Free Grace

The Truth About Grace by Charles C. Cook
Chapter 2

Probably nothing so much shows human perversity as man’s attitude toward God’s Grace, for Grace being “God’s loving favor to the undeserving” should surely be the one thing to receive a glad welcome, and be allowed to work out its own beneficent purposes. But this is not by any means the case, nothing being so much misunderstood and misapplied.
In showing more fully the unwarranted treatment to which Grace is subjected it will be seen that “Grace and its enemies” becomes quite an appropriate phrase. They may all be covered by the three principal names of Law, Works and Character. It may be freely conceded that all three of these are in themselves and in their proper spheres excellent things, but when wrongly placed and especially in their relationship with Grace there is no limit to their deadly nature. Just as a railroad train is usually a most useful and convenient thing, but if on the wrong track and going in the wrong direction it means only confusion, collision and horrible disaster. Or as a neighbor may be quite acceptable in his proper relationship, yet if he camps on my plot, eats my fruit, plucks my flowers, and then enters my house, and orders my domestic affairs, he becomes an insufferable intruder; so with Law, Works and Character, when occupying a position which God never intended for them, they become trespassers and disturbers.
Taking up LAW first, we would say in defining it, that it is distinctly the Law of Moses that is meant: the Decalogue and all else found in the Pentateuch in the way of Law, given for the regulation of God’s chosen people, Israel. Now in its proper place this Law is highly to be commended, as says the Apostle in writing to I Timothy 1:8,9, “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully”; “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for man-slayers,” etc. From this it will be seen that the use of the law for the believer has passed away, its claim on him was annulled by the Cross, which is further proven by Gal. 3:19-26, “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Are we then to conclude that believers have nothing to do with the Law? The answer is absolutely nothing, if we are sons and daughters in the family of God. The law was the schoolmaster (not the teacher, as the word is now used, but the servant who controlled the children and conducted them to school), who led us unto Christ, and having done this his service and responsibility for us are ended, as well as our relationship to him. This is all distinctly stated in Gal. 4: 1-11, “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all: But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.”
Think now how foolish it would be for sons, sitting at the feet of their teacher, and learning lessons of maturity, to allow themselves to be intimidated by the old schoolmaster (servant) under whose rod they had been brought to school, and who now through the window is seeking to attract their attention to certain placards bearing such inscriptions as “You must keep the Sabbath,” “You must tithe your income,” “You must abstain from certain kinds of food,” etc., etc. The enlightened believer sitting now at Jesus’ feet pays no attention to any such commands coming from any such source. He has long ago passed from under such jurisdiction, and rejoices now in the liberty with which Christ has set him free.
The leading representatives of Law doctrine in these days are the “Seventh Day Keepers,” who have made the observance of the Jewish Sabbath the one great criterion of acceptance with God. How pitiable it is to see the hard, lifeless, mechanical existence to which it has led them. Truly they know little of the joyous life of sonship. And also sorrowful is it to see many others among the various denominations who are still held by the grave-clothes of the Law. They are not nearly so logical as the class to which reference has been made, but in some vague, indefinite way still allow themselves to be influenced by the shreds of the old legal requirements. They do not really keep the Sabbath, and yet speak of “Sabbath observance,” and regard “tithing” as the high-water mark of Christian life and service. Now all such things represent bondage to legalism, and bring the believer into a miserably narrow and perverted attitude toward Christ, to whom all the believer’s days belong, as well as all his income, and his possessions of whatever nature. The pious flesh is satisfied to give a portion, and highly commends itself for so doing, in fact, it exalts its doing into a religion that pleases it well.
But Grace does not assent to any such arrangement. It requires all the heart’s love, and all the life’s possessions, and in seeking these it leads the soul away from a contemplation of the commandments written upon stone, to obedience to those written by the finger of love upon the fleshly tables of the heart. It is by these that the believer is to regulate his conduct. Thus controlled he will not be subject to any Sabbath law given to the Jews, but will make every day a holy day, though on the first day, which commemorates the resurrection of his Lord, he will joyfully embrace the privilege afforded for worship with fellow-believers, and for the opportunities presented for active, energetic service in spreading the influence of the Gospel; and instead of resorting to the comparatively easy method of tithing his income, or to some other artificial way, such as setting the fruits of certain trees in his orchard, or the eggs laid by certain hens, etc., he will see that his Lord,—the source of all the grace that has so wonderfully blessed him,—has the supreme right to direct what he shall do with every dollar that comes into his hands, as well as with all his fruit, hens, eggs, and all else.
To those who have learned this simple lesson “Christ” is truly “the end of the law for righteousness “(Rom. 10:4), while “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10); in short to him the law is fulfilled in one word “Love” (Gal. 5:14), and illuminated by this he needs no argument to convince him that “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight” (Rom. 3:20).
