John Owen · 53 of 123

Chapter I. Necessity of holiness from the consideration of the nature of God. · Part 1

That wherewith I shall close this discourse is, the consideration of the necessity of that holiness which we have thus far described unto all persons who make profession of the gospel, with the reasons of that necessity and principal motives unto it. And for our encouragement in this part of our work, this necessity is such as that it is by all sorts of Christians allowed, pleaded for, and the thing itself pretended unto; for whereas the gospel is eminently ἀληθεία, or διδασκαλία ἡ κατ εὐσέβειαν, 1 Tim. vi. 3, Tit. i. 1, “The truth” or “doctrine which is according to godliness,” or that which is designed and every way suited unto the attaining, furtherance, and practice of it, no men can with modesty refuse the trial of their doctrines by their tendency thereunto. But what is of that nature, or what is a hinderance thereunto, that many are not yet agreed about. The Socinians contend that the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ doth overthrow the necessity of a holy life; the Papists say the same concerning the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto our justification; the same charge is laid by others against the doctrine of the gratuitous election of God, the almighty efficacy of his grace in the conversion of sinners, and his faithfulness in the preservation of true believers in their state of grace unto the end. On the other hand, the Scripture doth so place the foundations of all true and real holiness in these things, that without the faith of them, and an influence on our minds from them, it will not allow any thing to be so called.

To examine the pretences of others concerning the suitableness of their doctrines unto the promotion of holiness is not my present business. It is well that it hath always maintained a conviction of its necessity, and carried it through all different persuasions in Christianity. In this one thing alone almost do all Christians agree; and yet, notwithstanding, the want of it is, if not the only yet the principal thing whereby the most who are so called are ruined. So ordinary a thing is it for men to agree for the necessity of holiness, and live in the neglect of it when they have so done! Conviction comes in at an easy rate, as it were whether men will or no; but practice will stand them in pains, cost, and trouble. Wherefore, unto the due handling of this matter, some few things must be premised; as, —

First, It is disadvantageous unto the interest of the gospel to have men plead for holiness with weak, incogent arguments, and such as are not taken out of the stores of its truth, and so really affect not the consciences of men; and it is pernicious to all the concerns of holiness itself to have that defended and pleaded for under its name and title which indeed is not so, but an usurper of its crown and dignity; which we shall afterward inquire into.

Secondly, It is uncomely and unworthy, to hear men contending for holiness as the whole of our religion, and, in the meantime, on all occasions, expressing in themselves a habit and frame of mind utterly inconsistent with what the Scripture so calls and so esteems. There is certainly no readier way, on sundry accounts, to unteach men all the principles of religion, all respect unto God and common honesty. And if some men did this only, as being at variance with themselves, without reflections on others, it might the more easily be borne; but to see or hear men proclaiming themselves, in their whole course, to be proud, revengeful, worldly, sensual, neglecters of holy duties, scoffers at religion and the power of it, pleading for a holy life against the doctrine and practice of those who walked unblamably before the Lord in all his ways, yea, upon whose breasts and foreheads was written, “Holiness unto the Lord,” — such as were most of the first reformed divines, whom they reflect upon, — is a thing which all sober men do justly nauseate, and which God abhors. But the farther consideration hereof I shall at present omit, and pursue what I have proposed.

Thirdly, In my discourse concerning the necessity of holiness, with the grounds and reasons of it, and arguments for it, I shall confine myself unto these two things:—

1. That the reasons, arguments, and motives which I shall insist on, being such as are taken out of the Gospel or the Scripture, are not only consistent and compliant with the great doctrines of the grace of God in our free election, conversion, justification, and salvation by Jesus Christ, but such as naturally flow from them, [and] discover what is their true nature and tendency in this matter.

2. That I shall at present suppose all along what that holiness is which I do intend. Now, this is not that outward show and pretence of it which some plead for; not an attendance unto, or the observation of, some or all moral virtues only; not a readiness for some acts of piety and charity, from a superstitious, proud conceit of their being meritorious of grace or glory. But I intend that holiness which I have before described; which may be reduced to these three heads:— (1.) An internal change or renovation of our souls, our minds, wills, and affections, by grace; (2.) An universal compliance with the will of God in all duties of obedience and abstinence from sin, out of a principle of faith and love; (3.) A designation of all the actions of life unto the glory of God by Jesus Christ, according to the gospel. This is holiness; so to be and so to do is to be holy.

