27 May 1995
- Dr. John H. Armstrong
- Carol Stream, Illinois
Dear brother John
I do want to extend
congratulations to you (and your associate editors) for the superlative work
in producing the Spring edition of your Reformation & Revival Journal.
The eight Papers--I include
your Introduction--on the important theme of Holiness are very impressive
(from a Covenant perspective). No doubt you are receiving a strong and
appreciative response from your Covenant constituency. And that may well
include accolades from several so-called dispensationalists, such as John
MacArthur, and John Hannah.
As for Dr. Hannah, I wonder if
you have wondered as I have wondered how he can be a member of your Advisory
Council, and highly recommend your Covenant Journal as his favorite, while at
the same time maintain membership on the faculty of Dallas Theological
Seminary and annually sign, "in good faith," their dispensational
Doctrinal Statement?
As a Pauline dispensationalist
I would like to comment, in a careful and kindly manner, upon a number of
factors in this issue of your Journal. In the matter of spiritual growth
and maturity, as represented in your Journal theme of Holiness, it is striking
to note the total difference between the Puritan/Reformed/Covenant
concept, and that of Pauline Dispensationalism.
First, there is the matter of
the numerous Covenant (I will use that term) authors quoted in the eight
Papers of the Journal, and the 50-plus works in your Annotated Bibliography
(pp. 125-131), none of which the Pauline dispensationalist would refer
to for the purpose of developing holiness.
Of course the converse is
true--Covenantists do not consult the authors and writings of Pauline
dispensationalists in the matter of holiness.
To go to the heart of the
issue, the Covenant and the Pauline dispensational concepts are centered
in totally opposite realms of the Scriptures.
Covenant theology has its
primary source in the OT, and the Synoptics. Hence it knows God chiefly
as the God of Israel and Law, with Jesus mainly in His pre-Cross ministry as
Messiah, Lord, and King. Paul and his vertical, heaven-centered Church
Epistles are, for all intents and purposes, peripheral.
The result of this orientation
is grace for Justification, works and law for Sanctification--with the
Spirit's help. Sin is dealt with via life-long struggle.
Pauline Dispensationalism, on
the other hand, while fully believing that "all Scripture is
profitable..." (2 Tim. 3:16), is centered in the Pauline Church
Epistles. Positionally, Paul takes the believer to heaven, now, in union
with Christ as Savior, Head, and Life.
Via Paul, and nowhere else in
Scripture, the believer is taught that he has died to sin, the indwelling
Adamic life and nature, the law, the world, and Satan. While in no way
passive, he does not struggle against these influences. If there is any
fighting involved, it is the "good fight of faith" (1 Tim. 6:12), in
reliance upon the finished work of the Cross, and the Holy Spirit. He
rests in his position, "hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3).
He abides in Christ, as a son in the presence of his Father.
There is no question but that
the writers in this Journal are representative of Covenant theology. May
I take the liberty of commenting upon some of their statements, beginning with
yourself, the Editor, in your thoughtful Editorial titled "What Makes God
So Totally Different?" (pp. 9-13)?:
We will never be
perfectly holy in this life, but we must purpose to strive after holiness.
Holy living demands
effort. We are engaged in a battle until death. There is room
for change and there is continual need for confession and struggle against
sin. Would you be holy? Then you too must engage in the struggle by the
power of the Spirit" (p. 12).
Never in the past, nor in the
present, has the Holy Spirit helped a believer, whether Israelite or
Christian, in his struggle and fight against sin. And any success or
"victory" over sin an individual may attain in his struggles, is
temporary self-righteousness, and doomed to "wretched man" failure.
In Israel's future
millennial kingdom--something that Covenantism does not have in its
doctrine--God will remove the regenerate Israelite's "heart of
stone" (his propensity to sin), and give him a new "heart of
flesh."
The Spirit of God will indwell
him, write the theocratic law upon his heart, and cause him to walk in God's
statutes and keep His ordinances, and do them (Jer. 31; Ezek. 36). It
will be the inauguration and fulfillment of Israel's New Covenant--the
Covenant that Covenantism, and most dispensationalists, presently and
erroneously apply to the Church.
