Letters on Profession and the Work of Grace

 •  12 min. read  •  grade level: 12
 
My Dear Brother, You touch upon the root of the matter towards the end of your letter, where you say, in reference to profession or confession, that you believe it means in the Scriptures the manifestation of a real inward thing, and not an outward thing where the inward is wanting; for there you own the distinction which exists between the inward and the outward, though I do not think you are right in holding that Scripture puts them as you say. I believe the Word shows that they are distinct, and that while profession should be true, i.e. a true indication of what one believes and is subject to, at the same time, this has not been, and is not always the case with those who profess. The general principle of the distinction between the two things is given in Rom. 10:10: “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.”
When the Scriptures speak of life, or of the heart being purified, it is in connection with the grace of God, which makes that a sure and perfect work (see Acts 15:7-9; 1 Peter 1:18-23); so He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any (man or devil) catch them out of my hand; “and this security rests on His divinity. “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30) But profession is generally connected with privileges, and responsibility is always pressed where these are seen. Thus Heb. 3 says, “Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”-not “partakers of life”-” consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,” not “of our salvation;” and the whole epistle proceeds upon this ground, showing the privileges which professing Christians enjoy, and their responsibility in view of these, and therefore the epistle is full of warnings and ifs.
Thus chap. 1. shows that we have been spoken to by no less glorious a person than the Son of God (it is not a question of having received His word by faith, but of being addressed by such an One, and therefore responsible to pay attention and adhere to what He has said), and so the warning in chap. 2: 1-4 comes in, “we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip,” and “how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? “&c. Chapter 2 shows who is the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, and the call to us to “consider “(it is not to follow) Him comes in. (3: 1, 2) Chapter 3 then shows who it is that our profession (in v. 1) brings us into connection, not union, with (as it is His “house,” not His “body,” which is spoken of), and we are His house “if we hold fast,” &c. (vs. 6) For this reason we are to “take heed, lest there be in any one of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” (vs. 12) If the people were looked at as the possessors of life this never could be said. When the Hebrew Christians are spoken to on that ground in the confidence which the thought of grace inspires, as in chap. 10: 39, the language is quite a contrast to this.
Paul had been giving a solemn warning in chap. 10., lest after knowing what the work of Christ had accomplished, viz., that it had opened free access to God (and not as it had been under law), any should draw back and give that up; but in verse 39, he turns and expresses the confidence which he had through grace in the Hebrew Christians. “We are,” he says, linking himself with them, “of them which believe to the saving of the soul,” which is of course quite different from saying, “We are those who have made a good profession.” Where the latter word comes in in chap. 10., it is said (vs. 23), “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith,” &c. In chap. 3., further, verse 14, “We are made partakers” (or “fellows,” not “members”) “of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence,” &c. Then the example of Israel is adduced (A). 15-19) to bring in a warning (iv. 1) lest we should not enter into the rest which Christ leads into, as some of the Israelites entered not into the rest in their day.
Chapter 5 speaks of Christ’s glory as priest, which is put before us as something which we should know practically; and chap. 6. follows with a warning lest those who had come into connection with such privileges should fall away from them (the thought is not that they had been brought to Christ and might fall away from Him. 6: 1-8), though again Paul’s confidence in the Hebrew Christians as those who had more than mere possession of privileges comes out in verses 9-12. Then 7., 8., 9., and part of 10., are all taken up with unfolding Christ in various characters, to show in other lights the great privileges of Christianity, and they are all summed up in 10: 19-21, to press in verses 22-31, the responsibility on us, who profess faith in it all, to “hold fast,” and the warning in case we do not.
Then, as I have pointed out, there was much in the case of the Hebrew Christians to reassure Paul’s heart about them as really saved and possessors (not simply professors) of faith, and so this comes out in verses 32-29. The characteristics of true faith are thereupon brought out in chap. 11, and practical exhortation follows on this ground; but this not being so distinctly privilege as what the former part of the epistle teaches, the warnings are not so severe; but they are there, showing that the people were addressed as responsible, and not as possessors of life. (12: 1, 3-5, 12-17, 25, 29, &c)
I have touched upon this before entering upon your questions about Israel, because it is well to see that Scripture establishes the general principle before we come to any applications of it.
We see, I may also note, in 1 Tim. 2:10, “good works “named as that “which becomes women professing godliness,” showing that the profession was not looked upon as necessarily a pledge of a true heart; for the good works give evidence that it, viz., the profession, is true. The good works are the adorning which is suitable or becoming to a true profession, and the thought therefore is not that the profession itself is the evidence that the women are godly.
In Rom. 1:22, and Titus 1:16, we see men professing one thing while their lives give evidence that their hearts are very different from their profession. And in Rom. 14:11, and Phil. 2:11, we see that there are many who will confess Christ, but not be saved, or not have any love for Him in the future. So I think it plain that Scripture shows that profession and life are not confounded, and that profession is not presented as the manifestation of a real inward thing, but is a distinct and external thing requiring evidence to prove whether it be true or false.
With regard to Israel, if Heb. 11:29 had said, “By faith Israel, or the Israelites, passed through the Red Sea,” &c., it would have been strong evidence that the nation had possessed faith when they did so, whatever might have become their condition afterward, because that chapter describes the characteristics, and bears testimony to the action, of true faith; but the verse does not say so. It merely says, “By faith they passed through the Red Sea,” &c., the former verse having spoken of Moses and the passover, where it says, “By faith he kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood,” &c. Thus verse 29 stands by itself, and speaks only of those who had faith, not of all who passed through the sea; and it is purposely indefinite in the expression “they,” which is used (Israel not being mentioned at all), because in chap. 3. of the same epistle, it is expressly said that some of them “believed not” (vss. 16-19), and that they “could not enter into the rest because of unbelief.” There is this difference between the passing through the Red Sea and the entering into Canaan, that in the former, God did everything, and the people only looked on and experienced His deliverance; the word to them being, “Stand still, and see the salvation (or deliverance) of God,” i.e. God undertook for the people without any question as to their state, which indeed did not give much evidence of the calmness of faith. (See Ex. 14:10-13) Whereas in the latter, entering the land involved conflict and exertion on their part, and so results depended upon their faithfulness as responsible. (Num. 33:50-56)
If you read verses 1-9, with 29-31. of Ex. 4, and verses 30 and 31 of Ex. 14, you will see that what is spoken of is the people’s believing the evidence of what they saw; a very different thing from faith which connects the soul with God, because, as I once said to you, we see the same sort of “belief “in those who were certainly not saved, in Ex. 8:16-19; John 2:23-25; Acts 8:6,9,10,13,20-23.
We must not forget also that the deliverance in Ex. 14, though in type it was the deliverance of God from spiritual enemies, and though where there was faith this result might be recognized as the proper fruit of connection with God, yet actually, or in fact, it was deliverance from visible enemies, and faith was not required to ensure a share in it. God did not deal with them on the ground of faith in delivering them, but on the ground of His promise and grace in fulfilling it to them in spite of their being evil; and, moreover, the words which you quote from Ex. 14:31, were spoken of what was subsequent to the passage through the Bed Sea, and describe the state of the people consequent upon what they saw in that passage and immediately after it, and not their state before that “baptism “took place.
In Ex. 4:29, Moses and Aaron gathered the elders of the people, and in verses 30 and 31, these are called “the people,” and “the children of Israel” are seen thus in the persons of their representatives, and get credit for what they do, although in fact they may have, and must have, formed a small number compared with the whole nation. They were the heads of the people, and represented the people then and always. This is a principle of frequent occurrence in the Scriptures, and an instance illustrating it is seen in Israel’s future history. In the day that is coming it is said, “All Israel shall be saved “(Rom. 11:26); but when we examine the prophecies which treat of that time, we find that only a very small “remnant “of Israel will be blessed, the great majority of the nation being cut off in judgment. (See Isa. 6:9-13;10:20-23; 41:17; 52:12; Jer. 23:3; Ezek. 6:8; 14:22; Joel 2:28-3:21, &c) This remnant, however, gets the place and blessings of Israel, and is thus the representative of the nation.
The subject of 1 Cor. 10 is privilege, and the responsibility which flows from partaking in that to those who partake, whoever they are. So the passage, “did all eat the same spiritual meat,” and “did all drink the same spiritual drink,” &c., says something about the meat and the drink, but nothing about the people who partook of them except that they did partake. They participated in all these privileges; i.e. baptism unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, the spiritual meat and the spiritual drink which were provided (and true as well as false ones did so, “they did all eat the same,” &c), and yet many of them were proved in the long run to have been unworthy partakers, and we are to take warning by them, lest after partaking of our privileges we should sin and be destroyed as they. There is no thought of the possession of life, or of God’s grace and its results in the chapter, but there is that of the privileges enjoyed by the people, and, even in spite of these, their course with its results.
Heb. 3, to which you refer, does describe this evil course of theirs-” they do always err in heart, and they have not known my ways; ““ howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses “provoked Him, but “to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not?”-and in view of this description I can only believe that these never had faith; for although they saw God’s acts they did not know His ways, and the end merely showed out what was their state all along. To say that at one time they had faith and were right in heart, and that subsequently they lost the one, and went wrong in the other, seems to me not only to be at issue with their history, but also to shut out altogether the work of grace in any soul, because this wherever it exists is perfect and eternal in its effects.
I may just note, before closing, that Matt. 25:14-30 and Luke 19:12-26 show how the Lord acknowledges and deals with false profession. It is plain that the wicked servant’s condemnation is, that while he occupied the position of a servant he never did one bit of service; i.e. that he really was no servant; but the Lord in reckoning with him does not condemn him as no servant, but rather takes him up on the ground of his profession, acknowledges it, and condemns him as a (wicked and unprofitable) servant.
F. J. P.