Cleansing of the Conscience &
Application of the blood
"And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." (Romans 5: 11)
For one to be saved, he must not only have had Christ make "atonement" (reconciliation) for him, but he must "receive" the "atonement." The atonement must be imputed to a person, the blood of Christ must be applied to the sinner, both forensically and experimentally. How does one "receive" the atonement? Is it not when he is saved or born again?
"Receiving the atonement" simply means the receiving of the fruits or benefits of the atonement. On this verse the great old Baptist, Dr. John Gill, wrote:
"by whom we have now received the atonement; atonement is not made, but received by us; which denotes the application of the atoning blood and sacrifice of Christ to the conscience, the Spirit's witness of interest in it, and the office of faith, as a recipient of it: it is not faith, nor anything else of the creature's, that makes the atonement, only Christ; but faith receives it from him, and by him..." (commentary)
The word "receive" in this verse deserves special attention.
One writer wrote:
"In the words of John Murray, the ‘word ‘receiving’…does not refer [in 5:17] to our believing acceptance of the free gift but to our being made the recipients’ of it. Indeed, Paul rarely used ‘lambano’ (‘to receive’) in the sense of ‘to take hold’ or ‘to accept believingly’. To receive something in his sense is simply to be the object or the recipient of it, as Murray says. We see this clearly in Romans 13:2, where those who receive (or incur) judgement are the objects or the recipients of it; they receive judgement in much the way that a boxer might receive severe blows to the head. Similarly, in Romans 1:5 those who ‘have received grace’ and in Romans 5:11 those who ‘have now received reconciliation’ are clearly the recipients of these effects in the same passive sense that a newborn baby receives life."
On the same web page, a commenter disagreed, and said:
"The word "receive" is in the active voice, which means its something YOU do. The word "receive" should have been translated ACCEPT, not receive. Or it should have translated TAKE. Its the Greek word "Lambano" which literally means to take hold of."
http://www.evangelicaluniversalist.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1116
So, which is it, active or passive voice? And, what are the consequences in either case?
A. T. Robertson says that "lambano" (received), in Romans 5: 11, is "second aorist active indicative."
So, though it is true that the word "lambano" (received) often is in the passive voice, it is sometimes put in the active voice. Often people receive things passively, and such things are put in the passive voice in the Greek. Dead people receive life, but they are passive in it. Receiving slaps on the face is also passive. But, when in the active voice, "receiving" means "accepting," or "laying hold of" (grabbing), or "taking." Thus, Murray is wrong.
It is not a denial of Calvinism and sovereign grace for the will to be active in salvation. The experience of salvation is not in every way passive, nor is it in every way active. In some respects the sinner is being acted upon, but in other respects the sinner is acting. Action is necessarily involved in being saved. The question is this, however: Is all the action and activity God's? or all the sinner's? Or, does salvation not involve action on the part of both God and the sinner? This leads to the debate about monergism and synergism.
Though these terms are often used by Calvinists, their definitions of them are often biased and misleading. Many Calvinists today, like John Hendryx, affirm that Calvinism is strictly monergistic and that Arminianism is synergistic in regard to being "born again" or "regenerated." In professional writings on this subject, "monergism" denotes passivity (passive voice) and "synergism" denotes activity (active voice). So, "what saith the scriptures?" Do the scriptures speak of regeneration in totally monergistic and passive terms? Or in totally synergistic and active terms? Or, in a combination of both? What does the old London Confession of 1689 say?
1689 London Confession on Effectual Calling
1._____ Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in his appointed, and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.
Here it seems that the old Baptists blended both passive and active, both monergistic and synergistic, factors to the experience of salvation or regeneration. God acts upon the sinner. The sinner is passive. But, the sinner, being acted upon, acts himself, "so that they come most freely." Their being "willing" is the result of God's action, but it is nevertheless their action in coming. Is the sinner regenerated before his will has been changed? Before it is made willing? Before it comes to Christ?
It is true that this work cannot be called a "cooperation" in the general sense of that term. It is also true that God's act is always effectual, being irresistible. "Drawing" denotes this. God's power is the efficient cause, but the will of man is the instrumental cause. God causes the will of the sinner and the will of the sinner causes the sinner to come.
2._____ This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, nor from any power or agency in the creature, being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit; he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it, and that by no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.
Can a man be said to be "called" and "quickened" who has not "answered" this call? Before he has "embraced" the grace offered and conveyed? Job, in speaking of his coming resurrection, said "you will call and I will answer." (Job 14: 15) Was Lazarus raised from the dead when Jesus called unto him or when he answered the call? Thus, regeneration (or resurrection) does not simply comprehend the cause but also that which is effected by the call.
