Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: — | Date: March 9, 2012 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Now because of the nature of the study this evening, we will not be able to spend any lengthy time at all in any given passage of Scripture. And I will have to assume some familiarity on your part with some of the passages that we talk about. I promise not to do that in the future sessions. But this evening, in order to cover the breadth of the material, we will have to do that. But I would like to take time to read through Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 14.

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace.”

Let’s look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we’re thankful for the great subject that we have this evening. We’re thankful for what you have provided for us in Christ. And we ask that you would help us in this hour to gain a greater appreciation of that. As we look into your word indirectly this evening through the teaching of one of your servants in the past, still, we look into your word and we ask that you would teach us by it and make us more like Christ as a result. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

A Brief Biographical Sketch of B.B. Warfield

Well, Ryan suggested I give a brief biographical sketch of B.B. Warfield. Before we get into this, it will be very brief. Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield is perhaps best known as the theologian of the doctrine of inspiration. He died in 1921. He had taught at Old Princeton Seminary for the previous 34 years or so. And he was known as a towering theologian in his own day. And he’s known as the theologian of the doctrine of inspiration because in very many respects that was the issue of the day. And he more than anyone else in the history of the church has given a massive exposition and defense of that doctrine.

In God’s good grace, he raises up men like this occasionally to become something of a watershed moment in the history of a given doctrine. And Warfield is that theologian in reference to the doctrine of inspiration. But he is much bigger than that. He was a towering scholar, a towering theologian in his own day. In my research, I spent many hours looking through the old journals of the day, and it’s interesting to see some of the references to him by other scholars of the day. And you get the feeling that other scholars of the day wrote feeling that Warfield is kind of looking over their shoulder as they write, because they’ll make references, by the way, to the theologian at Princeton or the theologian in New Jersey or something like that. And you get this feeling that they felt his presence. He was that kind of a theologian, a towering scholar on so many fronts and a towering theologian.

What is interesting, though, is that he was not only a man who was massively informed, but he was what I like to call a theologian of the heart as well. And one of the things that attracted me to the study of Warfield is that he is, on the one hand, a first-class exegete handling the scriptures so well and powerful, brilliant insights into the scriptures. And on the other hand, you find with that just a heart for Christ that won’t quit, and pulsing through his works is just this sense of dependence on Christ and a passion for Christ that really is quite contagious. And I really in many ways fell in love with him and have enjoyed my work with him thoroughly.

Old Princeton, as we call it, Princeton Seminary, started in 1812 and the plan of the seminary mentioned that there are two objectives to the seminary. One is to produce men of great learning, men of literature, men who were able to defend the faith against all of the various onslaughts of the faith that were coming at the time. They wanted their graduates to be very well informed, very well trained so that they could defend the gospel. And they also wanted at the same time to produce these same men who were men of deep piety—men of great learning, men of deep piety so that they could minister the word of God as a true minister of the word of God ought to. In many respects I think B.B. Warfield models that ideal of Old Princeton. Massively informed man, a scholar of scholars and recognized so even in his own day, and at the same time a humble Christian who in his heart of hearts sensed very deeply that he was a sinner rescued by divine grace through the blood of Christ.

Now you see a lot of this in his works. If you are a pastor here, I strongly would urge you to read, if you haven’t already, his little work, The Religious Life of Theological Students. Just a wonderful classic. You will find your heart beating faster at times as you read through it. It is one of those works that deserves to be read over and over again for any theological student and for any pastor. You’ll see this kind of thing also in another work of his, Spiritual Culture in the Seminary, also various sermons of his, hymns that he wrote, and even in his more scholarly articles at times you find him revealing this great heart for Christ and the passion that he feels for him. And he loves to use the language of adoring Christ and things like that, very doxological in his approach to it all.

For Warfield, Christianity was very much an experiential religion. It was a revealed religion first, and so therefore it’s a creedal religion. There are propositions to defend and all of that. But along with that, Christianity is in every sense an experiential religion, and you see that in some of his books of sermons. That’s what I try to bring out in my book, B.B. Warfield and the Christian Life.

