Justification: Mediate and Immediate Grace

One could define "mediate grace" as that power of the Holy Spirit that changes our inner man, and thus, also changes our working relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One would then orthodoxly say that mediate grace made us new men, and our relationship with our God and Father is placed on a basis which may be thought of as "covenant keeping," or "being and acting like Christians."  Our relationship with our Father in Heaven is relationship with a Person, and we may therefore expect that that relationship of fellowship is moved forward, through thick and thin, based on the spiritual quality of our our personal relationship with one another.  Innumerable Scripture passages may be quoted to support this.

Likewise, one could define "immediate grace" as that grant of the status of sonship to us regardless of our merits, for the sake of Christ, which is communicated to our souls as a gift, through faith only, and not based on our works.  Definitive passages of Scripture from many places can be quoted to support this.  Happy is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (David).

It's clear then, that total free grace operates at the same time as the give and take of personal relationship with God in the ethical and religious sphere which is produced by grace-in-us, mediate grace.  God is sovereign and good to his people.  Yet, men are responsible before God, in the give and take of ethical personal relationship.  There is such a thing as discipline for sin.  There are apostates.  There is forgiveness.  There is reward.  Yet there is also superabounding unearned and unearnable grace enveloping our whole life, because of the work of our Savior.

The argument over justification in Reformation time was about this.  Which grace is supreme?  For Romanism, it is grace operative in me, that is, mediate grace, which will determine my destiny at the judgment.  For the Reformers, it is immediate grace.  Mediate and immediate grace are both operative in us or for us, but immediate grace, free grace, is always sovereign.

Does this mean that mediate and immediate grace can conflict?  Can a man under the influence of immediate and free grace fail to show the evidence of mediate grace?  No.  There is no conflict here.  The manifestation of a Christian life, and the presence of free grace always comport properly with one another, whether it looks that way to us or not.  Free grace is not a license to sin, nor is mediate grace in us the ground of our acceptance with God.

Does this mean that a spiritually poor Christian life ought to make us doubt whether free grace is given on our behalf?  Does a sleazy and sinful Christian life mean that mediate grace is absent, and therefore free grace is absent, too?  Not if repentance toward God and faith in the free grace of our Savior is present.  We remember Luther's first Reformation thesis:  Our entire lives should be lives of repentance -- every day!

Scripture vs. Theology

It's an old argument -- the Bible vs. "theology."

After 50 years of personal Christianity, a good deal of that time to the present spent reading theology and church history, I find that the "Bible vs. theology" issue is still very much alive.  And, I'm not talking about arguments with folks who are against "theology."  I'm talking about how Protestant theology, supposedly based in Scripture, can run amok on its own trajectory, regardless of what the Scripture plainly teaches.

Just to give concrete context, I've lately been reading some of the arguments about "neo-Calvinism."  But, regardless of the issue of neo-Calvinism, it's clear to me that the broad spectrum of theology in the Reformed "camp" contains many strains, from "neo-Calvinism" to "pietism," which definitely have a life of their own apart from the well-balanced interpretation of Scripture.

We have to see that our difficulty sticking with the Scripture is part and parcel of the spiritual warfare.  In that war, submission to God's Word is not optional.  Therefore, we must pay attention to the study of the Scripture, the history of the interpretation of Scripture (there has been 2000 years of it, since Christ), and, as a consequence of all this, we must understand the theology of Scripture.  We must give divine wisdom and instruction precedence over the Word of Man that passes for "theology" in our circles every day.

Head and Heart Meet Sin

It's out of fashion to speak of the difference between head and heart, but I'll follow Calvin's example and do it anyway.

Head and Heart on Faith

It's easy to give lip service to faith in Christ, and to speak with head knowledge, but still be tempted to fall away under temptation.  The head alone just talks, but it is the heart that believes unto righteousness.  Yet a person who is weak of heart in regard to faith doesn't always know it, and may speak from the head confidently and with enthusiasm about loving Christ.  (Remember the parable of the sower, and the seed thrown on rocky ground.)  A person must develop depth of faith in the heart, in order to have the spiritual fortitude to follow Christ through thick and thin.

