February 2014

They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally, nor finally, fall away from the state of grace: but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.

Someone has said that a half-truth is often a great lie. Someone else quipped that you should beware of a half-truth, because you may have gotten ahold of the wrong half. Such is the case
with the statement, “Once saved, always saved.” Often people say “once saved, always saved” in the context of making a decision for Christ. They mean that if you ask Jesus into your heart or pray to accept Christ as your personal Savior, then no matter what you do, you are going to heaven. Famously, one advocate of this view has said publicly that all one needs is thirty seconds of saving faith! Many people object against such an idea out of concern for the health and holiness of the church. They are right to do so because it is not biblical truth. It is also not the Reformed doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

Reformed Christianity teaches that God preserves His people so that they continue to follow Christ in faith and obedience all the way to glory. The Westminster Confession of Faith explains the promise, grounds, and necessary watchfulness of perseverance in its seventeenth chapter. The first paragraph of WCF 17 states the promise of perseverance. Those in “the state of grace…shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.” To persevere is to persistently and patiently pursue Christ through pain and persecution, in spite of assaults, temptation, lapses into sin, and struggles with unbelief.

This promise is precious because you must persevere in order to be saved (Heb. 3:6, 14). Christ warned His disciples that they will face persecution. “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22; cf. 24:13). He said, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:4). To abide is to continue in a vital relationship to Christ as your source of life. The Apostle Paul wrote that you are reconciled to God and will be presented as blameless in His sight, “if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23). Perseverance is not optional to salvation; rather, it is one of the surest marks of true faith.

God’s love therefore secures the perseverance of His people so they will enter the joys of His glory. As a term of the new covenant in Christ, He promises: “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me” (Jer. 32:40). Everyone born again by God’s grace overcomes the world by faith (1 John 5:3–4). Even as his faith is tested by painful trials, God keeps him safe by using His power to preserve and purify his faith (1 Peter 1:5–7).

God’s grace creates people who willingly persevere in faith. He does not drag them kicking and screaming into the kingdom or save anyone against their will: “It is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). Rather, He draws them to come to Christ in faith, and Christ will never cast them out or lose even one of them, but will raise every one of them up to glory on the last day (John 6:37–40). Even when many who have professed to be Christ’s disciples turn back from Him and some treacherously betray Him, true believers will not leave Him because they know only He can give them eternal life (John 6:66–71). They have a God-given appetite that only Christ can satisfy, and they will cling to Him forever.

Someone might object that both the Bible and experience show that some Christians do fall away from Christ. Yes, it is a sad fact that they do. The confession wisely speaks of the perseverance of only those “whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit.” This is not everyone who comes to church or responds positively to the gospel. Christ Himself teaches that some “receive the word with joy” and “for a while believe,” but trouble or temptation cause them to fall away (Luke 8:13). However, they were not true believers, for in the same Scripture the Lord said that they “have no root”—the gospel never pierced their stony heart to create saving faith. They experienced God’s truth and Holy Spirit as soil that receives the rain but produces thorns and not good fruit, and so they ultimately fall away (Heb. 6:4–8). Apostasy among professing Christians should grieve us but not shock us. The promise of perseverance belongs to those whom God has called, justified, and sanctified, in the outworking of His sovereign election in love (Rom. 8:29–30).

Another person might object that true believers still fall into sin. Again, we must agree. However, the confession says that God’s children cannot “totally, nor finally” fall from grace. Yet they may experience partial and temporary falls. David fell into adultery and murder until the Lord broke his
heart with repentance (Ps. 51). Peter denied his Lord when Satan was sifting him as wheat. How frail we are! But we also remember Christ’s words to Peter, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32). Christ guaranteed that Peter’s faith would not totally or finally fail, but he would turn back in repentance (which is what “converted” means in this context). The intercession of our Mediator guarantees that not one of His people will be finally lost. We will discuss the rock-solid grounds for the perseverance of the saints in more detail when we consider the second section of WCF 17.

Westminster Confession of Faith (17.2)
This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace: from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

The Reformed doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not feed the complacency of the proud and hypocritical. It fosters the hope of the humble and dependent. John Newton wrote
of the believer, “He believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him a habitual tenderness and gentleness of spirit.” David captures true Christian experience when he sings:

Afflictions on the good must fall, but God will bring
them safe through all; From harmful stroke He will defend, and sure and full
deliv’rance send.
The Lord redemption will provide for all who in His
grace confide;
From condemnation they are clear who trust in Him with holy fear.1

The perseverance of saints is rooted and grounded in God’s grace and faithfulness.

Whereas the first section of WCF 17 tells us the promise of perseverance, the second section tells us its ground or basis. This is solid ground, giving believers “certainty and infallibility”
in their hope. The Lord does not desire for His children to live in constant doubt about their future, but in assurance of eternal life with Him in glory (1 John 2:28–3:3; 5:13).

The confession begins with what perseverance of the saints does not depend on, namely, “their own free will.” Do not misunderstand this; the confession does not deny that perseverance involves many acts of our will. Christians persevere not as robots but as willing believers, and perseverance is a duty as well as a grace (Heb. 12:1). Believers daily choose between
faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience, Spirit and flesh, life and death (Deut. 30:19; Gal. 6:8). Having been justified, they must “work out” the implications of salvation with an eye on the coming day of the Lord (Phil. 2:11–12). However, their willing and working comes from God working in them according to His will (Phil. 2:13). Their faithfulness is a gift from God’s faithfulness (1 Thess. 5:23–24). Therefore, believers must persevere, but their perseverance does not depend on them but on the grace of the Lord.

The confession now proceeds to tell us the four-fold basis of Christian perseverance, reflecting the work of the three persons of the Trinity who have promised complete salvation in the covenant of grace.

First, the perseverance of the saints cannot fail because of the unchanging love of God the Father for those whom He has chosen. Out of the rich generosity of His fatherly heart, He selected people to make them holy and blameless as His adopted children (Eph. 1:3–5). He knows those who are His (2 Tim. 2:19). He has loved them with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3). His plans do not change and His purposes cannot fail (Ps. 33:11). He will discipline His children (Heb. 12:4–11), but He will not condemn them (Rom. 8:1), for even His most severe chastening is intended to save them from being condemned with the world (1 Cor. 11:32).

 

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

January 2014

Westminster Confession of Faith (10.1)

All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.

“Why am I a Christian when so many other people are not?”

Many godly people have asked this question. They realize that they are no better than other sinners. Yet now they rejoice in the riches of Christ, while others go on living in sin and misery. Isaac Watts expressed it well when he wrote,

While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
“Lord, why was I a guest?
“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”

Ultimately, the answer must be the Lord. Christ is the great evangelist. Whenever the gospel is preached, it is Christ who preaches even if the hearers belong to nations far off that never heard the physical voice of Jesus of Nazareth (Eph. 2:17). Unlike mere human evangelists, this great Evangelist has the power to call sinners effectually, that
is, to cause them to hear His Word, to understand it, to believe it, and to obey its command to come to Him for
salvation and life.

The Shepherd calls to sinners by the Word, and His sheep know His voice and follow Him and are enfolded with His people (John 10:3, 16). He laid down His life for His sheep, and though others will not believe Him, yet His sheep hear and recognize His voice and follow Him all the way to glory (John 10:11, 26–28). Christ’s voice has the power to raise the dead (John 11:43–44), and He is raising the spiritually dead to believe in Him and live
(John 5:24–25).

The Westminster Confession of Faith recognizes and explains this reality in this chapter on effectual calling. Webster’s defines “effectual” as “characterized by adequate power to produce an intended effect.” In terms of the gospel as preached by Christ (Mark 1:14, 15), effectual calling is extending a call that has power to produce the intended response of repentance and faith. Note that “effectual” goes one step beyond the more common word “effective” by including the idea of purpose. An effectual call is one that can produce not just any result but the intended result. It effects or works the result designed by the one who issues
the call. Such a call is said to “answer to its purpose.”

