Rutherford

1) 1. There be some preparations which go before faith: 1. Faith is a seed of heaven ; it is not sown by the “good husbandman” in unploughed and in fallow ground; Christ sows not amongst thorns. We are “built on the faith;” stones are hewn, rubbish removed, before one stone be laid. 2. Every act of grace in God is an act of Omnipotency, and so requires not time or succession: God might have set up the frame of the world in all its fulness, with less than one thought, or act of his will put forth by Omnipotency. Yet did our Lord subject the acts of creating the first world to the rule of time, and to a circle of evening and morning, nights and days; so doth the Lord set up a new world of faith, in a soul void of faith, by degrees. There is a time, when there is neither perfect night nor perfect day, but the twilight of the morning; and God, notwithstanding, created the morning, no less than the noon-day sun. There is a half summer, and a half spring, in the close of the spring, which God made. The embryo, or birth, not yet animated, is neither seed only, nor a man-child only; so is a convert in his first framing, neither perfectly untamed corruption, because there is a crack and a thaw in the iron-sinew of  the neck; nor is he a thorough child of light ; but as we say, in the dead-throe, “in the place of breaking forth of children,” as Hosea speaks. A child with his head come forth of the womb, and no more, and so half born only; so is the convert, while he is in the making, not taken off’ Christ’s wheels; half in the borders of hell, and looking afar off at the suburbs of heaven, not far from the kingdom of heaven. Samuel Rutherford, The Trial and Triumph of Faith (Keyser West, Virginia: Odom Publications, 1990), 278-279. [Some spelling modernized; underlining mine.]

2) It is true, the new creation and life of God is virtually seminaliter in these preparations, as the seed is a tree in hope, the blossom an apple, the foundation a palace in its beginning: so half a desire in the non-converted, is love-sickness for Christ in the seed; legal humiliation is in hope, evangelical repentance, and mortification. But, as the seed and the growing tree differ not gradually only, but in nature and specifically; as a thing without life, is not of that same nature and essence, with a creature that hath a vegetative life and growth; so the preparatory good affections of desire, hunger, sorrow, humiliation, going before conversion, differ specifically from those renewed affections which follow after; the former being acts of grace, but not of saving grace, which goes along with the decree of the election of grace, and of like latitude with it; the latter being the native and con-natural fruits of the Spirit, of which the apostle speaks, (Gal., v, 22,23). In which regard, no man is morally, and in regard of a divine promise, such as this,–”Do this, and this, and God shall bestow on you, the grace of conversion,”–fitter, and in a nearer disposition to conversion than another: 1. Because we read not of any such promise in the gospel; 2. Because amongst things void of life, all are equally void of life, and here there are no degrees of more or less life, no intention, no remission or slacking of the degrees of life. For even as an ape or a horse are as equally no men, as stones and dead earth are no men; though an ape or a horse have life common to them with men, which stones and earth have not, yet they are equally as destitute of reason and an intellectual life, which is the only life of a man as a man, as stones and earth are; so Saul, only humbled by the terrors of the law, and sick half-raw desires of Christ, is no less yet a creature void of the life of God, than when he was in the highest pitch of obstinacy, spitting out blood and murders on the face of that Lord Jesus whom he persecuted. And in this regard, conversion is no less pure grace, every way free to Saul humbled, and so, having only half a thirst and desire of Christ, than if he were yet in the fever of his highest blasphemy, thirsting after the blood of the saints. Samuel Rutherford, The Trial and Triumph of Faith (Keyser West, Virginia: Odom Publications, 1990), 280-281. [Some spelling modernized; underlining mine.]

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[Note: this is not Desiderius Erasmus, Luther’s humanist opponent.]

Sarcerius:

Sins of the world:

1) For Saint John in his gospel begins thus of the second person, saying: “In the beginning was the Word,” &c, [John 1:1], whereunto Paul agrees in his epistle to the Philippians , where he writes: ‘Which when he was equal with the Father,” [Phil. 2]. Lo here he makes the same equal with the Father. Also Christ says himself: “I am my Father be one.” Now, to Adam promise was made of Christ in Gene. iii. To Abraham in Gene. xii, & xvii. To the other holy fathers the promises made be spread in sundry places of Scripture. The end of the promises is the redemption of mankind, Gene. iii. (Ipsum conteret caput tuum), that is to say: ‘That seed” (meaning Christ) “shall tread thee on thy head,” [Gen. iii.]. In Gene. xvii, to Abraham, he said: “In thy seed all nations shall be blessed,” [Ge. xvii]. The occasion of the redemption was the damnation gotten by the fall of the first parents. Of the manhood of Christ, teaches us the prophet Isaiah, saying: “Lo, a virgin shall conceive,” [Isa. vii]. Also in the epistle to the Hebrews, where it says: “In all things it became him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be merciful,” [Hebr. iia]. The common creed says: “Born of the virgin Mary,” which proves also the rest, how Christ suffered and was crucified. Also how he rose again, which was not only for this purpose, to take away the sins of the world, [Isa. liiia]. This was long before prophesied by Isaiah, which says: “But he was wounded for our wickedness: he was smitten for our offences.” And John in his Epistle says: “for the sins of the whole world,” [1 John a d]. And lest we should think that Christ has now fully executed his office, and has nothing a do, you shall wonder that “he sits on the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for us,” [ Rom. 8 f]. Erasmus Sarcerius, Common Places of Scripture, trans., Richard Tauerner (Imprinted at London by Nycolas Nyll for Abraham Vele, dwelling in Pauls church yarde at the signe of the Lambe, 1553), folios iiii b-va. [Some reformatting, some spelling modernized; marginal references cited inline; side-headers included; and underlining mine.]

