Cowley's Talks on Doctrine

by Matthias F. Cowley

Let us now examine a passage of Scripture which is frequently quoted to substantiate the erroneous doctrine that God is pleased to save men in their sins, or that death-bed repentance is all-sufficient. The passage is found in Luke xxiii:42, 43, and reads thus: "And he (the penitent malefactor) said unto Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.' And Jesus said unto him, 'Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.'" From this statement thousands in the Christian world have taken it for granted that the thief on the cross received full and complete salvation. With this unwarranted perversion of a sacred passage, the minister has taught the murderer in the felon's cell to confess Christ and all would be well with him; and as the hangman drew the bolt and let the culprit swing into eternity, the minister has stood close by and said, "The Lord Jesus receive thy soul." On the other hand, the poor victim of the assassin has been cut off without time to confess Christ, and the same doctrine which wafts the murderer to the courts of glory consigns the victim to the flames of hell. Is it possible that Christ ever taught such a heinous doctrine? A doctrine so inconsistent, so revolting to reason, so repugnant to justice! We answer emphatically "No," nor did He utter a syllable from which such an inference can be drawn or establish the idea that the malefactor went to heaven. The question is, then, where did he go? If not to heaven, then the paradise named and heaven are two different places. Let the Scriptures answer for themselves. Three days after the crucifixion the Savior came forth a resurrected being, and as Mary met Him at the tomb, He said to her, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father." Thus we have from His own lips, in which there was never guile, that He had not ascended to the Father; and if He had not, neither had the thief. If no further light than this could be found in the sacred volume, this would be sufficient to show that the malefactor did not go to heaven, for where Jesus went the thief went, for that was the promise. Where, then, did the Lord go? Turn to I Peter iii 18-21, and the question is answered: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah."

This makes it plain that the paradise referred to was the prison house, to which place Jesus went and opened up a dispensation of the Gospel to the dead. The next chapter, 6th verse, says: "For for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." The thief therefore went to a place of confinement to remain until the justice of God should be satisfied and mercy step in and claim her own. The difference between the penitent malefactor, who appears to have repented before death, and the antediluvians was that the former immediately went to a place where Christ would present to him the plan of life, that day, while the latter had waited hundreds of years for that privilege. This shows that repentance brings its blessings even upon the deathbed; but to say that, after a life of sin, the malefactor went straight to the abode of the Father and remained there in glory, is in conflict with the teachings of Christ and Peter. The statements of Peter relative to the mission of Christ to the spirits in prison throws light upon the saying of the Savior in St. John v:25, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."

Thus we see the privileges of the penitent malefactor. He went to the prison house and heard the Gospel, but how long he remained there before receiving all the saving benefits of the Gospel, we are not told. One thing is certain-he did not come back with the Messiah, nor have we ever heard of him sitting down with Christ on the right hand of the Father. The Scripture being true which says, "The murderer hath not eternal life abiding in him," it is safe to say that the prayers of all the ministers on earth cannot carry the souls of the assassin to the presence and glory of God. As there are different degrees of glory, so are there various grades of crimes to which are attached the different degrees of punishment, all of which clearly maintain the justice and mercy of God.

In Galatians v:19-21, we read as follows: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

In conclusion, as a true definition of repentance, let us quote the words of Paul to the Ephesians, iv: 25, 30: "Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor. * * * Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole, steal no more. * * * Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. * * *" This is the only repentance taught in Holy Writ, and simply means to forsake all sin and accomplish a reformation of life.

BAPTISM.

We come now to considering the necessity of the ordinance of baptism. When men have repented of their sins it is natural for them to desire a forgiveness of those sins. How shall this boon be obtained? That repentance alone does not blot out the sins of the past may be illustrated in part by a comparison between the temporal and the spiritual. A man acquires a debt by purchasing goods on credit, and finding it a ruinous policy, resolves, for the future, to pay as he goes. This changes his course and constitutes in his business life a reformation, but it does not pay the debt already incurred. He must liquidate the obligation, or be forgiven the debt by the creditor. Some may say that this is the difference between the earthly transaction of men and the dealings of God with His children. God forgives, it is true, but every blessing is predicated upon a condition, and the condition is laid down by the Lord; hence it is written in Mark i:4: "John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." From this scripture it is evident that baptism is to follow repentance, and that at least one object of baptism is the remission of sins.

Let us now examine some statements of Holy Writ which point out clearly the necessity of this ordinance. "Then cometh Jesus from Gallilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade Him, saying, 'I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus, answering: said unto him, 'Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he suffered Him." (Matt. iii:13-15.) Every thoughtful, God-fearing person must be impressed with the feeling that if it was essential for the "Only Begotten of the Father," "who is full of grace and truth," to be baptized, none can be exempt who have arrived at the years of accountability. It appears also from the language used in the quotation that without being baptized he could not fulfill "all righteousness." After teaching His disciples for three years, being crucified and risen from the dead, He gave to them this commission: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi:15, 16. ) Also in Matthew xxviii:19: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"; and in Luke xxiv:45-47: "Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." In the latter quotation the word baptism is not used, but the same writer says in Luke iii:3, regarding the mission of John: "And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins," thus enunciating the doctrine that remission of sins is obtained through baptism.

The same writer gives us the following (Luke vii:29, 30): "And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of Him." From this it is manifested that by receiving baptism they honored and obeyed God, and that the rejection of this simple yet divine institution amounted to rejecting the counsel of God, with all the terrible consequences attendant upon such disobedience.