Blog

by Thomas Manton

1. What is quickening?

2. Why asked of God?

First, What is this quickening? Quickening in scripture is put for two things:—

1. For regeneration, or the first infusion of the life of grace; as Eph. 2:5, 'And you that were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickened;' that is, infused life, or making to live a new life.

2. It is put for the renewed excitations of God's grace, God's breathing upon his own work. God, that begins life in our souls, carries on this life, and actuates it. Now this kind of quickening is twofold spoken of in this psalm; there is quickening in duties, and quickening in afflictions. Quickening in duties, that is opposite to deadness of spirit; quickening in affliction, that is opposite to faintness.

[1.] Quickening in duties, that is opposite to that deadness of spirit which creeps upon us now and then, and is occasioned either by our negligence or by our carnal liberty, that deadness of spirit that doth hinder the activity of grace.

Recently I have been spending a lot of time reading the Scottish Presbyterians. I cannot get over how clear and helpful some of their works are.  I especially have enjoyed the works of Thomas Boston and James Durham.  For anyone who wants get a taste for their writting, below I am including some of the works we have published and made available for free: 

Thomas Boston

The Art of Man-Fishing (eBook)

An Explication of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism (eBook)

A View of the Covenant of Works (eBook)

A View of the Covenant of Grace (eBook)

Miscellaneous Questions (eBook)

The Crook in the Lot (eBook)

The Necessity of Repentance (eBook)

The Good Fight of Faith (eBook)

Am I Really a Christian? (eBook)

The Mystery of Sanctification by Christ Opened Up (eBook)

by John Calvin

If these matters had in bygone ages been treated and dealt with in proper order, so many tumults and dissensions would never have arisen. Paul says that in the upbuilding of Christian teaching we must keep the foundation that he had laid among the Corinthians [cf. 1 Cor. 3:10], “beside which no other can be laid, which is Jesus Christ” [1 Cor. 3:11]. What sort of foundation have we in Christ? Was he the beginning of our salvation in order that its fulfillment might follow from ourselves? Did he only open the way by which we might proceed under our own power? Certainly not. But, as Paul had set forth a little before, Christ, when we acknowledge him, is given us to be our righteousness [1 Cor. 1:30]. He alone is well founded in Christ who has perfect righteousness in himself: since the apostle does not say that He was sent to help us attain righteousness but himself to be our righteousness [1 Cor. 1:30]. Indeed, he states that “he has chosen us in him” from eternity “before the foundation of the world,” through no merit of our own “but according to the purpose of divine good pleasure” [Eph. 1:4–5, cf. Vg.]; that by his death we are redeemed from the condemnation of death and freed from ruin [cf. Col. 1:14, 20]; that we have been adopted unto him as sons and heirs by our Heavenly Father [cf. Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:5–7]; that we have been reconciled through his blood [Rom. 5:9–10]; that, given into his protection, we are released from the danger of perishing and falling [John 10:28]; that thus ingrafted into him [cf. Rom. 11:19] we are already, in a manner, partakers of eternal life, having entered in the Kingdom of God through hope.

Does Christ require the sinner to "stop sinning and you'll be pardoned"?, or something else?

When you trust in Christ for the first time, you are trusting in Him as a Savior FROM SIN, both its guilt and power. No one "just believes" in Christ's existence to be saved; we come to him, rather, to be rescued from sin's tyranny. We know we can do nothing to save ourselves from sin so we (by the grace of God) turn to Christ to be rescued from it. This demonstrates, without a doubt, that at the time you trust Christ you no longer want to be under sin's tyranny or dominion but want Christ to deliver you from it.

So in our initial repentance we are not called to "stop sinning and you'll be pardoned." No, rather its "Lord. I am a slave to sin, save me and break the chains of my sin and forgive. I have no hope without you" Thus, to want to be saved by Christ from sin already reveals a heart of repentance in it. Otherwise you would not want to be saved at all.

If you see faith as merely a belief in God's existence then YES faith precedes repentance, but if you define faith as trusting in Christ as Savior from sin, then while faith and repentance can be distinguished, they cannot be separated.

Consider: For what purpose are you coming to faith in Jesus if not to be rescued from sin?

NOTE: Christ intended to pardon us prior to both our faith and repentance, so neither faith nor repentance are actually the originating cause of our pardon. Pardon was purchased in Christ's redemption for us. The application of our redemption is when the Holy Spirit brings us into union with Christ's death and resurrection. He regenerates us, our faith and repentance springs from our renewed heart which issues from God's grace alone.

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