Chapter 7 – Complement (part 1)
7. Its Complement.
Let us begin by defining our term: the “complement” of a thing is that which gives it completeness. In contemplating the natural condition of Adam’s children we obtain but a one-sided and misleading view if we confine our attention to their spiritual helplessness. That they are morally impotent, that they are totally depraved, that they are thoroughly under the bondage of sin, has been amply demonstrated; but that does not supply us with a complete diagnosis of their present state before God. Though fallen man be a wrecked and ruined creature, nevertheless he is still accountable to his Maker and Ruler. Though sin has darkened his understanding and blinded his judgment, he is still a rational being. Though his very nature is corrupt at its root, this does not exempt him from loving God with all his heart. Though he is “without strength,” yet he is not “without excuse.” And why so? Because side by side with fallen man’s inability is his moral responsibility.
It is at this very point that the people of God, and especially His ministers need to be much on their guard. If they appropriate one of the essential parts of the doctrine of Scripture but fail to lay hold of the equally essential supplementary part, then they will necessarily obtain a distorted view of the same. “The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). The word emphasized in the above quotation is of paramount importance, though its significance seems to be discerned by few today. Truth is twofold. Every aspect of Truth presented in the Word is balanced by a counterpart aspect; every element of doctrine has its corresponding element; every precept its corresponding obligation. These two sides of the Truth do not cross each other, but run parallel with one another: they are not contradictory, but complementary. The one aspect is just as essential as the other, and both must be retained by us if we are to be preserved from dangerous error. It is only as we hold firmly to “all the counsel of God” that we are delivered from the fatal pitfalls of false theology.
God Himself has illustrated this duality of Truth by communicating the same to us in the form of the two Testaments, the Old and the New, the contents of which, broadly speaking, exemplifying those two summarizations of His nature and character: “God is light” (1 John 1:5), “God is love” (1 John 4:8). This same fundamental feature is seen again in the two principal communications which God has made, namely, His Law and His Gospel. That which characterizes the Divine revelation in its broad outlines, also holds equally good in connection with its details: promises are balanced by precepts, the gifts of grace with the requirements of righteousness, the bestowments of abounding mercy with the exactions of inflexible justice. Correspondingly, the duties placed upon us answer to this twofold revelation of the Divine character and will: as Light and the Giver of the Law, God requires the sinner to repent and the saint to fear Him; as Love and the Giver of the Gospel, the one is called upon to believe and the other to rejoice.
The doctrine of man’s accountability unto and his responsibility before God is set forth so plainly, so fully, and so constantly throughout the Scriptures, that he who runs may read it, and only those who deliberately close their eyes thereto can fail to perceive its verity and force. The entire volume of God’s Word testifies to the fact that He requires from man right affections and right actions, and that He judges and treats him according to the same. “So then everyone of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12): and this, that the rights of God may be enforced upon moral agents. In the Day of the Revelation of His righteous judgment God “will render to every man according to his deeds” (Romans 2:5, 6), and then will be fulfilled that word of Christ’s, “he who rejects Me and receives not My words has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Men are responsible to employ in God’s service the faculties He has given them (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 12:48). They are responsible to improve the opportunities God has afforded them (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 19:41, 42).
Thus it is clear that-in keeping with the Word of God as a whole and of all His ways both in creation and providence-the doctrine of man’s inability or impotency has a complementary and balancing doctrine, namely, his responsibility; and it is only by maintaining both, and that in their due proportions, we shall be preserved from distorting the Truth. But alas, man is a creature of extremes, and his tendency unto lopsidedness is tragically evidenced all through Christendom. The religious world is divided into opposing parties which contend for bits of the Truth and reject others. Where can be found a denomination which preserves a due balance in its proclamation of God’s Law and God’s Gospel? In the presentation of God as light and God as love? In an equal emphasis upon His precepts and His promises? And where shall we find a group of churches or even a single church, which is preserving a due proportion in its preaching upon man’s inability and man’s responsibility?
