “natural man” (1 Corinthians 2:14) into a “spiritual” one (1 Corinthians 2:15). Only the might of Omnipotence is able to emancipate a serf of Satan’s and translate him into the kingdom of Christ. Anything less than the operations of the Holy Spirit is incapable of transforming a child of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2) into a child of obedience (1 Peter 1:14). To bring one whose carnal mind is enmity against God into loving and loyal subjection to Him is beyond all the powers of human persuasion. Yet being supernatural, it necessarily transcends our powers to fully understand. Even those who have actually experienced it can only obtain a right conception thereof by viewing it in the light of those hints upon it, which God has scattered throughout His Word; and even then, but a partial and incomplete concept. As our eyes are too weak for a prolonged gazing upon the sun, so our minds are too gross to take in more than a few scattered rays of the Truth. We see through a glass darkly, and know but in part (1 Corinthians 13:12). Well for us when we are made conscious of our ignorance.
The very fact that the great change, of which we are here treating, is produced by the miracle-working power of God implies that it is one which is more or less inscrutable. All God’s works are shrouded in impenetrable mystery, even when cognizable by our senses. Life, natural life, in its origin, its nature, its processes, baffle the most able and careful investigator. Much more is this the case with spiritual life. The existence and being of God immeasurably transcend the grasp of the finite mind; how then can we expect to fully comprehend the process by which we become His children? Our Lord Himself declared that the new birth was a thing of mystery: “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell whence it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The wind is something about which the most learned scientist knows next to nothing. Its nature, the laws which govern it, its causation, all lie beyond the purview of human inquiry. Thus it is with the new birth: it is profoundly mysterious, defying proud reason’s diagnosis, insusceptible of theological analysis.
The one who supposes he has a clear and adequate comprehension of what takes place in a soul when God plucks him as a brand from the burning is greatly mistaken: “If any man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2). To the very end of his earthly pilgrimage, the best instructed Christian has reason to pray, “That which I see not teach you me” (Job 34:32). Even the theologian and the Bible-teacher is but a learner and—like all his companions in the school of Christ—acquires his knowledge of the Truth gradually: “Here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). He too advances slowly, as one great theme after another is studied by him and opened up to him, requiring him to revise or correct his earlier apprehensions and adjust his views on other portions of the Truth, as fuller light is granted him on any one branch thereof. Necessarily so, for Truth is a unit; and if we err in our understanding of one part of it, that affects our perception of other parts of it.
None should take exception to, nor be surprised at, our saying that even the theologian or Bible-teacher is but a learner and acquires his knowledge of the Truth gradually. “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18). Like the rising of the sun, spiritual light breaks forth upon both preacher and hearer by degrees. The men who have been the most used of God in the feeding and building up of His people were not thoroughly furnished for their work at the outset of their careers, but only by dint of prolonged study did they make progress in their own apprehension of the Truth. Each preacher who experiences any real spiritual growth views most of his first sermons as those of a novice; and he will have cause for shame as he perceives their crudity and the relative ignorance which marked the production of them—for even if he was mercifully preserved from serious error, yet he will probably find many mistakes in his expositions of Scripture, various inconsistencies and contradictions in the views he then held, and which a fuller knowledge and maturer experience now enables him to rectify.
What has just been pointed out explains why the later writings of a servant of God are preferable to his earlier ones; and why in a second or third edition of his works, he finds it necessary to correct, or at least modify, some of his original statements.
Certainly this writer is no exception. Were he to re-write today some of his earlier articles and pieces, he would make a number of changes in them. Though it may be humiliating unto pride to have to make corrections, yet it is also ground for thanksgiving unto God for the fuller light given which enables him to do so.
During our first pastorate, we were much engaged in combating the error of salvation by personal culture and reformation; and therefore, we threw our main emphasis on the truth contained in our Lord’s words, “You must be born again” (John 3:3, 5, 7), showing that something far more potent and radical than any efforts of our own were required in order to give admission into the kingdom of God; that no education, mortification, or religious adorning of the natural man could possibly fit him to dwell forever in a holy Heaven.
