Hunger and Thirst No More (Part 2)

Hunger and Thirst No More (Part 2)

C. Craig Wells

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35 (ESV)

We have identified two of the three-part focus of John 6 in the first part of this article. The first two being Jesus describing who he was along with the purpose for which he had come and the unbelief of the Jews who had heard the testimony. I will discuss the third focus in this part of the article, which is why some did not believe. The interpretation of the rest of this chapter is what is so controversial. This is why I tried my best to lay out the foundation in the first part of this article to set the stage for the interpretation of the next part of the chapter. The context is so important for the interpretation. The Jews had heard the gospel presented to them by Jesus, which they did not receive. Now we get into where Jesus describes to the Jews why they did not believe.

I ended the first part of this article with John 6:35 and that is where I will start in this part. Jesus was explicit in stating that he was the bread of life, which he was describing in the previous verses. The Jews were seeking physical bread that perishes for their physical life, which will also perish. Jesus was offering himself as bread of life for eternal life. The Jews wanted what they did not need. They were blind to their need for salvation. They were more concerned for the physical world and not their need for atonement to bring them to the kingdom of God unto eternal life. They trusted in their heritage as a people chosen by God. They trusted their works to be made right with God. The whole time Jesus was telling them that he was the one to whom they were to trust for eternal life.

The next part of the verse is clear in its statement. Whoever comes to Jesus will no longer hunger and whoever believes in him will no longer thirst. Some will argue that this coming to Jesus is not the same as believing, especially concerning verse 44. However, these two words, coming and believing, occur in the same verse. It is stating the same thing two different ways. It is very clear in the statement that “whoever believes in me shall never thirst”. You will live eternally if you believe who Jesus is and for what purpose he came. You cannot live physically without food and water; therefore, you must also come to Jesus for the bread of life so that you shall not hunger spiritually.

The physical person cannot live without food and water. You can live for many days without food; however, you can only live for only a couple of days without water. You must come to Jesus for bread of life so you will not hunger. You come to Jesus for this bread of life because you believe that Jesus is the bread of life. You do not come to Jesus for food in a physical way, if you do; you will be sorely disappointed. You come to Jesus because you see that he offers true bread from God unto eternal life. You believe that he offers what you need; therefore, you come. You would not come to Jesus if you did not believe what he offered was bread of life unto eternal life. In fact, that is the very reason people do not come to Jesus, they do not believe who he is or for what purpose he came. Jesus was very clear in stating the reason they were seeking him in verse 26. They were seeking Jesus for the wrong reason. They did not believe who he was or for what purpose for which he had come.

Verse 35 states the first focus of chapter 6 and verse 36 states the second focus, “you have seen me and yet do not believe”. Verse 37 starts Jesus’ explanation as to why those that do not believe do not believe. Verse 37 starts out “All that the Father gives me will come to me”. I have stated above to what coming to Jesus means, but now we have a qualifier added. The Father gives the ones that come to (believe) Jesus. That is not some. There is none, which slips through. All that the Father gives will come. The word “will” is very important here also. There is no “may” here. The negative implies that no one believes in Jesus unless the Father gives them up to Jesus. In a couple of verses, it will be explicit.

I have stated that chapter 6 describes both total depravity and irresistible grace in part one of this article. However, the second part of verse 37 also describes perseverance of the saints. All that the Father gives will come and all that come, none will Jesus cast out. What hope, comfort, and peace we have in these verses! God cast Satan out of heaven; however, we who come to Jesus for bread of life, Jesus will never cast out of the kingdom of God! We came to Jesus for salvation because the Father first gave us to him. Once we are in the hands of Jesus, he will never cast us out.

Jesus states in verse 38 that he had come only to do the Father’s will. Verse 39 states what the Father’s will is, “that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day”. Did you get that? The will of the Father is that all that he gives to Jesus, he shall not lose; even to raise them up on the last day. The Father has a people to call His own that we wants raised up on the last day; therefore He gives them to Jesus so that Jesus will not lose any or even cast out, but will raise up on the last day.

