Life Before Understanding

Just shortly after posting my recent thoughts concerning the righteousness of Christ and the fear of compromise, I read another post interacting with many of the same themes, and I believe the writer did an excellent job exposing the sectarian danger of treating “the true gospel” as essentially synonymous with one’s own exact doctrinal articulation, theological precision, or favored circle of teachers. Yet as I continued thinking about the subject, it seemed to me that another question still remained beneath the discussion altogether - not merely what men mean by “the true gospel,” but the often unspoken assumption concerning the gospel itself, and whether many controversies in these matters actually rest upon certain views of how eternal life comes.

The portion of the question which fixed itself in my mind was right at the beginning: “No one can come to faith in Christ through a false gospel… faith, real faith, never comes to a soul through a lie.” And while I certainly understand the desire to defend the truth expressed there, it nevertheless seemed to me that the very structure of the statement already assumes something further concerning the gospel itself, namely, that eternal life and “saving” faith are generated through the gospel message.

Before continuing, I should probably say that I already understand I differ somewhat from many gracious brethren on these matters, especially concerning what is commonly called “gospel regeneration.” I have written briefly on that subject before, though only imperfectly. So I am not writing these things as though I believe everyone else has missed something obvious. In many ways, I suspect we are often attempting to protect the same precious truths, while approaching the relationship between the gospel, faith, and spiritual life from somewhat different perspectives.

Scripture certainly speaks very highly of the gospel. The gospel reveals Christ, declares righteousness, brings life and immortality to light, feeds the sheep, comforts the believer, and converts the understanding of God’s children unto the truth of their salvation by free grace. None of those things should ever be minimized. Yet scripture also repeatedly attributes the giving of life itself directly to God and His Spirit, apart from human instrumentality. “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” John 6:63.

In many ways, the entire question may simply come down to whether scripture distinguishes between the giving of life and the understanding of that life. Those are not necessarily identical things. A man does not first receive life because he understands the truth, but rather comes to understand the truth because life has first been given. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” I Corinthians 2:14. The inability is deeper than ignorance alone. It is an inability of nature. Jeremiah 13:23. And for that reason, scripture continually places the source of life itself not in the message preached outwardly, but in the sovereign operation of God inwardly. Ezekiel 11:19.

The problem, however, is far deeper than mere ignorance, though many discussions concerning the gospel seem to assume otherwise. Man is often treated as though his great need were merely greater understanding concerning Christ. Yet scripture describes his condition in far more serious terms. He is not merely uninformed, but “dead in trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:1. The natural man does not simply lack information concerning Christ, but lacks the spiritual capacity to receive the things of God altogether. I Corinthians 2:14. For this reason, the giving of life must necessarily precede spiritual perception, just as seeing must precede seeing the light. A man does not first believe in order to obtain life, but believes because life has first been given. Acts 13:48.

This does not reduce the importance of the gospel, nor lessen the necessity of gospel preaching. Rather, it allows these glad tidings to stand forth in all their glory as the revelation of God’s free grace in His Son. The message entrusted to the apostles was the divinely appointed declaration of Christ and Him crucified. It is through the preaching of Christ that God gathers His sheep, feeds them, converts them unto the knowledge of the truth, establishes their hearts in grace, comforts them in tribulation, and causes them to walk in the joyful liberty of the grace of Christ. The gospel does not create salvation, nor make Christ effectual, but declares abroad the glad tidings of what God has already accomplished in His beloved Son. It announces the divine “record” that “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” I John 5:11.

The scriptures themselves appear to repeatedly preserve this distinction. When Lydia heard Paul preach by the riverside, we are not told that the gospel itself opened her heart, but rather that “the Lord opened” it, “that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” Acts 16:14. The preaching was precious and necessary, yet the ability to receive it is attributed directly to the Lord Himself. The opening of the heart preceded the attending unto the truth spoken. In the same way, Christ declared, “no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” John 6:44. The difficulty is not merely misunderstanding, but man’s inability by nature. Romans 8:7-8.

Perhaps this is why scripture so often speaks of the gospel in terms of manifestation, revelation, and light. Paul tells Timothy that Christ “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” II Timothy 1:10. The language is very careful. The gospel does not create life and immortality, but brings them “to light.” It reveals, manifests, declares, and makes known what God has already accomplished in His Son. In this sense, the gospel stands as the glorious testimony of Christ crucified and risen, through which the children of God are instructed, established, comforted, corrected, and converted unto the knowledge and enjoyment of their salvation by free grace.

