A Pardon is Not a Pardon?

Allow me to comment on the following article excerpt by Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel for Concerned Women for America. The complete article is available here.

"On May 27, 1830, a federal judge sentenced George Wilson to death after he pleaded guilty to several counts of violating federal mail statutes, including placing the life of the mail carrier in jeopardy. The carrier was not injured. James Porter, Wilson’s co-defendant, was hanged on July 2 of the same year.

President Andrew Jackson pardoned Wilson in response to a plea from Wilson’s influential friends. Charges against Wilson were then brought in a second court, which allegedly involved the same acts that Wilson had pleaded guilty to in the first court. Nonetheless, Wilson pleaded guilty and the prosecutor moved the court to pronounce judgment on Wilson.

The judge had heard about Wilson’s pardon from President Jackson. Instead of granting the prosecutor’s motion for judgment, the judge expressed the “propriety of inquiring as to the effect of the pardon” to the conviction at hand.

On the next day, counsel for Wilson appeared in court “and on his behalf waived and declined any advantage or protection which might be supposed to arise from the pardon referred to.” Put simply, Wilson refused to plead his pardon. It would have protected him from being placed in jeopardy twice, if the acts were the same as those that he had pleaded guilty to in the first court. He thereby waived his Fifth Amendment right under the U.S. Constitution.

The case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit where the judges were divided on the questions of double jeopardy and the effect of the pardon. They ordered the questions certified to the Supreme Court for decision.

Mr. Taney, attorney general for the United States, argued that the charges didn’t violate the double jeopardy clause and that the pardon could not apply because the prisoner had not brought it before the court. No counsel appeared for Wilson.

The Court did not decide the double jeopardy issue because it found the appellate record incomplete. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the majority opinion in answer to the question of the effect of an executive pardon:

A pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws, which exempts the individual, on whom it is bestowed, from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed. It is the private, though official act of the executive magistrate, delivered to the individual for whose benefit it is intended, and not communicated officially to the court. It is a constituent part of the judicial system, that the judge sees only with judicial eyes, and knows nothing respecting any particular case, of which he is not informed judicially. A private deed, not communicated to him, whatever may be its character, whether a pardon or release, is totally unknown and cannot be acted on. The looseness which would be introduced into judicial proceedings, would prove fatal to the great principles of justice, if the judge might notice and act upon facts not brought regularly into the cause. Such a proceeding, in ordinary cases, would subvert the best established principles, and overturn those rules which have been settled by the wisdom of ages. Id. at 160-161.

Wilson knew he had been pardoned but knowing wasn’t enough. His counsel knew about it too. The judges knew about it but were powerless because Wilson wouldn’t accept it or plead it before the court. God secured our pardon but it too must be accepted and asserted by the condemned."

Pastor Dave Stone of Southeast Christian Church preached a sermon with this illustration approximately 2 years ago. I had much to say about it then. I just heard it replayed on the radio yesterday, and I'll comment again. The jist is this: A pradon is not a pardon unless it is accepted. And I agree. But there is much more to be said.

In the above case, the defendant was sentenced to death for his crime. The President pardoned him - thereby forgiving the offense without executing justice. In other words, President Jackson was merciful, but not just. In our relationship with God however, this is not the case. When God pardons sinners, He forgives the offense; but He most certainly and necessarily executes justice. God, unlike President Jackson, remains both merciful and just. And He must do so - His character requires it. That's why Jesus Christ was handed over to death - even death on a cross. That's what the doctrine of substitutionary atonement is all about. And herein lies the difference between the Calvinist (Reformed) view and the Arminian view of Christ's atonement.

Calvinists named the Arminian view "unlimited atonement," because Arminians tend to beleive that Jesus actually was a substitutionary atonement for the sins of every man. In that sense, it was unlimted. Calvinists call their own view "limited atonement" or "particular redemption," because they tend to believe that Jesus actually was a substitutionary atonement for the sins of only some - namely the elect, or those who have true saving faith in Christ. Calvinists deny that Jesus died for the sins of those who die in unbelief. And it boils down to technical matters of consistency. Calvinists generally have thought out their position through Biblical study and understand that if Jesus actually paid for the sins of every man, then no man would be condemned. The pardon is not merely offered, but applied.

In the above court case, had President Jackson issued Mr. Wilson a pardon and justly replaced him with a substitute to die in his place, then even if Wilson refused the pardon, the President would have no right to put Wilson to death as well, since Wilson's substitute had paid the penalty. President Jackson would have been unjust to put to death 2 men when only one death was required for justice to be served.

So to conclude, it is appropriate - from man's perspective - to urge one another to "accept the pardon." A pardon is only a pardon if it is accepted. In this view, it's up to us. But we must understand - to be consistent in our understanding of God's Word - that from God's perspective, a pardon is only a pardon if it is received. It was never a pardon if it isn't received. Thus for the one who dies in unbelief, there never was a pardon. Because Christ bore none of the sins of the unbeliever on the tree, because Christ paid none of the debt owed to God, the totality of God' s just wrath will fall for all eternity upon the shoulders of those who know not the Lord. Receive the pardon!

God's Part and Man's Part in Salvation by John G. Reisinger

Monergism.com has the following fine article by John Reisinger highlighted today. The message helps us to understand grace.

God and man must both do something before a man can be saved. Hyper-Calvinism denies the necessity of human action, and Arminianism denies the true nature of the Divine action. The Bible clearly sets forth both the divine and human essential in God's plan of salvation. This is not to say, as Arminianism does, "God's part is to freely provide salvation for all men, and man's part is to become willing to accept it." This is not what we said above, nor is it what the Bible teaches. In order to understand what God's Word really says, and to try to answer some straw dummy objections, we will establish the subject one point at a time.

ONE: A man must repent and believe the gospel in order to be saved. No one was ever forgiven and made a child of God who did not willingly turn from sin to Christ. Nowhere does the Bible even hint that men can be saved without repentance and faith, but to the contrary, the Word always states these things are essential before a person can be saved. The one and only Bible answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

TWO: Every one who repents and believes the gospel will be saved. Every soul, without any exception, who answers the gospel command to come to Christ will be received and forgiven by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Philip Bliss put the truth to music when he said, "Who-so-ever will, forever must endure..." If we can be absolutely certain about anything, we can be sure that Christ will never void His promise to receive "all who come to Him." As old John Bunyan said, "Come and welcome" is the Savior's eternal word to all sinners.

THREE: Repentance and faith are the free acts of men. Men, with their own mind, heart, and will must renounce sin and receive Christ. God never repented and believed for anyone - and He never will. Turning from sin and reaching out in faith to Christ are the acts of man, and every man who so responds to the gospel call does so because he honestly desires to do so. He wants to be forgiven and he can only be forgiven by repenting and believing. No one, including God, can turn from sin for us, we must do it. No one can trust Christ in our place, but we must personally, knowingly, and willingly trust Him in order to be saved.

Now someone may be thinking, "But isn't that what the Arminian teaches?" My friend, that is what the Bible teaches–and teaches it clearly and dogmatically. "But don't Calvinists deny all three of those points?" I am not talking about or trying to defend Calvinists since they come in a hundred varieties. If you know anyone that denies the above facts, then that person, regardless of what he labels himself, is denying the clear message of the Bible. I can only speak for myself, and I will not deny what God's Word so plainly teaches!

"But haven't you established the doctrine of free-will and disposed of election if you assent man must repent and believe and it is his own act?" No, we have neither proven free-will nor disproved election since it is impossible to do either. We have merely stated exactly what the Bible says a man must do in order to be saved. Let us now look at what the Scripture says a sinner is able to do and what he is not able to do.

FOUR: The same Bible that states man must repent and believe in order to be saved also emphatically states that man, because of his sinful nature, is totally unable to repent and believe. All of man's three faculties of mind, heart, and will, which must be receptive to gospel truth, have neither the ability to receive such truth nor even the desire to have such ability. In fact the exact opposite is true. Man's total being is not only unable to either come, or want to come, to Christ, but every part of his nature is actively opposed to Christ and truth. Rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is not a passive non-action, but a deliberate volitional choice. It is deliberately choosing to say "No" to Christ and "Yes" to self and sin. No one is neutral in respect to God and His authority. Unbelief is just as much a deliberate act of mind, heart, and will as is faith. This is what Jesus meant in John 5:40 when He said, "You will (you are deliberately making a choice) not to come to me." Yes, unbelief is an act of the will. In fact unbelief is active faith, but unfortunately it is faith in myself.

