0 Imputation of Christ's Righteousness: Flavel in The Method of Grace

A dear friend and I read together weekly and discuss reading, most often from John Flavel's works. Today in our passage from The Method of Grace, which is found in his collected works, volume 1, one of the things we came across was the following treatment of Christ's saving benefits, which I found particularly illuminating and edifying. In this particular section (the first sermon in the Method of Grace series) Flavel is expositing 1 Cor. 1:30,

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

In this sermon, Flavel goes on to explain these benefits to believers, and makes a clear distinction in terms of the method by which God applies these benefits of Christ to us who believe. He clearly argues (and I'll blog on this later together with some material from John Colquhoun, who I quoted yesterday) for these saving benefits being tied strictly to the union of Christ with His elect people, and then describes God's method of application:

"Prop. 8. Lastly, Although the several privileges and benefits before mentioned are all true and really bestowed with Christ upon believers, yet they are not communicated to them in one and the same day and manner; but differently and divers, as their respective natures do require.

These four illustrious benefits (TKP - namely, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, a la 1 Cor. 1:30) are conveyed from Christ to us in three different ways and methods; his righteousness is made ours by imputation: his wisdom and sanctification by renovation: his redemption by our glorification." (p. 24, Volume 1, Works of John Flavel)

Warning shot across the bow to the Romanist and legalist... the various saving benefits of Christ are NOT one and the same, and are NOT delivered in the same way. Justification and Sanctification are NOT identical, nor are they applied to believers in the same way - they require different methods of application quite simply because they are different benefits. He continues:

"I know the communication of Christ's righteousness to us by imputations is not only denied, but scoffed at by Papists*; who own no righteousness, but what is (at least) confounded with that which is inherent in us; and for imputative (blasphemously stiled by them putative righteousness, they flatly deny it, and look upon it as a most absurd doctrine, every where endeavouring to load it with these and such like absurdities, That if God imputes Christ's righteousness to the believer, and accepts what Christ has performed for him, as if he had performed it himself; then we may be accounted as righteous as Christ. Then we may be the redeemers of the world. False and groundless consequences; as if a man should say, my debt

is paid by my surety, therefore I am as rich as he.

* a phantom sprung of Luther's brain - Stapleton"

(p. 24, Volume 1,Works of John Flavel)

Don't we hear this objection today, or those like it? If Christ's active obedience - if His righteousness in life - is imputed to us, are we not then encouraging licentiousness? Are we not denying God His right to expect us to obey the Law? Are we then not making ourselves out to be worthy as Christ? I do hear on today the statement made by FV sympathizers that the purpose of Christ's obedience was only to qualify Him as the sacrificial lamb, and therefore that His obedience cannot be imputed to us. (how far off is this from the objection Flavel just attributed to his opponents?) Rather, as the statement I quoted from Colquhoun yesterday argues, this flatly fails when it is considered that all men are bound to obey God perfectly, and that perfect record of obedient living must be ours. Christ obeyed FOR HIS ELECT.

I love the addition of the scoffing comment that Flavel footnotes by Stapleton - imputation of Christ's righteousness is apparently a "phantom sprung of Luther's brain". I guess I'm a Lutheran. (and that accusation is also levied against those who argue for a right appreciation of the Law-Gospel distinction that is a hallmark of classic Reformation orthodoxy)

Of this imputed righteousness, Flavel goes on to comment:

"it is inhesively in him, communicatively it becomes ours, by imputation, the sin of the first Adam becomes ours, and the same way the righteousness of the second Adam becomes ours, Rom. 5: 17. This way the Redeemer became sin for us, and this way we are made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5: 21. This way Abraham the father of believers was justified, therefore this way all believers, the children of Abraham, must be justified also, Rom. 4: 22, 23. And thus is Christ's righteousness made ours.

But in conveying, and communicating his wisdom and sanctification, he takes another method, for this is not imputed, but really imparted to us by the illuminating and regenerating work of the Spirit: these are graces really inherent in us: our righteousness comes from Christ as a surety but our holiness comes from him as a quickening head, sending vital influences unto all his
members.