Dr. Archilbald Alexander, the great teacher of Princeton Calvinism, and forerunner of Charles Hodge, wrote:
"Sometimes regeneration is considered distinctly from the acts and exercises of the mind which proceed from it, but in the Holy Scriptures the cause and effect are included..."
http://baptistgadfly.blogspot.com/2009/02/dr-grudems-errors.html
Those Calvinists who say that "regeneration" is the act of God that causes regeneration is false, for such a definition says that one is regenerated before he is regenerated, which is nonsensical. Such a definition limits regeneration to the cause of it, but not to the effect of it. Some of these Calvinists will say that the "drawing" = regeneration, but if this is so, then one is regenerated, or has spiritual life, before he "comes" to Jesus. But, Jesus put life after coming. (John 5: 40) The order given by Christ is drawing-->coming-->life. If the "drawing" = "receiving life," then one is alive before he is alive. But, again, this is nonsensical.
"Whom 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." (Rom. 3: 25)
"Propitiation" is a result of the sinner placing his trust in the sacrifice of Christ, in the righteousness of Christ. Again, this is in direct opposition to Hardshellism which teaches that faith in the blood of Christ is no condition or means for obtaining propitiation.
On this verse, Dr. Gill wrote:
"...'faith' in his blood is the means by which persons become partakers of the benefits of his propitiation; such as peace, pardon, atonement, justification, and adoption..." (Commentary)
Propitiation occurs through application of the blood of Christ. In the old testament typology, the blood was applied to the mercy seat and also applied to the people by sprinkling. During the inaugural of the first passover, the Lord instructed the people to apply the blood of the sacrificial lamb to the doors of their homes and this typifies the sinner's application of the blood to his own case by believing in Jesus. Further, in old testament atonement, the individual was required to lay his hands upon the sacrificial lamb and confess his sins as a way of appropriating the benefits of the atoning sacrifice.
Thus, since propitiation requires faith, and faith requires the hearing of the gospel, then the gospel is a means of grace and salvation.
"And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. 7: 14)
The Greek word for "washed" is in the active voice, according to Robertson. Thus, regeneration is not, in every respect, a passive or monergistic experience. How do sinners wash their robes? Wrote Dr. Gill:
"The "robes" which they washed in his blood may either design themselves, their consciences, which this blood purges from dead works; or their outward conversation garments, which have their spots, and need continual washing; or else the robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation, or their justification, which is by the blood of Christ, Ro 5:9. The act of washing from sin, by the blood of Christ, is sometimes ascribed to Christ himself, as in Re 1:5; but here to the saints, and designs the concern which faith has in the blood of Christ, which deals with it for justification, peace, and pardon, for the removing of sin from the conscience, and for cleansing from all impurity, both of flesh and Spirit: and the effect of this is, that their robes were "made white"; that is, that they were freed from all sin, were without fault before the throne, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. This shows that these persons had no trust in themselves, or dependence on their own merits, and works of righteousness, but wholly trusted to, and depended on the blood and righteousness of Christ; which is the only way to come out of tribulation, and enter the kingdom." (Commentary)
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9: 14)
This verse deals directly with the application of the blood of Christ to a person and occurs when one is saved, born again, or regenerated. Notice how this work is not non-cognitive as the Hardshells affirm. It involves the removing of ignorance (purging) and the giving of true saving knowledge. The word "conscience" denotes cognition, as does the word "serve." It is foolishness to speak of "born again pagans," as do the Hardshells, for pagans and all idolaters still serve false gods and are involved in "dead works," and do not serve the living God.
"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb. 10: 22)
Do pagans possess a "good conscience" or an "evil conscience"? The Hardshells affirm that many pagans are "born again," even though their consciences are yet unclean. Who has a "true heart"? Those who have faith or those who do not?
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." (John 6: 53-56)
This is another passage that deals with the application of the blood of Christ to a soul. Salvation is sometimes described as Christ being incorporated into a believer, and is sometimes described as the believer being incorporated into Christ. This is symbolized in the two ordinances of the Christian faith, in baptism and the Lord's Supper. In the typology of baptism, the sinner is pictured as being incorporated into Christ, but in the Supper Christ is pictured as being incorporated into the sinner. So, how is Christ incorporated into the sinner? It is by appropriating the sacrifice of Christ by believing in Christ and accepting his atonement. On this Dr. Gill wrote:
"But the words design a spiritual eating of Christ by faith. To eat the flesh, and drink the blood of Christ, is to believe that Christ is come in the flesh, and is truly and really man; that his flesh is given for the life of his people, and his blood is shed for their sins, and this with some view and application to themselves...only such that believe in Christ are living souls...between these acts of faith, and eternal life, there is an inseparable connection."
This is the old Baptist position and it is false for the Hardshells to claim that they are "Old Baptists" when they reject that position.
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