Matthew 18 & 1st Corinthians 5
In Matthew 18 conversion is identified by the spiritual posture “becoming as little children” (Matt. 18:3). The saints are those who, in greater and lesser degrees, humble themselves “as this little child” which Jesus Christ pointed to as an example (Matt. 18:1-4). In the first four verses, the Lord having introduced the topic of converted spiritual children who are as “this child” that stood before them, Christ addresses all spiritual children from henceforth in this relationship, saying, “whoso shall receive one such little child in My Name receiveth Me” (Matt. 18:5). The children that Christ was talking about are no longer called “little children”, merely, but those children that were in Christ’s Name. Christians are those who are Christ’s body, Christ-inhabited ambassadors, so that what is done to them is done to Him, therefore these children are true Christians (John 20:21, Lk. 10:16, Matt. 10:40, John 13:20), those who Christ calls, “these little ones who believe in Me” (Matt. 18:6). Now we can clearly see that, as Christ said, these little children savingly believe in Christ and, because of this, we can understand how they do represent His Name.
After these child-like persons of Christ’s utmost concern have been clearly introduced, the burden is unloaded. It is that, these true and regenerate Christians are in danger of being offended by those who cause offences (in the context of Matthew 18). In such an event where saints are offended, the Lord rehearses two metaphors to communicate the heart of His burden concerning them. These metaphors depict the certain conclusions that, (1) regenerate Christians can become “offended” and, in context, (2) this is to be overtaken by a damnable spiritual condition. Christ teaches us how to handle this situation from two different angles.
[Metaphor #1] Christians – a Body with many members (Matt. 18:8-9) [Metaphor #2] Christians – a Flock of sheep with one Shepherd (Matt. 18:10-14)
This spiritual condition of an offended brother is said to be, of necessity, requiring the most brutal severing: an amputation from the Body to which it was savingly-connected. This is a holy-dismembering, a cutting off of the unholy member of the Body for the fear that, its wicked-unholy union with the Body would poison and offend the whole (1 Cor. 5:6-7). My reader, do you understand this? This one unholy and offending member will bring the whole Body into the same spiritual condition as he is presently in, a spiritual condition which deserves “everlasting fire” and “hell fire” (Matt. 18:8-9), as Christ said. Therefore the offended and offending members of the Body of Christ are, in the subsequent metaphor, described as “lost” sheep which have wandered astray. This is, in context, a man who once was found but now is lost, fallen from the grace in which he savingly-stood (1 Thess. 3:8), therefore the parallel passage in Luke 15:4-7 defines the “lost” sheep as a sinner (an unrighteous or unjust person), or one who is perishing for need of “repentance”, just like 1 Cor. 5:13 identifies the regenerate, backslidden man to be a “wicked person”.
[Plain Doctrinal Terms] Christians – the formula of accountability & judgment (Matt. 18:15-20)
In the subsequent passages of scripture, verses 15-20, which follows the metaphors of Matthew 18, this same individual who is presently “lost” is addressed in plain and doctrinal terms (non-metaphorical terms), and in these passages we can see that the man is, after excommunication (because of failure to repent), considered to be of the same spiritual standing before God “as an heathen man and a publican” (Matt. 18:17). Matthew 18:15-20 describes the actual process whereby the Church does “cut them off” and “cast them from thee” (Matt. 18:8) in clear terms (in non-metaphorical terms), and when this Divine formula is followed under the government of the Holy Ghost, the man who is expelled from the Church will, as the former metaphor of the straying sheep did render it, “perish” if there is no repentance (Matt. 18:14). On the contrary the man, through repentance, can become the sheep that is reunited to the care of his Shepherd, thus regathered with the fold of the ninety and nine sheep on the hill (the righteous persons that are guilt-free from any damnable-sin, who consequentially are not lost and do not perish for want of repentance).
So also, furthermore, in Matthew 18:18-20, the Lord describes a heavenly sentence (a sentence involving matters of justification). The heavenly sentence being enacted, legally speaking, is called a “binding” and “loosing”. What is this, you wonder? This is when the regenerate Christian fails to repent of sin (the damnable kind), meriting for himself excommunication, because after the Divinely ordained process does not avail (a process which should have been remedial to recover the man into saving-repentance), the man is expelled from the safe-haven of salvation which is the Church (the righteous fold of sheep) - he is no longer one of the ninety nine righteous persons who need no repentance, he is a straying unrighteous, sinner who needs repentance from sin and forgiveness from God. Christ, giving a heavenly affirmation of this reality, reveals that these unrepentant brothers are being held in Heaven’s court just as they have been held in Heaven’s earthly court. In other words, these unrepentant brothers are being held in Christ’s court in heaven just as they are held in Christ’s court on earth. This is what Matthew 18 affirms, for Christ IS present (Matt. 18:20) in the midst of the saints as the sentence is made (the “binding” and “loosing”, the imputation of the man’s guilt before God as “an heathen man and a publican”). This means that, in context, what was done at this time was under Christ’s government and inspiration, on earth as it is in heaven, in heaven as it is on earth – which means that it was as good as Christ doing it through these men, and they were not alone in the legal sentence. If this union of God-with-man ceases from its holy “oneness” (John 15:7) and the Divine formula is followed by letter, and yet, without Christ’s personal inspiration, then the legal sentence which is capable of being enacted at the moment of excommunication is rendered inoperable.
After these child-like persons of Christ’s utmost concern have been clearly introduced, the burden is unloaded. It is that, these true and regenerate Christians are in danger of being offended by those who cause offences (in the context of Matthew 18). In such an event where saints are offended, the Lord rehearses two metaphors to communicate the heart of His burden concerning them. These metaphors depict the certain conclusions that, (1) regenerate Christians can become “offended” and, in context, (2) this is to be overtaken by a damnable spiritual condition. Christ teaches us how to handle this situation from two different angles.
[Metaphor #1] Christians – a Body with many members (Matt. 18:8-9) [Metaphor #2] Christians – a Flock of sheep with one Shepherd (Matt. 18:10-14)
This spiritual condition of an offended brother is said to be, of necessity, requiring the most brutal severing: an amputation from the Body to which it was savingly-connected. This is a holy-dismembering, a cutting off of the unholy member of the Body for the fear that, its wicked-unholy union with the Body would poison and offend the whole (1 Cor. 5:6-7). My reader, do you understand this? This one unholy and offending member will bring the whole Body into the same spiritual condition as he is presently in, a spiritual condition which deserves “everlasting fire” and “hell fire” (Matt. 18:8-9), as Christ said. Therefore the offended and offending members of the Body of Christ are, in the subsequent metaphor, described as “lost” sheep which have wandered astray. This is, in context, a man who once was found but now is lost, fallen from the grace in which he savingly-stood (1 Thess. 3:8), therefore the parallel passage in Luke 15:4-7 defines the “lost” sheep as a sinner (an unrighteous or unjust person), or one who is perishing for need of “repentance”, just like 1 Cor. 5:13 identifies the regenerate, backslidden man to be a “wicked person”.
