Section 3: An Answer to Some Objections
I come now to answer some Objections against my Sense of this Text, and the chief of them are taken from Doctor Whitby, a most ingenious Writer on that Side.
Objection 1. Does not Christ say, that to love the Lord our God is the Way to Life, Luke 10:27, 28? Is not this the same thing in effect, as when he directs the young Man to Eternal Life, by keeping the Commandments, and that in the same Language? For when the Lawyer inquires, What shall I do to inherit Eternal Life? Jesus gives him this Advice, Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and your Neighbor as yourself: This do and you shall live. Thus Eternal Life is promised by Christ himself, to our loving God and Man, which is the Epitome or Abstract of all the moral Commands in one, for Love is the fulfilling of the Law, Romans 13:8, 10.
Answer 1. It is very plain that in that Place our Savior is preaching the Covenant of Works, as well as in my Text, and that for the same Purpose too, (namely) for the Conviction of Sin. This Lawyer was not a humble and sincere Inquirer, but one who came to tempt and ensnare him; and then it is no wonder if Jesus did not give him a plain and direct Answer according to the Method of Salvation by the Gospel. And though he directed others to believe and repent, yet he did not treat a vain young Pharisee, who thought himself righteous, and a cunning Lawyer who designed to ensnare him, in the same manner that he would treat Persons who were sensible of their Sins, and sought the way to obtain Pardon and Happiness, nor did he give them the same Directions.
Answer 2. Let it be further considered, that the Life-time of Christ was not the appointed Season to speak the Glories of the Gospel in the fullest and plainest Language, as I hinted before. His frequent Business and Practice was to preach the Law, to reprove Sin, and prepare Men for the fuller and more complete Ministry of the Gospel, which after his Death he sent his Apostles to preach by the Power of his own Spirit: And they published the Gospel of Salvation by Repentance and Faith in the Blood of Christ, and Forgiveness through his Atonement, much plainer and clearer, and fuller than Christ himself did in his Life-time among the Multitudes. That Gospel which he taught them secretly, they proclaimed as it were upon the House Tops, according to his Order, Matthew 10:27.
Though Christ himself gave such Hints of this Gospel in his preaching, as were sufficient for Salvation to those that would receive them, yet he might be said to be sent rather with this dreadful Commission to the Generality of the Jews, Matthew 13:13; Isaiah 6:10. Make the Heart of this People fat and their Ears heavy, and shut their Eyes, etc. They were such a stubborn and self-conceited and disobedient People, that God justly gave them up to their own Blindness and Hardness: And for this Reason our Savior spoke often the great things of the Gospel to them in Parables. He was ordained to be a stumbling Stone and Rock of Offence to the House of Israel and Judah, Isaiah 8:14; 1 Peter 2:8; and this by the just Judgment of God, for their stoning the Prophets, and murdering the former Messengers of Heaven, for their forsaking the Law of God, and making it void by their Traditions, and for their violent Opposition to Christ his Son. Christ was not always bound to speak the Gospel to this People in as plain Words as he could, for Reasons that the Wisdom of God was well acquainted with, Reasons that the Justice of God righteously determined, and the Goodness of God did not think fit to oppose. And it is no wonder at all that he does speak in this way to those Men who came with curious Questions and with evil Purposes to ensnare him, as the Lawyer did in this Account of Saint Luke.
Objection 2. But can we suppose that Christ would deceive a young Man, who came seriously to inquire the Way to Eternal Life? Can we imagine that Christ, in whom dwells all Wisdom, Truth and Love, should give such Directions as could never bring a Man to Heaven, and especially considering that he came into the World on purpose to bring Life and Immortality to Light among Men, and to show them the true Way to Heaven?
Answer 1. That we may secure the Goodness of God and the Mercy of Christ from any Reproach in this Case, I say further, that Christ did take a very wise and regular Method with this young Man to bring him to Salvation, if he would have stayed to attend to it, and had not been full of evil Prejudices, of Self Righteousness, and the Love of this World. For the first thing to be done in order to bring Sinners to Heaven (as I hinted before) is to convince them of Sin, and this is done by the Law. This the Apostle Paul shows at large in his Epistle to the Romans, that Men by beholding the Perfection of the Law, and their Inability to perform it, might become Dead to all Hope from the Law, as he was when he says, Galatians 2:19. I by the Law am dead to the Law; and that they might not expect Life by the Law, but that they might seek for Salvation by the Way of Repentance and Faith, or Trust in Christ, and obtain Forgiveness of Sins through the free Grace of God in the Gospel.