One of the prominent themes that you find in Warfield is this notion of dependence. He loves to speak about dependence. Religion is dependence upon God. Evangelical religion in particular is dependence upon God. Evangelical religion in particular in its Reformed perspective is dependence upon God. The work of Augustine and Calvin, that theology that comes from them, fosters a kind of piety that is one of dependence upon God. We come to God at the outset of the Christian life utterly dependent, utterly helpless, and resting our whole cause in Christ’s hands. And throughout the Christian life, there is this notion of dependence that pervades every aspect of Christian living.

This is just one corollary of a larger theme that is prominent in Warfield and that’s the notion of supernaturalism. Christianity is in every respect, he insisted, a supernatural religion. We have a supernatural God, supernaturally revealing himself in what amounts to a supernatural book, giving us a supernatural redemption, sending a supernatural Savior. And he emphasizes all of this at length. And the Christian himself, he insists, is every Christian a walking miracle: supernaturally redeemed, supernaturally renewed, supernaturally transformed. And all of this informs Warfield’s doctrine of sanctification. He insisted on the traditional evangelical and Reformed statement that sanctification is a cooperative work, but we will see as we go along that in that—that is, we cooperate with God in this work of sanctification—but he’s deeply aware that whatever our part, it is because and only because God has been and is actively at work in us.

One of the things that you will see throughout Warfield’s work on sanctification is that godliness is of the very essence of Christian salvation. Holiness, godliness, practical godliness is of the essence of Christian salvation and is of the essence of every Christian life. It is part and parcel of the redemption that has been given us in Christ. For example, Warfield will insist on the distinction that’s traditionally made in Reformed theology that in justification and in sanctification, respectively, we are redeemed from the penalty and the power of sin. In justification, we’re declared righteous before God and we’re rescued from the penalty of sin. In sanctification, we’re rescued from the power and the dominion of sin. But Warfield is careful to note that we shouldn’t overpress that distinction where he says, after all, what is the penalty of sin and what is salvation? Is not our sinfulness itself the penalty of all penalties of sin? And what is holiness but salvation from sin? I may want to quibble about some of that, but it shows this point that Warfield emphasizes everywhere and that is that godliness is of the very essence of the Christian life.

Well, we’re jumping ahead. Our sources for all of this, by the way, is a little difficult. Warfield never wrote a single article expounding the doctrine of sanctification as such. We find traces of it throughout so many of his sermons. We have one article that was written by A. A. Hodge, his predecessor at the seminary, that Warfield then revised for its republication in the Theological Encyclopedia. And there we have a brief statement of his doctrine of sanctification. And then beyond that we have more than a thousand pages that he published in critique of the various doctrines of perfectionism, doctrines of a “higher life,” “victorious life” movement and things like that. And from those we draw what was his doctrine of sanctification. From all of that then we will look at Warfield’s doctrine in three steps.

Number One, Initial Sanctification or Definitive Sanctification

Definitive sanctification has to do with a radical break with sin. A radical break with sin initially in regeneration and effectual calling. The terminology of definitive sanctification is actually something that came from a later theologian by the name of John Murray who articulated this well and he’s famous for promoting this doctrine. And that is that at the outset of the Christian life, sin’s dominion is broken. Sin’s grip over us is broken. Before, we were only under sin and could not not sin. But at the outset of the Christian life, that reign of sin over us has been broken.

And there are many passages in the New Testament that speak to this effect. For example, in 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse two, Paul makes two expressions that speak of this. He refers to the Corinthian believers as saints “sanctified in Christ Jesus,” that is already we have been set apart to Jesus. Now there is some question as to whether or not Warfield understood sanctification in this sense exactly. He certainly spoke in terms of progressive sanctification, he spoke in terms of final sanctification as we will see, but did he speak in terms specifically—did he use this word sanctification to refer to what we now call definitive sanctification? And I think he did, and there’s several reasons.

