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It is not an exaggeration to say that the biggest problem facing the contemporary church is a confusion about the gospel. False teachers preach that God desires to give you health and prosperity. Others teach that man must do something, whether social change or charitable action, to merit the mercy of God.
Perhaps the most pernicious mangling of the gospel is that Jesus is nothing but a rescue vessel from a world about to be destroyed, so you better get your ticket punched. This created a class of Christians called the “carnal Christian”, or a person who prayed the sinner’s prayer and would one day in the distant, nebulous future get serious about faith. And it was all done under the banner of a "simple" gospel. Since the Christian is defined by love and obedience to Christ, these people are by definition not Christian, no matter what people tell them. This is textbook false sense of assurance. What is the gospel, then? What is the message of saving faith? The Confession begins, The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made unprofitable unto life, God was pleased to give forth the promise of Christ, the seed of the woman, as the means of calling the elect, and begetting in them faith and repentance; in this promise the gospel, as to the substance of it, was revealed, and [is] therein effectual for the conversion and salvation of sinners. By way of reminder, the covenant of works was the covenant made between God and man in the garden. God would provide eternal life should Adam and his posterity be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth, and obey all revealed truth, including the prohibition of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam broke the covenant of works by eating from the tree, sending mankind into sin and death. We would never again earn eternal life by good works. That ship had sailed. As in all covenants, there was a covenant head, or one who represented everyone else in the covenant. As Christ is the head of the new covenant, so Adam is the head of the covenant of works. With the covenant broken, God was under no obligation to make a new one. But he did. He promised to Eve that her offspring, the Christ, would crush the serpent who deceived them. God promised a new covenant head, one who would bring about a new people and a new creation. This is the first gospel promise. This is the promise in which faith is placed, that Christ is the promised offspring of the woman who crushed the serpent's head, saves sinners, and brings about the new creation. The Confession continues, This promise of Christ, and salvation by him, is revealed only by the Word of God; neither do the works of creation or providence, with the light of nature, make discovery of Christ, or of grace by him, so much as in a general or obscure way; much less that men destitute of the revelation of Him by the promise or gospel, should be enabled thereby to attain saving faith or repentance. Since the fall of man, man’s nature is so corrupt that far beyond knowing the good and rejecting it, we are unable to believe it ourselves. We need the Scriptures to know the divine plan of redemption. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The gospel is not just another message. It is impossible to believe without the work of the Spirit in us. The idea that if men are just presented with the gospel that they will believe it is a dangerous proposition. Man’s nature is more depraved and darker than we often think. “For the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). Not misguided, unintelligent, or open to persuasion—but evil. Given a lack of restriction and oversight, we are all capable of horrors. By God’s grace, he has established institutions and ordained governments to motivate the good and temper the evil that is prevalent in all human societies. But even then, institutions and governments convert no one. That requires the work of God and God alone. If we can’t receive the gospel by our own means, then we have to ask, how do we come to know what it is when we hear it? That’s a good question for next week’s post!
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Christians are fond of saying that we are not under the law but the gospel. While that is certainly true so far as it relates to salvation, we should never conclude that the law is without any purpose whatsoever.
