And to all this we may add, that he was a penman of scripture; and it does not appear that God conferred this honour upon any that apostatized from him; but on the other hand, they have this general character given of them by the apostle Peter, that they were all holy men of God, 2 Pet. i. 21. which we must conclude Solomon to have been, till we have greater evidence to the contrary than they can produce who deny it.
3. There are others mentioned in the objection, to wit, Hymeneus and Alexander, whose apostacy we have no ground to doubt of; but we cannot allow that they fell from, or lost the saving grace of faith. It is one thing to fall from the profession of faith, and another thing to lose the grace of faith; therefore, the only thing to be proved in answer to this branch of the objection, is, that these persons, who are described as apostates, never had the truth of grace; or that they only fell from that visible profession which they made thereof; whereby they were reckoned to be, what in reality they were not, namely, true believers. Now that this may appear, let it be considered,
That the apostle speaks of them as having departed from the faith, viz. the doctrines of the gospel; and that was attended with blasphemy, for which they were delivered unto Satan, which is a phrase used by the apostle here and elsewhere, for persons being cut off from the communion of the church; upon which occasion he advises Timothy to hold faith and a good conscience, which some having put away, concerning faith, have made shipwreck, as these have done.
Now the main force of the objection seems to lie in this, that they who have made shipwreck of faith, were once true believers; therefore, such may apostatize, and so fall short of salvation.
To which it may be replied, that by faith here, is meant the doctrines of the gospel, which are often styled faith: thus it is said, that the apostle preached the faith which once he destroyed, Gal. i. 23. and elsewhere, before faith came; that is, before the gospel-dispensation began, and those doctrines were preached that were to be published therein to the world, we were kept under the law, chap. iii. 23. And again, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith, ver. 2. that is, by hearing those doctrines that are contained in the gospel. Therefore, that which he chargeth these apostates with, is making shipwreck of faith, considered objectively: they once, indeed, held the truth, but it was in unrighteousness; they had right notions of the gospel, which they afterwards lost: now the apostle advises Timothy not only to hold faith, that is, to retain the doctrines of the gospel, as one who had right sentiments of divine truths, but to hold it with a good conscience; for I take that expression, hold faith and a good conscience, to contain an hendyadis; and so it is the same as though he should say, Be not content with an assent to the truths of the gospel, but labour after a conscience void of offence towards God, that thou mayst have the testimony thereof, that thy knowledge of divine truth is practical and experimental, and then thou art out of danger of making shipwreck of faith, as these have done, who held it without a good conscience. It is not said they made shipwreck of a good conscience; for that they never have had; but concerning faith, which they once professed, they made shipwreck.
The same thing may be said concerning Judas; he apostatized from the faith, which he once made a very great profession of, being not only one of Christ’s disciples, but sent forth with the rest of them, to preach the gospel, and work miracles; yet it is evident, that he had not the saving grace of faith. For our Saviour, who knew the hearts of all men, was not deceived in him (though others were) inasmuch as it is said, He knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him, John vi. 64. However, the principal force of the objection lies in this, that Judas must needs have been a believer, because he was given to Christ; and our Saviour says, that those who were given him were kept by him, and none of them was lost but the son of perdition, chap. xvii. 12. His being styled the son of perdition, argues him an apostate; and his being given to Christ denotes that he was once a true believer; therefore he fell totally and finally. In answer to which,
(1.) Some conclude, that they who are said to be given to Christ, are such as were appointed, by the providence of God, to be his servants in the work of the ministry. Now it is said concerning them, that they were given to Christ, to be employed by him in this service; and that all of them were kept faithful, except the son of perdition. If this be the sense of their being given to him, it does not necessarily infer their being made partakers of special grace: it is one thing to be given to Christ, to be employed in some peculiar acts of service, in which his glory is concerned; and another thing to be given to him, as being chosen and called by him, to partake of special communion with him: if Judas had been given to him in this latter sense, he would not have been a son of perdition, but would have been kept by him, as the other disciples were; but inasmuch as he was only given to Christ, that he might serve the design of his providence, in the work of the ministry, he might be lost, or appear to be a son of perdition, and yet not fall from the truth of grace.
(2.) If, by being given to Christ, we understand a being given to him, as objects of his special love, we must suppose, that all who were thus given to him, were kept by him; in which sense Judas, who is called the son of perdition, and was not kept by him, was not given to him: accordingly the particle but is not exceptive, but adversative; and it is as though he should say, All that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost; but the son of perdition is lost, I have not preserved him; for he was not the object of my special care and love; he was not given me to save, therefore he is lost. Now it is certain, that the particle but is used in this sense in many other scriptures, particularly that wherein it is said, There shall in no wise enter into it, that is, the heavenly Jerusalem, any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life, Rev. xxi. 27. q. d. ungodly men shall not enter in; but they that are written in the lamb’s book of life shall[[93]]. Thus much concerning this objection, taken from particular persons, who are supposed to have fallen from grace.
Obj. 2. The next objection is taken from what the apostle Paul says concerning the church of the Jews, whom he describes as apostatized from God; and it is evident, that they are, to this day, given up to judicial blindness, and not in the least disposed to repent of that crime for which they were cast off by him; concerning these he says, that they once were holy; If the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches, Rom. xi. 16. and afterwards he speaks of their casting away, and some of the branches being broken off, because of unbelief, ver. 15, 17, 19, 20. Now if the whole church apostatized, we must conclude at least, that some of them were true believers, and therefore true believers may fall from the grace of God.
Answ. That the church of the Jews apostatized, and were cut off for their unbelief, is sufficiently evident: but we must distinguish between the apostacy of a professing people, such as the church of the Jews were, who first rejected God, and then were cast off by him, and the apostacy of those who were truly religious among them; the apostle himself gives us ground for this distinction, when he says, they are not all Israel which are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, chap. ix. 6, 7. And elsewhere he distinguishes between one who is a Jew, as being partaker of the external privileges of the covenant, which that church was under, and a person’s being a Jew, as partaking of the saving blessings thereof; as he says, He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God, Rom. ii. 28, 29. A church may lose its external privileges, and cease to have the honourable character given it; the greatest part of them may be blinded, when, at the same time the election, that is, all among them who were chosen to eternal life, obtained it, as the apostle observes, chap. xi. 7. and thereby intimates, that some who were members of that church were faithful; those were preserved from the common apostacy, being converted to the Christian faith. Their privileges, as members of a church, were lost, but they still retained their spiritual and inseparable union with Christ, which they had as believers, and not as the result of their being the natural seed of Abraham, they were made partakers of the blessings that accompany salvation; and therefore were not separated from the love of God in Christ, whilst formal professors and hypocrites, who were Abraham’s natural seed, but not his spiritual, were cast off by Christ.