Head and Heart on Sin

Likewise, looking toward sin, the head and heart may not agree with one another.  Repentance of the head is easy, because we all really do know the difference between right and wrong.  It doesn't take the gospel, or faith in Christ, to know this.  However, to truly repent of one's own sins takes the heart as well as the head, and is the gift of God.  There has to be a depth of heart in repentance before one's own sin is seen in its true horror.  Even then we never really know it all, because repentance is a life-long process.  Our sanctification could be defined as backing up over the lines we've crossed that we know about, and then discovering, behind those lines we knew about, ever more lines and degrees of sinfulness we had crossed negligently and ignorantly before getting to the ones that got us in outward trouble.   Discovering lines behind lines and striving to back up behind them continues throughout a life of sanctification.  Repentance toward sin, then, is the process of backing back up over not just the main line we crossed to get ourselves in outward trouble, but also all those other lines we crossed first, while we were on our way to the main one.

This is why the initial stages of repentance from any particular sin may leave a person in danger of relapse.  The sense of horror about that sin may be very low.  One is aware of a line that's been crossed, and one may think that moving back on the right side of that one line (outwardly) is good enough.  The sin is known, but the knowledge is not a deep heart knowledge.  Actually, to get back securely far from that one line that was crossed to get in outward trouble, a person will need to back up over a lot of other lines in the heart.  Staying near that main line, though outwardly on the correct side of it, tempts the Lord, and will leave a person susceptible to relapse.

The cure, which is the gift of God, is to not stop with repentance about the outward things which get us in trouble, but to begin to slaughter the inward sins that lead to the outward ones.

God said, through James, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."  We should count on it.  Jesus said, "Come unto me, all you that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Also, hardness of heart, or lack of repentance, isn't something that's just relative to certain sins.  We can't be hard of heart here and soft of heart there.  If we're hard of heart about one particular sin, then we're really hard of heart about them all.

True repentance affects the whole man.

Authority: From the Larger Catechism

To the Men of the Church:

To struggle with issues of authority is so much the common struggle of life.  Husbands and wives struggle with each other, parents struggle with children, and adults struggle with managers and employees in the workplace, and sometimes with the civil government, and church officers struggle with the church members.

We know that the Scripture teaches us to respect all legitimate authority, and also that all legitimate authority also ought to behave respectably.  We know these principles, but often don’t know how to apply them.  This takes much wisdom, which is to be sought in God’s Word, as it applies itself in the midst of life’s experiences.

This little paper on Christian Ethics will attempt to address some concerns that I have heard expressed among us.  Now, there is nothing in this paper that you have not already read in God’s Word – nothing that you do not already know in principle.  But, there is much wisdom and advice for us on the subject of authority and its uses given in that portion of the Westminster Larger Catechism discussing the Fifth Commandment (“Honor your Father and Mother”, Question 123).  This remarkable elaboration of a full and inner meaning to the fifth commandment needs to be pondered by us men, because the tendency of our flesh is to rule our wives, children and subordinates, however unwittingly, with a spirit of self-centered neglect, or in some cases domination, and at the same time to look upon our superiors in a spirit of rebellion, however hidden.   The Catechism teaches us how to diagnose these sins.

What follows in the next section is Law.  By it we are instructed.  We learn the way to behave to live a good life.  By it we also see the untruth that lies within all human beings, and most-so within our own selves.   So, holding before our eyes the picture of Our Lord and Servant Jesus Christ, we call upon our Father in Heaven to make these commands live in our souls, not by human power, but by divine power, through the grace of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, with humble dependence upon God, and wishing and praying for the best for us all, I submit this paper to you. 

May God help us be men! 

An Excerpt from the Westminster Larger Catechism
“Honor Your Father and Your Mother …” (Exodus 20:12)

Perhaps it is not often thought that the Fifth Commandment has ramifications that affect more than family life.  But, if you recognize that the human family, under God, is the original authority among men created by God, then it’s easy to see that the authority structure God calls for within the human family must also illustrate a principle of authority that affects all of life.