Verse 37 says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me”. Verse 39 says, “that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day”. Verse 39 says nothing about coming to Jesus or believing. It clearly says that all that Jesus receives from the Father, Jesus will raise them up on the last day. Faith is the means by which salvation comes to us, for our salvation is through faith. However, according to verse 39, that is a guarantee when the Father delivers up to Christ those He has chosen.

Verse 40 is an exclamation point to verse 39. Jesus states again the will of his Father. Jesus says, “Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last days”. This verse is explicit in the fact that those believing in Jesus will have eternal life. That is faith unto salvation. The point I want to make is the fact that verse 39 has the same words, “I will raise him up on the last days”. These words tie verse 39 to verse 40. Verse 39 has these words in reference to Jesus not losing any that the Father gives him. The people that believe and have eternal life are raised up on the last day, which are the people the Father gave to Jesus from the beginning. Please do not overlook how these verses connect to each other and what they are saying. To have eternal life, you must believe in Christ. However, that will only come when the Father gives you up to Christ so that you will believe.

“That I should lose nothing of all that the he has given me” in verse 39 ties to verse 37 where Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me”. Can you see how Jesus says the same thing in all the verses from 37 through 40, but said 3 different ways? You must come to Jesus by believing in the person and work of Jesus. However, you will not come to Jesus until the Fathers gives you over to him. When he does, then you are secure in the hands of Jesus, for he will even raise you up on the last day.

You would think verses 35 through 40 were enough for them to understand. However, the Jews were grumbling over what Jesus was saying, indicating they did not understand and believe what he was telling them. Therefore, Jesus goes deeper into the truths of the reason they were not receiving the message and believing in verses 41 through 51.

Jesus tells the grumbling Jews “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him”. This verse says that no one can come to Jesus in believing that he is the bread of life unto eternal life unless the Father draws him. The word, draw, in this verse comes under fire from so many different directions. I agree with those that say it does not mean faith or believing. However, I do believe it indirectly describes our total depravity and we being in such a state cannot come to Jesus in faith that he offers us eternal life, unless the Father brings us to Jesus first. This describes the doctrine of God’s irresistible grace.

The second part of the verse, “And I will raise him up on the last day”, connects to verses 39 and 40 where it is previously mentioned. What do you think “And I will raise him up on the last day” means? Would you not think it means the resurrection in the last day where the Father will glorify us in heaven where we will inherit the kingdom of God for all eternity? The answer is obviously yes. If this is our hope, how do we get there? It says that the Father must draw us first. The middle part is missing. We must believe, but the truth is that the most important thing is our receiving eternal life along with the fact that God the Father initiated the entire process. We would not have ever believed in Christ in the offering of himself as the bread of life if the Father had not brought us to Jesus first.

What does verse 45 say and what does it mean? Jesus uses the Old Testament in the first part of the verse when he uses Isaiah 54:13 and Jeremiah 31:31-34. Our knowledge of who God is, our sinful condition, our need for salvation, and believing in Christ for that salvation is not achieved from our own understanding. The Jews in chapter 6 is a good example of this. We do not receive these truths from another human being and it sure is not from within. God himself must be the one that teaches us the spiritual truths that we must believe for salvation. Other New Testament passages such as, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, and 1 John 2:20, confirm this truth.

The second part of verse 45 is crucial. “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me”. The coming to Jesus is the believing that he offers the true bread, the bread of life. All that heard and learned from the Father come. That means that no one will come to Jesus for the bread of life unless one has heard and learned from the Father. This is the work of the Holy Spirit on our heart to reveal to us the glory of God, our sinful nature, our need for salvation, and Jesus for our salvation. If you have not heard or learned from the Father, you do not come to Jesus in faith. Verse 47 makes it very clear that whoever believes has eternal life and that faith does not come before being taught by the Father.

Jesus states again in verse 48 that he is the bread of life. He also mentions the manna from heaven again to direct them to what he was offering. What was he offering? In verse 51, again Jesus says that he is the living bread. This bread comes down out of heaven also. This describes Jesus as God incarnate. The last part of the verse describes what he was offering. It is his flesh! Jesus was describing to them that he was offering himself to the world for the forgiveness of sin. He was describing that he would be the bread that would be broken and given to those whom the Father had given him for their salvation. This describes how Jesus was to die for the sins of the world.

Verse 52 describes again their unbelief and Jesus again describing to them who he was and for what purpose he had come. The Jews knew that there was no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. Jesus was describing to them in verse 54 how he would die and shed his blood for the forgiveness of sin. Whoever trusted in the sacrifice of Jesus, by feeding on his flesh and drinking his blood, would live forever. You are not to trust in anything else! If you want to live and live forever, you must trust in Jesus, feed on him and drink his blood for the life giving nourishment you really need, not the physical food that perishes.

Notice how Jesus focuses on his disciples in the last part of chapter 6. Even they were grumbling about what Jesus had said. Is it a hard saying? Yes it is! Jesus was the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the World. It was his body that was broken and his blood that was shed for the forgiveness of sin. No one can know this and receive this in faith without the Father first teaching the person and then bringing that person before Christ. This saying was so hard that many left and no longer were disciples of Jesus. Many were following Jesus for the wrong reason.

You can see how the Trinity is involved in the salvation of sinners in verse 63. The Spirit is the one that gives life. The Father chooses and brings them before Christ. The Spirit gives life through speaking and teaching the heart the things spiritual making that person spiritually alive. Christ died on the cross and gave himself up by the shedding of his blood for the atonement of sin for those that the Father gave him. Our faith is the means by which our salvation is applied, even though our faith is not what initiates the process. Our faith would not be there if it were not for the work of God first. God is the initiator of our salvation.

Jesus made this clear in verse 65. I want to put this in context so that we do not miss this. Verse 64 says, “But there are some of you who do not believe”. Okay, the disciples were grumbling and Jesus came out and directly said that some did not believe. The next verse, Jesus says, “This is why I told you”. To what does “this” refer? Of course, it is the fact that some did not believe. Jesus is about to tell them exactly why some did not believe.

The second part of the verse, which says, “no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father”. I believe it is clear that coming to Jesus is the same as believing in him as the bread of life. Anyone can come to Jesus for many reasons as described in the first part of chapter 6. However, no one will come to Jesus and trust him for salvation before the Father first grants that person come to Christ.

There is much debate about what the word grant means in this verse. You read it and tell me what it means. The KJV may state better, for it says, “no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father”. We can say that the “come unto me” refers to believing or faith in who Jesus is and to what purpose he came. The “it” refers to this “come unto me” or believing. This faith or believing is what the Father gives to him. The word “given” means bestow, bring forth, deliver up, and grant. A person is not going to believe in Jesus unto salvation without the teaching first by the Father. John 12:37-41 is a great verse that confirms this very doctrine.

As you can see, chapter 6 is loaded with doctrine. The implication of total inability to believe in Christ unto salvation is described in how God the Father must first take the initiative. We cannot on our own. Irresistible grace is explicit in these verses, because it clearly states that all that God gives to Christ believe. Perseverance of the saints is also explicit when it is described how the Father gives a person up to Christ, that none is lost, and all are raised up on the last day.

May all glory be to God!

Hunger and Thirst No More

Hunger and Thirst No More (Part 1)

C. Craig Wells

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35 (ESV)

John chapter six has much to say and is worth the time invested in mining its treasures. Jesus performs two signs in verse 1 through 21, which demonstrated Jesus’ deity. Jesus fed five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish. Afterwards, he walks on water. These were signs that left the Jews wondering who Jesus was.