But in seeking to refute one error, great care needs to be taken lest we land ourselves into another at the opposite extreme—for in most instances, error is Truth perverted rather than repudiated, Truth distorted by failure to preserve the balance. Being “born again” is not the only way in which Scripture describes the great change effected by the miracle of grace: other expressions are used; and unless they be taken into due consideration, an inadequate and faulty conception of what that miracle consists of and effects will be formed. Our second pastorate was located in a community where the teaching of “Entire Sanctification” or sinless perfectionism was rife; and in combating it, we stressed the fact that sin is not eradicated from any man’s being in this life, that even after he is born again, the “old nature” still remains within him. We were fully warranted by God’s Word in so doing, though if we were engaged in the same task today, we should be more careful in defining what we meant by “the old nature” and more insistent that a regenerate person has a radically different disposition sin-wards from what he had formerly.
That a great change is wrought upon and within a person when God regenerates him is acknowledged by all His people—a change very different from that which is conceived of by many who have never personally experienced it. For example, it goes much deeper than a mere change of creed. One may have been brought up an Arminian, and later be intellectually convinced that such tenets are untenable; but his subsequent conversion to the Calvinistic system is no proof whatever that he is no longer dead in trespasses and sins. Again, it is something more radical than a change of inclination or taste. Many a giddy worldling have become so satiated with its pleasures as to lose all relish for the same, voluntarily abandoning them and welcoming the peace which he or she supposes is to be found in a covenant or monastery. So too it is something more vital than a change of conduct. Some notorious drunkards have signed the pledge and remained total abstainers the rest of their days, and yet never even made a profession of being Christians. One may completely alter his mode of living and yet be thoroughly carnal; forsake a life of vice and crime for one of moral respectability, and be no more spiritual than he was previously. Many are deceived at this point.
Let not the reader infer from what has just been said that one may be the subject of a miracle of grace, and yet it be unaccompanied by an enlightening of his understanding, a refining of his affections, or a reforming of his conduct. That is not at all our meaning. What we desire to make clear is that, that miracle of grace consists of something far superior to those superficial and merely natural changes which many undergo. Nor does that “something far superior” consist only in the communication of a new nature which leaves everything else in its recipient just as it was before: it is the person (and not simply a nature) who is regenerated or born again. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) is an altogether different thing from saying, “Except a new nature be born in a man, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Any deviation from Scripture is fraught with mischief, and if we reduce that which is personal to something abstract and impersonal, we are certain to form a most inadequate—if not erroneous—conception of regeneration.
Those who have written upon God’s work of grace in the soul, especially when treating of His initial act therein, have used a wide variety of terms—generally those most in vogue among the particular party to which they belonged. Each denomination has its own more or less distinctive nomenclature—determined by the portions of Truth, it is accustomed to emphasize—and even when dealing with doctrine which is held by all the orthodox, does so with a certain characteristic pronunciation or emphasis. Thus, in some circles, one would find, “effectual calling” the term most frequently employed; in other places, where “the new birth” is substituted, few would understand what is meant by “an effectual call;” while “a change of heart” is how a third group would describe it. Others, who are looser in their terminology, speak of “being saved,” by which some signify one thing, and others something quite different. As a matter of fact, each of those expressions is justifiable, and all of them need to be combined if we are to form anything approaching an adequate concept of the experience itself.
The better to enable our feeble understandings to grasp something of the nature of the great change which takes place in each of God’s people, the Holy Spirit has employed a considerable variety of terms—figurative in character, yet expressing spiritual realities—and it behooves us to diligently collate or collect the same, carefully ponder each one, and regard all of them as being included in “the miracle of grace.” Probably we are not capable of furnishing a full list, but the following are some of the principal verses in which experimental salvation is described. “The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 30:6): an operation painful to the soul, in removing its filth and folly—its love of sin—is necessary before the heart is brought to truly love God! This figure of circumcising the heart is found also in the New Testament: Romans 2:29; Philippians 3:3.
“Your people shall be willing in the day of your power” (Psalm 110:3): omnipotence must be exercised before the elect will voluntarily deny self and freely take Christ’s yoke upon them. “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:25-26). We are not concerned here with the prophetic or dispensational bearing of this statement, but with its doctrinal import. Nor can we here attempt a full exposition of it. In our judgment, those verses describe an essential aspect of that “miracle of grace” which God performs in His people. The “clean water” with which He sprinkles and cleanses them within is an emblem of His holy Word, as John 15:3 and Ephesians 5:26 make quite clear. The heart of the natural man is likened to one of “stone”—lifeless, insensible, obstinate.