This same distinction appears again in Paul’s words to the Corinthians: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” I Corinthians 1:18. The apostle does not describe the gospel there as making alive those spiritually dead, but as the power of God unto “us which are saved.” The difference between the two groups does not ultimately lie in the message itself, for both hear the same proclamation. One hears foolishness, while the other beholds the power and wisdom of God in Christ crucified. Why the difference? Scripture repeatedly traces it back, not to man’s will or intellect, but to the sovereign work of God who gives eyes to see and ears to hear. “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Matthew 13:11.

And perhaps nowhere is this seen more plainly than in our Lord’s own parable of the sower. The seed sown is the same in every case. The difference does not lie in the message itself, but in the ground upon which it falls. The seed does not transform bad ground into good ground, nor does the preaching itself create spiritual life where none exists. Rather, where good seed falls upon good ground, fruit follows. Christ Himself explains that the good ground are those who “in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it.” Luke 8:15. Yet scripture elsewhere plainly teaches that man by nature does not possess such a heart. The heart itself must first be given by God. Ezekiel 36:26. Thus the parable does not present the gospel as the cause of life, but rather describes the fruit that follows where the Spirit of God has already wrought inwardly.

From what I can see in scripture, faith is consistently presented not as the cause of life, but as its fruit and evidence. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” I John 5:1. The apostle does not say that a man becomes born of God by believing, but that believing manifests the reality of a birth already accomplished. In the same way, a tree does not become alive because it bears fruit, but bears fruit because it is alive. Matthew 7:17. Faith is precious beyond words, yet even faith stands as the gift and operation of God within the soul, flowing from the life and union already established in Christ. Thus the gospel does not create life by informing the natural man, but rather manifests Christ unto those whom the Spirit has already given ears to hear.

This is why I think so much confusion enters these discussions whenever the new birth, conversion, faith and understanding are all blended together as though they were identical things. A child of God may possess life long before possessing much understanding. The disciples themselves continually misunderstood Christ, resisted His sayings, and stumbled over many things which afterward became plain unto them. Yet Christ still declared, “ye are clean.” John 13:10. Their ignorance did not create life, nor did fuller understanding later create it. Rather, the life already given gradually manifested itself through faith, instruction, correction, and growing apprehension of Christ through the truth. 

And perhaps this is why so many struggling believers are continually cast back upon themselves whenever eternal life becomes too tightly bound to doctrinal precision, religious experience, or the exact manner in which one first heard the gospel. Assurance slowly shifts away from Christ and becomes entangled with questions concerning one’s own understanding, framework, preacher, or spiritual pathway. Yet the believer’s hope does not ultimately rest upon the perfection of his knowledge, but upon the perfection of Christ and His finished work alone. The gospel was never intended to turn the eye inward as though salvation rested upon the correctness of our apprehension, but outward unto Christ Himself, “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” I Corinthians 1:30.

This is not to suggest that truth is unimportant, nor that false doctrine carries no danger. And as I mentioned a few posts back, Scripture repeatedly warns of false prophets, corrupt gospels, and doctrines which obscure Christ and trouble the churches. Yet there is also danger on the other side, when men begin speaking as though eternal life itself is suspended upon the precision of a sinner’s doctrinal understanding. At that point, the simplicity that is in Christ gradually becomes buried beneath constant introspection and fear. At that point we are no longer asking: “Do I believe Christ,” but rather, did I understand enough? And that is a very different atmosphere than the free and gracious testimony of scripture concerning Christ crucified.

Faith does not rest in the perfection of its own understanding, but in the perfection of its object. The weakest believer who looks unto Christ alone possesses a stronger foundation than the most articulate theologian resting partly in the correctness of his own framework. The publican who cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” understood far less than many who now speak very confidently about spiritual things, yet he went down to his house justified. Luke 18:13-14.

One danger in all such discussions is that men may become so occupied with analyzing the nature of faith, the order of salvation, or the precision of doctrinal formulations, that the free and gracious testimony of the gospel becomes buried beneath continual introspection and theological scrutiny. The apostles did not go forth proclaiming the greatness of man’s understanding, but “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” I Corinthians 2:2. Rest is not found in theological precision itself, but in the Son of God who “loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

Perhaps in the end, much of this simply comes down to where the eye is directed. The scriptures do not call sinners to rest in the perfection of their own understanding, nor in the certainty of their doctrinal formulations, but in Christ. Whatever distinctions men may draw concerning regeneration, conversion, faith, or the order of these things, the glory of the gospel remains this: that salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2:9. Christ has accomplished redemption. The Spirit gives life. And the gospel stands as the blessed testimony of that finished salvation, declaring abroad the riches of God’s grace in His beloved Son. “Look unto me and be ye saved.” Isaiah 45:22. MPJ