But in the present
Church era, age, dispensation--between Calvary (actually Pentecost) and the
Rapture--the Holy Spirit ministers Christ within for the Christian's
life. The manifestation of that life is characterized by the fruit
(not works) of the Spirit. There is no effort involved, either that of
the Spirit, or of the believer. It is rather a matter of abiding in the
Source of life--"Christ, who is our Life."
By that non-passive means, the
Spirit causes the spiritual growth into Christ's image--"changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord"
(2 Cor. 3:18). The Spirit does not help the believer to struggle and
fight against sin--rather it is a matter of "walk in the Spirit
[nonpassive], and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal.
5:16).
Rev. William Sill, in his Paper titled
"The Holiness of God and His Redeemed People" (pp. 15-40), expresses
his Covenant conceptions. His first is the Covenant foremost:
... utter devotion to God and His law (p.
16).
This is the natural outcome from trafficking
in OT and Synoptic law-land.
For the Pauline dispensational
believer who dwells in spirit in Christ in the presence of the Father, it is
utter devotion to the Father and His holy Son. A principal portion which
understandably does not appear in this Journal, is:
"For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the
light of the glory [holiness] of God in the face of Jesus Christ
[glorified]" (2 Cor. 4:6).
... we are junior
brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, for He is our Elder Brother (p. 23).
Earthly, kingdom truth will
always fall short of heavenly truth. But those who know and abide in
their position above, know who they are ("new creations in
Christ," 2 Cor. 5:17); where they are (seated "together with
Christ in heavenly places," Eph. 2:6); and what they have in Him
("all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," Eph. 1:3).
The mind of Christ is set
within us in the midst of the remnant of our old corruption. The vile
Adam is displaced, but the residue of his malign influence remains (p. 35).
Rev. Sill quotes from the Westminster
Confession of Faith:
"There abideth still
some remnant of corruption in every part" (p. 35).
Then he quotes David Preston
as saying:
"I have not got two
natures at all" (p. 35).
This is the detrimental and
infamous teaching of Covenant theology: the eradication of the Adamic life and
nature. In order to account for sin in the life of the believer, it is
described as a remnant, or residuary, or preconversion sin remaining within.
But sin must have a source,
and the source of all sin in mankind, both unsaved and saved, is Adam the
first, in person, in toto. The believer's sins are identical to those of
his unsaved life--their characteristics can be identified by any honest
observer.
Rev. Thomas Wells, in
his Paper titled "The Holiness of God and Assurance That I Am a
Christian" (pp. 63-71), is true to his Covenantism:
We must seek an answer to
the question of personal assurance that comes to grips with the absolute
necessity of conforming to the law of God (p. 64).
If it were an absolute
necessity for the believer to conform to the law of God, none would ever have
any hope of eternal security. The truth is that the Father's purpose for
the Christian is to conform him to the image of His Beloved Son (Rom.
8:28,29).
Finally, Rev. Wells insists
upon struggle against sin:
A Christian should be
constantly striving against sin and self-satisfaction (p. 70).
Dr. Joel R. Beeke is a pastor, and
editor of the Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth. The law-prone are
prone to stress "Grace." His Paper is titled
"Cultivating Holiness," and is
completely Covenant:
God regenerates sinners and causes them
to believe in Christ (p. 83).
Here is the Covenant
concept--one must be born again in order to be born again, i.e., regeneration
prior to the "gift" of faith. Dr. S. Ridout demurs:
"Being born again
[regenerated], not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever" (1 Pet. 1: 23). The new
birth is "by the Word of God. That it is a sovereign act of God,
by His Spirit, none can question. But this verse forbids us to
separate, as is often done, new birth from our faith in the Gospel.
Covenant theology teaches
that the birth precedes faith, but here we are told that the Word of God is
the instrument in the new birth. "Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God"; "the Word of the Gospel is
preached." John 3:3 and 3:16 must ever go together. There is no
such anomaly possible as a man born again, but who has not yet believed the
Gospel.