WORKS represent another good thing that often becomes a deadly opponent to Grace. This enemy stands for activity in the Christian life as well as for everything that is subject to religious display, and therefore includes not only all forms of service, but also of worship, ritual, architecture, music, contributions, sacrifices, etc., etc. But how can such good things ever be wrong? They are desperately wrong, and actually corrupt in God’s sight, when vainly used to help toward the soul’s salvation, or in any way to secure merit, or a standing before God. Christ has once and forever done this! and anything that man does toward accomplishing the same end only detracts from Christ’s work. To place anything, however good, on a level with the Cross, or to seek to supplement the crimson drops of Calvary by human deeds, becomes a flagrant offence and a shameful sin.
Rome is the great exponent of deadly works. With her they stand out so boldly in priestly offices, forms of worship, churchly adornments, etc., etc., as to require no special mention, all is “works” from her erroneous form of baptism to her extreme unction for the dying, from the offices of her lowest deacon to those of her highest Pope. But alas, that among many who call themselves Protestants the same corruptible doctrine should be found! It seems to be the most widespread heresy in the world, this placing improper emphasis on human effort. Ask the first man you meet how he expects to reach heaven, and he will answer in effect “by being good.” When the fact is that no one ever has or will get to heaven by being or by doing good. That is not the way at all. The way is by the Cross where flowed the blood. Nor can the believer who has been washed in the blood add aught to his acceptability in the sight of God by being or by doing good. His standing in God’s sight has been settled by an entirely different process, even in the offering up of the only perfect or good life this world has ever seen, that of the spotless Lamb of God. There is positively no room or need for any auxiliary force that can be presented. And no one in glory will be able to say, “I am here, because of the Cross and—”, Neither are even the believer’s “holding out” or his progress in “holiness” in any way essential, or even secondary; for plainly it is written “not of works lest any man should boast.” It is against the possibility of human boasting that God has effectively guarded. “Not by deeds of righteousness, but by His mercy he saved us.” Our righteousness before we are saved is as filthy rags in his sight; our righteousness after we are saved, if we ever speak of it in self-commendation, or look upon it with complacent satisfaction is corruption. In Luke 17:10 is laid down the principle that applies, “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” No one should conclude that all this in any way contradicts the Christian’s obligation to labor for his Master, or that he will be duly rewarded for his labor, for admonitions to self-denying service, and promises of reward for service are found everywhere in the Word. But these are entirely another matter, and in themselves only afford another illustration of the wonders of God’s grace, for, freely choosing us as His own, He saves us from the guilt and power of sin wholly by His own effort, bestows upon us bountifully all needed capital in the spiritual life, aids us in using it, allows us to retain all profits, and finally gives us a premium for faithfulness in our endeavors, and thus makes all redound to His greater glory.
CHARACTER.—The word is of course used in the better sense, and may be said to stand for the sum of all good and commendable human qualities. A person of character therefore is one in whom these qualities abound. But even this good thing called character may become a great enemy to Grace. It is always so when substituted for the latter, or when made to appear like it. It will at once be seen how opposite they are. Grace is God’s loving favor to the undeserving, while character is the sum of human excellence. This will more fully appear when some of the figures or object lessons under which Grace is presented in the Scriptures are noticed. The Psalmist, using himself as an object of Grace’s effective operation says Psalm 113:7-8, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.” The Saviour gives us, in the person of the penitent praying Publican, a picture of Grace’s method that will never fade. While the dying thief will be to all time the most vivid illustration upon which man can ever gaze of the true state of every sinner and the life-giving power of Grace.
That man in himself has no real character whatever is abundantly shown in the Word. Language could not be more clearly used than in Romans 3:10, 11, 19, 23, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” There is therefore not the narrowest possible ledge remaining upon which character may rest—“None righteous,” “none that understandeth,” “every mouth stopped,” “all the world guilty,” “all have sinned,” these are the unequivocal words of condemnation passed upon the natural man whatever his appearance, conduct or attainments. And in the glare of this search-light from God’s word, the most beautiful character becomes only a grinning skeleton,—an object of loathing and disgust.
Unitarianism is the prominent representative of this enemy of Grace. This charge is easily sustained, for if Christ is only a man, all other men are akin to him, even though he is acknowledged to be of more beautiful character than all the rest, nevertheless there is no distinction, except in degree of excellence, between him and all others, some of whom approximate closely to his attainments. So then Christ being dethroned from his position in the Godhead and made only man, man must of necessity be elevated to occupy the same level, even though he admittedly does not adorn it so beautifully. We are therefore not surprised to hear Unitarianism speaking of deity being possessed by every man; that God is innate in the natural man, and that all that is required of man is that he develop the good that is already in him. Also that if man fell at all, he fell upward, and that by the principle of evolution he is constantly improving. This to be sure necessitates making a myth or an allegory of the sad record in Genesis Third Chapter, but that is a small difficulty to Unitarianism,—the religion of character. It just as easily disposes of the Cross and its sufferer, by saying that he was a good man, even the best man that ever lived, dying as a martyr for his principles, and thus holds up his death as an example for other men to follow, that is, they are to live beautiful lives as Jesus did, and then if occasion offers die a hero’s death in order to save other men by their example. Substitution, Atonement by the shedding of blood, and kindred terms are logically hateful words to such teachers, and as so many passages of Scripture contain them, and clearly teach the “religion of blood,” they adopt the effective tactic of never preaching from them, but rather resorting to the adages of human philosophy,—Greek and modern,—and of dwelling upon ethics, sociology, and the qualities of honesty, courtesy, etc., etc.
So rabid are they in their opposition to the saving work of the Cross, that they call the doctrine of the Vicarious Atonement an “immoral” doctrine. It was this very word that was used by a famous United States Senator from Massachusetts, now deceased, in an address, when he boldly stated, “It is immoral to say that any man is saved by the death of another, no; every man is saved by his own character.” Poor blind man, he had not even a glimpse of the beauty of divine Grace in saving the undeserving, by the offering of the spotless Son of God. Surely he could have never read Romans 5: 6, 7, 8, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It is this character-religion that would have men get “in tune with the infinite,” by some other way than the confession of sin, and the falling for pardon into the outstretched arms of a loving Father, after the pattern of the prodigal son.
It is also the part of office for this enemy of Grace to speak ever of the “Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man,” an expression which always brands as false any system with which it is found, for the Word of God knows nothing of it; for while all men are God’s creatures, and the objects of his loving solicitude, and united to each other in a blood relationship as the common sons of Adam, in a scriptural sense God is Father only to those who are born into His family by the operation of the Holy Spirit, by whom also alone they are initiated into fellowship with the Elder Brother and his companions—blood-washed sinners.
Christian Science is the logical outgrowth of New England Unitarianism, especially as watered by that great pagan philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose transcendentalism was just vague enough and sufficiently elusive to prepare its admirers for Mrs. Eddy’s vapid hallucinations. Nothing is too absurd or impractical for men to believe if only they will not be obliged to confess that they are repulsive lepers, or undeserving publicans, or dying thieves, who will spend an eternity in perdition unless they confess their sins and gladly accept God’s substitute as the free gift of grace.
It is now common in Unitarian churches to make a study of Comparative Religions, in connection with which one form after another of paganism is presented and discussed on successive Sundays. On one such occasion Zoroastrianism was treated, and was pronounced “a very pretty religion.” Probably if seen at home where it has had the opportunity of centuries to prove its excellence, it would hardly have appeared so “pretty.” But what a term to apply to a religion! Certainly Cain’s religion with its fruit-covered altar seemed much prettier than Abel’s, upon whose altar lay a bleeding lamb—not by any means an attractive object. But the sequel! Cain unaccepted, and unrestrained by his religion, a murderer, while obedient Abel, dying, becomes a type of Him who was slain by wicked hands on Calvary. Character dares to take man and set him boldly before God as worthy of himself of attention and commendation. While guilty Adam with his fig-leaf apron hides in shame from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden, the modern guilty sinner armed only with his own character dares to push forward and to say defiantly to God, “I have done nothing amiss, judge me on my own merits.” In due time the challenge will be met, and the result will be one of horror. Oh, the deadliness of any system which in exalting the natural man, lowers the Cross and denies its meaning!
All teaching must be judged by this principle: if it justifies man it condemns God, while if it condemns man it justifies God. This latter is the true process according to the sweet word that bids us, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time,” and “if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Let it also be remembered that the Scriptures know nothing of that effort denominated “Character building” to which we are so often enjoined to apply ourselves, for real character is a growth whose roots are found only in the soil of the regenerated life, planted and watered by Grace. These three enemies of Grace that we have now described, viz.: Law as shown distinctly in the rigid Seven Day Keeping systems, Works as presented in dazzling Romanism, and Character as exhibited in self-confident Unitarianism, (outwardly so diverse), with all their modifications, variations, sub-divisions, and ramifications as found here and there in Protestantism, are inseparably linked together with the chain of false profession with which they are being drawn by the giant ERROR to frowning Sinai, with its dark shadows and overhanging clouds, where the lightning strikes to destroy.
If any further reasons are needed for devoting so much attention to these enemies of Grace, they are found in the fact that dependence upon them leads first directly along the path of self-righteousness to that most hateful thing to God in all the universe, Pride, and second often beyond this to Discouragement, for among the many duped ones, there are some who in their soberer moments are too honest to believe that they are really in any way to commend themselves,—keeping the law; or that their works are really worth mentioning, especially when their motives are scrutinized; or that their character is entitled to the graceful lines and charming tints with which it has been painted, and convicted of the sham profession they have been making with its hollow pretenses, they become utterly despairing and go down with sinking hearts to hopeless failure.
A third result is the way in which their influence leads to dishonoring God, by substituting man-made schemes for God’s way of salvation, and thus casting imputations upon His wisdom in devising it, His power in saving by means of it, and His love in giving His Son to accomplish it. In this way man disdainfully does despite to the Cross and seeks to cast it aside as unnecessary.
Is it any wonder that the Apostle in indignation exclaims, Gal. 1:8, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

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