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Orthodox Doctrine (Summary of Christian Divinity)
Metropolitan Platon of Moscow, tr. Pinkerton, 1814
Part 1, Section 18: What Opinion We Should Entertain Concerning the Law and Repentance,…
The means of reconciliation with God, and of recovery out of our natural state, the reason of man cannot devise.
All that has as yet been said, is sufficiently evident to our reason; and he must be very wicked, indeed, who would attempt to call it in question. But when this same reason begins to try by what means it were possible to reconcile God to man, and to deliver the human race out of the misery into which they are fallen; then it immediately begins to halt and to fail us. It is capable of conceiving the goodness of God to be inexhaustible, and that there should exist such means; but it is unable to attain to the knowledge of what they are. It appears, that we are incapable of imagining more than two sorts of means, 1st, The fulfilling of the divine law; and, 2d, Repentance. But these means, in the case of the unregenerate man, are of no avail; and hence they are a weak refuge. For, in regard to the first, the fulfilling of the divine law, this certainly would be effectual, if we could really continue constantly in doing good, and never transgress against the eternal law of God. But, as we have above shewn, that every one sinneth continually in thoughts, words, or deeds, and that there is not, and never did exist, any mere man who never had been a servant of sin; so it is evident, that this means is ineffectual to reconcile God to us, and to present us justified before his judgment seat. In the very same sense we hear the wise apostle Paul declaring, in a number of passages, that “by the works of the law no flesh living shall be justified:” Gal. ii. 16. “That the righteousness of God without the law is manifested:” Rom. iii. 21. And in Psalm cxliii. David pleads, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” However, we ought not to conclude from hence, (as some have done from the doctrines of Paul,) that it is altogether unnecessary to do good, and to attempt to keep the divine law; God forbid: (but we shall speak more particularly of this in its own place.) Neither ought we to suppose, that we are able, by our own doings, to justify ourselves before God.
Secondly, Repentance might perhaps seem fit to become the hope of the guilty and the comfort of the sinner; but it is not so. Because, though it were admitted that repentance could reconcile God, that is, a real repentance, accompanied by the utmost abhorrence of sin, and a firm resolution not to return to the same sins again: yet, can weak and corrupt man, who is every hour led into sin by his wicked passions, repent in this way? He has not such an abhorrence of sin as that great evil deserves, for having excited the displeasure of the eternal God. And suppose that this even could take place, and that man would strive to the utmost to avoid sin, after having been convinced of its evil, yet, “we drink in iniquity like water, and” according to St Paul’s words, “are sold unto sin;” yea, these workings of sin continue through our whole lives. What hope then is to be placed in repentance, and how can it ever reconcile God to man? I do not here speak of evangelical or Christian repentance; it is of another kind, and I know how effective it is; this shall be pointed out hereafter; but I speak here of such repentance as a man might be supposed to have without the blessings of the Gospel.
Such sentiments are very consonant with the reason of man; and the Holy Scriptures more particularly put us in remembrance, that man of himself has not sufficient power to reconcile God, and that he every moment provokes him to anger. “For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin,” Rom. iii. 9; that is, that all mankind are fallen into the abyss of iniquity, and are unable to deliver themselves out of it. This truth ought to be strongly impressed on the mind of every one; because it points out to man how much he stands in need of the faith of the gospel; and hence the apostle Paul arranged his reasonings in the epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, in the same order which we have here taken to prove that man is in a helpless state. And indeed no one will seek for a physician till once he be convinced of his being in great distress.
However, some will perhaps say; what, are we then to fall into despair? Certainly, if you continue to look up to yourselves for help. But when we reflect on the inexhaustible goodness of God, and on his infinite wisdom, then we are comforted by hope, and our fears are dispelled; and in this hope we ought frequently to join in the words of Isaiah: “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah;” i. 9; also Gal. iii. 16. And we ought to keep in remembrance these words of Paul to the Romans: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe.” Rom. iii. 21, 22.
Thus far we have drawn our conclusions according to sound reason, and have added appropriate passages from the Holy Scriptures for illustration. The following Part, however, is founded solely on the word of God; and to the illustration of this Part of our subject, as well as the former, our natural reasoning powers can render us assistance.