Now these gracious habits being subjected and seated in the souls of poor imperfect creatures, whose corruptions abide and work in the very same faculties where grace has its residence; it cannot be, that our sanctification should be so perfect and complete, as our justification is, which inheres only in Christ. See Gal. 5: 17. Thus are righteousness and sanctification communicated and made ours..." (p. 25, Volume 1,Works of John Flavel)

We've got to understand these things rightly... justification is the declaration of God that we are just before Him- purely declarative, purely an attribution of righteousness that comes ONLY (and CAN come ONLY) by imputation. That righteousness with which we are imputed must be perfect, for that is what God requires - not the righteousness of man, of "genuine" obedience, or of "sincere attempts", but pure, spotless righteousness of the Lamb of God! Because this is the righteousness God requires, it cannot come but by gracious imputation of it - by a pure act of granting it to us, and declaring it upon us by the Holy judge of all.

Sanctification has no part to play in our being declared righteous - it is wholly different, having a wholly different method of application and a wholly different purpose. Flavel speaks to this clearly when he argues that the holiness of sanctification is brought forth in us indeed, but is imperfect, because we are sinful creatures still, and imperfect in our very being. Nevertheless, sanctification is a real grace communicated to believers by the working of the Holy Spirit in us. Progressively we learn the ways of the Lord, and progressively our sin gives way to more righteousness and conformity to the Son of God... this is a progressive work that is not complete this side of Heaven... and again, as such, it cannot be the basis for any declaration of righteousness by God. This must be understood - or we confuse and destroy the message of the Gospel and the message of Christ's work for us and in us.

0 Flavel: The Peace of A Clear Conscience

A friend and I have been reading through the Works of John Flavel for a couple of years, despite his still living in Ithaca, NY and our having moved out to Iowa 6 years ago. Thanks be to God for technology that lets us mull over the writings we're reading as though we were at the breakfast table together.

Today's reading included a discussion of the fact that if one desires to be rid of distracting fears and annoyances, one should, as Flavel puts it,

"be careful to maintain the purity of his conscience, and integrity of his ways, in the whole course of his conversation in this world." (p. 304, Volume 5, Works of John Flavel)

At the outset, Flavel writes that fears that we have can often arise out of our own disobedient carriage:

"Look, as fear follows guilt and guile, so peace and quietness follow righteousness and sincerity, Prov. xxviii.1, The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." (p. 304, Volume 5, Works of John Flavel)

Courage for the Christian and suppression of fears comes most readily to those who have no rational reason for worries and doubt - the degree to which we carry ourselves in uprightness, Flavel argues, is deeply connected to the degree to which we will be free of needless, worldly fears. When conscience is clear, we will be naturally much more restful. From what comes a clear conscience? We must first know that in Christ we are held close and justified - righteous by faith, a la Romans 5:1 -

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We must know this, that we are righteous in the eyes of God by the washing with the blood of Christ and the cleansing of our sin - else we cannot possibly have any peace. With this peace, we can pursue lives of integrity without fear because we know that we are righteous in Him, and free to walk, albeit erringly, in an endeavor to glorify Him in our lives. We needn't be fearful of a misstep that is deserving of God's wrath (as all missteps are). We rather are free to serve and love Him as he gives us grace upon grace. As Flavel later quotes, speaking of Paul's comfort and freedom from slavish fears,

"Christians have always found it a spring of courage and comfort, 2 Cor. i.12, 'For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our sonsciences, that in simplicity, and godly sincereity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world.' Their hearts did not reproach them with by-ends in religion: their consciences witnessed that they made not religion a cloak to cover any fleshly design, but were sincere in what they professed: and this enabled them to rejoice in the midst of sufferings." (p. 305, Volume 5, Works of John Flavel)

Flavel offers some helpful suggestions for keeping our consciences clear and avoiding sin that can do damage to our confidence in the Lord and give rise to fears, doubts, and torment of soul. I have found this list, which both encourages and challenges, to be extremely helpful as I stumble along in my inconsistencies. Walking in Christ, knowing I am safe in him, these words are very helpful, for ultimately as a child of God I must and do long to please my Father. Here is this list, in brief, with which I close today.

