All That the Father Giveth Me

All That the Father Giveth Me

John 6:37

            “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

            Here is a clear and unambiguous statement from the Lord of Glory “all that the Father giveth to me shall come to me;” this is simply a statement of fact all that the Father giveth the Son will infallibly come to Him in faith, believing on Christ to the saving of their soul. God the Father has elected or chosen His people from among the inhabitants of the earth in eternity past (Ephesians 1:3-11) and has secured them in federal union in Jesus Christ, or put another way; the Father sanctified the elect in Christ Jesus, that is to say the Father set the elect apart in Jesus Christ (Exodus 13: 2 compared with Exodus 13:12 here understand that to sanctify is to set apart) (Jude 1; I Corinthians 1:2). And God the Father has sent His only begotten Son into this world to bring His many sons (the elect) to final glory. This statement is absolute there are no extenuations, no contingencies, it is absolute and unconditional, this is a statement of the Fathers will in sending His only begotten Son into this world that He might gather together all His chosen in one, that is in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:10).

            In God’s covenant or testamentary dealings with men both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the transactions are sealed by blood (Hebrews 9:18-22; Matthew 26:28). The Old Testament was a temporary administration of the everlasting covenant of grace, designed to prove to men, that man can never be justified before God by his personal obedience to the law. Men cannot be justified by their works under the law for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Psalm 143:2; Romans 3:20). And “the scripture hath concluded all under sin” (Galatians 3:22). The law has shown men what they should do, because they are creatures made by God. Being rational creatures they should obey and worship God. However, all men having fallen in sin in the first man (Adam) are ruined creatures, they are totally depraved, are lost to God and are so lost that they can neither desire to return nor can they return to fellowship with God. Therefore man must be forever lost, ruined, and damned, unless God in free grace will do something for the fallen sinner. And God has done something about man in his ruined condition. God, in His absolute sovereignty has elected or chosen a remnant, (Romans 11:5) taken from among men of every people, tongue, kindred, and nation (Revelation 5:9) and has given them to His Son for their safety and finally to be, by Jesus Christ brought to glory, for “the Lord will give grace and glory:” (Psalm 84:10; II Thessalonians 2:13, 14).

            Our Lord Jesus’ statement was “all that the Father giveth me shall come to me” (Jn. 6:37). Therefore everyone the Father has given the Son shall come to the Son for all salvation, and only those who were given to the Son do so, those who never come to the Son were not given to the Son. In our Lord’s Great High Priestly Prayer He said “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” (John 17:6). These men along with those that would believe through their word (verse 20) were given to Christ Jesus before the world began. They had been the Father’s by His choice of them from among men, and the Father has committed them to the Surety of the New Testament.

That Surety is Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:22) on whom the Father has imposed the office of Mediator of the everlasting covenant. The everlasting covenant is in the hand of Jesus Christ the New Testament. As Mediator, Jesus Christ stands in the law place of each of the elect, He stood condemned by the law of God in the room and stead of the elect because of their covenant interest in His Mediation. Their covenant interest in the Mediation of Jesus Christ stems from their having been from eternity chosen in federal union with Christ (Ephesians 1:3-11; II Timothy 1:9; II Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 8:28-39; I Peter 1:2). They stand in their federal Head, in union with Him from everlasting, and because of this union they are reckoned of God one in and with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:22, 23). Therefore all that Christ has done and suffered the elect in Jesus Christ did and suffered. When Christ fulfilled the law to its jot and tittle His members did so in Him (I Corinthians 12: 12, 13, 27). In all Christ’s sufferings and doings the church of the elect were one with Him. When Christ satisfied the law and justice of God, the church in Jesus Christ satisfied the law and justice of God (I John 2:2).

All the elect in Christ are justified in Christ, for they are justified by His shed blood and righteousness (Romans 5:9; 4:22-25). Because the elect in Christ (Ephesians 1:4) have fulfilled the law in Christ they shall live in Christ. “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:5). Since the elect have fulfilled the law in Christ, they must live in Christ. These are they who having been given to Christ from eternity shall come to Christ in time and receive eternal salvation. Their works have nothing to do with their being chosen in Christ from eternity “for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8, 9). “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” (II Timothy 1:8, 9).

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me” all that the Father gave to His Son were given in eternity past, and concerning them our Lord Jesus said “this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28). Notice His blood was shed for many, not all, but many. How many? “as many as thou hast given Him” (John 17:2) what then has faith to do with salvation? “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” (Acts 13:48). Then are there few that will be saved, no there are very many, for there is a great multitude that no man can number, but by comparison to all the sons of Adam there are but very few. 

A.J. Ison

  

           

           

Beholding Christ as Christ

Beholding Christ as Christ

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (I Corinthians 12:12).

            This subject contains some of the most profound and sublime truths which in themselves prove most substantial in times of severe trial and which provide solid ground on which the children of God can stand in such times. For what could provide more assuring confidence, when considering the history of men, than to realize that our Creator was in the midst of all and directing all to His Own Glory, first and foremost, and then for the eternal good of His chosen (Romans 2:28-30; Ephesians 1:1-11; II Timothy 1: 7-10)? In this article we are to consider Christ as Christ. Oh Lord our God, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, and if you will, be pleased to guide our feeble attempt. Amen.                                             

When considering Christ, as Christ, we must consider the Head, Christ, joined to the body, the church (Ephesians 1:22, 23). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God (John 1: 1, 14). He is God the Son (Psalm 2:7; 45:6; John 10:30; I John 5:7), one of the Divine Persons who are the Plurality in Unity, the Plurality of Persons in Unity of Essence (Isaiah 48:16; Genesis 1:26; Matthew 3:16, 17). He is the I Am (Exodus 3:14: John 18:5, 6) the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, (Revelation 1:8). He is the Word, Wisdom, and Power of the Triune Jehovah (I Corinthians 1:24), He is of one undivided essence and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and is He of the same Eternity and Infinity as the other two Persons in the Godhead. His Deity, is the source and principle reason of the efficacy in all His undertakings.

All that is in Christ Jesus is involved in all His undertakings, whether we are to consider Him as the eternal Spirit by whom His perfectly holy human nature was offered a sin offering and wherein He accomplished redemption and brought in eternal righteousness and everlasting salvation for His people, or whether we are to consider His perfectly holy humanity. We must consider one Person in whom there is extant two distinct natures, and yet still only one Person, so that all He undertakes in that one Person is upheld by all that is in either nature wherein lies the authority and the power for all that “shall be” as declared by Holy Scripture. For He has made this declaration “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10). “The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isaiah 14: 24).

In all that Jehovah the Son undertakes in time and to all eternity, all things are according to the everlasting covenant of unmingled grace for He saith, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am, and I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:28). And again our Lord said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for whatsoever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19). Our Lord could not step out of Himself (in His Divine nature and in His character of God-Man Mediator) in doing anything that was not ordered according to that covenant which is ordered in all things and sure (II Samuel 23:5). Every thought, word and deed that issued from our all glorious Lord was according to that eternal edict of the covenant and provided that perfection that is required of the children of the covenant, that our fellowship with the Triune Jehovah will be full for “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9) and “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (I Corinthians 1:30).

In beholding Christ as Christ, we must not think of Him in His Godhead only, but as God in union with sinless human nature. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1 and 1:14). God the Son took sinless human nature (Luke 1:35) into union with Himself in order to be the Mediator of the everlasting covenant of unmingled grace and to be a “daysman” (Job 9:33) between God in the Trinity of His Persons and man in sinful and ruined nature (Hebrews 13:20). So great was the undertaking that none less than one of the Persons of the Godhead could finish the awful task and bring the children of the covenant, the “many sons,” to final glory (Hebrews 2:10).

             The everlasting covenant of grace, wherein was promised eternal life, was made before the world began (Titus 1:2). The persons involved in the covenant were chosen, named, and their names were enrolled in the “book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 13:8). The Lamb of God (our Lord Jesus Christ) was slain from the foundation of the world, that is, our Lord Jesus was virtually slain which means the slaying of the Lamb of God was as sure to be accomplished as if that event had already occurred. The Lamb was to be slain according to the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined to be done” (Acts 4:27, 28). The Son of God took human nature into union with Himself in order to stand in office for men.  He was and is the Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace; He is God and man in one person; He is the God-Man Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace (I Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 13:20).   

            Christ Jesus was chosen as the Mediator of the everlasting covenant “from of old from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). Christ is the elect of God, or the chosen of God (Isaiah 42:1). His members were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, or before the world began, and predestinated to the adoption of children (Ephesians 1:4, 5). All of this is according to the good pleasure of God the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost (I John 5:7, 8). When considering Christ as Christ, we must consider Him in eternal federal union with His people or one with them in covenant terms and conditions (John 14: 20, 10, 11) in that order to show the relation of unity that exists between God and His Church in Christ (John 17: 11, 20, 21, 22, 23). “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1). Those who are enabled of the Holy Ghost to rightly consider the Christ of Holy Scripture will be comforted in the knowledge that we are in Christ, “not of blood (not by our earthly linage), nor of the will of the flesh (not by anything that is in ourselves), nor of the will of man (not by our own will), but of God” (John 1:13), Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The saved are in Christ by the will of God.

            The church in Jesus Christ is in Christ and always has been in Christ because of eternal federal union with Christ by the decree of the Eternal Three in One (Ephesians 1:3-7; II Timothy 1:8-10). Put in the words of the writer and according to the weakness of his fallible understanding and in human expression which confessedly is infinitely beneath the glory of our infinite God and Creator; the covenant may have run in determinations such as this. The Father spoke to the Son and to the Spirit, saying, “I have set My love upon a people (I John 4:9, 10; Jeremiah 31:3) from among what will be nations, tongues, and kingdoms of peoples (Revelation 5:9). These whom I have loved and chosen, I have desired to be my covenant people; my own and not another’s (I Peter 1:2; Romans 8:29).These alone whom I have loved and chosen as Sons and Daughters, I have set them apart in my own Son, (Jude 1) who is ‘my Fellow’ (Zechariah 13:7) in whom they are and in whom they shall be delivered from every enemy or difficulty (Romans 3:23-26). These whom I now behold in the perfections of My own Son shall fall in ruin, under My curse and into death, because of their natural federal head, whom I have named Adam (Romans 5:12) who will be the natural father of that race. From the curse of My law and justice must these be redeemed and delivered by My own Son whom I have appointed Surety of My covenant (Hebrews 7:22) and into whose hand I have now delivered them for that end (I Corinthians 1:2; Romans 3:24, 25). My Son shall bring My many sons to glory by His own blood and righteousness and in bringing My many sons to glory, My only begotten Son shall destroy the works of Satan (Hebrews 2: 10-14).”

            God the Son spoke in federal union with the elect (Ephesians 1:4, 5) saying, “I will be Surety and a ransom for those whom thou hast given me (John 17:2) and whom thou hast loved and whom I have cherished from everlasting (Hebrews 7:22; Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). They are mine for ‘all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them’ (John 17: 11). I will be ‘made flesh’ (John 1:14) in order that I may be one with my church and people, (John 14:20) for I am one with thee My Father (John 10:30) and therefore ‘they also may be one in us’ (John 17:21). ‘For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee’(Hebrews 2: 11, 12).

I will redeem them from the curse which they fell under in their natural federal head Adam (Romans 5: 12), for I will be ‘made a curse’ for them (Galatians 3:13). I will endure the sufferings which they deserve, in my own body, and pay the debt of death which they should owe to thy law and justice (Ezekiel 18:4). Though Father I am without sin and I know no sin and I have no sin, yet for the sake of the glory of thy grace (Ephesians 2:7) and for their pardon sake, thou shalt lay on me the iniquity of them all (Isaiah 53:6) and I will bear their sin in my own body on the tree (I Peter 2:24) and by myself will I purge their sin (Hebrews 1:3) and once in the end of the world put away their sin forever (Hebrews 9:26). Thus will I be made sin for them (II Corinthians 5:21) a sin offering. And Father, because thou hast chosen them in federal union with me from of old, even from the days of eternity, I do own their sin as my own, though not my own by commission, but by imputation because of federal union, according to thy sovereign council, will, purpose, decree and covenant (Psalm 69:1-5; 38:1-4; II Samuel 23: 5). By dying in the stead of those thou hast given me, I will honor and Propitiate thy justice and truth (Isaiah 42:21) in order that ‘mercy and truth’ may meet together in agreement (Psalm 85:10).

I will abide in the earth and under thy most holy law as man in public office, standing in the stead of those thou hast chosen in me before the world was made. I will fulfill the law to its jot and tittle (Matthew 5:18) and it shall be charged to the credit of my members. I will obey thy law in thought, word, and deed, in order that my obedience may be accounted as their own who are in me as members (I Corinthians 12:12; Psalm 139:16; Revelation 13:8). By my perfect obedience in life, and in death, in the room and stead of my members, I will ‘finish the transgression,’ and ‘make an end of sins,’ and ‘make reconciliation for iniquity.’ I will bring in ‘everlasting righteousness,’ ‘I will seal up the vision and prophecy,’ and I the most holy shall be anointed Prophet, Priest, and King (Daniel 9:24) for I Am ‘over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.’ (Romans 9:5). My members shall rejoice in my accomplishments on their behalf, saying, ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels’ (Isaiah 61:10). My people, whom thou hast appointed mine own because they are justified from sin in me, shall never have sin imputed to their charge ever again to all eternity for, I ‘shall bare their iniquity’ (Isaiah 53:11). In that which shall be called time, my members shall speak of me saying, ‘Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for (because of) our justification’ (Romans 4:25).”

The Holy Ghost spoke to the Father and to the Son, saying, “at thy word I will descend into the hearts of thy chosen and redeemed people. There I will be to them a Spirit of ‘wisdom and revelation’ (Ephesians 1:17) in the knowledge of the God. I will break up their hard, stony and rebellious heart for ‘the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’ (Romans 8:7) and because ‘the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned’ (II Corinthians 2:14). I will give them a new heart and a new spirit, and thereby make them willing in the day of My power (Ezekiel 36:26: Psalm 110:3). ‘I will put my laws in their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God and they shall be my people’ (Hebrews 8:10). I will make them to be ‘partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust’ (II Peter 1:4) and thereby cause them to walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them (Ezekiel 36:27). I will cause them to be gracious persons in their deportment and relations to their peers, yet these things shall not be any part of their justifying righteousness, for the Mediator, Christ Jesus alone, is to them ‘THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ for they are justified by Christ’s blood (Romans 5:9). For ‘by Him all that believe are justified from all things’ (Acts 13:39). The ransomed, regenerated elect, shall rejoice in Christ Jesus, and though regenerated, and having received of my grace, still they shall have no confidence in the flesh, (Philippians 3:3) for they will gladly admit ‘we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.’ (Isaiah 64:6).”

A.J.Ison

Baptized Into the Death of Jesus Christ

Baptized Into the Death of Jesus Christ

Romans 6:3, 4

          Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.

            Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ:  Baptism into Jesus Christ is not baptism in water. Matthew 3:11 compared with I Corinthians 12:13 makes this distinction between these two baptisms very clear; for, John the Baptist saith; “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: (unto repentance: or upon actions or attitudes that demonstrate a true heart of repentance) but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: (he that cometh after me; that is, Jesus Christ; who was born about six months after John and who began his public ministry as recorded in the New Testament after his baptism in the Jordan by John) he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” The baptism with the Holy Ghost is declared and defined in I Corinthians 12: 13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, (that one body is the mystical or spiritual body of Christ; his church and people, his “members in particular” I Corinthians 12:27; “the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,” Hebrews 12:23) whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”  

Baptism in water is a public confession of prior baptism of the Holy Spirit in regeneration; the Apostle Peter tells us that baptism is “(not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,)” I Peter 3:21. The nature of baptism is that of a burial, the subject of baptism is buried in water; this burial in water is a testimony that the person baptized was: first, representatively buried with Jesus Christ in death; for, in the reckoning of God all Christ’s members died in and with him: (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6) second, that he was representatively buried with Christ, (Colossians 2:12) and that: third, when Christ arose from the tomb all his members arose in him and with him (Ephesians 2:6) and that the one baptized arose with all the rest. Therefore it is evident that baptism is for those who have been born of the Spirit of God, or from above, and their baptism is a confession of salvation through the free grace of God; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Baptism is not intended to unite it’s subject to a local assembly, but it is a confession of union with Jesus Christ in his death, burial and resurrection, and therefore certain things necessarily ensue.

“Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:” death issues in certain things, “and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.” (Psalm 68:20). The execution of a condemned person, brings release from the condemning law, for after the law hath sentenced to death, and the sentence has been carried out, the person who died under the stroke of law is then dead to, or released from the condemning power of the law, and therefore the law is dead to him, as far as condemnation is concerned.

Believers, are the “children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers” (Acts 3:25; Isaiah 8:18; compared with Hebrews 2:13) and the mystical or spiritual members (in particular) of the body of Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 12:12-27) and as surely as Isaac was the child of promise, believers in this day are the children of Promise “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” (Galatians 4:28) The covenant of grace is an eternal covenant; because, it is from our eternal and immutable God, and was framed before the foundation of the world; those who were chosen in Christ from old eternity were given interest in that covenant and in the person and activities of the mediator of the covenant; it is an “everlasting covenant” (II Samuel 23:5). All the elect have this same covenant interest in Christ, and are seen espoused to, and in a mystical union with Christ himself as “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23; 6; 33:16), and in all that he did as the mediator and surety of the covenant. The church is the spiritual body of Christ, and Christ is the head of that body (Ephesians 1:22, 23; Colossians 1:18). From eternity past, the body has been in secret federal union with its head Jesus Christ, (because chosen or elected in him and secured in him from the foundation of the world; Ephesians 1:4, 5; II Thessalonians 2:13, 14; II Timothy 1:9; Jude 1) and has had an interest in all that Christ did as the head of the church. All that Christ did, the Church did in Christ, because in union with him. Therefore when Christ died and rose again, all his spiritual members died and rose in him, representatively, according to the stipulations or determinations of the covenant of grace, and  which determinations are according to or from the mind, will, and counsel of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Those who are believers; are believers because they have been brought into the bond of the everlasting covenant of grace (Ezekiel 20:37) and are made partakers of the entitlements of that covenant. Saving faith is given by the Holy Ghost in the sanctification of the Spirit (II Thessalonians 2:13; John 3: 3-6), according to the immutable counsel of the God the Father (I Peter 1:2), and therefore they are the objects of the intercessory activities of the one mediator Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7: 25; I Timothy 1:5). The first cause of one’s participation in the covenant of grace is the everlasting love of God the Father (Jeremiah 31: 3; I Peter 1:2). The procuring cause is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, through his blood shedding and death (Ephesians 1: 7). The efficient of efficacious cause is the holy calling of, or regeneration by, the Holy Ghost in the birth of the Spirit (II Timothy 1: 9; John 3:3).

Believers being brought into the bond of the covenant (Ezekiel 20:37) are made partakers of the benefits of the covenant; they are brought into communion with Jesus Christ in his death. Believers are accounted dead with and in Christ, crucified with and in him  “ye in me and I in you” (John 14: 20); “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20); Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him  (Romans 6:6): therefore believers are “dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4): “that being dead wherein ye were held; (that is dead to, “the law of sin and death” Romans 8:2) that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Romans 7:6).

Service under the “oldness of the letter” of the law is motivated by fear, and dread; it is the service of a slave who dreads the lash of the whip. Fear has torment and perturbation of mind, but “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (I John 4:18). This fear; (the fear and dread of punishment) is the fear of a slave, and is different from the fear of a son, who when he is matured serves from a principle of love, or from a wife, who from a principle of love serves in the bond of marriage. Service rendered from a principle of fear; motivated by the threat of the law is not acceptable to God, it is a legal fear and brings legal repentance, the service to which that sort of fear motivates is the service of a slave and not a son. Legal repentance is that sorrow of the world which worketh death; (II Corinthians 7:10).

 The fear that God requires is the gift of the Spirit of God; and beyond the nature of natural man, that is, it is not of man as born in this world; a fallen and ruined creature.  For man by his nature is the incessant enemy of God “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7). Oh no! “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (I Corinthians 2:14). The lack of the fear of God that is complained of in Romans 3:18 is that fear of an adult son who loves his father; it is a reverential awe of God, a loving subjection to God’s claims on his spiritual children. The testimony of the Spirit is “There is no fear of God before their (their; the unregenerate world) eyes.” (Romans 3:18).

            The believers baptism into union with Christ in death; is his release from the dominion of indwelling sin, not that indwelling sin is eradicated, for it is not, but it’s dominion is destroyed, it no longer is the dominant motivating principle of the life “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14). The believers death under the sentence of the law in Christ, frees him from the law, as a covenant of works; (Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 18:5) because by union with Christ he has died under the sentence of the law; therefore the law is fulfilled and satisfied toward him, and can never again condemn him “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, (Romans 8:1). Because of this the believer is dead to the law and dead to sin (Romans 7:4; I Peter 2:24 respectively).

             “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” (I Corinthians 15:56); the believer’s death in Christ, which is by eternal union with Christ: destroys the strength or dominion of indwelling sin, through the new birth and the powerful inclinations of the new heart in the inner man, and all of this is by the influence or grace of Spirit of God.  “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14). Now since believers are “dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4); they are no longer under the tyrannical reign of sin, though sin is yet in their members, (Romans 7:23). Nor are believers subject to the curse of the law,  for  “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:13). Since believers are dead to the law by the body of Christ; they are dead to the sentence of death, eternal punishment, condemnation, or the threat a any such thing by the law; for the law and justice of God is fully satisfied through the perfect righteousness and shed blood; of Jesus Christ; who is one with his children and he being named the “everlasting Father,” (Isaiah 9:6) they, that is the children; have been children from everlasting, having been loved with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3) and having been given interest in Christ before the world began (II Timothy 1:9).

Another way that the law is the strength of sin is by the prohibitions of the law against sin. The prohibitions of the law, irritate the corruption and total depravity of the heart of natural man, the law’s prohibitions against sin in our members stirs up, instigates, and arouses sin, so that sin finds occasion by the law, to act with more damnable vigor: (sin by the commandment becomes exceedingly sinful; Romans 7:13). “For when we were in the flesh, (that is while we were unregenerate) the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” (Romans 7:5) And; “But sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. (Evil desire, lustful imaginations, every evil thought according to the evil heart of man {see Matthew 7:11} or “the motions of sins” as above) For without the law sin was dead.” (Romans 7:8). “Sin was dead”; in the sense of a reigning monarch that is at ease in his palace. The holy commandments of the law provoke sin in the sinner, and sin then acts with greater vigor; “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” (Romans 7:7). The law discovers and reveals sin, as sin, for “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20).

The law then; (for those who see the law) is like a mirror for the sons of men, (James 1:23) we see by the law; the motions of sins working in our members to bring forth fruit unto death, (actions, attitudes, and desires that are worthy of death; Romans 7:5). The prohibitions of the law excite rebellion, and all manner of evil concupiscence in the sinner; but we know that the law is from God and is therefore just, holy and good: therefore we are made to see ourselves at odds with that which is holy and therefore we must be unholy, unjust, and  not good, but evil; (Romans 3:10-19). But natural men, see not the law, for they are blind to the things of the Spirit of God, (I Corinthians 2:14). So natural men (though very religious, as Saul the Pharisee) seeking to be justified by the law; by seeking to fulfill the letter of the law by themselves; are deceived by sin, thinking themselves capable of keeping the law. “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.” (Romans 7:11).

“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Romans 7:6). Believers are delivered from the law by their death in Christ; (Galatians 2:20) those who comprise the mystical body of Christ, having fulfilled the law because of their union with Christ: are in a state acquiescence concerning the law, they acknowledge their inability to fulfill the law themselves, and that the law is just, holy, and good. Believers know that they are not under the law as a covenant of works; therefore the law in no longer a provoking force to the believer himself, who knows he stands justified by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:24). Therefore the motions of sin which are by the law are no longer a provocation, to stir and arouse sin which is yet in the members of the saints; and consequently the believer rests from his struggle with inward sin as provoked by the law; the believer hides from that storm in the Rock Christ Jesus, and whatsoever the believer does in service to his Lord is motivated by love and not law, therefore it is a labor of love; which is service in the newness of life. However when the believer eyes that law as his, to be fulfilled by himself, in any manner to any degree; then misery ensues, for this service is in the oldness of the letter. Therefore let those who are believers in Christ Jesus; rest in Christ, only in Christ, and always in Christ, for “ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” (I Corinthians 3:23).

A.J. Ison