The
Oberlin Evangelist
March 29, 1843
HOLINESS OF CHRISTIANS IN THE PRESENT LIFE:--No. 7.
WAY TO BE HOLY
Modernized by Cliff
Collins
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4)
In this lecture, I will answer the following
questions.
I. What doesn’t the statement that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness mean?
II. What does this statement mean?
III. How does Christ become the end of the law for
righteousness?
I. What doesn’t the statement that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness mean?
1. The fact that Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness does not mean that Christ abolishes the law for believers. I am aware that there are some people in the
Church, even whole Churches, who claim that Christ abolished the law, but this
can’t be true for the following reasons.
(1.) The moral law is not based in God’s arbitrary
will, for if the law originates in His arbitrary will, He would have no rule to
govern His conduct. He would have
nothing to compare His own actions with.
Every moral agent (including God) must have some rule to govern his or
her conduct.
If God abolishes moral law, then that Christian can
no longer have a moral character. In
order to have moral character, you must have moral obligation, and in order to
have moral obligation, you must have moral law.
Unless God also has to obey moral law, love in Him
is not virtue, for you must comply with an obligation in order to have
virtue. If God’s law is abolished, we
wouldn’t have any standard to compare His actions with. We wouldn’t have any standard we could use
to judge His actions, so that we could know whether He is holy or unholy. Not only that, if God is capable of loving,
it is impossible that He would not be under a moral obligation to be loving,
and if God is under a moral obligation to be loving, then the law cannot be
based in His arbitrary will.
Furthermore, if the law were based in His arbitrary will, God could,
simply by willing it, make virtue vice, and make vice virtue, and make right
wrong and wrong right. But, this is
absurd and impossible.
(2.) The moral law comes from God’s self-existing
nature. God never made His own nature,
and as a result, He never made the law, and God must therefore obey the law
that exists in His own reason, by virtue of His own nature that imposes
it. To be virtuous, God must obey the
law just as we must obey the law if we want to be virtuous.
(3.) God requires unselfish willful love from us
because it is naturally required of us.
He made us in His own image, that is, God gave us a nature like His
nature, and therefore God cannot discharge us from our obligation to keep the
law. Even if He did, our own reason
would still reveal our obligation to obey God’s moral law, and our reason would
insist that we obey that law. We would
still see that we should love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves.
(4.) If God could abolish the moral law; we would no
longer have any moral character. Without
the law as a standard to determine if we obeyed or disobeyed, we would be
neither sinful nor holy any more than animals can be either sinful or
holy. Therefore, please notice that
Christ cannot be the end of the law in the sense that He abolishes it.
2. The fact that Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness does not mean that He abolishes the penalty as far as believers
are concerned, so that they can sin without actual condemnation. Some have this view of justification, that
at the first act of faith, God so sets aside the penalty of the law that the
penalty for violating the law never afterwards attaches to the individual. However, this cannot be, because:
(1.) If the penalty is set aside, then the law must
be repealed, for law consists of both precept and penalty.
(2.) If the penalty is completely set aside, then
Christians, when they sin, would no longer need pardon, and they could not,
without being foolish and even wicked, pray for forgiveness. If the penalty were set aside, to pray for
pardon would be nothing more than sheer unbelief. But, every Christian knows that when he sins he is condemned, and
he must be pardoned or damned.
Therefore, Christ is not the end of the law in this sense that He
abolishes the penalty as far as believers are concerned.
3. Nor is Christ the end of the law merely for
justification, for,
(1.) Christ did not obtain a legal justification for
us. Legal justification is the act of
pronouncing one just in the eyes of the law.
This Christ cannot do for any transgressor. Gospel justification is pardon and acceptance. However, it never was the goal or the
purpose of the law to pardon sinners.
In this sense, then, it is impossible that Christ should be the end of
the law, because the law never aimed at pardoning transgressors. That was never the goal of the law. The word righteousness sometimes means
justification, but the word ‘righteous’ cannot mean ‘justification’ here, since
Christ never aimed at legal justification, nor to pardon us through the
law. Therefore, Christ cannot be the
end of the law in this sense.
4. Nor is Christ the end of the law in the sense
that He obtains a pardon for those who believe, for this was never the end
proposed by the law. The law knows
nothing about pardon.
5. Nor does it mean that Christ imputes His own
righteousness or obedience to us. Some
believe that Christ was under no obligation to obey the law Himself, and
therefore He can impute His obedience to believers. But,
(1.) The goal of the law was never imputation. This was not part of its goal. Did the law require Christ’s righteousness
or personal holiness to be imputed?
