Almost the last words that the Apostle Peter wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, were, “Grow in grace” (2 Pet 3:18). This command is directed to those who already have grace; in particular, they have the grace of faith; they have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, for deliverance from the guilt and power of sin. But they are not to stop at the beginning of the road to heaven; they are to make progress; they are to seek the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in their souls, until they have been made perfect and are ready to pass into the blessedness of heaven.
But how are believers to grow in grace? And how are people to find grace in the first place? We must bear in mind, of course, that graces are all the gift of God, the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of sinners. But these questions relate to the responsibility of believers and of unbelievers, to make use of the means that God has appointed. The fact is that both believers and unbelievers must use the means God has provided.
The Shorter Catechism teaches, “The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation” (Ans 89). Preaching on “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:17), with a view to explaining and applying this answer, Thomas Boston1 thus sums up the teaching of the text, and more particularly of his sermon:2 “The Word of God is the sword the Spirit makes use of for raising up a kingdom to Christ”.
Boston intimates as the first main point of his sermon:
First, how “the Word is an ordinance of God and means of salvation”.
He continues, “1. The reading of the Word is an ordinance of God and means of salvation, of God’s own appointment. The Bible is this Word, and God has given it to us, and appointed it, to be read.
“(1.) The public reading of it in the congregation is God’s ordinance and a means of salvation. And we find it in Scripture performed by the teachers of the people: ‘So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading’ (Neh 8:8). . . . Hence reading and expounding a passage of Scripture every Lord’s Day in the church is a laudable and well-warranted practice in this Church.
“(2.) So is the private reading of it in families. ‘These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children . . .’ (Deut 6:6-9). Every family ought to be a church; and as they are to speak to God by prayer, so they are to hear God speak to them by reading His Word. And this they ought to do every morning and evening, as well as command their children and servants to read it by themselves.
“(3.) So is the secret reading of it by oneself. The Word of God ‘shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life’ (Deut 17:19). . . . ‘Search the Scriptures’ (Jn 5:39). By this means the soul converses with God in His Word. And those who do not make a practice of daily reading the Scripture [assuming they are able to do so] are none of the Lord’s people, whatever otherwise they may profess. . . .”
How sad that so many in the twenty-first century are determined to ignore the Word of God completely and reject the testimony that it bears to the eternity to which they must go when death will carry them away from this world! But have we paid attention to the counsel in the Bible, so often repeated in the preaching of the Word: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Is 55:6)?
“2. The preaching of the Word is an ordinance of God and means of grace. ‘It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe’ (1 Cor 1:21). . . . Though the reading of the Word is a means of salvation . . . yet the preaching of it is the special means, though a despised ordinance in the world; therefore called foolishness (1 Cor 1:21). It is the most ancient of the two [preaching and reading]. Noah was a preacher, before the Bible was [available] to take his text from (2 Pet 2:5). . . . In this work, Christ Himself spent the time of His . . . public appearance in the world: namely, preaching the kingdom of God. It is the mercy of the Church of God that they have the Word of God as a lamp always burning . . . . For this reason the preaching of the Word should be attended to by all, if ever they expect to be saved.”
Second. Boston goes on “to show what are the ends for which the Lord has appointed these means and ordinances of reading and preaching the Word. (1.) For sinners out of Christ they are the appointed means of two great and necessary purposes”: their conviction and their conversion.
“(2.) For saints, the Word of God is a means appointed for their edification or building up (Acts 20:32). The Church of Christ in the world is but in building, and not yet finished; and every particular saint’s state in this world is but an unfinished building; and therefore they must have the Word with them always, as the scaffolding is with the house till the topstone is put in place (Eph 4:11-13). The reading and preaching of the Word are:
“1. Means of building the saints up in holiness, the foundation of which is laid in them at conversion (Acts 20:32). As they are born again of the incorruptible seed of the word, so they are nourished by these breasts; by the same means by which they obtained their spiritual life, they get it more abundantly (1 Pet 2:2). The Word does so by:
“(1) Establishing them in the good they have attained, setting them to hold it fast in spite of temptations (Eph 4:14). By the reading and preaching of the Word, the truth according to godliness is riveted in them. Thus the longer they live under the means, the more they are confirmed in the Lord’s way.
“(2) Cleansing them from remaining evils in their heart and life (Ps 19:9). Coming to this mirror, their spots are shown to them, so that they may wipe them off. So the Word is the pruning-hook of the great Husbandman (Jn 15:2,3), and a device for demolishing the remaining strongholds of rebels (2 Cor 10:4,5).
“(3) Pressing and helping them forward to the good things lacking in them (2 Tim 3:16,17). So the effect is that they ‘all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Cor 3:18). It helps them still to add a cubit to their stature, showing them more of the truth and of the duties of holiness.
“2. Means of building them up in comfort (Rom 15:4). They are liable to many griefs in the world, but it is appointed to be their great cordial and sovereign remedy against all their griefs. This it does, (1) By setting their case in a true light (Ps 73:17). (2.) By affording suitable remedies for their case, from the precious promises and doctrines of the Word suited to every case: ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins’ (Is 40:1,2).
Third. Boston’s final point is “the efficacy of the Word”. He called his hearers to observe:
“1. The parties to whom it is effectual. It may have a convincing efficacy on the reprobate, as Felix (Acts 24:25). Only on the elect has it a converting efficacy. ‘As many as were ordained to eternal life believed’ (Acts 13:48). Only on the saints has it an edifying efficacy, both in holiness and comfort.
“2. The source of its efficacy is not from itself, nor the preacher, but from the Spirit’s operation by and with it. ‘Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered: but God gave the increase’ (1 Cor 3:5,6).
“3. The inward means which the Spirit makes use of to render it effective is faith, resting upon God’s faithful Word for the efficacy (Heb 4:2).”
Boston concludes his sermon with these five inferences:
“Inference 1. Prize your Bibles, and read them diligently in your families, and by yourselves, and look on that exercise as a means appointed of God for the good of your souls. ‘Search the Scriptures’ (Jn 5:39). Alas, the dust on many people’s Bibles will be a heavy witness against them at the great Day of Judgement, which should excite us all to peruse them carefully.
“Inference 2. Prize the preaching of the Word and attend it conscientiously. Remember that to neglect the Word and to desert it is not such a light thing as many think it is, since it is the spiritual means which the Lord uses in converting sinners and edifying saints. So it necessarily produces the most terrible consequences for those who despise it.
“Inference 3. Let not the one jostle out the other. God has joined reading and preaching; do not then put them asunder. Do not think that because you hear the preaching, you may neglect reading the Bible; nor to sit at home without necessity on the Lord’s day, thinking that you will do as well with your Bible as by attending the preaching of the Word. For as the preaching sends you to your Bible, so your Bible will send you to the preaching, if you would listen to it (1 Cor 1:21). And the Bible is read in vain, if it does not inspire you with a sincere love to the preaching of the Word.
“Inference 4. The Word is necessary, for saints as well as sinners. It is a false growth by which people grow beyond the need for either the preaching or the reading of the Word before they get to heaven. Indeed, all such growth and progress is an utter delusion.
“Inference 5. Look to the Lord Himself for the efficacy of the Word; and labour to believe the Word, so that it may profit your souls. For, without faith, the Word will be unprofitable to you; and without the influence of the Spirit, you will reap no benefit by it.”
Our first duty is to seek salvation, to obtain grace. To that end, we are to use the means, among others, that Boston sets before us in his sermon – the reading and preaching of Scripture. If we have obtained grace, our further duty is to grow in grace; again we are to use the means just mentioned. Let us remember, whether we seek grace or more grace, God is a ready giver.
1The quotations in this article are from this sermon, which appears in his Works, vol 2, Aberdeen, 1848, pp 421-426, and is headed, “How the Word Is Made Effectual to Salvation”. Some editing of these quotations has taken place.
2What he and other preachers of his time were in the habit of calling their “doctrine”.