"1. Over-awe your hearts every day, and in every place, with the eye of God. This walking as before God will keep you upright, Gen. xvii.1. If you so speak and live as those that know God sees you, such will be your uprightness, that you will not care if all the world see you too...

2. Do no action, undertake no design, that you dare not preface with prayer; this is the rule, Phil. iv. 6. Touch not that you dare not pray for a blessing upon; if you dare not pray, dare not to engage; if you cannot spend your prayers before, be confident: shame and guilt will follow after.

3. Be more afraid of grieving God, or wounding conscience, than of displeasing or losing all the friends you have in the world besides...

4. What counsel you would give another, that give yourselves when the case shall be your own...David's judgment was very upright when he judged himself in a remote parable.

5. Be willing to bear the faithful reproofs of your faults from men, as the reproving voice of God; for they are no less when duly administered... it is said of Sir Anthony Cope, that he shamed none so much as himself in his family-prayers, and desired the ministers of his acquaintance not to favor his faults; but tell me, said he, and spare not.

6. Be mindful daily of your dying day, and your great audit-day, and do all with respect to them." (p. 306, Volume 5, Works of John Flavel)

0 Flavel: The Temptation to Walk Among the Shadows

I was reading this morning from John Flavel's Practical Treatise of Fear, found in Volume 3 of the Complete Works of John Flavel, published by Banner of Truth, and found the following convicting statements. How pertinent and pithy his remarks are for us today. In this section, the author is challenging his hearers to walk plainly and uprightly despite the disadvantage (or rather the fears of disadvantage) that such an open and visible practice of their faith may bring them. His words are immediately applicable today, and indeed in any society or time.

Flavel writes,

"... so long as we can profess religion without any great hazard of life, liberty, or estates, we may shew much zeal and forwardness in the ways of godliness; but when it comes to the sharps, to resisting unto blood, few will be found to own and assert it openly in the face of such dangers." (p. 277, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth)

This of course is stating the case in extreme conditions - such as those faced by Flavel's hearers in the 1660's and 70's. However, what follows next is clearly and directly applicable to us and our society, wherein zealous pursuit of Biblical Christianity is in many ways frowned upon and judged as extremist practice:

"The first retreat is usually made from a free and open, to a close and concealed pursuit of religion; not opening our windows, as Daniel did, to shew we care not who knows we dare worship our God, and are not ashamed of our duties, but hiding our principles and practice with all the art and care imaginable, reckoning it well if we can escape danger by letting fall our profession which might expose us to it..." (p. 277, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth)

This "first retreat" is something to which I think we are quite subject today - and thanks be to God that there is no further danger than might cause us to retreat here to this first step. We at present face no danger, in general, to life and limb, or to personal security - as yet. However, even under the relatively light dangers of a bad reputation, or judgments about a lack of liberality of character, or under the accusations of personal offense when our practice of our Christianity causes unbelievers discomfort or to feel guilty, we are, I think, quite prone to this first retreat.

We want to be liked, so we hide our practice from onlookers. We do little more than bow our heads at table in the restaurant, rather than praying out loud but in soft voice appropriate to a public place. We make excuses rather than express the real reason we aren't planning to let our kids play on sports teams that participate on the Lord's Day. We fail to discuss the real reasons why we don't go to movies very often, making cost the issue, rather than the rampant sex and vulgarity and the assumption of wicked and evil worldviews that characterize nearly all of Hollywood's productions. We hide our faith from the onlooking world because we're not sufficiently steeled in the practice of a firm and zealous public profession. In this we fail our Lord, and show ourselves ashamed to be His. How easy it is to say through our actions things we do not believe, and which contradict the very faith we cling to as our only hope. I have found in my brief read through Flavel this morning plenty to think about, and to reassess as Christ molds and remakes me into His holy image.