When he is regenerated, the heart of man becomes one “of flesh”—quickened into newness of life, warm, full of feeling, capable of receiving impressions from the Spirit. The change effected by regeneration is no superficial or partial one, but a great, vital transforming, complete one.
“Make the tree good, and his fruit good” (Matthew 12:33): the Husbandman’s method of accomplishing this is shown in Romans 11:17. “Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:3): to “be converted” is to experience a radical change, for pride to be turned into humility, and self-sufficiency into clinging dependence. “Of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16): the life of the Head is communicated to His members, and every spiritual grace that is found in Him is, in measure, reproduced in them. “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him” (John 6:44): to come to Christ is to receive Him as our Lord and Savior—to abandon our idols and repudiate our own righteousness, to surrender to His government and trust in His sacrifice; and none can do that except by the power of God.
“Purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9, and compare 1 Peter 1:23—”You have purified your souls in obeying the truth”): the Christian does not have two hearts, but one which has been “purified!” “Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken” (Acts 16:14): the door of fallen man’s heart is fast closed against God until He opens it.
“I have appeared unto you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness . . . To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:16, 18). Here, we have still another description of that miracle of grace which God performs within His people, and wherein He is pleased to make use of the ministerial instrumentality of His servants. The faithful preaching of His Word is given an important place therein, though that preaching is only rendered effectual by the powerful operations of the Spirit. That miracle is here spoken of as the opening of our eyes, the reference being to the eyes of our understanding, so that we are enabled to perceive something of the spiritual meaning of the Gospel message and its bearing upon our own deep need. The soul which hitherto was engulfed in spiritual darkness is brought forth into God’s marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9), so that we now discover the perfect suitability of Christ unto our desperate case. At the same time, the soul is delivered from the captivity of Satan, who is “the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53), and brought into a new relation with and knowledge of God, which produces faith in Him and issues in the forgiveness of sins.
Continuing our review of the numerous passages wherein the Holy Spirit has described His work of regeneration, and wherein He has used such a great variety of figures and terms the better to enable us to form something more than a one-sided conception thereof, we turn next to Romans 5:5, where we read, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” By nature, no man has any love for God. To those Jews who contended so vehemently for the unity of God and abhorred all forms of idolatry, and who—in their mistaken zeal—sought to kill the Savior because of “making himself equal with God,” He declared, “I know you, that you have not the love of God in you” (John 5:18, 42). Not only loveless, the natural man is filled with “enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). But when a miracle of grace is wrought within him by the Holy Spirit, his heart experiences a great change Godwards, so that the One he formerly dreaded and sought to banish from his thoughts is now the Object of his veneration and joy, the One upon whose glorious perfections he delights to meditate, and for whose honor and pleasure he now seeks to live.
That great change which is wrought within the regenerate does not consist in the annihilation of the evil principle, “the flesh,” but in freeing the mind from its dominion, and in the communication of a holy principle which conveys a new propensity and disposition to the soul: God is no longer hated, but loved. That freeing of the mind from the evil dominion of the flesh is spoken of in Ezekiel 36:26, as God’s taking away “the stony heart;” and that shedding abroad of His love within the heart by His Spirit is termed giving them “an heart of flesh.”
Such strong figurative language was used by the prophet to intimate that the change wrought is no superficial or transient one. Through regarding too carnally (“literally”) the terms used by the prophets, dispensationalists and their adherents have created their own difficulty and failed to understand the purpose of the passage. It is not that an inward organ or faculty is removed and replaced by a different one, but rather that a radical change for the better had been wrought upon the original faculty—not by changing its essential nature or functions, but by bringing to bear a new and transforming influence upon it.
It ought not to be necessary for us to labor what is quite simple and obvious to the spiritually-minded, but in view of the fearful confusion and general ignorance prevailing, we feel that a further word (for the benefit of the perplexed) is called for.
