"Dead Works."

TRUE Christianity is but the manifestation of the life of Christ, implanted in us by the operation of the Holy Ghost, in pursuance of God’s eternal counsels of sovereign grace; and all our doings, previous to the implantation of this life, are but “dead works,” from which we have need to have our consciences purged, just as much as from “wicked works” (Heb. 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)). The term “dead works” comprehends all works which men do with the direct object of getting life. If a man is seeking for life, it is very evident that he has not yet gotten it. He may be very sincere in seeking it, but his very sincerity only makes it the more obvious that, as yet, he has not consciously reached it. Hence, therefore, everything done in order to get life is a dead work, inasmuch as it is done without life—the life of Christ, the only source from whence good works can flow. And, observe, it is not a question of “wicked works:” no one would think of getting life by such. No, you will find, on the contrary, that persons continually have recourse to “dead works” in order to ease their consciences, under the sense of “wicked works,” whereas divine revelation teaches us that the conscience needs to be purged from the one as well as the other.
C. H. M.