(2.) The supporters of this doctrine of an imputed
righteousness base their doctrine on the absurd assumption that Christ did not
have to obey the law. But, how can this
be? Was He under no obligation to love
His Father with all His heart, or to love His neighbor as Himself? If Christ did not have to obey the law, then
His love was not virtue, because in order to have virtue, you must be under an
obligation to obey the law. Christ certainly
was required to love God with all His heart, and soul, and strength, and mind,
and He was required to love His neighbor as Himself, just as much as you and I
are required to love God and our neighbor.
How holy should God be? As holy
as He can be! That is, He should love
His father and His neighbor with all His heart. This is obedience, and the Bible says that Christ was obedient
unto death.
(3.) The doctrine of an imputed righteousness
assumes that Christ’s works were works that were over and above what He was required
to do. Is this what the Apostle means
when he says, “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the
heavens”? (Hebrews 7:26)
(4.) This doctrine of an imputed righteousness is a
mere dogma of Popes, born, bred, and supported amid its darkness and
superstitions. Christ suffered and died
for us, and this constitutes the Atonement.
His obedience was necessary so that He could atone for our sins. His obedience was necessary condition of our
salvation, since only a holy being could make an atonement. Holiness is unselfish love, and Christ must
have been unselfish, in order to make the Atonement which is a work of love.
(5.) The doctrine of imputed righteousness
represents God as requiring,
(a) That Christ should render perfect obedience for
us.
(b) Then that He should die just as if no such
obedience had been rendered.
(c) That, in spite of the fact that the debt has now
been paid twice by our substitute, we must repent as if the debt were still unpaid.
(d) Then we must be forgiven of the debt that has
now been paid twice.
(e) And after all this, that we ourselves must obey,
or be personally holy.
(f) And finally, that we must count it all as grace.
This is a jumble of nonsense! Is this the gospel of the blessed God? Impossible!
(6.) The doctrine of an imputed righteousness
completely sets aside the true idea of the gospel. The true idea of pardon does not even enter into the doctrine of
imputation. Instead, the doctrine of
imputation is a fivefold satisfaction of justice. According to this doctrine, we are not restored to the favor of
God by a free pardon, but by imputed righteousness. Isn’t in interesting, that intelligent people, when they hear
such teaching as this, say, “Oh, what a bunch of nonsense! If that is the gospel, I don’t want to have
anything to do with it.”
(7.) Imputation is not, and never was, the goal or
the object of the law. The goal that
the law seeks is righteousness or true obedience.
II. What does the statement that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness mean?
Our passage proclaims that Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Righteousness is
obedience to the law. Therefore, Christ
is the end of the law, which is our obedience.
He secures the very end aimed at by the law, which is our
obedience. In other words, Christ makes
Christians holy; as it is said, “There is therefore now no condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not
walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4) What do we have here?
Why, we have a clear statement from Paul, that Christ, by His Atonement
and indwelling Spirit, has secured in Christians, the very obedience that the
law requires.
III. How does Christ become the end of the law for
righteousness or for obedience?
1. Confidence or faith is essential to all
heart-felt obedience to any law. You
can secure outward conformity to the requirements of the law by fear, but not
by love.
2. Christ, then, secures love or true righteousness
by inspiring confidence in the character and government of God. Satan has slandered God, and the world
believes his slander. Satan told our
first parents that God was selfish when He forbid them to eat of the tree of
knowledge, and that if they would eat that fruit then what God said would
happen would not happen. God was
lying. Satan said, “You will not surely
die. For God knows that in the day you
eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil!” (Gen 3:4-5) This was quite a temptation! “So when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make
one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Gen 3:6)
Now what needs to be done is to remove the prejudice that has existed
throughout the ages because of what happened in the Garden of Eden. How can we remove this prejudice?
3. Christ came to reveal the true God and the true
character of His government for the express purpose of removing the prejudice
that has existed throughout the ages.
Christ came not only to teach, but, by His example, to provide an
illustration of what the law meant; and to convince us that God is love. Christ knew very well that confidence was
what was needed; and in order to reveal the character of God so that it
produces confidence, Christ must hold His own character out in a life of love,
for all to see. There was a great need
for this, because many of the dispensations of God towards the human race
appeared severe. God poured out the
waters of the flood on the old world, and destroyed it. He had frowned on the cities of the plain,
and sent them burning down to hell. In
many other situations, God had to resort to measures that were designed to
produce a dread, and a slavish fear, rather than to inspire confidence and
love. Therefore, it was necessary to
adopt measures of a different nature.