The Confession continues, Although true believers are not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned, yet it is of great use to them as well as to others, in that as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives, so as examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against, sin; together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ and the perfection of his obedience. First, let’s remind ourselves about the covenant of works and what it is. Simply put, the covenant of works was the covenant under which Adam was placed in the garden. In Genesis 1:26-31, God gives Adam obligations and blessings. Man is to have dominion over the animals and to populate the whole world with fellow worshipers. This covenant of works is expanded upon in Genesis 2:16-17 when God tells Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil under the threat of the curse of death. Obligations, blessings, and curses are the mainstay of biblical covenants. Did Adam keep the covenant of works? Clearly he did not. Enter the covenant of grace in Genesis 3:15. In cursing the serpent, God promised a future redeemer who would undo the curse brought about by breaking Adam breaking the covenant. All of this is to say that Christians are not under a covenant of works but a covenant of grace. Christ is the one who works, and by his works, we are redeemed. He perfectly obeyed the law of God. And so, we receive grace and mercy in saving faith. This has deep meaning for the Christian’s relationship to the law. If the law was given on Sinai, the distinctive of the Sinai covenant, then the Christian is not bound to the law as a condition of the new covenant. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:16, “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” We turn to the law as a tool for recognizing our sin and putting a name on it. We learn to hate our sins by understanding the severity of the punishment the law placed on them. We are blessed with a “clearer sight” of our need for the grace and mercy found in Jesus Christ. The Confession continues, It is likewise of use to the regenerate to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin; and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse and unallayed rigour thereof. The promises of it likewise show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof, though not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works; so as man's doing good and refraining from evil, because the law encourages to the one and deters from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law and not under grace. Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God, revealed in the law, requires to be done. As we do not receive the punishment of the specific laws of the the law, neither do we earn the blessings of the law for obedience. That is because the law is squarely placed under the old covenant (or, the Mosaic covenant). The church is under the law of Christ—love God and love neighbor. Knowing the law of the old covenant gives us an appreciation for the perfect obedience of Christ. He never faltered from God’s righteous demands of his people. He is the true and perfect Israelite. Christ is the head of God’s new covenant people, or the church. The church is comprised of the redeemed of all nations, including Israel. Often times we talk about “Israel” and “the church” as if by “the church” we really mean “all nations who are not Israel.” But that is not the case. There is one people of God, or one church. The church is all of the redeemed. There can still be promises in store for ethnic Israel (or Romans 11 means nothing) even if we recognize that Christ reorganized Israel to encompass all of the redeemed from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people. Read the Old Testament prophets, and you’ll soon recognize God’s plan for bringing the nations to Israel, Mt. Zion. The above distinction is important for understanding the place of the law in the church’s life. Christ fulfilled the law for us. If you lose this fact, then you also lose the whole doctrine of justification. How are we justified? How do we know what sin is, and how was it applied to Christ on our behalf? The church is not a “pause” in God’s plan. Did God mess up with Israel and so decided to bring in the gentiles instead? By no means. Two important passages, closely related, conclude this post. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14). “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). ---------- Whenever we talk about the relationship of the law to the church, or specifically, Israel and the church, we have to clarify and qualify a few things. First, the church has not superseded Israel, in the sense that the church has replaced Israel. In the same way that Romans 11 only makes sense if there is a future redemption for ethnic Israelites, so it also only makes sense if believing Israelites are a recognizable group within ethnic Israel. "For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel" (Romans 9:6). Second, the Scriptures only know one people of God. When Christ told Peter, "On this rock I will build my church," no one asked him, "What do you mean?" Christ was organizing the people of God under himself. In this sense, it is good and true to say that the church is Christian Israel. There are not two means of justification. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Third, there are a variety of forms of covenant theology. While some forms emphasize far too much continuity, to the point that the church has essentially replaced Israel, Baptist covenant theology recognizes that each of the covenants must be understood both in terms of God's overall plan of redemption and on its own terms. This means that the church can be understood as the people of God across all space and time, even recognizing a "church" within ancient Israel. Again, "For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel." This also means, however, that the risen and ascended Christ is the head of the new covenant, which includes the redeemed from all nations, including Israel. For more on Baptist covenant theology, check out the following: Greg Nichols, "Covenant Theology: A Reformed and Baptistic Perspective on God’s Covenants" Samual Renihan, "The Mystery of Christ, His Covenant, and His Kingdom" Pascal Renault, "The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology" One of the perennial theological questions that develops into different camps and schools of thought is the relationship between the law and the gospel. There are more than ten commandments, so what does the Christian do with them? What does obedience look like if Jesus has fulfilled the law?
