|
 |
|
"..... they
received the Word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily
whether these things were so" . Acts 17:11. |
To Dr David Strachan, a
true spiritual mentor, without whose instruction in righteousness this
ministry could not have been undertaken, and to Sylvia my true helpmeet and
support in the Lord's work.
INTRODUCTION:
The purpose
of this website is to assist and promote the certain prospect of a spiritual
remnant holding apostolic truth in the last days of this present Christian
Dispensation of God’s grace. The content will be meaningful and instructive to
believers of a mature spiritual mind who, as students of God’s Word, are more
concerned with acquiring divine understanding than of holding to religious
tradition.
The site is titled ‘The True Nature of
Christianity’ because, in the first instance, it is necessary to distinguish
between Scriptural Christianity and what is commonly considered to be
Christianity – Christendom. The reference to Scriptural
Christianity presupposes that the enquirer has long since recognised that the
Bible is the inspired Word of God and thus the sole authority in
all matters divine. Further, Scriptural Christianity is vested in local N.T.
churches or gatherings of born-again believers, which are regulated by the
Word and are independent of any human organisation, being responsible to God
alone. Such believers gather to the name of the Lord Jesus under the
presidency of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of elders, in the Scriptural
manner. Scriptural Christianity owns no secular name whereas humanly-organised
Christendom incorporates many names. The world of organised religion dismisses
Scripture-based Christianity as fundamentalism, not recognising the inspired
nature of the Bible.
In the second instance, it is necessary to
distinguish between the spiritual and the natural , the eternal and the
temporal. Scriptural Christianity is solely concerned with eternal, spiritual
things, whereas Christendom is a naturalistic religious system concerned with
improving human nature and making the world a better place through involvement
in social and political issues. Recognition of this fundamental truth is
critical to a right understanding of the divine system of Christianity.
The following articles are part of a
continuing exercise of the Spirit which commenced in 1996 with the fellowship
of leading teachers of the Word. Each is written as a stand-alone Paper with
the view to publication and, as a consequence, the reader may become aware of
some repetition. The Papers cover a variety of Scriptural themes and subjects
and are written from the standpoint that God’s people in the Christian
Dispensation of divine purpose are a spiritual people, with the
corollary that the divine system of Christianity has to do solely with
spiritual things. This fundamental principle has largely escaped the
attention of believers the world over and is thus a principal reason for this
website. It is the writer’s conviction that the true original, apostolic
(spiritual) nature of The Faith must be held by a spiritually intelligent
remnant prior to the Lord’s return for His people, and it is to this holy
objective that this exercise is dedicated. Further expositions will be added
as the Spirit leads.
Any comments please refer to the Visitors Book
To
Visitors Book
The Webpage of William F
Laidle :-
Assembly Chronicles Blog
List of Titles
Christianity is commonly held to be the
practice of the christian religion in a variety of denominational forms, a
perception based not so much on any scriptural understanding as on social or
religious tradition. Thus the christian community would be identified in the
minds of many as those religious institutions collectively referred to as
Christendom, Christianity and Christendom being regarded as one and the same
thing. But what saith the Scriptures, the only authority that matters?
Christianity does not stand in isolation in
divine purpose so we will trace its emergence in Scripture in the context of
God’s dealings with His people through the ages.
Commencing in the book of Genesis, we
observe that God made all necessary provision for the first man and woman. The
garden planted eastward in Eden was the ideal environment for
them. Designed and formed by God, it was the place on earth of divine presence
and fellowship (Gen.2:8).
Then, following the failure of Adam and the
judgment of the flood, we see that God called out a people for Himself through
Abraham, the man of faith (Gen.12:1-2). He made provision for them also, first
in the desert and then with their own land. We note in the book of Exodus that
precise instructions were given to Moses concerning the camp and the
tabernacle, whilst manna was provided to sustain them. Thus Judaism was
established as the divinely-appointed religious system of gathering and
meeting between God and His people. Significantly, God referred to this people
as His garden (Isa.58:11).
