Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; What Force There Is In The Promise To Make Them Come To Christ, 260.

 

4. This word, shall come, engaged Christ to communicate all manner of grace to those thus given him to make them effectively come to him. “They shall come;” that is, not if they will, but if grace, all grace, if power, wisdom, a new heart, and the Holy Spirit, and all joining together, can make them come. I say, This word shall come, being absolute, hath no dependence upon our own will, power, or goodness; but it engaged for us even God himself, Christ himself, and the Spirit himself. When God had made that absolute promise to Abraham, that Sarah “should have a son,” Abraham did not at all look at any qualification in himself, because the promise looked at none; but as God had, by the promise, absolutely promised him a son; so he considered now not his own body dead, nor yet the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform” (Rom 4:20, 21). He had promised, and he had promised absolutely, that Sarah would have a son.

Therefore, Abraham sees that he, to wit, God, must fulfill the condition of it. Neither is this expectation of Abraham disapproved by the Holy Ghost, but it is accounted good and laudable; it being that by which he gave glory to God. The Father, also, hath given to Christ a certain number of souls for him to save; and he hath said, “They shall come to him.” Let the church of God then live in a joyful expectation of the utmost accomplishment of this promise; for assuredly it shall be fulfilled, and not one-thousandth part of a title thereof shall fail. “They shall come to me.”

[Second, In particular.] And now, before I go any further, I will more particularly inquire into the nature of an absolute promise.

1. We call that an absolute promise that is made without any condition; or more fully, that is an absolute promise of God, or of Christ, that maketh over to this or that man any saving, spiritual blessing, without a condition to be done on our part for the obtaining thereof. And this we have in hand is such a one. Let the best Master of Arts on earth show me, if he can, any condition in this text depending upon any qualification in us, which is not by the same promise concluded, shall be by the Lord Jesus effected in us.

2. An absolute promise, therefore, is, as we say, without if or and; that is, it requires nothing of us, that itself might be accomplished. It saith not, They shall, if they will; but they shall: not, they shall, if they use the means; but, they shall. You may say, that a will and the use of the means are supposed, though not expressed. But I answer, No, by no means; that is, as a condition of this promise. If they are at all included in the promise, they are included there as the fruit of the absolute promise, not as if it expected the qualification to arise from us. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power” (Psa 110:3). That is another absolute promise. But does that promise imply a willingness in us, as a condition of God’s making us willing? They shall be willing, if they are willing; or, they shall be willing, if they will be willing. This is ridiculous; there is nothing of this supposed. The promise is absolute as to us; all that it engages in for its own accomplishment is, the mighty power of Christ and his faithfulness to accomplish.

3. The difference, therefore, between the absolute and conditional promises is this:

(1.) They differ in their terms. The absolute promises say, I will, and you shall: the other, I will, if you will; or, Do this, and thou shalt live (Jer 4:1; 31:31–33; Eze 18:30–32; 36:24–34; Heb 8:7–13; Matt 19:21).

(2.) They differ in their way of communicating good things to men; the absolute ones communicate things freely, only of grace; the other, if there be that qualification in us, that the promise calls for, not else.

(3.) The absolute promises therefore engage God, the other engage us: I mean, God only, us only.

(4.) Absolute promises must be fulfilled; conditional promises may, or may not be fulfilled. The absolute ones must be fulfilled, because of the faithfulness of God; the others may not, because of the unfaithfulness of men.