Continue to Read God's Word in Simplicity

Salvation Has Become Complicated: Chapter 8

Peniel: A Pivotal Event?

As proof for the notion that justification marks a new milestone in the life of the believer, the experience of Jacob at Peniel is used as an example. After wrestling with the Man of God, Ja- cob said, "l have seen God face to face, and my life [in the Dutch Bible: soul] is preserved" (Gen. 32:30). The preservation of his soul is then placed within the framework of Jacob having experienced the benefit of conscious justification in his conscience.

One would think that such a pivotal event would have been given special attention in the marginal notes of the Dutch Bible (Statenvertaling). But, this is not at all the case. We find something else in the marginal notes. Jacob anticipated a great difficulty, for he had to face Esau. The Lord wants to assure Jacob of a favorable outcome, but also injures Jacob physically to cause him to feel his own weakness. The change of name from Jacob to Israel would always serve to remind him of this. "I have seen God face to face," does indeed mean that God did reveal Himself to Jacob more clearly than ever before, but it does not fit in the milestone pattern—that is, the pattern of a conscious court-of-conscience experience.

The marginal notes explain the phrase "and my life is preserved" as follows: "A Jew knew that he had to die when he saw God. The people said to Moses, 'Let not God speak with us, lest we die.' Gideon also said, ‘Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face. And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die"' (Judges 6:22-23).

The Old Reformed Fathers Were Unacquainted With This

The same situation occurs with the announcement of the birth of Samson by the Angel of the LORD. Manoah says at that occasion, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God," upon which his wife puts him at ease by making the observation that if they were to die, the Lord would not have accepted the sacrifice (Judges 13:22-23). Now this same amazement was present in Jacob's heart. God had revealed Himself in a very special manner, and his life (his soul) had been preserved. This is what the authors of the marginal notes observed here, which surely is what is sometimes read into it today. According to some, Jacob had seen an open door of deliverance at Bethel but did not receive assurance of his forgiveness until he came to Peniel. Supposedly, it was not until he had wrestled with God that he came to an end with his own works, surrendered fully, and lost all his self-righteousness. Supposedly, too, it was then that his spiritual state was established before God. The fact that from now on he would have a different status before God would then have been confirmed by a new name.

You will now understand that it is my opinion that there is no basis for all this. Without denying that this view contains some interesting thoughts, it is and remains eisegesis (adding to the text what is not there). The old Reformed fathers as well as the authors of the marginal notes were unacquainted with such an interpretation.

On the other hand, it may be well to state at this point that we need not go to the other extreme as if one could never make use of the Peniel analogy. I can readily imagine that the experience of Jacob would come to mind when a minister preaches about a child of God in distress—or about an awakened sinner who is in darkness, and for whom light dawns for the first time. He will then obviously be able to say in a figurative sense, “And as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him." This would then be an appropriate representation of what transpires in the soul. Does this mean, however, that we must make this experience part of the framework of experiential milestones? Certainly not.

Adding to the Text Rather Than Drawing From the Text

In Isaiah 38 a description of Hezekiah's serious illness is given. After his recovery, Hezekiah expresses his experience in song. His prayer, "O LORD, undertake for me" (Dutch: be a surety unto me) had been fulfilled. Ministers who teach milestones in the life of grace explain this text as referring to a special benefit. For them it is one of the key texts of the Bible. According to their view, Hezekiah has learned here to "pronounce death upon all his experiences," has been brought to an end, and has been established in his state of grace by God. Consulting the marginal notes, we do not find any foundation for this either. If this were such a key text in Scripture, we could expect that the authors of the marginal notes would have drawn attention to this. But this is not the case. They relate this oppression to Hezekiah's serious illness. His cry that the Lord would undertake for him simply means that Hezekiah is supplicating for deliverance from this disease so that he would be permitted to complete his work. He is in distress.

One must draw the same conclusion from reading the German translation of Luther. For the phrase "undertake for me" he uses the German word "lindern," which means "to soften" or "to relieve" from pain or sorrow. This is of course the language of the King James Version. In the margin of my English Bible it says, "or ease me"; that is, put me at ease, give me relief. And, to mention one more, what must we think of Abraham Hellenbroek? He wrote four volumes bearing the title, De Evangelische Jesaja (The Evangelical Isaiah), in which he deals with the key texts of the book of Isaiah. If the text, "undertake for me," would have had a deeper meaning, Hellenbroek certainly would not have overlooked it. Not a single text from the entire chapter about Hezekiah's illness is expounded, however.

I conclude that Hezekiah is made to say things of which he himself had no knowledge. The explanation that Hezekiah's words represent attaining a new step in the life of grace must be rejected. You can add it to the text but you cannot draw it out. I believe there is a different explanation. I believe that Hezekiah indeed experienced forgiveness, but it was in the manner of 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." This is not a faith which leads to justification, but what Van der Kemp refers to as a living out of justification.

Saved from Death and Woe Appalling

A portion of Scripture which seems to lend additional support for preaching clearly defined milestones in the life of grace is Psalm 116. David was compassed about by the sorrows of death and the pains of hell had gotten hold of him. He cried out, "O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul," and also, "Thou hast delivered my soul," and "the LORD hath dealt bountifully with me." A favorite quotation from the metrical version of the psalm is, "Thou Jehovah...hast saved my soul from death and woe appalling." The translators of the Dutch Bible expound this Psalm entirely in light of David's deliverance from the hand of Saul. In the marginal notes one cannot find any reference to steps of experiential life. The focus of this Psalm is the great need of David when Saul's mighty army was approaching. David's life was in danger. "Deliver my soul" is identical in meaning to "save my life." This is evident from verse 8. There David says that the Lord has delivered his soul from death, and he rejoices in this.