Effectual calling must therefore be the work of God and not man. It is an exercise of the sovereignty that belongs only to God. Paul describes God’s sovereignty at work for our salvation in the “golden chain” of Romans 8:30:

“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” We are justified by faith in Christ (Rom. 5:1). God’s call is the outworking of His eternal decree of predestination, and it results in justification. So it must have power to produce the faith that justifies the sinner. It is more than the gospel call, invitation to salvation, and offer of Christ (Matt. 22:14); it is the outworking of God’s eternal purpose and grace in a person’s life and experience (2 Tim. 1:9). For the same
people are predestined in Christ to eternal life, called to faith in Christ, justified by their faith in Him, and ultimately glorified with Him.

It should also be noted that this term is unique to the Westminster Confession. The Westminster divines were attempting to clarify the ambiguity that often surrounds the word regeneration. The term can refer to one’s initial experience of saving grace; it can also refer to the ongoing and progressive work of sanctification, or the daily renewing of our lives. By coining the term “effectual calling,” the divines made it clear that they had in mind the initial quickening of the sinner, enabling him to believe and be saved, as distinct from the further regeneration or renewal of his life as a believer.

The Confession rightly highlights God’s sovereignty over the persons who hear, and the timing of God’s effectual call. The Lord is so utterly in control of this call and our resulting faith that He often calls precisely those people whom we would least expect—the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised people of this world (1 Cor. 1:26, 27), while passing by many others. While the wise and powerful of this world sneer at the gospel, “unto them which are called” the gospel shines with the glory of “Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). God

turns on the light in their hearts, and they are captivated by the divine beauty of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). Have you experienced this?

God effectually calls sinners on His own timetable. The Lord converted Saul, the great persecutor of the church, “when it pleased God” to do so (Gal. 1:15). We cannot manipulate conversion, for our times are in His hand and God wrote all the days of our lives in His book before we were born (Ps. 31:15; 139:16, marginal note 7). Yet the ministers of the Word must be faithful to preach and to pray, for God calls by His Word and Spirit (John 6:63), and
in answer to our prayers. And if we are not saved, then we must diligently listen to the preaching of that Word with the cry that God would open our eyes to behold its truth and our hearts to receive it.

The Westminster divines explained God’s work in the soul with biblical metaphors. First, it is a transforming light: “enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God.” To be sure, there is a degree of illumination that only convicts and may bring moral reformation but does not save (Heb. 6:4). Wicked Felix trembled at Paul’s preaching, but he did not repent of his covetous ways (Acts 24:25, 26). In effectual calling, this light dawning in the heart is nothing less than a quickening or resurrection of the inner man (Eph. 2:1–7), previously dead in sin. It produces an experiential knowledge of God in Christ that is in its essence a new life born in the soul (John 17:3). “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light”
(Eph. 5:14).

Second, effectual calling is a heart transplant: “taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh.” Here the divines alluded to Ezekiel 36:25–27, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” In place of a “whorish heart” that rejects God and runs to idols (Ezek. 6:9), the Lord promised to give His people a tender, responsive, believing heart towards Him.

Third, effectual calling is a sovereign persuasion: “renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ.” To be sure, sinners resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51). But He sweetly conquers them with God’s love. God does not draw people to Christ against their will. The Lord works upon their wills to make them willing to obey Christ (Ps. 110:3; Phil. 2:12–13). He draws them to Christ in such a way that “they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.” Yet this is an “effectual drawing” that always results in their coming to Christ and being saved (John 6:37, 44). God works upon our hearts so that we love Him (Deut. 30:6). Thus we say with Watts,

’Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.
And then we can sing with David:
Thou bidst me seek Thy face, and I,
O Lord, with willing heart reply,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Hide not thy face afar from me,
For Thou alone canst help afford;
O cast me not away from Thee
Nor let my soul forsaken be,
My Saviour and my Lord.
— Psalm 27:8, 9 (The Psalter, No. 73:2b, 3)

 

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

December 2013

Westminster Confession of Faith (3.1): God from all eternity did, by the most wise (Rom. 11:33) and holy counsel of His own will, freely (Rom. 9:15, 18), and unchangeably (Heb. 6:17) ordain whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:11): yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin (James 1:13, 17; 1 John 1:5), nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures (Matt. 17:12; Acts 2:23; 4:27–28); nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established (John 19:11; Prov. 16:33).

Nowadays we hear much of a God who tries His best but can’t be blamed if things don’t work out very well. All manner of obstacles frustrate God, we are told. Natural laws tie His hands from intervening. Random accidents make a mess of things. The devil runs loose. Worst of all, God’s pleadings with humanity often fall upon deaf ears and He can do nothing about it. How frustrated this God must be!

Nevertheless, it is said, as God watches from a distance He hopes that men and women will exercise their free wills to discover His love and their own self-worth. Such is the “kinder and gentler” deity of our day. It is no wonder that some label the religion of the age as moralistic therapeutic deism.

The Bible knows nothing of a frustrated God. Psalm 115:3 sets God apart from all idols by declaring, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” God works out His plan in all things: He “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:11). The word “counsel” means a wise plan including goals and ways of getting them done.

God has a plan. Every intelligent person makes plans; only a fool sets goals but gives no thought to the means by which he will accomplish them. A good and wise God would never have created the world without a plan for what He desired to see take place in it. His counsel is eternal, a purpose formed in His mind before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; Rev. 13:8; 17:8).

God’s plan is perfect and unchanging. Many of our plans are frustrated despite all our intelligence and effort. We must shift to plan B, or C, or Z. It is not so with God; His plans never fail. “The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations” (Ps. 33:10–11). Therefore, those whom God has chosen to bless are truly blessed (v.12)! His sovereign will guarantees our ultimate and perfect happiness.

The Holy Scriptures call God’s plan “the decree of the most High” (Dan. 4:24) because it is the authoritative command of the supreme King. The Confession is entirely biblical then in speaking of God’s “decree” by which He did “ordain” events. For example, the Bible says that God’s “decree” established the properties of creation (Ps. 148:6; Prov. 8:29; Jer. 5:22), the destruction of sinners (Isa. 10:22; Zeph. 2:2), and the triumphant kingdom of His Son (Ps. 2:7). He “ordained” or appointed Jeremiah to be a prophet before he was born (Jer. 1:5).

God’s decree is all-comprehensive. God has decreed when the rain will fall and where the lightning will strike (Job 28:26). Regardless of what men may decide, no good thing and no bad thing can take place apart from God’s decree (Lam. 3:37–38). God’s counsel was formed long ago and includes all that will take place to the very end, including the rise and fall of kings and nations—and His counsel will stand (Isa. 14:24–27; 46:10–11).

It is not just the big things that God has decreed. Whether you will live to see tomorrow depends on His will (James 4:15). The condition of every little bird and every hair on our heads is wrapped up in His plan (Matt. 10:29–30). For this reason, our Lord Jesus said, God’s children need not fear men (Matt. 10:31). Westminster theology is a doctrine of hope and confidence.

The Westminster divines were careful, however, to fence off the doctrine of God’s eternal decree from any kind of fatalism. First, they insisted that God is holy and righteous while decreeing sin. He cannot sin, nor does He entice anyone to sin (James 1:13). God uses sinners as tools in His sovereign hand to accomplish His good and righteous purposes (Isa. 10:5–7, 15). They plan evil but His plan overrules theirs for good (Gen. 50:20). God knows how to draw straight lines with crooked sticks.

Second, they taught that God’s decree does not nullify the reality of man’s will. God predetermines events but people are still responsible for their choices (Luke 22:22). Men’s choices flow from their own hearts (Prov. 4:23; Mark 7:21). But God’s will rules over men’s hearts so that their choices fulfill His purposes. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Prov. 21:1). People dream and scheme, but God’s plan will stand (Prov. 19:21).

Third, they taught that though God’s decree is the primary cause why all things happen, there are still “second causes” which God uses as means to His ends. God decreed that His Son would die, yet He did it by the hands of wicked men (John 19:11; Acts 2:23; 4:27–28). Some events, like the rolling of dice, are truly random or contingent on a human level, although God still controls exactly how they land (Prov. 16:33)— perhaps to judge greedy gamblers!

Therefore God’s eternal decree does not encourage us to be lazy and careless in our use of proper means to do good. If God intends to prosper you, ordinarily He does so by moving you to work hard at your vocation, for “the hand of the diligent maketh rich” (Prov. 10:4). If God plans to save your soul, often He begins by motivating you to attend the preaching of the Word, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

What God’s eternal decree does encourage is humility. Let us never think or speak boastfully about what we intend to accomplish. Apart from His will we can do nothing. Let us never proudly say, “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” Let us rather proclaim, “Jesus is Lord!”

 

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

January 2014

Tim Challies interviewed our editor over a period of eight weeks on the final eight chapters of A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, and placed these articles on the Challies blog. We are printing them in this periodical with his permission. All eight articles deal with how the Puritans brought theology into practice. This article deals with family worship and holiness in Puritan thought

1. To hear people talk about the Puritans, you would imagine they were harsh toward their children, making them endure endless hours of family worship. Is this accurate? Endless hours in family worship would have been impossible for most people in the seventeenth century. In Puritan New England, many people were farmers who had to work hard to grow food. Children also had much to do in school, household chores, and working alongside their fathers and mothers to learn a vocation.1 The Puritans also took time for recreation. They enjoyed hunting, fishing, shooting competitions, and wrestling—two New England Puritan ministers were famous amateur wrestlers.2 They enjoyed music in their homes, owning guitars, harpsichords, trumpets, violas, drums, and other instruments.3 So there was a lot to do; family devotions were one part—albeit the most important part—of a busy daily schedule. The Puritans aimed at pithy instruction and heart-moving prayer. Samuel Lee wrote that in all our teaching of the family we should beware of boring the children by talking too much. Long devotions overburden their little minds; it is better to hold their attention by using spiritual analogies with flowers, rivers, a field of grain, birds singing, the sun, a rainbow, etc.4

2. The Puritans regarded family worship as a duty. Did Puritan pastors ensure that fathers were carrying out this duty? How would they have helped families do this well? The Puritans did take this duty seriously. For example, in 1647, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith. Three days earlier, they had adopted the Directory for Family Worship, and required ruling elders and ministers to discipline heads of households that neglected family worship.5 In another branch of Puritanism, in 1677, the congregational church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, covenanted together to “maintain the worship of God” in their families, “educating, instructing, and charging our children and our households to keep the ways of the Lord.”6

Puritan pastors helped families, first, by preaching on this subject; second, by writing books about family worship and devotional books useful for family worship; third, by writing simple catechisms or promoting an official catechism; and fourth, by visiting each family in the church and catechizing the children. Parents often invited the minister over for a meal, after which the minister would lead family worship. Pastoral visits held parents accountable by revealing the level of knowledge of their children and also modeled what family worship should be.7

3. I know it is difficult to speak in averages, but maybe you could tell us what the average Puritan’s family devotions might have looked like. How long would they have spent and what things would they have done?

The Puritans did not favor the following of a precise form for worship of any kind, but they did lay out principles. They called Christian parents to lead their families in the daily practice of five steps: (1) reading the Scriptures to their families; (2) leading the children in memorizing and understanding a catechism; (3) discussing biblical truth for edification such that each family member can ask questions and share thoughts; (4) praying together, which included acknowledging God as the Lord and Provider of their family, confessing their sins to Him, thanking Him for their blessings, presenting their petitions to Him for the needs and troubles of the family, and interceding as a family for friends and the nation; and (5) singing psalms to the Lord.8

It is difficult, if not impossible, to say how long the average family devotions lasted for the Puritans. No doubt it varied, also due to the ages of the children. Personally, I recommend five to ten minutes in the morning and fifteen to twenty minutes in the evening. For more practical details on implementing devotions, see my little book, Family Worship.9

4. You say, “We must beware of allowing corrupting influences into our private lives and homes.” What kind of corrupting influences do we allow in our homes today that the Puritans would have forbidden? The Puritans would probably be more concerned with the content of media than the form of technology. The typical American home has its doors wide open for all kinds of intruders to come in, steal, and destroy the treasures of the soul. Christians must practice great discernment to guard their homes against:

(1) Lawlessness. One recent video game earned a billion dollars in sales within three days of its release. It is obviously wildly popular. The problem is that the game revolves around
theft! And how many popular songs promote fornication and adultery? Breaking God’s laws is a very serious matter. Are you entertaining yourself with the things God hates?

(2) Worldliness. It might be an open rejection of God, a grossly immoral life, or blatant conformity to popular culture. But it might be much more subtle. Worldliness is any love not ruled by love for God. It could be pleasing people above God, seeking physical prosperity above spiritual holiness, valuing temporal gains above eternal glories, living to move forward rather than upward, or walking in pride instead of humility. In short, it is corrupt human nature without God. Someone of this world is controlled by what the Puritans called this world’s trinity: the quest for pleasure, profit, and position. The Puritans would ask of an activity: does this help my family to love Christ more, to hate sin more, and to pursue walking in the King’s highway of holiness more?

(3) Lightness. Life has light moments when we all break into laughter, but lightness (or levity) is using humor and entertainment to keep weighty realities out of our minds. We live in a culture that tries to turn life into “Comedy Central.” The tragedy is that it turns us away from the overflowing joy God gives through a sober consideration of gospel truth. Are you leading your family to fill their minds with distractions or with the hope of Christ

The Puritans would ask us today—not out of legalism but out of jealousy for the well-being of our family’s souls: What are we bringing into our homes through the music we listen to, the jokes and stories we tell, the books and magazines we read, the images we hang on the wall or welcome onto the screen, and the games and sports we play or watch? Read
Philippians 4:8, and take inventory.

1. Edmund S. Morgan, The Puritan Family: Religion and Domestic Relations in Seventeenth-Century New England, New Edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), 66–68.
2. Bruce C. Daniels, Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New
England, Tenth Anniversary Edition (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 166–72.
3. Daniels, Puritans at Play, 57.
4. Samuel Lee, “What Means May Be Used towards the Conversion of Our Carnal Relations?” in Puritan Sermons 1659–1689 (Wheaton, Ill.: Richard Owen Roberts, 1981), 1:150.
5. “Act for Observing the Directions of the General Assembly for Secret and Private Worship, and Mutual Edification; and Censuring Such as Neglect Family-Worship,” August 24, 1647, in Westminster Confession of Faith (Glasgow: Free Presbyterian Publications, 1994), 418.
6. Cited in Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were (Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1986), 80.
7. Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, ed. William Brown (Edinburgh: Banner
of Truth, 1974), 172–256.
8. Directory for Family-Worship, in Westminster Confession of Faith, 419; Matthew Henry, “A Church in the House,” in The Complete Works of the Rev. Matthew Henry (1855; repr., Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 1:251–57.
9. Joel R. Beeke, Family Worship (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009).

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Interview with Tim Challies (www.challies.com)

Tim Challies interviewed our editor over a period of eight weeks on the final eight chapters of A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, and placed these articles on the Challies blog. We are printing them in this periodical with his permission. All eight
articles deal with how the Puritans brought theology into practice. The first article deals with Puritan theology being shaped by a pilgrim mentality.

1. This chapter discusses the pilgrim mentality. Most of us are familiar with Pilgrim’s Progress, but should we understand
that the pilgrim mentality was prevalent across most or all of the Puritans?

Yes, the Puritans consistently saw the Christian life as a pilgrim’s journey to heaven. They suffered much and chose obedience over compromise, keeping their eyes upon Christ and heaven. J. I. Packer says, “The Puritans have taught me to see and feel the transitoriness of this life, to think of it, with all its richness, as essentially the gymnasium and dressing-room where we are prepared for heaven, and to regard readiness to die as the first step in knowing how to live.”¹

2. Could you give a short definition of that pilgrim mentality and tell us what difference it made to the Puritans?

The pilgrim mentality is living against this world in hope of glory in another world by faith in Christ.