And I shall divide my arguments into two sorts:— 1. Such as prove the necessity of holiness as to the essence of it, — holiness in our hearts and natures; 2. Such as prove the necessity of holiness as to the degrees of it, — holiness in our lives and conversations.

I. First, then, The nature of God as revealed unto us, with our dependence on him, the obligation that is upon us to live unto him, with the nature of our blessedness in the enjoyment of him, do require indispensably that we should be holy. The holiness of God’s nature is everywhere in the Scripture made the fundamental principle and reason of the necessity of holiness in us. Himself makes it the ground of his command for it: Lev. xi. 44, “I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.” So also chap. xix. 2, xx. 7. And to show the everlasting equity and force of this reason, it is transferred over to the gospel: 1 Pet. i. 15, 16, “As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” God lets them know that his nature is such as that unless they are sanctified and holy, there can be no such intercourse between him and them as ought to be between a God and his people. So he declares the sense of this enforcement of that precept to be: Lev. xi. 45, “I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy;” — “Without this the relation designed cannot be maintained, that I should be your God and ye should be my people.” To this purpose belongs that description given us of his nature, Ps. v. 4–6, “Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak lying: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man;” — answerable unto that of the prophet, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity,” Hab. i. 13. He is such a God, — that is, such is his nature, so pure, so holy, — that previous to the consideration of any free acts of his will, it is evident that he can take no pleasure in fools, liars, or workers of iniquity. Therefore Joshua tells the people, that if they continued in their sins they could not serve the Lord, “for he is an holy God,” chap. xxiv. 19. All the service of unholy persons towards this God is utterly lost and cast away, because it is inconsistent with his own holiness to accept of it. And our apostle argues in the same manner, Heb. xii. 28, 29, “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” He lays his argument for the necessity of grace and holiness in the worship of God from the consideration of the holiness of his nature, which, as a consuming fire, will devour that which is unsuited unto it, inconsistent with it. There would be no end of pursuing this reason of the necessity of holiness in all places where it is proposed expressly in the Scripture. I shall only add, in general, that God of old strictly required that no unholy, no unclean, no defiling thing should be in the camp of his people, because of his presence among them, who is himself holy; and without an exact observance hereof he declares that he will depart and leave them.

If we had no other argument to prove the necessity of holiness, and that it is indispensably required of us, but only this, that the God whom we serve and worship is absolutely holy, that his being and nature is such as that he can have no delightful intercourse with any that are unholy, it were abundantly sufficient unto our purpose. He who resolveth not to be holy had best seek another god to worship and serve; with our God he will never find acceptance. And therefore the heathen, who gave up themselves unto all filthiness with delight and greediness, to stifle the notions of a divine Being, that they might not control them in their sins and pleasures, fancied such gods to themselves as were wicked and unclean, that they might freely conform unto them and serve them with satisfaction. And God himself lets us know that men of wicked and flagitious lives have some secret thoughts that he is not holy, but like themselves, Ps. l. 21; for if they had not, they could not avoid it but they must either think of leaving him or their sins.

But we must yet farther observe some things to evidence the force of this argument; as, —

First, That unto us, in our present state and condition, the holiness of God as absolutely considered, merely as an infinite eternal property of the divine nature, is not the immediate ground of and motive unto holiness; but it is the holiness of God as manifested and revealed unto us in Christ Jesus. Under the first consideration, we who are sinners can make no conclusion from it but that of Joshua, “He is a holy God, a jealous God; he will not forgive your iniquities, nor spare.” This we may learn, indeed, from thence, that nothing which is unholy can possibly subsist before him or find acceptance with him. But a motive and encouragement unto any holiness that is not absolutely perfect no creature can take from the consideration thereof; and we do not, we ought not to urge any such argument for the necessity of holiness as cannot be answered and complied with by the grace of God as to the substance, though we come short in the degrees of it. My meaning is, that no argument can be rationally and usefully pleaded for the necessity of holiness which doth not contain in itself an encouraging motive unto it. To declare it, necessary for us and at the same time impossible unto us, is not to promote its interest. They understand neither the holiness of God nor man who suppose that they are absolutely and immediately suited unto one another, or that, under that notion of it, we can take any encouraging motive unto our duty herein. Nay, no creature is capable of such a perfection in holiness as absolutely to answer the infinite purity of the divine nature, without a covenant condescension, Job iv. 18, xv. 15. But it is the holiness of God as he is in Christ, and as in Christ represented unto us, that gives us both the necessity and motive unto ours.

