Redemption Accomplished and Applied: Faith and Repentance

I’m participating in Tim Challies’ Reading the Classics Together program. The book is Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray, and this week’s reading is the fourth chapter of Part 2: The Order of Application. Here is Tim’s summary.

In this week’s reading we move down the order of salvation from regeneration to faith and repentance, which are both effects of regeneration. Regeneration is an act of God alone, but believing and repenting are what the sinner does.

In faith, the sinner receives Christ and rests in him alone for our salvation. Murray looks at two aspects of faith—its warrant and its nature—in order to help us to understand  what it is.

The warrant of faith is the reason the sinner has for trusting Christ for salvation. How does the sinner know that Christ is willing and able to save him? Two reasons are given. First there is the universal offer of the gospel.

God entreats, he invites, he commands, he calls, he presents the overture of mercy and grace, and he does this to all without distinction or discrimination.

And God gives this offer in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Given the scriptural evidence, what can we conclude but that no one is excluded from God’s offer of the gospel and his command to repent?

Second, there is the sufficiency and suitability of Christ as Saviour.

It is not the possibility of salvation that is offered to lost men but the Saviour himself and therefore salvation full and perfect.

Murray goes on to argue in this section of the chapter against a particular breed of hypercalvinists (He doesn’t call them this, but these seem to me to be who he has in mind in his comments.) who teach that the warrant of faith is the conviction that one is being saved or that one is elect. I don’t think people who teach this particular sort of wrong doctrine are common, at least not now, but I’ve come upon a few in my past discussions on the Baptist Board. “It is to us in our lost condition,” he says, “that the warrant of faith is given and the warrant is not restricted or circumscribed in any way.”

Next, our chapter discusses the nature of faith. Faith is knowledge, conviction and trust. It requires, first of all, that we understand something of the truth of Christ. Second, we must believe that the truth of Christ is really true and that is exactly meets one’s needs as a sinner. Thirds, faith requires us to rely wholly on Christ alone for salvation. Faith is nothing less than

self-commitment to him in all the glory of his person and perfection of his work as he is freely and fully offered in the gospel.

In the second section of this chapter, Murray discusses repentance, which is defined as “turning from sin unto God,” and is inseparably tied to the kind of faith that saves. The gospel is not only “that by grace we are saved through faith but it is also the gospel of repentance.” This statement is supported with several quotes from scripture which emphasize the necessity of repentance. True faith is repentant faith. To sum up, “the broken spirit and contrite heart are abiding marks of the believing soul,” and the contrite heart is a heart which looks to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing.

I suspect there are particular historical controversies behind some of the points Murray makes in this chapter. I may look into this more when I get time. Meanwhile, well-informed ones who know these things are allowed to drop hints in the comments.

What do we pray for in the second petition?

In the second petition (which is, Thy kingdom come,)[1] acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan,[2] we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed,[3] the gospel propagated throughout the world,[4] the Jews called,[5] the fulness of the Gentiles brought in;[6] the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances,[7] purged from corruption,[8] countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate:[9] that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted:[10] that Christ would rule in our hearts here,[11] and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever:[12] and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.[13]

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Round the Sphere Again

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Hermeneutics
Where is meaning? A very handy explanation. (Triablogue)

Confessions
Michael Haykin points out an intriguing difference between the Westminster Confession and the Second London Confession that, he says, “needs exploring by someone in more detail!” (And while we’re on the subject, here’s a tabular comparison of the two confessions with all the major and minor differences highlighted.)

Universals
Tragedy and loss will hit us all. Here are some basics to cultivate “in the good times so that when tragedy strikes, we have a Rock to stand on.” (New Lumps)