Believers the only subject of the work of sanctification — How men come to believe, if believers alone receive the Spirit of sanctification — The principal ends for which the Spirit is promised, with their order in their accomplishment — Rules to be observed in praying for the Spirit of God, and his operations therein — That believers only are sanctified or holy proved and confirmed — Mistakes about holiness, both notional and practical, discovered — The proper subject of holiness in believers.
That which we are next to inquire into is, the personal subject of this work of sanctification, or who, and of what sort, those persons are that are made holy. Now, these are all and only believers. All who unfeignedly believe in God through Jesus Christ are sanctified, and no others. Unto them is evangelical holiness confined. It is for them and them only that our Saviour prays for this mercy, grace, or privilege: John xvii. 17, “Sanctify them by thy truth.” And concerning them he affirms, “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth,” verse 19. And whereas, in the verses foregoing, he had immediate respect unto his apostles and present disciples, that we may know that neither his prayer nor his grace is confined or limited unto them, he adds, “Neither pray I for these alone,” — that is, in this manner, and for these ends, — “but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,” verse 20. It was, therefore, the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ that all believers should be sanctified; and so also was it his promise: chap. vii. 38, 39, “He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.” And it is with respect principally unto this work of sanctification that he is compared unto flowing and living water, as hath been declared before. It is for believers, the “church that is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ,” — that is, by faith, — 1 Thess. i. 1, that our apostle prays that “the God of peace would sanctify them throughout,” chap. v. 23.
But before we proceed to a farther confirmation of this assertion, an objection of some importance is to be removed out of our way: for on this supposition, that the Spirit of sanctification is given only unto believers, it may be inquired how men come so to be; for if we have not the Spirit until after we do believe, then is faith itself of ourselves. And this is that which some plead for, — namely, “That the gift of the Holy Ghost, unto all ends and purposes for which he is promised, is consequential unto faith, with the profession and obedience thereof, being, as it were, its reward.” See Crell. de Spir. Sanc., cap. 5. To this purpose it is pleaded, “That the apostle Peter encourageth men unto faith and repentance with the promise that thereon they should ‘receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,’ Acts ii. 38; and so is that also of our Saviour, John xiv. 17, that ‘the world,’ — that is, unbelievers, — ‘cannot receive the Spirit of truth:’ so that our faith and obedience are required as a necessary qualification unto the receiving of the Holy Ghost; and if they are so absolutely, then are they of ourselves, and not wrought in us by the grace of God;” — which is express Pelagianism.
Ans. I could dwell long on this inquiry concerning the especial subject of the Holy Spirit, seeing the right understanding of many places of Scripture doth depend thereon; but because I have much work yet before me, I will reduce what I have to offer on this head into as narrow a compass as possibly I may. In answer, therefore, to this objection, I say, —
1. That the Holy Spirit is said to be promised and received with respect unto the ends which he is promised for, and the effects which he worketh when he is received; for although he be himself but one, “the one and the self-same Spirit,” and he himself is promised, given forth, and received, as we have declared, yet he hath many and diverse operations. And as his operations are divers, or [of] several sorts and kinds, so our receiving of him, as to the manner of it, is divers also, and suited unto the ends of his communications unto us. Thus, in some sense he is promised unto and received by believers; in another he is promised and received to make men so, or to make them believe. In the first way there may be some activity of faith in a way of duty, whereas in the latter we are passive, and receive him only in a way of grace.
2. The chief and principal ends for which the Holy Spirit is promised and received may be reduced to these four heads:— (1.) Regeneration; (2.) Sanctification; (3.) Consolation; (4.) Edification. There are, indeed, very many distinct operations and distributions of the Spirit, as I have in part already discovered, and shall yet farther go over them in particular instances; but they may be reduced unto these general heads, or at least they will suffice to exemplify the different manner and ends of the receiving of the Spirit. And this is the plain order and method of these things, as the Scripture both plainly and plentifully testifies:— (1.) He is promised and received as to the work of regeneration unto the elect; (2.) As to the work of sanctification unto the regenerate; (3.) As to the work of consolation unto the sanctified; and, (4.) As unto gifts for edification unto professors, according to his sovereign will and pleasure.