[Plain Doctrinal Terms] Christians – the formula of accountability & judgment (Matt. 18:15-20)
In the subsequent passages of scripture, verses 15-20, which follows the metaphors of Matthew 18, this same individual who is presently “lost” is addressed in plain and doctrinal terms (non-metaphorical terms), and in these passages we can see that the man is, after excommunication (because of failure to repent), considered to be of the same spiritual standing before God “as an heathen man and a publican” (Matt. 18:17). Matthew 18:15-20 describes the actual process whereby the Church does “cut them off” and “cast them from thee” (Matt. 18:8) in clear terms (in non-metaphorical terms), and when this Divine formula is followed under the government of the Holy Ghost, the man who is expelled from the Church will, as the former metaphor of the straying sheep did render it, “perish” if there is no repentance (Matt. 18:14). On the contrary the man, through repentance, can become the sheep that is reunited to the care of his Shepherd, thus regathered with the fold of the ninety and nine sheep on the hill (the righteous persons that are guilt-free from any damnable-sin, who consequentially are not lost and do not perish for want of repentance).
So also, furthermore, in Matthew 18:18-20, the Lord describes a heavenly sentence (a sentence involving matters of justification). The heavenly sentence being enacted, legally speaking, is called a “binding” and “loosing”. What is this, you wonder? This is when the regenerate Christian fails to repent of sin (the damnable kind), meriting for himself excommunication, because after the Divinely ordained process does not avail (a process which should have been remedial to recover the man into saving-repentance), the man is expelled from the safe-haven of salvation which is the Church (the righteous fold of sheep) - he is no longer one of the ninety nine righteous persons who need no repentance, he is a straying unrighteous, sinner who needs repentance from sin and forgiveness from God. Christ, giving a heavenly affirmation of this reality, reveals that these unrepentant brothers are being held in Heaven’s court just as they have been held in Heaven’s earthly court. In other words, these unrepentant brothers are being held in Christ’s court in heaven just as they are held in Christ’s court on earth. This is what Matthew 18 affirms, for Christ IS present (Matt. 18:20) in the midst of the saints as the sentence is made (the “binding” and “loosing”, the imputation of the man’s guilt before God as “an heathen man and a publican”). This means that, in context, what was done at this time was under Christ’s government and inspiration, on earth as it is in heaven, in heaven as it is on earth – which means that it was as good as Christ doing it through these men, and they were not alone in the legal sentence. If this union of God-with-man ceases from its holy “oneness” (John 15:7) and the Divine formula is followed by letter, and yet, without Christ’s personal inspiration, then the legal sentence which is capable of being enacted at the moment of excommunication is rendered inoperable.
“And when He died He paid for every sin, past, present and future. And God will never again, never call me into His judgment hall to judge me. Never again!” – Paul Washer
For a closer look at the “binding” and “loosing” capabilities which are active in a biblical and local Church, God has provided for us comparable passages and a historical situation in which these powers are accessed and in operation upon an excommunicated man. When studying these passages it becomes clear that, the New Testament Christians DID NOT believe that a regenerate man is forgiven of past, present, and future sin. Jesus Christ taught that, in the excommunication process, the access powers called “the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” were in operation (the “binding” and “loosing” powers, see Matt. 16:19). “Keys” exist to open and close locked doors, to let men in or to keep men out, men who cannot let themselves in or out. In John 20:23 this operation is rephrased as, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). In non-metaphorical language, this is the clearest statement we have to interpret the metaphorical action called “binding” and “loosing”, as seen in Matthew 16:19 & 18:18-20. The apostle Paul asserted and used these same powers when excommunicating a regenerate man who slept with his father’s wife, but Paul affirmed that it was not him (Paul by himself alone) taking action (the action of accessing and using the keys, ushering the man out of the Kingdom of God), but it was Christ in him that did the deed! This operation is not possible unless the people are, as Christ said, “in My Name” (Matt. 18:20), which means that Christ is inspiring their actions, judgments, and prayers. This operation is not possible unless the people are, as Paul said, “with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 5:4). The power of excommunication is when the Apostles, Elders, or saints, “in the Person of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:10), forgive [remit] the man’s sins, or on the contrary, mark the man to be in the guilt of his sins. The opposite of forgiveness is in view here: to impute sin or to declare God’s decree of binding guilt because of unforgiven sin. This is an ambassadorial message given, not of reconciliation, but of condemnation and rejection (2 Cor. 5:18-20) – let the reader take note that, what they did was “as though God did” it, and what they prayed was in “Christ’s stead”, though now it was not the message of reconciliation but the opposite: judgments of guilt and condemnation (“do not ye judge them that are within” -1 Cor. 5:12)! Furthermore, my reader, let me say this clearly - this is not an issue of individual Christians forgiving others for the sins which they commit against each other. Every individual Christian is obliged and commanded to forgive all men for their sins which they commit against each other (Matt. 6:14-15, James 5:9). This matter of un-forgiveness in 1st Corinthians 5 is an ambassadorial message given and an ambassadorial judgment done (“now then we are ambassadors”, Paul said); therefore, what is spoken is “as the oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). This un-forgiveness of sin is a message and judgment which signifies to the man that Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant, is not forgiving the man for his sins, thus he is thrust out of the Church of Christ. This judgment is operable based upon if Jesus Christ does or does not forgive the man of his sins. This is not some Popish blasphemy as seen in the Roman Catholic Church… my reader, this is an ambassadorial message given, as it is written in the scriptures (1 John 4:5-6). This is not something to be disdained, but marveled at, for “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7).
Justification = declared righteous Unjustified = declared wicked
In 1st Corinthians 5, Paul identified his actions to be in the inspiration of Christ as he judged the man who stood to be blamed. When the regenerate man in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 was unrepentant and excommunicated, and then later recovered, forgiven, and received back again, his rejection and reception were message-latent actions of the Church. Verses 3-13 are devoted to reveal how this man’s rejection and reception were representative of legal standing before God.
Verses 3-5: the act of judgment by excommunication explained
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Excommunication, or being barred from communion with the saints, was a signal that the man was no longer in saving communion with God. The guilt of unforgiven sin stripped him from communion with God, and therefore, according to Paul, he was presently endangered by Final Judgment… thus he needed to be judged right then, in the present, if haply he might be saved from the Judgment to come. This message of condemnation is meant to alarm and activate repentance, when otherwise it could not be obtained, thus the man would be saved from Final Judgment (1 Cor. 5:5), but this conclusion is clear: the man was presently astray from Christ, lost, and in a condition which is not “saved” (1 Cor. 5:5), therefore he needed to be judged that he might be saved! The man is not saved, meaning, he is in need of within-time remedial judgment, and haply this will “save” him from the Judgment to come (1 Cor. 5:5).
Verses 6-8: the typological significance of the Church in reference to the act of excommunication
Verses 9-13: instructions for judgment henceforth upon specified grounds |
To confirm this, God and the Church viewed the man as “leaven”: an object of contempt and ceremonial disdain, which under Divine-order must be expelled from The Passover Feast - cast out, left to the punishment ordained by the Angel of God’s wrath. The man is cast out, my reader, wandering without the covering and protection of the blood of the Passover Sacrifice which was placed upon the door posts. Because he was not forgiven by Jesus Christ, he was not welcomed amongst the companionship and fellowship of the blood-bought multitude who is forgiven by Jesus Christ! Until his entrance with and participation in The Passover Feast is regained, he is not passed over by the wrath of God! He is the “leaven” which must be “purged out”, here called “malice and wickedness” (1 Cor. 5:7). This leaven (who is a regenerate man gone astray), is called a “wicked person” who must be “put away” (1 Cor. 5:13). He is not a righteous person or a just man, who is in no need of forgiveness and cleansing from sin. Because of the man’s no-repentance lifestyle he must be cast out of the Passover House. The ceremonial grounds by which The Passover Feast was governed prohibited the presence or use of leaven. It was not to reside in the house at all, the whole duration of the Passover ceremony (Exodus 12). If leaven is used for cooking or even found within the quarters of the house, the ceremony is profaned and its observance can be rendered useless. Furthermore, concerning the man who is found eating leavened bread, it was written, “that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:15), therefore with what great urgency should we respond to the call of God to remove “leaven” from our New Testament Passover Feast (1 Cor. 5:6-8)?