On every side today we behold the sad spectacle of men in the pulpits pitting one part of the Truth against another, over-stressing one doctrine and omitting its complement, setting those things against each other which God has joined together or confounding what He has separated. So important is it that God’s servants should preserve the balance of Truth, so disastrous are the consequences of a one-sided ministry, that we feel impressed to point out of some of the more essential balancing doctrines which must be preserved if God is to be duly honored and His people rightly edified; leaving our remarks upon human responsibility and our efforts to throw light upon the problem raised by the doctrine of man’s impotency unto later.
First, let us consider the causes and the means of salvation. There are no less than seven things which do concur in this great work, for all of them are said, in one passage or another, to “save” us. Salvation is ascribed to the love of God, to the atonement of Christ, to the mighty operations of the Spirit, to the instrumentality of the Word, to the labors of the preacher, to the conversion of a sinner, to the ordinances or “sacraments.” Alas that the views thereof entertained today by the majority of professing Christians are so superficial, so cramped, so inadequate. Yes, so great is the ignorance which now prevails that we had better furnish proof texts for each of these seven concurring causes lest we be charged with holding error on so vital a subject.
Salvation is ascribed to God the Father: “Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling” (2 Timothy 1:9)-because of His electing love in Christ. To the Lord Jesus: “He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21)-because of His merits and satisfaction. To the Holy Spirit: “He has saved us by the renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5)-because of His almighty efficacy and operations. To the instrumentality of the Word: “the engrafted Word which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21)-because it discovers to us grace whereby we may be saved. To the labors of the preacher: “in doing this you shall both save yourself and them that hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16)-because of their subordination to God’s work. To the conversion of a sinner in which repentance and faith are exercised by us: “Save yourselves from this untoward generation”-by the repentance spoken of in verse 38 (Acts 2:40): “by grace are you saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). To the ordinances or sacraments: “baptism does also now save us (1 Peter 3:21)-because it seals the grace of God to the believing heart.
Now these seven things must he considered in their order and kept in their place, otherwise incalculable harm will be done. For instance, if we elevate a subsidiary cause above a primary one then all sense of real proportion is lost. The love and wisdom of God is the bosom cause, the first mother of all the rest of the causes which conduce to our salvation. Next is the merit and satisfaction of Christ, which is the result of that eternal wisdom and love of God, and which is also the foundation of all that follows. The omnipotent operations of the Holy Spirit work in the elect those things which are necessary for their participation in and an application of the benefits purposed by God and purchased by Christ. The Word is the chief means employed in conversion, for faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). As the result of the Spirit’s operations and His application of the Word we are brought to repent and believe. In this it is the Spirit’s general custom to employ the ministers of Christ as His subordinate agents. Baptism and the Lord’s supper are to confirm repentance and faith in us.
Not only must these seven concurring causes of salvation be considered in their proper order and kept in their due place, but they must not be confounded with one another so that we attribute to a later one what belongs to a primary one. We must not attribute to the ordinances that which belongs to the Word: the Word is appointed for conversion, the ordinances for confirmation. A charter of indenture is first offered and then sealed (ratified) when the parties are agreed: “then they that (1) gladly received the Word were (2) baptized” (Acts 2:41). Nor must we ascribe to the ordinances that which belong to conversion. Many depend upon their outward hearing of the Word or partaking of the Lord’s Supper: “we have eaten and drunk in Your presence and You has taught in our streets” (Luke 13:26). But sound conversion and not frequenting the means of grace is our title to pardon and life-“Be doers of the Word” (James 1:22).