But Israel also failed God and in the book
of The Acts we see Judaism being set aside in divine purpose, consequent upon
rejection of the Messiah and the testimony of the apostles. In parallel with
this, God was calling out a new people, a spiritual nation comprised of
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This process began at Pentecost when the
Holy Spirit was manifested and Jews believed the gospel preached by the
apostles (Acts 2). These early Jewish believers met in Jerusalem and then, as
the gospel spread to the Gentiles, believers gathered in various localities
such as Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, etc. These local churches or
assemblies were regulated by elders and by special spiritual gifts given by
God in lieu of the completed Scriptures, all under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit.
So God had again made provision for His
people, this time spiritually by way of divine revelation through the apostles
and in particular Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles (Gal.2:7). Thus believers
gathered in this simple way, to the name of the Lord Jesus, constituted the
newly-designated place of meeting on earth between God and His people, a
spiritual building now and house of God in character, the ideal
environment for the new man. Significantly, this new local, spiritual edifice
of believers is also referred to as God’s garden (1 Cor.3:9 – AV
"husbandry").
This was Christianity at its
inception, what it always has been in the sight of God and what it
remains today – a divine system of independent local churches or
assemblies subscribing to a body of doctrine (Jude 3) in corporate practice of
the christian faith.
But what of Christendom, a conglomerate of
man-devised religious systems using the Bible and the name of God but denying
in practice the divine principles of Christianity laid down by God for
believers? Clearly, by any Scriptural measure, it is not of God. More than
that, it is a counterfeit of the real thing, designed by the adversary to lead
astray and confuse believer and unbeliever alike, and in this it manifestly
succeeds. We can therefore state, on the authority of God's Word, that
Christianity and Christendom are not synonymous -–they are mutually exclusive.
It follows that all Christians should be
participants in this divinely-appointed sphere of gathering – it is their
birthright. Sadly, many are to be found in counterfeit Christendom. Part of
the heavenly church, the body of Christ they are, but participants in
Christianity, as God intended, they are not. The call to them is to come out
of what is patently not of God (2 Cor 6:17).
Meantime, believers who do gather in the
spiritual environment that God has provided for His people should value the
privilege, being in the fellowship out of intelligent conviction,
understanding that, had Christendom not been devised, there would only
ever have been local churches or assemblies. There is a
need for the trumpet to sound clearly (1 Cor.14:8) regarding this fundamental
truth so that saints are in no doubt that, by the grace of God, they are in
the right and only place on earth to worship and serve Him.
CHRISTIANITY – A HIDDEN
MYSTERY
Christianity
is the corporate spiritual presence and activity of saints gathered to the
name of the Lord; it was that at its beginning as recorded in the book of the
Acts, viz. local gatherings of believers, and it is so today.
A mystery in New Testament
terms denotes that which can be made known only by divine revelation and in a
manner and at a time appointed by God and only to faith (W.E.Vine, Expository
Dictionary of N.T. Words).
The Lord Jesus said to the disciples, "To
you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom
of God" (Mark 4:11), whilst to Nicodemus He indicated that the kingdom was
hidden, a mystery that could neither be seen nor entered by
natural means (John 3).
The apostle Paul referred to the church as
a hidden mystery when writing to the Colossian saints (Col.1:26)
and to the church at Corinth he wrote, ".… the things which are unseen
(hidden) are eternal (spiritual)" (2 Cor.4:18). It was to the apostle that the
revelation of the mystery, the divine system of Christianity,
was given (Rom.16:25).
The inspired writer of the Proverbs tells
us that "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing" (Prov.25:2). In the sense
that the spiritual cannot be discerned by the natural (I Cor.2:9&14), it is
clear that the spiritual system of Christianity is concealed
from the natural faculties of men. The local New Testament church or assembly
may be recognised by the world as a religious gathering, perhaps a Christian
sect in the sense that Christendom is considered to be Christianity, but
natural man has no means by which to recognise its true divine
identity - the Kingdom of God in present spiritual guise.
