# James Durham on holiness and how the Law and Gospel agree and differ



## NaphtaliPress (Mar 19, 2012)

I was editing this today and thought I would share. 
From_ The Unsearchable Riches of Christ and of grace and glory in and thorough him. Diligently searched into, clearly unfolded, and comfortably held forth, in fourteen rich gospel sermons preached on several texts at communions in Glasgow. _1685; Naphtali Press: forthcoming in Collected Sermons of James Durham.
4. A Sermon Preached After the Communion on Philippians 1:27. _Only let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Christ__._
…
I. First, the gospel calls for holiness in a six-fold extent, a failing or defect in any of which makes a conversation ["whole of a man’s carriage and walk towards and before God and men"], in so far, to be unbecoming to the gospel:

1. It calls for holiness in respect of all sorts of duties. _Be ye holy _(says Peter, 1 Peter 1:15)_ in all manner of conversation, as God is holy_: in prosperity and adversity; in religious, in moral, and in natural actions: _for it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy_ [v. 16].

2. It is extended universally to all particular and individual duties and actions of all those sorts; it reaches all manner of conversation. The divinely inspired Scriptures instruct the man of God how he may be made perfect in every good work, as it is [in] 2 Timothy 3[:17]. And a failing in thought, word, or deed, is unbecoming the gospel.

3. It is extended in respect of the subject, _viz._, the whole man, and presses that he be sanctified throughout. So [in] 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the apostle prays, _The God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God, your whole spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless_. And 2 Corinthians 7:1 puts to _cleanse from all filth of the flesh and spirit_. It requires that the _judgment_ be kept sound, and that no error or untruth be admitted by it; that the _mind_ be sober and free from any sinful distemper; that the _affections_ be sanctifiedly regular, and that they debord not;[SUP][SUP][1][/SUP][/SUP] that the _will_ be straight, and brought up to the straight rule of obedience; that the _conscience_ be kept tender, that it be neither darkened nor impure; and that the _members of the body be yielded_ as instruments unto righteousness [cf. Romans 6:13].

4. It is extended to holiness in respect of all capacities, callings, stations, and relationships: of husbands and wives, of masters and servants, of parents and children, as the Apostle Paul heartily and frequently does in his epistles—namely, Colossians 3 and 4, Ephesians 5 and 6, and Titus 2[:5, 10, 12]—where he presses it upon servants by this argument: _that the doctrine of God may be adorned_; and on wives by this: _that the doctrine of God may not be blasphemed_; and on all, thus: _the grace of God hath appeared in the gospel_ (for that very end).

5. It is extended in respect of all times and places; we are commanded _always to abound in the work of the Lord _(1 Cor. 15:58); in the whole tract of our conversation, at home and abroad, in secret and in public, in prosperity and adversity.

6. It is extended to and requires perfect holiness, holiness at the highest pitch. So Matthew 5:[48]: _Be ye perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect;_ and 1 Peter 1:15: _Be ye holy in all manner of conversation, as God that calleth you is holy—_to be at exact holiness, even to have it perfect in respect of degree, in our design, desire, and endeavor; _to be purifying ourselves, even as He is pure_ (as it is, 1 John 3:3), having Him for our pattern.

If any should here object, and say, ‘To look on the gospel thus, as carving out a Christian’s duty and walk so very exactly, in this extent and at this pitch, makes it appear to be very strict, and to differ little or nothing from the law; for what more does that call for? So that this doctrine seems to be legal.’ I answer, this objection seems to imply a great mistake; for the difference between the law and the gospel is not so much, if at all, in this: that the law requires more than the gospel; but that it requires what it calls for on another certification. The law and the gospel agree in these _three_: 1. The gospel requires holiness in as large an extent as the law; so that whatever is a sin against the law is also a sin against the gospel; for Christ _came not to abolish but to fulfill the law _[Matt. 5:17].

2. It requires holiness at the same pitch or in the same degree; for the gospel commands us _to be holy as God is holy, and to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect _[1 Peter 1:15; Matt. 5:48]. It dispenses with no sin, nor with any degree of any sin, nor with the least _omission_ of any duty, more than does the law.

3. The authority and obligation that lies on us and binds us to holiness is no less in the gospel than it is in the law; yea, we may say that the obligation is in some respects greater.

But they differ in these _three_: 1. That the gospel takes in the penitent though he has not been perfect and exact, and gives him pardon through Christ, which the law does not.

2. The gospel calls for duty in the strength of Christ, and furnishes strength for the duty. But the law now furnishes no strength, but only supposes it. It only gives out the word of command, requiring of men that they walk in the strength which they had once in Adam. So that, though the authority and obligation be the same, yet the manner and certification is not the same. If there be any breach or failing, the law says, _Thou shalt certainly die _[Gen. 2:17]. But the gospel (as I said) admits of repentance and fleeing to Jesus Christ, _who took on Him the curse of the law _[cf. Gal. 3:13].

3. The law accepts no duty if it be not exactly perfect in the degree; but the gospel accepts duty, though imperfect, if there be sincerity; it _accepts_, on Christ’s account, _a man according to that which he has, if there is a willing mind _[1 Cor. 8:12]. So then, when you are called to walk _as becomes the gospel_, you would know that you are not to dispense with yourselves, in the least, with any duty that the law calls for; though the gospel indeed more sweetly calls for it, its _exactors and officers being peace and righteousness _[Isa. 60:17]. It is the same holiness in the matter, extent, and degree, which the gospel calls for with [as] that of the law, though it much differs as to the manner of calling for it.
​[SUP][SUP][1][/SUP][/SUP] [_Debord _not, that is, do not overflow their proper boundaries. “To _Debord, deboard, v.n._ To depart; to go beyond proper bounds; to go to excess” (Jamieson). ]​


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## MW (Mar 20, 2012)

> The gospel requires holiness in as large an extent as the law; so that whatever is a sin against the law is also a sin against the gospel; for Christ came not to abolish but to fulfill the law [Matt. 5:17].



Chris, I am look forward to seeing these back in print as the Lord enables. Durham had a wonderful way of expressing so much in a short space.


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