Again-we must not ascribe to conversion what belongs unto the Spirit: our repentance and faith are indispensable for the enjoyment of the privileges of Christianity, yet these graces spring not from mere nature but are wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. Nor must we ascribe to the Spirit that honor which belongs to Christ, as if our conversion were meritorious, or that the repentance and faith wrought in us deserved the benefits we become possessed of. No, that honor pertains to the Lamb alone, who merited and purchased all for us. Neither must we ascribe unto Christ that which belongs unto the Father, for the Mediator came not to take us from God but to bring us to Him: “You have redeemed us to God” (Rev. 5:9). Thus all things pertaining to our salvation must be ranged in their proper place, and we must consider what is peculiar to the love of God, the merit of Christ, the operations of the Holy Spirit, the instrumentality of the Word, the labors of the preacher, the conversion of a sinner, and to the ordinances.
Unless we observe the true order of these cause, and rightly predicate what pertains unto each, we fall into disastrous mistakes and fatal errors. If we ascribe all to the mercy of God so as to shut out the merit of Christ we exclude God’s great design in the Cross-to demonstrate His righteousness (Romans 3:24-26). On the other side, if we cry up the atonement of Christ so as to lessen our esteem of God’s love. we are apt to form the false idea that He is all wrath and needed blood to induce Him, whereas Christ came to demonstrate His goodness (2 Corinthians 5:19). If we ascribe that to the merits of Christ which is proper to the work of the Spirit we confound things that are to be distinguished, as if Christ’s blood could take us to Heaven without a new nature being wrought in us. If we ascribe our conversion to the exercise of our own strength we wrong the Holy Spirit. If upon pretended conversion we neglect the means and produce no good works, we err fatally.
Not only must these seven things not be confounded, but they must not be separated from one another. We cannot rest upon the grace of God without the atonement and merits of Christ, for God does not exercise His mercy to the prejudice of His justice. Nor can we rightly take comfort in the sacrifice of Christ without regeneration and true conversion wrought in us by the Spirit, for we must be vitally united to Christ before we can partake of His benefits. Nor must we expect the operations of the Spirit without the instrumentality of the Word, for of the Church it is said that Christ (by the Spirit) “might sanctify and cleanse us with the washing of water by the Word” (Ephesians 5:26). Nor must we conclude that we are regenerated by the Spirit without repentance and faith, for these graces are evidences of the new birth. Nor must the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper be slighted, otherwise we dislocate the method by which God dispenses His grace.
Second, Christ must not be divided, either in His natures or His offices. There may be an abuse of the orthodox assertion of His Deity, for if we reflect exclusively on that and neglect His great condescension in becoming flesh, then we miss the chief intent of His incarnation-to bring God near to us in our nature. On the other hand, if we altogether consider Christ’s humanity and overlook His Godhead, then we are in danger of denying His super-eminent dignity, power and merit. Man is always disturbing the harmony of the Gospel and setting one part against another. Unitarians deny that Christ is God and so impeach His atonement, pressing only His doctrine and example. But carnal professors reflect only upon Christ’s redemption as the means of our atonement with God, and so overlook the necessary doctrine of His example, of Christ’s appearing in order to be a pattern of obedience in our nature-so often pressed in Scripture: John 13:15; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6. Let us not put asunder what God has joined together.
So with Christ’s offices. His general office is but one, to be Mediator or Redeemer, but the functions which belong to it are three: prophetic, priestly, and royal-one of which concerns His mediation with God, the other His dealings with us. We are to reflect on Him in both parts: “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1). The work of an Apostle has to do with men, that of a high priest with God. But some are so occupied with Christ’s mediation with God that they give little thought to His dealings with men; others so consider His relation to men they overlook His mediation with God. Nay, in His very priesthood some are so concerned with His sacrifice that they ignore His continual intercession, and so fail to appropriate what a comfort it is to present our requests by such a worthy hand to God; yet both are acts of the same office.
