soul, without the demonstration of the Spirit. The sacred writ- ers, therefore, constantly pray for this divine influence, " extrin- secus accidens," to attend the means of grace and to render them effectual, as well for sanctification as for regeneration and conver- sion. Every such prayer, every thanksgiving for grace imparted, every recognition of the Christian virtues as fruits of the Spirit, and gifts of God, are so many recognitions of the great truth that the restoration of man to the image of God is not a work of nature, either originated or carried on by the efficiency of sec- ond causes, but is truly and properly supernatural, as due to the immediate power of the Spirit producing effects for which second causes are inadequate.
We are taught to pray for Repentance, Faith, and other Graces.
3. We accordingly find the Apostle and the sacred writers generally, referring not only regeneration, the communication of spiritual life to those spiritually dead, but the continuance of that life in its activity and growth, not merely to the power of God, but to his almighty power. Paul prays in Ephesians i. 19, that his readers might know " what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead." The same almighty power which was exhibited in the resurrection of Christ, is exercised in the spiritual resurrec- tion of the believer. And as the power which raised Christ from the dead was exercised in his ascension and glorification ; so also the same power, according to the Apostle, which is exerted in the spiritual resurrection of the believer, is exercised in carrying on his sanctification, which is inward and real glorification. Accord- ingly, in the same Epistle (iii. 7), he ascribes all the grace whereby he was fitted for the apostleship, " to the effectual working of his power." And further on (ver. 20), to encourage the people of God to pray for spiritual blessings, he reminds them of his omnipotence whereby He was " able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." It is almighty power, therefore, and not the impotence of second- ary influences, which works in the believer and carries on the work of his salvation.
They who are in Christ, therefore, are new creatures. They are created anew in Christ Jesus. This does not refer exclu- sively to their regeneration, but to the process by which the sin- ner is transformed into the image of Christ.
218 FART III. Ch. xviii. — sanctification.
Argument from the Believer's Union with Christ.
4. All that the Scriptures teach concerning the union between the believer and Christ, and of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, proves the supernatural character of our sanctification. Men do not make themselves holy; their holiness, and their growth in grace, are not due to their own fidelity, or firmness of purpose, or watchfulness and diligence, although all these are required, but to the divine influence by which they are rendered thus faithful, watchful, and diligent, and which produces in them the fruits of righteousness. Without me, saith our Lord, ye can do nothing. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. The hand is not more dependent on the head for the continuance of its vitality, than is the believer on Christ for the continuance of spiritual life in the soul.
Argument from related Doctrines.
5. This, however, is one of those doctrines which pervade the whole Scriptures. It follows of necessity from what the Bible teaches of the natural state of man since the fall ; it is assumed, asserted, and implied in all that is revealed of the plan of salva- tion. By their apostasy, men lost the image of God ; they are born in a state of alienation and condemnation. They are by na- ture destitute of spiritual life. From this state it is as impossible that they should deliver themselves, as that those in the grave should restore life to their wasted bodies, and when restored, continue and invigorate it by their own power. Our whole sal- vation is of Christ. Those who are in the grave hear his voice. They are raised by his power. And when they live it is He who lives in them. This is the doctrine which our Lord Himself so clearly and so frequently teaches, and upon which his Apostles so strenuously insist. St. Paul in the sixth and seventh chapters of his Epistle to the Romans, where he treats of this subject " in ex- tenso," has for his main object to prove that as we are not justified for our own righteousness, so we are not sanctified by our own power, or by the mere objective power of the truth. The law, the revelation of the will of God, including everything which He has made known to man either as a rule of obedience or as exhibiting his own attributes and purposes, was equally inadequate to secure justification and sanctification. As it demanded perfect obedience and pronounced accursed those who continue not in all things
§ l.j ITS NATURE. 219
written in the book of the law to do them, it can only condemn. It can never pronounce the sinner just. And as it was a mere outward presentation of the truth, it could no more change the heart than light could give sight to the blind. He winds up his discussions of the subject with the exclamation, " O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." His de- liverance was to be effected by God through Jesus Christ. We learn from the eighth chapter that he was fully confident of this deiiverance, and we learn also the ground on which that confi- dence rested. It was not that he had in regeneration received strength to sanctify himself, or that by the force of his own will, or by the diligent use of natural or appointed means, the end was to be accomplished without further aid from God. On the con- trary, his confidence was founded, (1.) On the fact that he had been delivered from the law, from its curse, and from its inexor- able demand of perfect obedience. (2.) On the fact that he had received the Spirit as the source of a new, divine, and imperishable life. (3.) This life was not a mere state of mind, but the life of God, or the Spirit of God dwelling in the heart ; which indwelling secured not only the continuance of " spiritual mindedness," but even the resurrection from the dead. " For if," says he, " the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (^(uoTroi^o-ct, make alive with the life of Christ) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (4.) Being led by the Spirit of God as the controlling principle of their inward and outward life, believers are the sons of God. The Spirit of God which is in them being the Spirit of the Son, is in them the Spirit of sonship, i. e., it pro- duces in them the feelings of sons toward God, and assures them of their title to all the privileges of his children. (5.) The sanc- tification and ultimate salvation of believers are secured by the immutable decree of God. For those " whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son ; .... moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called : and whom he called, them he also justified : and whom he justified, them he also glorified." This last includes sanctification ; the in- ward glory of the soul ; the divine image as retraced by the Spirit of God, which to and in the believer is the Spirit of glory. (1 Pet. iv. 14.) The indwelling of the Spirit renders the believer glorious. (6.) The infinite and immutable love which induced God to give his own Son for our salvation, renders it certain that
220 part m. Ch. xvni. — sanctification.
all other things shall be given necessary to keep them in the love and fellowship of God. Salvation, therefore, from beginning to end is of grace ; not only as being gratuitous to the exclusion of all merit on the part of the saved, but also as being carried on by the continued operation of grace, or the supernatural power of the Spirit. Christ is our all. He is of God made unto us wis- dom, and righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
§ 2. Wherein it consists.