The Cross of Christ - Or Sinners Saved By Unmerited Kindness # 1

The Cross of Christ - Or Sinners Saved by Unmerited Kindness # 1

"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved" (Acts 15:11).

From first to last salvation is all of grace. Paul says: "For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the goodness and love for man appeared from God our Saviour, He saved us - not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:3-5). So that it is clearly by the grace and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit is sent down to renew our natures, and to accomplish in us the new birth. Pardon saves a sinner from the curse of the law and the lake of fire; acceptance through Christ gives him a title to heaven; but in regeneration the dominion of sin begins to be destroyed, and the soul begins to be fitted for the Master's use. 

The new birth is a great mystery, yet it is much insisted on in Scripture. "The washing of regeneration" is as necessary as washing in the blood of Christ. "The renewing of the Holy Spirit" is as essential as the "justification of life." Within the space of four verses our Lord thrice declares how necessary it is to salvation. Hear Him: "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again" (John 3:3, 5, 7). The fallow ground must be broken up or the good seed will not take root in our hearts. The wild olive tree must undergo the operation of engrafting with the good olive tree, or it will remain worthless. All the Scriptures teach as much.

Christ taught that a vile sinner must undergo a great spiritual change, before he could be fit for the service of God. Perhaps there is not a more driveling error that that which teaches that baptism with water is the regeneration, which Jesus Christ and His apostles insist upon. When men can confound the "washing of regeneration" with the washing with water, they are fully prepared to follow, in fact they are already following, in the footsteps of those, who confounded "that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh," with that circumcision, which is "of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Perhaps too, no error is more mischievous than this. It is monstrous that such error and folly should be taught in lands where God's Word is in general use. To baptism some add an outward reformation, and insist that this should be admitted as sufficient. Supposing this to be the meaning of Christ and His apostles, it is impossible to defend them from the charge of using very mysterious language to convey so simple an idea. But such belief is never entertained by those, who have a fitting respect for God's Word.

It will therefore claim no more attention at this time. Sound divines have very remarkably agreed in telling us what regeneration is. Witherspoon says: "A new birth implies an universal change. It must be of the whole man, not in some particular, but in all without exception." And he shows at length that it is not PARTIAL, EXTERNAL, IMPERFECT;  but that it is UNIVERSAL, INWARD, ESSENTIAL, COMPLETE, AND SUPERNATURAL. Charnock says: "regeneration is a mighty and powerful change, wrought in the soul by the efficacious working of the Holy Spirit, wherein a vital principle, a new habit, the law of God, and a divine nature are put into and framed in the heart, enabling it to act holily and pleasingly to God, and to grow up therein to eternal glory." Thomas Scott quotes with approbation another definition, but does not give his author. He says: "Regeneration is a change wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the understanding, will and affections of a sinner; which is the commencement of a new kind of life, and which gives another direction to his judgment, desires, pursuits, and conduct."

Although this change is called by various names, yet the doctrine of Scripture respecting it is uniform. Sometimes it is called a holy calling, a creation, a new creation, a translation, a circumcision of the heart, a resurrection; but whatever be the name, the thing signified is everywhere spoken of in very solemn terms and as a rich fruit of God's grace. Thus says Paul, "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me" (Gal. 1:15, 16). Again: God "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim. 1:9). Again Peter says that "the God of all grace has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus" (1 Pet. 5:10).

~William S. Plumer~

(continued with # 2)