Great harm has been done by so crying up the sacrifice and intercession of Christ so that His doctrine and government have been made light of. This is one of the most serious defects today in a considerable section of Christendom which prides itself on its orthodoxy: they look so much to the Savior that they have scarcely any eyes for the Teacher and Master. The whole religion of many professors now consists of depending upon Christ’s merits and trusting in His blood, without any real concern for His Laws, by believing and obeying of which we are interested in the fruits of His righteousness and sacrifice. But the Word of God sets before us an entirely different sort of religion and does not make one office of the Redeemer disturb another. None find true rest for their souls until they take Christ’s yoke upon them: He is the Savior of none unless He is first their Lord.
The Scriptures of Truth set forth Christ under such terms as not only intimate privilege to us, but bespeak duty and obedience as well. “God has made that same Jesus . . . both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36): He is Lord or supreme Governor as well as Christ the anointed Savior; not only a Savior to redeem and bless, but a Lord to rule and command. So “Him has God exalted to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). Here again the compound terms occur, because of His double work-to require and to give: Christ is such a Prince that He is also a Savior, and such a Savior that He is also a Prince, and as such He must be apprehended by our souls. Woe be unto those who divide what God has conjoined. Yet again-“Christ is the Head of the Church and He is the Savior of the Body” (Ephesians 5:23). On the one side, as Christ saves His people from their sins, so He does also govern them; and on the other side, His dominion over the Church is exercised in bringing about its salvation.
The carnal portions of the religious world snatch greedily at comforts but have no heart for duties, they are all for privileges but want nothing of obligations. This libertine spirit is very natural to all of us: “Let us break Their bonds asunder and cast away Their cords from us” (Psalm 2:3). It was thus with men when Christ was in their midst: “We will not have this Man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14): had He presented Himself unto them simply as a Redeemer He had been welcome, but for a Sovereign over them they had no desire. Christ is wanted for His benefits, such as pardon, eternal life and everlasting glory-but the unregenerate cannot endure His strict doctrine and righteous laws-submission to His scepter is foreign to their nature.
On the other hand there are some who so cry up the mediation of Christ with men that they ignore His mediation with God. Some are so absorbed with the letter of His doctrine that they overlook the necessity of the Holy Spirit to interpret the same to them and apply it to their hearts. Men are such extremists that they cannot magnify one thing without deprecating another: they rejoice in the Spirit’s inditing the Scriptures, but they deprecate His equally important work in opening hearts to receive them (Acts 16:14). Others so urge Christ as Lawgiver that they neglect Him as the Fountain of Grace. They are all for His doctrine and example, but despise His atonement and continued intercession. It is this taking of the Gospel piecemeal, instead of as a whole, which has wrought such damage and corrupted the Truth. O for heavenly wisdom and grace to preserve the balance and to preach a full Gospel!
Earlier we pointed out that side by side with the fact of fallen man’s spiritual impotency must be considered the complementary truth of his moral responsibility. We sought to show the vital importance of holding fast to both and presenting them in their due proportions, and thereby preserving the balance between them. In order to make this the more obvious and impressive, and at the same time to demonstrate the disastrous consequences of failing to do this, we enlarged upon the general principle of maintaining the Gospel in its fullness, instead of taking it piecemeal. We endeavored to enforce the necessity for adhering unto what God has joined together and of not confounding what He has separated, illustrating the same by a presentation of the seven concurring causes of salvation, and of the natures and offices of Christ. We now resume that line of thought by insisting:
Third, the order of the Covenant must not be disturbed. Said David of the Lord, “He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure” (2 Samuel 23:5). A certain class of writers have expressed themselves quite freely upon the everlastingness of this Covenant, and also upon its sureness, but they have said very little indeed upon the ordering of it, and still less upon needs-be of our abiding by its arrangements. None shall have any part in this Covenant unless he is prepared to take the whole compact. Therein God has so arranged things that they may not and do not hinder one another. This order of the Covenant appears chiefly in the right statement of privileges and conditions, means and ends, duties and comforts.