One, in this Hodge article that he rewrote, he gives the definition of sanctification like this: the work of God’s grace by which those who believe in Christ are freed from sin and built up in holiness. The work of God’s grace by which those who believe are freed from sin and built up in holiness. Freed from sin and built up in holiness. It is not only a progressive thing, but it is something that begins at the outset of the Christian life when they are freed from sin. One of his chief criticisms of the perfectionist movement and the higher life movements and all of its varieties is that it taught that a man could be a Christian and yet still be under the dominion of sin. This is a point he insisted on, and he referred to Romans chapter 6 in this regard. This was a favorite passage of John Murray in expounding that doctrine, and Warfield referred to it as well, although not as extensively.

The passage here I think many of you are familiar with. Paul has been dealing with the doctrine of justification as it flows out of our union with Christ. That’s Romans chapter 5, especially the second half of the chapter. He comes to the conclusion that where sin abounded, grace superabounded. Wherever there’s sin, there’s more grace. Well, now that raises a question. If your mind is perverse enough, if more sin means more grace, well, let’s sin more, we get more grace. That makes sense. And that’s exactly the question the Apostle Paul takes up in Romans chapter six. So verse one, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” Verse two, “By no means.” And here in a nutshell is Paul’s answer to the question. “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” We are the kind of people who have died to sin. It would be an utter impossibility for us to continue to live in sin.

And this death metaphor here is intended to emphasize this fact that we have died. There has been a decisive, definitive break with sin. It’s illustrated in our baptism. We have been buried with Christ, joined to Jesus in his death. And the whole atmosphere is this matter of union with Christ in his death and his resurrection. Just as Jesus died, we died with him. Just as he rose to new life, we have risen to new life. And Paul expounds then on the implications of that. We’ve died to the old life, don’t live like the old man. The old man has been put to death in Christ. And so verses 11 and following, he makes the application. Consider yourselves dead to sin and live accordingly. But notice verse 14, where he comes to a kind of a summary statement of it all: “For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace.” The logic of the verse is very clear. Because you are now under the dominion of grace, we by the nature of the fact cannot be under the dominion of sin.

Now Warfield doesn’t expound this passage to the length that Murray did. But he does stress the very same points and he describes it as sanctification, as the breaking of this power of sin. Many years ago, more years ago than I care to admit now, I was in undergraduate work at Bob Jones University. And at that time, and many years since as well, one of the criticisms leveled against the university is that they were racist. At the time I was there, we had 6,000 students. We had one African-American student. And I was there for the first African-American preacher who preached in chapel. He came in to speak, made a lot of humorous remarks about how he’d come to change the complexion of things at Bob Jones University, things like that. And after some appropriate remarks, he said, “Open your Bibles please to Romans chapter 6. Title of my message is, ‘I am still a slave. I’ve just changed masters.'” And you get a wonderful exposition of this passage of Scripture here, the point of which is to say, since I have died with Christ, the old life has gone and I now live a new life in Christ. That is to say, sin’s grip has been broken.

Warfield stresses this matter of our union with Christ in other places: 2 Timothy 2 verse 11, “If we have died with him we will also live with him.” 2 Corinthians 5 verses 14 and following, he died so that those who died with him would live for him and so on. I have a wonderful quote here from page 100 of the book but I don’t have time to read it, you can look it up on your own. The point of which is simply to say that we were sinners, we were under sin and so we lived like it, but now we are not under sin and so we live accordingly. We cannot, we cannot live according to the old way. It is impossible to die with Christ and not have it show. Sin’s grip has been broken.

If you’ll turn forward in your Bible just a page or so, Romans chapter eight, he emphasizes this again in Romans 8 verse 14: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.” He has a lengthy exposition of this. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” And he notes in his day, just like it is in our day, this phrase is used in many different ways, usually in some kind of a mystical connection. “The Spirit of God has led me to tell you this, the Spirit of God has led me to write this letter, the Spirit of God led me to take this job or to quit this Sunday school class” or whatever. And Warfield notes that’s the way it’s often used, but this expression that we find here in its New Testament usage refers to something else entirely.