I hope for you, wherever you are in this journey, and whatever challenges you face in your walk, that today's little snippet of a reminder has encouraged and exhorted you, whatever your particular needs might be.

2 The Word of God Our Necessary Instrument for Heartwork

Flavel closes his 'Keeping the Heart' with several means toward the end of keeping, watching and renovating the heart. The first of these is the foremost - the one without which keeping the heart is impossible.

Would you thus keep your hearts as hath been persuaded? Then furnish your hearts richly with the word of God, which is their best preservation against sin.

Keep the word, and the word will keep you: as the first receiving of the word regenerated your hearts, so the keeping of the word within you will preserve your hearts: Col. iii.16 - "Let the word of God dwell richly in you:" Let it dwell, not tarry with you, in its commands, promises, threats; in all that is in you, in your understandings, memories, consciences, affections, and then it will preserve your hearts; Psalm cxix.11 - "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." It is the slipperiness of our hearts in reference to the word, that causes so many slips in our lives. Conscience cannot be urged or awed with forgotten truths; but keep it in the heart, and it will keep both heart and life upright; Psalm xxxvii.31 - "The law of his God is in his heart: none of his steps shall slide;" or if he do, the word will recover the straying heart again; Matt. xxvi.57 - "Then Peter remembered the word of Jesus, and wept bitterly." We never lose our hearts, till they have first lost the efficacious and powerful impression of the word. (Volume 5, page 504-5, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth)

How can one call to mind the teaching of Scripture amidst our walk and in the face of temptation, if it isn't hidden in the heart? Why do we see, time and again, the Scriptural command to know the Word of God and to keep it - not just to obey it, but to keep it, within? The ability of the human mind to hold onto words is a powerful tool God has granted us to order and guide our lives... we seem to have little problem memorizing contemporary songs, or sayings - why not install the powerful, living and active sword of the Lord in our bosoms? If we have that word in our memory's grasp, we have hope that it will guide and correct us as we are able to recall it.

I see no other means to instilling this Word in our hearts and minds than by daily reading, study and meditation. That is the call to us from Psalm 1, Psalm 119 and Joshua 1, as well as other places wherein meditation, consideration and contemplation of God's Holy and awesome Word is set before us as our duty and our joy. How wonderful it is to know and consider that God Himself has granted us the great gift of His own Word to guide, direct, inspire and correct? We are not left without His wisdom and truth, to some how flail about like Plato's men, trying to find direction? Instead we are handed, by His grace, THE truth and ALL wisdom! It is thus FOLLY to ignore, neglect, and fail to study deeply God's Holy Word. It is not only necessary for our growth and our guidance, but it is good - sweet - and wonderful to our very souls.

Flavel points out to us the value of God's Word for correction and inspection of the heart - a duty he has pressed on us from the beginning of this marvelous treatise - and one for which, he reminds us, we are equipped through the Scriptures. Let us not neglect God's great gift, but instead make it our joy to let the Word of truth dwell richly among and in us. As we remember the gift of Christ... let us not forget the gift of the written Word, or let it lie idle - but store it up as a treasure of innumerable talents of gold in our hearts.

0 A Fountainhead of Prayer, Nourishment of the Soul

In the closing paragraphs of Flavel's Keeping the Heart (Volume 5, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth) several motives to our active 'keeping of the heart' are offered. What we find in these last pages are honey for the soul - to have sat under the preaching of this pastor of the flock of God must have been true blessing indeed.

One such valuable paragraph is the following motivation to pursue a life of meditative reflection upon our hearts as a normal course of our lives... see if it stills and quiets your heart and sets it upon a course of continual remediation as it has me:

Acquaintance with your own hearts would be a fountain of matter to you in prayer.

