Confession of Faith: Article XXIV

This article speaks about man’s sanctification and about good works. We have seen previously in Article XXII that there is a justification by, or through, faith in Jesus Christ. In Article XXIII we have seen wherein that justification consists. That faith is no more than a gift. It is a hand, not a working hand, but an empty hand which receives what the Lord has given. Even that hand is the gift of God. Although there is no merit in that faith, yet we read that it “doth regenerate and make him a new man.”

There is a certain order of salvation. It seems as if in this article the order is, first, faith; next, regeneration; then justification and sanctification. We believe, based on the Word of God, that the Lord first quickens a sinner by His calling. Therefore the order is: calling, regeneration, and then faith. But in this article it says, “We believe that this true faith ....” It speaks here about saving faith; that is a faith which is not an act of man, an answer of man, a response of man, but a faith which is wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God and the operation of the Holy Ghost. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). We read that this faith is “wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God and the operation of the Holy Ghost.” Unlike the Remonstrants, our fathers do not speak about faith as an act of man’s free will which accepts what the Lord offers and presents unto him. No, they really speak of faith as being wrought by Word and Spirit.

That faith is not man’s work, but God’s gift. But why do they mention this order? The same word can have different meanings. Sometimes our fathers speak about regeneration as the quickening of the new man, as the making of a new creature. We call that the regeneration in the narrow sense. That is the moment that the Lord quickens a dead sinner. Then we believe that regeneration is first, which is the quickening, and then there is also faith.

Justifying faith must bring forth a holy and a pious life.

However, here regeneration is not spoken of in the narrow sense, but in the broader sense. Regeneration here indicates the process of the renewing of the whole man. This faith makes him a new man, causes him to live a new life. Here it is speaking about his new life, not about that one moment in which he was quickened, but about that new creation’s activity, about the life of a child of God. We call that the regeneration in a wider or a broader sense. Then indeed we must say that it is faith which renews man and makes him bring forth fruits of faith. Those fruits of faith are the works of God in and by the new creature, by a child of God — a new life. That is the reason they say this faith “doth regenerate and make him a new man.”

This article speaks about one of the twin graces, justification and sanctification. Those two belong together. It is impossible that someone who is justified by God will not bring forth good fruits, that a good tree will not bring forth good fruit. Therefore how false is the accusation of some that justifying faith makes man neglect a pious and holy life. One who is renewed by God and has this faith will show it in his life. He must bring forth fruits, just as the sun must shine. Justifying faith must bring forth a holy and a pious life.

When we speak about that pious life, then we speak about what we call sanctification. This sanctification is not what many people think it to be. It is not that we just try to become pious, that we begin to read and pray, that we do a lot of things we never did before, that we become a very strict person, like Luther, who became a monk. It is not outward strictness or piety, which are often used as grounds for salvation. Man invents so many ways wherein he tries to please God. But when we speak about sanctification, we first have to define it. The shorter Catechism says, “Sanctification is the work of God’s grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness.” The word sanctify means to cleanse, to set apart, to separate, to purify, to dedicate. When we sanctify something, we put it apart, set it apart for use in the Lord’s service, for a sacred, holy purpose. Sanctifying grace is a grace which sets a sinner apart; it separates him from the world, from Satan’s service, and from the service of sin, and it dedicates him unto the service of God.

— to be continued —

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