And he works his exposition through in a couple of different stages. Number one, he wants to emphasize that whatever this leading of the Spirit is, it is not something that is being reserved for super-saints. It is not something that only the most mature Christian enjoys. Whatever the leading of the Spirit is, this is something that is given to every believer. We find that in verse 14, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.” That is to say, this is one of the defining factors of what it is to be a child of God. The Spirit of God leads. That’s what Paul has been emphasizing in this passage. You see it in verse nine very clearly that if you don’t have the Spirit of Christ, you don’t belong to him. This is what it means to belong to Christ by the Spirit of God.

And then second, the purpose of this leading of the Holy Spirit specifically is said to enable us to conquer sin. The purpose of this leading of the Spirit is to conquer sin. Well, this is the flow of chapter eight. How do we overcome sin? The law couldn’t do it, but God has sent his Son to accomplish that in us. In order, verse four, that the righteous requirements of the law may be filled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. These are the two classes of humanity. Those who are in the Spirit, those who are not in the Spirit. Those who are in the flesh live for sin. Those who are in the Spirit follow the Spirit and live according to the Spirit. These are these two divisions.

And so the purpose of the giving of the Spirit, the purpose of this leading, is specifically to conquer sin. And Warfield speaks of this in terms of a new regulative influence over us. This is what it means to be a spiritual person. It is one who now is dominated by the Spirit. And so Warfield says, in other words then, Christians are not people who are self-directed. This grip of sin has been broken, and God does not just command us to be holy, but he has sent his Spirit to lead us, breaking us free from the grip of sin. And so he describes it as a new controlling power—no longer does sin control, but the Spirit controls. And he stresses every believer enjoys this work of the Spirit, a breaking free, producing a new set of appetites and so on.

Warfield treats this at some length in other articles as well—the matter of renewal, the biblical doctrine of renewal. Biblical terms that are descriptive of “the great change,” as he calls it, the great change. And he deals with metaphors like taking off of old clothing, putting on new clothing. Sometimes it’s the technical usage of making holy, making pure, sanctifying and so on. Sometimes it’s the language of recreation. Sometimes it’s the metaphor of Christ formed in the heart. But in all of these, he stresses the idea that we are people who have been freed from the bondage of sin. And this is where Warfield begins his understanding of the Christian life and its sanctification. The Christian is one who has experienced a radical break with sin. It is real, it is decisive, and it cannot but show itself in the way that we live.

Well, all of this informs in turn some of Warfield’s objections to the various higher life movements of the day. And I think this is helpful because so much of that has influenced much of evangelical teaching today—the higher life, victorious life kinds of teaching. And I’ll mention here, we will need to move through this quickly, but just some of Warfield’s objections to the higher life teachings. Number one, the higher life teachings teach a higher life by means of a distinct act of faith. I’m sure many of you have heard this taught. “You need to get to the point in your Christian life where you trust the Holy Spirit to live through you. You trust the Holy Spirit to help you have victory over sin and so on.” And Warfield wants to emphasize that we are not saved by “faiths”; we’re saved by faith, and the same faith by which we are justified is the faith by which we are sanctified as well. Sanctification is part and parcel of salvation itself.

One of the most humorous passages in Warfield is when he deals with the higher life teachers when they present the matter of the supposed two natures of the Christian. And again, I’m sure that many of you have heard this teaching, that is that when you are saved, you receive a new nature, like this is a new entity that has come. You still have the old nature, but now a new nature comes, and it is to battle against that old nature, and you have striving within you two different natures that are contrary to nature. So the Christian person now is someone who has two distinct natures within him. And some of Warfield’s most biting sarcasm is expended on this kind of teaching. He likes to ask, now, in this matter of the two natures, the old and the new, that the Christian has, just who is the Christian? Who is the Christian himself? Is he the new nature or is he the old nature? And so he asks: he cannot be the new nature because the new nature never would have sinned. He can’t be the old nature because the old nature never would have repented. So who is the Christian himself? Is he one or the other? And even at one point says, perhaps, perhaps the Christian is not the old or the new nature, but he is a third nature. And then he says, we certainly hope not because surely two is enough.

