A secular Bible for a Secular Church – Bible versions in post-war Britain

It was shocking but not altogether surprising in 2004, when Archbishop Rowan Williams placed his seal on the new 'Bible version', ‘Good as New'. He welcomed what was a clear perversion of the truth and morality of the Scriptures, as a book of 'extraordinary power' which didn't use 'exclusive words'. He went on: 'Instead of being taken into a specialised religious frame of reference - as happens even with the most conscientious of formal modern translations - and being given a gospel addressed to specialised concerns … we have here a vehicle for thinking and worshiping that is fully earthed, recognizably about our humanity.' In other words the Scriptures have been rewritten by 'Good as New' to adapt to secular concerns and to become wholly secular themselves. It is significant that a church leader who has failed to approach and deal with the issue of homosexuality in a biblical way should be supporting a rewritten of the Scriptures which excludes any condemnation of homosexuality.

'Good as New' rewrites 'demon possession' as 'mental illness’, ‘Son of Man,' as 'the Complete Person', and salvation to become 'healing' or 'completeness'. Individuals in Scripture are renamed with modern nicknames: Peter becomes 'Rocky,' Mary Magdalene becomes 'Maggie,' Aaron becomes 'Ron,' etc. The secularism of this book is blasphemous in places, such as Mark 1:10-11 which is rendered: 'As he was climbing up the bank again, the sun shone through a gap in the clouds. At the same time a pigeon flew down and perched on him. Jesus took this as a sign that God's spirit was with him. A voice from overhead was heard saying, 'That's my boy! You're doing fine!' It is a 'version' of the Bible which even changes the canon to include Gnostic pseudo-gospels in the attempt to appeal to contemporary fascination with the exotic. It is a secular 'Bible' with secular morality and ideas written not simply for a secular society but for a secular Church, thus Williams hoped that 'Good as New' will spread 'in epidemic profusion through religious and irreligious alike'.

Inevitable Secularisation?
To some onlookers, these developments reflect the inevitable decline of religion through secularisation. In the process of secularisation, religion is said to become increasingly less important in the society and its institutions, while the social standing of religious roles and institutions themselves decline. Above all it is thought to be a steady decline in the numbers of people engaging in religious practices and displayng religious beliefs. Traditionally, secularisation has been seen as the inevitable result of enlightenment thinking together with the fact of modern nations becoming industrialised and more concentrated in cities.

The Sixties
Historians have generally assumed that Britain became gradually secular during the twentieth century rather than overnight. Recently, historian Prof Callum Brown (The Death of Christian Britain: understanding secularisation 1800-2000, Callum G Brown, Routledge, 2001) has argued that there were three main periods of religious decline: the First World War, the Second World War and the period after 1963. In between the latter two periods of decline, however, the 1950s however represented a period of resurgence in religious adherence. Brown identifies the sixties as a period which introduced decline of a more permanent and more radical character. 'Britain in the 1960s experienced more secularisation than all the preceding four centuries put together. Never before had all of the numerical indicators of popular religiosity fallen simultaneously, and never before had their declension been so steep...What was different about the 1960s in the history of religion was not just the scale and suddenness of religious decline. The uniqueness of the sixties was that, firstly, for the first time, Christian religiosity underwent a common and virtually simultaneous change within nearly all countries in western Europe.' The period immediately before the sixties, i.e. between 1945 and 1958 reveals an upsurge of British church membership and Sunday school enrolment. The situation in the USA, Australia and the UK showed faster growth during this time than at any time since 1890. The Billy Graham crusades in the UK were highly attended, London 1954 was attended by 2 million (21.2 % of resident population) while 100, 000 packed Hampden Park in Glasgow 1955 (73.7% of the resident population).

1963
Brown pinpoints the revolution in Britain's religious adherence. He believes that 'really quite suddenly in 1963, something very profound ruptured the character of the nation and its people, sending organised Christianity on a downward spiral to the margins of social significance.' It was something more fundamental that just falling church attendances. What happened in 1963? It was the year in which the book 'Honest to God' was published by the Bishop of Woolwich, JAT Robinson. This book amounted to a manifesto for the adoption of a secular theology and a secular morality within the Church and heralded a revolution in the moral identity of the nation. It was a significant moment, for while many resisted such an extreme position, the initiative to secularise had been grasped from within the Church .

Secular Theology
The book was promoted in advance by an article in The Observer headed ‘Our image of God must go’. Within three years the book had sold over 1 million copies and was to be translated into seventeen languages. Robinson's conviction was that the biblical imagery of God made him unreal to the modern secular scientific world and that the supernaturalism of Scripture was entirely mythological. The book opened up a Secular Theology which derived from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's idea of a 'religionless Christianity', the idea that the supernatural 'God is dead' and that God must instead be found in the here and now of secular societies. Later in the sixties, Harvey Cox published 'The Secular City' and in a similar vein Paul Van Buren also published 'The Secular Meaning of the Gospels'. Atheistic philosophers welcomed Robinson's ideas as identical to their own: Alasdair Maclntyre regarded Robinson as an atheist with a thin coating of religious verbiage and A. J. Ayer observed that Robinson 'is coming round to a position a number of us have held for some time.'

Secular Morality
Robinson had opened up the sixties with his advocation of the removal of censorship from the explicit novel by DH Lawrence 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' . He appeared in court in 1960 to defend the publication of the unexpurgated edition of the novel claiming that Lawrence ‘tried to portray this relationship as … an act of holy communion’. By the end of the decade censorship of the theatre had been opened up entirely. In 'Honest to God', Robinson championed the idea of permissive morality believing that 'the fact that the old landmarks are disappearing is not something simply to be deplored. If we have the courage it is something to be welcomed - as a challenge to Christian ethics to shake itself loose from the supports of supernatural legalism' (Honest to God, p.117). One of the book's chapters was entitled 'the new morality' while another was significantly headed 'worldly holiness'.

Secular Bible
A significant moment witnessed the outselling of the New English Bible (NEB) New Testament by Honest to God. Robinson had been on the New Testament panel of translators for the NEB, which had been published in 1961. It advanced a sea change in Bible translation by abandoning a conservative word-for-word approach to translation for a more loose thought-for-thought approach. The NEB was not simply a re-translation but a re-writing of the Scriptures through its free use of conjecture in reconstructing and rearranging the text. It trumpeted itself as a translation into 'the idiom of contemporary English', and liberally used crude colloquialisms and clichés such as 'money-grubbing', 'sponging', 'left in the lurch' 'feel the pinch' 'lazy rascal' - 'catch me out' 'gibberish' 'perfect pest'. JG Vos once spoke of ‘Secularism is like a chlorine bleach. It takes the real colour out of everything’ - this is clearly seen in the secularising of sacred Scripture.

In the NEB words such as sinners were frequently translated as simply 'bad characters'. The irony was that the translators mixed up together with the slang idiom many archaic and unfamiliar words such as 'bedizened', 'scion','inculcate', 'obdurate' and 'parricides'. This was intended to represent 'modern English' but whose modern English?

For the translators, the secularising impulse dovetailed perfectly with a bias towards liberal theology in seeking out new 'translations' of the Scriptures. Familiar renderings became almost unrecognisable such as Genesis 1:1 ' In the beginning of creation, when God made heaven and earth, the earth was without form and void, with darkness over the face of the abyss, and a mighty wind that swept over the surface of the waters.' Isaiah 9:6 'For a boy has been born for us, a son given to us to bear the symbol of dominion on his shoulder; and he shall be called in purpose wonderful, in battle God-like, Father for all time [margin, 'of a wide realm'], Prince of peace'. The rendering of Exodus 34:6, 7 referred to the LORD as 'a god'.

The NEB pioneered the idea that the Bible was intelligible to the man on the street. If Robinson spoke of the 'death of God' in terms of what the traditional notion meant to the modern man, the NEB took as its leading principle the idea that 'the Bible was dead', in terms of its meaning to modern man. The Bible had to become relevant, part of modern vocabulary and the categories of thought of modern man - in short, secular. It was not that the Bible had become obsolete through changes in the English language (after all it had been accessible enough to Billy Graham's crowded crusades) but rather that society, attitudes and ideas had changed in the revolutionary ferment and discontent of the 1960s.

The translation philosophy behind the NEB was essentially secularising. Robinson's agenda in 'Honest to God' was primarily linguistic in promoting an instrumentalist view of religious language. The fundamental assumption was that traditional religious language is misleading rather than meaningful. Robinson believed that this could be addressed by changing the vocabulary of traditional religious language in order to describe more accessibly the spiritual realities that these terms pointed to. The idea here is that the labels for these spiritual realities can be changed without any loss of meaning. It should be obvious, however, that to “translate meaning while ignoring the way that meaning has been articulated is no translation at all but merely replacement” (Gerald Hammond). Access to the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ or to anything else of which Scripture speaks is mediated by the Scriptures themselves.

Evangelical Change
While evangelicals resisted the secular theology and secular morality championed by liberal theologians, they were increasingly attracted, as the sixties wore into the seventies, by the idea of relevance. They took the initiative to secularise. The Jesus People mimicked the hippy culture, adopting it with a Christian veneer, experimenting with folk-style choruses. The momentum was towards a 'relevant' message with a relevant Bible and relevant worship in order to evangelise effectively. Addressing God as 'Thee' and 'Thou' was replaced by reference to God as 'You', which was more accessible for the modern man (though not biblically accurate). The Bible had to be re translated and made relevant by means of the thought for thought approach adopted in the NEB. Robert P Martin has commented appropriately on such secularised translations: 'Unlike the modern newspaper, the Bible was never meant to yield the fullness of its message to those who are only willing to expend the absolute minimum of effort necessary'.

One of the principal translators of the 'New English Bible', Prof. Kenneth Grayston eptomised this attitude when he said: ‘Modern English, it seems to me, is slack instead of taut, verbose and not concise, infested with this month’s cliché…it seems to me a repository for the bad habits of foreigners speaking English. This is how we must speak if people are to listen and grasp what we say’. Some evangelical authors, in similarly stressing the need to be more contemporary in the style and language of their worship, seem to want to appeal to the decline of religion and diminishing importance of the church. The church must move the Scriptures along with the times, even if that is a downward spiral. At the same time the influence of modern idiom is thought to be a Midas touch that will transform the Church entirely. The great variety of modern idiom versions in existence, however, tells us that even this idea is not that uncomplicated but rather that there is significant difference of opinion over what modern English idiom actually constitutes.