A man that is diligent in heart-work and knows the state of his own soul, will have a fountain-fulness of matter to supply him richly in all his addresses to God; his tongue shall not falter and make pause for want of matter; Psal. xlv.1 "My heart is inditing a good matter:" or, as Montanus renders the original, my heart is boiling up good matter, like a living spring, that is still bubbling up fresh water; and then my tongue is as the pen of a ready writer. Others must pump their memories, rack their inventions, and are often at a loss, when they have done all; but if thou have kept, and faithfully studied, thine own heart, it will be with the (as Job speaks in another case) like bottles full of new wine that want vent, which are ready to burst. As holy matter flows plentifully, so more feelingly and sweetly from such a heart. When a heart-experienced Christian is mourning before God over some special heart-corruption, wrestling with God for the supply of some special inward want, he speaks not as other men do that have learned to pray by rote; their confessions and petitions are squeezed out; his drop freely, like pure honey from the comb. It is a happiness to be with or near such a Christian. (Volume 5, page 500, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth)

This smacked me right upside the head like the proverbial 2x4. In this small paragraph, Flavel has given me a precious jewel, even as I am chastised at the thought that he has placed in my mind. Sadly it is true that words sometimes escape my confessional duties with God. How little, then, must I know my own heart? To prayer, to prayer, o my soul. Flavel has richly blessed the church with his call upon us to mediate seriously upon our hearts, and seek God's rich blessing of heart-knowledge. It is hard work - as we have to face the ugliness therein - but great is the grace of God showered upon the penitent sinner. I commend this passage to you for your thought and consideration; may God bless you in it as He has me.

0 Heart Religion, the Process of Sanctification, and the Connection to Comfort and Joy

"Oh, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,
oh, tidings of comfort and joy..."

One hears the tune wafting through the air at this time of year, and in our reading of Flavel yesterday, stern exhortation was given for those who desire comfort and joy in their walk with Christ. To the ear of flesh, the word Flavel gives is folly - for how can one obtain comfort if one understands himself to be a sinner laid low by his entanglements and sorrow over his sin? Aren't sorrow, self-abasement contrary to the very spirit of comfort and joy? Indeed not - for they lie at the heart of it all! From Flavel, then, we read:

...unless the people of God spend more time and pains about their hearts, than generally and ordinarily they do, they are never like to do God much service, or be owners of much comfort in this world.

I may say of that Christian that is remiss and careless in keeping his heart, as Jacob said of Reuben, 'Thou shalt not excel.' It grieves me to see how many Christians there are that go up and down dejected, and complaining, that live at a poor low rate, both of service and comfort; and how can they expect it should be otherwise, as long as they live at such a careless rate? O how little of their time is spent in the closet in searching, humbling, and quickening their hearts?

You say your hearts are dead, and do you wonder they are so, as long as you keep them not with the fountain of life? If your bodies had been dieted as your souls have been, they would have been dead too; never expect better hearts till you take more pains with them; Qui fugit molam, fugit farinam; He that will not have the sweat, must not expect the sweet of religion. (Volume 5, page 495, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth)

Joy and comfort in the Lord must come IN THE LORD. That is, I cannot understand how one truly comes to a full sense of joy without the understanding of the plenary nature of God's salvific work, our utter unworthiness to be granted an audience with Him, let alone eternal communion with Him, and our utter and complete dependence upon Him for any good whatsoever that comes our way. With that understanding, there is a fulness of joy that is impossible to obtain otherwise. With that perspective in mind, comfort, true comfort and freedom is ours.

This is, to the flesh, paradoxical. How can we open our hearts before our eyes, and see and acknowledge with honest clarity the blackness therein, and the stain of sin in our lives, and feel anything but despair? Again - joy and comfort must come through faith in the promises and assurance in the completeness of Christ's satisfaction on our behalf. As I noted yesterday, progress in sanctification may very well be slow - and seemingly crawl along at times, as we fight the continual battle with our sinful flesh... but that battle is one that is to be filled with joy as we rest in the comfort of the Lord! Our dutiful examination of heart and soul is coupled with the grief of finding sin, and the joy of our Spirit-enabled relinquishing of it, bit by bit. Ultimately all joy must be grounded on the complete atonement of Christ and can never be founded on our progress... that is to put the cart before the horse, and miss the true ground of Christian freedom. What we are becoming in our sanctification is what we already are in our justification.