At one point, one of the writers picks up on the difficulty of this. “How can a believer have two natures?” And one of the writers says, “Just how a Christian can possess two natures is a mystery.” And Warfield comments, “It surely is.” But more to the point, Warfield wants to ask, where in all of this is the Christian’s liberation from sin? Is all I get in salvation an added nature to fight against the old? Where is liberation from sin in all of that? And he insists that the Christian is one who himself has been made holy. And so he wants to argue that we don’t want merely to suppress sin. We don’t want merely to counteract sin. What we want is eradication of sin. And that has begun in the life of every believer.

Well, again, this is where Warfield begins in his understanding of the doctrine of sanctification. At the very outset, God liberates his people. And for Warfield, the very first step in progressive sanctification is to recognize not what you can do—let me start over. The very first step in progressive sanctification is not to recognize what you can do, but the first step is to recognize what God has done. God has set us free from the dominion of sin. And this has massive ramifications. One of the most important of which is you do not have to sin. You are no longer under sin’s authority. Well, that brings us then to progressive sanctification.

Number Two, Progressive Sanctification

Progressive sanctification: Warfield loves to speak of salvation being given in stages. He says this very often. He doesn’t take any time to expound it at great length, but he says it very often. Salvation is given in stages. I would love to have seen a lengthy exposition on his part of 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 where we look into the Scriptures and see the image of Christ and are transformed into that image from glory to glory. He appeals to that verse on several occasions, but he doesn’t take time to expound it at length. And this is where he insists then we don’t have two kinds of Christians, spiritual and carnal as it’s taught so often, but we have Christians at every possible point in the spectrum being transformed from glory to glory, salvation being given in stages.

But in progressive sanctification itself, what he emphasizes most is that it is a cooperative work. We are here in Romans chapter eight. It is a cooperative work and he wants to be careful not to be misunderstood here. So look at Romans 8:14 again. “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” He emphasizes at great length that this means that we have come under a new controlling power. It is no longer sin, it is the Spirit of God who controls us. But not to be misunderstood, he turns a corner then in this exposition and he emphasizes that this controlling influence of the Spirit is not a substitute for our own activities.

And he plays with this term “to be led of the Spirit.” He says on the one hand we’re led by the Spirit, not just guided. Spirit doesn’t just say “go there.” We’re led by the Spirit. But then he says neither are we carried by the Spirit, or dragged by the Spirit. Now he says both of those terms have important use in the New Testament. “Carried by the Spirit” is an important statement in 2 Peter chapter one with regard to the doctrine of inspiration. The people wrote the Scriptures, the holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, but that’s not this. “Dragged by the Spirit,” he makes reference to John chapter six verse 44: “No man can come to me except the Father draw him.” But that’s not this. Led by the Spirit. And so he goes to other places in the New Testament to find out where this word has been used, and he gives some illustrations, like an animal being led on a rope, a prisoner being led to prison, or a blind man being led somewhere.

In each case, he emphasizes, playing with this term more, that there is a controlling influence by the Spirit that has come. But our part in the progressive outworking of that is we must cooperate and we must do the walking. So it’s true that he becomes the dominating influence, but we must cooperate. And so he emphasizes at several points the importance of Christians availing themselves of the means of grace and so on. Let’s go to one passage that he speaks of in this regard: Philippians chapter two. Philippians 2 verse 12: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” He’s not saying here, work for your salvation. He’s not saying to earn it, but work out your salvation. Show what salvation is in terms of practical godliness.

Now the next verse. Notice the explanatory conjunction. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Now, Warfield mentions here clearly Paul is speaking in terms of the Holy Spirit and his work in us. Holy Spirit’s not mentioned, but clearly this is God working in us. But notice where our responsibility is grounded. It is our responsibility to work out our salvation. We must strive against sin. We must strive to attain holiness and so on. Why? Because God is at work in us to accomplish exactly that. And there is where our responsibility rests. God is at work to do this. We must then work accordingly.

