Westminster Larger Catechism # 83
Commentary by Dr. Chuck Baynard
Q83. What is the communion in glory with Christ which the members of the invisible
church enjoy in this life?
Answer: The members of the invisible church have communicated to them in this life the
first fruits of glory with Christ, as they are members of him their head, and so in him
are interested in that glory which he is fully possessed of; and, as an earnest thereof,
enjoy the sense of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and hope
of glory; as, on the contrary, sense of God’s revenging wrath, horror of conscience,
and a fearful expectation, are to the wicked the beginning of their torments which they
shall endure after death.
References: Eph. 2:5-6; Rom. 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:22; Rom. 5:1-2; Rom. 14:17; Gen. 4:13; Mt.
27:4; Heb. 10:27; Rom. 2:9; Mark 9:44.
Harmony of the Standards: COF 24 (By topic not direct); SC 36.
While one of the longer of the statements of the Divines, and all is truth, in my
humble opinion this is completely out of place as an answer to the question given. (See
question 82 for a discussion about glory.) The Shorter Catechism asks this question
"What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification,
adoption, and sanctification?" The answer given is "The benefits which in this
life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are assurance
of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and
perseverance therein to the end" (SC Q/A 36). I find the answer in the Shorter to be
right in line with the Scripture and much better worded than the Larger in this area. As I
have continually pointed out, the Larger Catechism was the first document and I think we
see the growth and maturity of theological thought within the body of Divines as they
worked their way through all these areas of our beloved faith. We see the same thing as we
read the works of most theologians who have published both their earlier and latter works.
With Calvin we see a growth between the Institutes and the individual commentaries on the
books of the Bible. For example there were four major revisions of the Institutes. All
this to say I don’t find myself out of accord with what the Divines have given us
here, but find the more concise, yet fuller explanation of the Shorter Catechism to be a
far superior statement.
Once more I deny that glory is given as such as a first fruit or in any other words
this side of the return of our Lord. As I say this let us remember however, that God has
spoken and in that sense, all of this is past history, and in that sense I can speak of
having or knowing the glory of Christ. But as even a partial manifestation in this life, I
don’t agree it can be and be consistent with the Scripture.
Again the Divines identify the invisible church as the one to whom these benefits
belong. None can debate this, however almost as an aside I see here a statement concerning
the visible church we all need to grasp. The visible church must contain all of the
invisible church, along with whatever tares the devil is able to sow. Christ is the head
of the church, which is also identified as the body of Christ. This would lead to the
conclusion that all true believers are members of a visible church. Having taken the vows
of membership in a local church we should then find allbelievers actively involved in a
visible church and promoting the works of the church. How then do we reconcile this with
the apathy that accompanies the membership (and for some non-membership) in a visible
church? Answer, we cannot! Perhaps we should consider this as we watch the para-church
grow and the visible church and her ministries decline. Or are we seeing the difference
between the visible and invisible church made more manifest in the latter days?
Speculation? Absolutely. Nonetheless a pragmatic truth that I feel fits somewhere in the
fact that Christ is the head of the church, and the Bible was not given for the private
interpretation of any, but the good of all.
Are the elect interested in the glory of Christ? Truthfully I had never considered this
as such. That I would do nothing that would diminish or impede the manifestation of the
glory of Christ to all, yes I am interested. I have found it hard to put a handle on what
the Divines are trying to say in these words. I think that perhaps it is in the sense I
just spoke of and perhaps could be better worded in that we will not bring shame to the
body of Christ, nor take part in anything which would diminish the glory of the Lord in
the sight of others.
I don’t agree that the benefits of justification, adoption, and sanctification are
part of the earnest of our engrafting into the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the
earnest of our redemption. Though much of these benefits may be but seed, they are
complete and will come to maturity in God’s time, some only with the return of the
Lord, but are not the mere earnest of these things, but these things in their fullness,
that will grow and be made perfect. The term earnest is used of a first payment, with
additional payments to come later in further completion of the agreement under which the
earnest was put forward. A guarantee the purchaser will complete the deal. To this end we
receive the earnest of the Spirit, and the manifestation of the fullness of God’s
grace is the completion of the entry into the agreement (covenant). In that this is an
asymmetrical agreement and God is in a sense paying His own price to Himself can seem
somewhat confusing with the limitation of the human language. In truth we don’t have
a direct analogy of this type of agreement (covenant) in dealings between men. Such a
covenant could only be put into effect by a sovereign, and then an earthly sovereign would
not be able to offer an earnest of sufficient warrant that any could be sure the covenant
agreement would ever be consummated. We thus by faith accept that it is all of God through
grace. This limits or diminishes the role of man in the unfolding of history, and thus
this position isn’t claimed by many. This in no way negates the veracity of God. I
fail to see any other explanation of the Scriptures that can explain what is happening
spiritually in pragmatic terms that are of use on earth. I tend to be overly pragmatic and
a theology that cannot walk in the streets so to speak, I have little time for. In my
opinion it is in the application of all this we find the proof of the pudding. Thus as we
study these things, may our efforts to do theology out weigh our efforts to study
theology.
As we begin to grasp these truths and this assurance becomes more real to us, we find
that our position in the estate of grace brings us to an ever increasing level of
spirituality, and we do begin to sense the presence of God, to "feel" the Spirit
within. These experiences are not to be tossed aside. I believe the word must be a living
organic part of us. Our hunger, thirst for knowledge of God and love of the Holy Writ will
grow. I believe we could go so far as to say that we can measure the spiritual growth of
an individual as being in direct proportion to their interest in, and study of the Bible.
This is the result of the earnest of the Spirit, not of communion in glory with Christ or
of Christ. By the Word of God, we have seen the glory of Christ made manifest, and thereby
by the grace wherein we stand, by the work of Jesus Christ we hope for the glory of God,
as in tribulation and experience of life, patience is made full and the hope within
becomes manifest by the love of God sown in our heart by the holy Spirit, who is given to
all of the elect (Rom 5:1-5).
We could spend a lot of time on whether the conscience of the evil bother them or not.
In brief I would say very little if at all until the day of judgment. If they are not of
Christ, God has given them over to a reprobate mind. Perhaps there is a time when they who
are of the family of death, yet not totally given over to the lust of their own mind,
would know such fears. I rather doubt they know this fear short of the grave when it is
too late. Were such a fear a reality, then some would seek God. This cannot be, for to
seek God is to have already been chosen by God, and none of the evil ones have been so
chosen. That perhaps out of their own lust for life itself, some close to the grave cry
out for mercy would not then be a seeking of God in the true sense of this term. Scripture
says clearly none have sought God, that all have sinned and fallen short. Thus while once
more I don’t find myself casting out a statement of the Divines, I find myself
seeking safer words, lest we confound the grace of God shown the elect in their assurance
that they might thereby persevere until the judgment.
Here we see the fifth petal in the wrestling of evil versus the elect. That some are
destined for hell makes the truth of the third petal a necessity. As submitted many times
before in this work, where we find even one petal of this divine flower, the other four
will flow of necessity. Petal two is easily seen in these passages. Therefore with five,
three, and two in full view, it is no stretch to see the beauty and glory of the whole
TULIP once more spring to life from the pages of Scripture in the creeds of Westminster.
The marvel to me is that so often we find not one, but several petals so clearly
proclaimed in a single statement, the whole does indeed take root and bloom before our
eyes in ground so scant that on first glance we might expect to find no such beauty could
live.
Dr. Chuck Baynard -- October 1998
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