Christian and Hopeful walk into an area where the air makes them drowsy, and Hopeful suggests they lay down to take a nap. Christian will have none of it, and reminds Hopeful of the Shepherds' warning regarding the Enchanted Ground. Hopeful thanks Christian for his wisdom, and admits he would have run the danger of death if he had been alone. "Two are better than one".
Christian suggests they have a good discussion in order to stay alert. Christian starts first with a song, then asks Hopeful, "How did you at first come to think of doing as you now do?"
Hopeful responds, "Do you mean, how I at first came to look after the good of my soul?"
Christian answers, "Yes, that's what I mean."
Hopeful gives his testimony to Christian, telling how he lived a sinful life involved in all the enjoyment of things seen and sold at Vanity Fair. "All the treasures and riches of the world, also I enjoyed orgies, carousing, drinking, swearing, lying, impurity, Sabbath-breaking, and so on..." He says that the testimony of the two Pilgrims, Christian and Faithful, told him that "those things result in death" Christian asks if Hopeful fell under the power of this conviction right away. Hopeful says that it took a long time, that he resisted it at first. Christian asks how it was that he responded like this until God's Holy Spirit moved him.
Hopeful replies with four reasons: first -- He was ignorant that this was the work of God, second -- sin was still very sweet to him and he hated to leave it, third -- he didn't know how to part with his old companions, and fourth -- the times when he felt the convictions were very troublesome and heart-frightening hours. Christian replies that it sounded like he sometimes got rid of his troubles, and Hopeful replies, "Yes, of course, but it would come into my mind again, and then I would be as bad -- no, even worse -- than I was before."
Christian asks what brought his mind around to thinking about sin again, and Hopeful lists several things that reminded him of it: meeting a good man in the street, hearing anyone read from the Bible, physical pain (using a headache as an example), a neighbor being sick, a bell tolling for the dead, thinking of dying, hearing of sudden death, and especially thinking about the inevitability of arriving at Judgment.
Christian then asks Hopeful how he dealt with the conviction then. Hopeful replies that he departed from sinful company and started paying heed to religious duties: praying, reading, weeping for sin, speaking the truth, and so forth. Christian asks if that helped, and Hopeful says that it did for a short while, but the trouble returned. Christian asks how that happened, since Hopeful was now reformed. Hopeful replies that such sayings as "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" continued to convict him of sin, as well as knowing that no one can observe the entire Law. He uses the example of being in debt to a store owner. Even if he resolves to pay for all his future purchases, he still has to repay the old debt. Hopeful also realizes that despite his best efforts, he continues to see new sin in his life.
Christian asks, "And what did you do then?" "Do!" exclaimed Hopeful, "I couldn't tell what to do until I shared my thoughts with Faithful. He and I were well acquainted, and he told me that unless I could obtain the righteousness of a Man who had never sinned, neither my own nor all the righteousness of the world could save me."
Christian asks if Hopeful thought that Faithful spoke the truth, and Hopeful says that if he had heard that earlier on, he would not have believed it, but given his frustration at his attempts for personal reformation, he now realized the truth of it. Christian asks if Hopeful thought there was such a Man to be found. Hopeful says he was at a loss until Faithful told him of Jesus: "Yes, and he told me it was the Lord Jesus, who dwells on the right hand of the Most High. And Faithful said this: 'You must be justified by Him, even by trusting in what He himself did during His life on earth as He suffered when He was hanging on the Tree.' I asked him further how that Man's righteousness could be so powerful as to be able to justify another person before God. And he told me He was the mighty God, and did what He did, and also died the death not for himself, but for me to whom His works---and the worthiness of them---would be ascribed if I believed on Him."
Hopeful then tells how Faithful invited him to go to Him and see, and Hopeful replied that that would have been presumptuous on his part, and then Faithful gave him a book containing the words of Jesus. Hopeful asked Faithful what he was to do when he arrived, and Faithful told him to ask the Father to reveal Him. "What should I say?" Faithful said to pray like this:
"God be merciful to me a sinner, and make me to know and believe in Jesus Christ, for I see that if His righteousness had not been, or I have not faith in that righteousness, I am utterly cast away. Lord, I have heard that You are a merciful God and have ordained that Your Son Jesus Christ should be the Savior of the world, and moreover, that you are willing to bestow on such a poor sinner as I am---and I am a sinner indeed---Lord. Take therefore this opportunity, and magnify Your grace in the salvation of my soul through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen."
Christian asks Hopeful how that affected his spirit. Hopeful tells how he became aware of the state of condemnation of the world, and how God the Father, though He be just, can justly justify the coming sinner. The revelation made him ashamed of his vileness of his former life, and made him love a holy life and long to do something for the honor and glory of the name of the Lord Jesus.
Thoughts on this chapter
Bunyan emphasizes praying through until one receives a revelation of Christ. This is no mere repeating a one-paragraph prayer from the last page of a religious tract. Bunyan also emphasizes being truly repentant and abhorring one's former sinful state; there is no salvation prayer with fingers crossed.
Underline this
"unless I could obtain the righteousness of a Man who had never sinned, neither my own nor all the righteousness of the world could save me."--Christian, speaking to Hopeful on the futility of being saved by one's own righteous acts.