Verses 22 through 71 convey deep things of God. These verses can describe total depravity and some will contend that it describes irresistible grace. I contend that it is not either or, but both. I will focus on these verses in my discussion, however, we must consider the context that involves the first twenty-one verses to be able to comprehend God’s message. I hope to demonstrate that these verses focus on who Jesus said he was and the unbelief of the Jews along with the reason for their unbelief. If we fail to see the context of these first twenty-one verses, we will most likely misinterpret the scriptures and completely take them out of context, therefore, hiding the truths revealed in them.

Before I dig into the scriptures, I want to explain the reason for this article. John 6 is crucial in explaining total depravity and irresistible grace. I will confess that I had difficulty trying to convince a skeptic towards the doctrines of grace when using John 6. I understand that it is not up to me to convince anyone of the truths in the bible, for it is the work of the Spirit of God. However, we must be knowledgeable and have understanding of the scripture to be able to accurately present the truth so that there will be no other reason for unbelieving other than hardness of heart. If we cannot understand these passages, explain them, or defend them, then we will not be able to do so anywhere else in the bible. I am not saying there are no other passages describing total depravity; I am only saying that John 6 should be definitive. John 6 should put to rest any questions concerning total depravity or irresistible grace. This is not so we can win a debate, but only to increase our faith and knowledge in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We know all too well the signs Jesus performed in the first twenty-one verses in the feeding of the five thousand and him walking on water. We seem to forget the connection between these signs and the rest of the chapter. The interpretation of this chapter depends on the connection of the signs and the discourse that follow. These verses are in the same chapter for a reason.

In fact, chapter 5 can be included as context as well. In chapter 5, Jesus explained who he was and by whose authority he was performing the works he was doing. He clearly was stating that he and the Father were one. (John 5:19-29) Even John 5:39-40 has Jesus telling spiritual truths in which they did not believe. This entire thought continued over into chapter 6. There were multitudes of people who were seeing the miraculous signs and heard the word of eternal life, but were not getting it. They remained in their unbelief. Some of the Jews understood very well what the implications of what Jesus said to them. (John 5:18) However, they refused to accept or receive the truth. They did not believe.

The Jews knew very well who they thought he was and to some degree, were accurate. (John 6:14-15) He is much more than a prophet. In addition, they wanted to make him king, however, the devil had already tempted Jesus with lordship of this world while Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. In addition, Jesus was to give them much more than national pride and a ruler who would deliver them from Roman suppression. He was offering them eternal life!

How do we know this? If we used just the first five chapters of The Gospel of John, it would be enough to testify that Jesus was the Savior of the world. It should not have been any doubt. Jesus was clear in stating who he was and for what purpose he had come. (John 1:29, John 1:34, John 3:14, John 4:14, John 4:26) In fact, many did believe and received Christ. (John 1:41, John 1:49, John 2:11, John 2:23, John 3:36, John 4:42, John 4:53) However, many did not receive the truth. In fact, the Pharisees wanted to kill him due to his claims and teachings. The question is why did so many not believe? You would think the evidence would be so compelling that everybody should not have had any doubt. Why did some believe and others not?

Jesus told them in John 5:39-40 and John 5:45-47 that they trusted the scriptures and Moses, but they did not believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of the scriptures, the one that gives eternal life. This is the crux of the two chapters, Jesus explaining to the Jews who he was and the purpose of his coming up against their unbelief. The entire second half of John 6 deals with Jesus explaining the reason for their unbelief.

Many people say that people do not believe only due to purely their decision not accept the truth. They say that their decision is without any external influences. They say it is purely like a choice of accepting or rejecting any type of gift. It is even said to be as easy as choosing a direction to take in a fork in the road. I contend that our own affections or what seems to be for our best good is the basis for all our decisions. I believe that Jesus explains that we cannot choose rightly unto salvation due to our corrupt nature, which encompasses our entire being, including our will. I hope to show that in the following text.

