Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Question 20:
Q: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation, by a Redeemer.
After many many weeks toiling through the twisted dark alleys of sin, we at long last break out into the sunlight of God's gracious provision for the sinful human condition through the covenant given to us in our precious Redeemer, Christ our Lord. This Covenant of Grace is the second Covenant. Dr Green compares the two covenants by this distinction: "one was legal; the other, evangelical. ... From Genesis 3 onward men have been under the second covenant as means of grace, but still under the first as means of punishment and discipline."
What he means is no more than the relationship between our own country's Articles of Confederation and the later Constitution of the United States. As those two suzerian documents were instituted, any debts incurred under the older dispensations of American government were recognized and payment of those debts was promised. So, likewise, in the history of God's covenantal process, Dr Green tells us that the giving of the ten commandments should be seen as "a reenactment of the covenant of works for educational and disciplinary purposes". Thus, the reaffirmation of the first commandment should be viewed as a reminder that certain debts remained unpaid and that each generation to follow should be instructed concerning the great debt incurred by mankind's first parents: Adam and Eve.
In times past I have mentioned that the coming of the Spirit into our lives should not be likened to winning the Ohio Lottery, Publisher's Clearing House or Reader's Digest prizes which promise wealth for the rest of your mortal life. Instead, consider what would happen if our Government would suddenly divide the national debt between all of the citizens according to their ability to pay. We would all probably be wiped out financially with no place to live and no means of support. Spiritually, the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives first informs us of the great and huge debt of sin that was incurred in Adam and that applies to our humanity.
Only when we fully appreciate the debt and weight of sin are we able to fathom the incredible grace and mercy of our God in heaven who has caused the weight of that debt to fall upon Jesus Christ instead of upon us. Were we to incur the full wrath of Adam's and our sins, we would be crushed indeed for all of eternity. And the warning of mankind to that effect is the purpose of the catechetical questions we have considered these many weeks. "Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?" , our catechism asks us. Then before we become depressed by the weight of that sin and misery, we are assured in the answer of four providential facts.
The first fact that we find in the catechetical answer is that the Sovereign God of heaven has elected some members of humanity to an everlasting life. The Westminster body turned to the first chapter of Ephesians to shed light on this fact. There in those few verses, this incredible grace planned before creation is celebrated and purposed to show His glorious grace, given in the breaking of the body and spilling of the blood of God Himself in Christ Jesus. The legal debt that was impossible for us to pay has been paid through the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross in our place and there suffered, died, and descended to the place of the dead.
The second fact found in this catechetical question is that, the second Adam, Jesus Christ did formally provide a second covenant in and through His body and blood, in which He symbolized in the communion meal for all of time until He comes again. "This is my body, this is my blood", He showed the disciples, who showed the church. And since then this covenant has been understood and demonstrated meal by meal, year by year down through the centuries to our time over the last two thousand years.
This purpose of this covenant of grace is the third fact addressed by our catechism today. That purpose was and is to deliver the elect out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation. Recently there has been much speculation as to the possibility of life on Mars. If it were possible for people to live on that planet with expensive life support complexes and if they were able to view the untold luxury of our planet only three years travel away, would they not yearn for the better life if they were aware of the great difference between their condition there and the possibilities of life here?
Let us suppose, that those strangers to life on earth were actually among us. The only difference is that no one has yet told them about the second estate: the good life in Christ's eternal Kingdom which we know and enjoy! Certainly, there would be little that you and I could do if the lost indeed lived on Mars! Sometimes we believe that there is very much that we can do for those in the first estate among us. Yet the gulf between the worldly estate and the estate of grace is spiritually as far away as Mars is from Earth. Someone must go and get them so that they can get here! That someone is the Holy Spirit and we should be most earnest in our regular prayers for those who do not know the state of election that we enjoy. That statement does not mean that we should remain inactive.
Thomas Watson in his commentary assures us that "the covenant of grace does not require works in the same manner as the covenant of works did." But instead the works that we do are "evidences of our love to God. In the first, they were required to the justification ... in the new, to the manifestation of our grace." That means that our willingness to share the gospel proves the fact that we have the gospel in us. And how have we gained that salvation and the hope that is in us?
The fourth fact of this catechismal answer is the fact of the Redeemer. As Paul puts it in our text from Romans: "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Those last few words are the only condition of the new covenant in His blood: that we should have faith in Jesus Christ. Again, Thomas Watson says it best: "Faith is a humble grace. If repentance or works were the condition of the covenant, a man would say, It is my righteousness that has saved me; but if it be of faith, where is boasting? Faith fetches all from Christ, and gives all the glory to Christ; it is a most humble grace. hence it is that God has singled out this grace to be the condition of the covenant."
Paul too emphasizes this same grace: "Where then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." May we sincerely say amen to the precious teachings of these doctrines, and may the same catechism that points us toward salvation be the instrument that is used to point others as well.
Resources Used:
Green, James B. A Harmony of the Westminster Presbyterian Standards.
(PCA) The Confession of Faith: The Shorter Catechism.
Watson, Thomas. A Body of Divinity, 10 Commandments & Lord's
Prayer
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 132049 -- Columbus, OH 43213-8049
WSC020 29 Sept 96
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