After the sixties, Evangelicals bought into the idea of a secular Bible and the secularising of religion - but they did not buy (wholesale at least) secular theology or morality. Arguably, evangelicals on each side of the Atlantic have adapted even more than liberals to techniques with which to expand the church and to improve self-esteem that borrow mainly from business management and psychology. Recent developments, however, have witnessed a 'megashift' in evangelical theology which uses emotive arguments in seeking to change such things as the traditional doctrine of God, the atonement, and eternal punishment. Professing 'evangelicals' are now no longer entirely united in opposition to homosexuality. In relation to Bible translation, evangelicals are divided on the issue of 'gender neutral' translations. The latter is a clear instance of rewriting Scripture to make it align with changing social values (namely the success of the women's rights movement of the sixties) rather than changing language, despite arguments for the latter.

Secularisation is not only a trend in society but also a conscious decision taken within the Church to respond to perceived trends in society by seeking to keep up with changing cultural values. The British experience since the sixties demonstrates something of this. This is not to argue against change because it is change but on the contrary, to argue against change for change's sake. There is no obligation upon the Church to secularise. Secularisation is not absolutely a force outside of our control, the church has chosen to secularise itself. This is exemplified in the area of Bible translation: why was change required during the mid-late twentieth century? Why did translation start afresh rather than seek conservative revision? The answer is that the movement was prompted by cultural change and popular prejudices rather than genuine linguistic requirements. The very real danger is that a secular Bible speaks more loudly about a secular Church than it does into the secular society to whom it has conceded so much.

saving knowledge

The best summary of saving knowledge is found in a document called The Sum of Saving Knowledge.

The content of The Sum of Saving Knowledge

The full title is A brief sum of Christian doctrine contained in Holy Scriptures and holden forth in the Confession of faith & catechism agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster and received by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Together with The Practical Use Thereof. The title page carried the text John 6:37 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out'. The Sum is a very clear, useful and faithful summary or exposition of what the Westminster Shorter Catechism, Larger Catechism and Confession of Faith teach in relation to the way of salvation. The doctrine is federal or covenantal, working through the covenant of works and the covenant of grace as reflecting God's dealings with men.
The marrow of the doctrine of the Shorter Catechism is represented in the Sum in such a way that appears to reflect even its very language. restated almost in its own language. Almost every line of it includes the substance of a question of the Catechism. The first paragraph, for instance, summarises questions 4-8 of the Catechism.

The benefit of The Sum of Saving Knowledge
Anyone may benefit from The Sum of Saving Knowledge. Here the seeker finds the truths and way of salvation solidly, yet winsomely expressed. The child or young person finds the substance of saving truth in which, we trust, they have been catechised and learns how to apply it. The parent or instructor discovers a way of imparting this crucial knowledge. Any professing Christian possessing or lacking assurance and any minister should know the summary of saving knowledge and they should know where to turn for such instruction. The Sum is especially helpful in self-examination for evidences of grace prior to partaking of the Lord's Supper whether or not it is contemplated for the first time. Noone can be without material for sermons or formal instruction when have the faithful teaching of the Sum to hand. Indeed it would be useful for ministerial students to study it as a model for the content of sermons.
The experience of Robert Murray McCheyne shows the value of the treatise - heacknowledged it as the work which first brought him to a clear understanding of the way of acceptance with God. Andrew Bonar writes:
'He thought himself much profited, at this period, by investigating the subject of Election and the Free Grace of God. But it was the reading of "The Sum of Saving Knowledge," generally appended to our Confession of Faith, that brought him to a clear understanding of the way of acceptance with God. Those who are acquainted with its admirable statements of truth will see how well fitted it was to direct an inquiring soul. I find him some years afterwards recording:-
"March 11, 1834: Read in the Sum of Saving Knowledge, the work which I think first of all wrought a saving change in me. How gladly would I renew the reading of it, if that change might be carried on to perfection."'

The Context of The Sum of Saving Knowledge
The Sum of Saving Knowledge, and the Practical Use of Saving Knowledge is a kind of manual for catechising. It emerged from a period of reformation in the Church where various documents were formulated which were essential both to its wellbeing and to the propagation of truth. Catechising was central to the Second Reformation ideal of the Church and its ministry. The Church of Scotland's General Assembly of 1639 (Act anent Ministers Catechising, and Family Exercises, August 30) gave instructions concerning catechising. The Assembly believed 'that the long waited-for fruits of the Gospel, so mercifully planted and preserved in this Land, and Reformation of our selves, and Families, so solemnly vowed to God of late in our Covenant, [National Covenant, 1638] cannot take effect, except the knowledge and worship of God be caried from the Pulpit to every family within each Parish'.
They instructed therefore that, in addition to his sermons on the Lord's Day, every minister was to have weekly catechising in some part of his parish, rather than leave catechising to the time immediately prior to the dispensing of the Lord's Supper. Heads of households should ensure that family worship was conducted in the morning and the evening and that children and servants were catechised. This work was to be monitored by the parish minister and elders through visitation of every family. The latter work was, in turn, to be monitored by the presbytery. (The Acts of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland, from the year 1638 to the year 1649 inclusive, 1682, pp.88-89). The Westminister Assembly's Directory of Publick Worship reinforced the vision of the 1639 Act by recommending that heads of households should occupy some of the time during the Lord's Day not set aside for public worship for repeating sermons and catechising. This was also echoed by the Directory for Family Worship which was approved by the Church of Scotland in August 1647 (David Dickson co-author of Sum of Saving Knowledge had helped to prepare the Directory for Family Worship).
John Kennedy spoke of a similar practice in his own day in the Highlands of Scotland. 'On Tuesdays and Wednesdays during winter and spring, the minister holds ‘Diets of Catechising’. The residents in a certain district are gathered into one place - the church, or school or a barn - and after praise. prayer and an exposition of one of the questions of the Shorter Catechism in course, each person from the district for the day, is minutely and searchingly examined. All attend and all are catechised. Each individual conscience is thus reached by the truth, the exact amount of knowledge of each of his hearers, as well as his state of feeling. is ascertained by the minister: a clear knowledge of the fundamental doctrines of the gospel communi­cated and valuable materials gathered for the work of the pulpit. On four evenings of the week the Cate­chist is employed in his peculiar work . . . his diets of catechising are almost conducted quite like those of the minister. Such was the ordinary weekly work in one of the Ross-shire congregations in the good days of the fathers'.
By 1647 the Church of Scotland had approved the Westminster Confession of Faith together with One Hundred and Eleven Propositions written by George Gillespie to expound the Church's position on Church government in conjunction with the Westminster Assembly's Form of Presbyterial Church Government. In July 1648 the General Assembly approved the both the Shorter Catechism and the Larger Catechism, calling it 'a rich treasure for increasing knowledge amongst the People of God' (p.372). The General Assembly of 1649 followed up on this action in bemoaning 'the great darknesse, and Ignorance wherein a great a part of this Kingdom lyeth', and renewed the act of 1639 with the recognition that 'these dyets of weekly Catechising are much slighted and neglected by many Ministers throughout this Kingdome'. (p.466) The Assembly viewed this with such concern that they ordained that any minister found negligent by his presbytery in this matter would be first admonished, the second time rebuked sharply and 'if after such rebuke they doe not yet amend, they shall be suspended'. Ministers were instructed to make the weekly catechising an occasion to present 'the chief heads of Saving Knowledge, in short view', since not everyone would attend every meeting for catechising.
The authors of The Sum of Saving Knowledge
It is a measure of the degree to which they believed in the necessity of catechising and the need for instruction in the principal parts of saving knowledge that David Dickson (1589-1662) and James Durham (1622-1658) both professors of divinity and highly esteemed authors and preachers, composed, about 1650, The Sum of Saving Knowledge.This document sets out the chief points of saving knowledge and the practical use of saving knowledge which was to be made of them. In some ways this document compensated for an intended portion of the Directory of Publick Worship, ultimately not included, which would have dealt with catechising. This was discussed in Session 342 of the Westminster Assembly.
Dickson and Durham were great friends ever since Dickson had encouraged Durham to the ministry.While he was serving as a captain in the covenanting army during the civil war Dickson overheard Durham exhorting his soldiers concerning their souls. Recognising his ministerial gifts Dickson told him, ‘Go home, Sir, for you seem to be called to another work than this!’ (Robert Wodrow, Analecta, or, Materials for a history of remarkable providences, mostly relating to Scotch ministers and Christians, ed. [M. Leishman], 4 vols., Maitland Club, 60 (1842-3), 3.109). Durham entered the University of Glasgow about 1645 and studied divinity under Dickson himself who was professor. Durham displayed such outstanding proficiency that his course of study was shorter than the norm and he was ordained to Blackfriars in Glasgow in 1647.
In 1650 Dickson was translated to the chair of divinity at Edinburgh and appointed to the second charge of St Giles. Durham was called to replace Dickson in the chair of divinity at the University of Glasgow, but was prevented from taking up this charge when he was appointed one of the king's chaplains. Robert Wodrow informs us that The Sum of Saving Knowledge came together after several conversations, and thinking upon the subject and manner of handling it, in order to make it most useful to capacities of the weakest. It is said to have been dictated by both men to another minister, during the year 1650. John Macleod comments in his Scottish Theology: 'This solid and valuable piece is an expansion of some sermons preached by Dickson at Inveraray when he was the Duke of Argyll's guest there'. Presumably this refers to the Practical Use of Saving Knowledge, Warrants to Believe and The Evidences of True Faith which make up the bulk of The Sum of Saving Knowledge and are in effect brief expositions of portions of Scripture, resembling the headings of sermons. These headings would have been doctrines extracted from the text and the uses or applications of the doctrines.
The style of The Sum is markedly similar to that of Dickson's other writings, as seen in the communion sermons published in Select Practical Writings (Free Church of Scotland, 1845). Dickson was adept in expounding a text by means of a number of doctrinal inferences. Robert Wodrow tells us that these sermons are 'full of solid substantial matter, very Scriptural, and in a very familiar style, not low but exceedingly strong, plain and affecting. It is somewhat akin to Mr Rutherford's in his admirable letters. I have been told by some old ministers that scarce any body of that time came so near Mr Dickson's style and method as the Rev. Mr William Guthrie, minister of Fenwick, who equalled, if not exceeded him there' (p.xii).
The comparison with William Guthrie is interesting in view of Guthrie's valuable little book The Christian's Great Interest whose theme is so similar to that of the Sum of Saving Knowledge. Though Dickson was well learned and able to teach theology in the university, it is remarkable that he retained the pastoral concern which bred the simple Sum of Saving Knowledge. Wodrow records that he previously wrote Precepts for a daily Direction of a Christian's Conversation - The Grounds of the true Christian Religion, a catechism for his congregation of Irvine (Wodrow in ed. WK Tweedie, 'Select Biographies' Wodrow Society, 1847). The emphasis upon the covenants in the Sum is similar to that of David Dickson's Therapeutica Sacra [Sacred Healing]: Shewing briefly the method of healing the diseases of the Conscience, concerning Regeneration (Edinburgh, 1664). In this treatise Dickson attempts to briefly show 'the method of healing the diseases of the conscience concerning regeneration'. A large section of the book is devoted to an explanation of the covenants 'because the healing of the sickness of the conscience cometh by a right application of the covenants about our salvation'.
Dickson's preaching was said to have an 'apostolic brevity and simplicity in preaching'. In his preaching he sought 'to lead people to throw all their trust and dependence upon Christ's imputed righteousness, and not to rest upon anything of their own' (quoted Anthology p.14). This was Dickson's only refuge for himself. On his deathbed in December 1662 he said, 'I have taken all my good deeds, and all my bad deeds, and cast them through each other in a heap before the Lord, and fled from both, and betaken myself to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in him I have sweet peace'. Wodrow wrote of Dickson that 'if ever a Scots Biography and the lives of our eminent ministers and Christians be published, he will shine there as a star of the first magnitude'.
James Durham was known as 'a very candid and searching preacher who in an instant was in the utmost corners of your bosoms, though with the utmost caution and meekness, without giving any of his hearers the smallest ground to fret and repine at his freedom in dealing with them' p.iii. In September 1651 he moved to Glasgow High Church, St Mungo's west quarter. This congregation numbered around 1500. He regularly preached three times a week, lectured before his sermons, visited the sick, catechised from house to house, met with his session weekly. In addition he gave daily public lectures every fifth week, undertook daily catechising before communion seasons, and spent a considerable part of every day in private devotion, prayer, and study. He was known for his moderation during the protester-resolutioner controversy which split the Church of Scotland in the 1650s, and made constant attempts to mediate personally. His Treatise on Scandal represented his continuing attempts during his dying days to achieve a reconciliation, and when published in 1659 it was entitled A Dying Man's Testament to the Church of Scotland. He died at the age of thirty-six.