2) The effects
or works
of Christ

The works or offices of Christ ought to be gathered of the whole Christ, which now sits on the right hand of God the Father, very God and man, the works of his mankind, as to eat, drink, sleep, wake and such like now that he is glorified he ceased, neither came Christ to the purpose that he should exercise them perpetually. But besides those effects and works of the manhood, there be yet other appertaining chiefly to our salvation, which shall endure perpetually: as to save the from their sins: “To take away the Sins of the world,” as John Baptist witnesses, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world.” To justify, as the Apostle Paul reads, saying: “Being justified of faith by Jesus Christ,” [Ro. v]. To satisfy for our sins [Isa. liii], to be a mercy stock for our sins, as John the apostle writes in his epistle [1 Joh. ia]. To be our mediator and peace maker: to become the priest and bishop for evermore [Gal. iii, Tim. ii, Psa. cix]. Erasmus Sarcerius, Common Places of Scripture, trans., Richard Tauerner (Imprinted at London by Nycolas Hyll for Abraham Vele, dwelling in Pauls church yarde at the signe of the Lambe, 1553), folio v a-b. [Some reformatting, some spelling modernized; marginal references cited inline; side-headers included; and underlining mine.]

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Morris:

Children of Wrath

Paul now turns from the evil one and his miserable works to the plight of his dupes. Here the apostle does not take up some superior stance but classes himself with his readers. We all, he says, “formerly had our manner of life in the lusts of our flesh.” “Formerly” looks back to pre-Christian days–before he came to know the saving power of Christ, Paul was just as much entangled in sin as anyone else. He makes it clear that the Ephesians to whom he writes were in the same condemnation. He is not leaving open the possibility that there might be some people who escaped the bondage of which he writes. We were “all” in this position.

The apostle is not referring to occasional lapses but to a way of life. His verb (which, interestingly, in some contexts has meanings like “turn back,” Acts 5:22; 15:16) came to have the meaning “behave,” a meaning that is well attested in the papyri. This earlier manner of life, Paul says, was lived “in the lusts of our flesh.” The word for “lusts” is neutral in Greek generally, and it simply refers to strong desires, good or bad. We occasionally find the term used in a good sense in the New Testament, as when Paul speaks of his strong desire to see the Thessalonians again (1 Thess. 2:17). But in the overwhelming majority of cases the strong desire is for something evil, as here. Although the expression “the lusts of the flesh” quite often means sexual desire, it can also signify other strong longings.

Paul goes on to bring out his meaning by saying that the lusts of which he was speaking were “willed by [more literally, “doing the wills of”] the flesh and the minds.” Paul recognizes that there are some lusts that refer specifically to bodily functions, and it is possible for us to sin by giving way to such lusts. But if we think we are in control of ourselves in respect to lusts like this, that does not mean that we are safe from the temptation to lust. There are lusts of the mind, intellectual lusts, perfectly respectable lusts in the eyes of our community (and perhaps of ourselves, too). The word for “minds” is usually in the singular (this is the only occurrence of the plural in the New Testament). The plural may be meant here in the sense of “thoughts,” or the plurality of “minds” may come from the fact that there is a plurality of people, each of whom has a mind. But after the singular “the flesh we would certainly have expected “the mind.” Whatever the reason, Paul is saying that any strong desire that leads us away from God is to be reckoned as a lust; and when we constantly are found “doing the things willed by the flesh and the minds,” we are falling below the level that is demanded of us and are sinning against God.

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Charles Hodge:

1)

§ 13. The Goodness of God.

A. The Scriptural Doctrine.

Goodness, in the Scriptural sense of the term, includes benevolence, love, mercy, and grace. By benevolence is meant the disposition to promote happiness; all sensitive creatures are its objects. Love includes complacency, desire, and delight, and has rational beings for its objects. Mercy is kindness exercised towards the miserable, and includes pity, compassion, forbearance, and gentleness, which the Scriptures so abundantly ascribe to God. Grace is love exercised towards the unworthy. The love of a holy God to sinners is the most mysterious attribute of the divine nature. The manifestation of this attribute for the admiration and beatification of all intelligent creatures, is

declared to be the special design of redemption. God saves sinners, we are told, “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus.” (Eph. ii. 7.) This is the burden of that Epistle.

As all the modifications of goodness above mentioned are found even in our dilapidated nature, and commend themselves to our moral approbation, we know they must exist in God without measure and without end. In him they are infinite, eternal, and immutable.

Benevolence.

The goodness of God in the form of benevolence is revealed in the whole constitution of nature. As the universe teems with life, it teems also with enjoyment. There are no devices in nature for the promotion of pain for its own sake; whereas the manifestations of design for the production of happiness are beyond computation. The manifestation of the goodness of God in the form of love, and specially of love to the undeserving, is, as just stated, the great end of the work of redemption. “God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John iii. 16.) “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John iv. 10.) The Apostle prays that believers might be able to comprehend the height and depth, the length and breadth, of that love which passes knowledge. (Eph. iii. 19.)

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