XVI. OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED
We believe that (a) there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous
and the wicked, (b) that such only as through faith are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in
His esteem; (c) while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His
sight wicked, and under the curse; (d) and this distinction holds among men both
in and after death, in the everlasting felicity of the saved and the everlasting
conscious suffering of the lost.
* * * * * * * * * *
*** (a) Mal. 3:18. "Then shall ye return, and
discern the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that
serveth him not."
Gen. 18:23. "And Abraham.... said, Wilt thou
also destroy the righteous with the wicked?"
Rom. 6:17-18. "But God be thanked, that ye were
the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which
was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Pro. 11:31. "Behold, the righteous shall be
recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner."
I Pet. 4:18. "And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
*** (b) Rom. 1:17. "The just shall live by faith."
I Cor. 15:22. "For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive."
Acts 10:34-35. "Then Peter. . . said, Of a truth
I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth
him, and worketh righteousness is accepted with him."
I John 2:29. "If ye know that he is righteous,
ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."
I John 3:7. "He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous."
*** (b & c) Rom. 6:16. "Know ye not, that to
whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"
*** (c) I John 5:19. "And we know that we are
of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness."
Gal. 3:10. "For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse."
Rom. 7:6. "We are delivered from the law, that
being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and
not in the oldness of the letter."
Rom. 6:23. "For the wages of sin is death."
*** (d) Prov. 14:32. "The wicked is driven away
in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death."
Luke 16:25. "Thou in thy lifetime receivedst
thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented."
Matt. 25:34,41,46. "Then shall the King say
unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.... Then shall he say also unto
them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels....And these shall go away into everlasting punishment:
but the righteous into life eternal."
John 8:21. "Then said Jesus again unto them,
I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go ye cannot
come."
Luke 9:26. "For whosoever shall be ashamed of
me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in
his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels."
John 12:25. "He that loveth his life shall lose
it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."
Matt. 7:13-14. "Enter ye in at the strait gate:
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
Next: XVII. OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT