sibbes

Sibbes Ch 16: Through Conflict to Victory

In this closing chapter of Sibbes’s book, he connects several key ideas:

• Despite the truth of our being “bruised reeds / smoking flax,” as the Scriptures teach,
• And that “life” here as such, and in Christ, is a journey of conflict and difficulty of many forms, and periods of time,
• Yet there is the staying hand of God who knows, and controls, all that happens to us in an incomprehensible harmony with His purposes for all people and this time,
• With the ultimate end that Christ will be physically, imminently, completely, and eternally victorious.

How this happens is not clear to us, and at times seems contrary to all experience and feelings. Yet it is so.

The Challenge of Recognizing What is True

The question of what is “True” is the oldest wonder. In the first scene we have after the great Creation Record of Gen Ch 1-2 we see in Gen Ch 3 the Serpent’s narrative concerning his claim as to the “truth” of that particular tree, and boundary, the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The very word “knowledge” presumes that the object of such knowing is true in the sense of conforming to reality. What happened was the very motive of the Lord God was called into question, and the promise was made that violating such command was the gateway to becoming like “god,” which evil impulse was Satan’s first impulse in the dateless past.

So, what is “true?” How can be “know” that that which we can “know” is “True?” This is among the oldest questions, too, of philosophy and everyday life. The philosophical category of the question is known as “Epistemology.”

The Conflict of Truth: The Bible and any Contrary Claims of Man

In the image embedded below is a brief portrayal of this question aligned to the issue of Sibbes Ch 16, namely the obstacle-experience, discouragements, even despair, of our life’s journey. The first chart, directly below, summarizes on the left-hand side, the Biblical scope of “Truth” from its first use in Gen to its final use at the end of Revelation, with two important intervening uses. On the right-hand is an artistic synopsis of the efforts of man seeking “to know” what is True and to establish a methodology (or methodologies) for determining such.

As discussed in Sibbes Ch 15, that chapter had underlying it the question of “truth.” Such is its practical application in Ch 16 as applied to our Christian walk. Pilate, facing the very embodiment of “Truth” spoke his demand for it, and likely his frustration for determining it or any reliable process for discerning it. The first occurrence of “Truth” is the encounter of Joseph’s brothers with Joseph then as ruling Regent in the mightiest empire of its time, Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. That family line from Abraham had not been truth-tellers as evidenced by numerous examples. The exemplar was the face-to-face encounter at Gen 42. The issue of a great lie, namely that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal when in fact he had been sold into slavery by his own brothers, was exactly right there, just as it was with the Jewish Leaders presenting Jesus to Pilate for crucifixion on the charge that he was an insurrectionist and threat to Caesar when it was His threat to the “religion” and authority of the Leaders themselves. Further down on the left-hand side of the above chart we see the important admonition of our thought life begun and ending with what is true. And finally, at the very end of Revelation we see Him Who is True, and the angel telling the Apostle John that what he had experienced and recorded in this ultimate book of the Bible was indeed “True.”

The Application of “Truth” to our Journeying in Life

One of the great books of our Christian library is Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. It is not, of course, Scripture, nor is it any infallible revelation subsequent to the Bible. But there is a reason that it has endured as the most-popular, or close to that. of any Christian book outside of the Bible itself, for the more than 350 years since its writing. What is further remarkable is that John Bunyan was a ‘nobody’ in terms of educational or church standing. He was literally a tinkerer (an itinerant laborer who went about fixing pots and pans with his portable anvil and hammers and tongs). He was also a Baptist preacher who refused to accept the religious authorities demanding his conforming to the then Church of England’s formal system. For that he was jailed for more than a decade, during which time he wrote this wonderful book.

In the image below is a graphic summary of the story of the man Christian who is awakened to faith in his home city, “The City of Destruction,” and called to journey to “The Celestial City.”

There are, I think, three primary reasons why Bunyan’s book has had such communicative power. First it depicts a journey between two specific end points, his beginning condition as a resident of a city doomed to destruction, and his end destination, the Celestial City. Second, that journey was an experience of repeated encounter with obstacles and conflicts, some internal, some external. Bunyan’s genius in these encounters is that the reader can readily identified with parallels in one’s own life, again and again in one’s reading at different stages of life such that it seems as thought we each experience every one of them. Third, is that Christian learns and perseveres, sometimes just barely, through and by means of such conflicts, a message we all need to be re-portrayed, as that is to be our experience as well, and is the central theme of Sibbes Ch 16.

False Religions and Their Contrary Message to Bunyan’s

There has always existed error, even, especially, conscious error otherwise known as “deceit.” Religious contexts, along with political contexts, much like used car lots, are the unholy ground where such deceit is most likely and most perniciously to be found. Consider the below chart:

Basically, what the above is seeking to show that such deception exists to deny both of the end points of Bunyan’s story, namely that there is no present “City of Destruction” in the sense of being under God’s Judgment nor is there a heavenly destination. Another form of deception for those who admit some form of both end points is that the route there can be both easy and very very difficult: easy if one ‘obeys’ the authority of such deception and very very difficult as to what such ‘obedience’ entails; in other words, there exists no true Redemption, Salvation, Grace, but what remains is what it is that one can and must do, enabled by such human authority. Such as was the case under the religious industry during the earthly life of Jesus so has it been and is today.

Sibbes’s Theme of Conflict as the Character of our Journey

Sibbes’s Theme of Christ’s Victory Assured

Review of Sibbes Ch 11 – 14

Before beginning Sibbes Ch 15, let us review what Sibbes terms his last section, which begins his Ch 11: “We come now to the last part of our text” (Sibbes Ch 11, first sentence).

Recall Sibbes began, as the book’s title gives us, with the realization that we are “Bruised Reeds and Smoking Flax” and that being so is evidence that God has implanted His life in us, by Grace, from Jesus Christ our Mediator, implanted by the Holy Spirit. And, further, that such beginning, even in its nascent feebleness, like a new born, is not where God’s Grace and Work ends. No, rather, God continues that beginning in this life and will sustain it to the end of this life and into the eternal state yet to be our experience. Such continuing work of God is not necessarily in the form, degree, or pace that we might have expected from our viewing things within our human nature. Hence, the importance of Ch 11 -14, and the concluding two chapter, Ch 15 -16.

This final section of Sibbes, beginning in Ch 11 and continuing through Ch 12-16, is concerning this growing / sustaining Work of God in our present spacetime experience, and final era of God’s great plan of the ages, leading inevitably to Christ’s ultimate triumph, and the elect’s eternal salvation.

Before we begin these final two chapters in Sibbes, starting with Ch 15 below, it will help us to grasp the build up from Ch 11 through Ch 14 by reviewing selected highlight statements made by Sibbes.

In the pdf attached below is an overview of the operative text–Bruised Reed, Smoking Flax–and the directly quoted highlights from Sibbes with certain additions I’ve provided in brackets for reading clarity. The reader can locate each such highlight by doing a word search in a pdf of Sibbes’s book.

As noted on p. 1 of the above pdf, the word “reed” occurs three times in Matthew’s Gospel after the reference citation (Bruised Reed, Smoking Flax) in Matt 12. All three such occurrences are associated with the Crucifixion of Jesus: first a reed is used by the Roman soldiers to mock Jesus’s claim that He is “King of the Jews” (as Pilate wrote on the inscription attached to the Cross), as a pitiful representative of a king’s scepter as the emblem of authority and sovereignty. Next a reed, likely the very same ‘scepter,’ is used to beat Christ upon his heat, as a further humiliation and taunt. Finally, on the Cross, Jesus is offered “sour wine” via an upraised reed.

This final human action of offering “sour wine” is recorded in all four Gospels (Matt 27:48, Mark 15:36, Luke 23:36, and John 19:29), one of the few events so repeated in all four, and echoes Psalm 69:21 which gives prophetic testimony of that very event. Such “sour wine” was the very poorest quality, available only to the people of lowest economic condition unable to afford what was “wine” as we would know the term; it was a ‘step’ above vinegar as used in a seasoning in that it was wine suitable for drinking, barely so because of its strongly bitter taste.

The sour wine was used as further mocking of Jesus, as no king would be drinking such lowest grade fruit of the vine:

³⁵ And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine³⁷ and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” ³⁸ There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

Luke 23:35-38 (ESV)

Such event was further evidence of the true human sacrifice of Jesus both God and man, and His utter humility by the sour wine given in a soaked sponge at the end of an upraised reed, through which He then gave His claim of finished Work:

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”²⁹ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. ³⁰ When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:28-30 (ESV)

⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴ When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son^[ of God!”

Matt 27:51-54 (ESV); [Mark’s Gospel closely parallels the above from Matthew]

And, so, the humility of the reed and the sour wine that man mocked the King became at that moment the final enablement to pronounce the victory of Jesus Christ, the Second Adam who took on the curse of the First Adam on our behalf:

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass.
For if many died through one man’s trespass, [Adam]

much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 

¹⁶ And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin.
For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, [Adam]

but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 

¹⁷ For if, because of one man’s trespass,
death reigned through that one man, [Adam]

much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, [Adam]

so one act of righteousnessleads to justification and life for all men. 

¹⁹ For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, [Adam]

so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 

²⁰ Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 
²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, [Adam]

grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:12-21 (ESV) [Added reference to “Adam” in brackets, and highlights mine: the bold font designating the Fall of Adam, and the bold underlined font, the Work of Christ]

The above passage from Ch 5 of the Epistle to the Romans is the rightly the subject of deep commentary and analysis, beyond our scope here. In short, all humans “fell” under Adam, who was our “father” in both human / genetic life and fallen nature; in a parallel way, we who are in Christ, derive from Him eternal life contained within the propitiation of God (full satisfaction for the consequence of Adam’s sin and our own, plus the favor of God beyond ‘only’ judicial satisfaction, as adopted sons).

Ch 15: Christ’s Public Triumph

Sibbes begins the chapter with three key observations re Christ’s work:

• It (Christ’s work) present and active.
• It is not in full view, nor fully complete / finished.
• It will one day be so: fully complete and fully viewed.

What, then, of the deniers of the above, even the opposers of those who hold to the above? Sibbes in a few sentences gives poignant observation as to the fate of horror of any condemned to God’s ultimate wrath, despite such persons believing even to a state of internal certainty that none of the above is real, and they have no accountability before God.

The wicked that now shut their eyes to this shall see it to their torment.
It shall not be in the power of subtle men to see or not see what they wish.
Christ will have power over their hearts; and as his wrath shall immediately seize upon their souls against their wills, so will he have power over the eyes of their souls, that they may see and know what will increase their misery.
Grief shall be fastened to all their senses, and their senses to grief.
Then all the false glosses which they put upon things shall be wiped off.
…the time will come when they shall be driven out of this fools’ paradise….

Sibbes Ch 15, introductory paragraphs. Highlights mine.

Sibbes uses the phrase “subtle men,” which does not have Sibbes’s meaning in our present use of the word “subtle.” It’s meaning in Sibbes’s time was more weighted to “clever, crafty” as person who has a scheme to avoid being caught / called-out by an authority or, if caught, has a plan for avoiding consequences. Such is the nature of a defense attorney’s argument in court on behalf of an all-too-guilty defendant. More importantly, “subtle” was the word in the Bible used to introduce the Serpent in Gen 3:1 from which arose the temptation and the rationale for choosing life in non-recognition of God’s claim, to which first Eve, then Adam, submitted. The Hebrew word of the Serpent–fitting all those believing they can avoid God–is arum (Strongs H6165), deriving from the verb form arom (H6191):

•  H6175. עָרוּם arum; from 6191; crafty, shrewd, sensible:—crafty(2), prudent(2), prudent man(3), sensible(2), sensible man(1), shrewd(1).
• H6191. עָרֹם arom; a prim. root; to be shrewd or crafty:—become shrewd(1), make shrewd(1), sensible(1), very cunning(1).
•  Thomas, R. L. (1998). In New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : updated edition. Foundation Publications, Inc.

The particular distinctive of arum (crafty) is that it ‘works’ because it appears, is ‘dressed up,’ to be the opposite of what it is in reality. It is a deception, and such was its effect on Eve: And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Tim 2:14, NKJV).

In addition to the idea of “subtle” as “shrewd / crafty” meaning active misrepresentation of true / ultimate reality there is a teleology hidden as well. With the act of “subtlety” is the ultimate aim of enticement. The Serpent was not being shrewd and crafty to show off but to achieve his sought-after end: ruining God’s creation, shaming God, gaining (as it were) adherents for most ancient category “those who chose evil in the face of True Good.” But even Eve’s choice was not the ultimate goal; rather it was Adam’s knowing choice. Thus this two-step process of leading Adam to be our Fallen-Condemned-to-Death-and-Judgment forefather, and inbreeding of all the human race, is a further, deeper demonstration of the subtle / shrewd / crafty nature of evil. And, further, the ongoing poison of such craftiness is that the deceived fail to grasp that such is their condition. Rather, they are naturally inclined to believe that it is they, the deceived, who are enlightened and wise, and it is those ‘others’ who are the deceived.

Being made aware of one deceived condition is a blessing. We would all curse a medical doctor who gave us and to everyone his / her happy diagnosis that we will live pain-free and pass away in our sleep well into our 90s, when he / she knew, or should have known, that we had some curable condition that would soon lead to our painful demise.

Two more important points on the idea behind the word “subtle” (“crafty”). First is that it is frequently used in the OT for one truly, Spiritually wise, as in Proverbs where it is contrasted with “the fool.” See, for instance: Proverbs 12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12.

Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly (13:16). The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving (14:8)

Proverbs 13:16 and 14:8, where “prudent” translated Hebrew arum (H6175)

Here the subtle / shrewd man, translated as “prudent,” is contrasted with a “fool” in the sense of “stupid” (which is connected to the idea of “stupefied”–dumb, unknowing, clueless, a simpleton). So subtle / prudent is used in a generically positive sense standing opposite to the idea of being oblivious, or more nuanced, a simpleton.

The second additional point is about the origins of such craftiness. The NT gives us clarity on the base-case answer. Jesus has encounters with the leaders of the Jewish Religion (The Religion Industry, TRI, of its time and place). Initially, these encounters were investigatory: who are You? what are You up to? Then these investigations evolved to be particularized on certain fundamental tenets of TRI, specifically the righteousness its adherents derive from their adherence to the Mosaic Law (as as they misunderstood / misapplied it). Ultimately then the encounters descended in to trick question, and deception: Shall be pay taxes to Caesar? Is it permitted to divorce a wife for any reason? This woman was caught in the act of adultery, what should you do? A woman marries a man who dies, and this same is repeated six more times, in what way can heaven work this out? And, so forth. None of these were questions seeking explanation. Finally, TRI proceeded with the final deception of a false trial, a flawed judgment, and deceit upon the Roman ruler, Pontus Pilate who solely had the authority to order crucifixion. The overarching summary of Jesus’s interaction with TRI is that of facing deceptive questions and acts. All such bookends how Jesus began His public ministry with his 40 day fast, followed by being tempted by The Diabolos (G1228, translated as The Devil): “diabolos” is one who falsely accuses and divides, a slanderer…which describes an all-around misrepresenting person. Diabolos is a two-part compound word which components mean literally “down” (dia) to “throw / cast” (bolos). Clearly it applied at such three-part temptation (Matt Ch 4) with the goal to cast down Jesus’s sinless, substitutionary Being to become as just another fallen ‘son of Adam.’ And the TRI was exactly aligned with such purpose of The Diabolos by casting down Jesus as Messiah and the Son Who had been sent by the Father to reclaim the Father’s Vineyard.

Sec. 15.1: The Open Glory of Christ in His Members

Beginning in this first section of Ch 15, and continuing with the subsequent sections below, SIbbes recounts the principle that our present experience in a fallen world is being corrected and ultimately will be fully disclosed, judged, and separated eternally.

Then shall judgment and truth have their victory. Then Christ will plead his own cause. Truth shall no longer be called heresy and schism, nor heresy catholic doctrine. Wickedness shall no longer go masked and disguised. Goodness shall appear in its own luster, and shine in its own beams.

Sibbes, Sec 15.1

Sec. 15.2: Follow Sincerity and Truth

As above, the admonition to us to follow “Sincerity and Truth” is in the context that such will prevail, and those presently opposed, will be judged:

those that have been ruled by their own deceitful hearts and a spirit of error shall be brought forth to disgrace….joined sin and shame together at last.

Ibid.

…those [will] be laden with curses another day who abuse the judgment of others by sophistry and flattery//

Ibid.

The souls of most men are drowned in their senses, and carried away with weak opinions, raised from vulgar mistakes and shadows of things….men, trusting in vanity, vanquish themselves in their own apprehensions.

Ibid,

One of the subtle forms of deception is seeing the “good” of this present world in higher terms that is rightly so. Sibbes puts it this way:

the vain heart of man has been enlarged to conceive a greater good in the things of this world than there is…this is the vanity of our natures, that though we shun above all things to be deceived and mistaken in present things, yet in the greatest matters of all we are willingly ignorant and misled.

Ibid.

Sibbes, as he frequently does, inserts a sentence conveying a deep idea, worthy of introspection. Such is the following (also from Sec. 15.2): “It is one of the highest points of wisdom to consider on what grounds we venture our souls.” The fulcrum of such deeper idea is the word I have highlighted “venture.” The root meaning is “to go” somewhere, from which we get common English usage like “adventure” (which can result in a “misadventure”), and such a person is thought of as “adventurous,” and in the business world creating a “joint venture.” Here, Sibbes connects the idea of a “venture” with the way, the path, the life-direction to which we commit our soul-life.

A powerful question to ask of anyone, especially oneself, is this: What do you want? And then the followup: What are doing, what is your thinking, as to how you will get what you want? Each of us, at every age and stage of life, have these questions with some form of answers lurking deep within us. Of course the clutter of life is that there are so many things we could enumerate as our “wants” and even more answers as to the “why’s” and “way’s” of each of them. But peeling back the veneer of answers, as with an onion, beneath the ‘many’ there underlies a simpler, important, core, “want.” Almost all of us have held to such want as this: we want to shape the world, and us in it, to meet our needs both physical and for significance, in some connectedness with other people who ‘fit in’ to such pursuit. Sibbes says, as do the Scriptures, that such is a deeply flawed soul-life purpose, and doomed to fail if that’s the essence of one’s being.

Sec. 15.3: Christ Alone Advances this Government

Sibbes continues here with again contrasting what this world, nature, can provide by its allure contrasted with that which is spiritual.

Nature, simply considered, cannot raise itself above itself to actions which are spiritual and of a higher order and nature. Therefore the divine power of Christ is necessary to carry us above all our own strength,

Sibbes 15.3

Sec. 15.4: We Must Not Look to Ourselves

The spiritual, God-honoring life is not achievable by even super-human deliberations and effort. Such life is an entirely new domain and must be lived within the envelop of the power of Christ. Again, we have Sibbes:

it is dangerous to look for that from ourselves which we must have from Christ….dependent spirits are the wisest and the ablest. Nothing is stronger than humility, which goes out of itself, or weaker than pride, which rests on its own foundation. Frustra nititur qui non innititur (He strives in vain who is not dependent). And this should be particularly observed because naturally we aspire to a kind of divinity, in setting about actions in the strength of our own abilities…Therefore in all, especially difficult encounters, let us lift up our hearts to Christ, who has Spirit enough for us all, in all our exigencies…

Ibid.

Sibbes caution-reminder is this: “that which is begun in self confidence ends in shame.”

Sec. 15.5: Christ Makes Us Feel Our Dependence

To know true grace and comfort we must truly see the “necessity of dependence” on Christ “that we may know the spread head” of such is “outside ourselves.” (Sibbes, 15.5)

Often, perhaps always, we learn this lesson only by experiencing “defeat:” “we are stronger after defeats, because hidden corruption, undiscerned before, is now discovered, and thence we are brought to make use of mercy pardoning and power supporting.” (Sibbes 15:4)

From this Sibbes says that we “often fail in lesser conflicts and stand firm in greater” because it is in latter circumstance where know lesser temptations to act out of self’s-abilities.

Sec. 15:6: The Triumph of Grace

Sibbes closes this chapter with a reminder of points made earlier in the book. The context is that “defeats” and “failures” can a power of discouragement which we have all experienced in the world’s ways of things that lead to irreconcilable conditions, irreversible situations, permanent alienation. This is how the world in its lesser condition acts upon us, as we do in such condition all too readily upon others.

We can, by extension, think that God must be exactly so, even more so, because of His Greatness, Holiness, and intolerance for sin. But in concluding such we would be missing a higher truth and that is what God did on our behalf, as Mediator / Redeemer, even when we were His most-extreme enemies as was and is the world, He saved us, adopted us, and made us co-heirs with Christ. Now, having done so, God also continues such mediatorial role in preserving us. Sibbes closes this chapter with the following:

Since the fall, God will not trust us with our own salvation, but it is both purchased and kept by Christ for us, and we for it through faith, wrought by the power of God, which we lay hold of.

Sec. 15.6

Sibbes Ch 16 here:

Chapter 13: Grace Shall Reign

This Sibbes Chapter 13 gives the third conclusion deriving from Sibbes’s observation that “Christ’s Government shall be victorious.” This continues his theme that whatever is our circumstances, even as bruised reeds / smoldering flax, no only does Christ welcome and redeem our condition He does so to a condition of complete and final victory. So just as it may be inconceivable that we could receive the benevolent attention of the Lord God, Creator of the Universe in the initial instance–as we are unknown and of no importance even to the temporal human leaders of our present spacetime–it is also, and equally, true that such benevolent attention will not be without becoming finally and fully fruitful. The latter condition is even more astonishing than the first because as little as we can conceive of our experiencing the love of God it seems even more amazing after having had such experience that subsequent stumbles in faith and work has not, does not, dissuade God from completing the Work that He began.

The sections in this Ch 13 are:

1. Why Christ’s Kingdom Must Prevail
2. Why the Enemy Seems Victorious
3. Consolations for Weak Christians
4. Evidences of Christ’s Rule in Us

Here are a few Sibbes’s Ch 13 ’nuggets’…

• Conscience makes a man kingly or contemptible….The sharpest conflict which the soul has is between the conscience and God’s justice.
• [we have been] begotten by the immortal seed of the Spirit.
• Truth is a beam of Christ’s Spirit, both in itself and as it is engrafted into the soul.
• The purpose of Christ’s coming was to destroy the works of the devil, both for us and in us; 
  and the purpose of the resurrection was, as well as sealing to us the assurance of his victory,
• God’s children usually, in their troubles, overcome by suffering….[and this] is by degrees
• virtutis custos infirmitas (weakness is the keeper of virtue)….when we have fallen, let us believe we shall rise again…
  So let us never give up, but, in our thoughts, knit the beginning, progress and end together
• rooted faith, fides radicata [the Latin origin of our English word “radical” means “root,” “core”].  
  Weakness with watchfulness will stand, when strength with too much confidence fails.
• Having a well ordered, uniform life, not consisting of fits and starts, shows a well ordered heart; as in a clock, 
  when the hammer strikes well, and the hand of the dial points well, it is a sign that the wheels are rightly set. 
  [Here we see another of Sibbes’s poignant contemporary illustrations…wherein he is thinking of every city’s central clock that governs the activities of its town square]

Sec 13.1 Why Christ’s Kingdom Must Prevail

Sibbes answers the question in six parts.

1. Our Conscience. Within our human state of being there exists a judge-discerner we call “conscience” (the compound word derives from the Latin roots: with + knowing). In purely natural terms our conscience marks out the boundary or right/wrong, good/evil, just/unjust, better/worse, from which our choices either conform or condemn us. However, that dividing line, the “/” in the above word-pairs, moves with time, choices, and consequences. But, increasingly such choices forms a network, in physiological terms a neural network in our brain that engrains and moves (to some degree) the positions of that “/.” The famous psychologist William James noted this by an equally-famous quote: “We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone…Every smallest stroke of virus, or of vice, leaves it never so little scar.” Thus, follows power from our nature and nurture. Sibbes brings us to recognize that however active and powerful are such natural forces upon ourselves, there is an even greater, external (extra nos, outside of ourselves) power, that of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
2. External Enemies. If our conscience, first fallen and yet all the more powerful, is overcome (in and by time) so also is the condition of our external enemies. They do not cease to exist; but they have had extinguished their power to prevail, though there are battles to be fought, and setbacks as part of God’s own plan for increasing our humility and dependence.
3. Truth. Pilate’s question of Jesus was “What is Truth?” Jesus gave him no answer (that we know). But the Holy Spirit / Comforter / Revealer, sent to indwell us by Jesus, does bring Truth through God’s revealed Word. The lies, by the Father of Lies (Satan-accuser / Devil-deceiver), continue and are mighty toward us and our environment. But God’s Spirit is not idle, nor defeated: “…as He dwells [within]…so He will drive out all that rise against Him, until He is all in all” (Sibbes 13.1.3).
4. Victory. The beginning of the Spirit’s work in bringing us from darkness into light, from flesh-only to Spirit-indwelling, is not only the evidence of a beginning but the certainty of the final victory: “O death where is your sting?”
5. Softened Heart. Christ as King is also our Loving Father who nurtures, supports, and changes our inner man such that His Kingdom will be so established.
6. Destruction of Satan. Christ came into the world system “to destroy the works of the devil, both for us and in us” (Sibbes 13.1.6) On the Cross we hear the proclamation: “It is finished!” The “it” must include the destruction foretold. “Christ at length will fulfill his purpose in us, and faith rests assured of it, and this assurance is very operative, stirring us up to join with Christ in his purposes.” (Sibbes 13.1.6)

Sec 13.2 Why the Enemy Seems Victorious

Sibbes here addresses the everyday conundrum of the Christian walk: from our trudging perspective it appears more failure than victory, such that we even come to doubt whether any of all this is true, either of us or even of anyone. This is a particularized version of one of the great mysteries of life: Why Evil? (This itself is a subcategory of the even greater question known as Theodicy, which asks “Is God Just?” or more-commonly, “Given the world as we have it, how can it be that God is Just?”

Put the other way around, if we claim as given that God Is Just–full stop–then how can there then be Evil? The simple answer, which is not fully satisfying, is heaven comes later.

Sibbes gives his insight in four parts:

1. Suffering is Part of the Plan. The Divine principle is that God overcomes evil by enduring and ultimately overcoming it. At a macro-view, “evil” won in the Garden many millennia ago, and before Christ’s redemptive payment and justified resurrection, with two more millennia since. For reasons that in large part must remain with the hidden Will of God, He has permitted time and struggle, large and long, as the path toward heave.
2. Victory is by Degrees. There are many Biblical illustrations that God does bring true victory but it only by degrees. God grants to Abram (Abraham) the Promised Land but not initially full ownership of it. God promises Abraham heirs biological heirs, but there’s a 24 year wait. God promises Israel in captivity that He will deliver them out of it, but there’s a multi-hundred year delay. God promises entry and possession of the Promised Land, but there’s a 40 year journey in the desert. God promises victory led by Joshua over the seven evil nations in God’s Land but it takes warfare, including defeats, and time.
3. God Works by ‘Contraries.’ Sibbes notes that a consistent theme of revelation is that God does what appears to be ‘opposite world,’ namely what He promises appears to begin in exactly the opposite direction to what one would have reasonably imagined.
4. Backward Blesses. Sibbes further expands on the ‘contraries’ point to note that such ‘opposite world’ causes the greater benefit. As is often the case, there exists a succinct Latin phrase that captures such unexpected benefit: virtutis custos infirmitas (weakness is the keeper of virtue); we recognize “virtue” and “infirmity” from their English proximity, and “custos” is related to our English word “custody” (in the control of) and “custodian” (as the building’s ‘super’). It is by one’s weakness, even affliction, that we come into the custody of God’s virtue. How is that possible, and even if it is, why have it be this way? (i.e., Why Evil?). Sibbes gives us another one of those beautiful Latin phrases: fides radicata (rooted faith), where “fides” extends to our English “fidelity” and “faith,” but “radicata” to “radical” meaning something different than the Latin, namely “extreme” instead of Latin’s “rooted,” “grounded,” “founded.” The biggest life-issue as to our walk is what is, exactly, enduringly, my own fides radicata? Is it that God all things well–He is indeed Just, and Loving?

“It matters not so much what ill is in us, as what good; not what corruptions, but how we regard them; not what our particular failings are so much as what the thread and tenor of our lives are, for Christ’s dislike of that which is amiss in us turns not to the hatred of our persons but to the victorious subduing of all our infirmities.” (Sibbes 13.2.4)

It is not “what happens,” but what we hold to be true at our radicata, and say, about “what happens.”

Sec 13.3 Consolations for Weak Christians

The reality is that we are all weak as Christians and, as noted above, that is intended to bring us in custody to faith. But it can easily bring us to doubt. What arrests this latter is: “That little that is in us is fed with an everlasting spring.” (Sibbes 13.3)

There is a wonderful verse of poetry on this point at Proverbs 13:14. “The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.” (NIV)

There is a deeper beauty in this verse by looking carefully at its Koine Greek expression, as it is expressed in the Septuagint (LXX), the OT translation of ca 200 B.C. that was the primary OT ‘Bible’ of the Jewish people during the NT period.

• “The Teaching.” The Koine word is “nomos” which can mean rule, law. In this context I prefer translating it as “life-rule” or “-guideline / principles.”
• “Fountain.” The Koine word is “pay-gay” which does mean fountain. It conveys an upward force. There is a beautiful word play of “pay-gay” with “snares” as below.
• “Turning a person.” This phrase does not occur in the Koine but derives by implication from “nomos” as described above, namely one’s life guidelines.
• “From.” The Koine has the preposition more graphically translated has “under,” which fits, importantly, the words that follow.
• “—.” Not directly translated by the NIV is the Koine word for “unwise.” This stands in juxtaposition to the opening phrase describing “the wise.” So we are dealing here, as is often the case in Proverbs, two opposites, the wise and the unwise (i.e. the fool).
• “The snares.” The Koine word is for a “trap,” which is slightly better than “snare” because of the above preposition conveying “under.” And the contrast is better made with the “foundation” with its upward impetus. But there is an additional beauty here. The Koine word for “trap” is “pah-gis.” So we have a word play contrasting the upward free flow of “pay-gay” with the downward lockdown of “pah-gis.”

So that “everlasting spring” metaphor used by Sibbes has a lovely fitting together with the contrast given us in Proverbs 13:14 between the person who is guided by a rightly-formed life-principle contrasted with the fool lacking such guide.

“The church of Christ, begotten by the Word of truth, has the doctrine of the apostles for her crown, and tramples the moon, that is, the world and all worldly things, under he fee (Rev. 12.1). Every one that is born of God overcometh the world’ (1 John 5:4). Faith, whereby especially Christ rules, sets the soul so high that it looks down on all other things as far below, as having represented to it, by the Spirit of Christ, riches, honor, beauty and pleasures of a higher nature.” (Sibbes 13.3, closing paragraph)

Sec 13.4 Evidences of Christ’s Rule in Us

As further consolation for “weak Christians” in this closing section of Sibbes Ch 13 he gives us eight evidences of Christ’s Rule in us.

1. Justification. Here’s Sibbes uses “just” in a different way. Every person can be asked on what basis is their justification for their way of life, as they have prescribed it and lived it. (It is interesting to ask people such questions…and listen hyper-carefully). A question that always be asked in response is: On what basis do you know that you (your prescribed way of life) is correct? What is the foundation of your belief system? For us, in Christ, our answer is Christ, and Him Crucified, and all that derives from that, as we written elsewhere on this site from Calvin’s Little Book of five summary chapters.
2. Strength. Sibbes uses the phrase “reasons of religion,” which does not properly reflect his meaning in our time and place because “religion” has lost its primary meaning to mean almost anything, including evil. We have a strength of revelation (The Bible), and the Indwelling Spirit of God.
3. Outcome. Given the above, we have a confidence in a wonderful outcome, even in our immediate suffering, but ultimately in Glory with God our Father.
4. Truth. There is such a thing a Truth, Pilate excepted. And we have been given it. In the opening of John’s Gospel we see Jesus disclosed to us as the Eternal Logos, whereby Logos is commonly-translated “Word.” But “Logos” is much more than “Word.” It is certainly Truth (John 14:6 Jesus gave one of His seven “I AM” statement, namely “I am Truth.”). But it is more than just something factually correct. It is the revelation of ultimate Reality.
5. Satisfaction. We believe, as persons indwell by God Himself, we are that “naos” that OT “Holy Place,” that so we are under the best possible Government, and are so satisfied.
6. Order. Life in Christ is (should be) that of “well order, uniform…not consists of fits and starts.” We are always to be on one very particular path that never changes, though sufferings enter in and comforts as well, each in some turn and harmony, the path never changes. (Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress is a beautiful illustration of this).
7. Comfort. That which we might otherwise count as some “loss,” and truly be even that, becomes also the occasion of Christ’s Comfort.
8. Faithfulness. A continuing amazement of the Christian walk is the opportunity to find delight in Christ’s Way in contrast even to our naturally-preferred way. Such contrast, opposite, is not of our doing but our delight, and confirms our being in Christ (“in Christ” being a favorite phrase in the Epistles, and remarkable indeed).

“In Christ” occurs 96 times in the Epistles of the NT (according to the NASB 1995 translation), and likely many other times “in Him.” In all or almost all of such examples “Christ” occurs as a singular, masculine, noun (of course) in a particular part of speech known as the Dative Case. There are three primary uses of the Koine Dative: (1) indirect object, (2) position in space or time (locative Dative), or (3) by the agency pf, or under the instrumentality of. What is primarily intended by such use “in Christ” is certainly the 3rd use–agency / instrumentality of–and metaphorically the 2nd use–location in space/time. (Christ is not ‘out, or up, there’ looking down and wondering what the hell is going on, and puzzled how to respond).

Sibbes Ch 14 here:

Here in Ch 12, Sibbes does part two of what he began in Ch 11. In both chapters her refers to God’s “judgment” as a term for Kingship, Ruler in our lives. In Ch 11 he emphasize the importance of understanding that the Lord Jesus Christ is not just “Savior,” essential as that is, but additionally, finally, ultimately “Lord” as well. Even His fuller name–Lord Jesus Christ–says just that. “Jesus” is the Koine Greek word for the Hebrew name “Joshua,” which means “Jehovah (Yahweh) Saves,” and of course “Christ” is the Koine translation of the Hebrew “Messiah” which means Deliverer, or Savior. And then we have “Lord” which means in a given context Ruler, Governor, King. Some will say that “Lord” is a term of respect, something like “sir,” or “Professor,” or even “Rabbi.” And in some contexts it does mean that. But there are many passages where it is clear that “Lord” means something much more, though it includes, a reference to respect, honor and includes, appropriately, worship.

Sibbes Ch 12: Christ’s Wise Government

Sibbes expands on such “Judgment” (Lordship) rule of God Christ by two separate considerations, which he calls “branches.”

1. Spiritual Government of Christ characterized by “judgment” and “wisdom,” and
2. Such Government is characterized by “graciousness.”

So, Sibbes contends, these must both be recognized, and in that order. Together we terms these two branches by the title of this chapter “Christ’s Wise Government” This can be understood to be the outworking of “Judgment:” Christ as Wise, Sovereign, and Righteous then exercises judgment–wise assessment of ultimate reality and the best end purposes of all actions–appropriate to the person and Purpose of God.

12.1 Judgment and Wisdom

Sibbes’s theme sentence in this section is: “a well guided life by the rules of Christ stands with the strongest and highest reason of all.”

The introductory phrase above–“a well guided life”–is close in wording to one to the central question of mankind (at least the self-aware people), namely “What is the / a good life?”

Sibbes lived in the era we now call “the enlightenment,” characterized by a rediscovery of the ancient, classic original Greek texts of philosophical and “wisdom” literature (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Zeno of Citium [Stoicism]). Much of such literature has affected the discussion and conclusions to the Good Life Question’ (GLQ) down to this present day. Yet, Sibbes not only makes no mention of such prevalent writings and theories but he has changed the question only slightly in terms of wording but massively in terms of framework.

Sibbes ask us not what is “good” but what is “well guided.” There is an enormous difference between the use of these two terms. The one leads us to self-discovery and self-authority, that is: not only am I (the self) the one who can answer such question, however I may be guided by the “wisdom” of others or certain principles of investigation, but, also, only I am (the self) authorized to implement my self-discovery into such a life.

Sibbes, gives no space to such self-discovery / authority. Rather, he asks, what does is truly a well guided life, and in what way does it function / operate? This distinction in this most-basic question of human life, is the fundamental ‘fork in the road.’

Consider below the Scripture that Sibbes sites in this Section 12.1 as given in the pdf directly below:

The Flaw of Self-Choosing

There is an important Greek term about the authority of self-choosing: autexousiou (transliterated). It arises originally (I believe) from the above cited Classic Greek philosophers. Our interest here is how it is handled and applied Biblically by famed Theologian Francis Turretin )1623 – 1687), author of the classic three volume systematic theology Institutes of Elenctic Theology. In particular, he asked, and answered, five key questions under the heading (his “Tenth Topic”) as to “The Free Will of Man in a State of Sin.” In addresses these questions he makes reference to the above term, autexousiou, which means self will / authority (auto, self; plus ex, out of, plus ousiou, being). Though this is not an everyday term it is useful for our consideration because it encompasses the triplet of core ideas: the Self, by Itself, emanating authoritative, rightful judgments.

And, so, the most basic question is this: in our human condition, we as Believers know to be fallen–based upon the revelation of Scripture, and experience in our own self-awareness of our basic nature–are we able to know “good,” and by knowing it, to “do good?”

The popular answer in our spacetime, and perhaps of every spacetime, is “Yes!” and “Yes!” God gives us many examples in the Bible of such self-confidence and self-assertion, including at the very presentation by God of the Ten Commandments:

..came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain,³ while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” ⁷ So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸ All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord

Exodus 19:2-8 (ESV, highlights mine)

The context of the above quote is the event precedent, namely the giving of the Law of the Ten Commandments in Exodus Ch 20. Before The Law was given, God through Moses asked of the people their intention to obey, to which they replied as in the bold text above.