It was necessary to adapt measures that would produce faith.
4. The nature of faith makes obedience certain, as
far as faith implies obedience. For
example, a wife is always perfectly under the influence of her husband, just as
long as she has confidence in him. Suppose
he is an executive; if she has confidence in his business talents, she doesn’t
worry about his business transactions.
Therefore, if they are going a journey, suppose she knows that he is careful
and attentive to his affairs, she will not worry. She won’t ask whether he has taken care of their baggage, and
whether he has purchased tickets and made accommodations. She expects all this, of course, and she is
happy relying on him. However, suppose
we turn this over, and say that she has no confidence in his character. If he is an executive, and she lacks
confidence in his judgment, she will always worry or fear that he will take
some step that will ruin their affairs.
If they are going on a journey, perhaps she will fear that he will take
off without his pocketbook, or forget some of his baggage, or that he will lose
them along the way. It is easy to see,
that the more we have this lack of confidence in someone, the more it tends to
diminish our affection, and if our lack of confidence extends to that person’s
entire character, we cannot honestly love that person.
I could illustrate this in a thousand ways. If you call in a physician, and you have
confidence in him, you will take any medicine that he prescribes. I remember a situation, which, perhaps some
of you are familiar with. A certain
king was sick, and he sent for his physician.
The physician examined his symptoms and found that his disease was very
serious, and it required a peculiar treatment.
He told the king he would go home and prepare a certain medicine, which
would make him very sick, while it is working, but it would remove the disease. While he was gone, the king received a
letter, warning him against the physician, as though he planned to poison
him. When the physician returned and
gave him the medicine, he immediately swallowed it, and then handed his
physician the letter he had received.
That was faith; and it placed him completely under the control of his
physician. Therefore, it is easy to
see, that if Christ could only restore faith among men, He would secure obedience.
5. Faith in God’s character is the foundation of
faith in His promises. Many people seem
to go the wrong way to work. They try
to exercise faith in the promises, using faith in His general character. But, Christ takes the opposite course,
revealing the character of God as a foundation of faith in His promises.
6. Christ baptizes believers by His Holy Spirit, and
actually works in them to will and to do.
Christ seems to work wonderfully and remarkably to get control of the
believers. Unless Christ can gain their
confidence, He cannot gain control over them, but as soon as He can inspire
faith, He has them under His control.
We see the same law among men.
Do you see that couple in love?
By securing mutual confidence, they wind imperishable cords around each
other’s hearts. Then, when one knows
the will of the other, they do it. They
do not need to be bound or driven by the force of penalties. This is what the seducer does, who can
“smile and still be a villain”. The
seducer lays his foundation deep in the confidence of his victim, until he can
laugh at anything her parents may say and do against him. He gains such a decided advantage, that he
can control other people’s will more certainly than if he could control it by
his hand. That’s the natural result of
gaining the confidence of another. They
will, and do just about anything at his bidding. This is how Christ gains our heart. He gains our confidence.
However, Christ does this in love, and He works in us to will and to do,
of His good pleasure.
7. Therefore, the way to be holy is to believe.
“Then they said to Him, ‘what shall we do, that we
may work the works of God? Jesus
answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him
whom He sent’. (1 John 6:28)
“That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an
inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:18)
“This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive
the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal 3:2)
“Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the
flesh? Have you suffered so many things
in vain if indeed it was in vain?
Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among
you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness’.
Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of
Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham
beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed’. So then, those who are of faith are blessed
with believing Abraham. For as many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is
everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of
the law, to do them’. But that no one
is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘The just shall
live by faith’. Yet the law is not of
faith, but ‘The man who does them shall live by them’. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the
law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who
hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in
Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith.” (Gal 3:3-14)
“What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to
righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of
righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why?
Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of
the law. For they stumbled at that
stumbling stone. As it is written:
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever
believes on Him will not be put to shame’.”
(Romans 9:30-33)
Therefore, the believer is complete in Christ. In other words, He is all we need. His functions and His relations meet all our
needs, and by faith, we receive their redeeming influence.
REMARKS
1. From this subject, we can see why the gospel makes faith so important. Faith is the only way of salvation.
2. Saving men by faith is perfectly
philosophical. It makes perfect
sense. This is how Christ works Himself
into the very heart of believers.
