“To know the difference so as to be able to distinguish
aright between the law and the gospel is of the utmost importance to the faith,
holiness, and comfort of every true Christian. It will be impossible otherwise
for a man so to believe as to ‘be filled with joy and peace in believing.’ If
he does not know the difference between the law and the gospel he will be apt,
especially in the affair of justification, to confound the one with the other.
The consequence will be that in his painful experience, bondage will be mixed
with liberty of spirit, fear with hope, sorrow with joy, and death with life.
If he cannot so distinguish the gospel from the law as to expect all salvation
from the grace of the gospel, and nothing of it from the works of the law; he
will easily be induced to connect his own works with the righteousness of Jesus
Christ in the affair of his justification.”
“This was the great error of the Judiazing teachers in the
church of Galatia. They mingled the law with the gospel in the business of justification,
and thereby they so corrupted the gospel as to alter the very nature of it and
make it another gospel. They taught that unless men were circumcised and kept
the Law of Moses, they could not be justified or saved (Acts 15:1-5). They
informed the people that while the righteousness of Christ received by faith
was necessary, their own works of obedience were also requisite in connection
with it to entitle them to justification before God. This is a fundamental
error, and such a one that if even an angel from heaven would publish it he
should be accursed. Accordingly, the apostle boldly affirmed to the Galatians,
and he deliberately and earnestly repeated his declaration, that though he
himself, or even an angel from heaven, were to preach any other gospel to them
than that which he had preached unto them, he should be accursed (Galatians
1:8-9). To mingle, then, the law with the
gospel, or to teach men to join the works of the law to the perfect
righteousness of Jesus Christ as the ground for a sinner’s title to
justification in the sight of God, is, according to the apostle, to preach
another gospel. “
“As this is a great error, so it is a very dangerous error.
If a man attempts to add any works of his own to the consummate righteousness
of Jesus Christ as the ground of his justification before God, Christ profits
him nothing. The obedience and death of Christ have become of no effect to him.”
“Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye become circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is
circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no
effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from
grace” (Galatians 5:2-4).”
“If a man tries to connect his own performances with the righteousness
of Jesus Christ for the pardon of his sins and the acceptance of his person as
righteous in the sight of God, he deprives himself of all benefit from that perfect
righteousness. If he relies on his own works of obedience for even the smallest
part of his title to eternal life, he is a debtor to the whole law in its
covenant form, and he fixes himself under the dreadful curse of it. Christ will
profit him nothing unless he relies on his infinitely glorious righteousness only
for all his title to justification and eternal life.”
Colquhoun, John. A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel.
Grand Rapids: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 2009. 141-43. Print.