Oh my reader, you must understand the typology as it relates to the blood of Christ! I feel I must emphasize it again, because of your hardness of heart. The inspired writers understood the fellowship of the local New Testament Church to be the reality of this Old Testament ceremony, The Passover Feast, only now our Passover sacrifice is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 5:7-8) – but listen, the same ceremonial rules apply: no leaven (Ex. 12:8, 15), those who abide within the House and “keep the feast”, these men are covered by the blood of the Passover sacrifice (they are passed over by the wrath of God –Ex. 12:6-11). All others who do remain outside of the House in which this feast transpires (in this case, the unrepentant regenerate man who slept with his father’s wife), these men are under the wrath of God which is kindled against unforgiven sin, and at present they are, clearly, without the covering of the blood of Christ the Passover Sacrifice (“And they shall take the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat…And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” –Ex. 12:7, 13). Therefore when this man was received back into the Church (The Passover Feast), by necessity, he repented of his damnable sins. His entrance back into the Church was enabled by an examination of his fruits of repentance (2 Cor. 7:10-11), and if his repentance is thereby found authentic, it was right to conclude that the man has, evidently, been brought back under the blood (in other words, Christ was indeed still within the man -2 Cor. 13:5). The man was, evidently, enabled to fulfill the command of God to “bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance” (Lk. 3:8), therefore it was sure that he was not reprobated and forsaken by Christ. Such fruits that Paul cited in 2 Cor. 7:10-11 were clear indicators of biblical saving-repentance springing from saving faith. Christ did say to the “wicked” (1 Cor. 5:13) adulterer, “I have somewhat against thee” (Rev. 2:4), thus the man was excommunicated from the Church, but after repentance, the guilt of the man’s unforgiven sin was removed just as Paul acknowledged in 2 Cor. 7:11, speaking to other backsliders, “what clearing of yourselves, yea…in all things ye have approved to be clear in this matter” (2 Cor. 7:11). The adulterous man who did lay with his father’s wife, now forgiven by the Church, was forgiven by the Spirit of Jesus Christ who did, at the first, judge him and cast him out (1 Cor. 5:3-5, 2 Cor. 2:10). On the basis of this new-found repentance and restoration (like that which is referenced in 2 Tim. 2:24-26 or James 5:19-20) the man was welcomed back into the Church, and it is clear that Paul understood that upon excommunication he had fallen from gospel-realities, was bound in damnable unrepentance, and thus he was laden with the guilt of unforgiven sin, but upon his restoration to Christ (evidenced by saving-repentance), and upon his reception back into the Church, Paul said, “To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also; for I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the Person of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:10) – the outstanding unforgiven sin was forgiven, not by Paul but Jesus Christ! Here, by this example, we can see that the New Testament Christians believed in a present-continuous cleansing and forgiveness from sins committed by regenerate men, more specifically that, when regenerate men do reside in a damnable spiritual condition, it is without the covering of the blood of Christ, and thus the Divine-witness against them is clear – they are expelled from the Kingdom of God on earth – but this is a representative signal that the man is presently expelled from and unwelcome within the Kingdom of God in heaven.
Reading 1 John 1:5-9 once again, my brethren, with these scriptures in mind, it is easy to see this reality bearing upon the conscience of the apostle John. Therein, we can see an exact parallel to the ceremonial, legal, and salvific grounds which have heretofore been discussed: “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” A present-continuous cleansing from and forgiveness of sins committed by regenerate men is, as seen here, a reality that we need to reckon with, and those who are obtaining it are found within the fellowship of true Christians, in a biblical, local Church, which is governed by the Lordship of Jesus Christ in His people. For more study on the ambassadorial relationship of Christians in Christ, see “NT Intercessions & NT Repentances” (chapter 25, section 3). It is important to note for you my reader: when a man is regenerated and backslidden, like the situation of the man in 1st Corinthians chapter 5, or like the situations found in five out of seven regenerated Churches in the province of Asia which stood to be blamed (as seen in Revelation chapter 2-3), these individuals, though presently residing in a damnable spiritual condition, are still indwelt by and in relationship with Jesus Christ, only in a non-saving way. This may seem to be an impossibility to you, logically speaking, but potential realities in the Kingdom of God should not be allowed or disallowed based upon your logical capacity to understand them. Whether or not “it is written”, is the only sure declaration of its existence! Forsake your pride, my reader. Don’t lean upon the broken reed of your own understanding and logic – trust God.
Oh my reader, you must understand the typology as it relates to the blood of Christ! I feel I must emphasize it again, because of your hardness of heart. The inspired writers understood the fellowship of the local New Testament Church to be the reality of this Old Testament ceremony, The Passover Feast, only now our Passover sacrifice is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 5:7-8) – but listen, the same ceremonial rules apply: no leaven (Ex. 12:8, 15), those who abide within the House and “keep the feast”, these men are covered by the blood of the Passover sacrifice (they are passed over by the wrath of God –Ex. 12:6-11). All others who do remain outside of the House in which this feast transpires (in this case, the unrepentant regenerate man who slept with his father’s wife), these men are under the wrath of God which is kindled against unforgiven sin, and at present they are, clearly, without the covering of the blood of Christ the Passover Sacrifice (“And they shall take the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat…And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” –Ex. 12:7, 13). Therefore when this man was received back into the Church (The Passover Feast), by necessity, he repented of his damnable sins. His entrance back into the Church was enabled by an examination of his fruits of repentance (2 Cor. 7:10-11), and if his repentance is thereby found authentic, it was right to conclude that the man has, evidently, been brought back under the blood (in other words, Christ was indeed still within the man -2 Cor. 13:5). The man was, evidently, enabled to fulfill the command of God to “bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance” (Lk. 3:8), therefore it was sure that he was not reprobated and forsaken by Christ. Such fruits that Paul cited in 2 Cor. 7:10-11 were clear indicators of biblical saving-repentance springing from saving faith. Christ did say to the “wicked” (1 Cor. 5:13) adulterer, “I have somewhat against thee” (Rev. 2:4), thus the man was excommunicated from the Church, but after repentance, the guilt of the man’s unforgiven sin was removed just as Paul acknowledged in 2 Cor. 7:11, speaking to other backsliders, “what clearing of yourselves, yea…in all things ye have approved to be clear in this matter” (2 Cor. 7:11). The adulterous man who did lay with his father’s wife, now forgiven by the Church, was forgiven by the Spirit of Jesus Christ who did, at the first, judge him and cast him out (1 Cor. 5:3-5, 2 Cor. 2:10). On the basis of this new-found repentance and restoration (like that which is referenced in 2 Tim. 2:24-26 or James 5:19-20) the man was welcomed back into the Church, and it is clear that Paul understood that upon excommunication he had fallen from gospel-realities, was bound in damnable unrepentance, and thus he was laden with the guilt of unforgiven sin, but upon his restoration to Christ (evidenced by saving-repentance), and upon his reception back into the Church, Paul said, “To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also; for I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the Person of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:10) – the outstanding unforgiven sin was forgiven, not by Paul but Jesus Christ! Here, by this example, we can see that the New Testament Christians believed in a present-continuous cleansing and forgiveness from sins committed by regenerate men, more specifically that, when regenerate men do reside in a damnable spiritual condition, it is without the covering of the blood of Christ, and thus the Divine-witness against them is clear – they are expelled from the Kingdom of God on earth – but this is a representative signal that the man is presently expelled from and unwelcome within the Kingdom of God in heaven.