The status of The Sum of Saving Knowledge
The Sum was never formally approved by the Church courts but has been held in the greatest esteem and eventually published with the Westminster documents. James Renwick at his execution (February 17, 1688) bound the Sum of Saving Knowledge together with the Westminster documents: 'I own the Word of God as the rule of Faith and manners; I own the Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, Sum of Saving Knowledge, Directory for Worship, etc.; Covenants, National and Solemn League; Acts of General Assemblies,- and all the faithful contendings that have been for the work of reformation'.
In 1851 the Free Church of Scotland passed an Act identifying its subordinate standards and other authoritative documents, it referred to the documents of the Second Reformation as 'regulations, rather than...tests, - to be enforced by the Church like her ofther laws, but not to be imposed by subscription upn her ministers and elders'. The Sum of Saving Knowledge is referred to as a 'valuable treatise' belonging to these 'authorized and authoritative symbolic books of the Church of Scotland' as a 'practical application of the doctrine of the Confession'.

assurance of salvation

William Guthrie is most famous for the valuable little book that he wrote called The Christian's Great Interest. This book has gone through numerous editions (currently available from the Banner of Truth Trust) and been translated into various languages. It was first published in 1658, shortly before the restoration of Charles II. The subject of the book is assurance of salvation and it seeks to give various tests by which someone may know that he is a Christian and in doing so also sets out very clearly the way of salvation. It has been greatly valued by many. On one occasion the great puritan theologian John Owen was speaking with a minister of the Church of Scotland. Having been asked if he knew of William Guthrie, Owen drew a little gilded copy of Guthrie's treatise from his pocket saying, "That author I take to have been one of the greatest divines that ever wrote; it is my Vade-mecum, and I carry it and the Sedan New Testament, still about with me. I have written several folios, but there is more divinity in it than in them all." (A Vade-mecum is a handbook or some other aid carried about so that it can be of immediate use).

"The best book I ever read"

Thomas Chalmers, the leader of the Free Church of Scotland at the time of the Disruption once wrote concerning it, “I am on the eve of finishing Guthrie which I think is the best book I ever read." He went on to speak of its character and popularity: "it has long been the favourite work of our peasantry in Scotland. One admirable property of this work is that, while it guides, it purifies". Chalmers also wrote at some length on the book and it is worthwhile to hear something more of what he has to say concerning it in order to gain a true flavour of its contents and worth"...we think it impossible to peruse this valuable treatise, with the candour and sincerity of an honest mind, without arriving at a solid conclusion as to our spiritual condition. His experimental acquaintance with the operations and genuine fruits of the Spirit, and his intimate knowledge of the workings of the human heart, fitted him for applying the tests of infallible truth to aid us in ascertaining what spirit we are of - for exposing and dissipating the false hopes of the hypocrite - for leading the careless Christian to investigate the causes of his declension in godliness, and to examine anew whether he be in the faith - and for detecting and laying open the fallacies and delusions which men practice on themselves, in regard to the state of their souls. He faithfully exposes the insidious nature of that deceitfulness of the human heart, which lulls men into a false security, while their Christianity is nothing more than a heartless and hollow profession, and they are standing exposed to the fearful condemnation denounced against those who have 'a name to live, but are dead'.

The intimate acquaintance which he manifests with the spiritual life, and his clear, affectionate, and earnest expositions of the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, render this treatise a precious companion to the sincere Christian; while his powerful and urgent appeals to the conscience are peculiarly fitted to awaken men to a concern about those matters to which the Scriptures attach such an infinite importance; to lead them in earnest to avoid the possibility of continuing in deception; and to constrain them to seek after a full assurance on that subject on which, above all others, it becomes men to be well assured".

The best author for such a book

It seems that William Guthrie was eminently suited to writing such a book. He was by nature introspective or as James Stirling put it, "William Guthrie was a great melancholian". He had, however, overcome the extremes and potential dangers of this aspect of his character over the years. Samuel Rutherford once said that, "If a man's melancholy temperament is sanctified, it becomes to him a seat of sound mortification and of humble walking". This was Guthrie's experience and he was the better able to be a faithful minister for it. Guthrie was able to overcome that melancholy temperament by a vigorous sense of humour. No doubt he could feel that this was a dangerous tendency too: 'My merriment!' he confessed to one who had rebuked him for it, 'I know all you would say, and my merriment costs me many a salt tear in secret.'

Yet he was not unfitted for spiritual things by it. Once instance that demonstrates this was a time when Guthrie and fellow minister James Durham were at dinner in a gentleman's house and Guthrie was keeping the company entertained. Durham, characteristically solemn, laughed and laughed. Family worship was taken immediately after dinner and William Guthrie was called upon to lead in prayer. The prayer was so heavenly and full of earnest spirituality that all gathered were affected by it. "O Will!", exclaimed Durham afterwards, "you are a happy man. If I had been so daft, I could not have been in any frame for eight-and-forty hours". As Robert Wodrow notes, "It was often observed, that, let Mr. Guthrie be never so merry, he was presently in a frame for the most spiritual duty, and the only account I can give of it, 'is, that he acted from spiritual principles in all he did, and even in his relaxations".

Guthrie enjoyed fishing as a way of lawful relaxation and physical exercise in order to help his poor health. No doubt it also gave him food for spiritual meditation. The story is told of a visit that Guthrie paid to an older man in Haddington (a considerable distance) whose spiritual life had been marked by certain extraordinary experiences. This was at the time that he was composing his Saving Interest and the visit was helpful to him for this purpose and Guthrie listened with careful interest. It was all that night and all the next day, however, and Guthrie could not tear himself away from the conversation of the man and his wife. Then suddenly his face suddenly brightened upon remembering a delightful trout stream he had passed on his way to town. He asked the man if he had a fishing rod he might borrow. The man was pleased to think that such a minister as Guthrie might use his old fishing rod, but his wife expressed her shock at this indulgence in things earthly. And so the visit ended, but the very fact that Guthrie could go all the way from Fenwick to Haddington, just to have a case of real soul-exercise described to him by the man in his own words, speaks much more to us of Guthrie's character than the trout stream.

The purpose of the book

The word "interest" in the title of Guthrie's book doesn't just mean that the book deals with the matter of greatest importance to a Christian and his chief concern. It also has a legal sense in which to have an interest means to have a valid stake or share in something to our benefit. Guthrie's book deals with how the Christian may know that he has a legal claim within the Will and Testament or Covenant that the Lord Jesus Christ graciously makes with His people. Guthrie helps us to put ourselves in a courtroom trial where we are under Scripture as a judge to determine whether or not our claim is a true one.

Guthrie opens the book with a concern that there are many "pretending, without ground, to a special interest in Christ". On the other hand many others "who have good ground of a claim to Christ are not established in the confidence of His favour, but remain in the dark without comfort, hesitating concerning the reality of godliness in themselves". This state of affairs prompts two questions - 1. How can someone know if they are in Christ and whether or not he may lay genuine claim to God's favour and salvation? 2. What should we do if we cannot find in ourselves the marks of a saving interest?

How can someone know whether they are in Christ?

It is important to be clear that assurance is possible, and more easily attained than many realise. It is of the utmost importance to be "savingly in covenant with God". Scripture must be the rule to by which we are able to judge whether or not this is so. Only a few, however, seem to reach this assurance. There are many different reasons for this. Far too many are ignorant of the different ways in which God works. Others deal deceitfully with God and their own conscience in holding on to sin. There is also a lazy apathy that resists the effort of examining ourselves, but it is "a work and business which cannot be done sleeping". Assurance must be laboured after it is not something that fall effortlessly into our laps. Many are ignorant concerning what evidence will satisfy the quest for assurance, despite the fact that it is clear in Scripture. Some are looking for entirely the wrong evidences such as attaining sinlessness or continuous rapturous prayer. Many that are struggling to attain assurance can make the following mistakes: (a) they think that all who are in Christ know that they are; (b) they think that all who have assurance have the same degree of certainty; (c) they think that this persuasion should be continuous; (d) they think that a person must be able to answer every objection against their assurance. The sin against the Holy Ghost can be a great stumbling block to those who believe they have put themselves beyond pardon and this is carefully and helpfully defined from the Scriptures. Very importantly, Guthrie is able to tell us what it is not.

Guthrie speaks of the different ways in which people are drawn to Christ. Some indeed may be drawn lovingly or called suddenly in a very direct way. The 'ordinary' way seems to involve being humbled by conviction during which the conscience is awakened till the soul is full of concern about salvation and driven from resting in anything of themselves to casting their all on Christ for salvation. This is carefully distinguished from the temporary convictions of those that fall away.

Faith and the New Birth as Evidence

The first evidence that Guthrie calls for in this trial is faith. Faith is vital in the matter of assurance - indeed all other marks are worthless without it. Yet it can be mistaken. It is not as difficult or mysterious as men sometimes think; the Scriptures speak of it as a simple trusting, resting, and looking. It can be found in various marks of submissive obedience and devotion to Christ. "If men but have an appetite, they have it; for they are blessed that hunger after righteousness". Thus Guthrie identifies the marks of true faith but also distinguishes it from false faith. The second set of evidence called upon relates to regeneration. There is a total renewal when a man comes to saving faith in Christ. In mind, heart and will he is changed from being self-oriented and self-serving to serving and glorifying God. Attitudes to all aspects of life are renewed whether it is work or worship, relationships, recreation or eating and drinking. There is a respect to all of God's commandments, submission to and valuing of Christ alone that hypocrites never have despite the outward similarities with believers that they may seem to possess.

Getting Assurance

The great question in the minds of many, however, is why some believers doubt. Guthrie opens this up in considerable depth dealing with God's sovereignty and our own responsibility in these matters. He speaks of twelve areas where different levels of experience may be enjoyed but where assurance may be obtained. Part Two of the book also proceeds to deal with the second question raised: What should we do if we cannot find in ourselves the marks of a saving interest? Many may believe that they have closed in with Christ in the gospel very few, however, really have. Yet there is a duty that lies on all under the terms of the Covenant of Grace as it is preached to all. There must be a "coming" on our part. "God excludes none if they do not exclude themselves". "It is a coming on our part, and yet a drawing on His part". What is it to close with God's offer of salvation in the preached covenant? It means to recognise the full guilt of sin, our need of salvation and the impossibility of any salvation outwith God's appointment in Christ. We must "quit and renounce all thoughts of help or salvation by our own righteousness". Faith is humble though resolute, hearty rather than mere mental assent though it must depend upon knowledge.

Personal Covenanting

The Covenanters and Puritans found great benefit in personal covenanting with God. Usually this involved explicitly accepting of Christ and confessing sin and expressing satisfaction with the gospel way of salvation. The covenant was often renewed at Communion seasons and times of difficulty or desertion. Guthrie counsels those who lack assurance to make a covenant explicitly with God, writing down and speaking their acceptance in order that they may return to it in times of doubting. The author patiently removes any obstacles or objections that readers may have about covenanting, showing that it has clear scriptural warrant. The covenant was to be no mere decision card that was signed off unthinkingly. It was a solemn holy vow before God dealing with our never-dying souls to be taken with due meditation and consideration. Guthrie compares the covenant to marriage vows between the soul and Christ, as a way of formally confessing with the mouth the same covenant that the believer makes in the heart.

A Precious Book

Fellow minister, John Livingstone gave his opinion of Guthrie, and his book alone reveals the truth of it. "In doctrine he was as full and free as any man in Scotland had ever been", " he was a man of most ready wit, fruitful invention, and apposite comparisons, qualified both to awaken and pacify the conscience, straight and zealous for the cause of Christ". Let us hear Thomas Chalmers once again on the book: "I still think it the best composition I ever read relating to a subject in which we are all deeply interested, and about which it is my earnest prayer, that we may all be found on the right side of the question". Most suggestive of all though, is the sublime crescendo with which Guthrie closes this plain yet deep and short but full little book.

"O blessed bargain of the new covenant, and thrice blessed Mediator of the same! Let him ride prosperously and subdue nations and languages, and gather in all His jewels, that honourable company of the firstborn, that stately troop of kings and priests, whose glory it shall be to have washed their garments in the blood of that spotless Lamb, and whose happiness shall continually flourish in following Him whithersoever He goes, and in being in the immediate company of the Ancient of days, one sight of whose face shall make them in a manner forget that ever they were on the earth. Oh, if I could persuade men to believe that these things are not yea and nay, and to make haste towards Him, who hasteth to judge the world, and to call men to an account, especially concerning their improvement of this gospel. 'Even so, come Lord Jesus.'"

the Christian's Great Interest - in summary

The following is a helpful summary of The Christian's Great Interest prepared by William Guthrie. The language has been slightly updated for the benefit of understanding.

Q. 1. What is the great business a man has to do in this world?

A. To make sure of a saving interest in Christ Jesus, and to live in a way that is consistent with it.

Q. 2. Have not all the members of the visible church a saving interest in Christ?

A. No, in truth only a very few of them have it.

Q. 3. How shall I know if I have a saving interest in Him?

A. Ordinarily the Lord prepares His own way in the soul by a work of humiliation, and shows a man's sin and misery to him, and exercises Him so much with it, that He longs for Christ Jesus, the physician.

Q. 4. How shall I know if I have got a true sight of my sin and misery?

A. A true sight of sin makes a man take salvation to heart above anything in this world. It makes him reject all relief in himself, seen in his best things: it makes Christ who is the Redeemer, very precious to the soul: it makes a man afraid to sin afterwards, and makes him content to be saved upon any terms that God pleases.

Q. 5. By what other ways may I discern a saving interest in him?

A. By the going out of the heart seriously and affectionately towards Him, as He is held out in the gospel; and this is faith or believing.

Q. 6. How shall I know if my heart goes out after Him aright, and that my faith is true saving faith?

A. Where the heart goes out aright after Him in true and saving faith, the soul is pleased with Christ alone above all things, and is satisfied with Him in all Him three offices, to rule and instruct as well as to save; and is content to cleave unto Him, whatever difficulties may follow.

Q. 7. What other mark of a saving interest in Christ can you give me?

A. He that is in Christ savingly, is a new creature. He is graciously changed and renewed in some measure, in the whole man, and in all his ways pointing towards all the known commands of God.

Q. 8. What if I find sin now and then prevailing over me?

A. Although every sin deserves everlasting vengeance, yet, if you are afflicted for your failings and confess them with shame of face unto God, honestly resolving to strive against them from now on, and seek pardon from Christ, you shall obtain mercy and your interest stands sure.

Q. 9. What shall the man do who cannot lay claim to Christ Jesus nor any of those marks spoken of it?

A. Let him not rest until he makes sure of a saving interest in Christ.

Q. 10. What way can a man make sure of an interest in Christ, who never had a saving interest in Him hitherto?

A. He must take his sins to heart, and the great danger into which they have brought him and he must take to heart God's offer of pardon and peace through Christ Jesus, and heartily close with God's offer by retaking himself unto Christ, the blessed refuge.

Q. 11. What if my sins are especially heinous and worse than the ordinary?

A. Whatever your sins may be, if you will close with Christ Jesus by faith, you will never enter into condemnation.

Q. 12. Is faith in Christ only required of men?

A. Faith is the only condition upon which God does offer peace and pardon unto men; but be assured, faith, if it be true and saving, will not be alone in the soul, but will be attended with true repentance, and a thankful pursuit of conformity to God's image.

Q. 13 How shall I be sure that my heart does accept of God's offer, and does close with Christ Jesus?

A. Go and make a covenant explicitly and speak it all by word unto God.

Q. 14 How shall I do that?

A. Set apart some portion of time, and, having considered your own lost condition, and the remedy offered by Christ Jesus, work up your heart to be pleased and close with that offer, and say unto God expressly that you accept of that offer, and of Him to be your God in Christ; and give up yourself to Him to be saved in His way, without reservation or exception in any way; and that from now on you will wait for salvation in the way that He has appointed.

Q. 15 What if I break with God afterwards?

A. You must resolve in His strength not to break, and watch over your own ways, and put your heart in His hand to keep it and if you break, you must confess it unto God, and judge yourself for it, and flee to the Advocate for pardon, and resolve to do so no more: and you must do this as often as you fail.

Q. 16 How shall I come to full assurance of my interest in Christ, so that it may be beyond question?

A. Learn to lay your weight upon the blood of Christ, and study purity and holiness in all kinds of conduct: and pray for the witness of God's Spirit to join with the blood and the water; and His testimony added unto these will establish you in the faith of an interest in Christ.

