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Ridgely's Commentary on the Larger Catechism, volume 1 is perhaps helpful here as pertains to WLC 32.
Beginning on page 454..
He concludes the discussion on page 458, but the above should give a sense of the distinctions made.
Beginning on page 454..
It is farther said, in this Answer, that the grace of God is manifested in the second covenant, in his ' requiring faith as the condition to interest' believers in Christ. This expression may be allowed, or excepted against, according to the method taken to explain it. We shall endeavour to show what it means ; and shall point out in what sense we deny the covenant of grace to be conditional. We shall next inquire, whether there be not another sense, agreeable to the divine perfections, in which these words may be understood as well as other expressions of a similar nature, in which faith is styled a condition, and which are frequently used by divines.
Now a person's having an interest in Christ, implies his having a right to claim him, as his Mediator, Surety, Advocate, and Saviour, and with him all those spiritual blessings which are purchased and applied by him to those whom he has redeemed ; so that such an one may say, on good grounds,' Christ is mine, together with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in him.'
Here let it be considered, that it is one thing to say, that Christ is the Redeemer and Saviour of man, or, in particular, of his elect, who are given to him that he may save them ; and another thing for a person to say. He is my Redeemer or Saviour. The former is a truth founded in scripture-revelation. Accordingly every one may say, as Moses expresses it, ' Yea, he loved the people,' or his peculiar chosen people ; or, as the apostle says, 'Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it'. But he who has an interest in Christ, has a right to claim him as his Saviour, and therefore may say, with the apostle, ' He loved me, and gave himself for me.' This I rather choose to express, by a believer's having a right to claim him as his Saviour, than by his being actually enabled so to do; inasmuch as many have an interest in Christ, who are destitute of that assurance which would give them a comfortable sense of it in their own souls.
We are now to consider how faith is said to be required, as the condition to interest us in Christ ; or how far this expression may be qualified and explained, without asserting any thing derogatory to the glory of God or the grace of the covenant. The word 'condition,' though often used when we speak of contracts between man and man, as an essential ingredient in them, is not so plainly contained in those explanations of the covenant of grace which we have in scripture; and, whenever we use it with a particular application to this, we must understand it in such a sense as is agreeable to the divine perfections.
Now, that we may compare these two senses of the word 'condition,' in order to our determining how far, in explaining this doctrine, it may be used or laid aside, let us consider that in human covenants, in which things are promised on certain conditions, these conditions are supposed to be possible to be performed; otherwise the promise depending on the performance of them is rendered void, and contains no other than a virtual denial to make it good. Thus the king of Israel did not at first, understand the message sent him by the king of Syria requiring of him to heal Naaman o f his leprosy, as a condition of peace and friendship between them and the inference he makes from it was, that he had a design to seek a quarrel against him. And his reasoning would have been just, had it been intended in this sense ; since the condition was not in his own power. Moreover, if a master should tell his servant, that he would give him a reward, in case he would perform the work of ten days in one, the servant would conclude nothing else from it but that he was resolved not to give him any thing.
Now, to apply this to our present purpose, we must consider whether faith, when it is a condition of the covenant of grace, be in our own power or not. There are some external acts of it, indeed which are so ; but these are too low to be deemed conditions of salvation, or of the blessings of the covenant of grace. As for those acts which are supernatural or the effects of the exceeding greatness of the power of God, though they are inseparably connected with salvation, yet they are not in such a manner in our power that we may conclude them to be proposed as conditions, in the same sense as those things are said to be, which are properly conditions. In this respect, the covenant of grace, as to the conditionality of it, differs from the covenant of innocency. In the latter covenant, perfect obedience, which was the condition of it, was so far in man's power, that he could have performed it without the superadded assistance of divine grace. But when, on the other hand, perfect obedience is considered as a condition of fallen man's 'entering into life,' in which sense our Saviour's reply to the young man's question is understood by many, a plain intimation is made that eternal life is not to be obtained in this way, inasmuch as the condition is impossible.