Reading 1 John 1:5-9 once again, my brethren, with these scriptures in mind, it is easy to see this reality bearing upon the conscience of the apostle John. Therein, we can see an exact parallel to the ceremonial, legal, and salvific grounds which have heretofore been discussed: “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” A present-continuous cleansing from and forgiveness of sins committed by regenerate men is, as seen here, a reality that we need to reckon with, and those who are obtaining it are found within the fellowship of true Christians, in a biblical, local Church, which is governed by the Lordship of Jesus Christ in His people. For more study on the ambassadorial relationship of Christians in Christ, see “NT Intercessions & NT Repentances” (chapter 25, section 3). It is important to note for you my reader: when a man is regenerated and backslidden, like the situation of the man in 1st Corinthians chapter 5, or like the situations found in five out of seven regenerated Churches in the province of Asia which stood to be blamed (as seen in Revelation chapter 2-3), these individuals, though presently residing in a damnable spiritual condition, are still indwelt by and in relationship with Jesus Christ, only in a non-saving way. This may seem to be an impossibility to you, logically speaking, but potential realities in the Kingdom of God should not be allowed or disallowed based upon your logical capacity to understand them. Whether or not “it is written”, is the only sure declaration of its existence! Forsake your pride, my reader. Don’t lean upon the broken reed of your own understanding and logic – trust God.
The Book of Galatians
Galatians was written to true, regenerated believers, therefore they were addressed as, “the Churches of Galatia” (Gal. 1:2): those to whom belongs “grace” and “peace” from God (Gal. 1:3). Paul spoke of their redemption collectively, his and the Galatians together as one, saying, Christ “gave Himself for OUR sins, that He might deliver US” (Gal. 1:4). Therefore these individuals of the Galatian Churches were, through a saving reception of the gospel, “called” “into the grace of Christ” (Gal. 1:6, 5:8), but the burden of the letter revealed their present estate to be “removed from” (Gal. 1:6) the gospel of grace which they had savingly received, though for a time they “did run well” (Gal. 5:7). My brethren and dear Calvinists, you must understand this! These regenerate Galatians were “free” (Gal. 5:1), they “did run well” (Gal. 5:7), they did “stand fast” in the grace of true salvation (Gal. 5:1), thus they had “received the Spirit…by the hearing of faith” (Gal. 3:2), but, alas, Paul said: “ye are fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4)! They had fallen from the saved spiritual condition in which they formerly stood, and now, Paul said, “Christ shall profit you nothing” (Gal. 5:2), and again, “Christ is become of no effect unto you” (Gal. 5:4)!
As a point of reference and in an effort to rescue the Galatians from the folly of legalist “Judaizers”, Paul spoke of Peter’s temporary lapse into a damnable estate (Note: Peter demonstrated an exemplary reception of Paul’s rebuke). What happened to the Galatians did already happen to Peter, though for Peter it was brief. Paul said that Peter stood “to be blamed” (Gal. 2:11)… my reader, do you know what this means? You understand what this means by now, Lord willing, if you have studied the vast amount of passages where this term and its synonyms are used in Holy Scripture [see “Blameless – The Gospel of Regeneration” (chapter 19, section 3)]. Peter was “to be blamed”, and why? He was defying “the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:14) and frustrating the grace of God (Gal. 2:21), therefore Paul rehearsed to the Galatians how he rebuked Peter. This was Peter’s folly: by deeds (see Gal. 2:11-21) he was rebuilding his allegiance to the ceremonial law (relating to it as grounds of righteousness and justification), the same law which, at salvation, he had been freed from through the power of the cross (Gal. 2:20), therefore in rebuilding his faith in the law which was destroyed through the cross, he was returning to his former dead-religion relationship to the law as a means of righteousness and justification. Simply put, Peter was backsliding. In this backslidden condition the beloved Elder and Apostle Peter, like the Galatians, was “fallen from GRACE” (Gal. 5:4), but Paul rephrased his rebuke of Peter in a different way which meant the same thing. By looking carefully at Paul’s rebuke of Peter one thing is for sure, Paul believed that justified saints could backslide, compromise their justification, and incur the guilt and condemnation of unforgiven sins:
As a point of reference and in an effort to rescue the Galatians from the folly of legalist “Judaizers”, Paul spoke of Peter’s temporary lapse into a damnable estate (Note: Peter demonstrated an exemplary reception of Paul’s rebuke). What happened to the Galatians did already happen to Peter, though for Peter it was brief. Paul said that Peter stood “to be blamed” (Gal. 2:11)… my reader, do you know what this means? You understand what this means by now, Lord willing, if you have studied the vast amount of passages where this term and its synonyms are used in Holy Scripture [see “Blameless – The Gospel of Regeneration” (chapter 19, section 3)]. Peter was “to be blamed”, and why? He was defying “the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:14) and frustrating the grace of God (Gal. 2:21), therefore Paul rehearsed to the Galatians how he rebuked Peter. This was Peter’s folly: by deeds (see Gal. 2:11-21) he was rebuilding his allegiance to the ceremonial law (relating to it as grounds of righteousness and justification), the same law which, at salvation, he had been freed from through the power of the cross (Gal. 2:20), therefore in rebuilding his faith in the law which was destroyed through the cross, he was returning to his former dead-religion relationship to the law as a means of righteousness and justification. Simply put, Peter was backsliding. In this backslidden condition the beloved Elder and Apostle Peter, like the Galatians, was “fallen from GRACE” (Gal. 5:4), but Paul rephrased his rebuke of Peter in a different way which meant the same thing. By looking carefully at Paul’s rebuke of Peter one thing is for sure, Paul believed that justified saints could backslide, compromise their justification, and incur the guilt and condemnation of unforgiven sins:
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” - Gal 2:16-19
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Though Peter was, long ago, justified freely by God’s grace in Christ (Rom. 3:24), at this present situation in which Paul delivered his rebuke, Peter was no longer partaking in saving grace. Rather, Peter rebuilt his faith in the law (Gal. 2:18). Therefore Peter was, right then, in the same legal standing as all “sinners” (Gal. 2:17) who are under the law, even so, likewise, sinners do rely upon the law or other lying vanities for their justification, though these provide no justification at all! Peter was in this way, according to Paul, making himself “a transgressor”, or in other words “a sinner”, thus Paul rebuked him saying: “For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor” (Gal. 2:18). Paul considered himself as well, and not Peter alone, to be capable of becoming a transgressor or a sinner, and in this face-to-face rebuke Paul was identifying Peter to be in the very gall of that condition. When regenerated men, like Peter and those who followed him, do place themselves under the law as a means of justification on any point, they are, as Paul argued, “a debtor to do the whole law” (Gal. 5:3), a law which held both Jews and Gentiles “under sin” (Rom. 3:9); therefore, they, being “fallen from grace” at the present time, bear the guilt of their unforgiven sins – and thus they are made “sinners” (Gal. 2:17). This being the case, Paul asked of what purpose and end Christ was in their life. He is rebuking them that Christ would not have lead them to become sinners again, under the law, wandering in the vanity of their own heretical ideologies! Peter and the others, under sin, were fallen from their saintly standing of justification before God (and keep in mind justification is a legal declaration that a man is righteous and innocent from all sin), and being “found sinners”, this means that they were of the same legal standing as sinners and transgressors before God. They were in need to regain a steadfast footing in the grace from which they fell, that they might, yet again, be justified or declared righteous freely by God’s grace, and this would be accomplished by a restoration of saving faith in the pure gospel of Christ: reckoning “the faith” of the gospel in which they died to the law, in which they live by Christ and His righteousness (Gal. 2:19-20). Christ, who was the end of the law, became a law of salvation and grace for the New Testament saints (Rom. 8:2)! Hallelujah!