"...oh Tidings of Comfort and Joy!"

0 Justification, Sanctification, Glorification and the Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ

This morning, as is our usual practice, a long-time friend of mine and I got together online to read Flavel's Keeping the Heart (from volume 5 of the Complete Works of John Flavel, which I cannot recommend highly enough). In this morning's reading, Flavel has one of his great expressions that he is wont to compose. The section of the work in question concerns our willingness to die - as compared to the temptations we have to want to remain here in this life. The case he is taking up is prefaced as follows:

Case 12: How the people of God, in times of sickness, may get their hearts loose from all earthly engagements, and persuade them unto a willingness to die. (Volume 5, page 490, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth)

In his last point, he argues thus:

If still thou linger, like Lot in Sodom, then lastly, examine all the pleas and pretenses for a longer time on earth. Why art thou unwilling to die? (Volume 5, page 493, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth)

The third of the objections he explores, is concise, and powerful, and worthy of remembrance, to be posted on a 3x5 card in every bathroom:

Objection 3: I am not yet fully ready, I am not as a bride, completely adorned for the bridegroom.

Solution: Thy justification is complete already, though thy sanctification be not so; and the way to make it so, is to die; for til then it will have its defects and wants. (Volume 5, page 494, Complete Works of John Flavel, Banner of Truth)

Pithy, but true. Sanctification is a life-long process, and truly until we have passed through the gates of this earthly life, and been changed through the glorification Paul writes of in Romans 8, we shall not be perfectly adorned. We won't reach it, though we live 1000 years in our flesh. Our salvation, if it depended on this striving, and a reaching of this perfect attainment, would be lost. If our passage through the gates of heaven into eternal communion with Christ was dependent upon the accomplishments we have made here below, then forget about it. We have no hope, if that were true.

But the good news of the Gospel is that Christ Himself died, took on our sins, and passed to us the righteousness of his complete, active and passive righteousness. We live, justified by faith - in a right standing before God through his decree of justification. And, while we yet live, our conformity to that righteousness, which is increasing daily in sanctification through the ministration of the Holy Spirit, will never be complete. Not until that last day, when like the twinkling of an eye "we shall be changed."

The fact of our final perfection is no disincentive to strive daily for the holiness of Christ in our walk before the Lord - but rather an encouragement to continue despite our failings. Those who have tender consciences because of the sin which still entices us should take heart - sanctification is continual - a process of renovation that will continue until we die (and even then, not be perfect until we are perfectly conformed to Christlikeness in our persons through a final immediate act of God described by Paul in Romans 8 as being 'glorified'). Hallelujah! What a Savior!

0 Flavel on Vengeful Thoughts When Wronged

A friend of mine and I are reading (long distance, by means of internet video conferencing - what a Godsend!) through John Flavel's "Keeping the Heart", which can be found in volume 5 of The Works of John Flavel - a set to be picked up if you love the Puritan style of devotional writing. Flavel is just superb.

In this treatise, in Flavel expounds upon the notion of heart-work, or watching or "keeping the heart" in times in which one is sorely tempted to lose focus on keeping a Godly frame. A particularly striking passage is one in which he addresses the times in which we receive abuses or persecution from others for our faith. He asks a question in his discussion of such times that is valuable for us to consider, particularly when we feel very rightly that we've been wronged and are wont to claim our right to "righteous anger". The question is:

Well, then, awe your hearts with the authority of God in these Scriptures [Proverbs 20:22, 24:29, 25:21Rom. 12:17,19.] and when carnal reason saith, mine enemy deserves to be hated, let conscience reply, but doth God deserve to be disobeyed? Thus and thus he hath done, and so he hath wronged me; but what hath God done that I should wrong him? If he dare be so bold to break the peace, shall I be so wicked to break the precept? If he fears not to wrong me, shall I fear not to wrong God? (p. 469, vol. 5, The Works of John Flavel)

Let that one sink in a while... it will take the edge off much anger felt when you are sinned against.