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CONTRITION

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 14.

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CONTRITION

By C. H. Keslake

C. H. KESLAKE (New Brunswick, N. J.)
THREE most precious assurances are given us in God's word for the encouragement of those who are filled with contrition. Through Isaiah the Lord says: “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa. 57: 15.
Through the psalmist the Lord also says: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Ps. 51: 17; 34: 18.
Taken separately, either one of these contains joy enough to last the believer through all eternity; but, taken together, they express the very fullness of the gospel, which is not exceeded in any other three texts of the whole Bible. “Line upon line, line upon line,” the Lord seeks to impress upon our hearts the blessedness of His love and the completeness of His salvation.
Bearing in mind that repentance for sin is a gift from God (Acts 5: 31),—an absolute necessity to genuine contrition,—in the texts referred to we can see why it is that God grants repentance to us. Notwithstanding our sins and waywardness, the great heart of Infinite Love yearns toward us, for He can not do without us. There are other beings, unfallen, pure, and holy, whom God loves very dearly, but He is not content to love them and to receive in turn their love; He wants us! He will not be satisfied until He can dwell with us. “Hearts that have been the battle ground of the conflict with Satan, and that have been rescued by the power of love, are more precious to the Redeemer than are those who have never fallen.” There is no abode so precious to Him as the heart of the contrite soul. “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
We lose much by undertaking to define the terms that God uses, or by being content with only a surface understanding of them, even if such understanding may so far be correct. Great errors have crept into the Church by her refusal to let God define His own terms. Who can measure the harm that has been wrought by that colossal error popularly known as the “return of the Jews”? And this because God's own definition of what an Israelite is, is not accepted.
In reading the scriptures under consideration, one is apt to lose the very marrow of the texts by being satisfied with the common understanding of the word “contrite.” Let us try to get God's thought contained in this word. If we look in the dictionary, we shall find that one of the definitions given of this word is, “A rubbing to powder.” It is also said to mean “bruised, crushed.” These definitions put us on the track of a fuller understanding of the word as found in the Bible.
In Ps. 90: 3 we read: “Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.” The marginal rendering in the Revised Version reads: “Thou turnest man to dust.” But in Leeser's Hebrew translation, we read it thus: “Thou turnest man to contrition.” Each of these renderings is correct, and the original word is precisely the same as that rendered “contrite” in the texts first quoted.
Frequently the ninetieth Psalm is made to do duty on funeral occasions. This is largely because of what is said in verse 3, which is supposed to refer to the time when a person dies. It is true, of course, that the body after death returns to dust, but that was not what God had in mind primarily when He spoke these words. He had in mind death to sin by sincere repentance and godly sorrow. Let it be remembered, however, that the idea as to physical death is not to be eliminated, but only to be regarded in a secondary sense. Had God meant only the return of the body to the original element whence it was taken, doubtless He would have used the same word that is found in Gen. 3: 19: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” But God in His wisdom used a word which meant a great deal more than that.
“The wages of sin is death.” That penalty has never been removed from the sons of Adam; and inasmuch as all have sinned, all must return to dust. This is as true of the saint as of the sinner; of those who shall be saved eternally as of those who shall be lost eternally, and it is as true of the saint who shall be translated without seeing death as of those who sleep in Jesus.
How this can be is revealed in the texts under consideration. God gives us repentance for sin by causing His goodness to pass before us. Rom. 2: 4; Ex. 33: 19. This is accomplished through the cross of Christ. The love of God revealed thus makes us heartily sorry for our sins, and we are filled with contrition. When we are in this state of mind and heart, we are turned to “dust,” “crushed” to “powder;” for, as we have seen, that is the meaning of the word “destruction” in Ps. 90: 3. We are, then, in God's sight just where man was when he was created originally from the dust of the ground. And that being so, God can do His work of creation over again, and thus make us new creatures. “If any man is in Christ, there is a new creation.” 2 Cor. 5: 17, R. V.
Contrition involves the surrender of the will. The one in that condition is just as passive in God's hand as if he were simply unorganized dust of the ground, as in the beginning.
All this is made possible for the sinner, because Christ has for him passed through this contrition; and it is all expressed in Isaiah 53, particularly in verses 7 and 10. This will be understood perfectly when it is remembered that the word “bruised” in the two texts just referred to is from the same word that is rendered “contrite.” And so we read again, in Leeser's translation: “But the Lord was pleased to crush [to powder or dust] Him through disease.” But Christ could bear our diseases only as He bore our sins.
As the mind contemplates the thought that Christ throughout His life was being “crushed to powder,” it stands subdued, and the heart becomes filled with love and emotion when it is remembered that such a sacrifice was made in the sinner's behalf; and from that sacred, holy “dust” there springs forth the new creation, which shall cause the great heart of infinite Love to swell with joy and singing, and which shall be a suitable habitation for the high and lofty One.
“O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”