Paul’s rebuke to Peter was swift and successful, thus Peter repented, but Paul’s attempt to recover the Galatians was still outstanding. Paul enlarged his pastoral heart before them, telling them of his fears, doubts, and personal anguish spent over their wayward souls. Paul said, “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (Gal. 4:11), and again, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you” (Gal. 4:19-20). With all the contextual verses we have heretofore addressed from the book of Galatians, it is clear that Paul was using these expressions (in Galatians 4:11 & 4:19-20) as an address of persons he understood to be backslidden regenerate saints. The damnable spiritual condition in which they had fallen into, here in Galatians 4:19, is one which needs a “birth again” (as it were), though they were already “born again” (John 3:3) when they were first converted. This “rebirth”, yet again, is a restoration into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and Paul indicates that the result of this would be: Christ re-formed again within the soul of the Galatians. This passage does not indicate that a man can be “born again again”, a thing which is impossible, but Paul is demonstrating how their standing as children of God, their standing within saving grace and eternal life which they were twice born into, was presently lost and compromised, thus Paul, who was their spiritual father, expressed how he is in the same straits of distress and anguish as he was at the first, at their initial conversion, when he labored over their dead souls to be born again by saving conversion to Christ. These words symbolized Paul’s fatherly relationship to them as his “little children”, and the deadly position in which they had fallen into, a position in which the coheir birthrights of their second birth were presently compromised and legally deficient (Gal. 4:7). Thus Paul uses the phrase, “travail again”, as a reference to how he is in pursuit of the same goal which was formerly won and now lost, and if the Galatians cannot be restored into a right-standing spiritual condition then he knows, all his former travail and labor was in vain (Gal. 4:11, Php. 2:16). Oh Calvinists! If the scriptural burden of Galatians is hard for you to swallow, reexamine “your Calvinism” next to “George Whitfield’s Calvinism”, yet again, and see if you will not choke or cry out, “HERETIC!"
Paul’s rebuke to Peter was swift and successful, thus Peter repented, but Paul’s attempt to recover the Galatians was still outstanding. Paul enlarged his pastoral heart before them, telling them of his fears, doubts, and personal anguish spent over their wayward souls. Paul said, “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (Gal. 4:11), and again, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you” (Gal. 4:19-20). With all the contextual verses we have heretofore addressed from the book of Galatians, it is clear that Paul was using these expressions (in Galatians 4:11 & 4:19-20) as an address of persons he understood to be backslidden regenerate saints. The damnable spiritual condition in which they had fallen into, here in Galatians 4:19, is one which needs a “birth again” (as it were), though they were already “born again” (John 3:3) when they were first converted. This “rebirth”, yet again, is a restoration into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and Paul indicates that the result of this would be: Christ re-formed again within the soul of the Galatians. This passage does not indicate that a man can be “born again again”, a thing which is impossible, but Paul is demonstrating how their standing as children of God, their standing within saving grace and eternal life which they were twice born into, was presently lost and compromised, thus Paul, who was their spiritual father, expressed how he is in the same straits of distress and anguish as he was at the first, at their initial conversion, when he labored over their dead souls to be born again by saving conversion to Christ. These words symbolized Paul’s fatherly relationship to them as his “little children”, and the deadly position in which they had fallen into, a position in which the coheir birthrights of their second birth were presently compromised and legally deficient (Gal. 4:7). Thus Paul uses the phrase, “travail again”, as a reference to how he is in pursuit of the same goal which was formerly won and now lost, and if the Galatians cannot be restored into a right-standing spiritual condition then he knows, all his former travail and labor was in vain (Gal. 4:11, Php. 2:16). Oh Calvinists! If the scriptural burden of Galatians is hard for you to swallow, reexamine “your Calvinism” next to “George Whitfield’s Calvinism”, yet again, and see if you will not choke or cry out, “HERETIC!"
"Tremble for fear God should remove His candlestick from you. Labourers are sick. Those who did once labour are almost worn out... There are few who like to go out into the fields. Broken heads and dead cats are no longer the ornaments of a Methodist. These honourable badges are now no more. Langour has gotten from the ministers to the people; and, if you don't take care, we shall all be dead together. The Lord Jesus rouse you! Ye Methodists of many years' standing, shew the young ones, who have not the cross to bear as we once had what ancient Methodism was.
Don't be angry with a poor minister for weeping over them who will not weep for themselves. If you laugh at me I know Jesus smiles. I am free from the blood of you all. If you are damned for want of conversion, remember you are not damned for want of warning. YOU ARE GOSPEL-PROOF; and, if there is one place in hell deeper than another, God will order a gospel-despising Methodist to be put there. God convert you from lying a-bed in the morning! God convert you from conformity to the world! God convert you from lukewarmness! Do not get into a cursed antinomian way of thinking, and say, "I thank God, I have the root of the matter in me! I thank God, I was converted twenty or thirty years ago; and, though I can go to the public-house, and play at cards, yet, I am converted; for once in Christ, always in Christ." Whether you were converted formerly or not, you are perverted now. Would you have Jesus catch you napping, with your lamps untrimmed? Suffer the word of exhortation. I preach feelingly. I could be glad to preach till I preached myself dead, if God would convert you. I seldom sleep after three in the morning; and I pray every morning, "Lord, convert me, and make me a new creature today!" -George Whitefield |
In the same heart, my reader, Paul was in anguish and intercession, “travailing”, if haply the Galatians might be restored as genuine and authentic children of God, that the guilt of their outstanding sins would be blotted out and covered by the blood, that they would thus abide and walk in Christ, so as to express His image to the fallen world - it being formed yet again within them through a restoration of saving faith in the true gospel. Paul knew that the legitimacy of anyone’s claim in the gospel was evidenced by identifiable fruits of righteousness, or in other words: whether or not men were “conformed to the Image of [God’s] Son” (Rom. 8:29). Falling from saving grace as a regenerated man is, by necessity, falling from Christ-likeness in word (Col. 3:17, Matt. 12:37, Jas. 1:26), thought (1 Cor. 2:16, 3:1-3, Php. 3:19-20), and deed (James 2:20, Rom. 2:6), therefore Paul was adamant to awaken men to see their damnable estate in Galatians 5:13-6:18. Paul was very specific about behaviors which would damn them! And very specific about the reformation of righteousness which was the stamp of redemption!