Of privileges and conditions. “Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38, 39). Do not those words state a condition which excludes the Infidel and includes the penitent believer? “If I wash you not, you have no part with Me” (John 13:8) declared the thrice holy Savior: unless we are cleansed by Him we can have no part with Him in His benefits. So again, “He is the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9). Christ would act contrary to His Divine commission, contrary to the Covenant agreed upon by Him, were He to dispense His grace upon any other terms. Now some men trust in their own external and imperfect righteousness, as if that were the only plea to make before God; whereas others look at nothing in themselves-either as conditions, evidence or means-and think their only plea is Christ’s merits.
But neither those who trust in their own works, nor those who think that no consideration is to be had of repentance, faith and new obedience, is there any adhering to the Covenant of Grace. No, those who preach such a course deliver unto men a covenant of their own modeling, and not the Covenant of God, which is the sole charter and sure ground of the Christian’s hope. The blood of Christ accomplishes what belongs to it, but repentance and faith must also do what belong to them. True, they have not the least degree of that honor which belongs to the love of God, the sacrifice of Christ, or the operations of the Spirit-nevertheless repentance, faith and new obedience must be regarded in their place. Is it not self-evident that none of the privileges of the Covenant belong to the impenitent and unbelieving? It is the Father’s work to love us, Christ’s to redeem, and the Spirit’s to regenerate; but we must accept of the grace offered-that is, repent, believe and live in obedience to God.
So also there is a right order of means and ends, that by the former we may come to the latter. The greater end of Christianity is our coming to God, and the prime and general means is the office and work of Christ: “For Christ has also once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The subordinate means are the fruits of Christ’s grace in sanctifying us and enabling us to overcome temptations-more expressly by patient suffering and active obedience. Patient suffering: “If so be that we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:17), “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him, in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19). Obedience: “Know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey: whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness” (Romans 6:16), “He who says I know Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).
Now the great difficulty in connection with our salvation, (1 Peter 4:18), lies not in a respect to the end, but the means. There is some difficulty about the end, namely, to convince men of an unseen felicity and glory; but there is far more about the means. There is not only greater difficulty in convincing their minds, but in gaining their hearts and bringing them to submit to that patient, holy, self-denying course whereby we obtain eternal life. Men wish the end, but refuse the means: like Balaam (Numbers 23:10) they want to die the death of the righteous, but are unwilling to live the life of the righteous. When the Israelites despised the land of Canaan (Psalm 106:24, 25) it was because of the difficulty of getting to it. They were assured that Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey, but when they learned there were giants to be overcome first, walled towns to be scaled and numerous inhabitants to be vanquished, they demurred. Heaven is a glorious place, but it can only be reached by the way of denying self, and this few are willing to do. But the Covenant enjoins this upon us: Matthew 16:24; Luke 14:26.
So also there is a right order of duties and comforts. “Come unto Me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me: for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your soul” (Matthew 11:28, 29). Observe carefully how commands and comforts, precepts and promises are here interwoven, and let us not separate what God has joined together. We must diligently attend unto both in our desires and practices alike. We must not pick and choose what suits us best and pass by the rest, but earnestly seek after God and labor by all His appointed means that He may “fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power” (2 Thessalonians 1:11). But alas, of how many must God say, as He did of old, “Ephraim is as a heifer that is taught and loves to tread out the corn but will not break the clods” (Hosea 1:11, an ancient translation). Poor people desire privileges but neglect duties, they are all for wages but reluctant to work for them.
So it is even in the performance of duties: some are welcomed and done, others are disliked and shirked. But every duty must be observed in its place and season, and one must never be set against another. In resisting sin some avoid sensuality but yield to worldlings, deny fleshly lusts but fall into deadly errors. So with graces: Christians look so much to one that they forget the others. We are bidden to take unto ourselves “the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11), not simply a breastplate without a helmet. We must not cry up knowledge so as to neglect practice, nor fervor of devotion so as to betray us to ignorance and blind superstition. Some set their whole hearts to mourn for sin and think little of striving after a sense of their Savior’s love or humility; others prattle of free grace but are not watchful against sin nor diligent in being fruitful.
