Objection 4: Dead in Sins – Whitby’s refutation of Arguments in favor of irresistible grace
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III. OBJECTION FOUR. "The unregenerate man is represented as 'dead in trespasses and sins;' and he that is dead, we know, hath no motion in him, and so cannot move towards a new life." (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13)
ANSWER ONE. That the metaphor of being 'dead in trespasses and sins' cannot warrant our saying anything of unregenerate persons which may properly be affirmed of the dead, is evident from scripture and experience: for a dead body is void of all sense, whereas the unregenerate man is often under strong convictions, and a deep sense of his present misery. A dead man cannot awake himself out of the sleep of death, but God says to the spiritually-dead man, " Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life." (Ephesians 5:14) A dead man cannot hear, but to the spiritually-dead God says, "Hear, and your souls shall live." (Isaiah 55:3) And, lastly, it would be absurd to exhort a dead body to turn about and live; whereas God thinks it not incongruous to say to persons spiritually-dead, "turn yourselves, and ye shall live." (Ezekiel 18:32, 33:1)
Moreover good Christians are said to be ' dead to sin,' (Romans 6:2, 6, 7, 11) dead to the law, (Galatians 2:19) dead and crucified to the world. (Galatians 6:14) Now if hence we cannot truly argue that they cannot sin at all; that they can do nothing relating to the world, or could do nothing relating to the law, as St. Paul in compliance with the Jews, still did; neither can we argue from the metaphor of being 'dead in trespasses and sins,' that after God's call to hear and live, his excitation by all the motives and incitements of his word and Spirit, we can do nothing in obedience to these calls, and in compliance with these motions of his word and Spirit.
ANSWER SECOND. This argument offends against the first general rule laid down before, for both the places cited concern only the Gentile world, held under the government of Satan, and living according to the evil spirit, which works in the children of disobedience.' (Ephesians 2:2) And the same persons are said to be dead in sins, and in the ' uncircumcision of the flesh,' which put them out of a covenant-relation to God; and so their quickening must consist in their conversion from that darkness in which the Heathens lay, into the light of the gospel, and from the service of Satan to the service of the true God. But this was not the state of the Gentile made a proselyte of justice, or of the Jew, and much less of the baptized Christian; and so we cannot argue from those words which do so certainly relate unto the worst of Heathens, that this must be the natural estate of all men, or that the same power is requisite to convert the unregenerate Christian and the worst of Heathens.
Gabcast! Dan's blog #14
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III. OBJECTION FOUR. "The unregenerate man is represented as 'dead in trespasses and sins;' and he that is dead, we know, hath no motion in him, and so cannot move towards a new life." (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13)
ANSWER ONE. That the metaphor of being 'dead in trespasses and sins' cannot warrant our saying anything of unregenerate persons which may properly be affirmed of the dead, is evident from scripture and experience: for a dead body is void of all sense, whereas the unregenerate man is often under strong convictions, and a deep sense of his present misery. A dead man cannot awake himself out of the sleep of death, but God says to the spiritually-dead man, " Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life." (Ephesians 5:14) A dead man cannot hear, but to the spiritually-dead God says, "Hear, and your souls shall live." (Isaiah 55:3) And, lastly, it would be absurd to exhort a dead body to turn about and live; whereas God thinks it not incongruous to say to persons spiritually-dead, "turn yourselves, and ye shall live." (Ezekiel 18:32, 33:1)
Moreover good Christians are said to be ' dead to sin,' (Romans 6:2, 6, 7, 11) dead to the law, (Galatians 2:19) dead and crucified to the world. (Galatians 6:14) Now if hence we cannot truly argue that they cannot sin at all; that they can do nothing relating to the world, or could do nothing relating to the law, as St. Paul in compliance with the Jews, still did; neither can we argue from the metaphor of being 'dead in trespasses and sins,' that after God's call to hear and live, his excitation by all the motives and incitements of his word and Spirit, we can do nothing in obedience to these calls, and in compliance with these motions of his word and Spirit.
ANSWER SECOND. This argument offends against the first general rule laid down before, for both the places cited concern only the Gentile world, held under the government of Satan, and living according to the evil spirit, which works in the children of disobedience.' (Ephesians 2:2) And the same persons are said to be dead in sins, and in the ' uncircumcision of the flesh,' which put them out of a covenant-relation to God; and so their quickening must consist in their conversion from that darkness in which the Heathens lay, into the light of the gospel, and from the service of Satan to the service of the true God. But this was not the state of the Gentile made a proselyte of justice, or of the Jew, and much less of the baptized Christian; and so we cannot argue from those words which do so certainly relate unto the worst of Heathens, that this must be the natural estate of all men, or that the same power is requisite to convert the unregenerate Christian and the worst of Heathens.
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