Answer 2. Though this young Man had a vain Conceit of his own Righteousness, yet there was something in him naturally pleasing, agreeable and engaging, so that Christ as Man looked upon him and loved him, Mark 10:21. He had some liking to such a towardly and hopeful Youth, and preached the Law to him, to convince him of Sin, in order to his Salvation: But when he professed himself to be so righteous in his own Eyes, as to have kept all the Commands of the Law, his divine Wisdom then saw it proper to put a harder Trial upon him (namely) to sell all that he had and give to the Poor, and to become a Follower of Christ. Now if this young Man had loved God so well as he pretended, and believed Christ to be a Prophet come from God, he ought to have obeyed him, even in this difficult and self-denying Command; which Command was put upon him, partly to convince him that he did not love God so well as he imagined, and which hard Trial probably would never have been put upon him, if he had not been so conceited of his own Righteousness.
It must be observed also, to vindicate the Honor, Faithfulness and Goodness of Christ, that if the young Man had followed these Directions of Christ at the End of the Conference, he had been saved: Our Blessed Lord gave him sufficient Advice for Eternal Life, if he would have taken it. Come, sell what you have, and give it to the Poor, and follow me, and be my Disciple; and then it would follow, You shall learn of me the Way to Heaven more perfectly, and I will teach you the Way of Repentance, and Faith, and Holiness unto complete Salvation. But the young Man loved his Money, and went away sorrowful, that he could not keep all his Riches and obtain Eternal Life too.
Objection 3. Does not God all along in the Writings of the Old Testament, in successive Ages, promise Life in this same sort of Language to those that observe and do his Commandments, and that, both by Moses and by the Prophets? And did not the Saints, under the Old Testament, obtain Life this Way? Leviticus 18:5. He that does them (that is the Commands of God) shall live in them, Ezekiel 20:11; this Promise is repeated: And in Ezekiel 30:15. If the Wicked walk in the Statutes of Life, without committing Iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die: Now this dying cannot mean a natural Death, for they knew they must die Naturally; therefore it must mean a Deliverance from Eternal Death, and Assurance of Eternal Life. It is therefore certain, that all pious Persons, under the Old Testament, obtained a Right to Life eternal, by this Observance of the moral Precepts of the Law. These are Doctor Whitby's own Words.
Answer 1. This Life which is here promised in these Texts to the Jews, in a literal Sense, chiefly means long Life in their own Land, and Peace and Freedom from Sorrows and Miseries in this World: And though the Freedom or Preservation from Death (which is promised by Moses to those who keep the Statutes, Laws and Ordinances enjoined to Israel) does not mean an entire Preservation from Temporal Death; so neither in the obvious and literal Sense does it mean a Security from Eternal Death, but rather a Freedom from Death, as it is a general Term used to include all temporal and painful Evils, and particularly from sudden and violent Death, from cruel, lingering and shameful Death, from Death in foreign Countries, and untimely Death in the midst of their Years. This is very evident, if you read those Expressions of Moses, Deuteronomy 6:24, 25 and Deuteronomy 30:15-30; Ezekiel 33:10, 15. So Solomon, in his Prayer, 1 Kings 8:31-50; Nehemiah, in his Prayer, Nehemiah 9:29-31, teach us to explain it. Life is put for all that is good, and Death for all that is Evil.
It is evident that God governed the Jews with regard to temporal Blessings and temporal Curses, in the Way of a Covenant of Works. As to the external and temporal State of their Persons, their Church, and their Nation, they were under a Covenant of Works; and God, who was their King or political Head, dealt with them from time to time in saving them, or in punishing them according to their Works: And it is very observable, that it is this very Promise of Life, upon condition of doing the Works of the Law which the Apostle takes to describe that Covenant of Works, by which the Jews could not be saved as to their eternal State, see Romans 10:3, 5 and 9:31. The Man that does them shall live in them.
If it be objected, that God allowed of their Repentance for Sin in this his Law or Covenant as their King, and sometimes he saved the Nation upon their Repentance, and therefore it must include the Gospel or Covenant of Grace; yet I answer, it may still be called a Covenant of Works, because a mere external visible Humiliation and Reformation, without a real Penitence at Heart, was accepted by God as their King, as sufficient to divert Divine Judgments from the Nation, and sometimes from particular Persons, who had provoked God's Anger by external and visible Iniquities. 1 Kings 21:2. Do you see how Ahab humbles himself? I will not bring this Evil in his Days; whereas all his Humiliation was his rending his Clothes, wearing of Sackcloth and Fasting, and a little outward Appearance of Reformation, but it is evident that his Heart was not changed. See 1 Kings 22:27.
It may be granted, indeed, there was much Grace and Mercy mingled in this Political Law or Covenant of Life, between God as a Civil King, and Israel as his Subjects in this World; but still this was not the Gospel or Covenant of Grace and Salvation, whereby the pious Jews were saved from the Wrath of God, as their spiritual Lord and Ruler in the other World, and whereby they had their Sins pardoned, and were made Partakers of Eternal Life; for the Rites of the Law could not cleanse the Conscience from Sin in the Sight of God. Hebrews 9:9; and this leads me to the next Answer.
Answer 2. Besides the frequent Charges which are given to the Jews to keep the Commandments of God, in order to obtain Life, we find also frequent Calls to inward and hearty Repentance of Sin, to make their Hearts clean, to forsake their evil Thoughts, to rend their Hearts and not their Garments, and so trust in the pardoning Mercy of God; and there are many Promises of Pardon to the Penitent, and the Favour of God to those that fear him and hope in his Mercy, in order to lead them to obtain the Happiness of the other World and Eternal Life. See Isaiah 55:7, 8. Let the Wicked forsake his Way, and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have Mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon. Psalm 130:4, et cetera. There is Forgiveness with thee that thou may'st be feared. Let Israel hope in the Lord; with the Lord is plenteous Redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his Iniquities. One might transcribe many Pages to this Purpose out of Isaiah, Jeremiah and David. This is more Evangelical Language, showing the Way for Sinners to obtain Salvation: This is the Gospel that was preached to them as well as to us. Hebrews 4:2. And even to them was preached also the Gospel of the Messiah, and the Salvation of Men by the Messiah the Seed of Abraham, Galatians 3:8. Isaiah 53:5, 6, 11. He was wounded for our Iniquities: The Lord hath laid on him the Iniquities of us all. And it is said, Acts 10:43. To him give all the Prophets witness, that whosoever believes in him shall receive Forgiveness of Sins through his Name. Thus it plainly appears, that the mere keeping of the Commands, as written in the moral Law, was not the proper Term or Rule of their Acceptance with God unto Eternal Life, under the Old Testament: For there is nothing of this Doctrine of Repentance and Forgiveness, nor of the Messiah, contained in the Ten Commands.
Let it be observed also, that even in those legal Promises, which ensure Life to those who kept the Commands of God, there is a more spiritual and Evangelical Sense sometimes implied: For under this Word Life, and these temporal Blessings which were promised, Eternal Life and eternal Blessings were typified and held forth to those that looked through the Veil, and that fulfilled the Will of God in spiritual and sincere Obedience, with an humble Sense of their Sins, and Trust in divine Forgiveness. But the Ground of their Acceptance with God unto Eternal Life, or their Right to Heaven and Salvation, was not this their Performance of the Works of the Law; for their best Works were all imperfect, and they were saved by Faith even as we. Galatians 3 6 through 9. that is by trusting to pardoning Mercy, so far as it was revealed under that Dispensation.
And as the Salvation itself was typified by temporal Blessings, so the Way to this Salvation, which was Repentance and Trust in the Mercy of God through the Messiah, was typified by offering Sacrifices of Blood, and by many Washings and Purifyings, both by Blood and Water, which implied a Confession of their Defilement: And the Saints or righteous Men of that Day, hoped for the Mercy of God, as discovered more plainly in the Promises, and perhaps also, some might understand it as hinted in these Types and Figures. They knew that Blessedness was to come upon Men to whom God imputed not their Sins, or to whom the Lord imputed Righteousness, or accounted them as righteous in his Sight by his Mercy, though they were very imperfect, and far from Righteousness, that is a perfect justifying Righteousness, even if they put together all their Works of Obedience to the Commands of God. David often speaks of the Impossibility of our attaining the Acceptance of God by our Works, Psalm 130 and 143 14 and 19. If thou shouldest mark Iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant, for in thy Sight shall no Man living be justified. There is none Righteous; no, not one. Who can understand his Errors? He seeks for Pardon of Sin by Repentance and Trust in the Mercy of God, Psalm 51 and 143 et cetera. And he pronounces the Blessedness of those to whom God forgives their Iniquities, Psalm 32 or to whom he imputes Righteousness without Works, as Saint Paul explains him. Romans 4:6 and this encouraged him to confess his Sins, and repent of them, as in Psalm 32 and 51 and 130.
Thus it appears, that the bare keeping the Commandments of the Law was neither under the Old Testament nor the New, the Way to Salvation and Eternal Life for Sinners: But since the Law was weak, and unable to save, by reason of the weakness of our Flesh or sinful Nature, Romans 8:3. that is, since the Law promises Life only to those who obey the Commands perfectly, and Men could not obtain Life this Way by reason of the Imperfection of their Obedience, there were many Calls to Repentance, and to trust in the Mercy of God, given to the Jews, in the Old Testament, as the prescribed Way for Sinners to obtain Salvation; which Duties, together with the Grounds of them, and the Blessings promised to them, are much more clearly revealed in the New Testament.
I might confirm these Answers to Doctor Whitby, out of his own Exposition on Romans 10:9. Justification (says he) is here expressly ascribed to Faith; and that not as including Works, but only as being that Principle which, when it is cordial and sincere, will certainly produce them: I say, not as including all those Works which by the Gospel are required to Salvation, for then the Righteousness of Faith must be described as the Righteousness of the Law (namely) that the Man who does these things shall live in them, which is contrary to the Words of the Apostle, verses 5, 6. So far does the Force of Truth, in some Places, constrain honest Minds to admit and confess what in other Places they are very unwilling to allow, and which they almost contradict: But this must be charged on the common or universal Influence of human Frailty and mistaken Prejudices, and for want of an equal, uniform, simultaneous and comprehensive View of all the Parts of Religion together, which no human Mind perhaps in the present State can arrive at.
Objection 4. There is another Objection which may be started against my Exposition of this Text, that is drawn from Revelation 2 2, 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter through the Gates into the City, that is into Heaven, and enjoy Eternal Life. Surely, say some, these Words must be acknowledged to be the Language of the Gospel, or the Covenant of Grace, and not of the Law or the Covenant of Works: For they are the Words of Christ himself, after his Ascension to Heaven, and yet it is plain that doing the Commandments is here represented as the Way to obtain Eternal Life in Heaven.
Answer. But it is as plain that Doing the ten Commandments of the moral Law, are not the only things that are meant here in this Text: But these Commandments which give a right to the Tree of Life, et cetera include at least, if not chiefly design, the peculiar Commands of God in the Gospel, (namely) Repentance for Sin, Faith in the pardoning Mercy of God through a Redeemer, which is productive of Love to God and Man. To prove this, read Matthew 4:17. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand, Mark 1:15. Repent and believe the Gospel, Mark 16:16. He that believes shall be saved. John 3 22, 23. And whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his Commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his Sight: And this is his Commandment, that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us Commandment.
Now as Adam by doing the peculiar Commands which God gave to him, might have obtained a Right to the Benefits of the literal Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, (that is Immortality) So Christians by doing the peculiar Commandments of the Gospel, may be said, in some Sense, to obtain a Right to the Benefits of the spiritual Tree of Life (that is Christ Jesus) and may enter into Heaven: But a mere Obedience to the Commandments of the moral Law is never prescribed as the Way to obtain a Right to the Benefits of Christ, but rather an Obedience to the Commands of the Gospel, which are peculiarly Repentance and Faith in Christ.
It may be yet further observed, that the Commands to which Christ directed the young Man in my Text, in order to enter into Life, were not Faith and Repentance, but only the ten Commands of the moral Law: for he directs the young Man precisely to the Commands of the moral Law, and tells him, you know what these Commands are. Now this young Man was so full of his own Obedience to that Law, and so confident of it, that he seems not to know the Commands of Confession of Sin and Repentance for it; much less did he think of the other Command of Faith in the Mercy of God through a Mediator. So that if it be never so much allowed, that Obedience to these humbling and self-abasing Commands of the Gospel, Faith and Repentance, may give a Right to the Benefits of Christ, and to an Entrance into Heaven, yet an Obedience to the ten Commands of the moral Law could not make a Sinner's Way to Heaven and Eternal Life: But these ten Commands are those which Christ points out to the young Pharisaical Inquirer.
Upon the whole it appears, that when our Saviour says to the young Man in my Text, If you will enter into Life keep the Commandments, he did not mean to give him the plain and direct Prescription of the Gospel in order to the Salvation of a Sinner, but rather began with him in preaching the Law, in order to show him his Duty by the Law, and to convince him of Sin.
And from this View of things, I think we may draw this plain Observation (namely) That wheresoever the keeping the Commands of God is proposed to Men in Scripture as the Way to Life, it either means that the Way to obtain long temporal Life and temporal Blessings, was to observe the Jewish Laws, according to the political Covenant of God made with the Jewish Nation at Sinai; or it means that perfect Obedience of Thought, Word, and Action to all these Commands which God gives us, is the Way to obtain Life Eternal by the Covenant of Works and Law of Innocency: Or if at any time the Context plainly determines this Phrase, keeping the Commandments, to signify the Way to obtain Salvation under the Gospel, then the Word Commands must extend to include the Evangelical Commands of Repentance for Sin, and Trust in the pardoning Mercy of God through a Mediator.
And the Reason is plain; for this is the great Difference always observed between the Law and Gospel, or between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace, (namely) that the Covenant of Works or the Law, teaches us to claim Life as a Debt by our own exact Obedience to the Commands of the Law; but the Covenant of Grace or the Gospel, teaches us humbly to seek for Life or Salvation by Confession of Sin and Repentance, and by depending on the free Mercy of God, through a Mediator, for the Forgiveness of Sin and Acceptance with God.