Well, this in turn brings Warfield into conflict with the higher life doctrine of the “suspended will” or the “passive will.” Again, I’m sure many of you have been taught this at various points. We are taught that we really shouldn’t try to be holy because it’s beyond our capability. Only God can do that. And what we must do is “let go and let God” do this. “Let go and let Jesus live the holy life for you. Let go and let the Spirit of God do it.” And sometimes Christians are even criticized that the reason they have fallen in sin is that they have tried too hard. They should have let go and let Jesus do this for them and so on.

Well, Warfield has several complaints about that. Number one, it’s kind of confusing. What does that mean to let go and let Jesus live through me? How can I be that passive? Part of his criticism is it’s self-contradictory and that is it’s not as passive as it sounds. At the end of the day, the responsibility still rests on the believer to let go. And if I sin, is it Jesus’ fault? Warfield entertains that. It can’t be Jesus’ fault. Whose fault is it? Well, it’s your fault. You didn’t let Jesus do it. Well, then it’s not as passive as it sounds after all, is it? It still comes back to an act of the human will.

But more importantly, Warfield wants to emphasize that all of that kind of teaching misses the New Testament emphasis on the responsibility of the Christian to exert effort and strive against sin and strive for holiness. And he even plays off of Watts’ hymn: “We cannot be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease. Surely we must fight if we would win the prize.” We must cleanse ourselves, we must run the race, we must put sin to death, struggle against sin, engage the enemy in battle. All of these kinds of metaphors are used in the New Testament to emphasize our responsibility in progressive sanctification. And so we are freed from sin’s grip by Christ and led by the Spirit and by that we are enabled and empowered to press on in our own struggle against sin and for holiness.

That then brings up the question of the means of sanctification. Warfield emphasizes that there are two means of sanctification, generally speaking: internal and external. It’s a traditional way of looking at the doctrine. Internally, there’s regeneration, the creation of faith, the leading of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit at work. This is Warfield’s doctrine of supernaturalism—God at work in the life of every believer. But there are also what he calls external means of sanctification. And by that, of course, he means things like the word of God, prayer, Christian fellowship, providential discipline, and so on. And you’ll see all of this in that work I mentioned earlier, The Religious Life of Theological Students.

I don’t know if you were to ask Warfield what would he say is more important, prayer or the word of God? Prayer or the word of God? My suspicion is he would say, “Why would I have to choose?” He even gives metaphors sometimes of, do you want to walk with the right leg or the left leg? You gotta have both. But we’re going to focus this evening on his emphasis on the word of God. He emphasizes very clearly, resoundingly, what a means of grace prayer is. That’s what prayer is. In its very essence, it is a means of grace. It is a plea to God for help and it is a means of grace.

But we’re going to look at the word of God as a means of grace in Warfield’s thinking. He emphasizes several times that the Scriptures are given not just to make us wise. The Scriptures are given to make us wise to salvation. And what he says in effect is that the Scriptures are given in order to make us wise to salvation in all that salvation entails, including, of course, practical godliness. And by this he means the personal reading of Scriptures, the public ministry of the word of God, availing yourself of corporate worship, and all of that.

Now a couple of points here need to be stressed, I think, to understand his thinking. Number one, it is not just the Bible that is a means of sanctification, but it is the Bible understood. Or, we can say it better, I think, to reflect his thinking, it is the Bible understood ever more deeply. That is, Christian theology is designed to promote worship and godliness. And there’s no virtue and there’s no sanctifying help in reading the Scriptures if you don’t understand it. And here Warfield takes on something that is really very contemporary. I know you have all heard the disjunction between what we might say is doctrine and devotion. “We need to have our quiet time. Turn away from your serious studies. Don’t let your studies keep you from your quiet time. Don’t let your serious study of the Scriptures keep you from your quiet time.”

And Warfield takes that on and he echoes a common—evidently something that was common in his day—saying that is, “I would rather spend 30 minutes on my knees than 10 hours over my books.” Now he says, what do we think of that? “I would rather spend 30 minutes on my knees.” It would be better to spend 30 minutes on my knees than 10 hours over my books. Warfield says there’s only one way to answer that. What? Rather than 10 hours over my books on my knees? And he’ll have nothing of that disjunction. But always he’s insisting that we must give ourselves entirely to a deeper understanding of the word of God. If we don’t do that, we will be missing what it is designed to give us.