Perhaps a simple illustration will serve to elucidate still further. Suppose that for a long time, I have cherished bitter animosity against a fellow creature and treated him with contempt, but that God has now made me realize I have been grievously wronging that person, and brought me to repent deeply of the injustice I have done him, so that I have humbly confessed my sin to him, and henceforth shall esteem him highly and do all in my power to amend the wrong I did him; surely no one would have any difficulty in understanding what was meant if I said that I had undergone a real “change of heart” toward that person, nor would it be misleading to say that a heart of “bitterness” had been removed from me and a heart of “good will” given to me.
Though we do not pretend to explain the process, yet something very much like that are the nature and effect of God’s taking away the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26), or freeing the mind of enmity against God (Romans 8:7), and shedding abroad His love in the heart (Romans 5:5).
“But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you [“whereunto you were delivered”—margin]. Being then made free from [the guilt and dominion of] sin, you became the servants of righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18). In this passage, the Holy Spirit is describing that wondrous transformation whereby the servants of sin become the servants of righteousness. That transformation is effected by their being delivered unto that form of doctrine which requires hearty obedience. To aid our feeble understanding, another similitude is used. “The truth which is after godliness” (Titus 1:1) is called “that form [“type or impress”—Young; rendered “fashion, pattern” in other passages] of doctrine” or “teaching:” the figure of a mold or seal being used wherein the hearts of the regenerate (softened and made pliable by the Holy Spirit) are likened to molten metal which receives and retains the exact impress of the mold into which it is poured; or as melted wax is cast into the impress of a seal, answering to it line for line, conformed to the shape and figure of it. The quickened soul is “delivered unto” (the Greek word signifies “given over to,” as may be seen in Matthew 5:25; 11:27; 20:19) the Truth, so that it is made answerable or conformable unto it.
In their unconverted state, they had been the willing and devoted servants of sin, uniformly heeding its promptings and complying with its behests, gratifying their own inclinations without any regard to the authority and glory of God. But now they cordially yielded submission to the teaching of God’s Word, whereunto they had been delivered or cast into the very fashion of the same. They had been supernaturally renewed into or conformed unto the holy requirements of Law and Gospel alike. Their minds, their affections, their wills had been formed according to the tenor of God’s Standard. Thus, from still another angle, we are informed of what the great change consists: it is God’s bringing of the soul from the love of sin to the love of holiness, a being transformed by the renewing of the mind—such a transformation as produces compliance with the Divine will. It is an inward agreement with the Rule of righteousness, into which the heart is cast and after which the character is framed and modeled; the consequence of which is an obedience from the heart—in contrast with forced or feigned obedience, which proceeds from fear or self-interest.
“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Romans 7:9). As the last-considered passage describes the positive side of the great change experienced in the child of God, this one treats more of its negative aspect. The commentators are generally agreed that in Romans 7:7-11, the apostle is narrating one of the experiences through which he passed at his conversion. First, he says, there had been a time when he was “without the law” (Romans 7:9)—words which cannot be taken absolutely. In his unregenerate days, he had been a proud Pharisee. Though he had received his training under the renowned rabbi, Gamaliel, where his chief occupation was the study of the Law; yet being totally ignorant of its spirituality, he was, vitally and experimentally speaking, as one “without” it—without a realization of its design, or an inward acquaintance of its power. Supposing that a mere external conformity unto its requirements was all that was necessary, and strictly attending to the same, he was well pleased with himself, satisfied with his righteousness, and assured of his acceptance with God.
Second, “but when the commandment came” (Romans 7:9): verse seven informs us it was the tenth commandment which the Holy Spirit used as the arrow of conviction. When those words, “you shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17) were applied to him, when they came in the Spirit’s illuminating and convicting power to his conscience, the bubble of his self-righteousness was pricked and his self-delight was shattered. Like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, that Divine prohibition, “you shall not [even] desire that which is forbidden,” brought home to his heart with startling force the strictness and spirituality of the Divine Law.
As those words, “you must have no self-will,” pierced him, he realized the Law demanded inward, as well as outward, conformity to its holy terms. Then it was that “sin revived” (Romans 7:9): he was conscious of his lusts rising up in protest against the holy and extensive requirements of the Divine Rule. The very fact that God has said, “you shall not covet [lust]” only served to aggravate and stir into increased activity those corruptions of which previously he was unconscious; and the more he attempted to bring them into subjection, the more painfully aware did he become of his own helplessness.
Third, “and I died:” in his own apprehensions, feelings, and estimate of himself. Before he became acquainted with his inward corruptions and was made to feel something of the plague of his heart, living a morally upright life and being most punctilious in performing the requirements of the ceremonial law, the apostle deemed himself a good man. He was in his own opinion “alive”—uncondemned by the Law, having no dread of punishment and judgment to come. But when the tenth commandment smote his conscience, he perceived the spirituality of the Law and realized that hitherto, he had only a notional knowledge of it. Convicted of his inward depravity, of his sinful desires, thoughts and imaginations, he felt himself to be a condemned criminal, deserving eternal death. That is another essential element in the great change—which we should have introduced much earlier had we followed a theological order rather than tracing out the various references to it as recorded in the Scriptures. That essential element consists of a personal conviction of sin, of one’s lost estate, and such a conviction that its subject completely despairs of any self-help and dies to his own righteousness.
“And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). The “such were some of you” refers to the licentious and wicked characters mentioned in verses nine and ten, of whom Matthew Henry (1662-1714) said they were “very monsters rather than men. Note, some that are eminently good after conversion have been as remarkable for wickedness before.” What a glorious alteration does grace effect in reclaiming persons from sins so debasing and degrading! That grand transformation is here described by three words: “washed . . . sanctified . . . justified.” It may appear very strange to some of our readers to hear that quite a number of those who regard themselves as the champions of orthodoxy, if they do not explicitly repudiate the first, yet give it no place at all in their concept of what takes place at regeneration. They so confine their thoughts to that which is newly created and communicated to the Christian, that any change and cleansing of his original being is quite lost sight of. God’s children are as truly “washed,” as they are sanctified and justified. Literally so? Yes; in a material sense? No, morally.
“But you are washed” was the fulfillment of that Old Testament promise, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you” (Ezekiel 36:25). Titus 3:5 makes it clear that the new birth consists of something more than the communication of a new nature, namely, “the washing of regeneration”—compare Ephesians 5:26. It is further to be noted that the “you are washed” is distinct from “justified,” so it cannot refer to the removal of guilt. Moreover, it is effected by the Spirit, and therefore, must consist of something which He does in us. The foul leper is purged: by the Spirit’s agency, he is cleansed from his pollutions, and his heart is made “pure” (Matthew 5:8). It is a moral cleansing or purification of character from the love and practice of sin. First, “washed;” then “sanctified,” or set apart and consecrated to God, as vessels meet for His use.
Thereby, we obtain evidence of our justification—the cancellation of guilt and the imputation of righteousness to us. Justification is here attributed to the Holy Spirit, because He is the Author of that faith which justifies a sinner.
“But we all, with open [it should be “with unveiled”] face beholding as in a glass [better, “mirror”] the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). In the “open [unveiled] face,” there is a double reference and contrast. First, to the veil over the face of Moses (2 Corinthians 3:13), which symbolized the imperfection and transitoriness of Judaism: in contrast, Christians behold God as He is fully and finally revealed in the person and work of His Son. Second, to the veil which is over the hearts of unconverted Jews (2 Corinthians 3:15) in contrast with them, those who have turned to the Lord have the blinding effects of error and prejudice removed from them, so that they can view the Gospel without any medium obscuring it. The “glory of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18), the sum of His perfections, is revealed and shines forth in the Word, and more particularly, in the Gospel. As His glory is beheld by that faith which is produced and energized by the Spirit, its beholder is changed gradually from one degree to another into the “same image,” becoming more and more conformed unto Him in character and conduct. The verb “changed” (metamorphoo) is rendered “transformed” in Romans 12:2, and “transfigured” in Matthew 17:2!
The “mirrors” of the ancients were made of burnished metals; and when a strong light was thrown on them, they not only reflected images with great distinctness, but the rays of light were cast back upon the face of one looking into them, so that if the mirror were of silver or brass, a white or golden glow suffused his or her countenance. The “mirror” is the Scriptures in which the glory of the Lord is discovered; and as the Spirit shines upon the soul and enables him to act faith and love thereon, he is changed into the same image. The glory of the Lord is irradiated by the Gospel; and as it is received into the heart, it is reflected by the beholder through the transforming agency of the Spirit. By the heart’s being occupied with Christ’s perfection, the mind’s meditating thereon, and the will’s subjection to His precepts, we drink into His spirit, become partakers of His holiness, and are conformed to His image. As our view of Christ is imperfect, the transformation is incomplete in this life: only when we “see him” face to face shall we be made perfectly “like him” (1 John 3:2).