Like Moses, believers in Christ today choose to trade this world’s pleasures for present suffering and future glory with Christ (Heb. 11:24–26). Jeremiah Burroughs said that faith has power “to take off the heart from the world” because its “primary work” is “for the soul to cast itself upon God in Christ for all the good and happiness it ever expects…upon God as an all-sufficient good.” This weans our affections from the world, and enables us to wait patiently on the Lord (Ps. 37:7).2

Faith also empowers believers to rejoice in what we do not see, for, as Burroughs said, “Faith makes the future good of spiritual and eternal things to be as present to the soul, and to work upon the soul, as if they were present.”3

The Puritans lived in a world of suffering, political oppression, epidemic plagues, and civil war, where many of their children never survived to adulthood. They also suffered because of their stance against worldliness and false worship. Yet they had a vibrant joy and hope. They were positive people. Why? John Trapp said, “He that rides to be crowned, will not think much of a rainy day.”4

The Puritans enjoyed God’s creation, but did not entangle themselves in the pleasures and pursuits of this world, because they were headed for something better. William Perkins said, “Pilgrims take but little delight in their journeys, because they think themselves not at home.” They used this world as if they did not use it, for it was passing away (1 Cor. 7:31).5

Christians must long to leave this world and be with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). Perkins said that a “pilgrim” is “always thinking” of his homeland “and sighing after it.” Christians must desire heaven (Heb. 11:16), seek heaven (Col. 3:1), and use this world not as an end in itself but as a means to gain heaven.6

3. What do we stand to gain, as contemporary Christians, if we regain something of this pilgrim mentality? What do we stand to lose or to miss if we do not regain it?

First, we would gain a more antithetical stance towards this world. This is not isolationism, where we try to hide from sin and the devil (impossible!), but warfare, where we stand for righteousness against the wickedness and accusations of the world. Peter speaks of this when he calls believers to abstain from sinful desires as “strangers and pilgrims” in the world, precisely because lusts war against our souls and the world accuses us of evil (1 Peter 2:11).

This world is not a friend to help pilgrims to heaven; it is dangerous country we must traverse on our way there. William Ames said, “This may serve to admonish us, not to place our inheritance or our treasure in the things of this world, [and] to exhort us, to lift up our hearts always toward our heavenly country; and to gain all those things that may help us forward.”7

Second, we would gain a strong foundation for suffering and dying. Perkins said that one of Christianity’s great lessons is that “we must live that we may die in faith.” Few Christians today consider how to suffer well and how to die for God’s glory (Phil. 1:20), but how many of us will avoid pain and death?

To deal with these inevitable realities (if the Lord tarries), we need vision that penetrates beyond the horizons of our mortality. Perkins said that faith is like the tall mast of a ship which a sailor may climb and see land while it is still “afar off” (Heb. 11:13).8 As pilgrims of faith we need not fear death. Thomas Watson said that “death will put an end to a weary pilgrimage”—it will take away the pilgrim’s staff and replace it with a crown.9

Third, we would gain unshakable optimism and hope. I share the same concerns that many American Christians have about the direction of our government and popular culture. But I think that we face a danger as great as persecution and societal decay: I fear that evangelicals are in danger of bitterness and despair. Could it be that we have forgotten that this world is not our home?

The Puritans conquered by the blood of the Lamb. Some scholars might say that the Puritans ultimately lost every political and ecclesiastical battle in which they engaged, but I believe that they triumphed in the spiritual battle for the kingdom, and genuine believers still today are more than overcomers in Christ. John Owen said, “Though our persons fall, our cause shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God.” Christ has won the victory, He will bring His kingdom, and all His called and chosen people will share in it (Rev. 17:14).10

Ultimately, the pilgrim mentality is not about just a place but a person. Christians should see all their earthly lives as a journey to see the face of God. My dad prayed hundreds of times with us in family worship, “Lord, let our lives be primarily a preparation to meet Thee in the righteousness and peace of Christ.” That’s the prayer and God-centered desire of a pilgrim.

1. J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life
(Wheaton: Crossway, 1990), 13.
2. Jeremiah Burroughs, Moses’ Self-Denial, ed. Don Kistler (Grand Rapids:
Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 2010), 87.
3. Burroughs, Moses’ Self-Denial, 93.
4. John Trapp, A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, ed. Hugh
Martin (London: Richard D. Dickinson, 1867), 1:92 [on Gen. 24:61].
5. William Perkins, A Commentary on Hebrews 11 (1609 Edition), ed. John H.
Augustine (1609; repr., New York: Pilgrim Press, 1991), 73 [on Heb. 11:9].
6. Perkins, A Commentary on Hebrews 11, 107 [on Heb. 11:16].
7. William Ames, A Commentary upon the First Epistle of Peter, in The Workes
of the Reverend and Faithful Minister of Christ William Ames (London: Iohn
Rothwell, 1643), 53.
8. Perkins, A Commentary on Hebrews 11, 95, 79 [on Heb. 11:13].
9. Thomas Watson, “The Saint’s Desire to Be with Christ,” in Select Works
(Glasgow: Blackie, Fullarton, and Co., 1829), 2:14.
10. John Owen, “The Use of Faith, If Popery Should Return upon Us,”
in The Works of John Owen (1850–1853; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth,
1965), 9:508.

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Arminian view is by far the most popular view of the atonement in the Christian church today. However, serious objections must be lodged against Arminian universal redemption, among which are these:

• It slanders God’s attributes, such as His love. Arminianism presents a love that actually doesn’t save. It is a love that loves and then, if refused, turns to hatred and anger. It is not unchangeable love that endures from everlasting to everlasting.

It slanders God’s wisdom. Would God make a plan to save everyone and then not carry it out? Would He be so foolish as to have His Son pay for the salvation of all if He knew that Christ would not be able to obtain what He paid for? I would feel foolish if I went into a store and paid for something but walked out without it. Yet Arminianism asks us to believe that this is true of salvation—that a purchase was made, a redemption, and yet the Lord walked away without those whom He had redeemed. That view slanders the wisdom of God.

It slanders God’s power. Arminian universalism obliges us to believe that God was able to accomplish the meriting aspect of salvation, but that the applying aspect is dependent on man and his free will. It asks us to believe that God has worked out everyone’s salvation up to a point, but no further for anyone.

It slanders God’s justice. Did Christ satisfy God’s justice for everyone? Did Christ take the punishment due to everybody? If He did, how can God punish anyone? Is it justice to punish one person for the sins of another and later to punish the initial offender again? Double punishment is injustice.

• It disables the deity of Christ. A defeated Savior is not God. This error teaches that Christ tried to save everyone but didn’t succeed. It denies the power and efficacy of Christ’s blood, since not all for whom He died are saved. Hence, Christ’s blood was wasted on Judas and Esau. Much of His labor, tears, and blood was poured out in vain.

• It undermines the unity of the Trinity. Just as parents must work together to run a family effectively, so the triune God co-labors in each of His persons with identical purposes and goals. One person cannot possibly have in mind to save some that another person has not determined to save, but Arminian universalism implicitly teaches just that. It denies the Father’s sovereign election, since Christ would have died for more than God decreed to save, thereby making Christ seem to have a different agenda than that of the Father. That would have been anathema to Jesus, who asserted that His entire redemptive ministry was consciously designed to carry out a divinely arranged plan (John 6:38–39).

Similarly, Arminian redemption disavows the saving ministry of the Holy Spirit when it claims that Christ’s blood has a wider application than does the Spirit’s saving work. Any presentation of salvation that makes the Father or the Spirit’s work in salvation lag behind Christ’s work contradicts the inherent unity of the Trinity. God cannot be at odds with Himself. Arminianism is inconsistent universalism.

