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A42449
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The apostles Paul and James reconciled in the point of justification, and the controversies about it among Christians amicably composed
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Gataker, Charles, 1614 or 15-1680.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing G304A; ESTC R216435
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8,334
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The Apostles Paul and James reconciled in the Point of Justification and the Controversies about it among Christians amicably composed 1. Solâ side nos justificari Doctriâ—a est saluberrima ac consolationis plenissima Anglic. Confess art 11. Verum id tamen non imus inficias justificari nos etiam ex operibus ut D. Jacobus dixit rependit enim Deus unicuique secundum sua opera Et non qui legem audiunt sed qui faciunt justificabuntur Rom. 2. Sed ista nostri justificatio id est ultima vitae aeternae adjudicatio exhibitio nascitur pendet ex justificatione fidei ex qua ipsa opera bona proveniunt habent id ut licet ex se nihil minus valeant vitam aeternam nobis mereantur Inde sane quod per fidem jam Deus nos inter filios suos habet nostra ex ejus Spiritu patrata opera ipsi tanti sunt tantaque compensare mercede dignatur Bucer Cont. Episcop Abrinceus pag. 54. EVangelical Justification is considerable two ways as a Gift and as a Reward Considered as a Gift so it is absolutely free and freely given of God in Christ by the Gospel and we thro Faith and through Faith only do thankfully siducially obediently and constantly receive it and so from the nature of the thing it becomes ours This I think is Paul's meaning Rom. 3.28 11.6 Ephes 2.8 9. 2. Considered as a Reward so also it is absolutely free of Grace and not of Debt yet it is conferred upon none but the penitent the faithful the regenerate the Lovers of God and his Saints the fruitful in good Works the godly in Christ Jesus and these are evangelically worthy of it because of God's Promise in Christ This I think is James's meaning Rom. 4.4 Jam. 2.21 24. Rom. 2.6 11 16. 3. Both Apostles mean Justification before God and by it they understand the Absolution of one who hath sinned from all his Sins and from eternal Curse and Damnation for the same In this only they differ Paul considers God as a Donor as infinitely good and gracious to some and not to others to Abel and Peter and not to Cain and Judas And so the sum of his Doctrine is plainly this That the whole of a Sinner's Justification Pardon Adoption and Salvation from first to last is from the meer Grace and Mercy of God in Christ by the Gospel through Faith and through Faith only as distinct from precedent to the cause of and inseparably connexed with Sanctification and good Works Mat. 13.11 Joh. 10.28 Ephes 1.3 4. 4. James considers God as a Judg infinitely just and righteous and passing Sentence upon Men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel without out respect of Persons And so the sum of his Doctrine is clearly this That God as he is the Judg of all the World by Jesus Christ cannot but 〈…〉 for ever difference between the righteous and the wicked the penitent and the impenitent the faithful and the faithless the Lovers and Haters of God and his Saints the fruitful in good Works and the fruitless the obedient and disobedient by loving delighting in approving pardoning and glorifying the one of his meer Grace and Goodness because of his own holy Oath and Covenant in Christ by hating abhorring disapproving cursing and damning the other of Debt and due Desert because of their Sins persisted in and never truly repented of by rendring to both according to their Works Gen. 18.25 5. According to Paul Justification and Pardon of Sin as a free Gift in Christ received by Faith is antecedent to and by gracious necessity the cause of all our holy Love and therefore the more is forgiven us the more we love but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little Luk. 7.47 6. According to James not only Faith but also Love hope in God's Mercy filial Fear hatred of Sin heavenly Knowledg forgiving others their Trespasses against us and the like Evangelical Vertues and Graces these are antecedent to and by gracious necessity prepare and make us meet for and capable of pardon of Sin Justification before God Adoption and right to eternal Salvation as a Reward of Grace assured by God's holy Oath and Covenant in Christ to Persons so and so qualified Of a Truth I perceive that God is no Respecter of Persons But in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Act. 10.34 35. 