William Cunningham- Selections
from Historical Theology, Vol. 1-2
· “The Latin or Western Church, under the dominion of the pope, had, before the Reformation, publicly and officially sanctioned such doctrinal errors as rendered it lawful and necessary to abandon her communion, and had sanctioned them in such a way that she could not retract them without thereby contradicting and renouncing all her claims to obedience and submission…There are some doctrinal errors now forming part of the recognized creed of the Church of Rome, which…did not receive the formal sanction of the Church, as such, till the Council of Trent” (464).
· “Calvin brought out the fact that the Roman Church was an idolatrous corruption of the worship of God as a leading charge against the Church of Rome, and one of the main grounds that rendered it obligatory to secede from her communion” (467).
· “Pelagianism, though not formally sanctioned by the Church, pervaded the general teaching of her functionaries; and of the few who were not entirely indifferent about all religion, it might be said, that, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God” (475).
· “The Church, indeed, in its public and official capacity, could not be said to have sanctioned these doctrinal errors (Pelagianism, et al); but they pervaded the public teaching of here functionaries, and she made no effort to check them” (476).
· “In regard more especially to Luther, it may be said that his main vocation, work, and achievements, were just to expose and resist the prevalent Pelagian heresies which perverted the way of salvation, and corrupted the scheme of divine truth” (477).
·
Three Main Goals of the Council of
· “The two main objects for which the council was professedly called, were, --to decide on the theological questions which had been raised by the Reformers, and to reform the practical corruptions and abuses which it was admitted prevailed in the Church of Rome itself; and its proceedings are divided into two heads: doctrine and reformation” (492).
· “There is certainly not nearly so much Pelagianism in the decrees and canons of the Council of Trent, --so much of what plainly and palpably contradicts the fundamental doctrines of Scripture, --as appears in the writings of earlier Romish opponents of Luther, though there is enough to entitle us to charge the Church of Rome with perverting the gospel of the grace of God, and subverting the Scriptural method of salvation” (494).
Chap. 19: The Doctrine of the Fall
·
5th Session of the Council of
· I. Popish and Protestant views of Original Sin: What is it? “Most commonly understood as denoting the moral corruption or depravity of man’s nature, the inherent and universal bias or tendency of man, as he comes into the world, to violate God’s laws, which, being the immediate or proximate cause of all actual transgressions…” (496).
The Church of Rome had departed
from Augustine’s Scriptural teaching to be Pelagian in character- - laying a
foundation for man’s either effecting their own salvation, or at least meriting
at God’s hand the grace that is necessary for accomplishing the result. Calvin, accordingly, in his Antidote to the Council of Trent, did
not charge the doctrine of the council, thus far (that is, on ‘Original Sin’),
even with being defective. “[The session at
Shorter Catechism: “…in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which (viz., the corruption of nature) is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.”
· II. Guilt of Adam’s First Sin: Adam’s first sin is imputed to them, or put down to their account; so that they are regarded and treated by God as if they themselves, each of them, had been guilty of the sin which Adam committed in eating of the forbidden fruit…the guilt of Adam’s first sin imputed to them, to the effect of making them legally responsible for its consequences - -legally liable to condemnation and punishment (502-3). Calvinists: “…the moral character which all men bring with them into the world is such as certainly and necessarily to lead them into actual transgressions, which, unless divine grace specially interpose, subject them to God’s wrath and curse, not only in the life that now is, but also in that which is to come” (509). We all come from Adam as the Father of the human races, but he was also the Federal or Covenant head, who represented the human race (515).
· III. The Want of Original Righteousness: “Original righteousness…Protestants have usually regarded as comprehended in the image of God, in which man was created; and they have generally considered the fact that he was created in God’s image, as affording evidence that he was created with original righteousness” (516). “The Church of Rome admits that Adam, before his Fall, had original righteousness as a positive quality of his moral character, but she maintains that this original righteousness was not natural to him, but supernatural; …it was a supernatural gift or grace, specially or extraordinarily conferred upon him by God” (517). Rome: “As Adam’s original righteousness, or the perfect conformity of his entire moral constitution to God’s law, did not form a constituent part of his proper nature as a creature of a certain class or description, but was a superadded, supernatural gift, he might lose it, or it might be taken from him, while yet he retained all his proper natural powers, including a power to do the will of God, though now without righteousness, as a positive quality of his moral character…[Rome] commonly asserts that Adam, by his sin, lost all that was supernaturally bestowed upon him, but retained everything that formed an original part of his proper moral constitution…this was somewhat injured or damaged by his transgression…this, they contend, is still the actual condition of fallen man” (520). Man can still do something towards fulfilling the divine law, and preparing himself for again becoming the recipient of supernatural divine grace through Christ (520).
· IV. Corruption of Nature: The Council of Trent is purposely ambiguous on this. The Jansenists, held to Augustine’s theology of an entire and positive corruption or depravity –an actual bias or tendency to sin as attaching to man’s moral nature. The Reformers held to the fact that men have a powerful predominating bias, tendency, or inclination to sin –to depart from God, and to violate his laws. Man is wholly indisposed and averse to everything that is really accordant with God’s will, and with the requirements of the law which he has imposed, and could not but impose, upon his intelligent and moral creatures.
· V. Concupiscence: In two parts- which are the most erroneous in the Council of Trent ‘On Original Sin’. (1) Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is conferred in baptism, not only is the guilt of original sin remitted, but everythin in men which comes truly and properly under the head of sin is taken away. (2) Concupiscence in baptized and regenerate persons is not truly and properly sin. Concupiscence is what Protestants call “indwelling sin” (Rom. 7)- - Rome calls it the fuel (fomes) of sin, as being that from which, when it is cherished and not subdued, actual transgressions proceed (cf. WCOF, VI. sec 5- “…truly and properly sin.”). “Two of the most striking and dangerous tendencies or general characteristics of the theology of the Church of Rome are, --first, exaggerating the efficacy and influence of external ordinances; and, secondly, providing for men meriting the favor of God and the rewards of heaven; and both these tendencies are exhibited in this single doctrine of innocence or non-sinfulness of concupiscence” (534). Protestants: They believe that lust or concupiscence in the regenerate, as including a remaining tendency towards what is sinful, and the first or earliest motions of this tendency in the heart, though not deliberately consented and followed out, is itself truly and properly sinful” (535). The Reformers saw in adult baptism (the sign) a true relationship to regeneration (the thing signified in baptism) as sin no longer having dominion over the regenerate. But they contend, in opposition to Rome, “that even after men have been baptized, justified and regenerated, the corruption of depravity of their nature is not wholly taken away; and there still attaches to them as long as they live much that is truly and properly sinful, much that might, viewed with reference to its own intrinsic demerits, justly expose them to God’s displeasure, thought it is not now imputed to them for guilt and condemnation” (538) (See Calvin’s Antidote to the Council of Trent). “It is true, indeed, that men all come into the world involved in sin; but then, in professedly Christian countries, they are almost all baptized in infancy; and this, according to the Church of Rome, certainly frees them at once, and as a matter of course, from all guilt and depravity. No baptized person, according to the Popish doctrine, has any further process of regeneration to undergo, any renovation to be effected upon his moral nature” (540). “Men may still, indeed, incur guilt by actual transgressions of God’s law, but the Church of Rome has provided for their comfort by the Sacrament of Penance, another external ordinance by which this guilt is taken away…” (540-41). “…Because men have been baptized in their infancy, and have thereby been certainly put in possession of everything that is necessary, except in their own outward obedience to God’s commandments, for their deliverance from all danger, and their admission into heaven” (542).