• It rejects all of the other points of Calvinism. The Arminian view of the atonement rejects the doctrine of total depravity, teaching that man has the ability within himself to receive and accept Christ. It rejects unconditional election, teaching that God elects on the basis of foreseen faith. It rejects irresistible grace, teaching that man’s will is stronger than God’s. It rejects the perseverance of the saints, teaching that man can apostatize from the faith.

• It detracts from the glory of God. If God does everything in salvation, He gets all the glory. But if God can do only so much and not everything, then the person who completes the application of salvation gets at least some glory. That is why there is so much emphasis in mass evangelism on the free will of man. Universal atonement exalts the will of man and debases the glory of God.

• It perverts evangelism. We repeatedly hear today in evangelistic messages: “Christ died for you. What will you do for Him?” But do we ever find in the Bible that someone is told personally “Christ died for you”? Rather, we find the work of Christ explained, followed by a call to everyone: “Repent and believe the gospel.” The message is not “Believe that Christ died for you” or “Believe that you are one of the elect.” It is “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

• It disparages the intrinsic efficacy of the atonement itself. Arminians teach that Christ’s work induces the Father to accept graciously what Jesus accomplished in place of a full satisfaction of His justice. It is as if Jesus persuaded His Father to accept something less than justice demanded. That is why Arminius claimed that when God saved sinners, He moved from His throne of justice to His throne of grace. But God does not have two thrones; His throne of justice is His throne of grace (Ps. 85:10). Arminianism forgets that the atonement does not win God’s love but is the provision of His love.

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

September 2013

Few men appreciate long articles on how to behave—especially as to how we ought to treat our wives, so here, based on Ephesians 5, are our duties summed up in terms of their pattern and their practice.

The Pattern Our basic precept for marriage is, “Husbands, love your wives” (Eph. 5:25a). Following Christ’s pattern of loving His bride, each of us is to love his wife in these ways:

1. Absolutely. Christ gives “Himself” for His bride—His total self (v. 25). He holds nothing back. That is obvious from what He has done (think of Calvary), is doing (think of His constant intercession in heaven), and will do (think of His Second Coming). So we too are called to radical, absolute giving of ourselves to our wives in authentic love.

2. Realistically and purposely. Like Christ, who goes on loving His bride, the church, despite her spots and wrinkles, so that He can present her sanctified—without spot or wrinkle—to His Father in the Great Day (vv. 26–27), so we husbands are called to keep on loving our wives despite their shortcomings, aiming to have a sanctifying influence on them. Our love must be both realistic (remembering they are sinners just like us) and purposeful (aiming for their holiness).

3. Sacrificially. Christ nourishes and cherishes His bride at His own expense (vv. 28–29). So ought we husbands treat our wives at our own expense with the same care that we treat our bodies. If you get something in your eye, you give it immediate, tender care. Do you treat your wife with that same care when she is hurting?

The Practice Here are six ways we should be demonstrating this pattern of love for our wives:

1. Show great interest in your wife as a person. Care about her. Conversational communication is critical. Spiritual fellowship is paramount. After worship or fellowship, ask her what she learned and how her soul fared. Ask her how her day went and how the kids behaved today. Ask her about her dreams, fears, and frustrations. Learn to listen; learn to reflect her feelings back to her so that she opens up the more.

2. Pray for your wife privately and with her. Lay out her needs before God. Be earnest in praying for her spiritual growth, for Christ to meet her daily needs, for relief in physical and emotional difficulties. Let her feel your strength and your tenderness on her behalf at God’s throne of grace.

3. Love your wife lavishly. Love her as she is—faults included. Please her (1 Cor. 7:33). Respect and honor her, and treat her tenderly (1 Peter 3:7). Tell her every day how much you love her. Shower her with affection—verbal affection, physical affection, emotional affection, spiritual affection. Cherish her as God’s special gift to you.

4. Heap praise and compliments on her. Tell her how beautiful and wonderful she is in your eyes. Be intimate, specific, creative, and repetitive in your compliments. Compliment her kindness, her smile, her dress, her hair, and a thousand other things. Compliment her with affection in your voice, with love in your eyes, and with arms of embrace. Praise her in the presence of others (Prov. 31:28). Never allow the children to speak disrespectfully to her or about her.

5. Learn your wife’s language of love. If she loves daisies and you prefer roses, get her daisies. Does she enjoy walking together? Walk with her. Eating out? Take her out. Learn to love what she loves as much as possible. Cultivate shared friendship and interests. My wife loves biking; I never did, but I do now! I have learned to like it because I want to please her and I love being with her. (I’ve given up on gardening, though.) The more you find to do in common—worshiping God, walking, talking, taking trips, doing hobbies, visiting mutual friends—usually the better your marriage will be.

6. Provide your wife with biblical, tender, clear servant leadership, not ruthless authoritarianism. Using Christ as your pattern, delight in serving her (Matt. 20:25–26). Be the spiritual leader of your wife and children. Be the father-shepherd. Lead your family daily in Bible study and prayer. Be a teaching prophet, an interceding priest, and a guiding king. Be a gentle giant in your family—the loving head, not the mean fist!

How We Fight against Backsliding

Backsliding is a season of increasing sin and decreasing obedience in those who profess to be Christians. Not every sin is backsliding. Christians must sadly expect their lives to consist of a continual cycle of sinning and repenting of sin by faith in Christ crucified (1 John 1:9–2:2). In backsliding, however, this cycle of repentance is largely broken and spiritual ground is lost. The longer we persist in backsliding, the less right we have to claim to be true Christians (1 John 2:3–4), for repentance is of the essence of true Christianity (Acts 2:38; 20:21).

Backsliding from Christ is thus a serious matter. It dishonors God, disregards Christ as Savior, grieves the Spirit, tramples God’s law underfoot, and abuses the gospel. And it is a sin as common as it is terrible. God laments in Hosea 11:7 that His people are “bent”—that is, prone—to backslide from Him. The propensity to sin resides in all of our hearts, as does a deep desire to avoid repentance. Little wonder, then, that God warns us so often in Hosea, Jeremiah, and other prophets to abhor and fight against backsliding.

Backsliding usually begins when believers let themselves drift from God, His Word, and His ways. We then slip away gradually, sometimes imperceptibly. One weakness leads to another. Most commonly, backsliding begins with coldness in prayer and then moves to indifference under the Word. Inner corruptions then multiply. The world is loved more and fellow believers are loved less. Man-centered hopes soon replace God-centered desires.

Backsliding reaps bitter results. It injures God’s holy and worthy name. It makes us spiritually numb so that our consciences become desensitized, and it results in the church’s overall decay.

So how do we fight against this abominable sin—a sin that is so unworthy of our Lord?

First, we must return to the Lord and stop running from Him. We must heed Hosea 14:1, “Return unto the LORD thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” We must repent by recognizing our sinful condition, remembering our past obedience, searching out our sin, grieving over it, confessing it, and fleeing from it.

Second, we must pursue righteousness by returning to Christ Jesus. To that end, we must return to a diligent use of the means of grace. That means returning seriously to the Bible. Attend diligently to sound preaching of it. Read it privately every day. Share regular devotions in your family. Memorize and meditate on key verses. Engage in a serious Bible study with one or more friends.

It also means returning diligently to prayer, even when you do not feel like it. Hosea 14:2 says: “Take with you words and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.” Pray the Scriptures back to God. Attend and pray at prayer meetings. Pray with close friends. Pray daily in and with your family. Pray for the Holy Spirit to restore the weeks, months, or perhaps even years, that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25).

Read solid, sound Christian literature that will do your soul good. As you read, pray much for grace—justifying grace, sanctifying grace, adopting grace, reviving grace, strengthening grace, reviving grace, and sovereign grace.

Buttress your reading by journaling and/or finding an accountability partner. Two good spiritually minded friends will do you more good than ten or twenty friends who may be Christians but with whom you cannot communicate from heart to heart.

