What Is It That Saves a Soul? (2)

— continued —

If salvation, then, as a whole, be one grand harmonious plan, all the parts and branches of salvation must be of the same nature. Say that a part is not harmonious, and you say the whole is not so, for the harmony of the whole depends on the harmony of the parts. These branches, or parts, then, demand our careful attention; and if we can show them to be complete, we shall do so of the whole.

1. The first branch, then, of salvation is the manifestation thereby of the glory of the Triune Jehovah. Nothing can be so dear to God as His own glory. Nothing less than the manifestation of it can be the supreme end of all His actions. The origin of all created beings, from the brightest angel to the groveling worm, can only be ascribed to the desire which Jehovah has to manifest thereby His own eternal glory. Salvation, therefore, which is the greatest act of God, must be traced up to the same source. “To the praise of the glory of His grace,” says Paul (Ephesians 1:6), “wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” And again (verse 12): “That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ.” “And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory” (Romans 9:23).

2. Our feeble faculties being unable to grasp the mind of Jehovah as one harmonious whole, we are compelled to ascribe to Him a succession of acts, which succession has no real existence in Him who is one eternal Now — “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Thus we speak of the regard which God has to His own glory as the first act in the scheme of salvation, and His eternal love as the second. But in His infinite mind there is neither first nor second, future nor past, prior nor posterior. When we say, then, that eternal love is the second moving cause of salvation, we use the language demanded by our feeble minds, and do not mean thereby to ascribe to God any such imperfection as a succession of motives implies.

Love, then, is a cause of salvation. But if Jehovah be perfect and unchangeable, His love must be of the same nature. Does God, then, love all men? Did He love Esau, Pharaoh, Saul, and Judas? He tells us Himself that He “hated Esau” (Malachi 1:3), and Paul declares that this hatred was “before the children were born, and before they had done any good or evil” (Romans 9:10-13).

We must come, then, to this conclusion, that God loves some and hates others. But is there no moving cause in the individuals themselves? Are not some good and others bad, some obedient and others disobedient, some who deserve love and others who deserve hatred? If all men are equally fallen, equally vile, equally involved in condemnation and transgression, there can be in them no original difference. If some are saved and others lost, some made eternally happy and others eternally miserable, we must look for the cause of this difference as existing somewhere else than in the persons themselves. And let us argue the matter as long as we will, if we once admit original sin and the fall of man, we must still come to the same conclusion, that the difference made between the saved and the damned originates not in them, but in God; in a word, that He freely hates some and freely loves others.

3. But the existence of love can only be made known by actions. Love is a hidden principle in the bosom, as far as regards those by whom it is felt; but with respect to those to whom it is felt, it can only be manifested by some outward conduct. Thus love is the spring of salvation, as salvation is the fruit of love. The one is the cause, the other the effect; the one the inward motive, the other the outward action. But we measure love by the trials it will undergo, the sacrifices it will make, the sufferings that it will endure for the object of affection. By the same standard we measure the love of God towards the children of men. Redemption, therefore, is continually set forth in the Word as the test and proof of the love of Christ: “Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25). “Who loved me,” says Paul, “and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). If redemption, then, is the fruit of love, the effect of it, and the expression of it; if love is limited and particular, redemption will be limited and particular, too. The effect cannot be greater than the cause, nor the action than the motive.

Thus we consider and believe from the Scriptures of truth that Christ “laid down His life for the sheep”; “was once offered to bear the sins of many”; “sanctified the people with His own blood”; “loved the church, and gave Himself for it”; and bare the sins of His elect family in His own body on the tree. As the names of the children of Israel were borne on the breast of the high priest (Exodus 28:29), so do we believe that Jesus bore on His heart the names of His elect when He hung upon the cross, and atoned by His blood for all their sins and transgressions. He paid their debt to the uttermost farthing, satisfied the most rigorous demands of eternal Justice, suffered in body and soul the full weight, measure, and tale of the sins of His people, and left not a single sin of theirs unexpiated or unatoned for. Godhead gave dignity and merit to the sufferings of Manhood; and thus Immanuel, God with us, became the all-sufficient Savior of all that were given to Him, loved by Him, and redeemed by Him.

4. The last branch of salvation as an outward act which we have space to consider is the imputed righteousness of the Son of God, which is unto all, and upon all them that believe. The law of God, being the transcript of His eternal justice, could no more be broken with impunity than that God would cease to be God. Unless, therefore, that law were perfectly obeyed, either by man, to whom it was given, or by a Surety who should stand in his place, that holy and just law must pour out its penalties and curses on the disobedient to all eternity. If this is true, then Christ was made under the law, and perfectly obeyed it, either for the whole of the human race, or for a part of it. If for the whole, then all men are justified, all men have obeyed the law through their Surety, all stand before God complete in Christ, without spot or blemish, or any such thing. The doors of heaven are opened for all, and all the race of Adam shall sit down in the wedding garment at the marriage of the Lamb. But if this be not the truth, and though all have broken the law, only a portion be saved, then we must come to this conclusion, that only those are justified for whom Christ as a surety obeyed the law, and that it is Israel only who are justified in the Lord, and shall glory.

— to be continued —

Note: For the sake of brevity, we have left out parts of this article. However, for those desiring to read the entire article, it can be found in the author’s book, Sermons, Volume IV.

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