THE Word of God is clear and emphatic in its statements of the absolute sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” “He hath mercy in whom he will have mercy and whom he will hardeneth.” “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” These and many other portions of similar import are solemn, fundamental and precious truths—truths that speak with a voice of loud and distinct protest against the “gospel of man’s will” so popular in some religious circles to-day. But not only in the statements of Scripture is this truth prominent: every sinner saved by grace is an evidence of and a witness to this same truth, a truth which while it gives all the glory to God as the God of Salvation, utterly humbles the sinner, and the sinner thus saved would not have it otherwise. “Not unto us, Lord, not to us, but do thou glory take unto thy name, even for thy truth, and for thy mercy’s sake.” “That, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” Not that every case of genuine conversion carries with it equally conclusive evidence of electing grace; the Lord deals differently with different individuals, and in all his dealings His wisdom is never at fault. In some instances, the evidence of divine grace according to election is so overwhelming as to be beyond question.
As we examine it we can only conclude, “This is the work of God; it can be none else,” and having come to that conclusion, we thank God and take courage, for what God did in the case of one sinner he can, and doubtless will, do in the case of a countless number. Relating to himself, the Apostle Paul says, “Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious: but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” The Apostle was not only called to salvation in a very remarkable way, but he was destined for great and important work in the service of his Lord. The exceeding abundance of grace in his calling was designed by the Lord with this labour and service in view. “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” When the Lord’s purpose has in view the doing of a great work, the provision of suitable men to carry it out is part of that very purpose, and when the set time comes the manner of the Lord’s calling these men is such as to suitably prepare and adequately equip them for the work. So far as his piety and usefulness are concerned the man, however renowned he may become, is only and altogether what grace makes him, that in all things God alone—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—may be glorified.
The foregoing thoughts were suggested when reading an account of Luther’s conversion in a recently published biography of the German Reformer. The account centres in a quotation from Luther himself as he looks back upon his experiences and records them many years after they had taken place. As a record of sovereign grace and unmerited mercy effectually operating unto salvation in the soul of a sinner it is most interesting, and it is well fitted to be helpful to others who may be encountering similar difficulties in their spiritual struggle towards gospel light and liberty.
Some time in the year 1513, when Martin Luther was 30 years of age, his soul experienced that great change which brought him out of darkness into the saving light of the Gospel; a change which was of incalculable importance to himself; and, for many in Europe, was as the dawn of a new day, rich in blessing. Luther was then Professor of Theology in the University of Wittenberg, in Germany, serving the Pope with the greatest devotion, and committed in his thinking and teaching to the whole Romish system of religion—if such an inextricable mixture of superstition, idolatry, and self-righteousness can be called a system! But devoted though he was to his Church, the German monk was not happy. Long before this, and in spite of himself, serious doubts concerning his eternal salvation had begun to trouble his mind. A visit to Rome three years previously, and the many evidences of religious corruption which he saw and heard while there, had greatly increased these doubts. There was no remedy prescribed by his Church he did not resort to, but all was of no avail. The agony of his soul increased until it was all but unbearable.
His father-confessor, Dr. Staupitz, a much older man and one who had been of considerable help to the young monk, had often counselled him to “Wait on God: He will help you.” Long had Luther acted upon this advice, but a stage had now been reached where the anguish of his soul made it impossible for him to wait longer—the issue must be settled. It so happened, in the merciful providence of God, that just at that time Luther was preparing lectures for his students. As he sat in his cell in the monastery connected with the University he was faced with the interpretation of verse 17 in the first chapter of Romans: “For therein (in the Gospel) is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” Bringing all that he knew of the Romish system of religion to bear upon the interpretation of this, to him, crucial passage, he was left more baffled and confused than ever. At that time the word righteousness had for him but one meaning—the just judgment of God which gave to everyone his deserts and, consequently, the question he was now faced with was, “How can Paul call the gospel itself ‘righteousness’? If it were correct to do so then the gospel itself condemned the sinner; for did not righteousness always mean that God dealt with every man according to his deserts?”
In recalling those days many years afterwards Luther thus describes the experience: “I was seized with a marvellous burning desire to understand what Paul said in his epistle to the Romans, but there was one passage that stood in my way, and it was in the first chapter. It read: ‘The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel’ (v. 17). I hated that phrase, ‘The righteousness of God’ because, as was then usual among scholars, I understood it in the sense of a righteousness that gives ‘each one his due’; it meant that the righteous God simply punished sinful and wicked men. But I felt that, even if I lived blamelessly as a monk, I was still a sinner in God’s sight; and I had a very uneasy conscience. I felt that I had and could have no certainty of finding reconciliation by any atonement which it lay in my power to make. I had, therefore, no liking for a righteous God who punished sinners: rather, I hated him; and if not with silent blaspheming, at least in many a rebellious mood I complained against Him in a dreadful way, and said, ‘Was it not enough that poor sinners should be lost to all eternity on account of original sin, and that they should be punished with all sorts of pains and penalties by the Mosaic Law and the Ten Commandments? Whereas now, God must use the gospel to pile up punishments and threaten us with His righteousness and wrath!’ I raged against it all with a wounded and confused conscience, and I was constantly coming into collision with that phrase of Paul’s and thirsting eagerly to know what he meant by it.”
To the child-like spirit of true faith there is nothing so simple and straightforward as the gospel: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,’ but when instead of faith we bring to it, as Luther did, our superstitious beliefs, our self-righteousness, our stubborn pride, what can we expect but confusion, frustration, and the agony of despair? Romanists are by no means the only people to land themselves in this difficulty; apart from the grace of God it is the common heritage of mankind the world over. Truly a cursed heritage! But as we see in Luther’s case, the delusions of a false and subtle creed to which, up unto now, he had been passionately devoted, instead of solving his difficulties as he had fondly hoped, rather increased them beyond measure.
What do we see here but an awful proof of the madness sin has brought into the heart of every man; that in the most momentous crisis of a sinner’s life, when the issues of eternal life and death hang trembling in the balance, the greatest obstacle between his soul and the peace he so vehemently thirsts for is the evil combination of a godless ignorance and a stubborn self-righteous pride in his own heart.
But to return to Luther in his monk’s cell. He sat for long pondering over the words which had arrested his attention. “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written the just shall live by faith,” and quite suddenly, as so often happens, the light of the glorious gospel breaks in upon his soul! By a study of the verse in relation to the context he is led by the Holy Spirit to associate in his mind the ideas of suretyship and substitution in Christ with the righteousness revealed in the gospel. The righteousness Paul speaks of here is not the righteousness of God which condemns the sinner but the substitutionary righteousness of Christ, the sinner’s surety, imputed to every sinner who believes, unto justification and eternal life. Simply by believing in Christ the sinner is put into possession of the righteousness of God as if it were his own.
As the glory of this gospel found its way into the heart of Luther he could hardly contain himself for the relief and joy it brought. “It seemed to me,” he says, “as if I had been born again and as if I had entered paradise through newly opened doors. All at once the Bible began to speak in quite a different way to me. The very phrase ‘the righteousness of God,’ which I had hated before, was the one that I now loved the best of all. That is how that passage of Paul’s became to me the gateway to paradise.” Is it any wonder that on until his death in 1546 “Justification by Faith” became the chief theme of his new song, the cornerstone of his theology, and the substance of the gospel he preached? And thence, under God, it came to be the theme of the whole Reformation movement, a movement which through the ministry of John Knox brought such light and joy to so many in our own beloved country.