Scripture shows that, while many are converted after a long course of carelessness and sin, others are trained up for God from their earliest years and sanctified even from the womb. The experience of these two classes must necessarily be widely different – while, in whatever is essential to regeneration, it must be substantially the same in all.
All men are by nature fallen and depraved; that which is “born of the flesh is flesh,” and “the carnal mind is” in every instance “enmity against God”; so a new spiritual birth is universally and indispensably necessary in order to a new spiritual life. It must be said of everyone alive, even of those whose natural disposition is gentle and who have been well brought up, that unless he is “born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. Whenever and however that change occurs, it is substantially the same in all; it implies the enlightening, convincing, renewing and sanctifying work of the Spirit, by which the natural blindness is removed and the natural enmity subdued. Thus the natural man becomes a new creature in all his views and feelings, his desires and affections, his aims, habits and hopes.
We greatly err if we suppose that, in any one case, a good natural temperament or a sound religious education can of themselves introduce a fallen being into the spiritual kingdom of God, or supersede the grace and the agency of the Holy Spirit. That is spirit, and that only, which is born of the Spirit; and every soul that is really converted must have that experience which is common to all true believers, which consists in conviction of sin, an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, a cordial compliance with the gospel call, and a course of conflict with its own corruptions.
But while some such change must be wrought on everyone at the time of conversion, it may be brought about in a variety of ways – which will occasion great diversity in the experience of different believers. Some, for instance, are permitted to grow up without any religious teaching. They lack the inestimable privilege of a father’s counsel and a mother’s prayers, and are surrounded instead with the noxious influences of a family where there is no fear of God, no form of religion, and whose example is fitted to corrupt. Thus neglected in early life, and inured to vice from their earliest years, they go forth into the world.
They are not only unprepared to resist, but predisposed to comply with, its temptations and follow the bent of their own evil passions. Falling in with the current of evil society, they may remain for years utterly careless of their souls, of God and of eternity. They may be allowed to go to great lengths in wickedness till, by some happening in providence or by an awakening sermon or even by the remorseful restlessness of their consciences, they are brought under serious concern and led to inquire, “What must I do to be saved?” The case of such persons is illustrated by the experience of the dying thief and of the Philippian jailer, who had both been careless, and one of them had been utterly wicked, till they were awakened by their awful circumstances, were convinced, and converted to God.
While such cases do occur, and are sufficient to show that God’s grace is alike free and sovereign, able to soften the hardest heart and to save even at the eleventh hour, there are others whose experience is widely different. They are the children of religious parents; they have enjoyed the inestimable advantages of Christian instruction and the still more precious privilege of growing up in a family where every influence is favourable to their moral culture, where example is combined with precept and the tenderest affection with paternal authority, and the family meet to read God’s Word, to sing His praise and to unite in prayer.
By such means, many grow up well-instructed in the truths of the gospel, impressed with a feeling of reverence for religious worship. They become amiable in their ways, and are preserved from the grosser sins of the world; and in not a few of them the precious seed sown in early life takes root in the heart and grows up so gradually and imperceptibly that they may not be conscious, at any time, of a great or sudden change, such as was experienced by the dying thief and the jailer. Yet the work of grace really is begun and will be carried on to perfection. In such cases, it is manifest that we are not to expect precisely the same course of experience as is found in those who, after a life of sin, are suddenly awakened and changed. Of this class we have selected the case of Timothy as a very interesting and instructive example.
The account which is given of this eminent and devoted servant of God shows that his first serious impressions were derived from his religious education in early life, and from the pious care and example he saw at home. The apostle tells us that from a child he had “known the holy Scriptures”, referring to his early instruction in the truths of the Old Testament, to which he had access through the care of his pious mother, a Jewess, although his father was a Greek. He is thus brought to our notice: “Then came Paul to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek”.
That she was a woman of sincere piety is of much more importance than her mere profession. And the same piety characterised other members of her family. When the Apostle wrote to Timothy as his “dearly beloved son”, he says, “I thank God when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also”. Here is a beautiful example of family piety: the aged grandmother cherishing an unfeigned faith in the promise which God had given to the fathers and waiting for the consolation of Israel; the mother cherishing the same hope and gladly embracing the gospel when it was proclaimed to her, for she was not only a Jewish but a Christian believer. And there was the young man, taught from his earliest years to know the Scriptures, which were able to make him wise unto salvation. He became, under Paul’s ministry, a disciple in the school of Christ, and afterwards an eminent, zealous and devoted minister of the everlasting gospel.
Being connected with a Greek by marriage, the pious Jewess had not, it would seem, insisted on the circumcision of her child, but she was attentive to his religious training, instructing him in God’s truth. And most amply was her motherly care repaid, when this child of many prayers became the companion of an apostle and the honoured instrument of founding many churches and winning many souls to Christ. The details of his experience are not recorded; but from the incidental intimations which are given in the course of the two epistles which were addressed to him, we may gather that his experience corresponded in substance with that of every other child of God. He must have been convinced of sin, so as to feel his need of a Saviour; he must have been enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, so as to perceive His all-sufficiency and suitability; and he must have personally closed with Christ, receiving him as his Prophet to teach him, as his Priest to reconcile him, and as his Lord to govern him.
All this is implied in Timothy’s profession as a Christian, and especially as a Christian evangelist, since nothing short of this could have sufficed either for his own salvation or for the work of the ministry. And what secret conflicts, what inward struggles he endured, educated as he had been by pious parents, and instructed too by an inspired apostle, is sufficiently shown by Paul’s exhortation: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life”; “Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me”; “Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus”.
Saving faith . . . is the due receiving of Christ offered in the gospel, consenting to take Him upon His own terms.
John Flavel
1Reprinted with editing, from the “Illustrative Cases of Conversion” in The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit. It is based on 2 Timothy 3.14,15.