PEACE: TRUE AND FALSE
Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)
Inasmuch as salvation is the bringing of a sinful
creature into right relations to God, it necessarily follows that that
salvation, in all its parts, must ever be viewed from two sides: the Divine
and the human. God is the Savior, a human being the one saved. In the work
of salvation, God does not deal with fallen men as inanimate and
irresponsible entities, but as moral and accountable agents. The power which
He puts forth in the realm of grace is quite different from that which He
exerts in the sphere of material creation: the one is spiritual, the other
is physical. God works in us so that we are moved to will and to do of His
good pleasure. Thus, by noting the effects produced through us, we are able
to trace the cause wrought in us: the fruit attests the root.
Inasmuch as salvation is the bringing of a sinful
creature into right relations with God, it necessarily follows that that
salvation, is both an objective and a subjective thing; that is to say, it
is both legal and experimental. Or, in simpler language still, it is both
something which is done for us and something which is wrought in us. A
salvation effected by a vicarious satisfaction rendered to the Law, but
which left the sinner unchanged personally, would be a salvation at the
expense of holiness. On the other hand, a salvation which effected the
requisite change in the sinner but ignored the demands of the Law, would be
a salvation at the expense of justice. Thus, justification and
sanctification are inseparable.
Inasmuch as salvation is the bringing of a sinful
creature into right relations to God, it necessarily follows that for peace
to be adequately established, both the claims of Divine justice and of
Divine holiness must be met and maintained. Now this is only another way of
saying that the wrath of God must be appeased, and also that the enmity of
men must be slain: the curse of the law must be removed, and a love for the
law implanted in the human heart. The sword of Divine justice must be
sheathed, and the sinner must be made to throw down the weapons of his
rebellion against the Law-Giver. Nothing short of this could be a
satisfactory peace between the Creator and the creature. "Can two walk
together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3). No indeed. Then what
fellowship can there possibly be between a guilty rebel and a righteous but
frowning Judge? Sin has severed the friendship which originally existed
between the Creator and His creatures. As it is written, "But they rebelled,
and vexed His Holy Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their Enemy, and He
fought against them" (Isaiah 63:10).
In consequence of this, "he who believes not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36): note
the present tense—the holy indignation of God will not only be upon the
wicked in the Lake of Fire, but it rests upon them now; it cannot be
otherwise, for "the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18). "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).
"Their enmity against God does not lie still, but they
are exceedingly active in it. They are engaged in a war against God. Indeed
they cannot hurt God, He is so much above them; but they do what they can.
They oppose themselves to His honor and glory: they oppose themselves to the
interests of His kingdom in this world: they oppose themselves to the will
and command of God: they oppose Him in His government. While God is doing
one thing, they are doing the contrary, and as much as in them lies,
counter-working; God seeks one thing, they seek directly the contrary. They
list under Satan's banner, and are his willing soldiers" (Jonathan Edwards).
God has a controversy with the world, and bids His sinful
and rebellious creatures cease their controversy with Him. Because they will
not, He frequently gives signs of His displeasure and portents of the future
storm of Divine judgment which shall yet burst upon the wicked and wholly
engulf them. Every epidemic of disease, every severe storm on land and sea,
every pestilence and famine, every earthquake and flood, is a mark of the
Creator's anger, and presages the Day of Judgment. They are Divine calls for
men to cease fighting against God, and solemn warnings of His dreadful and
future vengeance if they will not.
But God is not only just and righteous, but gracious and
merciful. Accordingly He has Himself laid a foundation for sinners to be at
peace with Him. This is made known in the Gospel, which is designated "the
Gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15). In the Gospel an announcement is made both of
what God (in His grace) has done, and of what God (in His holiness) requires
from sinful rebels. In that Gospel God has made known the terms upon which
amity with Him may be obtained. But, sad to say, we are living in times when
the Gospel, like everything else, has been grievously perverted: when that
aspect of it which is acceptable to the carnal mind has been made prominent,
but when that aspect which is repellent to the flesh has been guiltily
concealed. The more clearly God enables the writer to discern this, the more
impelled is he to declare and expose it.
There are a great many tracts being circulated today the
substance of which purports to give a conversation between an evangelist and
some earnest soul who has not yet entered into the full assurance of faith.
The latter is represented as "seeking to make his peace with God," whereupon
the former flippantly replies, "You are two thousand years too late." The
evangelist is then pictured as asking the one to whom he is speaking, to
open the Bible and read Colossians 1:20, "Having made peace through the
blood of His cross." Then the assertion is made, "All that is required from
you is to believe that statement and rest upon the finished work which
Christ did for you."
We greatly fear that thousands of precious souls have
been fatally deceived by such superficial and faulty dealings with them.
First of all, let it be duly recognized that Colossians 1:20 was not
addressed to unsaved people, but instead to "the saints and faithful
brethren in Christ" (Col. 1:2). Any man who makes it his custom to take the
"children's bread" and "cast it to the dogs" at once demonstrates that he is
totally unqualified to deal with souls about Divine and eternal matters. O
how many such are now running without being sent of God! How many "novices"
(1 Tim. 3:6), are bringing the holy Truth of God into disrepute by a fleshly
zeal which is not according to knowledge! Far better for "young converts" to
keep their mouths closed altogether, than to open them to the dishonor of
God. "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak" (James 1:19), is a much
disregarded word these days of feverish activity.
In the second place, let the interested and earnest
reader (who desires to please the Lord, rather than follow or be admired by
men) turn to the book of Acts, and see if the Apostles ever preached to
unsaved people anything resembling Colossians 1:20. If that important book
be read through, it will be found that the message which the Apostles
delivered to promiscuous crowds was radically different from the
"evangelistic" preaching of these degenerate days. Even to Cornelius and his
household, who had reverently gathered together to hear "all things that
were commanded by God," Peter declared "preaching peace by Jesus Christ: He
is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). Peace comes to the sinner not simply by his
believing on Christ as "Savior," but first by his bowing to Him as Lord:
compare Colossians 2:6.
In the third place, to dwell exclusively on that aspect
of truth declared in Colossians 1:20, is to ignore what has been pointed out
in the opening paragraphs above, especially the second and third. Colossians
1:20, like Romans 5:1 and Ephesians 2:13-16 treats only of the legal and
objective side of the subject, telling of what Christ did for those who
repent and believe. But is it right, is it honest, is it pleasing to God, is
it helpful to perishing souls, to remain silent upon the experimental side
of reconciliation, and to say nothing of what God requires from rebellious
men before any of them can have applied to them what Christ did for His
people? Such men are either handling the Word of God "deceitfully" (2 Cor.
4:2), or in great ignorance.
In the fourth place, such tracts as we now refer to, and
the type of teaching which they embody, betray a sad lack of acquaintance
with Holy Writ. In Isaiah 27:5 we find Jehovah Himself saying, "let him take
hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me, and he shall make peace
with Me." Why that repetition, but that God, in His omniscience foresaw the
evangelistic errors of these perilous times! The same teaching is found in
the New Testament. The Lord Jesus declared, "Or suppose a king is about to
go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider
whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against
him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while
the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the
same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my
disciple" (Luke 14:31-33), which means he cannot be a Christian—see Matthew
28:19, Acts 11:26.
"The way of peace have they not known" (Romans 3:17): not
"known" in a practical way—neither approved nor trodden it. The primary
reference here is to an experimental ignorance of that way in which men must
walk so as to further the good of their neighbors, for "peace" makes for
concord and friendship. It is man's ferocity which has filled the world with
animosities, murders, rebellions and wars. It has been truly said, "The most
savage animals do not destroy so many of their own species to appease their
hunger, as man destroys his fellows to satiate his ambition, his revenge, or
cupidity" (Robert Haldane). Yet though the primary reference be unto man's
relations unto his fellows, these words "the way of peace have they not
known" may well be given a higher application. The way of peace is the way
that leads to peace.
There are many who have an intellectual acquaintance with
the ground of peace with God (namely the perfect satisfaction which Christ
made unto Divine law and justice), but it is greatly to be feared that the
vast majority of them are total strangers experimentally to the way of
peace. How few today even perceive that there must be a zealous renunciation
of all those things which have furthered estrangement between God and men.