· VI. Sinfulness of Works before Regeneration: Rome: “First, that men, not withstanding their fallen condition, have still remaining some natural power by which they can prepare and dispose themselves for receiving divine grace, and even, in a certain sense, do something to merit that grace of God, by which alone their deliverance can be effected; and, secondly, that after the grace of God has been bestowed upon them, and has produced its primary and fundamental effects, they are then in a condition in which they have it in their power to merit from God, in a higher and stricter sense, increase of grace and eternal life” (542). The Reformers: “…Until men individually become the subjects of God’s special grace, --i.e., until God’s grace is actually communicated to them in their justification and regeneration, --there is nothing in them or about them but what is sinful, and deserving of God’s displeasure” (544). Rome pronounced Anathema against: (Canon VII) ‘Those who held that all works which are done before regeneration, in whatever way they may be done, are truly sins, and deserve the displeasure of God, and that the more anxiously any man strives to dispose or prepare himself for grace, he only sins the more grievously’. “The Papists, in order to maintain their position that all works done before justification are not sins, are obliged to assert that the corruption or depravity of human nature is not total, but only partial, and that man did not wholly, but only in part, lose the image of God by the fall” (547). Works done before justification and all the actions of unregenerate men, are truly sins, and deserve the displeasure and condemnation of God and there can be no such thing as “merit of congruity” (meritum de congruo) –i.e., a superior measure of antecedent moral worth and excellence, rendering some men more congruous or suitable recipients of divine grace than others” (553).
· VII. Sinfulness of Works after Regeneration: The Reformers: “…Even renewed men have something about them that is evil; and that all their actions, even the best of them, though good in the main, have got about them something sinful and defective, and come so far short of what the law of God requires, that, when viewed simply in themselves, and tried by that high and holy standard, they must be pronounced to be sinful, and, so far as intrinsic merit is concerned, to deserve, not reward, but punishment” (555). Rome: They make distinctions between mortal and venial sins. Venial sins remain in the regenerate; mortal sins do not. “If the doctrine of the Reformers, that in imperfection and pollution which is in its own nature sinful, and therefore deserving of punishment, attaches to all the good works even of regenerate men, be true, it manifestly overturns the common Popish notions about merit or supererogation. It proves that men cannot perform anything that is truly meritorious, since it shows that all their actions - -in whatever way God for Christ’s sake, and in virtue of the union with him of those who perform them, may be pleased to regard and accept them—are, when viewed simply in themselves and according to their own real and intrinsic relation to the divine law, deserving of punishment and not of reward” (565-66).
· “When these great principles are clearly understood and distinctly conceived, they must put an end at once to the laborious attempts, in which some men waste much time, of going about to establish a righteousness of their own, to prepare themselves, or to make themselves suitable or worthy, to receive the grace of God in Christ, instead of at once laying hold of the freely offered mercy and grace of the gospel; while in regard to others who, in the scriptural sense, are working out their salvation through the grace of Christ administered to all who are united to him by faith, they are well fitted to lead them to do so with ‘fear and trembling’, by impressing them with a sense of the magnitude of the work, the arduousness of the struggle; and to constrain and enable them ever to cultivate profound humility, and a sense of their entire dependence upon the supplies of God’s Spirit” (566-67).
· 6th Session of the Council of Trent. The Roman Catholic polemic against Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians, Calvin responds: “Amen” in his Antidote. Rome admits in the first 3 canons: “…Men cannot be justified by their own works without divine grace through Christ; that this grace of God through Christ is necessary, not only to enable men to do what is good more easily than they could have done without it, but to enable them to do it at all; and that without the preventing inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a man cannot believe, hope, love, or repent, as it is necessary that he should do, in order that the grace of justification may be conferred upon him” (569). “This subject of free-will is, as it were, the connecting link between the doctrines of original sin and of divine grace –between man’s natural condition as fallen, involved in guilt and depravity, and the way in which they are restored to favor, to holiness, and happiness” (569). Rome: “…Fallen man has still some freedom of will even in reference to what is spiritually good, - -some natural power to do God’s will, --and can thus do something which really and causally contributes to, or exerts a favorable influence upon, his own salvation” (571). Since the Council of Trent, concerning Free-will, Rome has become more clearly Pelagian.
· I. The Will before and after the Fall: Calvin repeatedly quotes with aprobation the striking and pithy saying of Augustine: that man, by making a bad use of his free-will, lost both himself and it. Shorter Catechism: “Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, sinned and fell.” After the fall, the Reformers taught, man’s will is free, but is in bondage or subjection to sin- -he can only choose or will what is sinful, and not what is spiritually good. Freedom of man’s will in his “four-fold state”: (1) Before the fall; (2) After the fall, but before regeneration; (3) After regeneration in this life; (4) After the resurrection in heaven (cf. Thomas Boston’s Four-fold State of Man).
· II. The Bondage of the Will: John 6:44- “No man can come to me (ability), unless the Father who sent me draws him” (cf. Mt. 11:25-30).
· III. Bondage of the Will- Objections: Luther’s great work: De Servo Arbitrio (On the Bondage of the Will) in reply to Erasmus…which is perhaps the finest specimen he has left of his talents as a theologian, and which is thoroughly Calvinistic in its doctrinal views. Natural/Moral ability- “…Upon Scriptural and theological principles, the inability to will is itself resolved into the want (lack) of original righteousness, and the entire corruption of man’s moral nature—the doctrine of original sin or native moral depravity…” (604). “There is…no inconsistency between saying that man before his fall had freedom and power to do that which is good, and that he has no such freedom and power now, having wholly lost it by his fall into a state of sin” (610). A Brief Summary of the Doctrine: “That man is responsible for not willing and doing good, not withstanding his actual inability to will and to do good, because he is answerable for that inability itself, having, as legally responsible for Adam’s sin, inherited the inability, as part of the forfeiture penally due to that first transgression” (610). “…Men, or the human race (represented in/by Adam), as represented in Adam, had ability to will and to what is good, and lost it by his sin; and that, therefore, he is responsible for the want of it…” (611).
· IV. The Will in Regeneration: Rome: “…The free-will of fallen men, even in reference to spiritual good accompanying salvation, is only weakened or enfeebled, but not lost or extinguished, --the position that man’s free-will co-operates with divine grace in the process of regeneration, and this in a sense which the Reformers and Orthodox Protestant Churches have regarded as inconsistent with scriptural views of man’s natural capacities and of the gospel method of salvation” (614). Reformed: Man is passive (passivity) in the process of regeneration; passive rather than co-operative- -there is nothing in man to co-operate with divine grace (lost by the fall). “The passivity which the Reformers ascribed to man in the process of regeneration, implied chiefly two things, - -(1) that God’s grace must begin the work without any aid or co-operation…there being nothing in man, in his natural state, since he has no ability of will to anything spiritually good, from which aid or co-operation can proceed; (2) that God’s grace must by itself effect some change on man, before man himself can do anything, or exercise any activity in the matter, by willing or doing anything spiritually good…” (617). WCOF: “[Man] is altogether passive, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it…” Council of Trent condemned these teachings of the Reformers in Session 6. Luther’s incautious remarks concerning the will or passivity of the will in regeneration, gave reason for Trent to condemn, and would later lead to Melanchthon’s synergism in the Lutheran Churches. The Reformers: If man has not by nature any ability of will for spiritual good, he must receive it wholly from grace; if he has no power of will in himself, he must receive it from God; if it does not exist in him [man], it must be put into him by God’s power” (620). What are usually regarded, on Scriptural grounds, as constituting the leading steps in the work of effectual calling, are the conviction of sin, the illuminations of the understanding, and the embracing of Christ (this work is done by the Holy Spirit). In the regeneration of his nature, the reigning power of depravity is subdued, and all the effects which it produced are more or less fully taken away…it is set free from the dominion of sin, exempted from the necessity of willing only what is evil, and made equally able freely to will what is good.
· V. God’s Providence and Man’s Sin: “This is the most difficult and perplexing subject that has ever been, or perhaps ever can be, investigated by the mind of men; and it has been the cause or the occasion of a great deal of very unwarranted and presumptuous speculation” (626). The Question: “The origin of moral evil, --the question why moral evil, with all its fearful and permanent consequences, was permitted under the government of God of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness..."” Rome thought the Reformers taught that God was the Author of sin. “The Scriptures very plainly teach that God is not the author of sin, --that He incurs no guilt, and commits no sin, when His intelligent and responsible creatures violate the law which He has given them. And yet they also seem so plainly to ascribe to him an agency or efficiency, both in regard to the introduction and continuance of that general system of things…likewise in regard to the particular sinful actions which they perform…” (631). “It is, of course, true that in this sense God permits- -that is, does not prevent- -the sinful actions which yet he prohibits, and as undoubtedly he could prevent them, if he so willed” (631). See, WCOF, Chap. V. sec. iv ‘On Providence’. “Let us believe firmly, --because Scripture and reason concur in asssuring us, --that every sinful action is a transgression of God’s law, justly involving him that performs it in guilt and liability to punishment; and that its sinfulness proceeds wholly from the creature, and not from God, who cannot be the Author or Approver of sin; but let us also believe, - - because Scripture and reason likewise concur in teaching this, --that God’s providence extends to and comprehends the sins of men, and is concerned in them by something more than a mere permission, and especially in directing and overruling them for accomplishing his own purposes of justice or of mercy; and let us become the less concerned about our inability to explain fully how it is that these doctrines can be shown to harmonize with each other…” (638).
-Begin Volume II- Historical Theology
· First, Christ’s divinity and atonement was not a point of contention between the Reformers and Rome; the divinity and vicarious atonement of Christ were both assumed by both in their dialog. “The sum and substance of the great charge which the Reformers adduced against the Church of Rome was …by setting before them erroneous and unscriptural views of the grounds on which, and the process through which, the blessings that Christ had procured for mankind at large were actually bestowed upon men individually, and of the way and manner in which men individually became possessed of them, and attained ultimately to the full and permanent enjoyment of them” (3). This was discussed under the head of justification.
· I. Popish and Protestant Views: “It is true that Luther and Melanchthon, in some of their earlier works, did seem to confine their statements, when treating of this subject, somewhat too exclusively to the act of faith by which men are justified, without giving sufficient promience to the object of faith, or that which faith apprehends or lays hold of, and which is the ground or basis of God’s act in justifying, --viz., the righteousness of Christ” (13). More clearly set forth however: “…That justification in Scripture is properly descriptive only of a change upon man’s legal state and condition, and not on their moral character, though a radical change of character invariably accompanies it; that it is a change from a state of guilt and condemnation to a state of forgiveness and acceptance; and that sinners are justified, or become the objects of this change, only by a gratuitous act of God, but founded only upon the righteousness of Christ (not only any righteousness of their own), - -a righteousness imputed to them, and thus made theirs, not on account of anything they do or can do to merit or procure it, but through the instrumentality of faith alone, by which they apprehend or lay hold of what has been provided for them, and is freely offered to them” (13). Rome: “Justification…according to the doctrine of the Church of Rome, includes or comprehends not only the remission of sin, or deliverance from guilt, but also the sanctification or renovation of man’s moral nature, or deliverance from depravity” (14). The Romanists’ real object or intention in their doctrine of justification was to make this sanctification, or infused or inherent righteousness, the cause or ground of the forgiveness of sin. Rome’s Definition of Justification (16-17): “The final cause, they say is the glory of God and Christ, and eternal life; the efficient cause is God (Deus mesericors) exercising compassion; the meritorious cause is Jesus Christ, who by his suffering and death merited justification for us, and satisfied the Father in our room; the instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism; and the only formal cause is the righteousness (justicia) of God, not that by which he himself is righteous, but that by which He makes us righteous, by which we, receiving it from Him, are renewed in the spirit of our mind, and are not only reckoned or imputed, but are called and are truly righteous.” The true difference: “Whether the cause of our justification be a righteousness inherent in us?” OR “Whether the cause of our justification be a righteousness infused into and inherent in us; OR an external righteousness, - -that is, the righteousness of Christ, - -imputed to us?” (19-20). “The imputation of Christ’s righteousness, correctly understood, is to be regarded as in the order of nature preceding both remission and acceptance, and as being the ground or basis, or the meritorious impulsive or formal cause, of them; or that to which God has respect when in any instance he pardons and accepts” (21). Rome: Faith is only one part of other things (love, fear of God) that are present for someone to be prepared for justification. The Reformers: Faith is instrumental, the hand that receives the imputation of the righteousness of Christ- - is never alone, but works - -it is not dead. Rome: “Preparation” for justification is only for adults, because all baptized infants receive in baptism, forgiveness and regeneration, without any previous disposition or preparation (25). God in baptism renews and forgives men, removing all the effects of original sin. All adults must be disposed or prepared, by exercising seven virtues, before they receive either forgiveness or renovation (Seven virtues are faith, fear, hope, love, penitence, purpose to receive sacrament, and leading a new and obedience life). Two perspectives on faith: Reformers: Fiducia (had its seat in the will- “trust”); Rome: Assensus (had its seat in the understanding- “assent”). Rome teaches that faith has in itself some real and even meritorious efficacy (i.e., meritum de congruo) in disposing to, and in procuring or obtaining, justification. As the Church of Rome teaches that baptism is the instrumental cause of justification, so she has invented another sacrament, and established it as the only channel through which post-baptismal sins, can be forgiven. [From the Council of Trent]: “Let him be Anathema who say that man who has fallen away after baptism is able to receive the justice which he has lost, by faith alone, without the sacrament of penance.” Rome teaches that the sacrament of penance, while it takes away all the guilt of mortal sins, in so far as this would otherwise have exposed men to eternal punishment, leaves men still exposed to temporal punishment, properly so called, for their mortal sins, and to the guilt, such as it is, of their venial sins; and thus needs to be supplemented by satisfactions, rendered either by sinners themselves, or by others in their room, and either in this life or in purgatory. According to Rome, the results or consequences of justification are that once justified, men are able to keep in this life wholly and perfectly the law of God; nay, even to go beyond this, and to supererogate, and that they can truly and properly merit or deserve, with proper merit of condignity, increase of grace and eternal life.
· II. Nature of Justification: Justification is properly descriptive only of a change of state in man’s judicial relation to God, and to his law, as including forgiveness and acceptance or admission to God’s favor. Justification is God’s act- -it is He who justifies. Used in Scripture in a forensic or judicial sense, as opposed to condemnation; it means to reckon, declare, or pronounce just or righteous. Rather than to make or render righteous by changing the character, it means to reckon, declare, etc. “God has, indeed, --as is clearly set forth in His Word, and as the Reformers fully admitted, --made complete and effectual provision that every sinner whom He pardons and accepts shall also be born again, and renewed in the whole man after His own image; but He does not describe to us this change upon men’s moral character by the name of justification” (40).
· III. Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness: Christ did more than Rome teaches in making a meritorious ground or cause for men’s forgiveness, he truly acted on behalf of his people (active and passive obedience). “…God, from a regard to it thus imputed (the righteousness of Christ), virtually agreed or resolved to deal with him, or treat him, as if he himself had suffered what Christ suffered, and had done what Christ did; and had thus fully satisfied for his offences, and fully earned the rewards promised to perfect obedience…the righteousness of Christ was his, through his union with Christ…” (46). “The main grounds on which the Reformers contended that the righteousness of Christ, imputed to man, or given to him in virtue of his union with Christ, and then held and reckoned as his, was that to which God had respect in forgiving him, and admitting him to the enjoyment of his favor, were these: (1) A full satisfaction and a perfect righteousness were necessary as the ground of an act of forgiveness and acceptances…only the sacrifice and righteousness of Christ would do. (2) Christ’s obedience and suffering are imputed to men according to the Scriptures, and is thus the ground, or basis on which God’s act in forgiving and accepting them rests” (46-47).
· IV. Justification by Faith Alone: Faith is a gift of God whereby we have knowledge, assent and trust (notitia, assensus, and fiducia) in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. James (contrasted to Paul in Galatians and Romans), is concerned to point out the “works” a justified person will do based upon his already having been justified - -“i.e., the proof or manifestation of the reality and efficacy of their faith to themselves and their fellow-men” (67). Abraham had been justified (Rom. 4) long before his “works” are evident in the offering up of Isaac. Abraham is justified before God “by faith”, he then lives an obedient life to God his Redeemer. According to the Apostle Paul, men are justified by faith, without deeds of law, which means that men are justified by faith alone and there is nothing else in them which concurs or co-operates with faith in procuring or obtaining their forgiveness and acceptance (68).
· V. Office of Justifying Faith: Faith is not a work, but it is simply the instrument of apprehending or receiving the righteousness of Christ according to the Scriptures. “If Christ’s righteousness imputed to be that to which God has direct or immediate respect or regard in each case in which he justifies a sinner, then it follows that faith can justify only as being the cause, or means, or instrument, by or through which God bestows Christ’s righteousness upon men, and by or through which they receive or become possessed of it” (72).
· VI. Objections to the Scriptural Doctrine: “Protestants maintain that faith alone justifies, but not a faith which is alone- - only a faith which is ever accompanied with, and produces, all other saving graces…” (80). “It is certain that repentance, conversion, growing holiness of nature, and practical obedience to God’s law, are all duties which God requires of us, as well as gifts which he bestows” (85). This is contrary to Rome’s assertion that Reformation ‘justification by faith alone’ leads to immorality (cf. Rom. 6). Both justification and sanctification are God’s gifts by faith because we have been united to Christ. “If men continue for a length of time habitually careless or indifferent about growing in holiness and abounding in good works, the only fair inference from this state of things is- -not, that they have lost righteousness, or have fallen from a state of grace, but that they have never yet been brought into a state of grace…” (90).
· VII. The Forgiveness of Post-Baptismal Sins: According to Rome, every infant in baptism is justified, --i.e., is forgiven and regenerated, or freed wholly both from the guilt and the power of original sin. Adults, the Church of Rome requires in them the possession of the seven virtues, often referred to as existing before they are pardoned and regenerated, and as at least preparing and disposing them for justification. Both infants and adults are placed on “equal-footing” concerning post-baptismal sin. No mortal sin, committed after baptism, is given to any man, except in and through the Sacrament of Penance,- - i.e., without confession, absolution, and satisfaction—either pronounced by priest or performed in acts of satisfaction. When the guilt of post-baptismal sin is remitted in the Sacrament of Penance, men are exempted from liability to the eternal punishment which the sin deserved, but they still remain liable to a temporal punishment, which God must inflict, and the penitent must still bear, on account of that sin (92). In light of this, Rome “invented” purgatory, in the fire of which men may, and of course many must, endure after death what may remain of the temporal punishment due to their mortal sins; and of the whole punishment- - for it is only temporal- - due to their venial sins. The Church of Rome teaches that there is a way that this temporal punishment, may be disposed of, without their actually enduring it, --that they may satisfy the claims of God’s justice and law through human satisfaction (various works the penitent can perform), such as prayers, fastings, and almsgivings. Men can render satisfaction to God for the temporal punishment due to their sins- - the priest in absolution decides the quality and quantity. By the same means, men can also make satisfaction to God for the temporal punishment due to the sins of others (93). The Church provided a ‘treasury’ or storehouse of merits, and opened a public market for the dispensation of them- - thus indulgences. Indulgences are the communication to men of satisfactions made by others, and deposited, under the Pope’s control in the “heavenly treasures of the Church” (94). “If any one link in the series fail, the doctrine of indulgences falls to the ground…this illustrates how naturally the exposure of indulgences led, in the hands of Luther, and under the guidance of God’s Word and Spirit, to the full exposition of the doctrine of a free and complete justification through faith in the righteousness of Christ.
· VIII. The Merit of Good Works: Even our best “regenerate-works” are tainted with sin. The merit of good works was an invention of the Schoolmen (Scholastic Theologians of the Medieval Church). Somehow men’s works are pleasing and acceptable in God’s sight (union with Christ), but they are not meritorious of eternal life (contra Council of Trent). Eternal life is the free gift of God (Rom. 6:23). “The whole Word of God teaches us that we should place no reliance upon our own merits, and rest our whole confidence upon the alone mercy and kindness of God and the Work of Christ” (109-10).