Above all, take refuge to Christ Jesus every day—yes, ten times a day. Flee to Him as your Savior and Lord, your righteousness and strength, your justification and sanctification, your praying and thanking High Priest, and your able and wise Physician. Let Him be your all-in-all.

Don’t rest until you are in your old way of communion with Christ again. And be assured, He will receive you back. He is a Savior of second chances; He delights to forgive even seventy times seven.

Come back home to your approachable Savior who loves to receive penitent sinners. Welcome home penitent, backsliding prodigal—welcome home in Christ to the Father’s arms, lips, words, and tears of mercy (Luke 15:20–24). Your God and Savior delights in mercy (Micah 7:18). By the Spirit’s grace, believe this amazing truth, embrace it, and live it out.

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan

Editorials for the last two months have considered Satan and the original temptation in Genesis 3 which led to Adam and Eve’s fall, and the troubles and trials that the fall ushered in. This concluding editorial considers the triumph of divine grace in Genesis 3.

The Triumph of Divine Grace

From what we have seen, it may appear that Satan has won a major victory. Though the devil himself fell under God’s condemnation, he succeeded in severely damaging God’s prize possession, the living image bearers of God. However, here in the very shadow of the fall God reveals that He will triumph gloriously over Satan by redeeming mankind. And wondrously, Adam receives this promise by faith and testifies of his hope in the Lord.

1. The Promise of Redemption

The Lord God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Satan had tempted the woman to turn away from God, and she chose to become an enemy of the Lord. But the Lord reverses the situation: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman.” By His sovereign, heart changing grace, God turns the woman against the devil, which means that she will again follow the Lord. Praise God for the power of His converting grace!

God declares a spiritual war between two seeds. “Seed” means offspring or children. As Genesis 4 makes clear, some of mankind will continue to live as the seed of the serpent, following Satan as their spiritual father and head. John calls them “the children of the devil” and uses Cain as an example of them and their evil ways (1 John 3:10, 12). But God will give the woman another “seed” who, like Abel and Seth, fear the Lord and call upon His name by faith (Gen. 4:25–26; Heb. 11:4). They are her true spiritual descendants (cf. Rom.4:11–12). Spiritual combat between the devil and the children of the world on one side, and the righteous children of God on the other, has ensued throughout this age.

God tells the serpent that the woman’s seed “shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Here is the great promise of victory. God envisions one particular “seed,” a singular “him,” that will come. This battle will come to a climax in the conflict between the serpent and the One who is preeminently the “seed” of the woman, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13; 4:4–5). The seed will suffer from the serpent’s attacks. Indeed, He will suffer rejection, agony, death, and the curse itself. But the seed, our Lord Jesus Christ, will prevail! He will crush the serpent’s head! He will die so “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). Though the first Adam fell, Christ will stand forever as our last Adam (Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:45).

This word to the serpent holds the Lord God’s promise of redemption to Adam and Eve. He was calling them once more to hope in His Word.

2. The Profession of Hope How did Adam respond?

Genesis 3:20 says, “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” Prior to this her name was Ishah, meaning “woman” or “wife,” but now Adam calls her by the new name of “life,” which is what Eve (Havah) means. We would perhaps not be surprised if Adam had called her “death” because her eating of the fruit had brought death to all. How could Adam name her “Life” when God had pronounced a death sentence upon them?

The only answer is that Adam placed his hope in the promise of the woman’s seed. He believed God’s promise that one of her descendants would conquer the serpent, and in so doing conquer sin and death, too. He believed this with faith so strong and real that he gave a lasting testimony to this hope, by naming the mother of his children “Life.” In her triumphant seed, her children would find grace and eternal life.

Not only was this a profession of hope, but it was also a reaffirmation of his love for his wife. Adam repented of his hateful blaming his wife for his own sin. He must have taken responsibility for his actions, as we all should, and once again embraced her as God’s gift to him. In fact, he needed her more than ever, for through her God would raise up the Savior.

God confirmed Adam’s hope with a visible sign. They were about to be sent out of the garden into the dangers and raw elements of a cursed world. How pitiful they must have looked with hearts pierced by sin, clothed in their coverings of fig leaves! Yet they put their hope in the Lord. God responded with compassion. Genesis 3:21 says, “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

God Himself covered their shame, and He did so with the skins of animals that were required to give up their blood. Later we read of Adam’s descendants offering blood sacrifices to the Lord (Gen. 4:4; 8:20). What a picture this is of the Lamb of God! He shed His blood and laid down His life to cover our sins. The Lord was saying to Adam that if we trust in His promise of a Savior, then by Christ’s death God will cover our shame, remove our guilt, and be our shield forever.

Conclusion

The fall of man is a most important historical fact and a crucial doctrine for our faith. Without believing it, we will stumble about in this world perplexed by sin and suffering its consequences but never knowing why. We will ask the wrong questions, such as, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” instead of asking, “Why do good things happen to people as bad as we are?” We will reduce the gospel to a spiritual Band-Aid, cheap and shallow grace which men can easily put on (and just as easily take off). We will lack a robust view of the glorious, sovereign, and holy God whose judgments are in all the earth, but whose love is simply astounding and whose grace comes to us in Christ with all the power and all the merit that sinners need to be justified in His sight.

A missionary once sat down with a native assistant. The missionary told him that he wanted to produce a simple tract they could give out in the villages to spread the gospel. The tract would have a picture of two cliffs separated by a great gulf. On the one cliff was the holy presence of God; on the other was a portrayal of man in his sin. Various pages through the tract showed man in his efforts to try to reach God, putting planks across the great chasm that sin had caused. Then on the final page, there was a picture of a cross bridging the gap between sinful man and God in His holiness. The young missionary was quite impressed with this tract.

But the native helper said, “I appreciate your tract, but I think it would be more helpful to write a story of a loving father who had a beautiful garden. That garden was walled around. He said to his son in that garden, ‘Son you can do whatever you like in that garden; it’s yours and I want you to enjoy it. But please, please, do not climb on the wall.’ Well, one day the boy did climb on the wall and, sure enough, he fell. As he went over the edge of that wall he realized that the wall had been placed right on the edge of a terrible chasm. He tumbled down the rocks, feeling the pain of everything hitting him. He was ashamed and terrified of what his father would think of him. He lay there at the bottom of the ravine with many broken bones, unable to move.”

Then the mission helper said, “The father came to that wall and he looked down in the ravine at his son, and what do you think he did? Did he yell down into the ravine, ‘I told you not to do it! Now you need to climb back out of the pit you fell into’? No, he did not say that. The religions of the world tell people to climb up the cliff to salvation. But of course that cannot be done. But the gospel of grace is that Jesus Christ slides down into the ravine, getting bruised and cut by the sharp rocks. Christ puts His loving arms around us and carries us gently back up the cliff. Christ brings us back to Paradise, where all our wounds are healed. And best of all, Christ walks with us daily so that we can never fall over the cliff again.”

The missionary had to admit that the native worker’s illustration was more biblical than his own. Our fall has left us not just separated from God, but utterly unable to do anything to come back. We have not just walked away from God; we have fallen. If we would be saved, Christ must do it all.

Perhaps as you have considered the message of Genesis 3, God has come to you and said, “Where are you? What is this that you have done?” Perhaps you have come to recognize that all your good works and excuses are just so many fig leaves that cannot cover your shame. Dear friends, we all enter this world under bondage to corruption, shame, alienation, and spiritual death. The day will come when God confronts us with His law, His glory, and His wrath.

But God’s promise still holds out hope to you. The fall is deep, but the love of Christ goes deeper. God offers you His Son. God calls you, yes, He commands you, to trust in His Son. Call upon the name of the Lord, and He will save you. And He will bring you to a place better than the first Paradise, for there you will have Christ, the last Adam, the Son of God as your portion forever.

 

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

JULY/AUGUST 2013

Genuine assurance and perseverance are sorely lacking among Christians today. The fruits of assurance and perseverance—diligent use of the means of grace, heartfelt obedience to God’s will, desire for fellowship with Him, yearning for His glory and heaven, love for the church, and intercession for revival—all appear to be waning. We desperately need rich, doctrinal thinking about assurance and perseverance coupled with vibrant, sanctified living.

