13. A Double Need

CHAPTER XIII A Double Need

"Let the water and the blood From Thy riven side which flowed Be of sin the double cure; Save me, Lord, and make me pure." The preceding chapter outlines the entire consequences of the fall of Adam, physical and spiritual. Since the primary object of this work is to set forth the plan of redemption as it relates to the soul, we shall hereafter dispense with divine healing and the resurrection as not being germane to our present purpose. This focuses our attention upon the double need of the soul and the supply of that double need through the redemption of Christ. The first aspect of this twofold need appears in a sense of guilt incurred on account of actual transgression of the known law of God. This guilt-the effect of willful transgression of divine law-finds its supply in that work of grace variously denominated justification, forgiveness, conversion, regeneration. The second phase of this double need is a need for heart purity, a need for the restoration to the divine moral image in which man was created. Accompanying this subjective need of a pure heart, a need for the full and unhindered cooperation of the Holy Spirit is felt in the soul of mar. This second need meets its supply, as we shall learn hereafter, in the second work of grace, which removes native depravity and permits a full influx of the Holy Spirit.

It will be noticed that there is a reversal in the order in which sin appears in the human heart and in which it disappears through redemption. In the appearance of evil in the individual, depravity precedes transgression; whereas in redemption the forgiveness of actual transgression precedes the removal of depravity. By nature we are first depraved, then guilty: by grace we are first forgiven, then purified.

Following the order of redemption as it appears in the individual experience, we will now study first justification and secondly sanctification..