He that, by the act of his will, does truly accept of Christ as a Savior, accepts of him as a Savior from sin, and not merely as a Savior from the punishment of sin.
Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits, Chapter 11
Edwards is commenting on 1 Corinthians 13:6: ‘[Charity] rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.’ Quite frankly, I got chills as I read these words for the first time. I do not know if I have read a statement that I would consider more of a theological bomb, for it blows up our lawlessness. Our Lord is named Jesus, ‘because he will save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21), not just the punishment their sins deserve.
Edwards further proves the statement like this:
The most remarkable type of the work of redemption by divine love in all the Old Testament history, was the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt. But the holy living of his people was the end God had in view in that redemption, as he often signified to Pharaoh, when from time to time he said to him by Moses and Aaron, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” And we have a like expression concerning Christ’s redemption in the New Testament, where it is said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, . . . to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life” (Luke 1:68-75). All these things make it very plain that the end of redemption is, that we might be holy.
He won’t stop until we are not only counted as holy, and forgiven of our unholiness, but until we actually are holy. Christ’s work will not be complete until we are glorified, but that glorification is so certain that the Apostle Paul can speak of it in the past tense (Rom. 8:30). That’s motivation to put sin to death and live unto righteousness. That’s not Legalism – that’s high and heavenly motivation. Those who know the love of Christ, and love him on account of it, will rejoice in truthful living, which is holiness.
