Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; How Christ Manages The Office Of An Advocate.164

 

by Thomas Sadler, oil on canvas, 1684

[SECOND.] And thus have I spoken to the first thing—to wit, of the intercession of Christ—and now I come more particularly to speak to the second, THE BENEFITS OF HIS INTERCESSION, namely, that we are saved thereby. Therefore, he can save them, seeing as he makes intercession for them. 'He can save them to the uttermost.'

In my handling of this head, I must first show you what the apostle means here by 'save'—'Wherefore he can save.' Second, What he means here by saving to the 'uttermost'—' He can save to the uttermost.' Third, and then, thirdly, we shall do as we did in the foregoing—to wit, gather some inferences from the whole, and speak to them.

First, What does the apostle mean here by 'save'—' He can save them.'

To'save' may be taken two ways. In general, I know it may be taken many ways, for there are many salvations that we enjoy—yeah, that we never knew of, nor can know, until we come thither, where all secret things shall be seen, and where that which has been done in darkness shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. But I say there are two ways that this word may be taken: 1. To save in a way of justification. 2. Or to save by way of preservation. Now, Christ saves both of these ways. But which of these, or whether both of them are intended in this place, of that I shall tell you my thoughts anon; meanwhile, I will show you,

1. What it is to be saved in the first sense, [namely, in a way of justification], and also how that is brought to pass.

To be saved is to be delivered from the guilt of sin that is by the law, as it is the mixture of death and condemnation; or to be set free therefrom before God. This is to be saved; for he that is not set free therefrom, whatever he may think of himself or whatever others may think concerning him, he is a condemned man. It says not; he shall be, but he is condemned already. (John 3:18) The reason is that he has deserved the sentence of the ministry of condemnation, which is the law. Yea, that law has already arraigned, accused, and condemned him before God, for it has found him guilty of sin. Now he that is set free from this, or, as the phrase is, 'being made free from sin,' (Rom 6:22); that is, from the imputation of guilt, there can, to him, be no condemnation, no condemnation to hell fire; but the person thus made free may properly be said to be saved. Wherefore, as sometimes it saith, we shall be saved, respecting saving in the second sense, or the utmost completion of salvation; so sometimes it saith, we are saved, as respecting our being already secured from guilt, and so from condemnation to hell for sin, and so set safe and quit from the second death before God. (1 Cor 1:18, Eph 2:5)

Now, saving thus comes to us by what Christ did for us in this world, by what Christ did for us as suffering for us. I say it comes to us thus; that is, it comes to us by grace through the redemption that is in Christ. And thus to be saved is called justification, justification to life, because one thus saved is, as I said, acquitted from guilt, and that everlasting damnation to which for sin he had made himself obnoxious by the law. (1 Cor 15:1-4, Rom 5:8–10)

Hence we are said to be saved by his death, justified by his blood, and reconciled to God by the death of his Son, all of which must respect his offering of himself on the day he died and not his improving his so dying in a way of intercession, because in the same place, the apostle reserved a second, or additional salvation, and applied that to his intercession, 'Much more then, being now,' or already, 'justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him'; that is, through what he will further do for us. 'For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more by being reconciled,' that is, by his death, 'we shall be saved by his life,' his intercession, which he ever liveth to complete. (verse 9,10)

See here, we are said to be justified, reconciled already, and therefore we shall be saved, justified by his blood and death, and saved through him by his life.