Q. 17. What is the consequence of such closing with God in Christ by heart and mouth?

A. Union and communion with God, every good here and His blessed fellowship in heaven forever afterwards.

Q. 18. What if I slight all these things, and do not lay them to heart to put them in practice?

A. The Lord comes with His angels, in flaming fire, to render vengeance to them who obey not His gospel; and your judgement shall be greater than that of Sodom and Gomorrah; and so much the greater that you have read this book, for it shall be a witness against you in that day.

the clamour for an easy Bible

In an age of easy-believism and of relaxing the Biblical standards of holiness, men also want an easy Bible. So, it is not surprising to find easy read versions in high demand. Many modern versions of the Bible bring the Bible down to the lowest common denominator in spoken English so that the reader needs no real effort to understand what is read. The translators interpret and present the reader with what they believe to be the meaning of Scripture. One of the most recent translations is the Contemporary English Version, published by the National Bible Society of Scotland. The CEV has, we are told, the unique distinction that it “can be understood by five-year olds”, because the translators have valiantly purged from its English every last faint echo of the original languages. What is most disturbing about this claim is not so much whether or not it is accurate but the mentality that assumes the Bible may be reduced to this level without any significant loss or problem. Undoubtedly our faith may be childlike but to be childish is not quite the same thing.

Familiar unfamiliarity

This is educational theory gone mad. Doesn’t the Bible require effort from its readers? It does not speak in impenetrable mysteries, but neither does it speak in microwaved sound-bites. It speaks in a familiar unfamiliarity. We may hear it and partially understand, then subsequently grow in understanding as we apply the effort of thought. This is particularly true of the Wisdom books of the Bible such as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God” (Prov.2:1-5).

We can think also of the Lord’s parables. These stories with familiar details comprise elements of surprise in order to engage thought. “But without a parable spake he not unto them” (Mk.4:34). Although it is not arcane or deliberately obscure, and although certain statements may be immediately clear, the Bible requires the effort of thought. It is only after serious thought that it becomes clearer. Peter in referring to Paul’s epistles recognises that even he had to grapple with them in order to understand them since in them there are “some things hard to be understood” (2Pet.3:16). The work of the Holy Spirit is to make the Word plain to the believer.

The Reformers spoke of the perspicuity or clarity of Scripture; but, as Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, put it, “if there is obscurity, it is in the hearer and not the Bible itself”. Scripture never completely conceals its message except to him “who comes to the Scriptures with his own speech and interpretation” as opposed to him “who has a mind to learn from the Word of God”. Today’s Christian is woefully short of diligence. Yet to profit from the Word, humble diligence is required. The Puritan, Richard Greenham, said that we ought to read our Bibles with more diligence than men dig for buried treasure. Diligence makes the rough places plain, the difficult easy, and the unsavoury tasty.

Humility

The Bible stresses the humble reception of its truth Prov.1:30). The Lord Jesus Christ had to give solemn rebukes to those who had no room for either Him or His teachings in their lives (Jn.1:11 and 5:38,43). Is this not what the parable of the sower is all about? Paul’s command “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” is a very important reminder.
The word translated “richly” has the sense of both fullness and of wealth. We must admit the Word freely into all areas. It must have the run of the house and no costs must be spared to fulfil its requests and requirements. We should approach God’s Word not merely as readers (the way that we approach other books), but more as listeners – intent to listen and intent to receive, doing the courtesy of exiting our own thoughts and entering those of the speaker. “Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jas.1:21).

The whole theme of that part of James’s first chapter is of course about receiving the Word, culminating with: “whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (v25). This Greek phrase translated “looketh into” means bowing down to look intently into something. John used it in the account of the empty tomb, “stooping down, and looking in” (Jn.20:5). For a book to be understandable does not mean the same thing as being simply readable: understanding is more dependent upon attitude and motivation. Speedy reading certainly does not guarantee value from reading.

Our attitude

A W Tozer, in an illuminating essay entitled “Confessions of a New Version Addict”, states: “Since shortly after my conversion to Christ as a teenager I have been addicted to the habit of acquiring and being disappointed with new versions of the Scriptures, both revisions and new translations”, in the quest for a “new version that will make any other new versions unnecessary by bringing out the meanings of the Holy Scriptures as sharply as the developer brings out the
details of the picture on a photographic plate. But it never works out that way. After poring over the new book for a few days or weeks and finding that it is just one more version, I put it aside and return to my first love, the familiar King James Version”. Tozer proceeds to examine his assumptions and attitude: “I believe my error has been that I have nursed the hope, perhaps subconsciously, that my dullness of spirit and coldness of heart are the result of not hearing the truth expressed clearly enough in the common language of the street; that if I could hear a promise or a commandment couched in different words it would be easier to believe and obey”.

Our attitude to God’s Word is important as it reflects our attitude to God Himself. Do we see ourselves in a position of humility and submission before Him? Are we careful to represent Him accurately? The answer to the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q54 “What is required in the third commandment?” is: “The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, and works”. The following catechism A55 states that the third commandment: “forbiddeth all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known”. As Cornelius Van Til has said, the Bible declares to us the self-contained God who is the final point of reference and we must not infringe the authority and Word of God in favour of man’s self - important pride. To set aside God’s commandment concerning the attitude that He requires from us towards His Word, is to attempt to drown out the very voice of God. Are we willing to learn from God’s Word, or do we want to change it in order to suit us?

Accuracy or Readability?

Is it not self-evident that the Scriptures are different from anything else? They have an “otherness” through their historical character but much more so by virtue of Divine verbal inspiration. Translators must seek to get as close to the original languages as they possibly can, rather than interpret and modify the Word to suit the experience of a 21st century Western reader. Accuracy of translation is much more important than style or easy readability. We must accept that the Lord did not give the Word in “today’s street English”. A translation such as the Authorised Version may have some unfamiliar aspects to it but the benefit of that unfamiliarity is that it forces readers to grow accustomed to it and to make themselves at home in it. Many modern translators take the approach of swapping the true language of the Bible for an easy colloquial paraphrase. Most modern English versions are therefore denying and destroying the “otherness” and the authority, of the Scriptures, in a highly alarming way. An accurate translation such as the Authorised Version, on the other hand, has the kind of transparency which allows the original language to speak clearly to the serious reader. It is not the function of the translator to explain the meaning of the text. He must present what was written, rather than interpret or paraphrase it.

Why are there difficulties?

The parts of Scripture that we find difficult to interpret, and that many modern translations seek to explain or paraphrase away, are there for a reason. Elnathan Parr (d.1630), a highly respected minister in Suffolk, who lived during the time of King James I, (when the AV was produced), asked why there were difficulties in the Bible in his book Short and Plain Exhortation to the Study of the Word. He remarked that the Scriptures will not always be difficult as they are now because they become increasingly clearer under the ministry of the Holy Spirit as time goes on. They are not difficult in every area: in the basics or foundations of the doctrine of salvation and of faith and practice they are clear and uncomplicated. Some passages are astonishingly hard. But this is all in the wisdom of our God, who has provided milk for babes and meat for strong men. The simple things are for our nourishment, the hard things for our exercise. The former allay our hunger, the latter our pride. The Church Fathers spoke of the Scriptures as a mighty river in which a lamb may walk safely yet an elephant might also be drowned in it. None should despair of understanding them but neither should any presume that they have known them to exhaustion. There is variation on a journey through the open landscape between high hills and gentle valleys and there is also change in the seasons: a pleasant summer is more welcome after a particularly harsh and stormy winter. The same type of variation in God’s Word between portions that are either difficult or obvious makes both more pleasant to us and sharpens our desire to study it, which would otherwise be easily dulled. Parr then gives some more specific reasons as to “why the Lord would have some things in His Word be enclosed in clouds of obscurity, making as it were, darkness their pavilion”.
Firstly, that we might know and acknowledge the understanding of the Word to be the gift of God.
Secondly, to tame the pride and arrogancy of our nature which would soon appear if all things were obvious and easy at first sight.
Thirdly, that we should not reject and make of light account the Word, for this is our corruption which does not esteem or appreciate offered kindness or grace.
Fourthly, that impure dogs and swine be kept from holy things.
Fifthly, that we should make of high account the ministry of the Word, ordained for the opening and interpreting of the same.

Sixthly, to stir us up to prayer, and to continue with diligence and care in the hearing and reading of it, as matters of great difficulty are not surmounted with ordinary effort.

“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge: for it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge; that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth?” (Prov.22:17-21).

the holdfast - a poem by George Herbert

This is a poem which emphasises the nature of the sovereign free grace of God:

The Holdfast.

I threatened to observe the strict decree
Of my deare God with all my power & might.
But I was told by one, it could not be;
Yet I might trust in God to be my light.

Then will I trust, said I, in him alone.
Nay, ev’n to trust in him, was also his:
We must confesse that nothing is our own.

Then I confesse that he my succour is:
But to have nought is ours, not to confesse
That we have nought. I stood amaz’d at this,
Much troubled, till I heard a friend expresse,
That all things were more ours by being his.
What Adam had, and forfeited for all,
Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.

the Fear of God

Catechism on the Fear of God

"Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in His commandments" (Ps 112:1; Ps 147:11).

What is the importance of the fear of God?
Life lived without the fear of God or seeking his glory is empty of meaning: "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity". But the fear of God is the whole duty of man (Eccl. 12:13f). Our highest reason for living is to glorify God and our greatest good flows from it. This is bound up with the fear of God. (Deut 10:12ff; Ps. 112:1). If we would avoid the eternal ruin of our souls we must be brought to the true fear of God (Prov. 14: 27).

Who should fear God?
All people everywhere in all ages should fear God for ever and ever. At all times his "name is to be feared for ever and ever". This is the command of the everlasting gospel (Rev. 14:7). But especially his people are greatly to fear Him (Ps 34:9; Ps. 89:7; 1 Pet. 1:17; Ps. 86:11).

Are we to expect a time when the nations shall fear God as they should?
It is prophesied that the fear of God will be prevail across the face of the earth in the latter days. (Psa 102:15; Is. 59:19; Mal 2:5).

What is meant by the fear of God?
The fear of God encompasses all of the service that we ought to render to God: divine worship and duty in a spirit of sincerely seeking God's honour and fearing to displease Him. "Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." (Psa 5:7; Mic 1:6).

How are we taught the fear of God?
By the word of God only and not by the commandment of man (Is 29:13; Ps119:38; 1Jn 1:3-4).
In what way do God's people fear to displease Him?
Knowing the Lord as the Holy One of Israel, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, they desire not to sin and offend God; like Job, they eschew evil, they hate it and depart from it avoiding it like a plague (Prov 16:6; Prov 8:13). The greatest evidence of the absence of this fear is the increase of sin especially when it is open, indulgent and unashamed (Ps 36:1). The fear of God is the treasure of the saints (Is 33:6). Either we depart from sin out of the fear of God or we forsake God because the fear of Him is not in us (Jer 2:19).