Wherefore, God, in dealing with his people of old in this matter, did not propose unto them to this end the absolute perfection of his own nature, but his being holy as he dwelt among them and was their God, — that is, in covenant; both which had respect unto Jesus Christ. In him all the glorious perfections of God are so represented unto us as we may not thence only learn our duty, but also be encouraged unto it; for, —

1. All the properties of God as so represented unto us are more conspicuous, resplendent, alluring, and attractive, than as absolutely considered. I know not what light into and knowledge of the divine perfections Adam had in his state of innocency, when God had declared himself only in the works of nature, — sufficient, no doubt, it was to guide him in his love and obedience, or that life which he was to live unto him; — but I know that now all our knowledge of God and his properties, unless it be that which we have in and by Jesus Christ, is insufficient to lead or conduct us in that life of faith and obedience which is necessary unto us. He, therefore, gives us the “light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ,” 2 Cor. iv. 6, — that is, clear manifestations of his glorious excellencies. The light of the knowledge hereof is a clear, useful, saving perception and understanding of them. And this is not only directive unto holiness, but also effective of it; for thus “beholding the glory of the Lord,” we are “changed into the same image from glory to glory,” chap. iii. 18.

2. In particular, the fiery holiness of God is represented unto us in Christ, so as that although it loses nothing of declaring the indispensable necessity of holiness in all that draw nigh to him, yet under such a contemperation with goodness, grace, love, mercy, condescension, as may invite and encourage us to endeavour after a conformity thereunto.

3. Together with a representation of the holiness of God in Christ, there is a revelation made of what holiness in us he doth require and will accept. As was observed before, the consideration of it absolutely neither requires nor admits of any but that which is absolutely perfect; and where there is anyone failing, the whole of what we do is condemned, James ii. 10. This, therefore, can only perplex and torture the soul of a sinner, by pressing on him at the same time the necessity and impossibility of holiness, Isa. xxxiii. 14. But now, as God is in Christ, through his interposition and mediation he accepts of such a holiness in us as we are capable of, and which no man hath any discouragement from endeavouring to attain.

4. There is in and by Christ declared and administered a spiritual power of grace, which shall work this holiness in us, or that conformity unto the holiness of God which he doth require. From this fountain, therefore, we draw immediately, as the reasons of the necessity, so prevalent motives unto holiness in our souls. Hence some things may be inferenced; as, —

(1.) That the mediation of Christ, and in particular his satisfaction, is so far from being a hinderance of or a discouragement unto holiness, as some blasphemously pretend, that the great fundamental reason of it in us, — namely, the holiness of God himself, — can have no influence upon us without the supposition of it and faith in it. Unless faith be built hereon, no sinner upon a view of God’s holiness, as absolutely considered, can have any other thoughts but those of Cain, “My sin is great; it cannot be pardoned. God is a holy God; I cannot serve him, and therefore will depart out of his presence.” But the holiness of God as manifested in Jesus Christ, including a supposition of satisfaction made unto what is required by its absolute purity, and a condescension thereon to accept in him that holiness of truth and sincerity which we are capable of, doth equally maintain the indispensable necessity of it and encourage us unto it. And we may see what contrary conclusions will be made on these different considerations of it. Those who view it only in the first way can come to no other issue in their thoughts but that which they express in the prophet, Isa. xxxiii. 14, “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” God’s fiery holiness serves, towards them, unto no other end but to fill them with terror and despair. But other inferences are natural from the consideration of the same holiness in the latter way. “Our God,” saith the apostle, “is a consuming fire.” What then? what follows as our duty thereon? “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear,” Heb. xii. 28, 29. There is no such forcible reason for, no such powerful motive unto, our adherence unto him in holy obedience. Such different conclusions will men make from these different considerations of the holiness of God, when once they come to be serious and in good earnest about them!

(2.) It follows from hence, also, that our holiness under the new covenant, although it has the same general nature and one principal end with that which was required in the covenant of works, yet as it hath an especial spring and fountain which that had not, and relates unto sundry causes which the other had no concernment in, so it is not of the same especial use therewith. The immediate end and use of that holiness in us was, to answer the holiness of God absolutely as expressed in the law; whereon we should have been justified. This is now done for us by Christ alone, and the holiness which God requireth of us respects only those ends which God hath proposed unto us in compliance with his own holiness as he will glorify it in Jesus Christ; which must be afterward declared.

Secondly, We may consider in what particular instances the force of this argument is conveyed unto us, or what are the especial reasons why we ought to be holy because God is so; and they are three:—

1. Because herein consists all that conformity unto God whereof in this world we are capable; which is our privilege, pre-eminence, glory, and honour. We were originally created in the image and likeness of God. Herein consisted the privilege, pre-eminence, order, and blessedness of our first state. And that, for the substance of it, it was no other but our holiness is by all confessed. Wherefore, without this conformity unto God, without the impress of his image and likeness upon us, we do not, we cannot, stand in that relation unto God which was designed us in our creation. This we lost by the entrance of sin. And if there be not a way for us to acquire it again, if we do not so, we shall always come short of the glory of God and of the end of our creation. Now, this is done in and by holiness alone, for therein consists the renovation of the image of God in us, as our apostle expressly declares, Eph. iv. 22–24, with Col. iii. 10. It is, therefore, to no purpose for any man to expect an interest in God, or any thing that will prove eternally to his advantage, who doth not endeavour after conformity unto him; for such a man despiseth all the glory that God designed unto himself in our creation, and all that was eminent and peculiarly bestowed upon ourselves.

He, therefore, whose design is not to be like unto God, according to his measure and the capacity of a creature, always misseth both of his end, his rule, and his way. Our Saviour would have his disciples to do all things so as that they may be the “children of their Father which is in heaven,” Matt. v. 45; that is, like him, representing him, as children do their father. And the truth is, if this necessity of conformity unto God be once out of our view and consideration, we are easily turned aside by the meanest temptation we meet withal. In brief, without that likeness and conformity unto God which consists in holiness, as we do under his eye bear the image of his great adversary the devil, so we can have no especial interest in him, nor hath he any in us.

2. The force of the argument ariseth from the respect it bears unto our actual intercourse and communion with God. This we are called unto; and this, in all our duties of obedience, we must endeavour to attain. If there be not in them a real intercourse between God and our souls, they are all but uncertain beatings of the air. When we are accepted in them, when God is glorified by them, then have we in them this intercourse and communion with God. Now, whereas God is holy, if we are not in our measure holy, according to his mind, this cannot be; for God neither accepts of any duties from unholy persons nor is he glorified by them, and therefore as unto these ends doth he expressly reject and condemn them. It is a good duty to preach the word; but “unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee,” Ps. l. 16, 17, — “seeing thou art unholy.” To pray is a good duty; but unto them that are not “washed” and made “clean,” and “put not away the evil of their doings from before his eyes,” saith God, “When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear,” Isa. i. 15, 16. And the like may be said of all other duties whatever.

It is certain, therefore, that whereas God is holy, if we are not so, all the duties which we design or intend to perform towards him are everlastingly lost, as unto their proper ends; for there is no intercourse or communion between light and darkness: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;” and “if we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness,” as all unholy persons do, “we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,” 1 John i. 5–8. Now, what man that shall consider this, unless he be infatuated, would, for the love of any one sin, or out of conformity to the world, or any other thing, whereby the essence and truth of holiness is impeached, utterly lose and forfeit all the benefit and fruit of all those duties wherein perhaps he hath laboured, and which he hath, it may be, been at no small charge withal? But yet this is the condition of all men who come short in any thing that is essentially necessary unto universal holiness. All they do, all they suffer, all the pains they take, in and about religious duties, all their compliance with convictions, and what they do therein, within doors and without, is all lost, as unto the great ends of the glory of God and their own eternal blessedness, as sure as God is holy.

3. It ariseth from a respect unto our future everlasting enjoyment of him. This is our utmost end, which if we come short of (life itself is the greatest loss), better ten thousand times we had never been; for without it a continuance in everlasting miseries is inseparable from our state and condition. Now, this is never attainable by any unholy person. “Follow holiness,” saith our apostle, “without which no man shall see the Lord;” for it is the “pure in heart” only that “shall see God,” Matt. v. 8. It is hereby that we are “made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light,” Col. i. 12. Neither can we attain it before we are thus made meet for it. No unclean thing, nothing that defileth or is defiled, shall ever be brought into the glorious presence of this holy God. There is no imagination wherewith mankind is besotted more foolish, none so pernicious, as this, that persons not purified, not sanctified, not made holy, in this life, should afterward be taken into that state of blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God. There can be no thought more reproachful to his glory, nor more inconsistent with the nature of the things themselves; for neither can such persons enjoy him, nor would God himself be a reward unto them. They can have nothing whereby they should adhere unto him as their chiefest good, nor can they see any thing in him that should give them rest or satisfaction; nor can there be any medium whereby God should communicate himself unto them, supposing them to continue thus unholy, as all must do who depart out of this life in that condition. Holiness, indeed, is perfected in heaven, but the beginning of it is invariably and unalterably confined to this world; and where this fails, no hand shall be put unto that work unto eternity. All unholy persons, therefore, who feed and refresh themselves with hopes of heaven and eternity do it merely on false notions of God and blessedness, whereby they deceive themselves. Heaven is a place where as well they would not be as they cannot be; in itself it is neither desired by them nor fit for them. “He that hath this hope” indeed, that he shall see God, “purifieth himself, even as he is pure,” 1 John iii. 2, 3. There is, therefore, a manifold necessity of holiness impressed on us from the consideration of the nature of that God whom we serve and hope to enjoy, which is holy.

I cannot pass over this consideration without making some especial improvement of it. We have seen how all our concernment and interest in God, both here and hereafter, do depend on our being holy. They invented a very effectual means for the prejudicing, yea, indeed, a fatal engine for the ruin, of true holiness in the world, who built it on no other bottom, nor pressed it on any other motive, but that the acts and fruits of it were meritorious in the sight of God; for whether this be believed and complied withal or not, true holiness is ruined if no other more effectual reason be substituted in its room. Reject this motive, and there is no need of it; which I am persuaded hath really taken place in many, who, being taught that good deeds are not meritorious, have concluded them useless. Comply with it, and you destroy the nature of true holiness, and turn all the pretended duties of it into fruits and effects of spiritual pride and blind superstition. But we see the necessity of it with respect unto God hath other foundations, suited unto and consistent with the grace, and love, and mercy of the gospel. And we shall fully show in our progress, that there is not one motive unto it, that is of any real force or efficacy, but perfectly complies with the whole doctrine of the free, undeserved grace of God towards us by Jesus Christ; nor is there any of them which gives the least countenance unto any thing of worth in ourselves, as from ourselves, or that should take us off from an absolute and universal dependence on Christ for life and salvation. But yet such they are as render it as necessary unto us to be holy, — that is, to be sanctified, — as to be justified. He that thinks to please God and to come to the enjoyment of him without holiness makes him an unholy God, putting the highest indignity and dishonour imaginable upon him. God deliver poor sinners from this deceit! There is no remedy; you must leave your sins or your God. You may as easily reconcile heaven and hell, the one remaining heaven and the other hell, as easily take away all difference between light and darkness, good and evil, as procure acceptance for unholy persons with our God. Some live without God in the world; whether they have any notion of his being or no is not material. They live without any regard unto him, either as unto his present rule over them or his future disposal of them. It is no wonder if holiness, both name and thing, be universally despised by these persons, their design being to serve their lusts to the utmost, and immerse themselves in the pleasures of the world, without once taking God into their thoughts; they can do no otherwise. But for men who live under some constant sense of God and an eternal accountableness unto him, and thereon do many things he requires, and abstain from many sins that their inclinations and opportunities would suggest and prompt them unto, not to endeavour after that universal holiness which alone will be accepted with him, is a deplorable folly. Such men seem to worship an idol all their days; for he that doth not endeavour to be like unto God doth contrarily wickedly think that God is like unto himself. It is true, our interest in God is not built upon our holiness; but it is as true that we have none without it. Were this principle once well fixed in the minds of men, that without holiness no man shall see God, and that enforced from the consideration of the nature of God himself, it could not but influence them unto a greater diligence about it than the most seem to be engaged in.