Studies in the Forgiveness of Sins

Front matter

WITHDRAWN —

Pacific Bible Seminary Library

Kellems K29s Studies in the forgiveness of c.3 sin

Introduction

In the stress and strain of the religious readjustments of our day there is a real need for a new presentation of the doctrines of salvation. To be effective, the statement of these doctrines must appeal to the thoughtful as reasonable, and to those in search of assurance there must be an element of satisfaction. They make their strongest appeal when based on sound interpretation of the New Testament. The satisfactions of the past have emphasized various elements as the way of peace—union with the Divine—the consciousness of Sonship. The emotional, intellectual and volitional must be taken into account if the presentation is well rounded. If this is done, and at the same time a sane Biblical support is found, the doctrines will meet with response. The now prevalent belief in psychological unity in contrast to the older faculty psychology makes harmony of the elements essential to peace of mind. The consciousness of dependence will rest more comfortably when its beliefs are supported by the authority upon which it relies.

There is also in our day a struggle between the so-called religious and the so-called ethical conceptions of salvation. In a sense this is the old struggle between grace and law. Men feel the need of grace and forgiveness; they also need the strength to live. In fact, the latter often depends on the former. However, this must not conflict in theory with our best ethical ideals. vii vill INTRODUCTION

In a world that thought of the flesh as all bad, salvation was thought of as a change of nature. The things of the world were inherently evil, therefore salvation must be the attainment of a transcendent nature, but the evidence of this change was usually sought in a religion below consciousness. Present-day believers are not likely to remain happy in an experience so completely mediated by non-rational means. The sense of sin, with its deadening hand, must be replaced by a living faith that will give courage to growing character. An inner experience there may be, but the experience itself must be permanent if it is to give an abiding assurance. This sense of confidence will be strengthened and made more permanent by a formal tying up of life with the ideals and purposes of an organization made up of those with similar experiences. Strength and stability will come from the common consciousness.

Seemingly, at times, salvation has been thought of as giving hope for the future alone. The self-consciousness, due to the revival in belief in the life that now is, has led our present day to ignore in some measure such a future. Neither the present nor the future needs to be depreciated in order to heighten the other. What is really wanted is a doctrine that is comprehensive enough to be inclusive of this life and of that which is to come. An all-embracing redemptive purpose must challenge our finest aspirations of hope, now and for eternity.

Finally, our conception of salvation will depend in very large measure upon our conception of sin. In a growing world of contacts sin itself becomes more

INTRODUCTION ix complex. A mere struggle between the flesh and the spirit may have been conceived in the past as altogether individual, but the social consciousness of our day has a growing sense of the solidarity of the race. The old Adam is none the less real, and human nature must still be changed, but the change of nature is vastly larger than the individual. It is a matter of the redemption of the race as well. Salvation is no less an individual affair, but it is vastly more than that, it is a social affair of universal scope. Social righteousness is demanded that shall give justice to weak and strong, opportunities for realization in harmony with the given possibilities. Men want to live in a world of love instead of hate. These ideals of realization are not merely for self, but they are for a world environment that is not the creature of some demiurge but the very Kingdom of God.

Dr. Kellems has given us, in his “Studies in the Forgiveness of Sins,’ a well-balanced discussion of this important problem. It is sanely Biblical, but shows familiarity with the modern viewpoint. The Studies are true to the position of the religious people with whom the author is identified—a people whose passion is Christian Unity and which they believe is best promoted by an effort to return to the New Testament ideals, doctrines and practices.

JessE C. CALDWELL.

College of the Bible,

Drake University,

Des Moines, Iowa.

Preface

The following work, which does not in any mariner claim to be an exhaustive study of that inexhaustive subject, “The Forgiveness of Sins,’’ has been written from the point of view of the soul winner. What message should one know if he would win men to Christ? This should be the first question in the mind of the reverent student of the Word of God. Is there a heart-theme around which all the rest of the revelation lies? To the author of this work there is. That theme is the forgiveness of sins through Christ.

To one acquainted with the tendencies of modern thought, the necessity of a recall to the foundational things in the Christian Revelation is apparent. On one hand, there are those whose constant attenuation of the Gospel message, and the steady reduction of the content of the Christian blessings which the Gospel can promise, tends to make the Good News evaporate into thin air. On the other hand, there are those who are insisting upon non-essential things, as matters of faith, so vital that without them there can be no salvation at all. Between these two, there lies a middle road, one which offers a safe and sure path. There is, in the very center of the whole Christian scheme, the wonderful promise that God, because He loves us, sinners though we be, will grant us free and full forgiveness through His holy Son Jesus. Without this x1 xii PREFACE there could be no Christianity. It is surely the very heart and center of the Gospel as it is revealed in the New Testament.

Any study of this fascinating subject must have respect to the manifest divisions of it. There are really just two parts to it,—that which God has done for us, and the human response through faith. No matter from what angle we may view the subject, these two divisions stand forth clearly. And this has. been the manner in which the present work considers the whole scheme of divine forgiveness.

There are places in the discussion in which the usual moderation of the scholar is thrown aside. In none of these, few as they are, has the author felt that he has exceeded the bounds of critical caution. It has been his aim to set forth fairly the great theme as it engrosses the minds of the Apostolic Writers, feeling that in doing so, he is presenting that message which must lie at the foundation of the thinking of every man who would bring others to a saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

Nothing is needed by our own age so much as a conscience concerning sin, and a willingness to know God’s method of dealing with it. Would not a re-study of the whole question, in the light of the acknowledged fact that, with all our scientific attainments, we are more murderous, more adulterous, more covetous, than ever before, yield blessed results? To the author this is apparent. We must know this message or have no Gospel, for that God, through Christ, forgives our sins and makes possible our sanctification is the Gospel of Christ,

PREFACE Xili

The author wishes to express his thanks to those who have made possible the appearance of the book in its present form. To Principal A. R. Main, M.A., of the College of the Bible, Glen Iris, Melbourne, Australia, is due his gratitude for the suggestion out of which the work grew, in his invitation to write a series of articles for the Australian Christian and for his kind permission to use these articles as one chapter. The faculty of the College of the Bible of Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, has also laid the author under a debt in the opportunity which their invitation to deliver a series of lectures afforded to present the great subject of forgiveness in that manner. These lectures were delivered while the author was happily engaged in an evangelistic campaign with Dr. Charles S. Medbury and Dr. Sam Mathison of the University Church of Christ, Des Moines, Iowa, and the Very Reverend W. P. Paterson, D.D., Dean of the Faculty of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh, admired teacher and friend for numerous kindly suggestions in regard to the work. He wishes also to thank his brother-in-law, Mr. George H. Ramsay, B.A., pastor of the First Christian Church, Evansville, Indiana, for his helpfulness in preparing the manuscript for publication.

Jesse R. KELLEMs.

Eugene, Oregon,

September 22nd, 1925.

INTRODUCTION BY DEANE JESSE CALDWELL, D.D., LD: Peete eI SL

PREFACE

1. The relation of forgiveness to evangelism

2. The necessity for a study of the subject, in the light of the tendencies in modern Christian thinking

CHAPTER I: THE NATURE OF FORGIVEnt Dis tae

1. The centrality of forgiveness in the divine scheme of things

I. THe Nature oF ForRGIVENESS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

1. Pardon

2. Blotting out, or covering over, one’s sins

ai Remembering of sins no more .

4. The forgiveness of Jehovah i isa personal forgiveness. This is the highest Dae of Old Testament teaching

IJ. Tue Nature oF ForcIvVENESS IN THE NEW

TESTAMENT a Re

directly discusses it

(a) The Parable of the Prodigal Son

(b) The two other parables in Luke

the fifteenth chapter. Idea of

seeking love is here expressed .

(c) The teaching in the Sermon on Mount.