Dr. Beeke is also a struggler in respect to
growth, and sin:
The believer must strive for
sanctification (p. 85).
Our progress is hindered
when we misunderstand "living by faith" (Gal. 2:20) to imply that
no effort towards holiness is commanded of us. Sometimes we are prone
to consider human effort sinful or "fleshly" (p. 99).
He tellingly quotes Jonathan
Edwards:
"Never give over,
nor in the least slacken, my fight with my corruptions however unsuccessful
I may be (p. 92).
Richard Sibbs is quoted to the
same end--struggle:
"By grace we are
what we are in Justification; and work what we work in Sanctification (p.
100).
Dr. Beeke would battle
all-powerful sin unto the death:
Put sin to death (Rom.
8:13) by the Blood of Christ (p. 100) .
He quotes John Owen on the same subject:
"Set faith at work on
Christ for the killing of thy sin, and thou wilt... live to see thy lust
dead at thy feet" (p. 100). "Sin will not die, unless it be
constantly weakened." "Indwelling sin needs...constant
uprooting." "Press on, true believer, in the uprooting of
sin and the cultivation of holiness" (pp. 105,106).
William Gurnall is quoted also
concerning sin:
"God would not rub
so hard if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our
natures" (p. 92).
The sinful Adamic life and
nature in the believer can neither be "weakened, "uprooted,"
"killed," nor "fetched out." Paul instructs us to
count upon the finished work of the Cross--the power and reign of sin having
been broken there. We are to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin--the
separation of death. Finally, Dr. Beeke insists upon the Lordship of
Christ for salvation:
... the acceptance of
Christ as Savior, but not as Lord (p. 102).
George M. Bowman, in
his Paper titled "Trying to Please Men: A Practice Filled With
Danger" (pp. 13-123), does the same:
... a sinner cannot be
saved unless he confesses Christ as his Lord (p. 115) .
I am afraid that I lost out
completely on the Lordship issue. When I was saved (September 19, 1940,
4:30 p.m.) I simply received the Lord Jesus as my Savior, via the sheer
grace of God. I knew nothing of Lordship. Later, I learned via the
Word that He is sovereign God the Son, hence Lord of all. But I have
never considered Him to be Lord over my life, because I came to know Him as my
very Christian life. I am not a servant, but a son (Gal.
4:7).
I think that those who look
upon Him as their Lord, whether at conversion or afterward, rarely progress
beyond that stage--a servant in subjection (sometimes) to Him as their Lord.
One might refer to that
motivation and subjection as the adolescent stage of the Christian life.
The Lordship principle is found primarily in the law realm of the
Synoptics. It is the stage where believers try to do for the Lord--it
results in the Romans Seven struggle and defeat.
That is as much as they
understand, and they tragically think that that is the way the Christian life
should be. To them, anything short of that is considered an unsaved
condition; anything beyond that is antinomianism. Paul would soon
disabuse them of all that.
As for subjection to His
Lordship in order to be saved, Dr. Ryrie counters:
The NT appeals for surrender
or dedication [Lordship] are addressed to believers. "I urge you
therefore, brethren ... to present your bodies" (Rom. 12:1).
Earlier in the same letter Paul asked those who have been baptized into
Christ to present themselves to God (Rom. 6:3,13).
Those who are indwelt by the
Spirit are exhorted to glorify God in their bodies (1 Cor. 6:19,20).
James too urges his brethren to submit to God (James 4:7). These calls
to dedication would be meaningless if it were true that one had to receive
Christ as Lord of his life [what do the unsaved know of such things?] as a
part of the requirement for being saved.
Saved people need to be
dedicated, but dedication is not a requirement for being saved.
Neither is willingness to be dedicated an issue in salvation [Christian
life, yes.] (So Great Salvation, pp. 73,74).
As a brief summation, it might
be well to touch upon three aspects vital to holiness, in which I think the
Pauline dispensationalist has a great advantage over the Covenantist.
