The difference between these two it is important to state on many accounts. I shall endeavor in the first place to state it, if briefly, yet as distinctly as I am able, and then to show the importance of the distinction.
Eternal life is what begins in the soul when we are born of God. It is not a "change of heart," as people say, although the result of it is that. Nor is it a work in the old nature of man, but the communication of a positive new life, or new nature. Our Lord's words are well known: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." And so again the apostle (Rom. 8:77Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)): "the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." After conversion, then, the flesh still remains unchanged; but side by side with it we have this new nature, given us of God, and therefore wholly according to His mind.
The opposition between these two is a matter of experience with every Christian, and the cause of deepest distress to him. He finds, when he looks within, a conflict of evil with good, where—until he knows the secret of power over it—the strength is in the evil and not in the good. "When I would do good, evil is present with me; for I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!"
Now, in this condition of misery, he who bewails it has clearly a "change of heart." His delight is in the law of God; the "law of his mind" is on God's side. Power he has not; he is brought into captivity to the law of sin; a wretched condition indeed, and yet the beginning of infinite blessing for the soul.
It does not follow then that the one who is born of God has power to walk according to God. New birth does not necessarily bring with it that power; as far as experience goes, often just the contrary. It is then that we become conscious of what sin is, and the misery of it, and its power too. And just because the bent of the mind is set right we become conscious of the tide of inward evil, against which, henceforth, we have to struggle.
It does not even follow that the man born again is conscious of the mighty change which has been wrought in him. Faith in Christ he must have, for we are only children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. But faith in Christ there may be without the consciousness of being a child of God. It is in nowise a right or proper condition to be in, but it is one that many, alas, are in nevertheless. Looking to Christ on the one hand, they hope in the mercy of God, while, looking at themselves on the other, they cannot understand how they can be what they are, yet be His children. In other words, they have believed in Christ, and so have eternal life, while they have not believed the gospel, and so have not salvation. For the gospel, says the Apostle, "is the power of God unto SALVATION to every one that believeth."
Take as an example of the difference between having life and having salvation, Cornelius, the centurion, in Acts 10 and 11. It is a case which has been often brought forward to the great injury of souls, as showing that God's favor is to be gained by working righteousness according to the light we have. This is grounded upon what the Apostle says about him: "I perceive that of a truth God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him" (Acts 10:34, 3534Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. (Acts 10:34‑35)). This is true most surely, and was true of Cornelius, but it must not be understood as if a natural man had power to work righteousness, and be accepted on that ground. Cornelius was no longer a man dead in sins when the apostle met him. He was already a quickened soul, or he could not have wrought righteousness, nor his prayers and his alms have come up as a memorial before God. But he was a saint after the Old Testament fashion, knowing and adoring the true God, as worshipped in Israel, ignorant of Christ as actually come, and of the gospel as preached in Him.
Hence, because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, he is to send for Peter to tell him words whereby he and all his house should be saved (Acts 11:1414Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. (Acts 11:14)).
Thus a man, not taken up as a sinner but as a saint (for as the Lord says, you must make the tree good in order to have the fruit good),—having eternal life necessarily, therefore, yet needed salvation. And if the gospel of Christ be the power for that, as the Apostle says, then all the Old Testament saints also must have been upon the same ground: pious men, born again and working righteousness and acceptable to God, and yet ignorant of that which the gospel of Christ, when really received, brings—"salvation."
Accordingly the apostle Peter, in his first epistle (1 Peter 1:10,1210Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: (1 Peter 1:10)
12Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:12)), tells us, that the prophets themselves, prophesying of the grace that should come unto us, inquired and searched diligently concerning this very "salvation," and it was revealed to them—what? "That not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you, by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." What a difference there must have been between the condition of those who thus looked upon salvation from afar off, and that of those receiving it by the gospel ministered to them in the power of the Holy Ghost!
Yet these were prophets, converted men and children of God. They had life but they had not salvation. Let us look at some other passages which may help us to estimate the difference.
In Galatians, ch. 4, the case is again put of these who were really children of God under the Jewish dispensation: "Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world; but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." There is the condition of believers under the law depicted. They were children in the condition of servants—bond-servants; not having yet their own proper place as children, which Christ's coming and death, redeeming them from under the law (see Gal. 3:13, 24, 2513Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13)
24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Galatians 3:24‑25)), alone gave them. Hence liberty was not enjoyed, nor could the real children of God call Him their Father as such. Israel's Father He was, but that was a totally different thing, as to which any one born a Jew could call Him so as well as they.