Verses 22-26 says, “On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.” This is the next day after Jesus fed the five thousand and on top of that, they had no idea where Jesus had gone. They knew the disciples had left on a boat without Jesus the evening before. So, what did these people do? They went across the sea to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. For what were they seeking him? What did they want from him? The whole chapter stands on this question. What they were wanting and what Jesus was offering are entirely two different things.

Verse 25 explains the confusion of the people. Jesus was on the other side of the sea without a good explanation of how. Thus the question, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” He has already fed five thousand and they are confused concerning when and how he arrived on the other side of the sea. They called him rabbi, which means teacher. They did not know who he was; they considered him only as a teacher. He had already demonstrated in chapter five that he was much more than a teacher! They should not have been confused if they had believed him when he told them that he and God were equal. They should have none that nothing is impossible with God.

How did Jesus answer their question in verse 26? A direct answer they did not get. They were asking for a reason from a physical position and Jesus was about to embark on a discourse from a spiritual position. The first thing he did was address the real reason they were seeking him. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” They were seeking him for the wrong reason. They just wanted their bellies filled again. The signs were enough to testify he was the Messiah; however, they were not there to bow to him, but only asking for food to nourish their physical bodies. (John 10:37-38) They were concerned for their physical needs and not their spiritual needs; and it gets worse.

Jesus lays everything out before them in verse 27 when he says, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Jesus told them not to strive for physical food that perishes. He told them to strive for the food that endures to eternal life. We are talking about eternal life here! He was not here to set up an earthly kingdom. He was explaining that they would perish just as physical food will perish unless they receive the food that endures to eternal life. They really do not have to labor at all, for he told them that he would give it to them. Eternal life is of grace and not by works.

What is the food that endures to eternal life? God’s creatures while in the physical realm require nourishment (bread and water) to stay alive. We depend on bread and water for us to live physically. Therefore, we must depend and trust in the bread from heaven for us to live spiritually. It is Jesus in the gospel that keeps us alive spiritually unto eternal life. We must feed on him. The gospel testifies that God is the Creator of all and is sovereign over all. The gospel testifies that man is dead in sin and in need of a savior.

That savior is Jesus Christ. We can do nothing to be made right with God. Our sin condemns us before a righteous and holy judge. The only way to be justified and entrance allowed into the eternal kingdom of God is to trust in Christ and his righteousness. We must divorce ourselves from seeking satisfaction from anything in this world, whether external to us or internal. We are not to trust our religion or our works for justification. The world should not be what satisfies; we need redemption and atonement for our sins if we are to enter the kingdom of God and have eternal life. Like eating bread for life sustaining nourishment in the physical realm, we need the bread of life to give us spiritual life in the spiritual realm so that we may have eternal life. Do not trust in bread that perishes, but trust only in Christ for eternal life. (Luke 22:19-20) Are we more concerned with our wants here in the physical world, which are only temporary, when we should be more concerned about what we need spiritually for eternal life?

Jesus even told them that he was the anointed one, which the prophets had prophesied. Jesus told them that the one to whom will give the food to eternal life was the one and same to whom God the Father had set his seal. Jesus had already told them in chapter 5 that God and he were equal. (John 5:18)

Do you think they were getting it? That would be a negative. They were still seeking physical comforts. They wanted the same power or works of God to be able to feed five thousand, or at least to be able to provide for themselves without laboring for it. Imagine what your life would be like if you did not have to labor for your food. However, that is contrary to the curse God placed on Adam and to his descendents due to the fall. (Genesis 3:19)

Jesus responded by telling them that the work of God was for them to believe in whom he has sent. As you can see, the entire context surrounds the idea of believing. Do you think they got it this time? No, they are seeking food again. They said that their fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they were expecting to see Jesus do something similar. They were still seeking to have their bellies filled. Jesus explained to them that it was not Moses who gave them bread from heaven, but the Father. The Father gives the true bread from heaven. Jesus then narrows down the discourse even more. He says that the bread of life is he who comes down from heaven and gives life unto the world. He was telling them that the bread of life was a person. This person was Jesus! He was telling them that he was God incarnate. He had come down from heaven in which he was to offer himself as bread of life, coming from the very hand of God.

Do you think they finally got it this time? Of course, they do not! They are still thinking about their bellies! They ask Jesus to give them this bread always, like manna from heaven when their fathers were in the wilderness. Jesus started out in a broad manner in his discourse, but now he is narrowing it down so as giving them a direct explanation. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” You cannot get any more direct than that. He was laying out spiritual truths and they were not receiving it. He is the one prophesied to whom would take away sin. (Psalm 103:10, Psalm 107:17, Psalm 130:8, Isaiah 53:5) Why did they not understand or receive the spiritual truths presented to them by Jesus? They simply did not believe. However, why did they not believe?

We must understand what lay behind or underneath the dialogue between Jesus and these people in chapters 5 and 6. These people we seeking rest from their labors. They wanted food provided for them without labor so that they can rest and enjoy life on this earth. They wanted freedom from Rome. These people trusted in their heritage as Jews and their religion for their righteousness. They trusted in the things of this world for their joy, love, and peace. Jesus was telling them that rest eternal was through him. They were seeking the things from this world and not seeking the things of heaven. (Luke 12:30-31)

Chapters 5 and 6 in entirety, deal with unbelief. Jesus was giving them truth and they did not receive it. The question one has to ask is why did they not believe? Is this question important? Yes, I believe it does. I believe it determines how much we give God the glory for our salvation. It also determines how we evangelize. It is totally a work of God or we have to help God by the way we present the message. The many gimmicks used to present the gospel demonstrate the latter, even preaching a false gospel. The former demonstrates how grace is really grace and God deserves all the praise and honor. The message in chapter 6 seems very clear, especially from our perspective when looking in a rearview mirror. So far, we can see how Jesus brought up front the Jew’s unbelief and I hope to explain how Jesus focuses on that unbelief and how he describes the reason for their unbelief in the next part of this article.

Important Issue Of The Reformation

The New Testament presents two aspects of God's work:

Number 1 — God's work for us in Christ.
Number 2 — God's work in us by the Holy Spirit.

Number 1 is what God did outside of us in the person of Jesus. This is the gospel – God's act of redemption in Jesus. Number 2 is what God does within our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This is the fruit of the gospel, for faith in Number 1 brings the Holy Spirit to the believer.
Number 2 must not be confused with Number 1; neither must it be divorced from Number 1. While faith must rest on the objective work of God in Christ, faith always brings the Holy Spirit with His renewing and sanctifying work in the hearts of men.
If you take a long pole, you can balance it in an upright position on your finger if you keep your eye focused on the top of the pole. The movement of your finger will follow naturally, almost unconsciously. But if you start watching what your finger is doing, the pole will become unbalanced and fall.
As the believer looks away from self to Christ and rejoices in what He has done for him and what He is to him, the Spirit of God will live in his heart and continue to transform his life. But if the believer begins to make his experience the center of his concern, the true balance of Christian faith is lost.
The tendency of human nature is to make the subjective aspect of Christianity the focal point of concern. This is what happened in the early church. It lost sight of the great Pauline message of justification by God's work outside of man. Even in the teachings of the fathers of the post-apostolic church, the objective truth of justification by faith held no prominent place. More and more the church began to focus on the experience of sanctification. Indeed, justification came to be looked upon only as an initiating step at the beginning of the Christian's life; the mighty Pauline truth about justification was subordinated to what was thought to be the higher blessing of sanctification. The focus of attention was away from the gospel to the fruit of the gospel, away from Christ's experience to Christian experience, away from the objective to the subjective.
We do not depreciate Christian experience when we say it is not the most important thing. Indeed, true Christian experience is attained when men make God's work outside of themselves the foundation of their hope, the focus of their attention and the object of their glorying.
As the church continued to lose the objective truth of the gospel, it became more and more centered in religious experientialism. The pursuit of an extraordinary religious experience became the great passion of the medieval church. Men began to do all sorts of weird and wonderful things in order to attain what they thought was a successful religious experience. Society was so drowned in its religious subjectivism that mankind made no scientific or sociological progress. Rather, civilization went backwards under the influence of so-called Christian teaching. Men carried crosses around Europe or sat on poles looking for some rare vision of God and truth. People went on useless pilgrimages, venerated “holy” relics and indulged in the most incredible superstitions. Christendom became a great cesspool of fantastic ignorance and stagnation.
At the heart of all this corruption was the medieval church's doctrine of justification. Amazingly enough, the church did not abandon such Biblical expressions as Justification and salvation by grace. The words of Paul were still used freely by the theologians (as they are today), but the great Pauline words (justification, grace, etc.) had evolved a new meaning altogether. Justification had lost its objective, forensic meaning. Instead of meaning what God did outside of man in pronouncing him righteous, it came to mean God's renewing, sanctifying act in man's own heart. (Thus Number 1 and Number 2 were utterly confounded.) Instead of justifying grace meaning the disposition of mercy and favor in God's heart, grace had come to mean a God-given quality that adorned the human soul. The classical doctrine of the church declared that men were justified by God's work in their own hearts and experiences. That is to say, it taught justification by Number 2 instead of by Number 1.