Again, when conditions are insisted on in human covenants, it is generally supposed that, though it be possible for the person who enjoins them to assist and enable him who is under this obligation to perform them, yet he will not give him that assistance; for, if he does, the contract can hardly be reckoned conditional but absolute. Thus, if a creditor should tell an insolvent debtor, that he will discharge him, provided he pay the debt, and, at the same time, gives him to understand that he will supply him with a sum of money which shall enable him to pay it , the transaction is altogether the same as if he had discharged him without anv conditional demand of payment. This I cannot but mention, because there are some persons, who speak of faith as a condition of the covenant of grace and at the same time, take it for granted, that it is not in our own power to perform it and who, because God has promised that he will work it in us, conclude it to be conditional,—though such a promise renders the covenant absolute, or, at least, not conditional in the same sense in which human covenants are ; and they infer only, what we do not deny, that there is a necessary connection between that grace which God will enable us to perform, and salvation which he has promised in the covenant.
Further , when any thing is promised to another on condition that he do what is enjoined on him, it is generally supposed to be a dubious and uncertain matter whether this condition shall be fulfilled, and the premise take place; or, as I may express it, every condition contains, not a necessary, but an uncertain connection between the promised advantage and the duty enjoined. Th e reason of this is, that all human covenants depend on the power and will of men, who are under conditional engagements to perform what is demanded in them; that, as these are supposed to be mutable and defective, as far as they are so, the performance of the condition may be reckoned dubious; and that he who made the promise is liable to the same uncertainty, whether he shall make it good or not. This view of the matter will hardly be denied by those who defend the other side of the question ; who, in explaining tlie nature of human liberty, generally suppose that «very one who acts freely, might do the contrary. They must hence conclude that, if the performing of the conditions of a covenant be the result of man's freewill, it is possible for him not to perform them; and that, therefore, it must be a matter of uncertainty, whether a person who promises a reward on the performance of these conditions will confer it or not. But, however this may be applied to human covenants, we are not to suppose that faith or any other grace, is in this respect, a condition of the covenant of grace ; as though God's conferring the blessings promised in it were dependent on the will of man, as determining itself to the exercise of these grapes. In this respect, we cannot but deny that the covenant of grace is conditional.
Now a person's having an interest in Christ, implies his having a right to claim him, as his Mediator, Surety, Advocate, and Saviour, and with him all those spiritual blessings which are purchased and applied by him to those whom he has redeemed ; so that such an one may say, on good grounds,' Christ is mine, together with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in him.'
Here let it be considered, that it is one thing to say, that Christ is the Redeemer and Saviour of man, or, in particular, of his elect, who are given to him that he may save them ; and another thing for a person to say. He is my Redeemer or Saviour. The former is a truth founded in scripture-revelation. Accordingly every one may say, as Moses expresses it, ' Yea, he loved the people,' or his peculiar chosen people ; or, as the apostle says, 'Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it'. But he who has an interest in Christ, has a right to claim him as his Saviour, and therefore may say, with the apostle, ' He loved me, and gave himself for me.' This I rather choose to express, by a believer's having a right to claim him as his Saviour, than by his being actually enabled so to do; inasmuch as many have an interest in Christ, who are destitute of that assurance which would give them a comfortable sense of it in their own souls.
We are now to consider how faith is said to be required, as the condition to interest us in Christ ; or how far this expression may be qualified and explained, without asserting any thing derogatory to the glory of God or the grace of the covenant. The word 'condition,' though often used when we speak of contracts between man and man, as an essential ingredient in them, is not so plainly contained in those explanations of the covenant of grace which we have in scripture; and, whenever we use it with a particular application to this, we must understand it in such a sense as is agreeable to the divine perfections.