Thus they were children of God without the enjoyment of that relationship, as so many now. But with them it was a place which, of necessity, they had, and not through their own unbelief, as with those at this time in that condition. The difference for us is grounded upon this, that between those Jewish and these Christian times the Cross of Christ stands, of Him "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His (God's) righteousness for the passing over (margin) of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare at this time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:25, 2625Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:25‑26)). That is the aspect of that Cross, whether looking back over the past sins of believers, up to the very time when Jesus died, or as seen by us of this present time. In either case it is God's righteousness which is declared. As to "sins that are past," the sins of an Abraham or a David or a Rahab, where He had "forborne" and passed them over, now for the first time the full truth came out, as to how He could righteously do so. That cross was his justification, the declaration of His righteousness in doing so; while for the present time it is His justification not in forbearing or passing over merely, but in pronouncing the perfect acquittal, the justification of the believer.
Now mark, this is the very ground, the very reason why the gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," because "therein is the righteousness of God revealed" (Rom. 1:1717For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)). That righteousness, surely revealed on the cross, where the Son of God stooped to a cursed death in order to proclaim it—is revealed (wonderful to say!) in "gospel"—"good news" to sinners. God's righteousness, revealed in the Cross, is on our side and not against us. THAT is His power unto "salvation:" bringing in liberty unto the soul that grasps it, which the former ages could know nothing of. God for us! His righteousness on our side! no longer simply His forbearance "passing over" sins, but positive acquittal, pronounced "justification" of the believer: this is the deliverance, the salvation, of him who believes it. It is the proclamation of a peace needed as much by the Jewish "nigh" ones, as by the "far-off"
Gentiles (Eph. 2:1717And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. (Ephesians 2:17)). Unknown alike to each, when preached and believed it brings into peace and liberty before God: for "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Thus it should be plain to us that salvation is another thing from life, and that souls having life might still not have salvation. The first is that by which we are children of God. As receiving it we are born again and have a new nature, become conscious of what sin is before God, and of its power, and have the bent of the mind changed, its "law" on the side of God and good. Yet with all this, though having faith in Christ, I may be ignorant of my being a child of God, and without power to do the good I would, or to overcome the evil I would not. "Salvation" is the power of God delivering me from this condition, bringing me into the blessed knowledge of peace with God, giving me rest in Christ, as one "accepted in the Beloved," where the love of God to me, known and enjoyed by my soul, is that which fills my heart with love to Him, and enables me for all His blessed will. Salvation is this actual deliverance from the burden of guilt and the power of sin.
We have taken up the condition of the saints under the old dispensation, because they present us clearly with the example of believers having life, and being children of God, who nevertheless did not and could not know salvation. We must remember, however, that the word "salvation" is one used with a great variety of application. Meaning "deliverance," it could be and is applied to any great deliverance, even from the power of earthly enemies. "Salvation is of the Lord," says Jonah in the fish's belly. "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, Moses says at the Red Sea. As in the last case specially, these deliverances may be often types and figures of the great reality of God's salvation as revealed in the New Testament, but nothing more.
Besides this also, in the New Testament itself it is applied in two or three ways to a final and ultimate deliverance of soul and body out of the whole scene of sin and evil when the Lord Jesus comes; to a "salvation" from dangers and temptations by the way, (as in Phil. 2 "Work out your own salvation"); as well as to that first salvation of which we have been speaking, with which the Christian course (properly speaking), begins. Thus the apostle can say, God "HATH saved us;" while he can also tell us to "work out salvation;" and yet again, that "to them that look for Him (Christ), shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)). The Christian salvation is then looked at in this extended way —first, from the guilt and power of sin; secondly from the perils of the way; thirdly, from the whole scene of sin and death together. It is with the first of these alone that we have to do in our present examination.
Now if we inquire a little as to the importance of distinguishing, as we have been doing, between life and salvation, it will help to confirm and illustrate the views already insisted on.
Where eternal life in the soul is confounded with salvation, the true place and meaning of repentance is sure to be overlooked. There is no repentance possible without faith, for "without faith it is impossible to please God." Hence if every believer is a saved person, repentance must follow salvation instead of preceding it.
And indeed there is a sense in which that is true, if we take "repentance" as inferring that real right feeling with regard to sin, and forsaking it, which is indeed the "repentance" of one already a Christian man. Thus says the apostle to the Corinthians "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly manner... for godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of;... for behold, what carefulness it wrought in you," etc. (2 Cor. 7:9-119Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. (2 Corinthians 7:9‑11)). It would be useless, as well as wrong, to ignore this meaning of repentance, produced by godly sorrow in the Christian, for sin into which he may have fallen, as plainly the Corinthians had.