The Galatians were not abiding in the saving Light of the gospel message, a Light which 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 stated was: a Light which shined from Christ’s Face, a Light which came into the darkness which, by interpretation, was the darkness of human depravity, and as 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 stated, this Light conforms, transforms, and changes men “into the same Image” of Christ. Without this Light it is doctrinally sound to say: such a one is without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ who is Light. Without this Light it is doctrinally sound to say: such a one is like an unconverted man, a man engrossed in the darkness of their depraved old man (Eph. 4:17-18), bearing the fruits of darkness which cry out for the justice of condemnation (Eph. 5:3-11, 1 Thess. 5:4-8), and as long as such a man is held fast in spiritual darkness, he is in other words, fast asleep in spiritual DEATH. The call of salvation is, therefore, “Awake thou that SLEEPEST, and arise from the DEAD, and Christ shall give thee LIGHT” (Eph. 5:14). Paul was sure to instruct the Galatians of specifics, not just metaphors. He said, “they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21), but my Calvinistic brethren…is Paul preaching “works righteousness”? He used the word “do” in connection with eternal destiny! Don’t you decry anyone who says they can DO ANYTHING which jeopardizes their present or final justification before God? Don’t you call them heretics who believe in “works righteousness” for salvation?
My reader, Paul was intent on removing all the bewitching shades of doubt which held the Galatians in unrepentant sin, therefore the Galatians needed to be convinced of God’s scriptural standard “of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8); therefore, on the basis of what men DO or DON’T DO, one might judge the authenticity of their acceptance or denial of the gospel-message and gospel-powers. With this heart Paul identified the actual sins committed by the Galatians which brought them into a spiritual condition which was damnable (Gal. 5:19-21), he vindicated the righteousness of God which should replace these sins (Gal. 5:22-23), and he exalted the conclusion of Judgment Day’s Final Verdict: if a man does savingly understand and relate to the cross of Jesus Christ, he is included in the multitude of persons that Christ is not ashamed to own (Heb. 11:15-16, 2 Cor. 6:17-7:1), identify (Matt. 7:21-27, Lk. 13:27, Matt. 22:11-12, Rev. 3:1-6, 19:7-9), and confess as the redeemed (Matt. 10:32-33), for, Paul said, “they that are Christ’s HAVE crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24, Rom. 8:13). This saving relationship with Christ’s crucifixion enabled the Galatians to overcome the world, both practically and experientially, by nature and deed, right now and on a daily basis. Paul forewarned them how the reckoned multitude of justified persons on the Last Day will invariably be those who are NOT fulfilling “the lust of the flesh” or “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:15, 19), as Paul explicitly identified, for they are rather crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts (Col. 3:5). The loss of saving faith in the gospel resulted in these behavioral woes, which invariably means, at the present time, the Galatians were ensnared in what could be called “spiritual death”. In other words, they had a need to regain their standing in saving grace, which is Life (Gal. 5:1, 1 Thess. 3:8). The Life which they were twice-born into was lost, so to speak, therefore they needed a “birth again”, so to speak. These are spiritual principles which will be used as grounds of Final Judgment, yes, but also as grounds of Church-to-Christian judgment (1 Cor. 5:12), so when a saint is prodigal and backslidden it can doctrinally be stated that: all throughout the duration of the man’s ensnarement in a damnable condition he was “lost” and “dead”. So also upon his return it can be said: “My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Lk. 15:24)!
The Galatians were not abiding in the saving Light of the gospel message, a Light which 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 stated was: a Light which shined from Christ’s Face, a Light which came into the darkness which, by interpretation, was the darkness of human depravity, and as 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 stated, this Light conforms, transforms, and changes men “into the same Image” of Christ. Without this Light it is doctrinally sound to say: such a one is without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ who is Light. Without this Light it is doctrinally sound to say: such a one is like an unconverted man, a man engrossed in the darkness of their depraved old man (Eph. 4:17-18), bearing the fruits of darkness which cry out for the justice of condemnation (Eph. 5:3-11, 1 Thess. 5:4-8), and as long as such a man is held fast in spiritual darkness, he is in other words, fast asleep in spiritual DEATH. The call of salvation is, therefore, “Awake thou that SLEEPEST, and arise from the DEAD, and Christ shall give thee LIGHT” (Eph. 5:14). Paul was sure to instruct the Galatians of specifics, not just metaphors. He said, “they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21), but my Calvinistic brethren…is Paul preaching “works righteousness”? He used the word “do” in connection with eternal destiny! Don’t you decry anyone who says they can DO ANYTHING which jeopardizes their present or final justification before God? Don’t you call them heretics who believe in “works righteousness” for salvation?
My reader, Paul was intent on removing all the bewitching shades of doubt which held the Galatians in unrepentant sin, therefore the Galatians needed to be convinced of God’s scriptural standard “of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8); therefore, on the basis of what men DO or DON’T DO, one might judge the authenticity of their acceptance or denial of the gospel-message and gospel-powers. With this heart Paul identified the actual sins committed by the Galatians which brought them into a spiritual condition which was damnable (Gal. 5:19-21), he vindicated the righteousness of God which should replace these sins (Gal. 5:22-23), and he exalted the conclusion of Judgment Day’s Final Verdict: if a man does savingly understand and relate to the cross of Jesus Christ, he is included in the multitude of persons that Christ is not ashamed to own (Heb. 11:15-16, 2 Cor. 6:17-7:1), identify (Matt. 7:21-27, Lk. 13:27, Matt. 22:11-12, Rev. 3:1-6, 19:7-9), and confess as the redeemed (Matt. 10:32-33), for, Paul said, “they that are Christ’s HAVE crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24, Rom. 8:13). This saving relationship with Christ’s crucifixion enabled the Galatians to overcome the world, both practically and experientially, by nature and deed, right now and on a daily basis. Paul forewarned them how the reckoned multitude of justified persons on the Last Day will invariably be those who are NOT fulfilling “the lust of the flesh” or “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:15, 19), as Paul explicitly identified, for they are rather crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts (Col. 3:5). The loss of saving faith in the gospel resulted in these behavioral woes, which invariably means, at the present time, the Galatians were ensnared in what could be called “spiritual death”. In other words, they had a need to regain their standing in saving grace, which is Life (Gal. 5:1, 1 Thess. 3:8). The Life which they were twice-born into was lost, so to speak, therefore they needed a “birth again”, so to speak. These are spiritual principles which will be used as grounds of Final Judgment, yes, but also as grounds of Church-to-Christian judgment (1 Cor. 5:12), so when a saint is prodigal and backslidden it can doctrinally be stated that: all throughout the duration of the man’s ensnarement in a damnable condition he was “lost” and “dead”. So also upon his return it can be said: “My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Lk. 15:24)!
The Book of James
The audience to whom the Apostle James writes to are “brethren” (James 1:1-3, 16, 18-19) of the true “twelve tribes which are scattered”, those to whom James acknowledges, “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18). His burden for them involves error and its consequences: spiritual death.