What does the fear of God especially focus upon?
The fear of God is focussed on the majesty of God in all that He is and all that He does. "That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD" (Deut 28:58). "Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." (Isa 8:13). His sovereignty Who would not fear thee thou king of nations? His Goodness (Hosea 3:5; Jer 33:8,9; Jer 5:24) Forgiveness (Ps 130:3-4), His Holiness (Rev 15:24) Omnipotence (Jer 5:22). His Wrath (Ps 90:11; Ps76:7; Mt 10:28).

What is the difference between slavish and filial fear?
Slavish fear is forced (Matt 25:24-25; Luke 19:20), guilty (Gen 3:10, unbelieving (Rev. 21:8), hypocritical (2 Kings 17:32, 33 & 41) and afraid to offend God as Judge. It is only an occasional concern (Acts 24:25).
Filial fear is voluntary (Neh 1:11), truly reverent, joyful (Ps 64:9-10; Is 33:6), believing (Heb 11:7), sincere (Ps 119:33) and afraid to offend God as Father. It is a settled habit (Acts 9:13; Phil 2:12; Deut 14:23), fearing always lest the heart be hardened (Prov 28:14).

But is it not written that "perfect love casteth out fear"?
This fear is not the fear of God but slavish. There is no torment in the filial fear of God, rather it is loving and perfected in love.

What does the fear of God work in us?
The fear of God instils purity in us (Ps 19:9) and works godly sorrow (2 Cor 7:11). It makes us teachable (Ps 86:11; Job 34:22). It establishes our hearts (Ps 86:11; Jer 32:39-40) and enlarges them (Is 60:5). It gives contentment (Prov 19:23; Ps 25:12-13). It creates a prayerful spirit (Ps 145:19-20; 1 Kings 8:37-40); reverential thinking and speaking of God and any means whereby He makes His name and glory known (Mal 1:11&14; Mal 3:16; Lev19:30&26:2). Carefulness (Rom 11:20; Phil 2:11).

How does the fear of God relate to wisdom?
The fear of the Lord is wisdom and the root and beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7). This is heavenly wisdom. The fear of God makes a man truly wise by teaching him how best to live his life to the highest end. Those who reject God profess themselves to be wise but are fools.

How should the fear of God affect our daily life?
We should have the fear of God always before our eyes in everything (Rom 3:18). We should be afraid of sin and temptations to sin in anything and everything. Every moment is lived before God and unto God and therefore the fear of God should always be before us. It will affect even smallest things. Charity and submission to God's people (1 Kings 18:3-4; Acts 10:1-2; Eph 5:21). Nehemiah's self-denial and compassion for the people of God in their poverty as it impacted upon his status and calling as Governor of Judah is a mark of the fear of God. (Neh 5:15).

Who is our supreme example in the fear of God?
Christ alone manifested the fear of God in perfection. "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him . . . and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord" (Is 11:2ff.). The fear of God is a mark of being conformed in some degree to the image of Christ.

Which saints excelled in the fear of God?
Many of the patriarchs excelled in the fear of God,Job and Isaac (Gen 31:42,53). Abraham's fear of God was tested in an ultimate way (Gen 22:12). Joseph particularly shows the holy fear of God in regarding the great wickedness of sin to be its offence against God. (Gen 39:9).

What are the blessings of the fear of God?
The blessings of God follow us domestically, ecclesiastically and nationally (Ps 128). We are guided by God (Ps 25:12). We are preserved and provided for by God (Ps 33:18-19; Ps 34:9-10). We are delivered in trouble (Ps 34:7; Ps 85:9). There is everlasting mercy and pity upon us (Ps 103:13&17). Our prayers are heard and answered (Ps 145:19-20).

The Freeness of the Gospel Invitation

Rev. John Marshall, Stirling (1795-1833)
This is a sermon which I would like to see reprinted, because it displays an admirable presentation of the gospel.

Isaiah 65:1 (Latter clause) ‘I said, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name’

In perusing the Holy Scriptures, it is impossible to proceed far without being presented with astonishing illustrations of the condescension of God. These would appear wonderful even if this world had still been in an unfallen state. What Solomon said at the consecration of the temple would have been applicable even although that temple had been reared in paradise, and though the words had been uttered by man in a state of innocence, ‘But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have built!’ But when we look at man as a wretched, sinful exile from God, and at this world, nay, even the whole creation, as groaning and travailing in pain, by reason of the rebellion against God by which it is loaded; and when we contemplate the multiplied modes and forms of sin by which the divine government is daily dishonoured; what should we expect from God, if he spoke to sinners at all but demonstrations of unmingled wrath? These, however, are a present only given in measure. The full weight of them is behind, but it is reserved for the day of eternal judgement. Now, however, amidst palpable tokens of the divine displeasure against sin, there are mixed the most encouraging proofs of the divine condescension in warning use from the coming wrath, and offering to us a present deliverance from it. Every promise of God, is a proof of his wondrous condescension. And every promise of God ought to be food to strengthen our readiness to go to him as our deliverer and our life. But such is the waywardness of sinful man, that he staggers at the promise through unbelief, and stays himself not upon it. God condescends to use other methods. Invitation is one of these; and to render the unbelief of man without excuse, he graciously makes the invitation wide, as wide as the habitable globe. ‘Look unto me’, is his language, ‘and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ And lest the peculiarity which attended the nation of Israel of old should be a stumbling-block to any one of the race of Adam who should read the Old Testament, he says in the words of the text, ‘I said behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name’. Let us consider,

I. The gospel invitation which is here offered.
II. The urgency of it, implied in the repetition of the expression, ‘Behold me, behold me.’
III. To whom it is addressed, ‘To a nation’, saith the Lord, ‘ that was not called by my name.’

I. The gospel invitation. ‘Behold me.’ Brief is this command, but it is awfully important. It enjoins on sinners to turn away their eyes from viewing vanity, and their affections from a world lying in wickedness, and it presents to them in its stead the great God himself. ‘Behold me.’ How strange would this command seem in the view of some angel of light who might be ignorant of a world of sin. ‘What!’ might he exclaim, ‘is it necessary for any creature capable of knowing thee, O God, to be commanded to look at thee? what can this mean? Wherever my eye roams, I see thee, O thou Most high, and cannot but see and adore thy great and glorious name. If I were commanded to look away from thee, I should try in vain, for thou art everywhere. in every object of thy creating power and care, thy presence and glory are beheld.’ How different is it with sinful, inexcusable man! He, too, cannot open his eyes on the fair creation around him without having the divine power and glory spread before him. But he sees them not. Although ‘the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made - even his eternal power and Godhead - so that men are without excuse’, yet they shut their eyes, ‘they glorify him not as God’, - ‘their foolish hearts are darkened;’ and let us never forget, that it is folly and depravity of heart that produce utter darkness in the understanding. Their hearts are alienated from the true God, and they ‘worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is over all blessed for ever.’ Brethren, such is man when the blessed announcement first reaches him, ‘Behold me,’ saith the Lord. I formed you for myself. why have ye sold yourselves to another? ‘Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die!’ but who speaks? It is the Author of every good and perfect gift. this constitutes the grand encouragement, though men are slow to receive it. He who commands us to look to Him by faith, is the only being who can, out of his fullness, give us faith. This should remove many a difficulty that Satan is eager to throw in our path. Do we hesitate still? Let us be aware then: it is not because we have not a sufficient warrant for trusting ourselves in the Lord's hands. He commands us to come to him. ‘This is the command of God, that ye believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.’ ‘Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.’ The command is from the Lord, and the Lord is the object to which our faith is commanded to be directed. But what is there in this object to wean us from the world and sin, and to attract us for ever away from them? There is light in God. ‘Light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun;’ but spiritual light is sweeter far than the light of the loveliest landscape that ever struck our view, - than the fairest morning or evening sky that ever shone on our earth. The light which faith beholds in God, and which it receives from him, is, indeed, while on earth, still ‘a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise on the soul.’ But it is a glorious and peaceful light even here. And what it this light? It is simple ’truth’. ‘I am,’ said Jesus, ‘the light of the world.’ ‘ He that abideth in me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life’, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’. In other words, when man comes to himself and looks to God by faith, he begins to see objects in their real value. he was before ‘walking in a vain show,’ deeming the merest trifles of great value, and reckoning eternally valuable objects as unworthy of pursuit. he was formerly blind to the evil of sin, - to his alienation from God, and to the misery in which it involved him. He now sees all this, because he looks to the Lord, the sun of righteousness, - and in his light he sees light.

There is pardon with God. This is another attraction. Misgivings dark and heavy will arise in the most careless souls, and not till after the conscience has become by long resistance seared will they go utterly away. Mercy is sweet, therefore, to think of, but that vague hope of mercy which multitudes lean on is a frail support. Their trust is as a spider’s web. It is not a vague idea of divine mercy, it is pardon procured and sealed by blood, that can alone speak peace. This pardon is with the Lord, who says , ‘Behold me.’ We require not when we hear this and go to God - we require not to look around for a way of reconciliation. God meets us with an atonement completed - with a law honoured- with divine justice vindicated- with divine holiness not only unblemished by this offered forgiveness, but most awfully shewn forth by it. All things are ready then. The command is, Come and accept. Put out the hand, ‘Be not faithless but believing.’ ‘Behold me;’ pardon is with me. ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as wool. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as snow’.