(d) The beige of the Great Debtor xil

XVi CONTENTS

(5) The forgiveness of the Father is mediated through Jesus , (a) The death of Jesus as a ransom for many ; (b) The Supper and its relation to the blood of Christ (c) The objection to the teaching that forgiveness is mediated through Christ . (6) Summary of Jesus’ teaching 2. The Apostolic conception of forgiveness (1) In the earliest Apostolic preaching A. In line with teaching of jesus’. le : : (2) In the Epistles of Paul . ‘ (a) Return to forensic lan- Plage: 268 ESO eee (b) Steven’s view. Why he used this language ; (c) Why religious terminology must be analogical ; (d) Paul in line with the teaching of Jesus stgtpe (e) The two thought forms under which he defines forgiveness : : <<a (f) Dying to sin and rising to holiness : eeah 3. Summary of Biblical definition of the state of forgiveness . aS

III. Forcrveness As a CHANGE oF STATE

~ I, Alexander Campbell’s six propositions . 2. Never a change of soul, but of religious condition aie

IV. THe Wuo te Srupy ILLustratTEs THE USE oF ANALOGICAL TERMS

1. How the student must consider them

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37 we

V. Tue RELATION BETWEEN se as AND SANCTIFICATION

1. A battleground of ealses

2. A change of state which finally results in a change of character

3. The regenerating power of forgiveness .

Chapter Ii: The Ground Of Forgive- Ness

Throughout the Old and New Testaments it is the love of God.

I. THe Wuote As To THE PLACE oF Jeans IN Gop’s ForGIVENESS ; ; 1. The church has never bad any ral doubts about this place

(1) Only in the last century hae the question come forward with insistence

2. The place of Jesus in mantis ry, Pant:

3. The so-called Gospel of Paul is the Gospel of the New Testament

4. Objections to the so-called Gospel a Paul

(a) Assumes a unity in Hie Newt Testament :

(b) It contradicts tie ieneiiiie Ae Jesus in the parable of the Prodigal Son

(c) It is impossible that panne in pe can have eternal significance

(d) The position of Jesus is fictitious. It was invented by the disciples .

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59 59

62 64

XVill

5. Limitations of the so-called Gospel of

Jesus

(1) (2)

(3) (4)

(5) (6)

Chapter III

It sweeps away the faith and convictions of the Apostolic Church The teaching that forgiveness comes through Jesus does not contradict the parable of the Prodigal Son .

The unity of the New Testament is not fictitious :

The only manner in which divine revelation could be intelligible to us would be through historical manilestatin: <<." 0. (ol, aeons (a) This is only the old attempt to thrust Jesus out of the Christian religion . (b) The theory, that because Christianity is historical it cannot be final, is bland assumption Ve (c) It is based upon a false view of history as such (d) Reality is not frozen or fixed, but dynamic or kinetic er The theory sweeps away the self-consciousness of Jesus |

This view of the Gospel cuts its moral nerve. It is not one which will win men to Christ . ; The theory leaves no place for the seeking love of God oe ant

THE APPROPRIATION OF

FORGIVENESS hae:

This is a study of the human response to what God has done in Christ . |

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IOI

IOI

I, THe New TesTaMENT TEACHING. ForcIve- NEss Is By Faitu 1. The teaching of Paut 2. The Petrine doctrine . 3. Faith and righteousness

II. Tue Nature or APPROPRIATING FaItH 1. Considered negatively (a) It is not mere belief (a) Difference between belief and faith . (b) Belief, the beginning of faith

(b) It is not faith in the Bible . (a) In a Person and not in a Book™ <: (b) a Book reveals the Per-

(c) It is ot a faith in that which makes parties or divisions in the church

(a) Not in creeds Ol ists (b) But in that which is common to all Christians ;

(d) It is not a faith to which salvation is attached as an arbitrary thing :

(ae). Tt 4s the only right thing under the moral conditions

(e) It is not an act of belief by which we merit forgiveness . (a) It would thus be itself a work . (b) We could not be saved by the intellectual act of believing .