In verse 9 he proceeds, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." He may continue to live and will return to the temple. The primary emphasis here is not on deep spiritual experiences. Rather, David is being threatened by people. Furthermore, it is difficult to place the phrase, ''All men are liars," within the context of a spiritual experience. But the phrase does fit a period being pursued and persecuted; and that is the subject of this Psalm. Therefore, I repeat, to read more into this portion of Scripture is undesirable eisegesis.

Again I hasten to add that abuse need not keep us from proper use. Biblical expressions and lines from the Psalter can be a good representation of the condition of the soul. "I cried, deliver Thou my soul, O Lord!" can certainly be the heartfelt prayer of a soul who hungers after God and the righteousness of Christ. Let ministers quote freely, and not be hindered by any inhibition. But then we are no longer speaking of a systematized doctrine of steps of grace.

The Tenth Hour

In the first chapter of the gospel of John we are told how the first disciples came to Jesus. John the Baptist pointed his two disciples, John and Andrew, to the Lamb of God, and they decided to follow Jesus from that moment forward. To this is added, ''And it was about the tenth hour." It is obvious that this particular day meant a great deal to John and Andrew. Andrew said to his brother Simon, "We have found the Messiah." In our day, many ministers are fond of designating this event as a further benefit in the lives of these two disciples. Until then Christ was supposedly a hidden Person for them, but now He was fully revealed to them. You will hear it said that John experienced something new, and that he never forgot it. At the age of ninety John still knows precisely what happened: It was about the tenth hour.

I have a fair bit of difficulty with this presentation for the following reasons: If it is true that the disciples until their encounter with Jesus had no knowledge of what the full life of faith was about, would this then not hold equally true for all the elect who lived prior to Christ's incarnation? We know better, don't we? Hebrews 11 states, "These all died in faith... having seen [the promises] afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them." All the believers of the Old Testament have longed intensely for the coming of the Messiah, but they were not privileged to experience this. Yet they died having a full measure of faith, trusting the substance of the things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Scripture does not yield any evidence that this was any less true for the disciples of John the Baptist. We read nothing of the sort. But they did receive a great privilege—the privilege of experiencing the coming of Christ personally, for they lived during a turning point of history. Is it any wonder that John still remembers when he met the Messiah for the first time? It was about the tenth hour.

Speculation Prevented

I need to say one more thing about the tenth hour. We must guard against attaching too much significance to the fact that the evangelist still knows the exact moment. You will find more often in John's gospel that he identifies the time quite precisely. In John 4 we read that Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman, stating that "it was about the sixth hour." When Jesus encountered the sinful woman in chapter 8, John writes, "early in the morning." He proves that in his old age he remembers very well details of many years ago. I conclude therefore that you must embellish the passage in John 1 in order to find support for the doctrine of experiential milestones. One wonders who began to attach such significance to the tenth hour. When reading God's Word we must continue to read simply what it says. That will prevent speculation.

We must not resort to extremes. Who would challenge a minister in his use of the concept "the tenth hour" in order to designate a special occasion? When he does so, it will be in a figurative sense. It then becomes a metaphor to give expression to the impressiveness of a certain event. This no longer has anything to do with the teaching of experiential milestones. In fact, it is questionable whether an unprejudiced use of this phrase is still possible. I fear that it has become too loaded a term.

Is the Way of the Disciples the Way of the Church?

I wish to consider another point. There is perhaps another reason why we must guard against explaining the way of the disciples too readily as the way of the church. There certainly are attractive features in the lives of the disciples which are both comforting and instructive for God's people. We must, however, guard against using their experiences and manner of conversion as a model. There is hardly any reason to make their lives exemplary for Christians of all times.

Instead, there is more reason not to do so. They belonged to the few who were present when Jesus walked upon earth and called men to repentance or made them His followers. After many centuries, it is now God's normal way to bring sinners to faith by the preaching of law and gospel. But during His sojourn here upon earth, Jesus spoke with extraordinary authority, and the era which immediately followed was also extraordinary. We must not be too quick to establish this sovereign, extraordinary ministration as today's model for the experiential life of the Christian.

I also wish to refer to the opinion of Ursinus in Het Schatboek relative to Question 58 of the Heidelberg Catechism where he writes that eternal life is granted to us by faith, by means of the preaching and the internal operation of the Holy Spirit: "This is the normal way in which God initially grants us eternal life, namely, mediately by the administration of the Word. The manner in which God converts the children of the church differs from the wondrous conversion experience of the thief on the cross, Paul, Cornelius, etc. The reference here [in the church to- day) is to the normal way traversed by adults."

Strong Disciples

Upon the question whether the way of the disciples is the way of the church, let us consider what Matthew Henry says in his commentary on Matthew 16:21, "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things..." There are ministers who integrate this in the notion that God's people are initially blind to the suffering of Christ and their enmity against it. Thus, much contemporary preaching will teach that God's people are initially blind to the suffering of Christ, and that the Lord, in leading His people more deeply, will uncover this to them. Let me state again, I believe that this can be so, but never as a rule or blueprint.

Matthew Henry comments as follows: "Hitherto He had not touched upon this [His suffering], because the disciples were weak, and could not very well bear the notice of a thing so very strange, and so very melancholy; but now that they were more ripe in knowledge, and strong in faith, He began to tell them this." The Lord waited for this moment. After they had become strong, He began to prepare them for His suffering. And in which way did they become strong? Henry also comments upon this: "Christ reveals His mind to His people gradually, and lets in light as they can bear it, and are fit to receive it." In how calm and balanced a manner this is stated!