The Catechism uses the terms “superiors,” “inferiors,” and “equals.”  This is the language of authority and status in 17^th century England, and the Christian West in general, at that time.  We shouldn’t take offense against this language, but we do need to understand it:  The terms “superior,” “inferior” and “equal” are relative terms.  For example, your manager at work has the right to give you direction concerning your work.  You have given him this right by taking employment from him.  At the same time your manager has given a similar right to his own manager.  Your manager is your “superior” as long as the employment relationship lasts.  At the same time, your manager is an “inferior” to his manager.  Now, life is littered with hierarchical relationships of many kinds (work, marriage, family, government).  The language of “superior,” “inferior,” and “equal” is used in the Catechism to speak in a simple manner to all such relationships in general terms, in order to teach the common principles that apply to all of them. 

The authors of the Westminster Larger Catechism therefore expand the Fifth Commandment, based on the analogy of family life, in a number of questions, most of which are reproduced here:

Q 124.  Who are meant by “Father” and “Mother” in the fifth commandment?

A.  By “Father” and “Mother” in the fifth Commandment, are meant not only natural parents, but all superiors in age and gifts, and especially such as by God’s ordinance are over us in place of authority, whether in family, church, or common-wealth.

The term “common-wealth” refers to civil life:  work, education, government, etc.

Q 125.  Why are superiors styled “Father” and “Mother”?

A.  Superiors are styled Father and Mother, both to teach them in all duties towards their inferiors, like natural parents, to express love and tenderness to them, according to their several relations: and to work inferiors to a greater willingness and cheerfulness in performing their duties to their superiors, as to their parents.

For men, “superiors” are: fathers to their children, husbands to their wives, church officers to their church members, managers to their employees, government officials to their citizens, etc.

Likewise, for men, “inferiors” are: grown men to their fathers and mothers, church members to their church officers, employees to their managers, citizens to their government officials, etc.

The Fifth Commandment teaches men, in their positions of leadership, to express an appropriate family-like love and tenderness to all subordinates in their own families, in the church, in business, in education or in government.  This is a love and tenderness which is wisely tempered appropriately to the situation, according to the nature and type of the relationship.

Likewise, where men are subordinates, we are exhorted to a greater willingness and cheerfulness to perform the duties our superiors request, with a kind of “parental” respect, which is again wisely adjusted to the situation.

The vision given here is that God-ordained hierarchical authority partakes of a family-like relationship of respect and love between superiors and inferiors, which is adjusted appropriately to the nature of the various situations in which we find ourselves.

The rest of the questions more explicitly illustrate the meaning of this.

Q 127.  What is the honor that inferiors owe to their superiors?

A.  The honor which inferiors owe to their superiors is all due reverence in heart, word and behavior; prayer and thanksgiving for them; imitation of their virtues and graces; willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels; due submission to their corrections; fidelity to, defense and maintenance of their persons and authority, according to their several ranks, and the nature of their places; bearing with their infirmities and covering them in love; that so they may be an honor to them and to their government.

The primary duty enjoined upon us in this answer is that we must support and protect those above us in authority, that is, our parents, our work supervisors, our church officers, or our civil government, so that their authoritative position and government is more honored.  Their authority has been established by God, and to disrespect this is to disrespect the government of God.

One should notice the nuances in the answer:  We should obey our superiors’ lawful commands and counsels.  We should pray for them, and give thanks for them (even when they do wrong!).  We should imitate their virtues and graces.  We should defend their status, and bear with their infirmities in love, in order that we may honor them and their position.

There’s a lot said here about attitude, but nothing about slavery.  Nevertheless, the authors of the Catechism see Scripture teaching that authority is an honorable and worthy necessity within the body of the family, church and common-wealth, and that maintenance of honorable authority is most necessary for the well-being of all these institutions.

Q 128.  What are the sins of inferiors against their superiors?

A.  The sins of inferiors against their superiors, are, all neglect of the duties required toward them; envying at, contempt of, and rebellion against their persons and places in their lawful counsels, commands, and corrections; cursing, mocking, and all such refractory and scandalous carriage, as proves a shame and dishonor to them and their government.

Here again, in the conclusion of the answer, we see again the importance that the authors of the Catechism attach to the Scriptural mandate to respect authority.  The rebelliousness of inferiors may bring shame upon the inferiors, but the real concern is that it brings shame upon those in the position of authority, and by attacking authority subverts the well-being of the institutions of family, church and nation.

