It stands like the cerulean arch we see,
Majestic in its own simplicity.
Inscribed above the portal from afar,
Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,
Legible only by the light they give,
Stand the soul-quickening words—‘Believe and Live.’ ”
Paul in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians tells us how they entered among the elect. His words are: “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thes. ii. 13.) They were thus among the elect, and we are told how it came about. The Spirit had brought the Gospel message to Thessalonica by his accredited agent, the apostle Paul. In that message the people were told of God’s infinite love—that He loved them, and that the Saviour had died for their sins. He testified to Jesus as mighty to save, to save any—to save all—to save to the very uttermost. He convinced them that they stood in need of a Saviour, and that Christ was the very Saviour they required. These were two great phases of the Spirit’s work—viz., to produce conviction in the mind of the sinner, and to point out Jesus as the Lamb of God which hath taken away the sin of the world. The Thessalonians, under His gracious testimony, believed the record, or, as it is said, “the truth,” and became the chosen of God—His elected ones.
That this is true may be seen from the way in which sinners enter into God’s adopted family. It will be admitted that all who are in God’s adopted family are in a saved condition—in the same state, in short, as are the elected ones. But how do men enter into this adopted family? It is stated in John i. 12, “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” To believe on His name is just to depend upon Him alone for salvation. The apostle Paul in writing to the Galatians says, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. iii. 26.) Each one had personally to believe in Christ, or to say as Paul said, He “loved me, and gave himself for me” ([Gal. ii. 20].)
It may be said that this makes the way too easy, too simple. It is simple to us indeed, but it cost the Divine Father the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son; it cost the Divine Son His sore agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His offering up of himself upon the cross. But the simplicity of the way of salvation is implied in such passages as, “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth;” and, “Hear and your soul shall live.” The reason why it is easy is this,—the meritorious work of salvation, the work upon the ground of which we get into heaven, is not our feelings, nor our own works, but the work, the finished work of Christ.
The system advocated in this treatise may be objected to on the ground that it makes man the arbiter of his own destiny. There is no doubt that it really does so. But is this a good ground for rejecting it? We think not. Let it be remembered that all through life man has to exercise the power of election—choice. He has to do so in regard to a profession or trade, in regard to securities, and in respect of marriage, and it would only be in harmony with what he is constantly doing, were he called upon to “choose,” or decide, upon matters affecting his spiritual condition. Is he not, moreover, the maker of his own character? This is his most precious heritage, more valuable than thousands of gold and silver. But how is it made? By single volitions on the side of the right, the true, and the good. And is not the life that is to come a continuance of the life that now is? And if we exercise choice in the making of our characters, this is the same as being the arbiters of our destination in eternity. And what is thus plain to the intelligence is confirmed by the Scriptures. Their language is, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve;” “Wilt thou not from this day say unto me, My father?” They thus clearly make the matter to turn on the “will.”