LavJ and Grace Utterly Diverse Principles. Pure Grace the Only Gospel Now B? Dr. C. I. SCOFIELD
RACE is an English word used in the New Testament to translate the Greek word, Charis, which means “favor,”
and eschew evil; promises, with the help of God available through prayer; law, tried,on a great scale, and through cen turies of forbearance, supplemented by the mighty ethical ministry of the proph ets, without ever once presenting a hu man being righteous before God (Rom. 3:19; Gal. 3:10; Heb. 7:19; Rom. 3:10, 18; 8:3,4); this is the Biblical picture. And it is against this dark background that grace shines out. Definition. The New Testament definitions of grace are both inclusive and exclusive. They tell us what grace is, but they are careful also to tell us what grace is not. The two great central definitions follow: “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:7). This is the inclusive, or affirmative side; the negative aspect, what grace is not, follows: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8,9). The Jew, who is under the law when grace comes, is under its curse (Gal. 3:10); and the Gentiles are “without Christ, being aliens from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:12). And to this race God comes to show “the exceeding riches of His GRACE in His kindness towards US, through CHRIST JESUS.” The other great definition of grace is:
without recompense or equivalent. If there is any compensatory act or pay ment, however slight or inadequate, it is “no more grace”-—Charis. When used to denote a certain atti tude or act of God toward man it is therefore of the very essence of the mat ter that human merit or deserving is ut terly excluded. In grace God acts out from Himself, toward those who have deserved, not His favor, but His wrath. In the structure of the Epistle to the Ro mans grace does not enter, could not enter, till a whole race, without one single exception, stands guilty and speechless before God. Condemned by creation, the silent tes timony of the universe (Rom. 1:18,20); by wilful ignorance, the loss of a knowl edge of God once universal (Rom.l:21); by senseless idolatry (Rom. 1:22,23); by a manner of life worse than bestial (Rom. 1:24,27); by godless pride and cru elty (Rom. 1:28,32); by philosophical mor- alizings which had no fruit in life (Rom. 2:1,4); by consciences which can only “accuse” or seek to “excuse” but never justify (Rom. 2:15,16); and finally by the very law in which those who have the law boast (Rom. 2:17; 3:20), “every mouth” is “stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.” In an absolute sense, the end of all flesh has come'. Everything has been tried. Innocence, as of two unfallen creatures in an Eden of beauty; con science, that is, the knowledge of good and evil with responsibility to do good
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