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What A Tangled Web We Weave
2ndly, The natural man is an enemy to Christ in his PRIESTLY office. He is appointed of the Father a priest forever; that, only by his sacrifice and intercession, sinners may have peace with, and access to God. But Christ crucified is a stumbling-block, and foolishness to the unrenewed part of mankind, to whom he is preached, 1 Cor. 1:23. They are not for him as the “new and living way;” nor is he, by the voice of the world, “a High-priest over the house of God.” Corrupt nature goes quite another way to work.
Proof 1. None of Adam’s children are naturally inclined to receive the blessing in borrowed robes; but would always, according to the spider’s motto, “owe all to themselves:” and so climb up to heaven on a thread spun for themselves. For they “desire to be under the law,” Gal. 4:21, and “go about to establish their own righteousness,” Romans 10:3. Man naturally looks on God as a great master; and himself as his servant, who must work and win heaven as his wages. Hence, when conscience is awakened, he thinks that, to the end he may be saved, he must answer the demands of the law, serve God as well as he can, and pray for mercy wherein he comes short. And thus many come to duties, who never come out of them to Jesus Christ.
Man’s Fourfold State, The Whole Works Of The Late Thomas Boston Of Ettrick, Volume 8, p. 69
“None of Adam’s children are naturally inclined to receive the blessing in borrowed robes; but would always, according to the spider’s motto, “owe all to themselves:” and so climb up to heaven on a thread spun for themselves.”
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:11-14 ESV
What a striking picture of the natural man’s aversion to the grace of God. The unregenerate man does not like borrowed robes. He would rather weave his own coat of many colors as a proud display of his own righteousness. Instead of climbing Jacob’s ladder, the sons of Adam would rather play the part of a busy spider spinning their own life line to God.
The proud heart stands between the natural man and Christ. Even the regenerate man, at times, struggles against the temptation to ‘meet God half-way’. After all, God helps those who help themselves . . . right?
I was once told that this free grace of which you speak is just a little too easy. Christ’s life and death fulfilled all of the requirements of God’s law on my behalf? There has to be a catch. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that person was on to something. There is a catch. This is it . . . nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.
Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
[originally When my eye-strings break in death]
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
God’s Debt To His Own Faithfulness
It was certainly an act of grace, favor, and admirable condescension in God, to enter into a covenant, and such a covenant, with his own creature. Man was not at his own—but at God’s disposal, nor had he anything to work with but what he had received from God. There was no proportion between the work and the promised reward. Before that covenant, man was bound to perfect obedience, in virtue of his natural dependence on God; and death was naturally the wages of sin, which the justice of God could and would have required, though there had never been any covenant between God and man—but God was free; man could never have required eternal life as the reward of his work, if there had not been such a covenant. God was free to have disposed of his creatures as he saw fit—if he had stood in his integrity to the end of time, and there had been no covenant promising eternal life to him upon his obedience, God might have withdrawn his supporting hand at last and so have made him creep back into nothing, whence almighty power had drawn him forth. And, what wrong could have been in this, for God would have only taken back what he freely gave? But now, the covenant being made, God becomes debtor to his own faithfulness—if man will work, he may crave the reward on the ground of the covenant. Well might the angels, then, upon his being raised to this dignity, have given him this salutation—”Hail! you who is highly favored, the Lord is with you.”
Man’s Fourfold State, The Whole Works Of The Late Thomas Boston Of Ettrick, Volume 8, pp. 18 & 19
“But now, the covenant being made, God becomes debtor to his own faithfulness—if man will work, he may crave the reward on the ground of the covenant.”
If my experience in dealing with so-called ‘Federal Vision’ proponents holds true, many would find such a statement to be seemingly blasphemous. The FV men also deny (or at least equivocate on) the bi-covenantal scheme of the Westminster confession. They claim that God made no such covenant as a covenant of ‘works’ with the pre-fall Adam.
A Joint Federal Vision Statement
The Covenant of Life
We affirm that Adam was in a covenant of life with the triune God in the Garden of Eden, in which arrangement Adam was required to obey God completely, from the heart. We hold further that all such obedience, had it occurred, would have been rendered from a heart of faith alone, in a spirit of loving trust. Adam was created to progress from immature glory to mature glory, but that glorification too would have been a gift of grace, received by faith alone.
We deny that continuance in this covenant in the Garden was in any way a payment for work rendered. Adam could forfeit or demerit the gift of glorification by disobedience, but the gift or continued possession of that gift was not offered by God to Adam conditioned upon Adam’s moral exertions or achievements. In line with this, we affirm that until the expulsion from the Garden, Adam was free to eat from the tree of life. We deny that Adam had to earn or merit righteousness, life, glorification, or anything else.
I maintain that the affirmations and denials in the preceding statement are contradictory. To say that had Adam fulfilled the terms of the covenant, and received ‘glorification’ by grace through faith alone, is irreconcilable with “do this and live, do that and die”.
I affirm that God is sovereign and can do what he will with His universe and all that is in it. I deny that God is capable of contradicting His own attributes. This is exactly what I believe Thomas Boston has in mind when he penned the afore-mentioned statement.
God graciously condescended to enter into a covenant with Adam. Boston surely says as much. But it was an agreement nonetheless. Is God not faithful? Could our immutable Lord of glory make a conditional promise and then fail to keep its terms?
Num 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Boston On The Covenant Of Redemption
The covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace are not two distinct covenants, but one and the same covenant. I know some great and good men have taught otherwise, alleging the covenant of redemption to have been made with Christ, and the covenant of grace to be made with believers; though they were far from designing or approving the ill use some have made of that principle. However, the doctrine of this church, in the Larger Catechism, is in express words, “The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.” From whence it necessarily follows, that the covenant made with Christ and with believers, or the covenant of grace and redemption, are one and the same covenant. Only, in respect of Christ, it is called the covenant of redemption, forasmuch as in it he engaged to pay the price of our redemption; but in respect of us, the covenant of grace, forasmuch as the whole of it is of free grace to us, God himself having provided the ransom, and thereupon made over life and salvation to poor sinners, his chosen by free promise, without respect to any work of theirs to entitle them thereto.
Of The Covenant Of Grace, The Whole Works Of The Late Thomas Boston Of Ettrick, Volume 1, pp. 333 & 334
There is no universal redemption, nor universal atonement. Jesus Christ died not for all and every individual person of mankind; but for the elect only. The contrary doctrine may consist with the opinion which holds the covenant of redemption, and the covenant of grace to be two distinct covenants; the former made with Christ, and the latter with believers; the condition of the one undertaken and performed by him; the condition of the other undertaken and performed by us. Accordingly that opinion concerning the covenant, is readily embraced by Universalists of different denominations. But that doctrine is utterly inconsistent with this account of the covenant, which doth at once overthrow universal redemption or atonement, together with the federal conditionality of our holiness and good works, in the covenant of grace. For if the covenant of grace was made with Christ as a representative, and the elect only were the party represented by him in it; then surely the conditions of the covenant, his doing and dying, were accomplished for them only; and he died for no other: as when one hath entered into a bond of suretyship, his payment of that bond can never be reckoned a payment of their debt, whose names were not in the bond, and whom he was not surety for.
A View Of The Covenant Of Grace From The Sacred Records, The Whole Works Of The Late Thomas Boston Of Ettrick, Volume 8, pp. 404 & 405
“This redemption of elect souls was agreed upon by the Father and the Son in the covenant of grace from eternity. It was first proclaimed to fallen man in the first promise; it was shadowed forth under the Old Testament; the price was actually paid on the cross; and the powerful delivery is made in the conversion of the elect.”
“Christ the Only Redeemer of God’s Elect” is from Boston’s Divinity – An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, upon the plan of the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism, printed by and for W Gracie, and J Rennison, Bookseller, (Berwick: 1804), pp 414-430.
Quote found here.
Reference found here.
As the quotes above demonstrate, Thomas Boston believed that the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace are not two distinct covenants but one and the same covenant. He also believed that those who held that the Covenant of Redemption and the Covenant of Grace were distinct covenants could use this distinction as a basis for universal redemption.
I realize that these two points do not exhaust Boston’s view of the Covenant of Redemption. In a lecture given by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, he speaks of material relevant to this topic found in Boston’s memoirs. Unfortunately, I have yet to locate this material. Dr. Ferguson comments on this material below.
Boston rejected the idea of the Covenant of Redemption, not primarily on exegetical grounds, but because he believed there was a danger in thinking of a seperate Covenant of Redemption that made the Grace of God conditional upon something that Christ would promise to do, but brought conditionality into the very fellowship of the Trinity and thus distorted what Boston saw to be the free unfettered grace of God. Irrespective of the nice theology that is invloved in all of these areas, you will see what the burden of the Marrow Theology was. It was concerned to hold aloft this truth, that the reason that the Son of God died upon the cross was not in order to persuade God, but because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The death of Christ is the means by which God’s love touches needy sinners. It is not the reason why God loves needy sinners. He loved us from the first of time, He loves us to the last. And this these Marrow men saw was the foundation of the grace of God in the Gospel.
Update: Addition of Boston quote #3. See above.
Little Time To Read?
Check out the latest addition to my side-bar. There you will find a link to various compilations of Boston’s works read and recorded in mp3 format for online listening or download. If you’re accustomed to listening to an mp3 player while you work, exercise, drive, or whatever, this is a great way to take advantage of Thomas Boston’s teaching and preaching.
If you believe . . .
Proof 3. Consider the utter inconsistency of most men’s lives with the principles of religion which they profess—you may as soon bring east and west together, as their principles and practice. Men believe that fire will burn them; and therefore, they will not throw themselves into it. But the truth is, most men live as if they thought the gospel was a mere fable, and the wrath of God, revealed in his word against their unrighteousness and ungodliness, a mere scarecrow. If you believe the doctrines of the word, how is it that you are so unconcerned about the state of your souls before the Lord? how is it that you are so little concerned about this weighty point, whether you be born again or not? Most live as they were born–and are likely to die as they live–and yet live in peace. Do such people believe the sinfulness and misery of a natural state? Do they believe that they are children of wrath? Do they believe that there is no salvation without regeneration, and no regeneration but what makes a man a new creature?
If you believe the promises of the word, why do you not embrace them, and seek to enter into the promised rest? What sluggard would not dig for a hidden treasure, if he really believed that he might so obtain it? Men will work and toil for a maintenance, because they believe that by so doing they shall get it; yet they will be at no pains for the eternal weight of glory! Why? Because they do not believe the word of promise! Heb. 4:1, 2. If you believe the threatenings, how is it that you live in your sins; live out of Christ, and yet hope for heaven? Do such people believe God to be the holy and just One, who will by no means clear the guilty? No, no; none believe; none, or next to none, believe what a just God the Lord is, and how severely he punishes.
Man’s Fourfold State, The Whole Works Of The Late Thomas Boston Of Ettrick, Volume 8, pp. 53 & 54
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“If you believe the doctrines of the word, how is it that you are so unconcerned about the state of your souls before the Lord?”
“If you believe the threatenings, how is it that you live in your sins; live out of Christ, and yet hope for heaven?”
While Thomas Boston asks these questions with the unregenerate hypocrite in mind, his query is just as important for the regenerate man. Maybe more so. I certainly do believe in assurance and the perseverence of the saints, but our confession makes it clear that there are those who vainly deceive themselves with false hope.
I. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation[1] (which hope of theirs shall perish):[2] yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace,[3] and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.
1. Micah 3:11; Deut. 29:19; John 8:41
2. Amos 9:10; Matt. 7:22-23
3. I John 2:3; 3:14, 18-19, 21, 24; 5:13
4. Rom. 5:2, 5
The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XVIII Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation
Therefore, to take heed of the admonition to self examination is certainly the greatest favor we can do for our souls. Do you find yourself comfortable with a pet sin(s)? Yes? You are in danger and I would urge you to search your heart for the pleading and warning of the Holy Spirit lest you find yourself numbered among the hypocrites on the Day of the Lord. Don’t quench the Spirit. He calls to you.
Do you believe the doctrines of God’s Word? How is it then that you are so unconcerned about the state of your soul? Do you believe the threatenings? If you believe the threatenings, how is it that you are content to live in your sins?
2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Take heed to the Apostle’s instruction. Self examination does not contradict assurance. It’s a God-ordained means of checks and balances in order that we might not fool ourselves through presumption and laziness. So, if you believe . . .
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder . . . 2 Peter 1:3-13