What is “assurance of faith” and what is “perseverance of the saints” and how do we obtain them? How do assurance and perseverance assist each other in the Christian life?

Assurance of Faith

Assurance of faith is the conviction that, by God’s grace, I belong to Christ, have received full pardon for all sins, and will inherit eternal life. If I have true assurance, I not only believe in Christ for salvation but also know that I believe.

Such assurance includes freedom from guilt, joy in God, and a sense of belonging to the family of God. Assurance is also dynamic, varying according to conditions, capable of growing in force and fruitfulness. As James W. Alexander said, assurance “carries with it the idea of fullness, such as of a tree laden with fruit, or of a vessel’s sails when stretched by a favouring gale.”

Assurance is obtained (1) by clinging to the promises of God, (2) by the Spirit’s confirmation of the marks and fruits of grace within us, (3) by the direct testimony of the Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God, and (4) by resting in God’s outstanding track record of faithfulness toward us (Westminster Confession of Faith [WCF], Ch. XVIII, Sec. 2; Canons of Dort [CD], Fifth Head, Art. 10).

Perseverance of the Saints

We first must ask, who are the saints? Many would extend “eternal security” to all baptized persons, or to all who have made decisions for Christ at evangelistic meetings. Scripture and the Reformed Confessions speak only of the perseverance of saints, defined as those “whom God calls, according to his purpose, to the communion of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerates by the Holy Spirit” (CD, Fifth Head, Art. 1); and “they whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit” (WCF, Ch. XVII, Sec. I). By the preserving work of the triune God (1 Cor. 1:8–9), such people will persevere in true faith and in the works that proceed from faith, so long as they continue in the world.

Some theologians want to speak of the preservation of the saints, rather than perseverance. These two notions are closely related, but not the same. The preserving activity of God undergirds the saints’ perseverance. He keeps them in the faith, preserves them from straying, and ultimately perfects them (1 Pet. 1:5; Jude 24). We may be confident that God will finish the work of grace He has begun in us (Ps. 138:8; Phil. 1:6; Heb. 12:2). Believers are preserved through Christ’s intercession (Luke 22:32; John 17:5) and the ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16; 1 John 2:27).

Perseverance itself, however, is the saints’ lifelong activity: confessing Christ as Savior (Rom. 10:9), bringing forth the fruits of grace (John 15:16), enduring to the end (Matt. 10:22; Heb. 10:28, 29). True believers persevere in the “things that accompany salvation” (Heb. 6:9). God does not deal with them “as unaccountable automatons, but as moral agents,” says A. W. Pink; believers are active in sanctification (Phil. 2:12). They keep themselves from sin (1 John 5:18). They keep themselves in the love of God (Jude 21). They run with patience the race that is set before them (Heb. 12:1). That is how they persevere, and they are aided in this by the Holy Spirit.

The Relationship of Assurance and Perseverance

Assurance helps the believer persevere, first, by encouraging him to rest on God’s grace in Christ and His promises in the gospel; and second, by presenting these as a powerful motive for Christian living. The Puritan Thomas Goodwin said that assurance “makes a man work for God ten times more than before.”

Perseverance opens the way for assurance. If a man does not believe in the perseverance of the saints, he cannot be sure he is going to heaven. He may know he is in a state of grace, but he has no way of knowing whether or not he will continue in that state. Thus assurance is wedded to the doctrine of perseverance. Perseverance serves to confirm and increase assurance. Those who persist in doing the works that spring from faith will usually attain high levels of assurance over a period of time. Assurance and perseverance are two sides of one coin. You cannot persevere in grace without growing in assurance, and you cannot grow in assurance of faith without perseverance.

How We Obtain Assurance and Persevere in Faith Dr. Joel R. B

 

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan

MAY/JUNE 2013

The Trouble of Fallen Sinners

The fall of man brought immediate consequences to Adam and Eve—troublesome consequences that have been passed down to us across thousands of years of sin and misery.

1. Bitter Corruption

Mankind’s fall was an atrocity, an act of high treason against the greatest, most loving, most beautiful, most honorable Being in the universe. Many would trivialize the sin of the Garden of Eden as if it were just a matter of eating the wrong piece of fruit. But the first sin was an evil of massive proportions that perverted men’s soul.

Consider the wickedness of Adam and Eve’s sin. They did not act in ignorance, but with willful intent broke God’s command. They knew that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was intended to test their love and obedience to God. They sinned in the face of God’s warning, calling God a liar and treating friendship with God as if it had no value. As the father of the entire human race, Adam plunged the billions to come after him into darkness and death. He brought death to his own offspring. The fall was the worst act of blasphemy and murder in human history, second only to the betrayal and slaughter of God’s incarnate Son.

In this one act, Adam broke both tables of the moral law, casting off his supreme and all-encompassing love for God, and love for his neighbor as for himself. Only self-love remained, and self-love reigned over all man’s life.

Adam would have done less harm to himself if he had gouged out his eyes and torn out his heart. It is impossible for us, as fallen people, to fully appreciate the glorious treasure that was lost in the soul of man and the horrible filth that rushed in to take its place. Before the fall, Genesis 1:26 tells us that man and woman were the image bearers of God, living likenesses of Him. Genesis 1:31 says they were “very good.” After the fall, Genesis 6:5 tells us that God surveyed the world and, apart from Noah and his family, came to this conclusion about fallen man: “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Sin rushed immediately into the entire body and soul, filling even the innermost recesses of the heart.

Sin has so corrupted humanity that even little children are debased by its influence. Genesis 8:21 says that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” David confessed in Psalm 51:5 that from the moment of his conception in the womb, he was “in sin.” Oh, the horror of our corruption! Fallen man is in sin and continues to sin, with every tick of the clock, sixty times a minute, 3,600 times an hour, over 2.5 million times every month—sin, sin, sin! The magnitude and bitterness of our spiritual corruption is overwhelming.

2. Bitter Shame

Genesis 2:25 tells us that before the fall, “They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” This is a statement not just of intimacy, but of integrity. Adam and Eve lived in boldness and openness because they had nothing to hide. In a sense, they needed no clothing because they were clothed in righteousness. They were unashamed and free.

Immediately after the fall, Genesis 3:7 says, “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Satan had promised them knowledge, and when they sinned, “their eyes were opened.” But what a sad, defiling knowledge sin brought to them! It was a knowledge that robbed them of their innocence. God was not trying to keep them ignorant. He was protecting them from an experiential knowledge of sin that dulls and deadens your knowledge of everything that is good. Sin spoils your ability to appreciate life. It reduces your sensitivity to beauty and joy and brings hardness, bitterness, and shame into your soul. It robs you of the full appreciation of the beauty of God’s creation.

Defiled by sin, Adam and Eve suddenly felt exposed and ashamed of themselves. They wanted to hide. Horatius Bonar said, “Unfallen man needed no covering, and asked for none; but fallen man, under the bitter consciousness of the unworthy and unseemly condition to which sin has reduced him, as unfit for God, or angels, or man to look upon, cries out for covering—covering such as will hide his shame even from the eye of God.”1

They tried to cover themselves. How pitiful and futile were their fig leaf aprons! Those leaves would quickly wither and die, falling away and exposing their shame once again. When we’re ashamed of ourselves, we are prone, like Adam and Eve, to reach for the nearest thing to try to cover ourselves. We can do that in a variety of ways. Sometimes we do that by heaping up external works of religion while our hearts remain sinful and unchanged. Sometimes we try to hide in the crowd: “everyone’s doing it.” Sometimes we assume that time cancels sin. Some people joke about the sins of their youth that they’ve never had washed in the blood of Christ, and never stop to think that God is not a creature of time. He remembers all our sins as if they were committed today.

