"For what if some did not believe, shall their unbelief make the faith
of God without effect? God forbid; yea let God be true, but every man
a liar." Romans iii:3, 4.
We resume the argument, in this discourse, concerning those prisoners
brought forward in our last. We left them in bondage under the
sentence of the law with no hopes of deliverance. The first year rolls
away. The king says, my son, the time has come--go, and reveal my love
to the prisoners by bringing the promise of their redemption to light.
The son flies on wings of love, enters the prison and exclaims--I
bring you good tidings of great joy. My father, the king, is your
friend. He loves you; and that love has induced him to proclaim your
liberation as a free gift. He has promised (and he cannot lie) that in
two years from this day you shall be free. This covenant, so far as
concerns its fulfillment, is unconditional. Believe, and you will be
saved, by faith in the promise, from your present fears, and
condemnation under the law.
Those stubborn prisoners see a sufficiency of evidence to believe the
promise. They exercise unshaken faith in this second covenant between
the father and son. This faith works by love in their hearts, and
purifies them from disobedience. Their souls melt in view of the love
and goodness of the king revealed to them by his son. In fine, they
love him because he first loved them. They are now saved by faith in
his promise from not only all their miseries and sorrows, but from
their disobedience, and look forward with joy to the day of
redemption. Here we perceive the "_righteousness of faith_," which far
exceeds the "_righteousness of the law_." They now delight to obey the
king because they are under the influence of love.
Here let the question be asked--are these three men to be let out of
prison at the appointed time because they believe the promise, or love
and obey the king? They are not. Their redemption depended on the
truth and faithfulness of the king's promise which he made to his son,
and that promise would have been fulfilled, even if it had not been
revealed to them till the day of their deliverance. They are not to be
set free as a reward for their _faith, love and obedience_. They have
great peace and joy in believing that promise. They are in the happy
enjoyment of a salvation by faith, and that is all the reward they
deserve, or have reason to expect. We here perceive that these three
men are made to establish the law of their king by faith in the good
news he sent them by his son, which is to them a gospel. We now see
the propriety of the apostle's language--"We conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Do we then make void
the law through faith? God forbid; yea we establish the law." We also
perceive that these three men are not to be liberated from prison
because they believe the promise, or love and obey the king. But on
the contrary it is the king's love and promise to them which sets them
free.
Let us now notice the other three prisoners. One says I do not believe
that we shall ever be released from prison. It is too good news to be
true. Well, shall his unbelief make the king's promise of none effect?
The king forbid; yea let the king be true, but that man a liar. But
let it be remembered that he cannot be proved a liar unless he is
liberated. Would you now go and tell that man-sir, because you will
not _believe_, you shall never come forth from prison? But do you not
perceive that by so doing you would give the king the lie? It would be
saying that his promise was good for nothing unless the man would
believe it. It would be contending that the unbelief of this prisoner
will make the king's promise of none effect.
The other two prisoners exclaim--we believe this _second_ covenant,
but it must bear some resemblance to the first which is conditional.
We believe that we shall get out of this prison if we continue to
serve the king as, we have heretofore, by keeping his commandments.--
Here are two men trusting in the _first covenant_ for deliverance.
They are trusting in the law. They are depending on their own _love
and faithfulness_ to the king for redemption, and not on the king's
_love, promise and faithfulness_ to them. Here then we see the
righteousness of the law in those two prisoners; in another we see the
effect of unbelief; and in those three who remained disobedient under
the first covenant, we see the righteousness which is of faith when
they heard the glad tidings of redemption in the second covenant.
At length the day of their redemption dawns. They are all brought to
the knowledge of the truth. Those three prisoners, who were saved by
faith in the promise during those two years of suspense, now find
their faith lost in certainty. Their salvation, by faith has come to
an end. And so has the unbelief, condemnation and doubtings of the
other three prisoners. In one word--the _belief and unbelief_ of the
six are lost in knowledge, and they burst out in songs of deliverance
So we perceive that a salvation by faith, and a condemnation in
unbelief can last no longer than till we come to the knowledge of the
truth.
Let us now apply this to the scriptures. Man sinned, and not only
involved himself in guilt and misery, but was sentenced to that very
death with which God threatened him--"Dust thou art and unto dust
shalt thou return." Here was the end of the first covenant, and the
termination of all the miseries of life. It is evident from revelation
as well as reason that man at death drops to a state of insensibility,
and knows no more till he is made alive in Christ, who is himself the
second covenant. The language of scripture is, the dead know not any
thing--they sleep--and the apostle (in 1 Cor. xv Chap.) reasons that
if there be no resurrection, then there will be no future existence--
that they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished--that
preaching was vain--faith was also vain, and that the christians were
yet in their sins. On such language as this, I can put no other
construction than that the resurrection is our salvation and eternal
life, our deliverance from sin and imperfection. Under the first
covenant the resurrection in Christ was not revealed to the human
family, and they remained of course under the sentence of condemnation
with no hopes of a future existence. "By the offense of one judgment
came upon all men to condemnation." Obedience to the law was enforced
by threatenings on the one hand, and promises of temporal rewards on
the other, which were communicated to the fathers by the prophets.
But God has in these latter days spoken unto us by his Son, and
through him revealed the second covenant in which he "gave him the
heathen for an inheritance, and the utter most parts of the earth for
a possession," and declared him to be the resurrection and life of the
world. If in the divine counsels no Christ had been provided, the
human family it appears would have remained in eternal slumber. They
would have known but one covenant, which would have rewarded and
punished them according to their deeds, and consigned them to the
regions of the dead. "But since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead."
God saw fit to keep the human family for four thousand years under the
first covenant, without the knowledge of eternal life through the
resurrection of the dead. But it was, at length, "made manifest by the
appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Yes, he
first brought it to light, and through his apostle declared "In hope
of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world
began, but hath in due time manifested his word through preaching."
This promise of eternal life, all men are called upon to believe. The
moment they believe, they are saved by faith, and are at peace; and
they that doubt are damned--they are already under condemnation. But
shall their unbelief make God's promise of eternal life of none
effect? God forbid; yea let God be true but every man a liar. "For he
hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon
all."
We have now noticed the two covenants--the _law and gospel_--have
pointed out the distinction between them--shown that all _conditions_
are confined to the law, and that the gospel is _unconditional_, and
justly requires our faith and confidence. We will now bring to view
the scripture doctrine of salvation by faith, and show that divine
truth must have an existence before we can be called upon to believe.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is based upon eternal
and unchanging truth. Truth is one of the attributes of Jehovah and
the unshaken pillar that supports the throne of eternity. In truth and
righteousness he governs the world, and by an omnipotent arm wields
the destinies of men. Truth is the sun of divine revelation pouring
its beams on intelligent creation and calling upon all men to believe.
If a man assert that which does exist, it is a truth; but if he assert
that which does not exist, it is a falsehood. Whatever has an
existence in the compass of reality is a truth to be believed, and
whatever has no such existence is a falsehood not to be believed. It
is beyond the power of man to create one solitary divine truth. All
that he can do is to declare the existence of that which may be hidden
from others, or relate some circumstances respecting that which does
absolutely exist. An absolute truth must, therefore, be presented to
the understandings of men before they can be called upon to believe
it, or before they can be called believers for embracing it, or
_unbelievers_ for rejecting it. No man can be an unbeliever for
rejecting that which does not exist.
We now commence plain argument by using great plainness of speech. In
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ truth must be the foundation. If
then truth must exist before men can be called upon to believe, the
question arises what is that truth which the second covenant reveals
for the belief of mankind? Answer, it is the record God hath given of
his Son. But what is the _record_? Let John answer--"this is the
record, God hath given us _eternal life_, and this life is in his
Son." It then follows that we are to believe that God has given us
eternal life in his Son before the world began, and unchangeably
promised it. Paul says--"In hope of eternal life which God that cannot
lie promised before the world began." If we believe the record, we are
in the scriptures recognized as _believers_ and are saved by faith,
and will of course exhibit in our life and conversation the
righteousness of faith.
The great error of any who read the Bible, consists in supposing there
is but one salvation. But there are two. The _first_ is a special
salvation by belief in the promise, and the second is our eternal
salvation beyond the grave, where we shall be brought to the knowledge
of the truth involved in the promise, and to _know_ shall be life
eternal. Faith shall then be lost in certainty. Now if we disbelieve
the record will that make it false? No; our unbelief cannot alter the
fact. Let the record then be proclaimed to every creature--saying God
has promised and given you eternal life in Christ before the world
began, and calls upon all to believe it. But suppose they should all
reject it saying we do not believe one word of it, would their
_unbelief_ make the promise or record false? No. Would not then the
record prove true? It would. Then the whole world would, of course,
receive that eternal life which is promised and given them in Christ.
No, says the objector, they will not believe. But can their unbelief
make God's promise of none effect? Can it put that truth out of
existence and make it a falsehood? We would ask the objector, what
will they not believe? Answer; they will not believe that God has
given them eternal life in his Son. Very well,--then the whole amount
of the objection is that God has given them eternal life in Christ,
but they will not believe it, and because they will not believe it,
they never shall obtain it! Then we must contend (if they never obtain
it) that it was never given to them, and if not given, then the record
is false; because the record declares that God has given them eternal
life in his Son. It then follows that their unbelief can make the
faithfulness of God without effect by rendering the word, he has
given, false.
But says the objector it ought to be stated conditionally as follows--
God first calls upon men to believe, and if they will believe, then
Christ will become their Saviour, and then they will receive eternal
life in him and not before. But does not the objector see that he has
stated no fact for them to believe in order to make Christ their
Saviour? I ask what does God call upon them to believe? There must be
some truth presented before men can be called upon to believe. God
calls upon men to believe, what--That Christ is their Saviour? But you
said he was not their Saviour till after they believed. It then
follows, according to the objector's statement, that he is not the
Saviour of unbelievers. Now do you not perceive that if you should
call upon them to believe that he was their Saviour, you would call
upon them to believe a lie--that you would call upon them to believe
what did not exist? And what does not exist cannot be true. Grant says
the objector that he is the Saviour of the world, still as many as do
not believe in him shall never be saved. But how can he be the Saviour
of a man, he never saves? Two individuals are drowning in the water;
you exert all your power to save them, but fail. Can you call yourself
the saviour of those two men from temporal death? Impossible. In order
for Christ to be called the Saviour of the world, he must save the
world; otherwise there is not a shadow of propriety in giving him that
name. And John says "We have seen and do testify that the Father sent
the Son to be the Saviour of the world."--"We know, indeed, that this
is the Messiah the Saviour of the world."
In our next, we will conclude this subject, and trust we shall do it
to the satisfaction of our readers.