There is love in God - love glorious, eternal, sovereign, unchangeable. He not only forgives past offences, but adopts into his family, nurtures and defends, comforts, instructs, enriches, and eternally blesses all who have come to take refuge under his wings. ‘Behold what manner of love is this,’ say they, ‘that we should be called the sons of God’. ‘herein, indeed, is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us.’ Love is an attractive principle. Divine love surpasseth all the love of creatures in this property. When that love is contemplated in redemption, and shed abroad over the heart, the chains of Satan and the world and of reigning sin are shattered. The loveliness of the divine character rallies the wandering affections, and gives them a sure and glorious resting-place. Both on account of what God is, and of what he ahs done for the soul, it is lifted up in admiration, it is melted into love. Hence it is said, that ‘faith worketh by love.’ From all this we may learn, that faith in a reconciled god through Christ, is drawn forth by right apprehensions of God. The soul weighed down by sin perceives in Him, as revealed in the face of his Son, the most attractive qualities; and such as are exactly suited to its wants and varied circumstances. ‘This is eternal life, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent’. Therefore, the invitation of God is, ‘Behold me’. In me is light, pardon, love.

There is, however, a peculiar urgency employed, which is indicated by the repetition of the expression, ‘Behold me, behold me’. This was the II. Particular referred to, the urgency of the invitation. In judging abstractly of the dignity of God, we might, with our weak conceptions, be tempted to think it enough if he simply made the offer once, and withdrew it if it were not accepted. Can it be that the Most High will suffer a worm of the dust, a sinner deserving hell, to refuse him more than once? Shall not his wrath burn as an oven and his fury as flames of fire? Such suggestion, it is not wonderful, should arise. but when we open the Scriptures they are dissipated. The name of God is ‘the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious’.

What greater proof of this can be afforded than in the fact, that a sinner refused an offer of mercy , and yet was allowed to remain on earth, --- that multitudes have done so, and yet been spared for many years afterwards in the land of hope? What stronger proof of it than such a repetition of invitation as occurs in the text, -- ‘Behold me, behold me,’ saith the Lord.
This is the urgency of pity, of power, of holiness. It is the urgency of ’pity’. It reveals God not merely as a stern lawgiver, but as a compassionate Creator. It reveals God not as careless of the creature, and only careful of his own government, but as deeply concerned for the misery which the creature has brought on himself by sin. The command is not coldly uttered. It is not, take mercy if you will, and if you will not, refrain. But it is affectionately given, -- ‘Behold me, behold me’. you turn away from me daily, and deem it a gloomy restraint to think of me; but you wrong me. And you awfully wrong yourselves. You wrong me; for what can you allege with truth against my government, or laws, or providential dealings? The gloom you speak of is in your own unsanctified, unhumbled souls. there is no darkness with me; and none who seek me will abide in darkness. ‘Though weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning’. ‘Come, then, and let us reason together. What have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against us.’ ‘Behold me’, I say once, and again I say, ‘Behold me’. ‘Turn ye, turn ye, for wherefore will ye die?’ How awful is his condescending urgency --- how awful if despised! If yielded to, how gracious does it appear to the returning contrite soul! It is the urgency of tender compassion.

But this language presents also the urgency of ’power.’ It is not the cry of unavailing compassion which is heard by a sinner when Jesus speaks in the gospel. It is the gracious invitation of a mighty saviour, who is able to save to the very uttermost all who come unto the Father through him. It is the command, and the offer, and the invitation of Him who ‘giveth power to the faint, and who increaseth strength to him who has no might.’ A man standing on the shores of the sea, and beholding the horrors of a shipwreck in a storm, may have all his compassion aroused for the sufferers; but he may be totally unable to yield nay effectual relief. His cry is one of pity, not of power. he dare not rush in to the billows; or if he did it would be unavailing. but the Lord, who beholds human souls perishing in their sins, rushes in among them, and stretches out the arms of deliverance. He walks not along the shore of this world's troubled ocean, viewing with indifference the shipwrecks which everywhere present themselves; but he leaves the shore – he walks amid the storm. He holds out salvation. He urges acceptance. he comes as the mighty god, and yet as the Prince of Peace. He says to the sea, be still. He says to the dead soul, live. But such is the wondrous beauty and wisdom of his arrangement in redemption, that while his power is changed without any violence being done to it. The sinner is led to choose the deliverance presented to him. He ventures in to the arms of the Saviour. He flies by faith to lay hold on the refuge thus set before him. He becomes willing in a day of divine power.
Let us never forget then that the urgency which the Lord uses in the passage before us, when he says, ‘ Behold me, behold me’, is not merely the cry of pity but of power. It issues from him who is ‘mighty in working’ as well as ‘wonderful in counsel’. And to all who listen and believe, it will become matter of joyful experience, that Christ is ‘ the power of God’ as well as ‘the wisdom of God’.

It is not only , however, the urgency of power that is here manifested, but also that of ’holiness’. It is the cry of a Being who will not be mocked with impunity. It is the offer of mercy by Him to whom the sin he offers pardon for is most abominable and atrocious, - of Him whose government throughout this wide dominions is upheld by holy laws - whose perfections are most holy -- who, though proffering pardon now, will, ere long, be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of his Son’. ‘ Consider this, ye that forget God,’ and neglect his invitation. It is not because God thinks lightly of sin that he provided for its pardon. he is not the unconcerned or indisciminating spectator of you actions and principles that you fondly imagine. he has not taken pity on you, because he only saw in you slight failings or excusable follies. These terms he recognises not. Al sin he hates; and the very first workings of it in the heart he has denounced as condemning. Think not the n it is your wretchedness merely that he looks at, and that, amidst his sympathies for that, he has lost his hatred of your sin. Ah no! This cannot be. He regards your greatest calamity as ’sin’. And ’because’ he hates your sin, he has provided for your deliverance from it. But he has so arranged the mode of deliverance, that his holiness is stamped on every step of it. He made a holy Saviour to suffer on the cross. A holy sacrifice has been offered. a holy obedience has been rendered. The Holy Ghost has come into our world to apply it. and provision is made for the fruits of holiness being produced in all who obey the gospel invitation. It is then not only the urgency of pity and of power, but of holiness also, thatis presented to us when we hear the Lord's voice saying, ‘Behold me, behold me’.
And to whom III. is this invitation given? It is declared to be ‘ to a nation that was not called by my name.’ This the apostle Paul refers to the extension of the gospel to the Gentiles. The Jews were for a season the peculiar people of God, set apart as a visible emblem of the true church. ‘They shall put my name on the children of Israel’. But they were ‘not all Israel that were of Israel;’ and their repeated and continued provocations were visited by a removal of their privileges, The Gentiles had no external designation to the Lord. His name was not written on them. Yet to them the gospel offer is made as freely as to the Jews. But why should we think merely of the Gentiles, in opposition to Israel being addressed by the Gospel? By those who have not the name of God on them, may be also meant such as make no profession of religion, such as have no reverence for divine ordinances, and therefore do not even give them the customary deference of others around them. Notwithstanding all their perverseness, and folly, and stout heartedness, still to them the kind invitation of the text reaches. ‘Now’, even to them ‘ is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation’. And when, in this thoughtless career, any word of scriptural truth by any means whatever reaches them, and when any gracious offer of mercy at any time falls on their ear, the offer is as free, and the blessings offered as abundant, as to others. Nay even to the very outcasts of society the invitation extends. ‘Ho! every one that thirsteth, and he that hath no money, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price.’

But why should we confine our view to any section of our fallen world? Has not the whole race lost the name of God? Originally they bore it; for man was formed in the very image of God. The name of his heavenly Father was written on his soul. But ‘man living in honour did not abide’. He lost his name; he lost the love of the true God, and ‘he did not like to retain the knowledge of him’. He no longer belongs to the heavenly family. He knows not his Father’s voice. He is a vagabond from his Father’s home. He acknowledges him not. ‘The ox knoweth his owner, the ass his master’s crib, but this people do not know, neither do they consider’. Even multitudes of the Israelites who bore externally the name of God, as well as multitudes of persons professing Christianity in every age, have merely ‘a name to live, but are spiritually dead’. They have not sought after or recovered the divine image. Whose name, then, do we by nature bear? The name of Satan. Unbelieving persons are described in Scripture as belonging to the synagogue of Satan. To unbelievers in the days of his flesh the Lord said, ‘Ye are of your father the devil, and the works of your father ye will do’. ‘They are led captive by Satan at his will’. ‘They walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience’. Satan is the leader of a rebellious world; and as with other leaders, his followers bear his name. Yet behold the loving kindness of God. He will not upbraid with their great unworthiness any who come from Satan to himself. He will not say, ’Ye belong to the ranks of my greatest enemy, and therefore to whomsoever I give mercy, it will not be to you’. No; he saith, ‘Behold me! Behold me’ even to you who are not called by the name of God, but by the name of the great adversary. That adversary he has condemned eternally. For your leader, ye unbelievers, there is no mercy; yet God does not involve you in the same hopeless doom. You are condemned, but not irrevocably. The sentence will be wiped away, and will no longer stand against you the moment you betake yourselves to the Lord by a living faith. Satan, indeed, your present leader, will tell you a different matter. He will bias you, if he can, against God. He will make the world, self, and sin seem desirable, and God’s ways and truth repulsive. Which, then, will ye believe? Will you listen to the devil rather than God? You do so if you close not with the invitation of God, ‘Behold me! Behold me!’ You declare yourselves not only to have been of the ‘nation that are not called by the name of God’; but to be of those who prefer the name and the slavery of Satan. Ye are they who ‘love darkness rather than light, your deeds being evil’.

Such then, is the gospel invitation, ‘Behold me, saith the Lord’, - its urgency, ‘Behold me, behold me’; - the persons addressed – those who bear not the name of God, including the whole family of fallen man. Let God’s people learn from this what God expects from them – that they shew forth the name of the Lord upon their character. ‘The Lord’, it is true, ‘knoweth them that are his’, but he would have the world to know it too, and therefore he says, ‘Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from all iniquity.’ ‘They are one’, one in aim and trust, and holy obedience, ‘that they may know’, saith Christ, ‘that thou, Father, hast sent me’. ‘Be ye then followers of God as dear children’. Be ye ’living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men’.

Let those who seek Christ learn from this, to beware of keeping themselves back, by vain efforts to bring something meritorious with them in their hands. Mark the invitation, ‘Behold me, to a people who are not called by my name’. Come, then, without delay. If you wait till you make yourself more acceptable, you dishonour Christ; you shew that you are ignorant of his righteousness. Take him, then, as a free gift, and be healed, pardoned, and saved. Amen.

worldly christians?