· IX. Practical Tendency of the Popish Doctrine of Justification: Main Reformation concerns and objections about Rome’s doctrine of justification: (1) “It excludes the vicarious work of Christ, including His satisfaction and obedience, from its rightful place in the matter of a sinner’s justification, and thus tends to involve the whole subject of the way and manner in which Christ’s work bears at once upon God’s act of bestowing, and men’s act of receiving, pardon and acceptance, in vagueness, obscurity, and confusion.” (2) “It assigns to men’s own doing in the matter a place and influence which they are wholly unfitted to sustain, and thus tends to lead men to go about to establish a righteousness of their own, instead of…submitting themselves to the righteousness of God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is of God by faith…” Calvin’s Antidote: “They have almost entirely frustrated or made void the glory of God and the grace of Christ together (The Council of Trent, Canon 33, Session 6); and at the same time they forbid, under a curse, any one to imagine that they have derogated in the least from either…these men clearly show their true character, by trying to deter men by anathema from venturing to perceive that impiety of which they themselves were conscious” (113-14). “One of the strongest and most universal tendencies of men in their fallen and depraved condition, is to go about to establish a righteousness of their own,- -to rely upon what they themselves are, or do, for procuring the forgiveness of their sins and the enjoyment of God’s favor” (115). “But we may repeat, that the Council of Trent confounds justification and sanctification, --denies the imputation of Christ’s righteousness as the immediate ground, or reason of God’s act in pardoning and accepting sinners, --substitutes in its place a personal inherent righteousness of our own, --represents six other virtues, as they call them, as standing in the very same relation to justification as faith does, --the whole seven equally, and alike being declared to prepare and dispose men to justification, --…leads to justification of congruity…finally, ascribes to men, when once justified, a power of making satisfaction to God for the temporal punishment due to their sins, and of strictly and properly meriting or deserving at his hand increase of grace and eternal life” (116-17).
· “[Rome’s system of Salvation] deludes men with an appearance and a profession of referring their salvation to God and Christ, while it enables them to indulge their natural tendency to rely upon themselves…the doctrine of Scripture shuts every chink through which any feeling of self-righteousness and self-dependence could be introduced, by representing men as wholly worthless and wholly helpless, and by ascribing their deliverance and salvation, in all its causes and in all its results, to the grace of God and the work of Christ” (119). “The tendency of the whole Popish system…is that men are practically relying upon themselves, and thus only increase the danger to which all their strongest natural tendencies expose them, of disregarding and rejecting the only provision whereby guilty and fallen men can be saved” (120).
· I. Sacramental Grace: Treated in Rome’s 7th Session of the Council of Trent. Rome: “…Through the Sacraments of the Church, all true righteousness either begins, or when begun, is increased, or when lost, is repaired; that men do not obtain from God the grace of justification by faith alone without the sacraments, or at least without a desire and wish to receive them…the Sacraments confer grace always upon all who receive them…they confer grace thus universally ex opere operato, or by some power or virtue given to them, and operating through them” (122). “Justifying faith does not precede justification; but justification precedes faith, and makes it justifying…They make faith the sole instrument, not after Baptism but before; whereas Baptism is the primary instrument, and makes faith to be what it is, and otherwise is not” (123). Rome’s Teaching on Sacraments: God has established an invariable connection between these external ordinances, and the communication of himself, --the possession by men of spiritual blessings, pardon, and holiness; with this further notion, which naturally results from it, that he has endowed these outward ordinances with some sort of power or capacity of conveying or conferring the blessings with which they are respectively connected” (124). Reformed Teaching on Sacraments: “Union with Christ”- “The only thing on which union to Christ may be said to be dependent, is faith in him.” Shorter Catechism: “A sacrament is an holy ordinance, instituted by Christ, wherein, by sensible signs, Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.” Reformed: “As soon as, and in every instance in which, men are united to Christ by faith, they receive justification and regeneration; while without, or apart from, personal union to Christ by faith, these blessings are never conferred or received” (131).
· II. Baptism Regeneration: Sacraments confer grace: ex opere operato, or by an intrinsic power or virtue which God has bestowed upon them, and which operates invariably when men do not put a bar in the way of their operation… (134). According to Rome, there is an invariable connection between baptism and regeneration. According to the Reformers, the sacraments have manifestly, and by universal admission, symbolical character- -they are sign or representations of something signified or represented. WCOF: “There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” The Reformers said: “…Baptism may be spoken of, or referred to, as if it were virtually identical with the faith or regeneration which it signifies or represents.” Baptism, according to the Church of Rome, is the instrumental cause of justification, while faith is merely one of seven virtues…the Protestant doctrine, though assigning to faith, in the matter of justification, a function and an influence possessed and exerted by nothing else, does not ascribe to it any proper efficiency of its own in the production of the result, but represents it only as the instrument receiving what has been provided and is offered (139). “In no other way, and by not other process [Roman Sacraments], could he [Satan] have succeeded to such an extent as he has done, in leading men to disregard and despise all that Scripture teaches us concerning our helpless and ruined condition by nature; concerning the necessity of regeneration of our moral nature by the power of the Holy Spirit; concerning the way and manner in which, according to the divine method of justification, pardon and acceptance have been procured and are bestowed; concerning the place and function of faith in the salvation of sinners, and concerning the true elements and distinguishing characteristics of all those things that accompany salvation…by leading men to build wholly upon a false foundation, and to reject the counsel of God against themselves…” (141-42).
· III. Popish View of the Lord’s Supper: The “monstrous” doctrine of Transubstantiation: “…By the words of consecration pronounced by the priest, the bread and wine are changed, as to their substance, into the real flesh and blood of Christ, --the bread and wine altogether ceasing to exist, except in appearance only, and these being given to the partaker instead of the actual flesh and blood of the Redeemer” (142). “It [The Mass] dishonors and degrades the one perfect and all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ, by representing it as repeated, or rather caricatured, daily and hourly by the juggling mummery of a priest.”
· IV. Infant Baptism: “…The blessings which baptism was intended to signify and seal are Justification and regeneration, --that is, the washing away of guilt, and the washing away of depravity. These, and these alone, are the spiritual blessings which the washing with water in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, directly signifies and represents.” “In the case of adults, this antecedent ground or warrant is their own faith professed; and in the case of the infants of believing parents, it is their interest in the covenant which, upon Scriptural principles, they possess simply as the children of believing parent, --the federal holiness which can be proved to attach to them, in virtue of God’s arrangements and promises, simply upon the ground of their having been born of parents who are themselves comprehended in the covenant” (153).
· Founded upon the making of human reason, or rather men’s whole natural faculties and capacities, virtually the test or standard of truth. Although the Reformation is not the cause of Socinianism (contra Rome), “the Reformation tended to introduce a state of society, and a general condition of things, which led to a fuller and more prominent development of error, as well as of truth, by giving freedom of thought, and freedom in the expression of opinion” (156). “Wherever the Reformation prevailed…Despotism gave place to liberty. Liberty was sometimes abused, and this led to licentiousness. But it is not the less true that liberty is preferable to despotism…being attended with far greater advantages and with fewer and smaller evils.”
· I. The Origin of Socinianism: Italians within the Church of Rome wanted reform from papal abuses, particularly with regard to having such control over men’s minds and thinking; their ‘freedom of thought” led to licentiousness. They threw off the whole system of doctrine which the Church of Rome had imposed upon men, without discriminating between what was true, and what was false within that system. “Laelius Socinus…through his nephew, Faustus, was the chief defender and promulgator of it…” Calvin responded to Socinus: “You need not expect me to reply to all the monstrous questions you propose to me. If you choose to indulge in such aerial speculations, I pray you suffer me, a humble disciple of Christ, to mediate on those things which tend to the edification of my faith…I am greatly grieved that the fine talents which the Lord has given you, should not only be wasted on things of no importance, but spoiled by pernicious speculations…If I were to encourage, under the appearance of indulgence, this vice, which I believe to be injurious, I would be acting a perfidious and cruel part to you; and, therefore, I prefer that you should now be somewhat offended by my asperity, than that I should abstain from attempting to draw you away from the sweet allurements of the curiosity…in which you are entangled” (158-59). Zanchius wrote of him (who knew Socinus in Italy): “…I was on friendly terms with him. But he was a man full of diverse heresies, which, however, he never proposed to me, except, as it were, for the purpose of disputation, and always putting questions as if he wished for information.”
· II. Socinian Views as to Scripture: They differ in regard to the inspiration of Scripture. They teach: “…The Bible contains, indeed, a revelation from God, but that it is not itself that revelation, or that it is not, in any proper sense, the Word of God, though the Word of God is found in it…” The OT is valuable only as history. The OT saints were: “…called upon to work out their own eternal happiness by their own good deeds…having only an imperfect knowledge of God, and of the worship and duty which He required…without any certainty or assurance as to their final destiny” (160). Jesus Christ: “…According to Socinians, was a mere man, who was appointed by God to convey his will more fully to men…especially to convey to them the assurance of a future state of blessedness…” (160-61). While affirming the NT books, they “deny that they, the authors, had any special supernatural assistance or superintendence from God in the production of them.” The evangelists are simply honest and faithful historians, but like other historians, they have fallen sometimes into error. Most of the apostles, according to Socinians, misunderstood and misapprehended the views of their Master, specially directed against the Apostle Paul (161). “The leading peculiarity of their system of scriptural interpretation is just the principle, that nothing which is contrary to reason can be contained in a revelation from God” (163). “They first lay down this principle, that certain doctrines, --such as the Trinity, the hypostatical union, the atonement, the eternity of punishment, --are irrational, or inconsistent with what natural reason teaches about God; …they proceed to examine Scripture for the purpose…of showing that these doctrines are not taught there, or, at least, that this cannot be proved” (164).
· III. Socinian System of Theology: “…They positively assert that the Godhead is one in Person as well as essence…They assert that He [Jesus Christ] was a mere man, --that is, a man and nothing else, or more than a man…they assert [concerning the Atonement] that men, by their own repentance and good works, procure the forgiveness of their sins and the enjoyment of God’s favor…they teach that men save themselves, --that is, in so far as they need salvation” (169). “While they deny that the Spirit is a person who possesses the divine nature, they teach that the Holy Ghost in Scripture describes or expresses merely a quality or attribute of God” (169). Trinity- Unitarian; Anthropology- Pelagianism; Christology- Samosatanian and Photinian; Soteriology- Pelagianism. The Socinian/Unitarian system of theology takes up and embodies some of the worst and most pernicious of the heresies which have previously distracted and injured the church. The Socinians represent God as a “Being whose moral character is composed exclusively of goodness and mercy; of a mere desire to promote the happiness of his creatures, and a perfect readiness at once to forgive and to bless all who have transgressed against him.” They remove God’s attribute of holiness and inflexible justice of God against sins. God’s justice does not need to be satisfied according to them. They undermine God’s omniscience because they deny that God has any foreknowledge of things before they come to pass. They say the contingent actions of humans, God does not know. They think by doing this, they overturn the Calvinistic doctrine of God’s foreordaining whatsoever comes to pass (173). The Socinian anthropology “amounts in substance to a denial of the fall and of all original depravity…to an assertion that men are now…[the same] as when the race was created” (175). Man has no proneness to sin and has the ability to love God. “…Men may avoid sin altogether , and some do, and obtain eternal blessedness as the reward of their perfect obedience” (175). Jesus Christ “had nothing to do, for the fulfillment of his mission, but to communicate fuller and more certain information about the divine character and government, the path of duty, and future blessedness, and to set before them an example of obedience to God’s law and will” (176). Men did not need salvation, but “needed only to be assured of God’s readiness to pardon all their sins, without satisfaction to his justice, and to get clearer and more certain information than they could very readily procure themselves as to the course they ought to pursue, in order to share more abundantly in God’s favor…They need no change upon their moral constitution…They need merely to be instructed how they can best improve what they have, and most successfully exercise their own natural powers” (177). The Socinian Exposition of the Death of Christ in the Racovian Catechism is dedicated to proving that it was not… “a satisfaction to divine justice for men’s sins, though it is admitted that Christ might…be described as a sort of piacular victim” (180). “…It was a necessary preliminary to Christ’s resurrection, by which chiefly he made known and established the doctrine of immortality, and thereby presented to men such views and motive as might induce them, in the exercise of their own powers, to lead such a life as that they would secure for themselves the forgiveness of any sins which they might have committed, and the enjoyment of eternal life (181). They have always denied the resurrection of the body (like the Sadducees). Last Things: “The older Socinians generally adopted the doctrine of annihilation of the wicked…while modern Socinians, with very few exceptions, advocate the doctrine of universal restoration, or the final and eternal happiness of all intelligent creatures…” (182). Socinians are not Christians and Socinianism is a deliberate and determined rejection of the whole substance of the message which Christ and His apostles conveyed from God to men. It is the “natural, depraved man’s” religion.
· IV. Original and Recent Socinianism: Socinianism and Unitarians.
· V. Distinction of Persons in the Godhead: (De Deo). Question is basically between Trinitarians and anti-Trinitarians. Trinity: In the unity of the Godhead there are three distinct persons, who all possess the divine nature or essence, these three persons are not three Gods, but are the one God. Socinian Anti-Trinity: God is one in person as well as in essence or substance, proper divinity is not possessed by any except God the Father, Father of Jesus Christ. “We just embody in human language the substance of what the word of God indicates to us upon the subject, --we profess to do nothing more, --and we are not called upon to attempt more; to do so would be unwarrantable and sinful presumption” (199). “We assert all that Scripture seems to us to sanction or to indicate; and we not only are not bound, but we are not warranted, to do more. We assert the unity of the Godhead. We assert the existence of a threefold distinction in the Godhead, or the possession of the divine nature and essence by three, --the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost…” (199-200).
· VII. Evidence for the Divinity of Christ: (1) Divine names and titles are applied to Christ, those names exclusively appropriated to the one true God. (2) Divine qualities and attributes, such as omniscience and omnipotence, are ascribed to Christ. (3) Acts, or works ascribed to Christ such as the creation and government of the world, which require or imply the possession and exercise of divine perfections and prerogatives. (4) Christ is entitled to divine worship and homage, submission of obedience, which are due exclusively to the one true God. “Accordingly, it has held universally, that according as men admitted or denied the divinity of Christ, have their whole notions about the gospel method of salvation been affected. On the divinity of Christ are evidently suspended the doctrine of the atonement, or satisfaction for sin, and the whole method of justification…” (235).
· “This union [of divine and human nature in one person] must have been formed in order to the salvation of sinners, and that the plan which God devised and executed for saving sinners, must just consist in, or be based upon, what Christ, as God and man in one Person, did, in order to effect this object [the salvation of sinners]” (237).
· I. Connection between the Person and Work of Christ: “…What Christ did for the salvation of sinners, might be fully brought out, by ascribing to him the three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, and by unfolding what it was he did in the execution of these three offices” (238). In opposition to Socinians and Arians: Socinians teach Christ was a mere man and he basically set us an example to follow. Arians teach Christ was superhuman, but created, and he has an influence exerted by him with God, “in order to prevail upon him to pardon sinners and admit them into the enjoyment of his favor.” Orthodoxy teaches that “…His sufferings and death were vicarious, --that is, that they were endured in the room and stead of sinners…His substitution in our room and stead, --the satisfaction which He rendered to divine justice…” (239). The incarnation and atonement of our Lord are closely and indissolubly connected together- -this is the ground and basis for all our hopes. Socinians only view Christ in his Prophetic office as declaring, rather than priest and king—the latter they deny. They claim that he executed his priestly office only after his ascension—not on earth for the salvation of sinners. “The priestly office…has been the principle subject of controversial discussion, both from its more immediate connection with the proper divinity of Christ’s person, and from its more extensive and influential bearing upon all the provisions and arrangements of the scheme of salvation” (244). The Socinian doctrine is that the death of Christ confirms and illustrates truths and sets an example of virtue. Arians: Christ submitted himself to suffering and death in order to influence God toward the forgiveness of sins. These two things are part of the truth- - not the whole of the significance of the Person and Work of Christ, and efficacy of Christ’s sufferings. Rome has held to the orthodox doctrine, but with their additions have perverted the Scriptural truth. Socinus was the first to undermine the Scripture doctrine of the atonement.
· II. Necessity of the Atonement: Socinians deny the necessity of the atonement. God could not have forgiven man’s sins without satisfaction (Socinians deny this truth). “…Almost all who have held the truth and reality of an atonement have also maintained its necessity…” (250). Socinians say that God having essential benevolence and compassion enabled him to forgive men’s sins without any atonement or satisfaction. They argue that a substitutionary atonement involves a denial of the divine placability. We say placability is not the only attribute or quality of God—we have disobeyed God’s Holy and Just Law, his justice requires payment of the merit of death we have incurred. Orthodox: “…The atonement or satisfaction of Christ is indeed the ground on which forgiveness rests…” (253). “…If it had been possible that the salvation of guilty men could have been otherwise accomplished, the only-begotten Son of God would not have left the glory which He had with His Father from eternity, assumed human nature, and suffered and died on earth” (254). “In pardoning sinners, or in exempting them from the death which they have incurred [because of failure to keep God’s law], it would seem that he must trample upon his own law, and disregard his own threatening [“the soul who sins must die”]; and this the very perfection of his nature manifestly forbids” (255). “…If God should pardon sinners, some provision would be necessary for vindicating his justice and veracity, and maintaining the honor of his law; --and that the only conceivable way in which these objects could be secured, is by an adequate atonement or satisfaction rendered in the room and stead of those who had incurred the penalty of the law” (258). We must have the conviction that “sin fully merits, and will certainly receive, everlasting destruction from God’s presence and from the glory of his power” (258). “The primary or fundamental idea of sin is, that it is a transgression of God’s law, --a violation of a rule which he has commanded us to observe…” (259). We must understand God “as the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge, dealing the deliberate violation, by his intelligent and responsible creatures, of a just, and holy, and good law which he had prescribed to them, and which he had sanctioned with the threatened penalty of death, we cannot conceive it to be possible that he should pardon them without an adequate atonement or satisfaction…[This was done] by another party acting in their room and stead, and of this vicarious atonement being accepted by God as satisfying his justice, and answering the claims of his law” (260).
· III. The Necessity and Nature of the Atonement: “…Assuredly, no sinner will every be saved, except in a way, and through a provision, in which God’s justice, his hatred of sin, and his determination to maintain the honor of his Law, are as fully exercised and manifested, as they would have been by the actual infliction of the full penalty which he had threatened…In accordance with these principles, He must, in any provision for pardoning and saving sinners, both exercise and manifest his justice and his hatred of sin…” (264). The only way this can be done is by “some other suitable party taking their [the sinner’s] place, and suffering in their room and stead, the penalty thy had merited” (264). “…There must be a true and real substitution of the penalty interposing to save sinners, in the room and stead of those whom he purposes to save, and the actual endurance by him of the penalty which they had incurred, and which they must, but for this interposition, have suffered” (265). Who could do this? “…One who was God and man in one person; One who, being from eternity God, did in time assume human nature into personal union with the divine, --who was thus qualified to act as the substitute of sinners, and to endure suffering in their room; while at the same time he was qualified, by his possession of the divine nature, to give all that he did and suffered a value and efficacy truly infinite, and fully adequate to impart to all he did a power or virtue fitted to accomplish anything, or everything, which he might intend to effect” (265). “They [non-elect angels] sinned, or broke God’s law; and their doom, in consequence, was unchangeably and eternally fixed…this was the way in which God dealt with a portion of his intelligent creatures” (268). “Provision is made for pardoning men’s sins and saving their souls, through the vicarious sufferings and death of One who was God and man in one person, and who voluntarily agreed to take their place, and to suffer in their room and stead; thus satisfying divine justice, complying with the demands of the law by enduring its penalty, and manifesting more fully the sinfulness and the danger of sin. But this was done by God himself, who desired the salvation of sinners, and determined to effect it; and who, in consequence, sent His Son into the world to die in man’s room and stead, - -who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all” (269).
· IV. Objections to the Doctrine of the Atonement: The Socinians caricature the doctrine of the atonement by speaking as if Jesus “changed” the mind of the wrathful God and changed his feeling toward sinners. However, love and compassion led God to devise and execute a plan of salvation, and to send His Son to save sinners by offering an atonement for their sins. “The atonement…was the consequence, and not the cause, of God’s love to men, and of his desire to save them” (271). Socinians’ Objection: (1) The atonement is unjust to punish the innocent in the room of the guilty…to allow the transgressors to escape. Answer: Christ willingly agreed to stand in the room and stead of sinners, and to bear the punishment which they had merited. (2) Obj.: The doctrine is inconsistent with the Scriptural representations of the gratuitousness of forgiveness, --of the freeness of the grace of God in pardoning sinners. Answer: God not only freely provided the satisfaction, --he likewise, when it was rendered by Christ, accepted it in the room of all those who are pardoned, and this, too, freely, or without anything in them, --…without their having done…anything to merit of procure it, or anything which it involves” (277). (3) Obj.: The doctrine is fitted to injure the interests of holiness and morality. Answer: The whole object and tendency of the doctrine of the atonement is to convey the very opposite views and impressions with regard to the law, --the obligation which it imposes, and the respect and reverence which are due to it.