If the local New Testament church, a
gathering of believers, is in reality a hidden entity, then its
constituents too are hidden in terms of their spiritual identity, the
new man. The world can only identify the outward form of the
Christian, no different to many of his fellows but with apparent religious
inclinations, seen and known as children of men but concealed as
children of God. Similarly with the Son of God veiled in flesh, known as Jesus
of Nazareth but unknown as the Divine Son except to faith, God
manifest IN flesh but not TO flesh, a
mystery (Col. 2:2).
It is clear therefore that Christianity,
the spiritual Kingdom of God, represented by local gatherings of believers, is
unseen and unknown by the world of natural man as
to its true identity; the world cannot see it or know it but can benefit
spiritually from it. Only faith can discern the (spiritual) new man
in the Christian and the divine nature of the local New Testament church. As
the Lord said to Nicodemus, the only way to see
the Kingdom of God is to be born-again. Unregenerate man says seeing is
believing but the opposite is true in divine things, viz. believing is seeing.
He has not the slightest idea what constitutes either a Christian or
Christianity – it is a complete mystery, by design, for God would be
unrighteous to reveal divine things to the unrighteous apart from faith.
It is the glory of God to conceal heavenly,
spiritual things (from the eyes of unregenerate mankind), in type and shadow
and in spiritual language. In terms of spiritual revelation He is dealing with
the new man. Christianity, the hidden mystery, has
been and continues to be revealed only to faith, whereas the religious systems
of men are manifestly part and parcel of unregenerate man’s world.
The divine system of Christianity has
always been for the eye of God and His saints, whereas counterfeit Christendom
has always been for the eye of man.
THE UNIQUE PLACE AND DIVINE
CHARACTER OF THE ASSEMBLY
IN DIVINE PURPOSE
For the believer who accepts apostolic
doctrine and practice as his sole guide and authority in the christian
pathway, the ground of gathering for fellowship and service is clearly
identified in Scripture as the local church or assembly. For others, the
tracing of divine intention in this regard may prove confusing, with common
failure to distinguish in the New Testament between local testimony (1
Cor.1:2) and the church which is His body (1 Cor.12:13, Eph.5:23-27),
sometimes mistakenly called the universal church. This in turn blurs the
distinction between the scriptural pattern for local church testimony and the
error of Christendom. (The church in its wider, heavenly, aspect includes all
believers, and is essentially eternal in concept and character, the greater
part of it being now in heaven awaiting completion and the day of
presentation).
That God has pre-determined the nature of
local christian gathering and everything pertaining to it, as He did for His
earthly people Israel, would be hard to deny on the evidence of Scripture.
The greater part of the New Testament (the letters to local churches) is
devoted to the subject and its precepts and principles constitute the
commandments of the Lord (1 Cor.14:37).
The Assembly Identified:
Whilst not a letter to a local church, the
epistle to the Hebrews is helpful in tracing the divine pattern for present
testimony, in that it treats of the new order revealed in the christian
system, showing the necessity for the Hebrew Christians to go forth from the
camp of (pseudo) Judaism in order to gather to the Lord (Heb.13:13). Though
God-given Judaism had long been degenerate in the hands of the nation, it
scarcely seemed credible to the new christian converts that their national
religion had forfeited the right to divine presence and blessing. Its tragic
decline was marked, significantly, by departure from the scriptural pattern
laid down by God (Jer.9:13). When God left the Jewish system, albeit for a
season, it marked a turning point in the outworking of divine purpose and the
introduction of a new and spiritual order - Christianity. It is at this
juncture that the believer can identify with the disciples in John 1:38 to
ask, "Master, where dwellest thou?" The divine response, "Come and see", may
be considered an invitation to the seeking believer to search the Scriptures
in order to discover God's dwelling place in the present outworking of eternal
purpose. Diligent searching of New Testament Scripture brings to light the
relevant context of 1 Cor.3:9-16, in which the local church is revealed to be
the place where God has set His name - it is His garden, His building and His
temple. The divine credentials of the assembly are thus firmly established
for all who are willing to acknowledge the primacy of Scripture in these
matters (2 Tim.3:16).