How few today recognize the imperative necessity for casting away the
weapons of rebellion against God, the bewailing of our highhanded crimes
against Him, and the complete surrender of ourselves to His Lordship. "There
is no peace, says my God, to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:21), and there never
will be until they make their peace with their offended Maker.
By "making our peace" with God, we do not mean the
performing any works of merit, or doing something which entitles us to His
favor. No indeed: that is utterly impossible. Instead, we mean that the
sinner must heed the terms of such a verse as, "Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return (having, in
Adam, departed) unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our
God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7). God certainly will not
pardon our sins while we deliberately remain in them. By "making our
peace with God" is meant that the rebel against God's holy Law must truly
repent, and until this is done, all the "believing" in the world is useless
and worthless.
Genuine repentance is a heart anguish for having despised
and flouted the authority of the all-excellent God. It is a ceasing to be at
enmity against God, and a becoming at enmity against sin. There cannot be
peace with God while we are at peace with sin! We must, by Divine grace, be
resolved to war against the world, the flesh, and the Devil, which
constitute the trinity of evil—the arch-enemies of the Blessed Trinity.
Peace is the unity and concord of men with God, and it is a contradiction in
terms to speak of being at peace with Him if I am still striving against
Him.
But there are some superficial people who (to their great
loss despise the study of "theology") imagine that what has been said above
sullies the glory of Christ and detracts from the efficacy of His "finished
work." As well might they argue that His present intercession on High does
so. What do these people suppose Christ came here to effect? To be the
Condoner of sin? To render God less holy? To give a reprieve for the lusts
of the flesh? To grant an indulgence for carnal walking? Far, far different
was the case. He came here to magnify the Law and make it honorable (Isaiah
42:21), to procure the Holy Spirit to regenerate and sanctify His people
(Gal. 3:13, 14), to leave them an example that they should follow His steps
(1 Peter 2:21).
Christ died not to reconcile God to our sins, but to
bring us into the service, love, and enjoyment of God. True, our repentance
and reformation would have been useless had not Christ lived and died; yet
His atoning sacrifice avails no man who does not repent and surrender to His
Lordship. Christ is most honored when His servants teach that He died to
save His people from their sins, and (by His Spirit's work) enable them to
live holy lives in this present evil world. "And you, who were (not "are"!)
once alienated and enemies (to God) in your mind by wicked works, yet now
has He reconciled" (Col. 1:21). How? By His Spirit overcoming their enmity,
changing their hearts, turning them unto God.
True, our reconciliation to God is no cause of God's
reconciliation to us, yet according to the method which He has settled upon
as being most agreeable to His glorious Being, to His pure holiness, His
hatred of sin, the justice of His government, and the truth of His Word, we
cannot say He is actually reconciled to us, until we are to Him. We must
learn to distinguish between reconciliation purposed by the Father,
purchased by Christ, applied by the Spirit, and appropriated by us through
repentance and faith.
"When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden
destruction comes upon them" (1 Thess. 5:3). Those words have something more
than a "dispensational" reference: they have a practical application. There
are many ill-informed "evangelists" and "personal workers" who are saying
"Peace and Safety" to those who give a bare assent to John 3:16, but "sudden
destruction" shall yet come both on themselves and on their poor benighted
victims.
O my reader, as you value your soul, examine well the
"peace" which you fancy you are enjoying. Has it brought to an end your
rebellion against God's law, your resistance to the motions of His Spirit,
your love of the world, your living to please self? If not, it is a false
peace. Throw down the weapons of your wicked warfare against God. "Make
peace" with Him before His fury cast you into Hell.
"Take care, my dear friend, to clear away as far as
possible everything that would hinder your believing. Now you may depend
upon it that going into sin hinders believing. You cannot continue in
willful sin and yet become a believer: sin cherished in the heart is an
effectual hindrance. A man cannot be tied to a post and yet run away at the
same time; if you bind yourself to your sin, you cannot escape. Withdraw at
once from evil company— it is very deadly mischief to young seekers. You
hear an impressive sermon, but then you go away talking with idle gossips,
and you fall into frivolous chit-chat on the Sabbath afternoon: you cannot
expect your soul to grow in the right direction under such influences. Get
to your knees, get to solitude, get to your God, get to Jesus Christ; this
it is that will roll away the stone which blocks the door" (Spurgeon from
sermon on John 6:24).