Now, that we may compare these two senses of the word 'condition,' in order to our determining how far, in explaining this doctrine, it may be used or laid aside, let us consider that in human covenants, in which things are promised on certain conditions, these conditions are supposed to be possible to be performed; otherwise the promise depending on the performance of them is rendered void, and contains no other than a virtual denial to make it good. Thus the king of Israel did not at first, understand the message sent him by the king of Syria requiring of him to heal Naaman o f his leprosy, as a condition of peace and friendship between them and the inference he makes from it was, that he had a design to seek a quarrel against him. And his reasoning would have been just, had it been intended in this sense ; since the condition was not in his own power. Moreover, if a master should tell his servant, that he would give him a reward, in case he would perform the work of ten days in one, the servant would conclude nothing else from it but that he was resolved not to give him any thing.
Now, to apply this to our present purpose, we must consider whether faith, when it is a condition of the covenant of grace, be in our own power or not. There are some external acts of it, indeed which are so ; but these are too low to be deemed conditions of salvation, or of the blessings of the covenant of grace. As for those acts which are supernatural or the effects of the exceeding greatness of the power of God, though they are inseparably connected with salvation, yet they are not in such a manner in our power that we may conclude them to be proposed as conditions, in the same sense as those things are said to be, which are properly conditions. In this respect, the covenant of grace, as to the conditionality of it, differs from the covenant of innocency. In the latter covenant, perfect obedience, which was the condition of it, was so far in man's power, that he could have performed it without the superadded assistance of divine grace. But when, on the other hand, perfect obedience is considered as a condition of fallen man's 'entering into life,' in which sense our Saviour's reply to the young man's question is understood by many, a plain intimation is made that eternal life is not to be obtained in this way, inasmuch as the condition is impossible.
Again, when conditions are insisted on in human covenants, it is generally supposed that, though it be possible for the person who enjoins them to assist and enable him who is under this obligation to perform them, yet he will not give him that assistance; for, if he does, the contract can hardly be reckoned conditional but absolute. Thus, if a creditor should tell an insolvent debtor, that he will discharge him, provided he pay the debt, and, at the same time, gives him to understand that he will supply him with a sum of money which shall enable him to pay it , the transaction is altogether the same as if he had discharged him without anv conditional demand of payment. This I cannot but mention, because there are some persons, who speak of faith as a condition of the covenant of grace and at the same time, take it for granted, that it is not in our own power to perform it and who, because God has promised that he will work it in us, conclude it to be conditional,—though such a promise renders the covenant absolute, or, at least, not conditional in the same sense in which human covenants are ; and they infer only, what we do not deny, that there is a necessary connection between that grace which God will enable us to perform, and salvation which he has promised in the covenant.
Further , when any thing is promised to another on condition that he do what is enjoined on him, it is generally supposed to be a dubious and uncertain matter whether this condition shall be fulfilled, and the premise take place; or, as I may express it, every condition contains, not a necessary, but an uncertain connection between the promised advantage and the duty enjoined. Th e reason of this is, that all human covenants depend on the power and will of men, who are under conditional engagements to perform what is demanded in them; that, as these are supposed to be mutable and defective, as far as they are so, the performance of the condition may be reckoned dubious; and that he who made the promise is liable to the same uncertainty, whether he shall make it good or not. This view of the matter will hardly be denied by those who defend the other side of the question ; who, in explaining tlie nature of human liberty, generally suppose that «very one who acts freely, might do the contrary. They must hence conclude that, if the performing of the conditions of a covenant be the result of man's freewill, it is possible for him not to perform them; and that, therefore, it must be a matter of uncertainty, whether a person who promises a reward on the performance of these conditions will confer it or not. But, however this may be applied to human covenants, we are not to suppose that faith or any other grace, is in this respect, a condition of the covenant of grace ; as though God's conferring the blessings promised in it were dependent on the will of man, as determining itself to the exercise of these grapes. In this respect, we cannot but deny that the covenant of grace is conditional.
He concludes the discussion on page 458, but the above should give a sense of the distinctions made.
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