We Americans tend to think that freedom and equality govern everything, but the freedom and equality that we enjoy are very definitely sustained by authority, operating in its proper and most appropriate spheres. 

Q 129.  What is required of superiors toward their inferiors?

A.  It is required of superiors, according to that power they receive from God, and that relation wherein they stand, to love, pray for, and bless their inferiors; to instruct, counsel and admonish them; countenancing, commending and rewarding such as do well; discountenancing, reproving and chastising such as do ill; protecting and providing for them all things necessary for soul and body; and by grave, wise, holy, and exemplary carriage, to procure glory to God, honor to themselves, and so to preserve that authority which God hath put upon them.

This paragraph describes how we ought to treat our wives, children, church members, employees and fellow citizens when operating from a position of authority.  We are to be conscious of the power we have received from God to bless our wives, children, fellow church members, employees and fellow citizens – the power we have to love, pray for, instruct, counsel, admonish, commend and reward those who do good.  (Likely we won’t forget to somehow reprove those whom we think disobey or do evil.)  That is, we must make sure that we exercise the benevolent functions toward all our subordinates, while protecting and providing for them in all things necessary for soul and body, and illustrating grave, wise, holy and exemplary behavior before them, as an example. 

All this procures glory to God and honor to ourselves as leaders, and so preserves the authority that God has given us.  In other words, our authority can be diminished or finally lost by bad or negligent behavior, in the family, at work, in the church, and in the government!  It is not an authority that inheres in us, willy-nilly, whether we behave or not, because it is possible to lose the office which has given us the authority.

Q 130.  What are the sins of superiors?

A.  The sins of superiors are, beside the neglect of the duties required of them, an inordinate seeking of themselves, their own glory, ease, profit, or pleasure; commanding things unlawful, or not in the power of inferiors to perform; counseling, encouraging or favoring them in that which is evil; dissuading, discouraging or discountenancing them in that which is good; correcting them unduly; careless exposing or leaving them to wrong, temptation and danger; provoking them to wrath; or any way dishonoring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous or remiss behavior.

Important sins to ponder in this answer are:  neglect, self-centeredness, commanding our subordinates to do unlawful things, things against their consciences, or things they cannot do, not rewarding them for doing good, correcting them unduly, not protecting them from temptation to do wrong, or from danger, provoking them to wrath! 

The exercise of improper authority dishonors the one mis-using it, and lessens his authority.

Q 131.  What are the duties of equals?

A.  The duties of equals are to regard the dignity and worth of each other, in giving honor to go one before another, and to rejoice in each others gifts and advancement, as in their own.

Q 132.  What are the sins of equals?

A.  The sins of equals are, beside the neglect of the duties required, the undervaluing of the worth, envying the gifts, grieving at the advancement or prosperity one of another, and usurping preeminence one over another.

Q 133.  What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment, the more to envorce it?

A.  The reason annexed to the fifth commandment, in these words, That your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God gives you, is an express promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve for God’s glory and their own good, to all such as keep this commandment.

The bold face typeface giving the reason for obedience, as shown in this answer, is in the original transcript of the Catechism.  This promise is given in two places in the Bible, in the Old Testament and in the New.

Application

The way to wisely apply the rules for men is not to place the most emphasis on enforcing upon our subordinates the rules that apply to them.  We must first apply our own rules to ourselves.  We must remove the beams in our own eyes before attempting to remove the specks in the eyes of our subordinates.

Also, the “great commandment” applies here.  Our Lord said, “Love one another, as I have loved you.”  He washes our feet.  According to his Word, the one to be the greatest among us must be the greatest servant.  He was, and is, Lord and Servant to his church.  We must follow his lead, in order to be both “lord and servant” to our wives, children, fellow church members, employees, and fellow citizens.

Hardness of Heart

The descent into sin is often a consequence of slow hardening of the heart.  Likewise, repentance and the rise out of sin requires what is often a slow softening of the heart.