To believe and preach points one, two, and three, without also preaching number four is to grossly misrepresent the gospel of God's grace. It is to give a totally false picture of the sinner and his true need. It shows only half of the man's sin. It misses the most crucial point of a lost man's need, namely, his lack of power or ability to overcome his sinful nature and its effects. The gospel which is concocted out of this view is only a half gospel. It is at this point that modern evangelism so miserably fails. It confuses man's responsibility with his ability, and falsely assumes that a sinner has the moral ability to perform all that God has commanded. The cannot texts of scripture are either totally ignored or badly twisted by this perversion of the true gospel of God's saving grace.

Please note a few texts of Scripture that dogmatically state some things that a lost man cannot do:

Man cannot see - until he first be born again. John 3:3.

Man cannot understand - until he first be given a new nature. I Cor. 2:14.

Man cannot come - until he first be effectually called by the Holy Spirit. John 6:44,45.

We do not have space to go into all the cannots, but these three are sufficient to show that a sinner absolutely cannot (notice it is not will not) come to Christ until God first does something in that sinner's nature. That something is what the Bible calls regeneration, or the new birth, and it is the exclusive work of God the Holy Spirit. Man has no part whatever in regeneration.

FIVE: The new birth, or regeneration, is God giving us the spiritual life that enables us to do what we must do (repent and believe), but CANNOT DO because of our bondage to sin. When the Bible says man is dead in sin, it means that man's mind, heart, and will are all spiritually dead in sin. When the Bible speaks of our being in bondage to sin, it means that our entire being, including our will, is under the bondage and power of sin.

We indeed need Christ to die and pay the penalty of our sin, but we just as desperately need the Holy Spirit to give us a new nature in regeneration. The Son of God frees us legally from the penalty of sin, but only the Holy Spirit can free us from the power and death of our depravity in sin. We need forgiveness in order to be saved, and Christ provides complete forgiveness and righteousness for us in His death. However, we also need spiritual life and ability, and the Holy Spirit provides it for us in regeneration. It is the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration that enables us to savingly receive the atoning work of Christ in true faith.

God is a triune God, and no person can understand "so great salvation" until he sees each blessed Person of the Godhead playing a distinct and necessary part in that salvation. No man can declare the "glorious gospel of grace" and leave out the Father's sovereign electing love and the Holy Spirit's regenerating power as essential parts of God's work in saving sinners. To speak of God's part in salvation as only being one of providing forgiveness and man's part as being willing to accept it is to ignore both the Father's work of election and the Spirit's work of regeneration. This not only makes man a full partner with God in the work of salvation, it credits man with playing the decisive roll in the deal.

How dreadful, and ridiculous, to give Christ the glory for His work on the cross, and then give sinners the credit for the Father's work in eternity (election) and the Spirit's work in our hearts (regeneration). It does great dishonor to the Sovereign Spirit to say, "The Holy Spirit will perform His miraculous work of quickening you unto life as soon as you give Him your permission." That's like standing in a graveyard saying to the dead people, "I will give you life and raise you up from the grave if you will only take the first step of faith and ask me to do it." What a denial of the sinner's total spiritual inability. Amazing!

The root error of the Arminian's gospel of freewill is its failure to see that man's part, repentance and faith, are the fruits and effects of God's work and not the essential ingredient's supplied by the sinner as man's part of the deal. Every man who turns to Christ does so willingly, but that willingness is a direct result of the Father's election and the Holy Spirit's effectual calling. To say, "If you will believe, God will answer your faith with the New Birth," is to misunderstand man's true need and misrepresent God's essential work.

SIX: The Scriptures clearly show that faith and repentance are the evidences and not the cause of regeneration. Suppose a man who had been dead for twenty years greeted you on the street one day. Would you conclude that the man had gotten tired of being dead and decided to ask a great doctor to perform a miracle and give him life? I'm sure you would, instead, exclaim in amazement, "Man, what happened to you? Who brought you back to life?" You would see he was alive because he was walking and breathing, but you would know these were evidences of a miracle having been performed on him from without and not the results of his own power or will. Just so when a spiritually dead man begins to perform spiritual acts such as repentance and faith; these spiritual fruits show that the miracle of the new birth has taken place.