The confusion in people's minds, when looking at a passage like this, results from forgetting the very simple fact that these Corinthians were not sinners invited to believe the gospel, but Christians who had received it, but had got into a wrong condition. The mention of "salvation" here too, is a difficulty with those who look at salvation as only applying to deliverance from wrath to come. But the Scripture use of the word, as I have been saying, is not merely such as this. Deliverance from snares and perils of the way, from all things adverse to the soul, is "salvation" also. And thus the Corinthians, by true and godly sorrow and self judgment because of the sin they had fallen into, had been delivered from that which threatened to destroy all the power and blessedness of Christian life. But here it was no question of their receiving the "gospel of salvation." They had received it, and in that sense were already saved.
When those ignorant of the gospel seek to work up this "godly sorrow" in their souls, as what is to help them towards being justified and accepted before God, they mistake the whole matter. It is "the ungodly" whom God justifies (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)); even as it is those without strength and ungodly, for whom Christ died (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)).
We bring ungodliness and helplessness to Him, and not our "godly sorrow" therefore. The sincere soul who believes that he has to find godly sorrow in himself before he comes to Christ is wretched indeed. For who has such that he can be quite sure is fit for God, and such as His holy eye will detect no flaw in?
But then, there is the difficulty. For the Scripture order is, "Repent ye and believe the Gospel".
Are we entitled to reverse this order and say, "remission of sins and repentance," or "believe the gospel and repent"?
But how can a man repent while dead in sins; and if the gospel alone saves, and life and salvation are inseparable things; how can a man repent before be believes the gospel? Thus on the one side we must make repentance the work of an unconverted man, which is impossible; or else say, "believe the gospel and repent," which is not the scriptural order.
Is there no way out of this perplexity? Very simply, if we will take the simple statements of the word of God.
"The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost." That is gospel, most truly such. It has its two parts, one may say: the declaration of the need to be met; the declaration of Christ's ability and desire to meet that need. Now in the reception of this gospel there are two things implied; the belief of the need itself, as well as faith in that Gracious One who has come down to meet it. Christ is preached then; the soul believes on Him; and "he that believeth on Him hath everlasting life." But to believe on Him, and to have everlasting life, are things distinct from knowing that we have life, and from "believing the gospel" in any proper way. The man is born again; but new birth is the beginning of the knowledge of sin really. He finds himself "ungodly," tries to set himself right by God's help; finds, after many trials, he is "without strength" too; is brought to the discovery of what the condition of a "lost" one really is, and that he can do nothing to win salvation at Christ's hands. Thus he is brought to the place where, stripped of all pretension to be or to do anything, he finds Christ in all His fullness for him just as he is. He believes the gospel then, and enjoys peace with God. Before, he believed in the Savior, and hoped for the salvation; now he believes and has the salvation itself.
Now just that giving up of self-righteousness which must come before peace is known, is what the Scripture means by the repentance which precedes, in Divine order, belief of the gospel. Of this John the Baptist is a witness to us. His was the "baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins." And those who came to it were all "baptized by him in Jordan, confessing their sins. "
They brought no good works or good feelings, or promises of reformation. They brought their sins, and took their place in Jordan, the river of death, as those who were as good as dead men before God. And if John warned some who came to "bring forth fruit meet for repentance," it was that they should not "think to say within themselves, they had Abraham to their father,"—for a Jew the giving up of every title and claim upon God on the ground of righteousness.
Again in Job's case, (another Cornelius, if not more), repentance was for him a place of self-abhorrence in dust and ashes (Job 42:66Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:6)). A man who abhors himself is not one trying to make something of his right feelings or of his convictions, as so many are; but one who, as a sinner, simply takes his place as that, to be debtor to God's mercy for his all. Such "repentance" is still "unto remission of sins," and that is God's order: "repentance and remission of sins in the name of Jesus."
Salvation follows: real and positive "deliverance" of the soul from its burden of fear and guilt, a salvation reaching on too to the breaking of the power of sin in the soul. It is when the prodigal has his Father upon his neck, and the best robe and shoes, and ring, all freely from that Fathers love, that he is able to say: "I joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom I have now received the reconciliation." That "joy in God" is the source and spring of holiness, and of that "repentance" too, proper to the Christian; deeper than ever in self-abasement, and godly sorrow over sin.
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