A new type of professing Christian has emerged over recent decades; one whose lifestyle is in no way different from that of an unbeliever except that they make a profession. In many evangelical churches the worldly Christian is now the norm. "Try to fit it in with the world" says the worldly Christian, "it’s wrong to put up barriers and not be accepted". They have been told that godly living is really a kind of legalism that makes God into a killjoy. They have been misled to believe that what the gospel does is to make lives that are only already partially fulfilled by the world to be completely fulfilled by Jesus, who is a type of missing add-on extra. Worldly Christians are assured by the equally materialistic lifestyle of other professing Christians: they take their standard from each other primarily rather than the Word of God. What does the New Testament say, however? Can we simply live as pagans: going to the same places and enjoying the same pleasures?

These are days in which we need to hear the clear, uncompromising teaching of the apostles. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 13: 13-14: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof". That whole passage in Romans 13 is indeed powerful, especially beginning at verse 11. Paul is picking up a previous theme stated at the beginning of Romans 12 (one of the major turning points of the epistle to the Romans). In Romans 12:2 there is a clear command: "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind".

No time for it

In the latter part of Romans 13 this command is given added urgency by the consideration that time is so short. We must have an eye on the clock, as it were, "knowing the time". There is significance in each moment, any life is so short that each moment is vitally important (Psalm 90:9-11). Eternity is always at hand. "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light". The apostle Paul is making it clear that time is shorter than we think. The present age is temporary like one single night (Psalm 90:4). The day of the appearing of our Lord and Saviour will soon come. We must live our lives in recognition of this fact rather than quibble or speculate about whether the second coming will take place before we die (John 21:22). We can be aware of the light of that "day" afar off just as Abraham saw Christ's day centuries before, and was glad (John 8:54).

Living honestly

It is a question of attitude and response to these facts - if we think it will always and forever be only dark and night then we will do the works of darkness. But if we know that a new era, a new world, a new heavens and new earth must come about as sure as day follows night, if there is a horizon as certain as every days dawn - we will prepare for that morning by dressing and acting appropriately. "Live as though the day has already dawned" he is saying, "let us walk honestly as in the day". The word "honestly" has the sense of properly or becomingly and therefore the type of behaviour that is suitable and respectable for the daytime. Behind the apostle's imagery is the assumption that even pagans have a limited sense of decency and conscience. They would never engage in some of their shameful deeds except at night when they can have the cloak of darkness rather than do what they do in full view. Paul is implying that we ought to and must live open lives and do nothing, of which we might be ashamed, especially if the Second Coming of Christ interrupted it.

Giving an account of our stewardship

Perhaps the apostle Paul has in mind the picture of a large household, the management of which has been left to various servants by the rich homeowner. Some of the servants take advantage of his goods and wine cellar and leave aside their duties and responsibility for a wild time. One servant, however, has kept his affairs in order, and rises early to go about his business, knowing that some day perhaps in the early morning (who knows?) his master will arrive. "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall being to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:44-51).

"And that servant, which knew his lords will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:47-48). What if having been given gifts, talents, and resources and having been instructed to trade with them to make them useful and profitable in extending our Masters estate ("occupy till I come" Luke 19:13) we should be asked suddenly to "give an account of stewardship"? (Luke 16:2) The call is to wake up and to get our house in order. It is "high time" - the crisis time of the crucial moments before the deadline of the judgement. The candle of night is burning very low, it is far-gone like a burning match that is very nearly spent, hardly anything is left. Paul is the watchman, calling out the last watch of the night. It is now the hour to be roused out of sleep. The apostle Peter makes the same point about remaining time in one of this letters. "He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead". I Peter 4:1-5 The reasons and arguments that Peter uses are exactly the same as Paul's: the (sinful) past and the future (God's judgement day) must dominate our view of the present. Our past is a goad behind us; the shame and pain of it prodding us forward, the future is bright but with a holy brightness that shines on all of our life, exposing every area however private and undisclosed. Our consciences are quickened as we realise that we have already filled up our lives with so much that will shame us profoundly on that Day. As the parables indicate, the day of judgement will be a time of reward, (Rev. 22:12) what can we expect?

Casting off the works of darkness

Wake up to these facts, says Paul, wake up to these towering shadows of past and future that influence the present so totally. Compare the present with the past and the future, see how short the present is, you don't in fact know how long it will be and that is why each moment of it is precious. Too much time has been lost already. "All the time we spend in a sinful state is all lost time. O look to this you young ones. All the time you spend in the vanity of your youth is lost time, and you who have lived until you are old and have been a long time in a sinful state, you have lost all your time. O the time upon which eternity depends is all lost for you have spent it in the ways of sin which has no good in it at all". (Jeremiah Burroughs)

"Are you living like a pagan?" asks Paul, "Are you doing the works of darkness, hoping to get away with it unnoticed because none has found out?" "Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame" (I Corinthians 15:34). Are you flirting with the gross sins that Peter lists? Surely you know that God sees and won't ignore it? (Psalm 90:8). Have you lost your spiritual and moral alertness, drowsing away in apathy? You need a sudden recollection of forgotten duty. The ultimate mark of our generation is of course apathy: the tuned out, dropped out careless sloth of many a young person: the sleep of unconcern about their destiny, their existence and their lifestyle. There is a deadly apathy that is ignorant of coming judgement and will not listen to any warnings. "Seek him that...turneth the shadow of death into the morning...The LORD is his name" (Amos 5:8).

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the masters use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart". (I Timothy 2:19-22).

Sinful practice and the works of darkness must be cast off and thrown away, these three vile pairs that Paul mentions in particular: rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness, strife and envying.

The word translated "rioting" is rendered "revellings" in I Pet. 4:3 and Gal. 5:21. It means boisterous merrymaking, we might call it partying or clubbing in our day. In some evangelical churches up and down the land the youth fellowship after church consists of heading to the pub. Many university Christian unions find that their meetings must not be organised at a time that would prevent members from going to pubs and clubs. Is it right for a Christian to do these things? Are we free to if we want to? Our age and many Christians sadly say, "Yes, it's not forbidden really" or "its up to you to decide". As though the Scriptures had not said 'be not among winebibbers'.

Neither Paul nor Peter, however, is not afraid to draw the line and be seen to dictate how Christians ought to live, they are not vague and noncommittal at all. The word connected with "rioting" "drunkenness" means excess or "drinking bouts" (having alcoholic drink after alcoholic drink) and is generally translated as 'drunkenness'. "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares" (Luke 21:34).

"Chambering" might be translated as cohabitation, but probably has more a meaning of promiscuous sex (the word is related to conception in Rom. 9:10). "Wantonness" is a word sometimes translated "lasciviousness" (Mark 7:22, 2 Cor 12:21, Gal. 5:19, Eph 4:19) or lustfulness (I Peter 4:3). Paul would have used the Greek word for fornication if he meant that alone, but this would repeat the sense of "chambering". Paul is surely covering all relevant actions, attitudes, words, and motives.

We would do well to return to the Westminster catechisms. The Larger Catechism teaches us that the duties required in the seventh commandment: "chastity in body, mind, affections, words, and behaviour; and the preservation of it in ourselves and others; watchfulness over the eyes and all the senses; temperance; keeping of chaste company, modesty in apparel...diligent labour in our callings, shunning all occasions of uncleanness, and resisting temptations thereunto". The sins forbidden in the seventh commandment "besides the neglect of the duties required, are "all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, and affections; all corrupt or filthy communications, or listening thereunto; wanton looks, impudent or light behaviour, immodest apparel...idleness, gluttony, drunkenness, unchaste company; lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancings, stage plays; and all other provocations to, or acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves or others". There are Scripture proofs for all these statements too. All in all, it deals with lustfulness as the fuel and force of a wide range of sins, an excess of lust that totally dominates, possesses and controls. The way of guarding against this sin is to be strict in controlling what our eyes and ears take in.

Each pair of sins in Paul's list appears to deal firstly with shared sins and secondly with personal sins, he deals with the root as well as the outward manifestation. When he goes on to speak of strife and dissension, or fighting, he is dealing with the root of envy. Verbal strife comes from built up envy and frustrated selfishness (which is what envy is). The apostle James describes this sullen, selfish covetousness accurately. It is a spirit that seems to characterise the youth and youth culture of our day.

"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" James 4:1-3.

However, fashionable all these pairs of sinful practices are (and they are supremely fashionable since selfishness and serving ones own lusts are the only thing that apathy does not touch) they are clothes that we cannot wear. Instead we should prove our identity as children of God by putting on the armour or weapons of light. We cannot put on night-clothes in preparation for a battle and self-defence. The flimsiness of night-clothes could not be more different from battle-wear: wearing night-clothes on military duty or in battle is about as absurd as wearing armour in bed. We must be prepared at all times therefore, ready for action, ready either to be on the defensive or the offensive.

Put on Christ

In the Bible the metaphor of clothing generally represents character, ability, and commitment. To put on Christ - is to put on the armour of light, to draw upon our resources in union with him, to live out the new man in Christ Jesus. Union with Christ is the crucial fact of the Christian life: think of how much the New Testament uses the words "in Christ". Paul urges us to be what we really are; to live properly dressed wearing the new garments of holiness that speak of our new status as sons of God. We are to enjoy and to display what is ours. "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breast plate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." (I Thess. 5:5-8).

We are given the practical help of this last phrase "make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof". Paul is telling us how to avoid these sins of excess, these works of darkness. The crucial point concerns the mind, the command "make not provision" means "don't plan or think about such things beforehand", don't think about anything that would put you in a dangerous situation, and don't plan to put yourself there. Before you do things and enter into situations think about consequences and where it will lead. A thought sows an action. The answer is to make the things of God a conscious priority, to set your mind on things above and then there will not be room for sinfulness and even dubious things, we can only die more and more to sin as we live more and more to righteousness. This passage tells us that as Christians we can have no other lifestyle.

"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will some forth and serve them. And if he come in the second watch, or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants." (Luke 12:35-37, read also Matt 25:1-13).