'The absolute necessity of holy living': Jeremy Taylor's sermon 'The Invalidity of a Late, or Deathbed Repentance'
The second generall consideration is, The necessity, the absolute necessity of holy living, God hath made a Covenant with us, that we must give up our selves, bodies and souls, not a dying, but a living, and healthfull sacrifice. He hath forgiven all our old sins, and we have bargained to quit them, from the time that we first come to Christ, and give our names to him; and to keep all his Commandements. We have taken the Sacramentall oath, like that of the old Romane Militia, we must beleeve, and obey, and do all that is commanded us, and keep our station, and fight against the flesh, the world, and the devil, not to throw away our military girdle, and we are to do what is bidden us, or to die for it, even all that is bidden us, according to our power.
For, pretend not, that Gods Commandements are impossible. It is dishonourable to think God enjoyns us to do more then he enables us to do; and it is a contradiction to say, we cannot do all that we can: and through Christ which strengthens me, I can do all things, saith S. Paul, however, we can do to the utmost of our strength, and beyond that we cannot take thought; impossibilities enter not into deliberation, but according to our abilities, and naturall powers, assisted by Gods grace, so God hath covenanted with us to live a holy life. For in Christ Jesus nothing avayleth but a new creature, nothing but faith working by charity, nothing but keeping the Commandements of God. They are all the words of S. Paul before quoted; to which he addes and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy. This is the Covenant, they are the Israel of God upon those peace and mercy shall abide; if they become a new creature, wholly transformed in the image of their minde; if they have faith, and this faith be an operative working faith, a faith that produces a holy life, a faith that works by charity; if they keep the Commandements of God, then they are within the Covenant of mercy, but not else; for, in Christ Jesus nothing else avayleth ...
In Titus 2:11-14, Taylor sees the Apostle expounding this teaching, grounding the necessity of holy living in the apostolic proclamation:
For the grace of God hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts, we should live godly, justly, and soberly in this present world. For upon these termes alone we must look for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ ... To what purpose are all those Commandements in Scripture, of every page almost in it, of living holily, and according to the Commandements of God, of adorning the Gospel of God, of walking as in the day, of walking in light, of pure and undefiled religion, of being holy as God is holy, of being humble and meek, as Christ is humble, of putting on the Lord Jesus, of living a spirituall life, but that it is the purpose of God, and the intention and designe of Christ dying for us, and the Covenant made with man, that we should expect heaven upon no other termes in the world, but of a holy life, in the faith and obedience of the Lord Jesus.
Taylor's declaration of "the absolute necessity of holy living", not least his insistence that the commandments of Scripture are given to be obeyed, not as a call which we are incapable of obeying, is echoed in Calvin's refutation of the Schoolmen, who turned some of the commandments into counsels of perfection, particularly for monastics, rather than God's law for "ordinary Christians":
The burden, say they, were too difficult for Christians to hear! As if any thing could be imagined more difficult than to love the Lord with all the heart, and soul, and strength. Compared with this Law, there is none which may not seem easy, whether it be to love our enemy, or to banish every feeling of revenge from our minds. To our weakness, indeed, every thing, even to the minutest tittle of the Law, is arduous and difficult. In the Lord we have strength. It is his to give what he orders, and to order what he wills. That Christians are under the law of grace, means not that they are to wander unrestrained without law, but that they are engrafted into Christ, by whose grace they are freed from the curse of the Law, and by whose Spirit they have the Law written in their hearts.
Likewise, Calvin's exposition of Titus 2:11-14 makes clear that without holy living "the fruit of redemption is lost":
For the same reason Paul says, the grace of God hath appeared, teaching us; for he means that it ought to hold the place of instruction to us to regulate our life well. What is proclaimed concerning the mercy of God is seized by some as all occasion of licentiousness; while others are hindered by slothfulness from meditating on “newness of life.” But the manifestation of the grace of God unavoidably carries along with it exhortations to a holy life ...
Looking for that blessed hope From the hope of future immortality he draws an exhortation, and indeed, if that hope be deeply seated in our mind, it is impossible that it should not lead us to devote ourselves wholly to God. On the contrary, they who do not cease to live to the world and to the flesh never have actually tasted what is the worth of the promise of eternal life; for the Lord, by calling us to heaven, withdraws us from the earth ...
Who gave himself for us. This is another argument of exhortation, drawn from the design or effect of the death of Christ, who offered himself for us, that he might redeem us from the bondage of sin, and purchase us to himself as his heritage. His grace, therefore, necessarily brings along with it “newness of life,” (Romans 6:4,) because they who still are the slaves of sin make void the blessing of redemption; but now we are released from the bondage of sin, in order that we may serve the righteousness of God; and, therefore, he immediately added, A peculiar people, zealous of good works; by which he means that, so far as concerns us, the fruit of redemption is lost, if we are still entangled by the sinful desires of the world.
Taylor's concern that the call to repentance must not obscure "the absolute necessity of holy living" is reflected in Calvin's understanding of the role of the Commandments and evangelical law in the Christian life, and his exposition of Titus 2:11-14. Again, this is not to overlook the differences between the wider theological systems of Taylor and Calvin. It is, however, to stress that Taylor's concerns in his sermon are no rejection of Reformation - indeed, Reformed - teaching. No less than Taylor, Calvin was concerned with the necessity of the call to holy living, for, as he stated, "if that hope [of immortality] be deeply seated in our mind, it is impossible that it should not lead us to devote ourselves wholly to God".
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