Lest some of our friends imagine that in the above paragraphs we have departed from the landmarks of our fathers and have inculcated a spirit of legality, we propose to supply a number of quotations from the writings of some of the most eminent of God’s servants in the past, men who in their day lifted up their voices in protest against the lopsided ministry which we are decrying and who stressed the vital importance of preserving the balance of Truth, and of according to each part and portion thereof its due place and emphasis. For the evil we are here resisting is no new thing, but one that has wrought much havoc in every generation. The pendulum has ever swung from one extreme to the other, and few have been the men who preserved the happy mean or who faithfully declared all the counsel of God. We begin with a portion of Bishop J. C. Ryle’s “An Estimate of Manton,” the Puritan:
Manton held strongly the need of preventing and calling grace; but that did not hinder him from inviting all men to repent, believe, and be saved. Manton held strongly that faith alone lays hold on Christ and appropriates justification; but that did not prevent him urging upon all the absolute necessity of repentance and turning from sin. Manton held strongly to the perseverance of God’s elect; but that did not hinder him from teaching that holiness is the grand distinguishing mark of God’s people, and that he who talks of ‘never perishing’ while he continues in willful sin, is a hypocrite and a self-deceiver. In all this I frankly confess I see much to admire. I admire the Scriptural wisdom of a man who, in a day of hard and fast systems, could dare to be apparently inconsistent in order to ‘declare all the counsel of God.’ I firmly believe that this is the test of theology which does good in the church of Christ. The man who is not tied hand and foot by systems, and does not pretend to reconcile what our imperfect eyesight cannot reconcile in this dispensation, he is the man whom God will bless.
Alas, if Manton were on earth today we know not where he would be able to obtain a hearing. One class would denounce him as a Calvinist, while another would shun him as an Arminian: one would accuse him of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, while another would charge him with gross legality. All would say he was not consistent with himself, that one of his sermons contradicted another, that he was a “Yes and Nay preacher,” one day building up and the next day tearing down what he had previously erected. So long as he confined himself to what their Articles of Faith expressed, Calvinists would suffer him to address them; but as soon as he began to press duties upon them and exhort to performance of the same, he would be banished from their pulpits. Arminians would tolerate him just so long as he kept to the human responsibility side of the Truth, but the moment he mentioned unconditional election or particular redemption they would close their doors against him.
That prince of theologians, John Owen, in his work on “The causes, ways, and means of understanding the Mind of God,” after fully establishing “The necessity of an especial work of the Holy Spirit in the illumination of our minds to make us understand the mind of God as revealed in the Scriptures,” and before treating of the means which must be used and the diligent labors put forth by us, began his fourth chapter by anticipating and disposing of an objection. A certain class of extremists, fanatics, (termed “enthusiasts” in those days) argued that, if our understanding of the Scriptures were dependent upon the illuminating operations of the Holy Spirit, then there is no need for earnest endeavor and laborious study on our part. After affirming that the gracious operations of the Spirit, “Do render all our use of proper means for the right interpretation of the Scripture, in a way of duty, indispensably necessary,” Mr. Owen went on to point out:
But thus it has fallen out in other things. Those who have declared anything either of doctrine or of the power of the grace of the Gospel, have been traduced as opposing the principles of morality and reason, whereas on their grounds alone, their true value can be discovered and their proper use directed. So the Apostle preaching faith in Christ with righteousness and justification thereby, was accused to have made void the law, whereas without his doctrine, the law would have been void, or of no use to the souls of men. So he pleads: ‘Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yes, we establish the law’ (Romans 3:31). So to this day, justification by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and the necessity of our own obedience, the efficacy of Divine grace in conversion and the liberty of our wills, the stability of God’s promises and our diligent use of means, are supposed inconsistent.
