GRACE THROUGH UNRIGHTEOUNNESS.
By E. Goodrich
As is the tree, such is the fruit that it bears. A wrong course can never end in the right place; and it is no matter of wonder that those who begin by affirming that the law of God is abolished, are found in the end teaching a doctrine equivalent to the one found in the above heading. Those who thus begin and thus end may be honest; they may, indeed, think that it is necessary to remove the law of God in order that the light of divine grace may shine out more brilliantly. But, nevertheless, the very opposite of this is true; because mercy is the compassion that is shown to those who are guilty. It is the forbearance that is manifested to those who are convinced of crime, heresy or indebtedness. And when we take away the law by which is the knowledge of sin, if we do not destroy the necessity of mercy, we at least take away the means by which the favor of God is reflected in the face of his Son. First the cause, and then the cure; the disease and then the remedy. A man can only properly appreciate a favor or deliverance, by understanding his wretchedness or want. The skill of the physician is known by the nature and extent of the disease cured. Again, to destroy evidence of indebtedness would not manifest the mercy of the creditor. On the contrary it would place him in a condition where he could neither exhibit mercy, nor collect his honest dues. Example. The promissory note that A. holds against B. is evidence of his indebtedness. To destroy this, although it would favor B., would be injustice to A., and at best would only be an exhibition of grace reigning through unrighteousness. But if A., while in the possession of B.'s evidence of indebtedness, should say to B., Inasmuch as I have a right to do with that which I will with my own, and inasmuch as thou canst not pay, I will therefore freely forgive you. Here would be grace reigning through righteousness. And so it is with the law of God: it is holy (it defies no one), is just (it demands no more than is due) it is good (it seeks the highest lasting good of all), and it cannot be set aside for the purpose of favoring man, without doing injustice to its Author. And as all creature rights are founded on the rights of the Creator who has formed them, to deny God's right or to attempt to build up man at the expense of justice, and the rights of his Maker would be to set on foot a system of action which would in the end take from man that which belongs to him. And it is but logical to conclude that those who knowingly transgress a commandment that requires us to pay homage to God, would under like provocation and circumstances, transgress those commandments that are given to guard man in the rights that God has conferred upon him. In fact the two ideas (God's rights and man's rights) are inseparably connected; and the one cannot be violated without violating the other. And again, to destroy the law of God can be of no real benefit to man, because the disease is in man, not in the law; and to destroy the law neither changes his creature relations, his wicked heart, nor his corrupt nature. No, the remedy that God has provided cannot consist in denying the disease nor in destroying the evidence of its malignity. But it consists in the employment of those active virtues whereby man is completely purged from his sins and all corruption and made a new creature. The liberty wherewith Christ makes us free consists in making man free from sin, not free to sin. It consists in destroying the law of sin and death that reigns in man's mortal body, and not in denying those obligations that grow out of moral relations sustained to God. This doctrine is clearly and fully set forth in the epistle to the Romans, in which the apostle Paul portrays man's condition both while unconverted, and when converted. In the first place, he presents man in his natural and unconverted state, showing that while in this state and condition he is an enemy to God, because he is the subject of sin, and in him reigns all those passions and promptings that manifest themselves in every species of sin and disloyalty, showing that the carnal or natural mind is enmity against God, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So that those that are in the flesh, or the possession of the carnal mind, cannot please God, showing that as the law of sin and death reigns in our natural bodies, unless we are freed from its dominion here, we cannot expect to live hereafter, hence the need of a remedy: and hence the doctrine of conversion, or that the old man of the flesh, the body of sin, should be crucified with all his affections and lusts. In the meantime, or second place, he presents us with the law of God, by which is the knowledge of sin, by which God's claims are vindicated, and sin painted in its own native colors, and magnified to its own hateful dimensions. The law is not sin, neither does it make sinners; these exist where the law is not revealed. The same moral corruption and deep-seated depravity exists in the hearts of those who never heard the law, as in the minds of those who know its claims and yet remain unconverted. The design of the law is to make known the nature, extent and dread consequences of sin. This is done by showing that God is our Creator and his law is holy, just and good, and all that comes in contact with it must perish forever. When these things are known, and not till then, can the grace of God in our salvation be estimated or shine forth in its own divine glory. As an illustration, a cure may be genuine, thorough and great; and yet if the persons or parties upon whom the cure is effected be ignorant of the nature, extent, and malignity of the disease, they will be quite as ignorant of the skill of the physician, or the cost by which they are cured. The above sentiment is expressed by the apostle [Rom. v, 20, 21] in the following language: "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." And lest some should misinterpret the language and feel somewhat free to sin, he anticipates them by asking, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" He then answers the question with the strongest possible negative: "God forbid." And not being content with only a negation he immediately begins to argue the question (whether a man may sin after he is converted or not) and in the seventh and eighth chapters he has given a complete exposition of the whole matter, showing that the Christian is one that has become dead to sin, has been crucified with Christ, and has arisen to walk in newness of life, or to live a new life. He is one whose old man is put off and the body of sin destroyed and his members are no longer yielded to commit sin, but are instruments of righteousness unto holiness. Showing in the third place the remedy which consists in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus by which we are made free, not from the law of God, but from the law of sin and death. This is the liberty wherewith Christ makes free: a deliverance from the dominion of lust and sin. This kind of remedy is genuine and thorough, because it begins with the root of the matter and aims at a complete change of nature. The necessity, consistency and beauty of such a reformation as this, is the better seen and realized when we remember that a dying nature and a sinful nature are identical. To be delivered from one is to be freed from the other. This sentiment is expressed by the apostle, [Rom. vi, 6], when he says, Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him; for in that he died he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth he liveth unto God. Died unto sin: not that Christ ever sinned, or that guile was ever found in his mouth; but as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, and he also likewise took part of the same, he inherited a part of our nature, subject as it was to the law of sin and death. And having inherited our nature with its sinful susceptibilities and promptings, he could feel the power of the tempter, yea, be in all points tempted as we are. And having been tempted, he could sympathize with and succor those that are tempted, and thus be a merciful and faithful High Priest. But when he died he was put to death in the flesh, but raised by the Spirit, the power, and glory, of the Father, and placed infinitely above the power of temptation, the dominion of sin or death. Now, according to the apostle's reasoning and language, as Christ died unto sin, and as when we are baptized we are baptized into his death, to carry out the figure and doctrine, as Christ was raised up by the glory of the Father, and lives a new life, so we, having died unto sin, should live the rest of our time to God. The above and foregoing is in brief the doctrine of the Bible from beginning to end; and how any one who has read the Scriptures, who has learned the reason why man fell, the purpose for which the Son of God was manifested, and who professedly has been converted,—how any such can for a moment believe that the moral law of God ceased by limitation, or was abolished by the death and mediation of Christ, is a mystery—a mystery that seems only to be explained by the deception of the human heart and the enormity of the carnal mind. E. GOODRICH.
Edinboro, Pa.