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” - James 1:14-16
“Of His own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being NOT a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” - James 1:18-27 |
According to James 1:18-21, James is burdened about the present-continuous salvation of the saints from the threatening doom of error and deception, which results in spiritual death. According to verse 18, as formerly cited, the audience was already regenerated, but look carefully at the phraseology which James used: “of His own will begat He us with the word of truth”. The saints have already savingly received the word of truth at their initial conversion, but James’ burden was that they would continue to receive the word. Without this continuance, James understood that they will not be “swift to hear”, “slow to speak”, “slow to wrath”, but rather given to the “superfluity of naughtiness” (a spiritual condition which is damnable); therefore, James points them to their need to presently and continuously receive the word of God as a means of deliverance from such a spiritual condition. In other words, James exhorted them to presently and continuously receive the “word”, “which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21), because, obviously, they needed to be presently and continuously SAVED. James knows that the “word” of God is truth, and it delivers from deception, and James, being alarmed for the saints, declared the engrossing deception which was encamping against the brethren. He taught them how: hearing and not doing the word, and yet thinking that you will be saved even still - this is “deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22), a kind of damnable forgetfulness (compare James 1:23-24 & 2 Pet. 1:9), and it is a flagrant defiance of the standard by which the saints will be judged (James 2:12). James charged them, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25). There were many brethren who were deceived into denying the present-continuous necessity of being saved in this way, and therefore, James said, there be many who “seem to be religious”, but any man of this company that “deceiveth his own heart” to think that he is saved - “this man’s religion is vain” (James 1:26).
“If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well” (James 2:8). [For more details see, Legalism: Law, Grace, and Works.]
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If the brethren fulfill the law they will do well, the Apostle James said, and he is not alone in this pastoral burden. James is under the persuasion that those who are regenerated and yet fail to “fulfill” the law do defy the essence of true salvation and thus, they are fallen from saving grace. I say that James is not alone in this persuasion because, Jesus Christ (Matt. 5:17-18, Heb. 5:9), the Apostle Paul (Rom. 2:7, 13, 6:12, 16, 8:4, 13:8-10, 15:18, Gal. 3:1, 5:7, 14, 6:7-9, 1 Cor. 7:19), and all the Apostles and Prophets were in agreement! Any other claim than this doctrine was, according to James, the very deception and error which leads men into spiritual death! And sadly, the saints to whom he was writing were deceived concerning this matter…how much more today? They were not bridling their tongue (James 1:26), caring for the needy (James 1:27), remaining holy and unspotted by the world (James 1:27), but rather they were being conformed to the “faith” of devils (James 2:19), the faith of deception and error, instead of the true faith of God as depicted in the perfect law of liberty. “Devilish wisdom” (James 3:15) had deceived the people to make them hold to the same faith as devils (James 2:19), and in so doing James declared, “can faith save him” (James 2:14)? In description of those who have the faith of devils, James said, there is no “profit” to such a “faith” (James 2:14, 16) – it is the vanity of vain men – therefore James boldly declared: “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works IS DEAD” (James 2:20)? James argued that the life of true “faith” works righteousness, and vice versa, a dead faith works disobedience, therefore those who have a dead faith are dead in sin (James 1:15). How can such a faith save a man, James argued (James 2:14-26), when it is utterly the faith of devils, contrary to the faith of Abraham and Rahab, and all saints who were finally justified before God!? Faith that works righteousness, James argued, was the faith which saved men, enabling them to become the Friends of God (James 2:23), whose enmity was with the world and its deceptive wisdom (James 3:13-18), error, and death (James 1:15-16, 22, 26, 5:19-20).
When a regenerated man fulfills the law this vindicates the righteous judgment of God at Final Judgment. What is “right-standing” about how God imputes righteousness into sinful men, whose works earn for them hell and not heaven? This is a question that James answers. God imputes righteousness into sinful men “not according to their works”, and what is “right-standing” and vindicatory about this work of salvation is, not just that Christ was the atoning sacrifice (and therefore God is thus vindicated), but James argues that upon the imputation of righteousness “apart from works” sinful men are regenerated and compelled to work righteousness with their lives – therefore God’s righteousness in saving hell-deserving men is proven good in that it does actually save men: the evidence of salvation being “obedience unto righteousness” (Rom. 6:16) and “fruit unto holiness”, for “the end” of such a lifestyle is “everlasting life” (Rom. 6:22), scripture declares. When God saves men who stand condemned by the law, His salvation of them is vindicated by the fact that these men, after salvation, are no longer standing condemned by the law but rather are “fulfilling the law”, in the sense of what the scriptures mean when that phrase is used (for more information see Legalism: Law, Grace, and Works).
I do not believe that Christians are “under the law” (Rom. 3:19), no, for the death of Christ on the cross has forbidden it (Gal. 2:19-20)! But Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law twofold: (1) the shadows which did prophetically declare Him, (2) and the righteousness of the law which did reveal His nature, character, personality, and deeds. Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law, yes, and is fulfilling the righteousness of the law within true Christians right now (Rom. 8:4)! Bless God for His wisdom that, in salvation we are made “the Friend of God” (James 2:23), but the deceptive error of devilish faith (James 2:19) and devilish wisdom (James 3:15) would allure God’s friends into legal grounds whereby, James said, they become “the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Oh Calvinists! Did you know that the friends of God, the saints, can become the enemies of God!? Did you know that Christ’s beloved and betrothed spiritual virgins (2 Cor. 11:2-4, Rev. 14:4), the saints, can defy the most sacred union to which they were bound to Christ by, their Bridegroom, and so, alas, COMMIT ADULTERY!? And then, in such a state, do you know what becomes of their legal justification before God?
You say, “Nothing.” But James said, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4)! Do you not know, or, “know ye not”, James said, that when saints make friendship with the world it is like the sexual defiance of the most sacred Covenant man-to-woman, only this Covenant is the most sacred of all, man-to-God, which means that it is infinitely more appalling and insulting to God than it is to man! What feeble sense do we have of this most grievous defiance before God Almighty – The Only Faithful Husband!? James is not talking about unconverted men who profess to be Christians, and are liars…no! Heathen are not in a Marriage Covenant with God. Heathen are not married to Christ. Heathen are not able, therefore, to commit adultery on God…but true saints are able! I will ask you again what James asked, do you not know that Christ’s virgins, His Bride, and all those who are true believers in Christ, can fall into the same legal standing as an enemy of God (James 4:4)!? At such a time, my reader, the devil is near (James 3:7) and God is afar off (James 3:8)! Oh my reader, the saints can become “sinners”, SINNERS in desperate need of salvific cleansing (James 4:8)! Bloody, murderous, and adulterous hands have they, and defiled hearts; thus they have loved the world and walked at large in its friendship! What is the righteous judgment of God in such a scenario? Their Husband “whose Name is Jealous, is a Jealous God” (Ex. 34:14), and He, becoming their legal enemy, is able to execute upon them the justice due to adulterers (Deut. 22:20-27) – it is DEATH, my reader! Yes, “sinners” (James 4:8) deserve to DIE, but God being merciful gives them a way of escape (James 4:8-10). This is not a happy-go-lucky situation, my reader! God is moved by infuriated jealousy and wrath, like as an enemy-against-enemy (Ezek. 5:8, Isa. 63:10), while justice cries for death and condemnation (Isa. 50:1, James 3:1, 5:9), lo, God forbears its execution and pleads for mercy (James 3:1-14)…but not forever dear saints (Hos. 2:2-4). James reiterates this age old burden yet again, saying:
When a regenerated man fulfills the law this vindicates the righteous judgment of God at Final Judgment. What is “right-standing” about how God imputes righteousness into sinful men, whose works earn for them hell and not heaven? This is a question that James answers. God imputes righteousness into sinful men “not according to their works”, and what is “right-standing” and vindicatory about this work of salvation is, not just that Christ was the atoning sacrifice (and therefore God is thus vindicated), but James argues that upon the imputation of righteousness “apart from works” sinful men are regenerated and compelled to work righteousness with their lives – therefore God’s righteousness in saving hell-deserving men is proven good in that it does actually save men: the evidence of salvation being “obedience unto righteousness” (Rom. 6:16) and “fruit unto holiness”, for “the end” of such a lifestyle is “everlasting life” (Rom. 6:22), scripture declares. When God saves men who stand condemned by the law, His salvation of them is vindicated by the fact that these men, after salvation, are no longer standing condemned by the law but rather are “fulfilling the law”, in the sense of what the scriptures mean when that phrase is used (for more information see Legalism: Law, Grace, and Works).