3. By the very nature of the situation, faith is the
only possible way to secure love. God
could command us to love, and He could back up His command with threats. But, this would only fill selfish minds with
terror. Commanding us to love or else,
would not only leave our selfishness unbroken, but it would force us to grab at
selfish objects amid the roar of God’s thunders. Because of the way that God created our mind, in order to secure
obedience, God must secure confidence.
Look at Eve. The moment she
doubted, she fell. And all of heaven
would fall if they lost confidence in God.
Yes, they would fall! They would
no more remain obedient, than the planets would remain in their orbits, if the
power of gravity were broken. Everyone
knows that if the laws of gravity were destroyed, suns, stars, and planets
would fly lawless through the universe, and desolation would drive her
ploughshare through all of creation. In
the same way, break the power of confidence in heaven, and every angel there
would fall like Lucifer; and universal anarchy would prevail.
4. Now, I have never said one word that represents
virtue or holiness as consisting in feelings of satisfaction towards God, or in
loving God merely for His favors.
However, the demonstration of God’s character in Christ produces real
unselfish love in us. Christ shows us
what true love is, and encourages us to exercise this same love. Nearly every preacher and writer today
thinks that religion is nothing more than feeling satisfied with God for His
favors. Both gratitude and
self-satisfaction may, and often do, exist in an impenitent mind. Therefore, it is a fundamental error, to
confuse gratitude and self-satisfaction with true religion.
5. Christ, by demonstrating His unselfish love,
produces His own image in everyone who believes. In other words, God naturally leads believers to submit to the
transforming tendency that seeing the unselfish love of Christ’s character has
on believers. The law could never
secure this in a selfish mind.
6. I said that the doctrine of an imputed righteousness is either another gospel or no gospel at all. And here, can I ask you, is not imputed righteousness another way of salvation? But, what I am proclaiming to you today, instead of imputing righteousness to believers, God does something better. God makes them righteous.
7. God did not give us the gospel to get around the
law. The gospel is added to accomplish
what the law tried to accomplish, but could not do it, because the law is ‘weak
through the flesh’.
8. Can you now see who the true believers are? Those who love God supremely and their
neighbor as themselves are true believers.
Unless your faith produces obedience, it is not the faith of the gospel.
9. We can now see the sustaining power of
faith. Many people rarely think about
the sustaining power of faith. If the
head of a family secures the confidence of his family, he easily controls his
family; but if he does not secure their confidence, there will always be a
tendency to resist him. The same
principle operates in state governments.
Rulers and police can only be as firm as the confidence of their
subjects allows them to be. The same is
true in the business world. Everything
is prosperous, as long as the employees have confidence in their bosses. Once this confidence is gone, the tide immediately
turns in the other direction. Why do so
many businesses in this country, which were once supposed to be perfectly
stable, tumble down around the leaders of those businesses? Because, confidence in their leaders is
destroyed! Restore their confidence,
and immediately things will improve.
Every merchant in New York will feel the surge in confidence; and ships
from abroad will come loaded down with merchandise. This principle is equally efficient and necessary in God’s divine
government. The devil understands this
principle all too well. That is why the
first thing Satan tried to do after God created man was to overthrow God’s
government. However, ministers these
days, all too often, put God’s government in the background, and that is the
reason why there is so much failure in the work of reforming the world today. Christ, on the other hand, always put God’s
government first, and His declaration, ‘He that believes shall be saved’, is
the unalterable law of God’s government.
10. Unbelievers cannot be saved, because their lack
of confidence keeps them from obeying with all their hearts.
11. Perhaps, you are quietly asking, “How can I
believe”? Let me turn to you, and ask,
“How can you not believe”? Christ has
died for you to win your confidence. He
stands at your door, offering blessings, and assuring you of His good
will. And, you can't believe! What!
And the Son of God is standing at the door! But perhaps you stand way back, and say, “Christians can believe,
but how can I? I am a poor, guilty
wretch”. And why not you? Come, let your anchor lower deep down into
the character of God, and then if the winds blow, let them blow; if the ocean
tosses itself, and yawns until it exposes its very bottom, you are secure, for
God rules the wind and the waves. But I
hear someone say, “I am such a backslider”.
Yes, and you will probably remain a backslider. Unless you believe, you will continue to
drift further away from God. Come,
instantly, and believe. Come all you
professing Christians; come, all you sinners; come now, and He will write His
law in your hearts; and it will no longer be to you a law on tables of
stone. Can you believe it? Yes, O yes!
Then let us come around the throne of grace, and receive Christ, as the
end of the law for righteousness