Christ says, “Come to Me, all those laboring and being burdened, and I will give you rest. … learn from Me … For MY YOKE IS EASY, and My burden is light.” Mt 11:28f
Jesus Christ is saying that His burden — commands — are easy. John also says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are NOT HEAVY.”
Yet Christ also says, “If your righteousness shall not exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of God, never! … BE PERFECT even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” Mt 5:18,48
Christ requires a man to be PERFECT to enter the Kingdom of heaven. And then He says that this requirement of His is easy?? How can this be?? Since when is it easy to obey all God’s laws flawlessly in thought and action?? And how in the world can Christ give someone “rest” but at the same time require of them a perfect righteousness?
The answer is IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. Galatians 4:6 says that God the Son took upon Himself a human nature and came “under Law, that He might redeem the ones under the Law”.
No one will enter heaven without a perfect righteousness. God is Holy and will not fellowship with anyone who does not have an equal holiness to Himself. THANKFULLY Christ Himself choose to obey the Law in the place of the Elect. “Through the obedience of the One the many shall be constituted righteous.” Rom 5:19
This all sounds like good news. Christ has lived and died for a group of people. God the Father is perfectly pleased with His work. This way God remains Just in that He punishes Christ for the sins of the Elect and imputes His righteousness to their accounts. He remains Just while He “justifies the ungodly” (Rom 4:5) by giving “the righteousness of God … [to] all who believe” (Rom 3:22).
Now, it’s all good and well that Christ has lived and died for His people. But how does God tell a sinner like me that I am NOT GUILTY because of Christ? How do I know that I am one of the redeemed?
I certainly would find His commandments easy if I knew that my obedience was merely a way of thanking God. And, yes, I could rest if I knew that Christ has already obeyed the Law for me and died for my sins. If I knew that God loved me in particular — with an everlasting love — then I would certainly have the MOST POWERFUL INCENTIVE to love Him as a thank you for predestining me.
Paul was persuaded that God would save him from his sins. He says, ”I am not ashamed, for I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard my deposit until that Day.” 2 Tim 1:12. Paul thought that 1) all who believe will be saved, 2) I believe, 3) therefore, I am saved. The evidence to Paul that he was saved was simply his belief. “I know Whom I have believed,” he says.
2 Peter 1:1 says that all believers have EQUALLY PRECIOUS FAITH as the Apostles. All believers have the same certainly that the Apostles had about the gospel and their salvation. God MUST give ALL believers TODAY an undoubted knowledge of their justification OTHERWISE they would not have ”equally precious faith” with the Apostles. Indeed, there are no believer every has or ever will doubt their salvation.
Paul says ”He saved us through … the renewal of the Holy Spirit whom He POURED OUT RICHLY; that being justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Tit 3:7 Is the Holy Spirit poured out richly to give all believers the hope of eternal life? Or does he fail to give them that hope? He does NOT fail. Those who do not know they are saved are disapproved (without the Holy Spirit). For KNOW NOT JESUS CHRIST IS IN YOU, UNLESS YOU ARE DISAPPROVED? 2 Cor 13:5
All believers have a “common faith” which is ”the faith of the Elect”. They assent to the “proclamation of God’s Word” about Christ. And since God does not lie, believers have no grounds for doubting His promise to save them. They continually have the “hope of eternal life”. See Titus 1:
“Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ ACCORDING TO THE FAITH OF THE ELECT of God and full knowledge of the truth according to godliness, on hope of eternal life which the GOD WHO DOES NOT LIE promised before the eternal times, but revealed in its own times in a PROCLAMATION of His Word, with which I was entrusted by the command of our Savior God; to Titus, a true child according to our COMMON FAITH”
All believers know they are saved.
Comments (4)
What would you say if someone accused you of being a hermeneutical narcissist?
The sin of doubting then, will get one unsaved? I have a question. I’ve been looking for a hard-line Calvinist to ask this to, so here it goes. If you are correct, who cares? If your reasoning and theology as a Calvinist are correct, your post has no value for this reason: if the person who doubts is unsaved and your post convinces them that you are correct that person is still unsaved unless God predestined them and enlightens them. But if they are already predestined, then they ought to be true believers and already agree with you. So my question is, why does a Calvinist bother to support his own view? Who is helped by it?
In reference to this post, “Common faith” could just as easilt refer to the content of the faith. In fact, this would probably be preferable as an interpretation. The common faith of all believers would be shared beliefs about the essentials rather than the degee of faith. Paul speaks of believers with varying amounts of faith. For the sake of the weaker or less mature faith the stronger or more mature believer was to abstain from meats sacrificed to idols. They were both believers, though. The Christian who has momentary or fleeting doubts should not be condemned as an unbeliever. If this believer faces momentary doubts but has continues to trust God for His salvation, he remains in a redeemed state. Only an outright leaving of the faith and denial of God remove you from grace, not the fleeting doubts that are common among new believers.
Great post! With the possible exception of the last line.
Hey Bain, is it possible for a child like John the Baptist to be saved in the womb? Wondering what your thoughts were on that.