Let me illustrate this with a biblical example. Acts 16:14 is a clear proof of the above. By the way, as far as I know, this is the only place in the New Testament that uses the phrase opened heart, and the Bible gives the whole credit for this opening to God's power and not to man's will. Modern evangelism does the exact opposite and credits the opening of the heart to the power of man's free will. Remember that we are not discussing whether man must be willing to open his heart. We settled that under points One, Two, and Three. We are now looking for the source of power that enabled man to perform that spiritual act. Arminianism insists that man's free will must furnish the willingness or power, and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit of God furnishes that power or ability in the new birth.

Let us examine the one text in Scripture that uses the phrase "opened heart" and see if it agrees with our previous points:

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul (Acts 16:14).

The NIV says:

The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.

First of all we note that Lydia did indeed attend or listen to the words of Paul. She gladly heard and willingly believed his message. As we have already shown, she had to do this in order to benefit from the gospel and be saved. Lydia's attending, or hearing and believing, illustrates points One, Two, and Three above, and refutes Hyper-Calvinism (which says the elect will be saved regardless of whether they hear and believe the gospel or not). Lydia did indeed choose to believe, and she did it only because she wholeheartedly wanted to. She did not do it unwillingly nor did God hear and believe for her. It was her own response and it was a most willing response.

Next, we notice exactly what God did. We see here demonstrated what God must do before Lydia can be saved. (l) He provided a salvation of "by grace through faith" that could be preached. Obviously the things spoken by Paul were the gospel facts concerning the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and surely this Lamb is God's gracious provision. (2) God also brought the message of His provision to Lydia. He sent a preacher to tell her about this great plan of salvation. God went to a lot of trouble to provide such a gospel - He gave His only begotten Son. He went to great ends to provide such a preacher as Paul - read about it in Paul's testimony in Act 22.

It is at this point that Arminianism departs from the Bible and proceeds to apply human logic to the above truths. They tragically fail to look at the rest of the biblical text and see that God must do something else. (3) God must open Lydia's heart (or give her spiritual life) so she will be able to believe. Her natural mind is blind, her natural heart is averse to God, and her will is in bondage to sin and spiritual death. Only the power of God can free her from this graveyard of spiritual depravity. The giving of this life and power is solely the work of God. Notice that the Bible explicitly gives God alone the credit for Lydia's heart being opened. If you do not see that in this text then you simply cannot read:

....whose heart the LORD OPENED...

Notice also how clearly the Holy Spirit teaches us the relationship between the cause and the effect in the conversion of Lydia. God was the One Who opened Lydia's heart, that is the cause, and He did so in order that she might be able to attend to the truths that Paul preached, that is the effect. Now that is what the Word of God says! Do not bluster about dead theology or throw Calvin's name around in derision, just read the words themselves in the Bible. If you try to deny that the one single reason that Lydia understood and believed the gospel was because God deliberately opened her heart and enabled her to believe, you are fighting God's Word. If you try to get man's free will as the one determining factor into this text, you are consciously corrupting the Word of God.

God's grace not only provides salvation, but His power also gives us the ability to both desire and receive it. He works in us both to will and to do. His working in us to will is the new birth, and, I say again, this work of regeneration is totally the work of the Holy Spirit.

The moment we lose sight of this distinction between being saved by faith (the act of man) and being born again by the Holy Spirit (the act of God), we are heading for confusion and trouble. We will be convinced that man is able to do what the Bible emphatically states he is unable to do. The necessity of the Holy Spirit's work being thus theologically denied, it will not be long before it is ignored in actual practice. This is the plight of modern day evangelism. Since they are convinced that the new birth is within the power and ability of man's will, their man made methodology has become far more important than the theology of the Bible...

