Van Mastricht - What it is to receive Christ

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TheInquirer

Puritan Board Junior
In Van Mastricht's chapter on the nature of saving faith, I found his distinctions on what it means to receive Christ extremely insightful. I can't help but think of the benefit of this discussion for modern evangelicals who throw around the phrase "receive Christ" but don't really understand it or adapt it according to their own terms and desires rather than Christ's:

"Moreover, this reception of Christ consists in consent, namely when the will assents to Christ as he offers himself in the gospel, and does so by this law, that he be received as the one and only Mediator, in the way that a bride receives a bridegroom, that is, by assenting to him as he offers himself. For this reason, receiving, consenting, and desiring earnestly seem to be of equivalent force in the gospel (John 1:12; cf. Rev. 22:17; Matt. 23:37; 22:3). I say desiring earnestly, that is, (1) desiring absolutely, without any condition or restriction (Ps. 73:25-26; Matt. 19:16-17, 20-21); (2) desiring Christ himself, not only his benefits (John 1:12), just as God gives us first the Son, then those things that belong to the Son (Rom. 8:32); (3) desiring Christ entirely, not only as Priest or Redeemer, but also as King, as Lord, in the way he is given to us by God (1 Cor. 1:30). And (4) not only him entirely but also him exclusively (Ps. 73:25-26), that is, conjugally; (5) not only as a king but also as a servant -- not only his glory but also his misery (Luke 9:23). Finally, (6) desiring him on those terms and conditions by which he offers himself, that is, under the condition of the denial of one's very self, and so forth (Gal. 5:24; Luke 9:23)." (Van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology, Vol. 2, Reformation Heritage Books, p.9).
 
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