The rest of the OT gives clear, conclusive, convincing, awful evidence that such confidence was totally unfounded. And, by the time of Christ, it had become so perverted in its self-delusion that the Jewish leadership (the Pharisees and the rest) followed ultimately by the will of the people that Jesus should not only be put to death but done in the most accursed way, hanging ‘on a tree,’ the death of the Cross. Such was the judgment of The Religion Industry (TRI), deriving its authority, as it claimed, from the OT itself, and joined with The Political Industry (TPI) of the Roman Empire in complete alignment of purpose, putting to death in the most horrific, shameful way this “Jesus of Nazareth” Who they not only failed to rightly identify as to His Being but held Him in the highest conceivable contempt.

Now, on what imaginable grounds can it be contended that man in his present fallen condition is capable of rightly knowing, let alone doing, “good?”

So, what do we make of the idea of rightful self-authority (autexousiou)? Below is Turretin’s succinct summary of the full scope of God’s Biblical Revelation.

Turretin’s Institutes Ten Topic The Free Will of Man in a State of Sin, Question 4

Turretin poses this question as follows:

FOURTH QUESTION – Whether
(A) the free will in a state of sin is so a servant of and enslaved by sin that it can do nothing but sin; or
(B) whether it still has the power to incline itself to good, not only civil and externally moral, but internal and spiritual, answering accurately to the will of God prescribed in the law.

[Turretin’s Judgment and answer was]
(A) The former we affirm;
(B) the latter we deny,

[which Turretin then noted that such conclusion was contrary to all three primary, non-Reformed theological opponents of his time, namely}
against
(1) the papists, [Turretin’s term for the Roman Catholic church’s position]

(2) Socinians [referrence to followers, first of Socinius in the mid-16th Century, later becoming the Unitarian movement, adopting a “rationalist” interpretation of the Bible and denying the true Deity of Jesus Christ] and

(3) Remonstrants [the term used for the followers of Jacob Arminius which opposed the systematic theology of John Calvin in his Institutes and the foundation of Reformed Doctrine, by such “remonstrants” (i.e., opponents) raising five famous objections, which were then answered by the Council (Synod) of Dort in 1619-20 by what is today known as TULIP, or the Five Points].

Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology, with my emendations and commentary in parentheses and brackets.

The above analysis requires a careful reading to grasp fully the issue and claims. It deals with both the basis on which we, as the Elect of God, enter into such state of Predestination and Calling but also on the means by which Sanctification itself must occur. In short, Turretin, as did Calvin, Luther, and other Reformers, recognized that the Scripture declares us to be in our natural state dead unto sin.

¹And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in Hiskindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:1-10 NKJV (highlights mine)

Thus, we have no basis for boasting or pride or self-confidence as to our entering into Grace, nor continuing in Grace having once and for all entered, nor the doing of “good” from such state of Grace.

And, thus, as Sibbes has introduced this Section, we as God’s Own sheep, are in need of a “Well [Good] Guided [Judged] Life.”

12.2 The Need for Heavenly Light

Sibbes here makes clear our need for God’s “light” (revelation) of both the true “good” but also of the right means by which such good is captured and used for doing.

As in many contexts we find that our inner being hears two different voices, admonitions: that from God, which is contrary to our first birth nature, and that from Satan which is in accord with our first birth nature. But is the reality that we have a second birth, one from “above,” that creates the contrariness within wherein we ‘hear’ both, completely contrary voices, God’s from the new nature and Satan’s from the old. It is Paul’s lament, and our own:

¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7:13-25 NKJV

12.3 Where Christ’s Government is Set-Up

Sibbes’s key point is that Christ Government (Judgment) is both the knowing to do God’s will but the means, and specifically the desiring, of doing it.

…wherever true wisdom judgment are, there Christ has set up His government, because where [His] wisdom is it directs us, not only to understand, but to order our ways aright….not only the brain but the heart itself is taught…not only know what they should do but are taught the very doing of it…[such that] There is a sweet harmony among God’s truth, His judgment, and His whole conversation [which word I understand to me the communication / connection between God and one’s new nature].

Sibbes, Ch 12.3

Such “harmony” is that God’s “heavenly light” of Sibbes Ch 12.2 is united with God’s “Government” (“Judgment”) of Sibbes Ch 12.3 producing both the good knowing but the desire and means of good doing.

12.4 How Christ Governs Us

Here Sibbes emphasizes the absolute necessity of God’s proactivity within us for true “good” to become expressed and real.

Judgment should have a throne in the heart of every Christian. Not that judgment alone will work a change. There must be grace to alter the bent and sway of the will before it will yield to be wrought upon by the understanding. But God has so joined these together that whenever he savingly shines on the understanding he gives a soft and pliable heart. For without a work upon the heart by the Spirit of God it will follow its own inclination to that which it loves, whatever the judgment shall say to the contrary.

Sibbes 12.4

And such is necessary because, Sibbes says: “There is no natural proportion [true connectedness] between an sanctified heart and a sanctified judgment [discernment / Wisdom as to the doing of “good”].”

And, so: “Where grace has subdued the heart, unruly passions do not cast such a mist before the understanding that it does not see in particular cases what is best.”

12.5 The Effects of This in Practice

Finally, Sibbes here makes clear the essentiality of Christ’s Government in us:

No wicked man can be a wise man. Without Christ’s Spirit the soul is in confusion, without beauty and form, as all things were in the chaos before the creation. The whole soul is out of joint till it be set right again by him whose office is to `restore all things’.

Sibbes Ch 12.5

Thus it is that: “Christ as a new conqueror changes the fundamental laws of old Adam and establishes a government of his own.”

Sibbes Ch 13 here: