Short Papers for Believers — First Series, No. 2.
The question is whether Scripture speaks of a person, who believes with the heart on the Son of God salvation, as a sinner, or as a child of God? Scripture says, “When we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Further on in the same epistle we are told, “The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God” (Rom. 5:8, 8:16). Nothing can be clearer, for we were sinners, we are children of God. As sinners we practically evil in God’s sight, with a in which dwells “no good thing,” which is capable only of sinning, and is “without strength.” Hence we were characterized in Scripture as “sinners,” and, blessed be His name, it was such Jesus came into the world to save. We were, as we sometimes say,
“By nature, and by practice far,
How very far from God!”
But those who have received the Son of God as their Savior are born of God; they are children of God by a new birth; for
as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons [children] of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12, 1312But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12‑13)).
Moreover, they have remission of sins, “are justified from all things” — God being the Justifier — and have received the Holy Ghost to dwell in them as God’s seal, and the earnest of the inheritance — all of God’s grace surely, and to the praise of His glory. Such, and more, is true of every one who has been thus drawn to the Son of God as a sinner to a Savior (see Acts 10:43; 13:38, 3943To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43)
38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39); Rom. 3:24; 5:524Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (Romans 3:24)
5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:5)).
It is this present blessing, and most endearing relationship of children in which the believer stands toward God our Father, which Christendom so practically ignores. It is being effected in two ways —
1st, By every one claiming to be a child, and addressing God as Father, without being really born of God; and
2ndly, By those who are truly God’s children dropping the relationship as a known and enjoyed reality, and calling themselves miserable sinners. Thus God is dishonored, His word let slip, the platform of the new creation, on which in marvelous grace He has set us, refused; and, instead of praising God as the continual fruit of our lips, for what He has so marvelously done for us in Christ Jesus and through His blood, think it humility to say, “Lord have mercy upon US miserable sinners!”
What relief it gives the heart to turn from these doctrines of men to the pure word of God. To the newly converted ones at Colosse, the Spirit, by an apostle, wrote, exhorting them to be
It may be said, Is not a child of God also a sinner? No doubt a child of God is capable of sinning, and, as a matter of fact, children of God do sin, but they are tenderly enjoined not to sin; and if they are told “to sin not,” how can they be characteristically spoken of as “sinners?” When Paul spoke of sinners, and said “of whom I am chief,” no doubt it was exceptionally true of him, and that there never was such a sinner; but the next words clearly prove that he thus spoke of himself as before his conversion. But are the epistles addressed to sinners or to saints? Look at John’s first epistle. Is he not most careful to tell us that he writes to “little children,” “young men,” and “fathers” in the faith? Even babes in Christ know the Father, that is, know that they are children of God, and have their sins forgiven (1 John 2:12-1412I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 13I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. (1 John 2:12‑14)). Did he call them sinners, or miserable sinners? Nay, he lovingly said, “My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not.” But knowing the possibility of even a child of God sinning, and thus losing his communion with the Father, he graciously adds, that “if any man [any child of God] sin, WE [observe we] have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Thus the spotless righteous Man in the glory, who had been the propitiation on the cross for the very sin we have done, and is before God in all the virtue of that work, takes up our case as our “advocate [and observe it is] with the Father”; because it is a question of a child having dishonored the Father, and thus of his COMMUNION with the Father being interrupted. Through His advocacy the Holy Spirit works in us, makes us conscious of our having sinned, produces self judgment in us, so that “we confess our sins,” know we have our Father’s forgiveness, and communion is restored (see 1John 1:8-10; 2:1, 28If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8‑10)
1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1‑2)). Now, is this a sinner in his sins? Certainly not; but a child of God who has sinned, and the divine way in which his communion with the Father is restored when he has lost it.
Until a sinner approaches God by the one sacrifice of Christ for salvation, he is looked at in Scripture as in his sins, far from God, and condemned already. He is away from God. But so simple, and yet so blessed, is God’s way of present peace and eternal salvation, that He assures us that the sinner in his guilt and ruin that comes to Him by the one offering of the body of Jesus Christ, is entitled to know that he has remission of sins, a purged conscience, is sanctified by the blood, and perfected forever by that one offering; that he has received also the Holy Spirit, has liberty to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and will be saved to the uttermost, or right on to the end (see Heb. 10:2, 20; 7:252For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. (Hebrews 10:2)
20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:20)
25Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)). If I receive these precious testimonies of divine truth as to my present blessing, how can I say that I am a miserable sinner, though I may, however, truthfully say I am a weak, erring, and sometimes sinning child of God?
We would add another word. No one hates sin like a child of God; and only those who are born of the Spirit know that they have two natures. But the child of God having an evil nature — “the flesh” — in him, need not hinder his communion with the Father, because God assures us that He has set it aside in judgment with Christ in the death of the cross — “Our old man is crucified with him” — and has given us life in Christ. Thus the believer is spoken of in the epistles now “in Christ Jesus,” “accepted in the Beloved,” “complete in Him,” and the like. How can I be enjoying these truths by believing them, and say “I’m a miserable sinner?” The truth is, that the child of God knows that if he should sin, distressing as the thought is, he need not be desponding; for He who was our sin-bearer on the cross is now our Advocate with the Father. He was a Savior for sinners on the cross; He a Savior for God’s children while He sits on the Father’s throne, before He comes to take us to sit with Him on His throne.