There is only one way to cover the shame of our sins, and that is by the divinely ordained “covering for sin”: the forgiveness granted through the blood of Jesus Christ. We must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ through faith. Paul wrote in Romans 4:6–7, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.”

3. Bitter Alienation

After Adam and Eve fell into sin, the Lord God came seeking them. Prior to this, Adam and the Lord had talked together like close friends. But now the way that Adam reacts shows that sin has opened a profound gulf between God and man. Genesis 3:8 says, “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” Fear had replaced friendship; secrets replace communion. Why were they afraid? Their consciences accused them. They felt the painful guilt of their sins and feared that God would punish them as He had threatened.

Remarkably, God did not come in burning fire, but came asking questions. It seems that God, in His abundant mercy, gave Adam an opportunity to confess his sin. But instead of accepting the opportunity, Adam responded with accusation and blame. Genesis 3:12 says, “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”

Adam blamed Eve for his sin, saying to God, “She gave me of the tree.” What a contrast in their relationship between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3! Adam had sung for joy when the woman was created. With delight he said, “Finally! This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. This creature is not like the other animals; this is astonishing. This is the helper I need. Praise be to God!” But sin erects an immediate, massive wall between them. Remember that God had warned them that disobedience brought death. Therefore, when Adam blamed Eve for their fall, he was saying, “Kill her, not me.” This man, once the noble prince of the world, has been reduced to a coward who blames others for his sin, even if it may cost his wife her very life.

Worse yet, Adam blamed God, saying, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me.” How deeply Satan’s lies had taken root in his heart! Adam believed that God was neither truly good nor just; His gifts were only bait in a trap. Truly, Adam had become a fool. He had ruined his own life, but his heart raged against the Lord (Prov. 19:3).

Guilt and sin had separated man from his Creator. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” This alienation resulted in man’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. When we lost communion with God, we lost the title to eternal life in Paradise (Gen. 3:23–24). The holy angels became our enemies, and we were shut out of God’s heavenly presence and all the delights and pleasures that come with living close to God (Gen. 2:8–14; Ps. 16:11).

4. Bitter Death

The Lord God had warned Adam in Genesis 2:17 that “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Sometimes people struggle with those words because Adam and Eve did not physically die the day they ate the forbidden fruit. Or did they? The text presses us to consider that the death in view here is more than the death of the body. God’s words of judgment—literally, “Dying thou shalt die”— contain a multiplicity of deaths.

First, man fell into spiritual death. Paul summed up the human condition in Ephesians 2:1, when he said that until God made us alive in Christ, we “were dead in trespasses and sins.” We have already seen that man had been alienated from God, who is our life. Ephesians 4:18 describes our fallen estate: “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Spiritual death is both the consequence of sin, and the condition for further sin. Romans 8:6–7 teach us that “to be carnally minded is death…because the carnal mind is enmity against God,” hatred against the Lord. Long before we are dead on the outside, we are already dead on the inside.

Second, man was sentenced to physical death. We will have more to say about physical death in a moment.

Third, man was destined for eternal death, the most bitter death of all. Revelation 21:8 says, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” How terrifying to suffer the wrath of God without mixture of the least drop of mercy forever and ever, without rest day or night (Rev. 14:10–11)! Truly, God said, “Dying thou shalt die.” We are fools not to listen to God’s warning.

The Trial of Fallen Sinners

Though fallen man would be thrust out of the Garden of Eden, this would not take place until God first came as a holy Judge to confront the sinners and condemn them. Though sinners just want God to leave them alone, the Judge of all the earth is able to summon lawbreakers to trial before His judgment seat.

1. Confrontation with God

Fallen man cannot hide from God. He comes asking questions, reminding us of His commandments, unmasking our sins, and declaring His righteous judgments. He came to Adam, Eve, and Satan in the garden, and He will come to us on the Day of Judgment.

Confrontation with God is inevitable, first, because He is the Lord. Though the serpent and the woman had chosen to think of Him only as “God” but not as “LORD,” nevertheless Genesis 3:8–14 tell us five times that God came to them as “the LORD God.” He is the covenant Lord, the God who faithfully keeps His covenant Word in both love and judgment (Deut. 7:9–10). God made a covenant with all mankind in Adam (Gen. 2:16–17), and mankind broke that covenant (Hos. 6:7, margin). Sooner or later, all men must face the great “I AM” and hear His sovereign verdict on their words and deeds in this life. He is a covenant-keeping Lord, and He will come at the appointed time.

Second, confrontation with God is inevitable because He is God. How stupid it was to sin against the God of Genesis 1! He is the only God, already existing in the beginning. All things were made by Him. He is the all-powerful God who has only to speak and stars and oceans and mountains obey His voice. All things are under His mastery. He is the all knowing God who sees everything that He has made. All things are under His watchful eye.

Third, confrontation with God is also inevitable because He is good. Genesis 1 tells us repeatedly that God does good things. He blesses His creatures. He is not an evil God, nor does He delight in sin. Genesis 2 tells us that He is a God of law, who expresses His will in commandments and warnings, and always acts consistently with His Word. It also reveals that He is a God of love. How could God simply walk away from those whom He created in His image and positioned to be His sons and daughters? He comes crying out to His lost and perishing creations, “Where art thou? What is this that thou hast done?” Though they do not want to hear from Him, He wants to hear from them. As always, God is taking the initiative; God is exercising sovereign grace. He confronts Adam and Eve for the sake of His justice and His mercy.

2. Condemnation from God

In Genesis 3:14–19, the Lord the Judge declares His verdict and sentence over the three offenders. His words echo down through the ages, bearing dire consequences for all generations to follow. He begins with the serpent in verse 14, “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed.” Up until now, God had spoken only blessings (Gen. 1:22, 28; 2:3); but now the same voice that called the sun and the moon into existence pronounces an almighty curse upon the serpent. Eating dust is a metaphor used elsewhere in the Bible for the humiliation and defeat of an enemy (Ps. 72:9; Isa. 49:23; Mic. 7:17). The noble angel that once was a heavenly prince would have his face rubbed in the dirt by the total victory of Christ and His people. Romans 16:20 says, “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”

Next, the Lord God declares His sentence upon Eve. Her sins bring great sorrow to the two areas of life that would have been the source of her greatest fulfillment: marriage and motherhood. Bearing children will no longer be pure delight, but difficult, painful, and dangerous for mother and child. Relating to her husband will not be a partnership of total cooperation and intimacy, but a power struggle. The parallel between Genesis 3:16 and 4:7 in the Hebrew text implies that the woman will now desire to conquer and master her husband, but he will continue to exercise authority over her. God created man and woman with equal dignity in His image (Gen. 1:27), but gave them different roles. He created Adam first, speaking the covenant to him alone, and then the woman as a helper suitable for him, and then allowing Adam to name his wife (Gen. 2; 1 Tim. 2:13). In Paradise, the husband’s authority and the wife’s submission were freely given and gladly received, but sin has turned the best and closest of human relationships into the battle of the sexes.

After the fall, the Lord God had first questioned the man and pronounced man’s punishment last. Called to work the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:26; 2:15), man’s labors would now become a desperate struggle to survive. God’s noblest creation would die, rot, and return to dust from which he was formed (Gen. 2:7). God made man to rule as king in the earth, and as a consequence of man’s sin, his dominion would fall under God’s curse: “cursed is the ground for thy sake” (Gen. 3:17). All creation groans under sin (Rom. 8:22). Tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes are the voice of God declaring man’s alienation from creation and the Creator.

However, though the Lord God cursed the serpent and the ground, He did not curse the man or the woman. To be sure, if people do not repent but persevere in Satan’s ways, they will fall under the curse; Cain is a case in point (Gen. 4:11). But God did not curse Adam and Eve, because in His patience and mercy He had better plans for them. In the blackest hour of despair, God raises a red and white banner of hope in the blood of a coming Redeemer, as I hope to show in the next editorial.

1. Horatius Bonar, Earth’s Morning: Or, Thoughts on Genesis (New York: Robert Carter, 1875), 99.

 

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.