Chapter 9, The Law and the Gospel, The Reformed Reader

CHAPTER NINE

Does Human Inability
Make God Unjust?

“The law is holy, and the commandment holy
and just and good.” (Rom. 7:12)

THE QUESTION IS OFTEN ASKED, Is God unjust to require from man what he has no ability to perform?

Before David Brainard, the great missionary to the American Indians, was converted, four things caused him to be angry with God. One of the things that greatly disturbed him was the strictness of the divine law.

For I found it was impossible for me, after my utmost pains, to answer its demands. I often made new resolutions, and as often broke them. I imputed the whole to carelessness and the want of being more watchful, and used to call myself a fool for my negligence. But when, upon a stronger resolution, and greater endeavors, and close application to fasting and prayer, I found all attempts fail; then I quarreled with the law of God, as unreasonably rigid. I thought if it extended only to my outward actions and behaviors, I could bear with it; but I found it condemned me for my evil thoughts and sins of my years, which I could not possibly prevent. I was extremely loathe to own my utter helplessness in this matter; but after repeated disappointments, thought that, rather than perish, I could do a little more still; especially if such and such circumstances might but attend my endeavors and strivings. I hoped that I should strive more earnestly than ever if the matter came to extremity—though I never could find the time to do my utmost, in the matter I intended—and this hope of future, more favorable circumstances, and of doing something great hereafter, kept me from utter despair in myself and from seeing myself fallen into the hands of a sovereign God, and dependent on nothing but free and boundless grace. (The Life and Diary of David Brainard, ed. Jonathan Edwards [Chicago: Moody Press], 64-65)

David Brainard was not alone in his attitude toward God’s holy, just, and good law. Many have felt that God is unjust in demanding obedience to a law that no natural man can perform. One objection that always surfaces when the Ten Commandments are taken seriously is, Since no one has the ability to keep them, why take any of them seriously?

The Fourfold State of Man

In order to answer questions about God’s justness, we must have some understanding of the biblical teaching on the fourfold state of man. Thomas Boston, in his wonderful book Human Nature in Its Fourfold State (London: Banner of Truth, 1964) divides this fourfold state as follows:

1. The State of Innocence.
2. The State of Nature.
3. The State of Grace.
4. The State of Glory or the Eternal State.

Let me give a brief overview of these four different states of man.

The State of Innocence
In the state of innocence Adam had:

• Perfect rectitude of mind, that is, uprightness in principles, freedom from error, and accuracy in
judgment.
• Perfect sanctity of will.
• Perfection of power.

He had a copy of God’s law written on his heart. As a key is fitted to all the wards of a lock and can open it, so Adam had power suited to all of God’s commandments and could obey them perfectly. Therefore, before we charge God with being unjust and requiring what was impossible, we must consider how man was created. “Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (Eccl. 7:29).

If I believed that God made man the way he is and then condemned him for being that way, I would curse God and die. Such a God would be a monster!

God does command and require what unregenerate sinners cannot perform. But Adam, as he was created, was able to perform personal, perfect obedience. God’s standards do not change. He still commands personal, perfect obedience to all His commandments.

To the question, Is not God unjust to require what men do not have the ability to perform? I answer:

• Yes, God is unjust, unless He first gave the ability to perform what He requires.
• Yes, God is unjust, unless man, by his own will, brought this inability upon himself.
• Yes, God is unjust in requiring that which man cannot perform, unless such a requirement is
designed to lead him to acknowledge and deplore his inability

The real problem with those who commiserate with man in his present plight is that they fail to ask how he got into this condition. They rashly charge God with being unjust even though He created man good, innocent, and free not to sin.

When you see sickness, death, war, pain, murder, rape, robbery, and lawlessness, you must ask, How did this come about? The answer is sin—man’s sin! How did the prodigal son reach the point where he longed to eat the feed of pigs? By living in sin! Just as the prodigal’s sin plunged his life into poverty and despair, the sin of Adam plunged the entire human race into a fallen state marked by hardship, strife, and futility.

The State of Nature
Man in his fallen state has a corrupted nature and is in need of renewal by the Holy Spirit. This is where you are if you are not converted. There are two uses of the law in this state.

I. It curbs evil in the world, as well as in the church.
2. It brings a knowledge of sin. The law accuses, convinces, and condemns all those who are not regenerated, because they are unrighteous before God and subject to His righteous judgment.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Rom. 3:19-20)

I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” (Rom. 7:7)

Thomas Boston in his book Human Nature in Its Fourfold State called this:

• The sinfulness of man’s natural state: “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).
• The misery of man’s natural state: "We... were by nature children of wrath, just as the others”
(Eph. 2:3).
• Man’s utter inability to recover himself: “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6).

In the state of nature, a person has no ability to do anything spiritually good. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).

The State of Grace
When a person is restored to spiritual life in Christ, he or she is in the state of grace. There are many uses of the law in respect to those who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Having been made alive and empowered by the indwelling Spirit of God, they are enabled to obey God’s commands.

In this life, that obedience is far from complete, and believers must always fall back upon the saving work of Christ on the cross. But because God’s children have been delivered from both the penalty and the power of sin, growth in genuine obedience is possible and is to be sought with all one’s heart.

The Eternal State—The State of Glory
In the fourth state of man, human nature is perfectly restored and glorified. This will be the state of God’s children after this life. Even then the law will have its use, for although the preaching of it and the whole ministry of the church shall have ceased, there will still remain in the elect a knowledge of the law, as perfect obedience to all its demands and full conformity with God will be wrought in them. The law will, therefore, accomplish the same purpose m the life to come—when we shall be fully transformed into the image of God—as it did in our nature before the Fall.

There are six aspects of this eternal state.

1. Death. “For I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living” (Job 30:23).
2. The difference between the righteous and the wicked in their death. “The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death” (Prov. 14:32 KJV).
3. The resurrection. “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28—29).
4. The general judgment.

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed...Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed... .“ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matt. 25:31—34, 41, 46)

5. The kingdom of heaven. “The King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”’ (Matt. 25:34).
6. Hell. “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels”’ (Matt. 25:41).

Willful Inability and Our Need for Christ

Two biblical truths must be understood to properly answer our question, Is God unjust in requiring of man what he is unable to perform? Man’s inability is both hereditary and voluntary.

Men love the depravity of their hearts and choose to commit sin and iniquity. Sinners do not sin against their will!

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. (John 3:19-21)

If God did not require what sinners cannot perform, then they would have no need for the Son of God to fulfill all righteousness for them, or for the Holy Spirit to work holiness in them. If we say that God cannot justly require sinners to perform that obedience which they cannot perform, we undermine both the law and the gospel. Because such obedience is precisely what God does require, the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit to conquer the sinner’s resistance to God and His will becomes a necessity. Power is necessary to change the sinner’s nature, causing him to love the will of God (which is to love the law of God). The power of the Holy Spirit in conversion puts God’s laws into the minds of people and writes God’s laws on their hearts (Heb. 10:16), thus creating them in Christ Jesus “for good works” (Eph. 2:10).The Spirit’s power works in quickening and raising them from the dead, opening their eyes, and calling them “out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

If God only required what people could do for themselves, then all that He does for them in Christ would be unnecessary. Inasmuch as the commandments are beyond our ability, they show the fullness and suitableness of the promises of the gospel. God did not give the commandments to man after the Fall with the expectation that we had the ability to keep them. Rather, they were given to convict us of our helplessness and inability to keep them, and thereby to cause us to cast ourselves on God’s mercy and seek His grace and forgiveness. And He will never be sought in vain.

The fact that we cannot keep the commandments is no surprise to God. He perfectly knows our inability, and the man who feels his own inability is fully encouraged to depend upon the power of the Savior. This brings together the supreme authority of the Lawgiver and the total insufficiency of the creature unites the full provision of the Savior and the all-sufficiency of the grace of God.

• We pray to God for what we lack.
• We are thankful to God for what we have.
• We trust God for what He has promised.

If God were to reduce our duty and make it commensurate to our ability, it would mean that the weaker we are, the less our obligation; and the more sinful we are, the less is require of us.

Those who reject the law because man has no power to keep it seem to forget that they have no power even to believe the gospel. The command to believe is just as impossible for the natural man as the command to obey. The absence of ability do not imply absence of obligation in either case (John 6:44).

God’s Commands and Human Inability

The gospel command “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” is addressed by divine authority to all people. It is their duty. Some deny this on the ground that man lacks the spiritual ability to believe in Jesus. But it is wrong to imagine that the measure of the sinner’s moral duty is his ability.

There are many things that people ought to do but have lost the moral and spiritual power to do. They ought to be chaste; but, if someone has been immoral so long that he cannot restrain his passions, he is not therefore freed from that obligation. It is the duty of a debtor to pay his debts; if, however, he has been such a spendthrift that he has brought himself into hopeless poverty, he is not thereby exonerated from his debt Every man ought to believe what is true; but, if his mind has become so depraved that he loves a lie and will not receive the truth, is he thereby excused?

If the law of God were lowered to the moral condition of sinners, it would become a sliding scale to suit their degrees of human sinfulness. In fact, the worst man would be under the least obligation and become the least guilty. If God’s requirements were variable, we would be under no rule at all.

The commandments of God stand, regardless of how bad men may be. When He commands all men everywhere to repent, they are bound to repent whether their sinfulness renders their wills unable to do so or not. In every case, it is man’s duty to do what God commands him.

What kind of God would He be to keep lowering the standard of what is right because men do not and cannot, in their own strength, do what is required? That would be like painting the bull’s eye around the arrow regardless of where it lands.

A man cannot satisfy a bond by breach of contract. Nor does a person by breaking the law free himself from the law’s demands. Likewise, God does not take a man’s failing in his duty as reason to excuse him from performing that duty. God has not lost His right to command those who have lost their ability to perform. The sinner’s impotency does not dissolve his obligation.

Someone might say, “He who commands impossibilities commands in vain; therefore, the commands since the Fall are in vain.” But God does not command in vain (even when we fail to perform what He requires of us); His commands have other uses and purposes, in respect to both the righteous and the wicked.

It is manifest that the very best actions of the unconverted are sinful in the sight of God. “The plowing of the wicked [is] sin” (Prov. 21:4). Such persons may indeed do many things that are materially good, but nothing that is spiritually good: done from a good principle, in a good manner, and to a good end. All that they do is either directly or indirectly in opposition to the holy commandments of the Lord, and so it is sinful and hateful to Him (Prov. 15:8). How, then, can such performances atone for their past transgressions and entitle them to the favor of God and eternal life? How deep is the infatuation, and how great the folly, of relying on our own righteousness for a title to eternal salvation!

From what I have said, it is also evident that it is a righteous thing for God to require of unregenerate sinners what they cannot perform. He commands them to love Him with all their hearts and to perform perfect and perpetual obedience to His righteous law. In their unregenerate state, however, they have no moral ability to perform a single duty according to the commandments (Rom. 5:6). it is, nonetheless, infinitely just that the Lord should require of sinners what they are unwilling and unable to perform.

Likewise, it is right that He should condemn them to death for not performing the full extent of the law. For nothing can be more just and reasonable than that men should yield perfect obedience to His righteous law. He gave commandments to our first parents and sufficient ability to perform perfect obedience (Eccl. 7:29). Yet, they chose to deprive themselves of it by their transgression as the federal representatives of the whole human race (Rom. 5:12, 19). Furthermore, people have no excuse for what is voluntary. They love the depravity of their hearts, and choose to commit iniquity.

Human Inability and Spiritual Power

As we have seen, if the Lord could not justly require of sinners what they cannot perform, it would inevitably follow that they would have no need either for the Son of God to fulfill all righteousness for them or for His Holy Spirit to implant holiness in them. Therefore, to say that God cannot justly require sinners to perform obedience that, of themselves, they are unable to perform, tends to undermine both the law and the gospel.

We can also see that no influence of the Holy Spirit but that which is irresistible will suffice to convert a sinner to God and to the love and practice of sincere obedience to His law. So strong is the corruption in the hearts of the unregenerate that even the elect resist the saving operation of the Spirit for a time. If the Spirit were not infinitely efficacious in His work, they would resist His converting them. An infinitely powerful operation of the Holy Spirit, sufficient to conquer the full resistance of sinners, is necessary to change their nature and to make them willing to believe in Jesus Christ and return to the Lord. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit in converting sinners is represented in Scripture as putting His laws into their minds and writing them in their hearts, creating them in Christ Jesus for good works, quickening and raising them up from the dead, and calling them out of darkness into His marvelous light.

We cannot think of men receiving the gospel, with all its promises of mercy and forgiveness, apart from the Spirit of God. Without Him, the gospel would achieve nothing. By itself the gospel would be as much a dead letter as the law. But neither the law nor the gospel is a dead letter because the Holy Spirit uses both in saving and sanctifying His people (Rom. 8:4).

Hence, they are said to be born of the Spirit, to be new creatures, and to walk in newness of life. This great and wonderful change is indispensable to true conversion. Happy are you if you have experienced this marvelous change! As soon as you do, you begin to believe the gospel, to commune with the Second Adam in His righteousness and salvation, and to obey His law, growing in “a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him” (Col. 1:10).

The Reformed Reader Home Page