The
Presbyterian Standard
The Magazine of the James Begg Society
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."
– Matt. 1:21.
I
AM first, then, to point out what it is in sin from which Jesus saves his people.
By the guilt of sin, is meant an obligation to suffer eternal
punishment on account of sin. They whom Christ undertook to save were,
on account of their breach of covenant in the first Adam, and of their
other innumerable transgressions of the Divine law, condemned as well
as the rest of mankind, to endure such tremendous wrath, both in soul
and body, as would have rendered them inexpressibly miserable. While,
therefore, they continue under the law as a covenant of works, they are
necessarily under this dreadful sentence; and were they to die in that
state, it would be executed upon them to the uttermost, through the
revolving ages of eternity. But since they were not appointed to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, he comes in the day
of regenerating power, and having united them to his person, admits
them to actual communion with himself, in his infinitely precious
atonement. No sooner is this atonement actually imputed to them, than
they are legally absolved from condemnation, according to this Divine
promise, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin
no more," Jer. 31:34.
They are then delivered from the guilt of sin, or from their obligation
to endure punishment on account of sin, and have sufficient security
afforded them, that though they may often incur the guilt of fatherly
displeasure, they shall never enter into condemnation, or fall under
the guilt of eternal wrath.
"He that committeth sin, is the servant of sin." God had told the first Adam, as the federal head of all his
natural posterity, that in the day he ate of the forbidden fruit, he
should surely die. No sooner did he eat of it than he was punished with
the loss of the original righteousness of his nature, in which the
spiritual life of the soul consists. Now, the corruption of the whole
nature, or the dominion of sin in the soul follows as naturally, upon
the want of original righteousness, as darkness follows the setting of
the sun. Those, therefore, whom God hath appointed to obtain salvation,
as they were involved in the guilt of Adam's first transgression as
well as others, and consequently born under the condemning power of the
law, which, in this sense, is the strength of sin; so they are all born
destitute of original righteousness, and subject to the dominion of
sin. The condemning power of the law as a covenant, so long as they
continue under it, detains them as prisoners, under the reigning power
of depravity. No sooner, however, does the Lord Jesus, whose office it
is to say to such prisoners, Go forth! come and admit them to communion
with himself, in his surety righteousness, than they are delivered from
the condemning power of the law, and consequently, from the reigning
power of sin. This infinitely glorious righteousness, as it entitles
them to the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, so it removes
the curse of the law, which formerly stood in the way of those
influences, and obstructed their entrance into the soul. Hence are
these words of the apostle Paul: "Sin shall not have dominion over you;
for ye are not under the law, but under grace," Rom. 6:14. If believers
would make more use of the righteousness of the incarnate Redeemer in
their approaches to God than they do, they should find that sin would
not prevail against them so much as it does.
As sin is infinitely opposite to the spotless holiness of God's nature,
it cannot but be very impure and loathsome in his sight. Hence we read,
that he is of "purer eyes than to behold evil, and that he cannot look
upon iniquity." As sin is in its own nature filthy, sinners in whose
heart it reigns, are represented in Scripture as altogether filthy; and
therefore as such, they are utterly unqualified to enjoy communion and
intercourse with an infinitely holy God. Now, in order to render his
people fit to enjoy fellowship with God, since without this it is
impossible that they can be either holy or happy, Christ, as the
glorious dispenser of grace in the new covenant, sends his Spirit, in
the day of effectual calling, as a Spirit of holiness, to cleanse them
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, according to that promise,
"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from
all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you." He
begins thus to purify his people at their regeneration; for we read
that they are "saved by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Ghost." He continues to purify them from remaining depravity,
by affording them fresh supplies of the sanctifying Spirit, and by
enabling them to improve his death and resurrection for that purpose;
until at last he presents them to his Father without spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing. The fountain that is opened to the house of David,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness, is
kept continually open to them, in the offers of the Gospel; and the
streams of it are appointed to follow them while they travel through
this valley of tears, that they may always have an opportunity of
washing away their spiritual pollution, until they come to the end of
their journey.
Though the true Christian is an heir of complete salvation, yet he is never completely saved from sin while he is this world. Though he is transformed into the Divine image, by the renewing of his mind, there is, notwithstanding, a law in his members which wars against the law of his mind, and often brings him into captivity to the law of sin, so as to make him sometimes exclaim as the holy apostle Paul did, "Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" who shall deliver me from this cruel, this deceitful enemy, which often wounds my soul, disturbs my peace, retards my progress in the spiritual life, darkens my evidences for heaven, and prevents my complete happiness? How long shall I go mourning, because of the oppression of this enemy! The Christian shall have reason thus to complain of indwelling sin, while he is in the valley of tears; and the higher the degree of holiness is to which he attains, the more sensibly he will feel it, and the more bitterly will he complain of it. The triumphing of this enemy, however, is but short; its destruction is fast approaching. Yet a little while, and Jesus will call the oppressed believer, not only to put off the tabernacle of flesh and blood, but to put off the body of sin and death, so as never to be troubled with it any more for ever. Then sinning and suffering, sorrowing and sighing, shall cease at once. When spiritual death is entirely swallowed up in victory, "the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people will he take away." – Thus Jesus saves his people from the guilt, the dominion, the defilement, and the very being of sin: He saves them from the guilt of sin, in justification; from the dominion of sin, in conversion; from the defilement of sin, in sanctification; and from the very being of it, in glorification.