Chapter Two
Several endowments and qualifications are necessary to enable us for the immediate practice of the law everal qualities and abilities are necessary to enable us to immediately practice the law. In particular, we must have a desire and inclination in our hearts towards it. Therefore, we must firmly believe in our reconciliation with God and in our future experience of everlasting heavenly blessings. We must also possess sufficient strength to both desire and perform all duties in an acceptable manner until we attain that ultimate happiness.
The means that are closest to achieving the desired end must first be revealed so that we can learn how to obtain them through the directions provided. Thus, I have mentioned various qualities and abilities that are necessary to establish that holy disposition and state of the soul which enables us to immediately practice the law, not just initially but continuously. Therefore, take note that these qualities must remain within us during our earthly lives, or else our capacity for a holy life will be lost.
They must precede practice, not in terms of time, but as a cause comes before its effect.
I do not claim to have listed all the necessary qualities specifically, but I dare say that anyone who attains these can, through the same means, acquire any other qualities that should be included. This is a matter worthy of serious consideration, as few understand that specific endowments are required to equip us for a holy practice, more so than for other voluntary actions. The first Adam received excellent endowments for a holy practice when he was created in the image of God, and the second Adam received even more excellent endowments to enable Him for a more challenging task of obedience. Considering that obedience has become more difficult due to opposition and temptations since Adam's fall, we, who are to imitate Christ, must possess exceptional endowments, at least equal to or better than what Adam had initially, as our task is more arduous than his.
What king, preparing for war against another king, does not first sit down and consider whether he can confront the enemy who outnumbers him?
And yet, should we dare to enter into battle against the forces of darkness, worldly terrors and enticements, and our own powerful inherent corruptions, without considering whether we possess sufficient spiritual resources to stand firm in the face of adversity? Nevertheless, many are satisfied with an ability to desire and perform their duties that they believe should be universally given to all people. However, this does not equip them any better for the spiritual battle than the majority of the world, who remain defeated under the sway of the wicked one. Therefore, their standing is not secure at all.
It is challenging to determine what this universal ability is that so many passionately argue for, what it consists of, and how it is conveyed to us and maintained through means.
Bodily agility relies on spirits, nerves, ligaments, and bones for its functioning, but this spiritual universal ability appears to be an elusive quality that cannot be adequately explained in terms of its conveyance or constitution. In order to prevent self-deception and failure in our pursuit of holiness by relying on such a weak and mysterious quality, I have outlined four endowments that are necessary to constitute a true ability for the practice of holiness. These endowments are essential for its sustenance and maintenance. Later, I will demonstrate how these endowments are bestowed upon us and whether the inclination or propensity mentioned here is perfect or imperfect. These endowments are of such a mysterious nature that some who acknowledge the necessity of endowments for preparing us for holiness are inclined to believe that less than these will suffice, and that some of these endowments actually lead us towards licentiousness rather than holiness since they are presented before any actual performance of the moral law. They may even think that some things contrary to these endowments would put us in a better state for holiness. Against all such notions, I will strive to provide a clear demonstration of these endowments that may win the assent of sound reasoning, explaining them in the same order as I have presented them in the direction.
1. I affirm that an inclination and propensity of the heart towards the duties of the law is necessary to shape and enable us for their immediate practice. By this, I do not mean a blind inclination like that of inanimate creatures and animals towards their natural actions, but rather a fitting inclination for intelligent beings, guided by reason, that inclines them to approve and choose their duty and be averse to the practice of sin. Thus, I have indicated that the three other endowments mentioned in the direction serve as supports to this primary endowment, which are sufficient to make it a rational inclination. This contradicts those who, out of zeal for obedience but lacking knowledge, fervently argue for free will as a necessary and adequate endowment to enable us to perform our duty once we are convinced of it and our obligation to it. They exalt this endowment as the greatest benefit bestowed upon all mankind through universal redemption, despite considering this free will without any actual inclination towards good. Moreover, they cannot deny that in most people who possess it, free will is burdened with a strong inclination towards evil. Such a free will cannot free us from the bondage of sin and Satan or prepare us for the practice of the law, and therefore it is not worth the effort of those who fervently defend it. The will is not truly free in the manner necessary for holiness until it is endowed with an inclination and propensity towards it, as can be seen from the following arguments.The duties of the law are of such a nature that they cannot be performed when there is a complete aversion or mere indifference of the heart towards them, and no inclination or propensity towards their practice. This is because the greatest commandment of all is to love the Lord with our whole heart, might, and soul, to love everything that is in Him, to love His will and His ways, and to view them as good. Love must influence the performance of all duties: we must take delight in doing the will of God; it should be sweeter to us than honey or honeycomb. This love, liking, delight, longing, thirst, and sweet relishing must endure until the end. The initial involuntary movements of lust must be guided by love for God and our neighbour, and sin must be fought against and abhorred. If it were considered true obedience (as some suggest) to love our duty only as a market man loves the muddy roads to the market, or as a sick person loves an unpleasant medicinal potion, or as a captive slave loves hard work out of fear of a greater evil, then perhaps it could be performed with aversion or lack of inclination. However, we must love it as the market man loves profit, as the sick person loves health, as delicious food and drink, as the captive loves freedom. Undoubtedly, there can be no power in the will for this kind of service without a genuine inclination towards the will of God, a heart that aligns with His own heart, a turning away of our hearts from sin, and a kind of strong dislike for sin. We know the saying, "Like loves like." There must be a compatibility between the person or thing loved and the disposition of the lover. Love for God must come from a clean heart, a heart that has been cleansed from evil inclinations and tendencies.
Reason tells us that the initial movements of lust, which are beyond our choice and deliberation, cannot be avoided without a steadfast inclination of the heart towards holiness.
2. The image of God, in which God, according to His infinite wisdom, deemed it fitting to create the first Adam in righteousness, true holiness, and uprightness, consists of an actual inclination and propensity of the heart towards the practice of holiness. It does not merely entail the power of will to choose between good and evil, for in itself, this power is neither holy nor unholy; it is merely a foundation upon which the image of either God or Satan can be drawn. Nor does it involve an indifference towards the choice of sin or duty, for that is a wicked disposition in an intelligent creature who knows their duty, and it only leaves us wavering between God and Baal. Initially, God placed Adam's soul in a wholly upright inclination, although Adam could act contrary to it if he chose, just as we may be persuaded to do things contrary to our natural inclinations. It is easy to fall short of our duty, despite the great preparation and equipment required for its performance. Similarly, the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, was born as a holy being, with a sanctified disposition of His soul and a propensity towards goodness. Can we reasonably expect to rise to the life of holiness from which the first Adam fell, or to imitate Christ, considering that duty has become more difficult due to the Fall, if we are not renewed to some extent according to the same image of God and endowed with such a propensity and inclination?
3. Original corruption, by which we are estranged from God and godliness from birth and become willing slaves to the commission of actual sins until the Son of God sets us free, consists of a natural inclination and propensity of the heart towards sin and an aversion to holiness. Without this inclination towards sin, what can we make of the "law of sin in our members" that wages war against the law of our mind and holds us captive to the service of sin? What is that poison within us that warrants us being called serpents, vipers?
What is that spirit of promiscuity in men that hinders them from turning their deeds towards God? How does the tree become corrupt and, as a result, bear corrupt fruit? How can man be described as abominable and filthy, drinking iniquity like water? How could the mind of the flesh be in constant enmity with the law of God? I am aware that there is also a blindness of understanding and other aspects associated with original corruption that contribute to this evil inclination of the will. However, this inclination itself is the great evil, the indwelling sin that gives rise to all actual sins. It must be either removed or restrained by restoring the contrary inclination that constitutes the image of God; otherwise, we will be averse and unreceptive to every good work, and any freedom the will possesses will only be employed in the service of sin.
4. God restores His people to holiness by granting them "a new heart and a new spirit" and removing the heart of stone from their flesh, replacing it with a heart of flesh. He circumcises their hearts, enabling them to love Him with their entire being. Additionally, He calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may discern and follow His acceptable will. David also prays for this same purpose, asking God to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. If anyone believes that this new, clean, circumcised heart, this heart of flesh, this new right spirit, lacks an actual inclination and propensity towards goodness, and is merely endowed with a power to choose between good and evil, referred to as free will without any present inclination to good, or an indifference towards both opposites, then it may not be worthwhile to try and convince such a judgement. However, let it be considered whether David would deem a heart clean and right when he prays, "Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness."
The second necessary endowment to enable us to immediately practice holiness, in conjunction with the two others that follow, is to be firmly convinced of our reconciliation with God. We must acknowledge that the breach of friendship caused by sin between God and us is repaired through a firm reconciliation, restoring His love and favour towards us. In this, I include the great benefit of justification as the means by which we are reconciled to God. This is described in Scripture either as the forgiveness of our sins or the imputation of righteousness to us, as both aspects are encompassed within the same justifying act. It is similar to how one act of illumination involves the expulsion of darkness and the introduction of light, or how one act of repentance entails the mortification of sin and the vivification to righteousness. Every transition from one state to its contrary is essentially one and the same, even though it may be expressed using different terms depending on the two opposing elements involved, with one being abolished and the other introduced. This is a profound mystery that contradicts the understanding not only of ordinary people but also of some learned theologians. They believe that we must be reconciled to God and justified through the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness before we can sincerely obey the law and be enabled to practice it. They argue that this doctrine undermines holy practice and serves as a significant support for Antinomianism. According to them, the only way to establish genuine obedience is to make it a condition to be fulfilled prior to our actual justification and reconciliation with God. As a result, some recent theologians have attempted to reshape the doctrine of justification held by earlier Protestants in order to make it less prone to Antinomianism and more effective in securing holy practice. However, their efforts are futile and harmful, as they tend towards either Antinomian irreverence or, at best, superficial hypocrisy. Neither true nor feigned practice can be secure unless the conviction of our justification and reconciliation with God is first obtained apart from works of the law, enabling us to engage in such practice. I will now prove this through several arguments and also demonstrate in the following directions that the persuasion of God's love, as granted to His people, leads only to holiness, although a mistaken belief in it serves as an occasion for licentiousness in many individuals.
1. When the first Adam was created for the practice of holiness, he enjoyed God's great favour and had no sin attributed to him. He was regarded as righteous in God's eyes, given his upright nature in accordance with God's image. It is reasonable to believe that these qualifications were advantageous for his pursuit of holiness, as God's wisdom deemed them good for that purpose. However, when Adam lost these qualities, he fell into a state of spiritual death.
Similarly, the second Adam, in our human nature, was beloved by the Father and considered righteous before God, with no sin imputed to Him except for the sins He bore on behalf of others. Can we reasonably expect to imitate Christ by undertaking obedience more challenging than that of the first Adam before the Fall, unless we receive similar advantages through reconciliation, the forgiveness of sins, and the imputation of God's righteousness to us, as we have none of our own?
2. Those who are fully aware of their natural state of spiritual deadness under the power of sin and Satan are convinced that, if left to their own devices, they can only continue to sin. They recognize that they can only perform good works if it pleases God, out of His great love and mercy, to work in them. Therefore, in order to be encouraged and genuinely inclined towards holiness, they must have hope that God will work salvation within them. Now, I leave it to thoughtful individuals to judge whether such hope can be well-founded without a firm conviction of reconciliation with God and His saving love towards us, which does not depend on any prior goodness of our works, but is a sufficient cause to bring about their effective manifestation in us. Moreover, we understand (if we truly know ourselves) that our spiritual death originated from the guilt of Adam's initial sin and the punishment pronounced upon it. This state of death persists in us due to the guilt of our own sins and the curse of the law. We can never receive spiritual life to be liberated from this dominion unless this guilt and curse are removed from us, which occurs through actual justification.
3. The nature of the duties prescribed by the law necessitates an understanding of our reconciliation with God and His genuine love and favour towards us in performing them. The greatest duty is to love God with our entire being, and this love is not a mere contemplative affection such as philosophers may have towards the objects of their study, with no further personal involvement beyond satisfying their intellectual curiosity. Rather, it is a practical love that leads us to willingly submit ourselves and the entire world to God's absolute authority and governance, accepting His sovereign will in relation to our present and eternal condition. It involves viewing Him as the sole source of fulfillment and happiness for all who are blessed. This love encompasses delighting in everything about God as our Lord, including His justice along with all His other attributes, without desiring Him to be different than He is. It is a love that desires His will to be done in our lives and the lives of others, whether it involves prosperity or adversity, life or death.
Through this love, we can genuinely praise Him in all circumstances and find joy in our obedience to Him, even when we endure great hardships, including the prospect of death.
Consider these matters carefully, and you will easily understand that our spirits are not in the right state to perform these duties when we perceive ourselves to be under God's curse and wrath, or when we harbor suspicions that God will ultimately prove to be our enemy. Slavish fear may force some hypocritical actions from us, akin to Pharaoh reluctantly allowing the Israelites to go. However, the duty of love cannot be coerced or compelled by fear; it must be won and sweetly attracted through an understanding of God's love and goodness towards us, as that beloved disciple testifies.
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us."
Note here that we cannot love God before we perceive His love for us.
Reflect on your own experience, if you have true love for God, and consider whether it was not instilled in you by a sense of God's love for you first.
The goodness and excellence of God alone cannot make Him an object of love for us unless we perceive Him as a good that agrees with us. I have no doubt that the devils know the excellence of God's nature just as well as our greatest metaphysical thinkers, but this only fills them with tormenting horror and trembling, which is contrary to love. The greater God's excellence and perfection, the greater evil He becomes to us if He hates and curses us. Therefore, the innate instinct of self-preservation, deeply rooted in our nature, prevents us from loving that which we perceive as our own destruction. If a person is an enemy to us, we can love them for the sake of our loving reconciled God, because His love can make that person's hatred work for our good. But if God Himself is our enemy, for whose sake can we love Him? Who is there that can deliver us from the evil of His enmity and turn it to our advantage until He is pleased to reconcile Himself to us?
Our conscience must necessarily be cleansed from dead works in order for us to serve the living God. This cleansing is accomplished through the actual forgiveness of sin, obtained by the blood of Christ and revealed to our consciences, as demonstrated by Christ's death for this purpose. In Scripture, that conscience which judges us to be guilty of sin and under God's wrath is considered an evil conscience, even though it performs its duty accurately, because it is caused by the evil of sin and will itself lead us to commit more sin until it can declare us justified from all sin and accepted in God's favour. Love, which is the goal of the law, must originate from a good conscience, just as much as from any other purity of heart. David's mouth could not praise God until he was delivered from the guilt of bloodshed. This guilty conscience, through which we perceive God as our enemy and His justice as condemning us eternally due to our sins, strongly maintains and increases the dominion of sin and Satan within us. It has pernicious effects on the soul, fueling hatred towards God and a desire for there to be no God, no heaven, and no hell so as to escape punishment. It causes such aversion towards God that people cannot bear to think, speak, or hear about Him and His law; instead, they seek to distract themselves with worldly pleasures and activities, trying to keep God out of their minds.
Consequently, they become alienated from true religion, merely suppressing it and silencing its voice. This guilty conscience produces zeal for outward religious performances, as well as false religion, idolatry, and the most inhumane superstitions in the world.
I have often pondered how any sin could effectively destroy the entire image of God in the first Adam, and I conclude that it was by first instilling an evil guilty conscience in him, through which he believed that the righteous God was against him and had cursed him for that one sin. This was enough to lead to a shameful exposure through disorderly desires, a complete turning of his love away from God to the creation, and a desire to hide from the presence of God. This resulted in the total destruction of the image of God's holiness. We can infer that the continual malice, bitterness, rage, and blasphemy of the devil and many wicked individuals against God and godliness stem from the same cause. Some may consider Job uncharitable for suspecting not only that his sons had sinned but that they had been so abominably wicked as to curse God in their hearts. However, Job understood well that if the guilt of any ordinary sin weighs on the conscience, it will secretly lead the soul to wish that God did not exist or that He was not such a just judge. This secret cursing of God cannot be avoided until our consciences are cleansed from the guilt of sin through the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf, as symbolised by Job's burnt offerings for his sons.
God has clearly revealed in His Word that His method of bringing people from sin to a life of holiness is to first make them aware of His love for them and the forgiveness of their sins. When He gave the Ten
Commandments on Mount Sinai, He began by revealing Himself as their God who had delivered them from Egypt, assuring them of His salvation (Exod. 20:2). Throughout the Old Testament, God instituted circumcision as the entryway into religion, which served not only as a sign but also as a seal of the righteousness obtained through faith, justifying people while they were still considered ungodly. This seal was administered to infants on the eighth day, before they were capable of fulfilling any conditions of sincere obedience, in order to prepare them for a life of holiness.
Moreover, in the Old Testament, God ordained various washings, the shedding of animal blood, and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer to purify and sanctify the people for worship in His tabernacle and temple.
These rituals symbolised the cleansing of their consciences from dead works through the blood of Christ, enabling them to serve the living God.
This sanctification, in a broader sense, encompassed all that prepared them for God's service, particularly the forgiveness of sin. Though in a stricter sense, focusing solely on their conformity to the law, sanctification would necessarily follow justification, as is commonly taught by Protestant theologians. God also emphasized the importance of first dealing with guilt before engaging in acceptable worship by commanding them to offer sin offerings before burnt offerings. And to ensure that the guilt of their sins did not defile their worship, God instituted an annual Day of Atonement, during which the scapegoat would bear the people's iniquities into a desolate land, providing a comprehensive atonement for all their sins (Lev. 5:8; 16:3, 11, 22, 34).
Under the New Testament, God employs the same method of first loving us and cleansing us from our sins through the blood of Christ. He does this to appoint us as priests, enabling us to offer sacrifices of praise and good works to God the Father. He initiates us into His service through the washing away of our sins in baptism. He nourishes and strengthens us for His service by granting us the forgiveness of sins in the blood of Christ during the Lord's Supper. He urges us to obey Him because He has already loved us and pardoned our sins. "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you" (Eph. 4:32; 5:1-2). "I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake. Do not love the world nor the things in the world" (1 John 2:12, 15). I could provide numerous similar passages. From all this, it is evident that God considers it of great importance and graciously provides abundant means, both in the Old and New Testaments, for His people to be first cleansed from guilt and reconciled to Himself in order to be fit for the practice of holiness.
Therefore, let us discard all contrary methods proposed by the new divinity!
The third necessary endowment to enable us to practice holiness, without which a conviction of our reconciliation with God would have little efficacy in fostering a rational inclination towards it, is the persuasion of our future enjoyment of everlasting heavenly happiness. This persuasion precedes our holy practice, serving as a motivating and enticing factor. Various adversaries challenge this assertion. Some argue that a belief in our future happiness, prior to demonstrating sincere obedience, leads to licentiousness.
They suggest that the way to perform good works is to make them a necessary condition for attaining this persuasion. Others condemn all works pursued out of anticipation of future heavenly joy as legalistic, mercenary, arising from self-love rather than pure love for God. They depict genuine godliness as a person holding fire in one hand to burn up heaven and water in the other to extinguish hell, implying that true devotion to God must not stem from hope for reward or fear of punishment, but solely from love. To establish the truth asserted against these conflicting errors, I will present the following considerations.
1. The nature of the duties prescribed by the law is such that they cannot be sincerely and universally practised without this endowment. I have already sufficiently demonstrated the necessity of being convinced of our firm reconciliation with God through justification in order to prepare us for this practice, as it includes a belief in our future happiness. Without this conviction, all our efforts are of little value. However, let me now consider a scenario where a Sadducee, who believes in no happiness after death, is asked: "Can such a person love God with their whole heart, might, and soul?" Would it not be reasonable for them to diminish and moderate their love for God, fearing the pain of parting with Him in death? It is generally considered reasonable to detach ourselves from things we must eventually let go. Can such a person find contentment in the enjoyment of God as their happiness? Would they not view the enjoyment of God and all religious duties as vanity, just like everything else, since they will derive no benefit from them after a short time? How can such a person willingly sacrifice their life for the sake of God when, by dying, they must part with God and other things as well? How can they choose afflictions over sin when they will be more miserable in this life and find no happiness in the afterlife? I concede that if afflictions befall such an individual unavoidably, they may reasonably determine that patience is better than impatience. However, they will be displeased that they are compelled to practice such a virtue and prone to complain and resent their Creator, wishing they had never existed instead of enduring such hardships and finding solace only in fleeting and transient pleasures. I believe I have made my point about the inadequacy of such a person for holiness. In their attempt to reject heaven and hell in order to serve God out of love, they leave themselves no better equipped than the Sadducee. One denies them, the other dismisses their relevance in this matter.
2. The confident hope of heavenly glory has been routinely employed by God, since the fall of Adam, as an incentive for the practice of holiness, as abundantly shown in Scripture. Christ, the great exemplar of holiness, "endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy that was set before Him" (Heb. 12:2). While I cannot assert that the first Adam possessed such a certain hope to preserve his innocence, he did have the immediate possession of an earthly paradise and a blissful state within it, which he knew would endure if he continued in holiness or be transformed into an even greater happiness. The apostles did not lose heart in the face of affliction because they knew it would result in "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor. 4:16-17). The Hebrew believers "joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one" in heaven (Heb. 10:34). The apostle Paul considered all his sufferings worthless without the hope of a glorious resurrection, stating that Christians would be the most pitiable if this were not the case, and that the philosophy of the Epicureans, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die," would be preferable. He also urged the Corinthians to abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that their labor in Him would not be in vain (1 Cor. 15:58).
As worldly hopes motivate people in their various occupations, God grants His people the hope of His glory to keep them devoted to His service (Heb. 6:11, 12; 1 John 3:3). It is a certain hope that will never disappoint them (Rom. 5:5). Those who believe it is beneath the excellence of their love to work with the hope of heavenly reward actually elevate their love above that of the apostles, the early saints, and even Christ Himself.
1. This conviction of our future enjoyment of eternal happiness does not lead to licentiousness, provided we understand that perfect holiness is an essential aspect of that happiness. Though we have a right to that happiness through free justification and adoption, we must pursue it in a path of holiness (1 John 3:1-3). Furthermore, being motivated by this conviction is neither legalistic nor driven by self-interest, considering that the conviction itself is not obtained through works of the law, but by the free grace received through faith (Gal. 5:5). Even if it involves self-love, it is certainly not the carnal self-love condemned by Scripture as the source of sinfulness (2 Tim. 3:2), but a righteous self-love that inclines us to value God above the flesh and the world, as God instructs when He urges us to save ourselves (Acts 2:40; 1 Tim. 4:16). Far from being contrary to the pure love of God, this conviction enables us to love God more purely and wholeheartedly. The more we perceive God's eternal goodness and beneficence towards us, undoubtedly the more we will find Him lovable, and our affections will burn even brighter for Him. God does not desire to be loved as a barren wilderness or a land of darkness to us, nor does He expect to be served for nothing (Jer. 2:31). He would consider it dishonourable for us to claim Him as our God if He had not prepared a city for us (Heb. 11:16). He draws us to love Him with the cords of humanity, using the same cords that human love is drawn by, namely His own love towards us, as He presents His blessings before us (Hos. 11:4). Therefore, the way for us to remain in the love of God is to await His mercy leading to eternal life (Jude 21).
The final endowment, for the same purpose as the previous ones, is that we are convinced of having sufficient strength to both desire and carry out our duties in an acceptable manner until we attain heavenly happiness. This stands in contrast to the error of those who believe it is enough to have the ability to practice holiness if we desire, or to have the will to do so if we choose. They vehemently argue that this sufficient strength is a great benefit bestowed upon all humanity through universal redemption. It also opposes the misconception of those who think that living a godly or wicked life is equally easy, except for some initial difficulties in changing sinful habits and enduring persecution, which they consider to be rare occurrences since many kingdoms have embraced Christianity. They also believe that God only requires individuals to do their best, that is, what they are capable of, and it is nonsensical to say they cannot do what they are capable of.
According to their viewpoint, there is no need to concern ourselves much about sufficient strength for a holy practice. To affirm this assertion and refute these errors, consider the following arguments.
1. By nature, we are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, incapable of desiring or doing anything that is spiritually good, despite the redemption through Christ, until we are actually revived by Him (Eph. 2:1; Rom. 8:7-9). Those who are sufficiently enlightened and humbled recognize themselves to be in this state by nature. They not only lack the ability to carry out good actions, but primarily lack the inclination and pleasure to do so. They understand that if God does not work in them to both desire and act, they will neither will nor do anything pleasing to Him (Phil. 2:13). They also acknowledge that if God leaves them to their own corruption after initiating the good work, they will undoubtedly become vile apostates, and their ultimate state will be worse than their beginning.
From this, we can conclude that anyone who boldly attempts to follow the law without being firmly convinced of having sufficient power to wholeheartedly will and perform the entire work of obedience acceptably has never truly been humbled and come to know the corruption of their own heart. Furthermore, they do not truly believe in the doctrine of original sin, regardless of any formal profession they may make.
2. Those who believe that sincere obedience to the law is incredibly easy demonstrate their lack of understanding of both the law and themselves. Is it an easy task to wrestle, not just against human adversaries, but against principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places? (Eph. 6:12) Is it simple to resist lust and covetousness as commanded in the tenth commandment? The apostle Paul found it so challenging to obey this commandment that his sinful desires were actually heightened by it (Rom. 7:7, 8). Our task is not merely to change sinful habits, but to mortify corrupt natural affections that give rise to these habits. It involves not only refraining from fulfilling sinful desires but being filled with holy love and aspirations. Yet even restraining and countering the execution of corrupt desires in many cases is comparable to "cutting off a right hand or plucking out a right eye" (Matt. 5:29, 30). If obedience is so effortless, how is it that the pagans generally engaged in actions that their own consciences condemned as deserving of death? (Rom. 1:32) And why do many of us strive to enter through the narrow gate but fail to do so (Luke 13:24), breaking numerous vows and commitments to obedience and falling back into the practice of our lusts while being weighed down by the fear of eternal damnation?
Regarding those who believe that persecution for the sake of religion is rare in recent times, they should be suspected of being of the world, for the world loves its own. Otherwise, they would recognize that a mere national profession of religion does not guarantee the safety of those who are truly godly from various forms of persecution. And even if men do not persecute us for our faith, it is still immensely challenging to endure great injustices inflicted by others, as well as losses, poverty, physical ailments, prolonged illnesses, and untimely deaths through God's ordinary providence, all while maintaining a genuine love for God and for those who harm us, and exhibiting a patient acceptance of His will, as required by God's law. I acknowledge that the work of God is easy and pleasant for those whom God adequately equips for it. However, those who claim that it is easy for individuals in their ordinary condition reveal their lack of wisdom in contradicting the collective experiences of both pagans and Christians.
While many duties may not require significant physical or mental exertion and could be done with ease if we were willing, it is far easier to move a mountain than to move and incline the heart to genuinely desire and embrace the performance of these duties. I need not concern myself with those who believe that everyone has sufficient strength for a holy practice simply because they can make an effort, that is, do what they can. For God requires the actual fulfillment of His commands. What if, despite our efforts, we cannot fulfill the commands to any significant degree? Shall the law then be disregarded without any performance? And should such efforts be considered sufficient holiness? Moreover, what if we cannot even make the right kind of effort? If a person's ability were the measure of acceptable duty, the commands of the law would hold very little significance.
1. Throughout history, the wisdom of God has always provided people with a firm belief in sufficient strength to enable them to both desire and carry out their duties. The first Adam was endowed with such strength, and there is no reason to think that he was unaware of it or needed to fear being abandoned to his own corruptions, as he had no corruptions within him until he generated them through sinning against that strength. Once he lost that strength, he could not regain the practice of holiness until he became acquainted with a superior strength by which the head of Satan would be crushed (Gen. 3:15).
Our Lord Christ, undoubtedly, knew the infinite power of His divinity to enable Him for all that He had to do and suffer in our human nature. He knew that the Lord God would aid Him so that He would not be put to shame (Isa. 50:7). The Scripture demonstrates the abundant assurance of strength that God granted to Moses, Joshua, and Gideon when He called them to significant tasks, as well as to the Israelites when He called them to conquer the land of Canaan. Christ wanted the sons of Zebedee to consider whether they were able to drink from His cup and be baptized with the baptism that He was to undergo (Matt. 20:22). Paul encourages believers to a life of holiness by assuring them that sin will not prevail over them or have dominion over them, for they are not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6:13, 14). He urges them to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, so that they may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph. 6:10, 11). John exhorts believers not to love the world or the things of the world because they are strong and have overcome the evil one (1 John 2:14, 15).
Those who were called by God in the past to perform miracles were first made aware of the gift of power to work them, and no wise person would attempt to perform miracles without knowledge of the gift. Similarly, when people who were dead in sin are called to live a holy life, which is a great miracle within them, God reveals the gift of power to them in order to encourage them in a reasonable manner to embark on such a remarkable undertaking.