I do not believe that Christians are “under the law” (Rom. 3:19), no, for the death of Christ on the cross has forbidden it (Gal. 2:19-20)! But Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law twofold: (1) the shadows which did prophetically declare Him, (2) and the righteousness of the law which did reveal His nature, character, personality, and deeds. Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law, yes, and is fulfilling the righteousness of the law within true Christians right now (Rom. 8:4)! Bless God for His wisdom that, in salvation we are made “the Friend of God” (James 2:23), but the deceptive error of devilish faith (James 2:19) and devilish wisdom (James 3:15) would allure God’s friends into legal grounds whereby, James said, they become “the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Oh Calvinists! Did you know that the friends of God, the saints, can become the enemies of God!? Did you know that Christ’s beloved and betrothed spiritual virgins (2 Cor. 11:2-4, Rev. 14:4), the saints, can defy the most sacred union to which they were bound to Christ by, their Bridegroom, and so, alas, COMMIT ADULTERY!? And then, in such a state, do you know what becomes of their legal justification before God?
You say, “Nothing.” But James said, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4)! Do you not know, or, “know ye not”, James said, that when saints make friendship with the world it is like the sexual defiance of the most sacred Covenant man-to-woman, only this Covenant is the most sacred of all, man-to-God, which means that it is infinitely more appalling and insulting to God than it is to man! What feeble sense do we have of this most grievous defiance before God Almighty – The Only Faithful Husband!? James is not talking about unconverted men who profess to be Christians, and are liars…no! Heathen are not in a Marriage Covenant with God. Heathen are not married to Christ. Heathen are not able, therefore, to commit adultery on God…but true saints are able! I will ask you again what James asked, do you not know that Christ’s virgins, His Bride, and all those who are true believers in Christ, can fall into the same legal standing as an enemy of God (James 4:4)!? At such a time, my reader, the devil is near (James 3:7) and God is afar off (James 3:8)! Oh my reader, the saints can become “sinners”, SINNERS in desperate need of salvific cleansing (James 4:8)! Bloody, murderous, and adulterous hands have they, and defiled hearts; thus they have loved the world and walked at large in its friendship! What is the righteous judgment of God in such a scenario? Their Husband “whose Name is Jealous, is a Jealous God” (Ex. 34:14), and He, becoming their legal enemy, is able to execute upon them the justice due to adulterers (Deut. 22:20-27) – it is DEATH, my reader! Yes, “sinners” (James 4:8) deserve to DIE, but God being merciful gives them a way of escape (James 4:8-10). This is not a happy-go-lucky situation, my reader! God is moved by infuriated jealousy and wrath, like as an enemy-against-enemy (Ezek. 5:8, Isa. 63:10), while justice cries for death and condemnation (Isa. 50:1, James 3:1, 5:9), lo, God forbears its execution and pleads for mercy (James 3:1-14)…but not forever dear saints (Hos. 2:2-4). James reiterates this age old burden yet again, saying:
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” - James 4:8-10
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Seeking to unloose the grip of worldly wisdom upon the saints – their partiality toward the rich, their despite of the poor (Jas. 2:1-13), their unmortified old man making them loose-hearted (Jas. 1:19-25), loose-tongued (Jas. 1:26), and loose-living (Jas.2:14-26, 3:13-18, 4:1-5:9) – James elaborated on the “miseries” of the rich, unto whom is coming the flesh-eating fire of angry wrath, because the sound of justice is crying out to the Lord of Armies to hasten the “Day of Slaughter” upon them (James 5:1-5)! James pointed toward the miseries of “death”, yes, calling for the brethren to be preparatory, making-ready, and standing-patient (steadfastly obedient) until the arrival of Judgment Day, “for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh”, he said. Therefore “grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door” (James 5:9)! Oh Calvinist, can you in good conscience deny that James believed a saint could fall from saving grace?
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” - James 1:14-16 [Note: James’ burden is to true brethren, see James 1:18.]
“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” - James 5:19-20 |
Correlating the Book of James with the Book of Galatians, the Apostle James could have described the Galatian’s spiritual estate to be one which was, at present, in the gall of sin’s deadly effect “when it is finished”. This means, according to James, it “bringeth forth DEATH” (James 1:15). Doctrinally speaking, the Galatians were presently “taken captive” (2 Tim. 2:26), “overtaken in a fault” (Gal. 6:1), erring from the truth and in the stranglehold of death (James 5:19-20), fallen from their former steadfastness and “led away with the error of the wicked” (2 Pet. 3:17-18). All of this means, in other words, they were overtaken in carnality which “is DEATH” (Rom. 8:6), or they were temporarily captive to what they were formerly freed from, “the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). Therefore being captives, the righteousness of Christ was not demonstrated in how they were walking (Rom. 8:1-4). On the contrary and so much the rather, the death of their saving faith was being demonstrated in how they were presently walking (for “faith without works is dead”-James 2:14-26). In James 5:19-20, James addressed the “brethren” who “err from the truth” as those who are spiritually dead, who also, apparently, were in danger of the second death (note that James said, “save a soul from death”), because when such a brother is restored he is delivered “from the error of his way” which compromised his justification, the evidence being, when his justification was compromised, he stood endangered by the multitude of his unforgiven sins which he would have to give an account for on Judgment Day. Do you see the significance of those words, “save a soul from death”, my reader? Was it not our Lord who charged us that we should fear God, and very specifically that, men are able to “kill the body” but God is able to “destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28)?! When a man backslides into a damnable condition and is restored again, this was, to James, the converting of the backslidden brother back into the truth. The backslidden brother’s only hope is that “one convert him” (James 5:19), and by necessity one who is spiritual (Gal. 6:1), because right now he is as a “sinner” (like James 4:8 described spiritual adulterers), lost in the blindness of a gospel-denying estate (Matt. 7:1-5, 2 Pet. 1:9). The man called a brother is now drowning in the multitude of his sins, therefore, rightly said, he is called a “sinner” in need of conversion again, but this “conversion” is not in the sense of what is commonly understood by the operation of conversion, as it is used today. We use it to describe the operation of initial conversion to Christ, or when a man savingly believes on Christ and was first born again, but this conversion that James identifies in James 5:19 is, a conversion from the devil’s faith back into God’s faith (Jas. 2:19), from the devil’s wisdom back into God’s wisdom (Jas. 1:5, 3:13-18), from the devil’s error of deception back into God’s life-giving truth (Jas. 1:13-16, 5:9, 19-20). This conversion was like Peter’s repentance and faith when, for a temporary time period, he was backslidden and in a damnable condition before God, denying that he even knew Christ, but praise God that Christ said, “when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Lk. 22:32). Bless the Name of the Lord.