The Confession continues, Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers instructions of moral duties, all which ceremonial laws being appointed only to the time of reformation, are, by Jesus Christ the true Messiah and only law-giver, who was furnished with power from the Father for that end abrogated and taken away. You’ll notice that the Confession mentions more than just a general law—namely, moral and ceremonial law. Later, the Confession will also mention judicial laws. This is not a distinction that the Bible makes, but it can be a helpful distinction in order to better understand them as long as we don’t make it a requirement for belief. We should, however, shine a light on the continuity of God's moral law in the life of believers. While the ceremonial and civil laws of the Old Testament were specific to Israel and are no longer binding on Christians, the moral law, distilled in the Ten Commandments, remains relevant to all people in all times because we are God’s creation. The Confession recognizes that the moral law serves a crucial purpose in convicting sinners of their need for a Savior. It acts as a mirror, reflecting God's holiness and revealing our sinfulness. The law shows us the depth of our wickedness and leaves us with a deep sense of our need for redemption. By exposing our spiritual inability, the law prepares our hearts and minds to embrace Jesus Christ as our only mediator before a holy God. The Confession continues, To them also he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any now by virtue of that institution; their general equity only being of moral use. Unambiguously, the law was fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It emphasizes that Christ perfectly obeyed the Law, fulfilling its righteous demands on behalf of His people. In His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus accomplished what the Law could not—the deliverance of humanity from the penalty and power of sin and death. The Confession stresses that the Gospel of Jesus Christ supersedes the works of the Law as the means of salvation and eternal life. While the law reveals our desperate need for a Savior, it is only through faith in Christ that we receive forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. The fulfillment of the Law in Christ's redemptive work brings hope, grace, and eternal life to all who believe in Him. These paragraphs also shed light on the believer's relationship with the law in light of the gospel. While the Confession recognizes that believers are no longer under the law as a covenant of works (meaning works-righteousness, which we'll discuss more next time), it emphasizes that the law remains a valuable guide for our lives. One negative charge lobbied against Christians is that we cherrypick which Old Testament laws we want to follow. We condemn homosexuality, which even the most ardent opponent to the Bible and every person of elementary reading ability knows the law of Moses condemns, but we permit people to wear clothes made of multiple kinds of fabrics. This sort of understanding fails to consider what classic Reformed confessions explicitly say. The ten commandments are a pure distillation of the moral law, which continues, but it is the moral law itself that abides. Christians are not cherrypicking the laws that we like to use to hate on people as much as our little hearts desire. Christians are doing the hard work of understanding the difference between the use of the law to a theocratic nation and to a multinational body of exiles. As recipients of God's saving grace, believers are called to live in obedience to his moral law. The Holy Spirit empowers them to embrace the Law as a rule of life, guiding them in holiness and righteousness. The Confession highlights that the transformed heart of a believer finds delight in God's commands and desires to live in accordance with his will. This is what the Confession means by “general equity”. General equity has to do with squeezing the principle out of a particular law. For instance, why did God not allow a farmer to muzzle an ox as he treads the grain into the ground? The apostle Paul uses that law as an example of finding the general equity in a fulfilled Old Testament law. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:8-10, “Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.’ Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.” You do not expect an animal to work without feeding it, so why would a church expect its leaders to work for peanuts? The Confession emphasizes that the believer's obedience to the Law is not a means of justification but rather a fruit of their faith in Christ. It is through faith alone that believers are justified, but their obedience to the moral law becomes evidence of their transformed lives. The indwelling Holy Spirit enables them to walk in loving obedience to Christ. The Confession provides profound insights into the continuity and fulfillment found in the gospel message. While the moral law of God continues to convict and guide believers, it is only through faith in Christ that true redemption and salvation are obtained. The Confession reminds us that our relationship with the Law is transformed by the gospel, empowering us to live in obedience and bear witness to Christ's sacrificial love and obedience to his Father. It would do us to well to end with this reminder from the Confession. The moral law does for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator, who gave it; neither does Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation. Should sin abound that grace should abound all the more? May it never be! Next time, we’ll take a closer look at the actual ways we apply the law of God to the church and individual Christians. |
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