The Reformation Rediscovers Paul
Martin Luther has been called the clearest teacher of the righteousness which is of faith since the days of the apostle Paul. He utterly rejected the church's teaching that God's work within a man qualifies him to be accepted in the sight of a righteous God. He saw that no man could find enough righteousness or grace in his heart to confront God with an easy conscience, and that no one could have any certainty of salvation if it were to be based on his own experience. Justifying grace, Luther discovered, is not some quality that God infuses into the soul, but is God's favor given to those who are sinful, lost and undeserving. God's grace in the believer's heart is not the foundation of a Christian, proclaimed the Reformer, but God's grace in Christ. Christ's objective work of doing and dying for us, rather than His work within us, is the sole basis of our acceptance with God; for the moment justification becomes based on a subjective experience, confidence toward God and assurance of justification flee.
The contrast between the medieval church and the Reformation may be summarized as follows:

The Medievial church

• Justified by God's work of grace in the heart.
• Justified by Christ's work in our hearts.

The Reformation church

• Justified by God's work of grace in Christ.
• Justified by Christ's work outside of our hearts, i.e., on the cross.

The medieval thought was man-centered, experience-centered, and subjective. The Reformation thought was Christ-centered, cross-centered, and objective.

The Reformers did not deny the Spirit's work of renewal and sanctification within the hearts of God's people. But they saw clearly that we must first be justified by faith alone in a work completely outside of us. Then will the conscience be cleansed, the heart will find peace with God, and a life of good works will flow from the certain conviction of being accepted of God.


The Nature of a Christian Man
Is the believer in Christ a sinner or a saint? Does grace make him more and more righteous, less and less sinful? Are the good works of a Spirit-filled man still defiled with human imperfection and sin?
Rome and the Reformers were agreed that man was born with a corrupt, sinful nature, although the Reformation did have a much clearer view of the radical nature of human corruption.
The medieval church thought of grace as being infused to change and transform the sinful nature of man. By this transforming change within him, the believer was said to be made just in God's sight. Then, as he received more and more grace, the believer was said to become less and less sinful and at the same time more and more just in the sight of God. Good works were done in the believer by the indwelling of Christ and, because of this, were thought to be entirely pleasing and acceptable to God. Rome held out to men the possibility of becoming pure and sinless "Saints" (ontological perfection), and those who attained this perfection reached "Sainthood" and were qualified to enter heaven at the hour of death. Those who did not become perfect and absolutely sinless in the flesh would need to go to purgatory after death and thus be made completely just and qualified to enter heaven.
On the other hand, the Reformers said that God justifies the ungodly who believe on Christ (Rom. 4: 5), and that God covers the sinner with the mantle of Christ's righteousness. Therefore the believer is accepted as just and righteous, not because of grace or righteousness poured into him, but because of the righteousness placed upon Him by the imputation of Christ's sinless life. There is no such thing as the believer becoming more and more just, said the Reformers, for he is fully just before God. There are no degrees of righteousness with God. Either a man is fully righteous with Him or not righteous at all. Man is either accepted fully or not at all. Thus the relative stance of Romanism was utterly rejected.
Furthermore, said the Protestants, grace does not change the sinful nature of the believer. The sinful nature is so desperately wicked that it cannot be reformed by all efforts with or without grace. This nature will always be sinful as long as life shall last, and whether a man is a Christian or not makes no change in the "sinful flesh." But, said the Reformers, the Holy Spirit brings to the justified sinner a new nature, even a new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24). A Christian therefore has two natures. The old nature is called "flesh" because it is born of the flesh; the new nature is called "spirit" because it is born of the Spirit (John 3:6). Furthermore, these two natures are contrary one to the other. Says the apostle Paul, "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Gal. 5:17. And in a parallel passage he describes the reality of two natures within a justified saint:

"For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, 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! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Rom. 7:15-:25.

To the Reformers there was no such thing as the believer becoming more and more just; neither did the believer's old nature become less and less sinful. Luther coined a Latin expression to describe the nature of a Christian man: simul justus et pecator (at the same time righteous and sinful).
A Christian does not live by trying to reform the flesh, much less by purifying the flesh from its corruption; but he gets above it and walks in a new state in Christ. This is the theme of Paul's thought in Romans 8. The believer does not live "in the flesh" but "in the Spirit." That is, he follows the desires, promptings and dictates of the Spirit; and by His indwelling power he denies, fights and puts to death the desires and inclinations of the flesh. In this way the Christian is called to a life of suffering (Rom. 8:10-18; 1 Peter 4:1, 2), to constant warfare against the sinful nature. The Spirit is not given to release him from painful conflict but to sustain him in successful conflict until the end.

"… ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Rom. 8:23-25.

Thus, the believer is always a saint, always a sinner. In Christ he is fully righteous; in himself, by reason of the sinful nature, he is fully sinful. He has peace, but it is in the midst of war; he has rest, but it is with tribulations.
Then too, the Reformers had a very different view from the medieval church on the matter of a Christian's good works. God must first accept our persons, they said, quite apart from any of our works (Rom. 3:28; 4:4-6). Whereas the medieval church taught that God accepts men's persons because of their works (done with God's help of course!), the Reformers declared that God accepts our works because He has accepted our persons through faith in the Substitute. No good work of the saints is entirely without sin, said Luther and Calvin many times. True, God's Spirit causes Christians to do good works, but the sinful nature of man corrupts all these works with the taint of human imperfection, said they. Good works are accepted only by mercy and by the intercession of Christ's merit at the right hand of God. Neither our persons nor our works are ever perfect, declared the Reformers, but our perfection, righteousness and entire satisfaction to the law reside only in and with our Head.
There is no fulfillment in human experience in this life. Our righteousness with God is only by faith and not by the reality of our own experience. Christ is our righteousness, and His person is not here on earth but in heaven. Now we are righteous by faith; but hope looks to the coming of Christ when we shall be altogether righteous by nature as the angels. Faith pertains to the "now," hope to the "not yet." Faith looks to the cross and what has been done for us; hope looks to the glorious future that will be ushered in at Christ's return. Hope refreshes faith in this waiting period between the first and second coming of Christ. Faith restrains hope from trying to bring the "not yet" into the "now." By faith the Christian knows that sin, the sinful nature, death and Satan are already vanquished; but he still feels sin within, the devil without, and sees death on every hand. If this were not so, there would be no need to fight the good fight of faith. But by the Spirit he waits and groans for the day when sin, death and the devil will be abolished as threatening, visible foes.


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