hensions of him, and only look upon him as a spiritual Saviour of Jews and Gentiles; therefore, ver. 17, if any man, Jew or Gentile, be in Christ, he is a new creature, or let him be a new creature; which is the main thing we regard; old things are passed away; the Old Testament economy is abolished; behold all things are become new, under the gospel dispensation; hence now in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature; for this is the subject of our ministry, God was in Christ reconciling the world, Gentiles as well as Jews, unto himself. 3. That reconciliation was made for Gentiles as well as Jews, was not only a reason why the apostles, to whom the word of reconciliation was committed, carried it among the Gentiles, but was also a noble argument to engage the believing Gentiles at Corinth to regard the exhortation made unto them, ver. 20, be ye reconciled to God, that is, to his providential dispensations towards them, to the order and ordinances of his house, to the form of discipline he had fixed in the church, and to all the laws of Christ, as king of saints, since he had been reconciling them to himself by his Son, the blessed effects of which they then enjoyed. This exhortation was not made to unconverted sinners, much less to the non-elect*; but to a church of Christ, professing faith in him, and who were reconciled to God's way of salvation by him. SECTION XLI. We therefore, as workers together with him, beseech you also, that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.-2 Cor. vi. 1. THIS Scripture usually stands† among the proofs of the saints' defectibility or apostacy, from whence it is concluded, that a man may receive the true grace of God in regeneration in vain, which may become useless and of no avail, may be lost, and he himself everlastingly perish. But, 1. We are not to understand by the grace of God, that grace which is implanted in the souls of men at the time of their regeneration, for that cannot be received in vain; it always produces its proper fruit and designed effect; it begins, carries on, and finishes the work of sanctification; it is an immortal, incorruptible, never-dying seed; it cannot be lost in any part or branch of it; it is a well of living water springing up unto everlasting life; it is closely and inseparably connected with eternal glory; to all those to whom God gives grace he gives glory; whom he calls and justifies, them he also glorifies. 2. The grace of God is sometimes to be understood of gifts of grace, and particularly such as qualify men for the work of the ministry, in which sense it is used by the apostle Paul, in Rom. i. 5, and xii. 6; Eph. iii. 8; 1 Cor. xv. 10; of which he had a large measure; nor was the grace which was bestowed on him in vain, seeing he laboured more abundantly than all the rest of the apostles. And it will appear reason*Whitby. p. 2, 6, 75; ed. 2. 2, 6, 74. + Remonstr. in Coll. Hag. art. v. p. 14, 78; Limborch, 1. 5, c. 83, sect. 1, p. 718; Whitby, p. 423, 461; ed. 2. 412, 441. able to take the phrase in the same sense here, if we consider the words as they stand in connexion with the latter part of the preceding chapter, and some following verses in this, after this manner; seeing the word and ministry of reconciliation is committed to us, and we are ambassadors for Christ; we not only pray you, the members of the church at Corinth, to be reconciled to the order of the gospel, and the laws of Christ in his house, but as workers together, (not with him, that is, God or Christ, which is not in the text,) as fellow-labourers in the Lord's vineyard, as jointly concerned in the same embassy of peace; we beseech you also, the ministers of the word in this church, that ye receive not the grace of God in vain; that is, that you be careful that the gifts bestowed on you do not lie neglected and useless, but that you use and improve them to the advantage of the church and glory of Christ, by giving up yourselves to study, meditation, and prayer, and by labouring constantly in the word and doctrine; and also, that you have a strict regard to your lives and conversations, giving no offence in any thing, laying no stumbling-block in the way of such you are concerned with, that the ministry be not blamed, ver. 3 (for ver. 2 is included in a parenthesis), and then adds the apostle, but in all things approving, Eavτoûs, yourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, &c. 3. The grace of God often designs the doctrine of grace, or the gospel of the grace of God, as in Tit. ii. 11; Heb. xii. 15; Jude, ver. 4; which may be truly so called, since it is a declaration of the love and grace of God to sinful men; it ascribes the whole of salvation to it, and is the means of implanting the grace of God in the hearts of his people in regeneration. Now the grace of God, in this sense, that is, the doctrine of grace, may be received in vain, so as that it may become useless, take no real effect, produce no real fruit; as was the case of such who received seed by the way-side, into stony places, and among thorns; and is the case whenever it comes in word only; is received, not into the heart, but into the head only; when the life and conversation is not becoming it; and especially when it is abused to vile purposes, that is, when men turn this doctrine of the grace of God into lasciviousness; and when, besides, they drop, deny, and fall off from those truths of the gospel they have before professed; and since this too often is the case, an entreaty, an exhortation of this kind, made to a visible church, consisting of real and nominal professors, cannot be improper, without supposing that true believers may fall from or lose the true grace of God in regeneration. SECTION XLII. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. -2 COR. xi. 2, 3. THE fears of the apostle, expressed in these words, and in Gal. iv. 11, 1 Thess. iii. 5, lest pious persons should miscarry, are thought to add farther strength to the argument against the saints' final perseverance*; "for, it is said, if the apostles, by the dictates of the Holy Spirit, had declared, that God had absolutely promised, that men once truly pious, should persevere to the end, how could they reasonably express their fears, lest it should be otherwise?" To which I reply, 1. That the fears of the apostle about the persons referred to in these several passages, were not lest they should fall from the love and favour of God, nor from the grace which was implanted in them, and so miscarry of heaven and. eternal happiness; but lest, through the subtlety of Satan, and his instruments, false teachers, their minds and judgments should be in any degree corrupted from the purity and simplicity of the gospel of Christ, and they should any way give into erroneous doctrines, or comply with judaizing practices, and so the labour of him and his fellow-ministers, in instructing and establishing them in gospel truths, be so far in vain. 2. The fears of the apostle, lest these persons should fall in this sense, yea, even if they could be extended further, are no proofs of fact that these persons did fall away; but only, at most, declare his apprehensions of their danger. And it is certain, that the most eminent saints are in danger, through the wiles of Satan, the cunning of false teachers, the persecutions of the world, and the corruption of their own hearts, of falling from their steadfastness in the faith; and it is owing to the mighty power and grace of God, that they are in any measure preserved. The apostle might express his fears on account of these things without any contradiction to or hesitation about God's absolute promise of the saints' final perseverance, and his faithfulness in the performance of it. 3. The jealousies and fears of the apostle about these persons, expressed with such a tender and affectionate concern for them, might be purposely directed and powerfully blessed to them by the Spirit, by whom he was assisted, as a means of their preservation from false principles and practices they were in danger of falling into, and thereby God's absolute promise of their final perseverance be accomplished. Nor do the apostle's fear, jealousy, caution, and watchfulness of himself, expressed in 1 Cor. ix. 27, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away, imply any impossibility or danger, or supposed danger, of his eternal damnation; since the word adókijos, does not design a reprobatet, as that is opposed to an elect person; for the apostle knew in whom he had believed, and was persuaded that nothing could separate him from the love of God; but his concern was, lest he should do any thing that might bring a reproach on the gospel, and his ministry be justly blamed, and brought under contempt, and so be rejected and disapproved of by men, and become useless. * Whitby, + Vide Whitby, p. 9, 10. SECTION XLIII. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.-PHIL. ii. 12. THESE words are represented as militating against God's decree of reprobation, man's passiveness, and the unfrustrableness of grace in conversion, and the final perseverance of the saints. 1. It is asserted*, that "to say God seriously invites, exhorts, and requires all men to work out their salvation, and yet, by his decree of reprobation, hath rendered the event, to most of them, impossible, is to make the gospel of Christ a mockery." But it should be observed, that this exhortation is not given to all men, and particularly not to reprobates, but to men already believing and converted, as is† elsewhere owned, even to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which were at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons, in whom a good work of grace was begun; to whom it was given both to believe on Christ, and suffer for his sake; who were beloved by the apostle, had always obeyed the Lord, and in whose hearts he was then working both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now to exhort these, and such as are in the like state and condition, to work out their salvation, who have a principle of spiritual life in them, and have measures of grace and strength given them, answerable to what they are exhorted to, is not to make the gospel of Christ a mockery, since these can never be thought to be reprobates; nor does this contradict the decree of the reprobation of others, which springs from the sovereign and righteous will of God, and which is not, but sin, the cause of man's damnation. 2. It is asked, "If some physical and irresistible operation were required on God's part, which makes it necessary for us to will and to do, why are we then commanded to work out our own salvation? for can we act where we are purely passive?" To which I reply, that these words are spoken to men already converted, in whom the work of regeneration was wrought, in which work they were purely passive; though now, having a principle of spiritual life, and under the influences of the grace of God, were capable of being active in working out their own salvation, which is something distinct from conversion and regeneration, and is to be understood, not in such a sense, as though men could procure and obtain spiritual and eternal salvation by their own performances, which is contrary to the Scriptures, which ascribe salvation in whole, and in part, to the free grace of God; contrary to the glory of the divine perfections of wisdom, grace, and righteousness, and inconsistent with the weakness and impotence of believers themselves besides, the best works of men are imperfect, and, were they perfect, could not be meritorious, since the requisites of merit are wanting in them. Add to this, that salvation is obtained alone by Christ, and is already finished, and not to be wrought out now, either *Whitby, p. 76; ed. 2. 75. † Ibid. p. 295; ed. 2. 288. Ibid. p. 294; ed. 2. 287. by Christ or believers; and, were it procured by the works of men, the death of Christ would be in vain; boasting in the creature would not be excluded, and men's obligations to God and Christ would be greatly weakened; and, since this sense of the words is attended with such insuperable difficulties, it can never be the true meaning of them. Let it be observed, that the words may be rendered*, work about your salvation, that is, employ yourselves in things which, though not essential to, yet do accompany salvation, and are to be performed by all those who expect it, though not to be expected for the performance of them; such as hearing of the word, submission to gospel ordinances, a discharge of every branch of spiritual and evangelical obedience, for which the apostle commends them in the beginning of this verse, since they had always obeyed, not only in his presence, but much more in his absence, he exhorts them to go on in a course of cheerful obedience to the close of their days, when they should receive the end of their faith, that which they were aiming at, and looking for, even the salvation of their souls. The Syriac version, if not a strict translation, yet gives the just sense of the words, by rendering them do the work or business of your lives, that is, your generation work, what God has cut out and appointed for you in this life; do all that with fear and trembling, with all humility, not trusting to your own strength, but depending on the grace of God, who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 3. This exhortation to work out salvation with fear and trembling, being directed to such who were, at present, in a state of favour with God, and in whom God had begun the good work, with others, directed to churches and persons, to fear, lest they should fall away, and finally miscarry, such as Prov. xxiii. 17 and xxviii. 14, Rom. xi. 20, Heb. iv. 1 and xii. 28, 1 Pet. i. 17, are improved into an argument against any absolute decree or promise of God, in favour of the saints' final perseverance: for it is said, "What ground of fear can there be, where God hath absolutely decreed to confer this salvation, and stands obliged by promise to afford those means, which will infallibly produce it" To which I answer: 1. The exhortation to the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, is not to be understood of a slavish fear of hell and damnation, or lest they should fall away and finally miscarry; since this would have been a distrust of the power and faithfulness of God, and so criminal in them. Nor is it reasonable to suppose that the apostle would exhort to such a fear, when he himself was confident of this very thing, that he which had begun a good work in them would perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Besides, the exhortation would be very oddly formed, if this were the sense of it, work out your salvation with fear of damnation; but as the phrase with fear and trembling • Nos vertimus, operamini circa salutem vestram, xarà Thy owτngiav jμär igyáļsods; imo quamvis sine κατὰ, dixisset simpliciter, την σωτηρίαν ὑμῶν ἐργάζεσθε, sensus non esset, salutem v stram efficite, sed idem quam jam nunc dedimus, sicut 1 Cor. ix. 13, Apoc. xviii. 17, and Joan. vi. 27. Ita et hic igyázoli aut xarizɣáliode oùy owongiav, non est salutem efficere, sed circa eam operari et laborare, ca tractare, quae ad salutem faciunt. De Dieu, in loc. + Whitby, p. 424-426, 480; ed. 2. 413-415, 459. Phil. i. 6. |