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Had we been following a strictly logical and theological order, this is another aspect of our subject we should have brought in earlier, for the spiritual illumination of the understanding is one of the first works of God when He begins to restore a fallen creature.
By nature, he is in a state of complete spiritual ignorance of God, and therefore, of his own state before Him, sitting in “darkness” and “in the region and shadow of death” (Matthew 4:16). That “darkness” is something far more dreadful than a mere intellectual ignorance of spiritual things: it is a positive and energetic “power” (Luke 22:53) and evil principle, which is inveterately opposed to God; and with which the heart of fallen man is in love (John 3:19), and which no external means or illumination can dispel (John 1:5). Nothing but the sovereign fiat and all-mighty power of God is superior to it, and He alone can bring a soul “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
As God commanded the light to shine out of that darkness which enveloped the old creation (Genesis 1:2-3), so He does in the work of new creation within each of His elect. That supernatural enlightenment consists not in dreams and visions, nor in the revelation to the soul of anything which has not been made known in the Scripture of Truth, for it is “the entrance of your words [which] gives light” (Psalm 119:130). Yes, the entrance; but before that takes place, the blind eyes of the sinner must first be miraculously opened by the Spirit, so that he is made capable of receiving the light: it is only in God’s light we “see light” (Psalm 36:9). The shining of God’s light in our hearts partially and gradually dissipates the awful ignorance, blindness, error, prejudice, and unbelief of our souls, thereby preparing the mind to (in measure) apprehend the Truth and the affections to embrace it. By this supernatural illumination, the soul is enabled to see things as they really are (1 Corinthians 2:10-12), perceiving his own depravity, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the spirituality of the Law, the excellency of truth, the beauty of holiness, the loveliness of Christ.
We repeat: the Spirit communicates no light to the quickened soul which is not to be found in the written Word, but removes those obstacles which precluded its entrance, disposes the mind to attend unto the Truth (Acts 16:14), and receive it in the love of it (2 Thessalonians 2:10). When the Divine light shines into his heart, the sinner perceives something of his horrible plight, is made conscious of his guilty and lost condition, feels that his sins are more in number than the hairs of his head. He now knows that there is “no soundness” (Isaiah 1:6) in him, that all his righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and that he is utterly unable to help himself. But the Divine light shining in his heart also reveals the all-sufficient remedy. It awakens hope in his breast.
It makes known to him “the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:6) as it shines in the face of the Mediator, and the sun of righteousness now arises upon his benighted soul with healing in His wings, or [light] beams. Such knowledge of sin, of himself, of God, of the Savior, is not obtained by mental effort, but is communicated by the gracious operations of the Spirit. “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). The apostle is here alluding to his ministry: its nature, difficulties, and success. He likened it unto a conflict between truth and error. The “weapons” or means he employed were not such as men of the world depended upon. The Grecian philosophers relied upon the arguments of logic, or the attractions of rhetoric. Mohammed conquered by the force of arms. Rome’s appeal is to the senses.
But the ambassadors of Christ use nothing but the Word and prayer, which are “mighty through God” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Sinners are converted by the preaching of Christ crucified, and not by human wisdom, eloquence, or debate. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).
Sinners are here pictured as sheltering in “strongholds.” By hardness of heart, stubbornness of will, and strong prejudices, they have fortified themselves against God and betaken themselves to a “refuge of lies” (Isaiah 28:17). But when the Truth is effectually applied to their hearts by the Spirit, those strongholds are demolished and their haughty imaginations and proud reasonings are cast down. They no longer exclaim, “I cannot believe that a just God will make one a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor,” or “I cannot believe a merciful God will consign anyone to eternal torments.” All objections are now silenced, rebels are subdued, lofty opinions of self cast down, pride is abased, and reverential fear, contrition, humility, faith, and love take their place. Every thought is now brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5): they are conquered by grace, taken captives by love, and Christ henceforth occupies the throne of their hearts.
Every faculty of the soul is now won over to God. Such is the great change wrought in a soul who experiences the miracle of grace: a worker of iniquity is made a loving and loyal child of obedience.