Paul makes it plain in Romans, Chapter 2, that full knowledge of the Law -- the difference between right and wrong -- is perfectly compatible with blindness toward one's own depravity.  Jesus said (Matt 23) that the Pharisees sat in Moses' Seat, but blindly and continually broke the law.  This happened because of the hardness of their hearts.  Jesus' story about logs in ones own eyes, compared to splinters in others could fit here, too.  

Therefore, if we even recognize our sin as sin, what passes for "repentance" may often not be very serious.  From bare knowledge of the Law, one can admit to sin.  But, it requires divine illumination to see sin in its true light -- to be horrified by it -- to be repulsed by it -- to hate it and pray against it.  While the heart is still hard, insensitive to sin, it is profoundly easy to fall again, because the only real fear is the fear of being discovered by man.  Softening of heart takes time.  In fact, it is a lifelong process.  It's a common thing for old men who are godly to repent of sins they committed at much younger ages.  Back then, those sins which were so easily ignored are now repugnant in memory.

It's interesting to notice the relationship between Law and Gospel in this matter.  The Pharisees could thoroughly understand how to apply the Law to others, but not to themselves.  It is beyond human capacity.  Bare knowledge of the law may harden you in your own sin.  Only the Gospel delivers from sin.  "Come unto me," said Jesus, and "I will give you rest."  Only the grace of Christ softens the heart.  This is the real work of sanctification, and it is not a work of man.

We ought to continually repent and believe the gospel of our Lord, worship the Triune God, pray, especially for others, fight sin always, and never stop serving Him -- and wait for His deliverance.

It will come.

Sin shall not have dominion over us, because we are not under Law but under Grace.

Is The Gospel a Law ? (revised)

There are a million kinds of legalism, for most deviations from the doctrinal and practical center of our faith in the direction of "holiness" can be labeled that way, or at least tend to that.

Gerhard Forde (Lutheran theologian) once described himself, looking in the mirror, as if he were introducing himself to a 'twelve-step group':  "Hello.  My name is Gerhard Forde ...., and I am a legalist."  He was referring to the natural propensity of all men -- especially the unregenerate man, and that portion of our own Christian nature which is as yet unredeemed.

Any motion away from the center of grace in Our Lord Jesus Christ ends up in legalism of one kind of another.  This is just natural, because we are naturally "legal," not naturally "graceful."

My complaint in this post will center on a doctrinal tactic seen often in Reformed circles -- a tactic probably pathognomic of our movement, though by no means held or taught by our confessions, nor by many of our best teachers.  It is this:  The propensity for describing the whole of the Christian life under the rubric of "law," instead of recognizing the distinction between Law and Gospel, and how their relationships interplay.

When we think of repentance and faith as obedience to "law," the Christian life then just becomes an obedience to the Law which is made easier by the work of Christ and the indwelling Spirit.  The same orientation to Law pervades the exhortation to faith and the exhortation to obedience.  But, the Gospel makes a free invitation to receive salvation.  It is not a "law."  (See Rom 4:15 in context).  Receiving this invitation of free grace by faith results in the spiritual freedom of sons -- a state of not being under law, or sin, in the inner man.  The Spirit coming as a gift brings salvation as a gift, and freedom from law and sin in the inner man, resulting in the fruit of the Spirit, fruit which is not against the law, but which begins to fulfill the law, by love.  Peace and freedom in the inner man -- that is, love -- is the real motive for the acts of love, the fruit of the Spirit that the gospel calls for.

The Law gives us the vision of what ought to be (but isn't), and we must have this testimony for our warning and instruction.  But, evangelical obedience is produced by the Gospel.  It is not produced by the Law.  Love only comes with the Spirit of freedom.  Spiritual freedom is the free gift of grace, received through faith alone in the atoning work of Our Lord Jesus Christ -- nothing else.

The Theater of Life

We come into this life with a role to play in the theater of life.  Though this role has been assigned by Christ, it's not always in every way the role that we think we want.

We need to remember that our role in the play ends soon, but that the after-party is a really big deal that goes on forever.  Eternal, glorious rewards for excellence in playing our roles as Christians are given out!

However huge the sufferings and disappointments in this life, the reward for endurance is infinitely greater.  The assigned role can become the real "me"!  This gets the reward that counts!