1) SIN -- The
two-nature believer is keenly aware of personal sin because he knows that its
indwelling source is his old Adamic life. He is no longer in, or related
to, that life (Rom. 8:9; 2 Cor. 5:17), and is not responsible for its presence
within, but he takes full responsibility for its action, whether internal or
external. He knows that life intimately, having grown up in it.
The Covenantist knows sin only
as an impersonal, vague "residue or malign influence," "a
remnant of our old corruption," "vestiges of our sinful flesh,"
"residual fallenness," or "graveclothes of sinful flesh,"
etc.
The two-nature believer knows
what God has done concerning the Adamic life having conquered and condemned it
on the Cross (Rom. 8:3); and he is taught by Paul to count upon that
fact, and leave the matter in the hands of the Holy Spirit. That gives
him freedom to concentrate upon the One who is his sinless life--Christ in
glory (Col. 3:1-3).
As two-nature John Darby said,
"When the heart is full with the rich blessings of the glorified Lord
Jesus Christ, it will not turn back to gnaw upon itself." By the
very nature of the case, one-nature Covenantists are gnawers, strivers,
strugglers and battlers--life-long.
2) CHRIST JESUS -- The
Pauline dispensationalist, by virtue of realizing and occupying his position
in Christ before the Father in heaven, "hid with Christ in God"
(Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:3), has the distinct advantage of coming to know Him in His
glory--as his Head, Bridegroom, and Life.
The Covenantist, centered
primarily in the OT and Synoptics, envisions Him in His pre-Cross humility, in
His ministry to Israel, resulting in his being more earthly and kingdom-minded
than heavenly. Your Journal verifies that.
3) GOD -- The Pauline
dispensationalist comes to know God as his Father, primarily by means of
coming to know His Son (John 14:7-9). He learns this via the Word, and
from the vantage point of abiding in Christ in the Father's intimate
presence--a personal, Father-son relationship. "And truly our
fellowship [and worship] is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus
Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be
full" (1 John 1:3,4).
The Covenantist knows God by
means of the OT and Synoptic Scriptures--God in His dealings with earthly
Israel on the basis of Mosaic law--do or die.
This Covenant aspect in these
three key realms is evident in your Journal. Your struggling writers and
readers would greatly benefit from the rest that is theirs in Christ in
glory. J.B. Stoney knew:
"Where do You
dwell? Come and see. They came ... and abode with Him"
(John 1:29). The highest satisfaction He can have is that we should be
at home with Himself. He has removed the distance from His side.
He who measured my distance
is the measure of my nearness.
If you believe that, you
say, I will approach my Father. That is one thing. The next
thing is, His love is so great that He delights to have your company.
It is not that you feel yourself out of place there--you are there in all
the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is your Life.
If we were more attached in
heart to the glorified Lord Jesus, we should long to be with Him where He
is. We often look for Him to help us in our circumstances down here;
but having learned His help here, we should seek Him in His own
place--dwelling in heart and spirit with Him there. Do not be too
ready to lend yourself to the sorrows around you without entering into the
joys which are yours in His presence there.
In pondering over my life
[from his death-bed], I can now see how much happier a time I should have
had, and how many sorrows and struggles I should have been spared, if heaven
had been more definitely my resting place. One is apt to look for
something in this place on earth while passing through it. I know now
that it is marvelous grace that I am as much entitled to be with the Lord
Jesus in the heavenlies now, as I am to be saved by His work on the Cross.
In closing, a succinct word
from the unique Covenant theologian, Andrew Murray:
The great work of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the Cross was to bring us to the Father, now (1 Pet. 3:18;
Eph. 2:13): His death and His Blood, His ascension and sitting at the
Father's right hand, all mean one thing-our being brought nigh to dwell in
the Father's presence.
And with what object?
That the Father may have us, to develop in us that which is well-pleasing in
His sight. Let no one think that the entrance into the Holiest is the
end; it is only the beginning of the growing Christian life. It brings
us into the right place and the right position, in which the Father works
the likeness of His Beloved Son in us (2 Cor. 3:18).
Resting in Him,
Miles
cc: Dr. Hughes; Dr. Hannah