And so, for example, if the truth of God’s sovereignty is intended for our comfort, then we should wholeheartedly search out an understanding of God’s sovereignty and God’s providence and so on in all of its fullness. If part of godliness—if it is essential to godliness to trust in Christ—then certainly it is to the promotion of our godliness that we search out all of those reasons given in the Scriptures concerning the person and work of Christ that make him so trustworthy. And so on, he emphasizes that it is an ever-deepening understanding of the word of God that brings us to worship him as we should and to new levels of godliness. And so it is not just for some academic kind of interest that we give ourselves to understanding the Scriptures ever more deeply. But it is what is intended for our spiritual advancement.

And so if Christian truth, he emphasizes, is essential to the Christian life, that increased understanding of Christian truth is essential to advancing godliness. And so he says the character of our theology will shape the character of our religion. If we have no doctrine, we will have no Christianity. If we have scanty doctrine, we’ll have scanty Christianity. If we have profoundly informed convictions, he says, we will have a solid and substantial Christianity. And he emphasizes that any defect or any lack of understanding on our part brings us that short of being able to worship God as we are intended to. So the character of our religion, he says, is in a word determined by the character of our theology. It is not a mere academic interest, but it’s in the interest of the religious life itself, in the interest of genuine Christian living and Christian experience that we seek increasingly to understand God’s self-revelation in the Scriptures more completely.

Let me take it one more step. In Warfield’s thinking, it is not only the Scriptures being understood ever more deeply that brings us to new levels of godliness and greater experience of the Christian life. It is in particular an increasing understanding of “gospel truth,” we may call it—gospel truth that brings us to new levels of godliness and faithfulness. Now on one level, Warfield is wonderful for seeing all of Christianity in its redemptive context. He loves to say Christianity is a redemptive religion. That’s what it is in itself. And so he has this wonderful ability to see every aspect and every domain of Christian thought within this redemptive context. And he’s wonderful in that way.

But our point here is something more than that. And that is, as he says, Christian obedience is rooted in an understanding and an appreciation of the self-sacrificing love of Christ for us. Christian obedience is rooted in an understanding and appreciation of the self-sacrificing love of Christ for us. And there is nothing better suited for our improvement than increasing acquaintance with the love of Christ in his work for us in saving us. And so for example, Warfield wants very much to stress that the word “redemption” means “ransom.” When Christ redeemed us, we are to understand that it is a ransom for us. And we need to understand that the ransom price in purchasing us was the blood of Christ. And he emphasizes particularly that it is important for us to know that because only as we come to an appreciation of that is our love drawn out for Christ as it should be.

Or for example, he loves to speak about the two natures of Christ and the incarnation. Here we have one who is both God and man. And he doesn’t just say that the gospel writers portray for us one who’s both God and man, but he loves to say things like, “The gospel writers portray before our adoring eyes one who is both God and man.” And he goes on to emphasize that the Christian heart cries out for both. We cannot do without either. We must have the God and the man and the man and the God. And then he says, for only here is our heart and our love fully drawn out to him. And so he treats verses like 2 Corinthians chapter 5, “the love of Christ compels us”; Ephesians 3 verses 14 and following, rooting the Christian life in an understanding of the four-dimensional love of Christ for us.

Let me give you one of my favorite and that is Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. I must hurry along, let’s just pick it up with verse three. “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” The saying is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things. That is this preaching of justification by grace and the greatness of God’s provision for us in Christ. I want you to preach this grace of God in Christ so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

Isn’t that interesting? He talks to preachers in this regard. Do you want your people to live godly lives? Preach the gospel to them. Nothing will fuel it more than that. And he emphasizes that we live unto Christ, to the glory of God, not out of a vacuum, but out of a mind and a heart that has been inflamed by an understanding of God’s goodness in his saving activity in Christ. This is what fuels Christian living from beginning to end. And so for Warfield, holiness is an outworking of the gospel in two senses. One, it is what the gospel promises. And number two is what fosters holiness as well.

Let me read you one quote from him where he’s exhorting ministers. “Deal with people on a low plane, and they may sink to that plane and become incapable of occupying any other. Cry to them, ‘Lift up your hearts,’ and believe me, you will obtain your response. It is a familiar experience that if you treat a man as a gentleman, he will tend to act like a gentleman. If you treat him like a thief, only the grace of God and strong moral fiber can hold him back from stealing.” But here’s his point: “Treat Christian men like Christian men. Expect them to live on Christian principles and they will strive to walk worthy of their Christian profession.” His point in the whole context of it is to stress that when we preach to people to emphasize the goodness of God to them in Jesus Christ, nothing will more inflame their souls to live faithfully for God.

There’s a long passage in Archibald Alexander’s works, predecessor at Old Princeton, where he emphasizes the same thing where he exhorts ministers concerning their frequent mistrust, mistrust of the grace of God. He emphasizes the need to remind Christians of the grace of God by means, becoming then a means of sanctification for them. Put another way then, the best way according to Warfield to bring people to—the people of Christ to obedience and increased holiness—is to remind them of the provisions in Christ that God has given to them. Now, having said that, I need to say that Warfield would never hesitate to say “ought.” And he would never hesitate to emphasize Christian responsibility. And you can see that in some of his sermons, like in 2 Corinthians 7:1. “Let’s cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.” He titles the message “New Testament Puritanism.” Messages like “God’s Holiness and Ours” where he emphasizes God’s holiness and we are to imitate that holiness. Warfield is not slow at all to emphasize Christian responsibility. But he would have us understand these imperatives in light of the provisions that have been given to us in Christ. Obligation is grounded in the provision of Christ. Well, we must hurry on.

Number Three, Final Sanctification

Number three, final sanctification. This is a heavy emphasis in Warfield, a heavy point of emphasis. One leading criticism that he had—I think I’ve said that before—leading criticism he had of the perfectionists was that the perfectionists were too impatient. God will give us perfection, he insisted. Be patient. In his time, he will give it. And he reminds us over and over again that we will get there. And he speaks of it even in longing kinds of tones. And he urges us to look to Christ for incentive to holiness, but more than that also, urges us to look to Christ, to see in him not only a model, but to see in him the forerunner, the one who was in his earthly life all that we will become by his work for us. And he speaks of him as our forerunner, and showing us himself in his own life, all that we will become in him.

Warfield has a wonderful sermon from 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 23 and 24 entitled, “Entire Sanctification.” “May the God of peace sanctify you wholly. May your whole body, soul, and spirit be preserved blameless unto the coming of Jesus Christ.” And for the first probably two-thirds of the sermon, he out-perfects the perfectionists. And you wonder, where is he going with this? Paul is praying that the Christians will be perfect. And just when you think, Warfield, you’ve gone too far, or maybe Paul, you’ve gone too far in your prayer, the other shoe drops. “Faithful is he who calls you who also will do it.” And he will bring us to that perfection that he calls us to. And everywhere in Warfield, there is this tone and this reminder that we should pursue the goal that we are assured that we will attain.

Don’t ever think you’re called to pursue a goal that you cannot obtain. We are called to pursue a goal that we most certainly will obtain, and God promises us that we will. He does not promise that we will not become weary, Warfield says. He does not promise that we will not become weary, but he does promise success. Our whole body, soul, and spirit blameless in the day of Jesus Christ. Then we shall be where we would be. Then we shall be what we should be. Things that are not now nor could be soon shall be our own.

Brothers and sisters, what kind of a gospel is this? In what other race, in what other competition did this judge come up to you at the very starting line, pull out a trophy, show it to you, show your name inscribed on it, and says, “Now go out, you’re gonna win this. Now go out there and run”? And it’s what’s given to us in Christ, and Warfield loves to emphasize that exactly. A child of God, freed from sin’s grip, set out in our privilege in our Christian life to be like Christ, given us every enablement for it, directing our attention to Christ in it all, enabled by the Spirit with every assurance that we will achieve the goal. Amen.