7. According to Paul no Sinner while unpardoned and liable to eternal Damnation A holy Sin-hating God engaged in Justice to damn the Sinner is not such an Object as a guilty Soul can love Mr. Baxter's Life of Faith p. 218. can sincerely love God Fear and flee from him as his righteous and terrible Judg he may and needs must but love and draw nigh to him with filial Reverence as his gracious God and reconciled Father in Christ he cannot But as soon as we are by God's Grace and Mercy in Christ through Faith freely pardoned all our Sins and by the same Faith perceive that so we are then we cannot but by sweet and blessed necessity love God resign our selves to his Will and be sincerely obedient to him in all things In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of Promise which is the Earnest of our Inheritance Ephes 1.13 14. That is as I conceive Pardon of Sin and Justification through Faith in Christ is antecedent and fealing with his holy Spirit whereby is meant Assurance and Sanctification is by gracious necessity consequent and so they are related and as related they are by nature together without all possible Priority 8. According to James no ungodly and impenitent Person while such is capable of Pardon of Sin and Evangelical Justification it is a Contradiction to the eternal Nature of the holy just and good God to pardon and justify a Sinner in his Ungodliness and set his Conscience free from eternal Guilt and Condemnation before and without heavenly Repentance and there cannot be heavenly Repentance without Faith Hope Love and Participation of the Divine and Godly Nature For what Fellowship hath Righteousness with Vnrighteousness And what Communion hath Light with Darkness And what Concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 15. The penitent Thief upon the Cross who was pardoned justified and saved as at the last Gasp yet was he not without good Works in the sight of God For together with Faith he had Hope Love filial Fear hatred of Sin godly Sorrow for it penitent Confession earnest Prayer giving Glory to Christ Meekness Patience holy Submission to God's Will compassionate wise and faithful Reproof towards the other Thief wise care for his own Soul and all other heavenly Graces and Vertues necessarily comprized in Regeneration and being a new Creature 9. According to Paul we must first receive from God before we can return any thing to him worthy his Acceptance For all
his divine Belief to be what really it was Heavenly Supernatural Evangelical and Soul-saving Righteousness 14. Credimus totam nostram justitiam posit am esse in peccatorum nostrorum remissione quae sit etiam ut testatur David uniâ—a nostra felicitas Gallic Confess Art 18. Crâ—dimâ—s â—â—stâ—â—â—am bâ—â—titudinem sitam esse in prâ—catorum nostrorum propter Jâ—â—um Christum remissione atque in ea justitiam nostram coram Deo contineri ut David Paulus docent c. Belgic Confess Art 23. Dr. Owen in his Book of Justification p. 478. supposeth That the Pardon of Sin can in no tolerable sense be called the Gift of Righteousness Pardon of Sin is one thing and Righteousness another As to which I grant that Pardon of Sin can in no tolerable sense be counted the Righteousness of the Law as distinct from the Gospel because that stands in perfect and perpetual Obedience and the Law being once broken can never by it self justify the Transgressor but only curse and condemn him But the Righteousness of the Gospel as distinct from the Law stands in perfect pardon of Sin for the sake of Christ through Faith in his meritorious Cross and Passion causing in us holy Love and sincere Obedience to all God's Commands whereby we do Evangelically fulfil the Divine Law This perfect pardon of Sin is perfect Evangelical Righteousness it hath no flaw or defect at all it gives us boldness with God and sure confidence at his Bar it frees the Conscience from inward Guilt Terror Curse and Condemnation and these being abolished in their room come Righteousness Joy Peace with God spiritual Consolation some degree of Victory over the World the Flesh the Devil Death and the Gates of Hell Tho our Faith and Repentance be weak and imperfect yet being genuine and sincere they qualify and make us meet for and worthy of perfect Pardon of Sin for the sake of Christ And having this perfect Pardon of Sin we are blessed we need no other Righteousness for Justification and Admission into the Kingdom of Heaven dying pardoned we are most surely for ever happy and blessed This perfect Pardon of Sin is the Righteousness of God in Christ he is the sole Author of it it is not legal but supra-legal Righteousness a more Noble Divine Transcendent Sublime Glorious Mysterious Sure Stable Permanent Sweet and Precious Righteousness than that of the Law such as Adam had before his Fall for that was defectible but so is not this for as I before noted of God whom he justified them he also glorified 15. Mr. Truman in his Great Propitiation p. 258. holds That there is no such thing as receiving Righteousness or Justification or Pardon As this Assertion contradicteth many plain Scriptures Ps 24.5 Rom. 5.11 17. Acts 10.43 26.18 1 Cor. 4.7 Joh. 3.27 so it is contrary to the Grounds of Religion For if there be no such thing as receiving Righteousness or Justification or Pardon then there is no such thing as giving them in Christ and then we have these supream Blessings of Debt and not of Grace and then we owe no Thanks at all to God for them but God is altogether beholden to us for our Merits and not we to him for any special and differencing Grace If it be said that our Receiving is but Metaphorical it will unavoidably follow that God's giving heavenly good Things in Christ is but Metaphorical and so we can owe him but Metaphorical Thanks which Doctrine Christian Ears cannot bear to hear 16. There are two kinds of Receiving 1 Cor. 4.7 Mat. 23.14 Rom. 13.2 Heb. 2.2 Jam. 3.1 Luke 23.41 Rom. 11.35 36. Voluntary and Involuntary In the former sense all Elect Angels and Men receive the first and the last Grace from God the beginning the middle the end even all in this receiving they are free and not forced willing and not unwilling for no one can be Holy and Happy against his will In the latter sense all the Devils and Reprobates in Hell receive Damnation as the due reward of their Deeds in this Receiving they are forced and not free unwilling and not willing though they love Sin yet they do not love Hell and though they are willingly wicked yet they are unwillingly damned 17. Le Blanc Thes Theolog. de Remiss peccator num 15. God did from everlasting purpose and determine in time for the sake of Christ and of his meritorious Cross and Intercession to give Faith and Repentance and consequent Pardon and Justification to Peter and Paul and the rest of the Elect and to none other This supposed their Faith and Repentance and consequent Pardon and Justification are from Eternity infallibly future and sure to be and things future are as present to God who calleth those things which be not as though they were Rom. 4.17 But then it is plain that till God give them Faith and Repentance they remain faithless and impenitent dead in Sin and reprobate to every good Work and till they do sincerely believe and repent they remain unpardoned unjustified condemned already under the Wrath of God accursed and liable to eternal Perdition As God's purpose to create is not Creation it self John 3.18 36. Ephes 2.1 2 3. Tit. 1.15 16. 1 Pet. 2.9 10. Gal. 3.10 1 Cor. 16.22 and God's purpose to judg the World is not judging it so God's purpose to give Faith and Repentance is not giving them and his purpose to pardon and justify is not Pardon and Justification they truly differ as Cause and Effect as Antecedent and Consequent which two being confounded there must needs be Error and Confusion throughout the whole Frame and Method of Practical Divinity 18. By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God not of Works lest any Man should boast Ephes 2.8 9. Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed Rom. 4.16 It is by divine Belief of the Doctrine of Repentance and Remission of Sins in Christ's Name and by divine Belief only that we discern spiritual Things spiritually chuse the way of Truth renounce the way of Sin give Glory to God trust wholly and only in him and his eternal Grace and Mercy in Christ for pardon of Sin and Life Eternal receive Jesus Christ and all Spiritual Blessings in him overcome Satan and the World walk with God in Holiness and Comfort and ending our Course in true Faith we pass to Heaven Dr. Preston of God's All-sufficiency p. 12. where Faith is turned into Vision and Hope into Fruition And therefore it is that this same divine Belief is in the Scripture so frequently said to be reckoned counted and imputed to us for Righteousness Jam. 2.23 Gal. 3.6 Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3 5 9 10 22 23. 19. We read of the ancient Saints who through Faith wrought Righteousness Heb. 11.33 Here are three things clearly distinct the Agents the Instruments and the Work wrought 1. The Agents and those are real Saints such as Abel Enoch Noah Abraham Moses David God's Elect and peculiar Ones 2. The Instrument by which they did act and work and that is Faith and Faith only the divine Belief of the Doctrine of Repentance and eternal Redemption to lost Mankind for the sake of Christ the sole Mediator between God and Men. 3. The Work wrought by them and that is Righteousness consisting in Piety towards God in Justice and Charity towards our Brethren in Sobriety Temperance and Chastity towards our selves 20. This I think is the true way of reconciling Paul and James and the only sound Mean between the two pernicious Extreams of the Antinomians and Legalists The Doctrine of the Antinomians subverteth Natural Religion and sets up all Impiety Licentiousness and abominable living by Law for that it teacheth Pardon of Sin and evangelical Justification by an imaginary and unscriptural imputation of Christ's Righteousness before and without Faith and Repentance The Doctrine of the Legalists subverteth Supernatural Religion and leadeth to despair for that it confoundeth the Law and the Gospel Moses and Christ and makes Eternal Salvation to be of Debt and not of Grace Jude 3. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints FINIS