· V. Scriptural Evidence for the Atonement: Christ is represented as executing the office of a priest, and as offering himself as a sacrifice. The animal sacrifices in the OT were of divine appointment, and were intended by God to symbolize, to represent, and to teach the great principles which regulate his conduct in regard to sin and sinners…that they indicated the transference of his sin and the punishment it merited, to the victim offered, the endurance of the punishment by the victim in the room of the offerer, --and, as the result, the exemption of the offerer from the punishment he deserved…” (285-86). All the sacrifices in the Mosaic economy were intended to direct men’s faith to the one sacrifice of Christ. “…Our sin was the procuring cause of Christ’s death, that which rendered his death necessary, and actually brought it about, - -that he consented to occupy the place of sinners, and to bear the punishment which they had deserved and incurred, --that, in consequence, their guilt…was transferred to, and laid on, him; so that he suffered, in their room and stead, the punishment which they had deserved and incurred, and which, but for his enduring it, they must have suffered in their own persons” (288). “…His [Christ’s] death had removed the obstacles which previously stood in the way of the existence or the manifestation of friendship between them,-- had made it, in some way or other, fully accordant with the principles, the interests, or the inclinations of both parties to return to a state of friendly intercourse.” Christ is also repeatedly described in Scripture as being a propitiation for sins, or expiating the sins of, the people. Reconciliation, propitiation, expiation, redemption- Scriptural terms that describes the atonement. In redemption, Christ is described as dying for, redeeming, or purchasing sinners.
· VI. Socinian View of the Atonement: “…Though the apostles sometimes represented the connection subsisting between the death of Christ and the blessings of salvation as peculiar and immediate, we do not believe that any such peculiar and immediate connection existed…” (296). The Socinians (as with other interpretation of Scripture) interpret the atonement in a figurative way, not to be literally understood. “According to our view of the import of the expression, it [the atonement] implies that our sin was on Christ, -- was laid on him, --and that thus he bore it, in order to bear it away; whereas, on the Socinian interpretation, our sin never was on him, and he bore it away, or accomplished the result of freeing us from the effects of it, without every having borne it” (300).
· VII. Arminian View of the Atonement: “The leading peculiarity of the doctrine of the Arminians upon this subject is…that they believe in a universal or unlimited atonement, or teach that Christ died and offered up an expiatory sacrifice for the sins of all men…all the individuals of the human race, without distinction or exception” (301). Dr. Owen: “That the punishment which our Savior underwent was the same that the law required of us; God relaxing his law as to the persons suffering, but not as to the penalty suffered.” The Law was fully honored in our salvation by the atonement. “If the penalty, which men had incurred, was not endured, while yet sinners were pardoned and saved, then the Law was not honored, but trampled on, in their salvation, and is thus proved to have been defective and mutable” (312). “Many of the human race perish, and are subjected to everlasting misery; and in them, of course, the law which denounced death as the punishment of sin, is enforced and executed. The rest are pardoned, and saved. But in their case, too, the law is not abrogated, but executed; because the penalty which they had incurred is inflicted and suffered, --is borne, not indeed by them, in their own persons, but by another, acting as their substitute, and suffering in their room and stead” (313). “…[We] should ever contemplate with adoring and grateful wonder, not an abrogation or relaxation, but an execution and enforcement of the law, even in the forgiveness and salvation of those who had broken its requirements, and became subject to its curse” (314). Another peculiarity of the Arminian view of the atonement is that they say it enables God to enter into a new covenant with men, which has more favorable terms, -- “under which pardon and reconciliation are conveyed to all men conditionally, --upon the conditions of faith and repentance, --conditions which they are able to fulfill.” This doctrine is commonly called Neonomianism, “or the scheme which represents the gospel as a new or modified law, offering pardon and eternal life to all men upon lower or easier terms- - this denies predestination and the entire depravity of human nature. The Scriptures teach that “the original law was enforced and executed [in the atonement]; Christ, as the Surety or Sponsor of his people, fulfilling the conditions of this new covenant, just by complying with the demands of the original law- -by enduring, in their room and stead, the penalty which it denounced” (315). Rather than Christ’s death actually saving sinners, Arminians teach that Christ’s death only makes men salvable. “The Arminians, holding the universality of the atonement, and rejecting the doctrine of election, regard the death of Christ as equally fitted, and equally intended, to promote the spiritual welfare and eternal salvation of all men…” (316). Arminians teach that Christ, by his sufferings and death, impetrated or procured pardon and reconciliation for all men…in substance, he removed legal obstacles, and opened a door for God to bestow pardon and reconciliation upon all who would accept. The reason why they do not receive is because they refuse the offer made to them. Contrast: WCOF- “To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same.” “An impetration which may possibly not be followed by application…which will leave many for whom it was undertaken and effected, to perish forever, unpardoned and unreconciled, - -does not correspond with, or come up to, thhe doctrines of substitution and satisfaction taught us in Scripture…” (320). Arminians differ among themselves as to the ability of men to repent and believe. (1) “Consistent Arminians”- production of faith and repentance is due to the powers or capacities of man himself. (2) “Evangelical Arminians”- the Almighty agency of the Spirit. “But they all deny that Christ, by his sufferings and death, procured, or purchased, or merited faith and repentance for those who come at length to believe and repent” (320). The reason is ultimately that if the production of faith is indeed one of the objects and results of his death, one of the fruits of his purchase- - then he could not have died for all men. He must have died for all those who ultimately believe. Reconciliation was purchased by Christ’s sacrifice of himself, and purchased for certain men. Remember: the nature of the atonement determines its extent. Those who hold to universal atonement, in a greater and lesser degree, have defective and erroneous views with respect to the substitution and satisfaction of Christ.
· VIII. The Extent of the Atonement: Calvinists: Doctrine of Particular Redemption: All for whom the blessings of the atonement were designed or procured, do certainly receive them; or, conversely, that they were not designed, or procured, for any except those who ultimately partake of them. “…to all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same…” (330). “…all who take the opposite side [Christ purchased redemption for all] are bound…in consistency to maintain, --if they really admit an atonement at all, and, at the same time, deny universal salvation, --that he purchased redemption- - that is, pardon and reconciliation- - for many to whom they are never applied, who never are put in possession of them” (330-31). Clarification: “…the death of Christ, being an atonement of infinite value, would have been amply sufficient, as the ground or basis of their [all men] forgiveness or salvation” (331).