The Romans 15 Preview

Romans 15 can be split down the middle to conclude Paul's primary teaching and begin his teaching conclusion. If that's not confusing enough, we'll study this chapter next Tuesday, September 19. Here is the text with some things to consider:

1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3For even Christ did not please Himself but, as it is written: ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on Me.’ [Psalm 69:9]

Do you consider yourself strong or weak? Notice, as we discussed in chapter 14, that we should strive to build one another up as opposed to tearing one another down. God is able to make us stand. And Jesus Christ serves as our great role model in this endeavor. He strived to build up those around Him. He did not strive to please Himself. But consider this: He will be pleased in the end. "For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2).

4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

What a great thing to consider that "everything written in the past was written to teach us." 2 Timothy 3:16 supports this wonderful truth: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." The Scriptures are the means by which the Holy Spirit encourages us to endure in hope.

5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Verse 4 told us that the Scriptures encourage us to endurance; here in verse 5, it is God Himself who does that. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word is God, so it makes sense that both the Word and God Himself work in us for encouragement and endurance to hope. Paul hopes and prays for unity among believers, unity among the Body of Christ. We talked about this in chapter 14 as well. Unity hear is more like unanimity. We need to be unanimous - one heart, one mouth, stemming from one mind. For what purpose? The glory of God.

8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews [or circumcision] on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs 9so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: ‘Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.’ [2 Samuel 22:50; Psalm 18:49] 10Again, it says, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.’ [Deuteronomy 32:43] 11And again, ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to Him, all you peoples.’ [Psalm 117:1] 12And again, Isaiah says, ‘The Root of Jesse will spring up, One who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in Him.’ [Isaiah 11:10] 13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul reminds us once again of his teaching from Romans 9-11. He quotes 4 Old Testament passages to confirm that Jesus came to fulfill the promises made to the Jewish patriarchs in order that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. Wow! Thank God for Paul's teaching. Verse 13 concludes Paul's primary teaching in his letter to the Romans. Fittingly, it is a prayer. May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace so that you overflow with hope. Hope leads to hope. We touched on that in Romans 5:1-11 and elsewhere.

14I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the Gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— 19by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the Gospel of Christ.

Paul shifts gears beginning in verse 14. He is beginning his conclusion with 4 points, and let's make them all start with the letter "e". His first point is an estimation of the Roman believers. And under this point, he notes 3 things about them. They are (1) full of goodness, (2) complete in knowledge, and (3) capable of teaching one another. Paul's second point is an explanation of his writing so boldly. None of us can deny that Paul's letter to the Romans is filled with boldness. The reason for this is to bring sanctification. Neither God nor Paul are satisfied with justification. We learned in our study of Romans 6-8 that justification and sanctification go hand-in-hand. Paul's third point is to exult in God for working through him. Paul was successful, but his success was solely based on the grace of God for the glory of God. And fourth, Paul evangelized throughout the region. He had covered a huge territory - 1400 miles from one end to the other. He had run the race marked out for him. Again, thank God for Paul.

20It has always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. 21Rather, as it is written: ‘Those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.’ [Isaiah 52:15] 22This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. 23But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, 24I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. 26For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

Adding a fifth "e" to the above 4 points, we could also say that Paul expedited his travel plans. Remember from Romans 1 that Paul had long desired to come to preach the Gospel in Rome. He had been kept from Rome by the Holy Spirit, and he was okay with that. But now that his territory evangelism has been completed, he wants to visit Rome not as an "end" (as it seemed to be in chapter 1), but as a "means" to the "end." He wants to stop by Rome on his way to Spain for several reasons - mutual refreshment, prayer, and financial support. And Paul says that he "will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ." That means he's going to show the Roman believers Jesus Christ. They hadn't seen Jesus, but they were about to - in the person of the apostle Paul. Wouldn't it be great if we could say that to one another!?!

30I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, 32so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. 33The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Paul's final request - actually a command - of the believers in Rome: PRAY! He urges them to join him in his struggle. He asks for their prayers in 3 things: that he would be rescued from the unbelievers in Jerusalem, that his service to the saints there would be acceptable, and that he would get to come to Rome by the will of God. Did those 3 things come to pass? Acts 21:17 through the end of chapter 28 gives us the answers, and we'll talk about it Tuesday. Lastly, notice Paul's benediction: "May the God of peace be with you." What a wonderful thing for someone to say! It's even more wonderful when the statement is said by someone who knows God like Paul and means it as sincerely as Paul does.