2. Appropriating faith considered ‘positively (a) It is faith in Christ as a Person . (b) It begins with belief of the facts

of the Gospel . :

xx CONTENTS

(a) These facts made known to us through testimony j (b) Faith is not belief in the facts isolated from the Gospel tgs cas of them. (c) This type of faith is historic faith (c) Appropriating faith is manifest in genuine repentance toward God (a) Faith Seas in repentance. (b) Relation shown in 1 meaning of original terms ; (d) Faith is also ‘objectified i in definite acts of obedience . (a) The good confession one of these acts ; (b) Baptism is another (c) The error of sharply distinguishing between steps in the plan of salvation (e) Faith defined in summary . (a) An attitude of the soul to God ae (b) Its center is love (c) It is manifest as trust

III. How Is Farrn Propucep IN THE HEART? 1. Not something we take up for ourselves 2. In what sense a gift of God 3. It is evoked by Christianity (1) Through nature (2) Through the New Testament (3) Through Christian personalities .

CHAPTER IV: BAPTISM AND THE FOR- GIVENESS OF SINS y ane The modern man and baptism

I. IN tHe New TeEstaMENT Baptism Is AL- WAys CONNECTED WITH THE REMISSION OF SINS

II. A Constructive STATEMENT OF THE Doc- TRINE OF BAPTISM AND THE REMISSION OF

Sins t:

III. RevatTion or INFANT BAPTISM TO THE SUB-

Modern scholars on the subject The sacramentarianism of Paul

(1) How some would aee this away

This is not only a . Pauline attitude. It is characteristic of the whole New Testament

Baptism is an ciate act hace upon the authority of Jesus It is a symbolic act It is a monumental act

It is a confessional act to which is attached the assurance of the forgiveness of sins . itasia translational ae

(a) Connected with atonement as effect is with cause .

(b) Relation between the ‘blood of

Christ and the remission of sins .

(c) Baptism as a real act .

A. The meaning of remission .

(d) Baptism as the sacrament of the new birth

JECT OF FORGIVENESS i.

If conclusions are ee witme is no place for infant baptism .

IV. CoNcLusIONS FROM THE STUDY

I

Baptism for modern man will be of ater! est only as he aaa its New Testament meaning

All our divisions on the question must be settled in the light of its meaning le

XXi PAGE 140 141

153 154 156

158 161 161 164

165 107

175 175 xxii CONTENTS

Chapter V: The Lord’s Supper And The Forgiveness Of Sins

1. Is the Supper related to forgiveness ? 2. It is evident that it is so related, because it is connected with the death of Christ .

I. Tue New TEstaAMENT TEACHING REGARDING THE Lorp’s SUPPER I. Concerning its institution . (1) Is ita Sacrifice? : (2) In what sense a sacrifice ‘ (3) A study of Christ’s action in instituting it . <p tle arene

II. Tue Great THEORIES OF THE SUPPER . The Roman Catholic .

The Lutheran theory

The theory of Zwingli

The Socinian theory .

The Calvinistic theory eS

III. A ConstrucTivE STATEMENT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ‘TEACHING CONCERNING THE Lorp’s SUPPER :

I. The time of its penne is sieniscnee 2. The meaning of the Supper as related to our constant forgiveness . : : (a) It is a communion b) It is a time of heart examination (coc): Ithiga Sree eae of the atonement é (d) It is a bond of union among the Christians (e) It is a time of cleansing for the } Christian : (f) Ii is a pledge of the return of hrist ’ aan. (7) It isa memorial

198 198 201 202 203 203

204 205

207 208

209 211 212

217 218

CONTENTS XXxiil

PAGE

CONCLUSIONS P : ; : ; ; a eet 1. The Supper is not only a memorial, it

is sacramental . : ; . 221

2. What our attitude must be : : 222

3. The time of its observance is important 223 4. Who hasthe right topartake?. . . 224

STUDIES IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS