..Conditional or Unconditional
Conditional or Unconditional?
"... But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost;
Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have
believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.
These things are good and profitable unto men..."Titus 3:4-8.
"... Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his
creatures.
....But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural
face in a glass:
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he
was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in
his deed..." James 1:16-25.
"...For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his
shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,
and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with
judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will
perform this..." Isa 9:6-7.
This article is not about the question of the existence or being of good works in the children of
God. It is about the Author of these works and His Power that
produces the same works in them, and whether these works are left to the children's free-will
option to either perform or not to perform, or are they not
rather wrought by the Spirit in them solely by Divine Grace, working in them both to will and to do
of God's Own good pleasure.
The called children of God are appointed or ordained unto good works. This is explicitly stated
throughout the Scriptures. Paul says in Eph 2:10. "..We are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them..." Many teachers seek to
destroy the sweetness, comfort and surety of God's promises and ordinations by making them
conditional upon man's part to receive them, thus turning the
grace of God into nothing; for if is left to man and his own option to make good the effectiveness
of these promises, is this not to promote and maintain mere
legalism. There arose a doctrine among the Primitive Baptists near the end of the 19th century
advocating the doctrine of what they styled "Time Salvation".
This title was a misnomer, because they (usually) failed to prefix the term with "conditional" ,
which after all, stated the crux of the doctrine that they
advocated upon the subject. In their efforts to promote this doctrine, they usually implied that they
who disagreed with them denied that there was a
salvation in time (which is a ridiculous claim) for the children of God, where the real disagreement
was not in the fact of a Time salvation for the children of
God, but in the conditionallity of this salvation.
The legalism in us always tends to lead us to limit the power of God in salvation, and to rather
attribute salvation (at least a part of it) to our own works and
performances as being intrinsic and inherent within ourselves for the performance thereof. Some
profess that all things concerning salvation are conditional
upon man's part, and even go so far to teach that believers can finally and fully fall away from
Grace; others affirm that there is a "phase" of salvation that is
certain and sure to the saints, but there is another "phase" that is left wholly to the option of the
believer to either exercise or to fail of the benefits thereof,
and therefore come short of or miss these so-called offers and proffers of temporal salvation.
Sinners are by nature, all legalists, and under the condemnation of the righteous law of God as
such they cannot believe that they receive all things freely,
but they think they must earn these things by their inherent merit, efforts, sacrifices, labors, etc.
This is the native bias of the natural mind of fallen man, and
only proves nothing but that he is condemned as a transgressor, and is not able to view the grace
of God truly as such nor wholly able to give thanks unto
God for all things. These types will talk much about their duty, and their "duty faith", but they seem
to have come short of the very prerequisite to serve God
humbly in reverence and fear - that is to trust Him for all things as a free and faithful giver of all
things which He gives us (not offers) richly to enjoy. God has
given them all things, not only that which pertains to life, but also that which pertains unto
godliness.
Paul says in 2 Tim 1:9 that God... "...Hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and
grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began... " It seems that Paul
believed and taught that the calling of the saints to the Gospel
glory was a "holy" calling - that is, that God had set these aside in His Purpose and grace - that is
sanctified them for this purpose even while they remained
in their earthly pilgrimage. But those who teach that all of the (good) works that the children of
God perform in time are wholly conditional upon their part and
left to their option and own discretion to perform these works, have forsaken their trust for
salvation in God's promises, power and His Spirit, and have
rather relied upon their own works and efforts in this matter.
Many of those who teach a "conditional salvation in time" are careful to state that there is a
"phase" of salvation that is conditional upon the children's part,
while the final destination and state of the saints in Heaven and Immortal Glory is unconditional.
How they support this idea with the terms that they use, I
cannot tell, because the Scriptures say not a thing about them in this comparison. In an attempt to
support this theory, they resort to the many conditional
promises and threatenings that were given under the Law Economy, thus amalgamating the two
covenants in such a way as to mix Law and Grace together,
and would thus bring the believing and justified child of God (by faith) again unto bondage to the
dead works of the Law which works death in their
members, and which death Christ abolished when He brought Life and Immortality to light through
the Gospel. So with the legalistic Galatians, they having
begun in the Spirit (if indeed they have) are now seeking to be justified by the works or deeds of
the conditional Law covenant, which no man in nature has
ever been able to keep, nor ever will , because of the weakness of sinful flesh.
Conditionals also use the many admonitions and exhortations throughout the Scriptures, including
the Old and New Testaments as general propositions
and offers to God's children, as if God is bargaining with them to commit (or not to commit)
righteous works in His sight. These admonitions were not given
for the purpose of "working out salvation" as they imply, but were given as encouragement’s to
trust in the Lord for all things, as it is God that works in
them, both to will, and not only to will, but also to do of His good pleasure. Salvation is of the Lord
from first to last. Christ is the Alpha and Omega for Time
and Eternity.
I have heard Eph 2:10 explained as if the "should" walk therein is a conditional term, as if
was left to the children’s own option to walk in the gospel
path, or either forsake it according to their own choice. Now this doctrine is nothing but blatant
Arminianism toned down to a level, as speciously as it may be
used by many, and is nothing but Satan disguised as an angel of light; because it is teaching
God's children to trust not in Christ alone for salvation and the
performance of righteous works within them, but is a spirit and teaching that genders unto
bondage to trust in their own works and efforts as being
meritorious in the sight of God. One could as well take this term "should" in the same way
as they do in this instance, and we would thus controvert all
passages that use the term into a form having a purely conditional meaning. If the works of the
church are conditional upon her part, then where is Christ
the Head that sends all communications and commands to the various parts of His spiritual body.
All power and movement of any body comes from the Head,
and He is Head over all (things) to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all
in all.
If Eph 2:10 is conditional upon the creature's part, then why wouldn't so many other passages be
also? (In the New Testament alone I found 366 entries that
use ("should be"and 79 instances that use "should"- In the Old Testament, "should"
occurs 417 times, and "should be" is found 53
times. I will leave it to the reader's own discretion as to which of these many references pertain to
a conditional or unconditional statement; but I would like
to point out some inconsistencies in the thinking of many when they begin to "pick and choose"
their interpretations upon the use of these terms as being
either conditional or unconditional. Let us just stay with Eph 1 and 2 for a moment: If the
"should" walk in good works that God has ordained for them
(Eph 2:10) be a conditional statement, then why wouldn't these other statements contained in the
Ephesian epistle be also? "...According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we "should be" holy and without blame
before him in love..." Eph 1:4. Now what believer that
professes to trust in divine election in Christ as the basis of their calling and salvation would deny
that this "should be" here is an unconditional statement?
Let's back up to the previous verse. "...Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ..." If I can read language correctly I would say that Paul has said that
all of the church's blessings are founded and predicated
upon their choice and election of God. The Apostle has said that all (not just a part) of the saint's
blessings are predicated upon Divine Grace found in their
election of God in Christ. He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings...and that is according as
He has chosen them in Christ in Eternity. "..That we
should be holy and without blame before him in love..." What believer in salvation by
grace would want to make the "should be" of the
preceding
statement conditional? We could say the same when using the term "might" instead of the
term "should". "Might" is found 239 times in KJV N.T.
and 236 times in the KJV O. T. (Again check to see how many times you think the term is used in
either a conditional or unconditional way - I think that most all
will have to agree that it is nearly always used unconditionally, asserting the positiveness of that
which was to come to pass.) A long time ago in school and
more recently in studying equations in computer programming, I remember statements of and/or,
if, then, etc.. "If" is commonly used many times in a purely
conditional way, but what it normally means (especially in the context that I am now attempting to
deal with) is this: as in an equation, if this part or side
is true, then this (part or side) is also true; in other words, one thing must be there in order
to make provision for something else. The term
"then" is also many times used in the same way. John Gill used to say that an "if"
puts nothing into being, but remains only a supposition - If this
happens, "then” that will follow to happen. but the bias of our mind leads us to think that
these things are not only conditions, but propositions for us
to or not to fulfill at our election and choice. The conditions presented as propositions to those
under the Law could not be fulfilled in righteousness to
those to whom they were presented, yet this did not mitigate against God's authority to present
them to those who were depraved to truly obey these
precepts. God must remain true, though man is always found to be a liar , that He may be found
faithful and True in His pronouncements and true to the
performance of what He has promised.
God's authority in charging our depravity upon us makes way for His Power and mercy to enter
through Christ, As we are still sinners as reckoned in Adam,
for under the provisions of Grace under the New Covenant in Christ we are still reckoned as men
in the flesh in this respect, though in Christ we live to God
in the Spirit. It is only the power of Christ's Spirit within us that enables us to keep the Law, and
that according to His Sovereign pleasure. "... For what
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit
the things of the Spirit..." Rom 8:3-5.
Might is derived from a word which means powerful, dynamic, or a dynamo, and in fact is
still used with this meaning, although it is common now to
use it in English language in a conditional (or rather prepositional) way. Does this not seem
strange? - that a word that has root meanings of tremendous
power should ever be used in this manner? - But we can see that its usage in what seems to be a
conditional way seems to continue to revert to the original meaning -
that it requires power and might to place something there in order that something else should
subsequently follow. So the condition implied is of this nature
and order and does not refer to such as propositions made to creatures. Again, what
believer in salvation by divine grace alone could afford to
believe in the following passage of Eph 1:10 as being a conditional statement? "...That in the
dispensation of the fullness of times he "might"
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even
in him..." The Purposes of God in Christ had made
way for the Glory that was to following in the succeeding ages of time. What about the
"should be" of the verse after next? "...That we "should be"
to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ..." (verse 12) Is it conditional on the
saint's part that they "should be" to the praise of God's
glory through Christ? Again, "...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. Is this conditional? If so, then there may or "may not" ever
be any sure blessings to the church throughout the future
ages of time, for if something is conditional upon a mutable beings' part, then it may (or may not)
ever come to pass. This could really be said about all things
when we are considering the absolute sovereignty and surety of the promises of Almighty God in
Christ.
From this standpoint we could ask - are there any conditions with God whatever (except what He
allows)? as He is an infinite Being in all respects, and has
Power to make way for His Eternal Will and Purpose without the use of any conditions
whatsoever.
There are many who deny the fleshly depravity of the saints after having been born of the Spirit or
regenerated into Life. They teach and affirm that these
are now fully able to do all things commanded by the Law, and the failure or omission of the
performance of anything is not due to any insufficiency or
depravity within themselves, but is merely due to their proclivity to disobedience. Paul says that his
sufficiency for serving God was not in himself or of
himself, and that he was not able to even think of his sufficiency as being such, but that his
sufficiency was yet of the Lord. (2 Cor 3:5) I do not deny that the
saints still retain a propensity to disobedience or law-breaking, but my point is for the conditionals
to prove their point that the regenerate have the means
to keep the whole law, only if they will submit enough, comply enough, or work hard enough at the
process. I think the truth of the matter is actually the
opposite. As we grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ, instead of having
more confidence in our performances and efforts to serve
God according to the Law, we have less. By many failures and efforts in these things , we are
brought to the place that we are poor and destitute as to any
voluntary keeping of the Law. That the Law for righteousness has been and is all fulfilled in Christ,
and by faith in Him we have peace with God. Not in the
trust of our works and efforts as being righteous or meritorious in God's sight. Paul fully covers the
ground of the saint's experience of these things in
Romans, Chap 7 and 8.
When we begin to deny Predestination, it is easy to fall into the error of "conditional time
salvation" - Because if we persuade ourselves to believe that God
has not actually predetermined all things that come to pass, we will therefore give ourselves
partial or full liberty in our minds to stand by as a judge of (and
over) God and His Eternal Purpose to "pick and choose" for ourselves those things we would
"allow" God to predetermine, predestine or ordain
beforehand, (as these are all synonymous terms according to Scripture language), and those
things that it seems good for us to not "allow" God to
sovereignty appoint and determine before they come to pass in Time (all the thoughts of God are
to be considered as prefixed and even done, ("As I
thought, so shall it surely come to pass.. Isa 14:24.) because they are Eternal in His Mind) and if
because we would deem this to be inconsistent with His
Holiness, and blame Him and not ourselves for sin. But The Apostle Paul answers these
objections in the only way and to the extent that God has allowed
our minds to penetrate into the mystery of His Divine Sovereignty over all things:
"... Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that
formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and
another unto dishonour?..." Rom 9:19-21. "...How
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and
through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for
ever. Amen..." Rom 11:33-36.
The paramount feature in the mind of the depraved sinner is this question: "What must I do to be
saved" - And we will do all that we can in this direction until
we find with the Disciples and the Rich Young Ruler, that with man this is impossible, but with
God, all things are possible.
OAB
Conditional Promises
by Elder W. J. Berry
"Duane Street"-
..Arr. by A. Bailey.
Press start button on bar to hear music
No Man Can Come Unto Me
By O. Allen Bailey
LM
Though we may know Christ in our minds
As every man conceives and finds;
Yet they that find Christ in their heart
Will from mere notion then depart.
We must have the Witness within,
- He Who came and saved us from sin;
Which testifies of faith given
In all He wills to enliven
Though men may make God out a liar,
They're not required to come nigher;
For love and faith gives to His Own,
While others still are left alone.
Faith's not a duty to perform
By those who're left here all forlorn;
But is a grace in Love bestowed
In those whom Christ's makes His abode.
And the natural man can't come,
For the command's only to some;
- To those who in themselves can 't find
The way to Christ God has designed.
They too, in nature cannot come,
Nor in nature's power, they can't run,
Till Drawing Power has set them free
To make their heart and mind agree.
In faith, we after Him do run,
When flesh has strived, done all it's done;
So, in our flesh we cannot come,
Of they that seek Him, there's not one;
For God, from Heaven did look down
On poor, or those of great renown;
And found not one whom Him did seek,
The proud, or those whom men call meek;
But to the weak, with sin borne down,
Who know it's power, in earth to drown;
When from it's load they would find rest,
So often beat upon their breast;
To these, Dear Jesus says "now come",
My Power now draws thee, makes thee run;
From the rough way you could not pass,
My drawing Power now gives release.
Before, you found you could not come,
Your faith so little, could not run;
Till it was given from above,
To find all's done in Power and Love.
When Jesus draws us, then we run
For to Jesus, we'd often come;
But He must bring us all the way
When His salvation is Today.
His Power must draw us, for we're dead,
His Love must lead us when we're led;
For Christ is Lord, our all in all,
We find in His most pow'rful call.
Though we are dead, His Life still gives,
We know His Power still in us lives;
We hear His voice within us speak;
His Face and favor then we seek;
In His great Power we then can come,
Though unto death we oft succumb;
But we are renewed day by day,
When Jesus takes our sin away.
With open face, we see within
His glory, Who took all our sin;
Into His image we are changed
Where Eternal Pow'r has thus ranged.
Copyright 2002
O. Allen Bailey