The Assembly and Christendom:
The nature of the christian system as an
identifiable entity now becomes clear; it has been enshrined by God in the
simple yet spiritually profound local gathering of believers meeting in
accordance with the divine pattern laid down in the New Testament. This is
the wisdom of God and, as such, proves to be a stumbling-block to many. If,
therefore, the practice of Christianity is revealed to be assembly-based by
divine decree, it follows that all organised "Christian" activity outside this
God-ordained sphere is not strictly speaking Christianity at all, despite its
posturing as such. Rather it is humanly-devised religion utilising the Bible
and the name of God to suit its purpose - it is Christendom. For those who
have not hitherto recognised that Christianity and Christendom are quite
different and wholly opposed systems, it should now be made clear that
Christendom describes the sum of professing christian sects and denominations
popularly supposed to represent Christianity in the world. Their common
ground is that they count religious tradition more important than the divine
revelation of Scripture. On account of its counterfeit nature, Christendom is
identified in Scripture as a satanic agency that will one day be the subject
of God's wrath and judgment (Rev.18:21). It is freely acknowledged that there
are many believers in Christendom, and it should not be thought that they will
be subject to this same judgment. If they do not come out beforehand in
response to such divine promptings as 2 Cor.6:14-18 and Rev.18:4, they will be
separated by the direct intervention of God at the coming of the Lord for His
church (1 Thess.4:16-17).
Divine Character:
As we have seen, I Cor.3 presents the assembly
in three distinct ways - as God's husbandry (tillage) or garden, as His
building and as His temple. Now, the things of God are spiritually discerned
(2:14) and it is thus that we approach the context of this chapter for
spiritual instruction. Viewed as the divine garden, the assembly takes its
place in the line of God's gardens from Eden to Revelation (a most profitable
study), showing us that God ever had in view the ideal environment for the new
man, a divinely appointed place for growth and fruit-bearing, a sphere in
which He could function as Father to His people (2 Cor.6:17-18) and in which
fulness of blessing could be known.
The assembly as God's building brings before
us the truth of believer-location, the place for living stones (I Pet.2:5)
showing that the local church is a spiritual building composed of believers,
an edifice for and of God. (That the building in I Pet.2:5 may be considered
by some to be the wider church of all believers, the mystical body of Christ,
does not alter the fact that the same truth applies equally to the local
church; the offering of spiritual sacrifices is an assembly exercise). It is
not enough, therefore, to have been placed by God into the heavenly edifice;
our present calling is clearly to the local sphere of God's purpose on earth,
the assembly.
Then thirdly, the assembly has the character
of God's temple, teaching us that it is the place of divine presence, God in
the midst of His people, the appointed sphere of service where worship is wont
to be made. God has made a spiritual habitation for His people in the present
outworking of divine purpose, and its position is clearly defined as being
outside of and separated from the camp of man's religious system. Happy
indeed are they who find it and become purposeful for God in Christian service
that stands the test of His Word; this is genuine and demonstrable leading of
the Spirit.
Preserving the Character:
In studying the Bible it is most important to
distinguish the things that differ. Having identified three entities, the
assembly, the Church which is His body, and Christendom, we are able to
clarify important truths having a practical bearing on the christian's walk in
assembly fellowship. For instance, we see that the only qualification for
membership of the Church, the mystical body of Christ, is divine life and that
being a part of it is not a matter over which we exercise any choice; once we
believe, we are in it by God's choice. With the local church, however, it is
quite different, for we find that fellowship is based on light (I John 1:17),
that body of truth - the apostles' doctrine - referred to in Jude 3, and
membership is a matter of personal exercise and choice within that framework.
Again, the believer cannot be excommunicated
from the body of Christ, but he can be put out of the local church (I
Cor.5:13, 1 Tim.1:20). Confusion over these differing entities inevitably
leads to error.
Consider for instance the practice of some
assemblies which receive believers from Christendom to the breaking of bread
meeting. Their claim is that life in Christ, or in some cases new life plus
baptism, is all that is required. Now this is at odds with the doctrinal
basis of fellowship and with the divine statement that worship must be "in
Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Others suggest that the scripture, "Let a
man examine himself …." (I Cor.11:28) implies that the responsibility for
participation at the breaking of bread lies solely with the individual
believer, and that anyone can therefore take part. That this is a travesty of
the truth and represents abdication of responsibility on the part of
overseeing brethren will be apparent to many. Clearly, the apostle is
addressing those already in fellowship, and the examining has to do with
ensuring a right appreciation of the spiritual nature of the emblems,
something the Corinthians were signally failing to do at the time of the
apostle's warning.
Believers from Christendom, who judging by
their associations do not subscribe to God's order and have no intention of
doing so, may by all means attend the meeting for the breaking of bread, but
it should be made clear that their place is that of an observer and not a
participant in a fellowship with which they have so little sympathy. In thus
beholding godly order it may be that they will be convicted by the Spirit as
to the truth of the assembly position.
Responsible Service:
Assembly fellowship ("walking in the light, 1
John 1:7) carries with it responsibility to uphold the scriptural pattern thus
embraced (Jude 3) and so effectively precludes any thought of participation in
the denominational activities of Christendom. A believer can hardly claim to
subscribe to the truth of the assembly position with its implied condemnation
of all else and at the same time have fellowship with a system that is
contrary to the mind of God. Notwithstanding, some have sought to justify
preaching the gospel on denominational platforms by appealing to the universal
commission of Mark 16:15. It must be pointed out that such an interpretation
of this scripture contradicts the servant's responsibility to do God's work in
God's way, that is, to serve within the framework of scriptural church
principles. It was never divine intention that the gospel should be seen as a
frenetic activity discharged at any price and regardless of circumstances to
the compromising of both Scripture and servant. There is no scriptural
warrant whatever for those who have taken the assembly position to dabble in
the sects and missions of this world, no matter how socially and evangelically
excellent such work may appear to be. To engage in this type of activity is
to betray and deny all that God's assembly represents; perhaps it is not too
much to say that it is rebellion.
This principle applies in fullest measure to
such activities as the "Mission England" crusade, spearheaded by Christendom's
foremost evangelical instrument of ecumenicalism. Responsible brethren are
accountable to the Chief Shepherd to see that the assembly and all it stands
for in divine purpose is not compromised by involvement in any of these
excursions. The believer is not seen in Scripture as a freelance agent doing
his own thing. God is not to be trifled with in matters affecting His temple,
and the principle of judgment beginning at the house of God must ever be borne
in mind when weighing these issues (1 Cor.11:30-32).
There is a mode of spiritual conduct befitting
assembly fellowship (1 Tim.3:15) that is all too little in evidence in these
days of gross departure. The truth that Christ died for the church, His
bride, is equally true of the assembly. How exceedingly precious, therefore,
is the local church to God (Acts 9:4-5) and how correspondingly faithful we
should be in handling assembly matters. Slackness in divine things leads to
spiritual degeneration. So, on the authority of God's Word we can state
unequivocally that the assembly is God's uniquely appointed place of
fellowship and service for believers, heaven's declared sphere of christian
operation on earth.
Sovereignty and Service:
There is little doubt that some will have
difficulty in reconciling these truths with the obvious fact that God uses the
sects and campaigns of Christendom to the saving of souls, and blesses
initiatives of faith outside His appointed sphere of operation. How then can
they be wrong if God's approval appears, on this evidence, to rest upon their
efforts? It is an apparent contradiction that requires an answer. This view
supposes that divine blessing is indicative of divine approval; it also poses
the question of how a righteous God can use an unrighteous instrument for the
accomplishing of divine purpose in salvation, without compromising His
righteousness.
The answer, primarily, is that God, unlike the
believer, is sovereign and so has the ability and the right to take up whom He
will for His purpose; believer or unbeliever, obedient or disobedient, even
one in outright opposition. Is He not the God who used Pharaoh for His
purpose (Rom.9:17), who gave blessing despite the disobedience of Moses
(Num.20:8-12) and who has said that His gifts and calling are without
repentance (Rom11:29)? He is indeed. The failure of believers to respond
aright to divine revelation will never cause divine purpose to be frustrated.
A further consideration in this matter is that
God has committed power for the outworking of eternal purpose to His Word, so
that no matter who may use it and in whatever circumstance, it is powerful and
effective. God may righteously use whom He will because He is God, and is
committed to honour His Word and the principle of faith, irrespective of the
circumstance. Clearly, God's sovereign overruling in Christian failure in no
way signals that we may embark on indiscriminate service; far be the thought!
Rather, it is the case that blessing in gospel work and full-time endeavour
that is contrary to the pattern of Scripture demonstrates the sovereignty of
God operating in circumstances to which we are not called.
Despite this, it is not uncommon to hear
brethren state with conviction that they have been led or called to some
particular work outside the sphere of the assembly. In the light of Scripture
we can say with respect that such convictions are wholly mistaken, for God
never calls or leads anyone contrary to His Word. That is not to deny that
many who have ventured forth in admirable zeal and enthusiasm have seen
blessing, but then as we have seen, Moses had to learn the bitter lesson that
blessing is not indicative of approval.
Let us see to it then, that we abide by the
divine pattern in our service, having first been prepared for it by God and
then ideally commended to it by our brethren. Need, of itself, never
constitutes a call.
True Service:
Finally, it is no coincidence that the context
of 1 Cor.3 includes reference to the divine evaluation of christian service in
a future day. God clearly counts obedience - the true nature of the
believer's call - to be vital in the matters of the faith. Gold, silver and
precious stones are what He desires. The reality of service is often so very
different - worthless wood, hay and stubble, the stark result of pseudo-christian
activity. Zeal and enthusiasm are admirable qualities but they will never be
acceptable as substitutes for doing God's work in God's way. In all our
movements for Him, therefore, God would have us to be motivated by intelligent
appreciation of the divine pattern, that way of simple obedience that bespeaks
our recognition of the obligations placed upon us by the words of our Lord,
"If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). So will we gladden His
heart and be able with confidence to contemplate that soon-coming day of
appraisal.
SERVICE IN PERSPECTIVE
Romans
12:1
Christian ability to serve God in any
meaningful way is dependent on acquiring spiritual discernment to understand
God's ways in service. Today there is a dearth of spiritual discernment among
God's people and this explains why so many seem oblivious to the spiritual
departure that characterises assemblies in our time, Matt.16:3. It is the
widespread inability to discern between good and evil in spiritual things
(spiritual blindness) that permits subtle changes to take place in assemblies
so that a climate is produced in which the New Testament pattern for service
in the house of God is superseded by a natural order with spiritual evil
regarded as good and spiritual good as evil (Matt.12:24, Jer.4:22,
Rom.16:19). This state of affairs has arisen in part from failure to teach
assembly truth or New Testament principles clearly, consistently and
unequivocally to each new generation of believers. As a result, those who
make their presence felt at every level of assembly activity are sometimes men
who have very little understanding of God's way relative to His assembly. In
such circumstances divine principles count for little, including those
regulating christian service.
The Origin of Service:
The Roman epistle contains Scripture's
definitive treatise on the doctrine of the gospel, a setting forth of the mind
of God to the intent that believers may be firmly grounded for spiritual
growth and service. It has been said that without proper recognition of God's
purpose in the gospel it is virtually impossible to discern the nature of the
faith as revealed in the epistles; thus the role of this letter in Scripture
is emphasised by its position as the first letter to local churches. How
important it is then to understand that true service proceeds from a right
appreciation of God's purpose in the gospel. If we are well-founded as to our
gospel preaching we shall have little difficulty in tracing God's ways
relative to further truths that are built upon it. Romans chapter 12 marks
the beginning of a section dealing with practical aspects of fellowship and
service.
The Sphere of Service:
In Rom.12:1, the apostle beseeches believers
to present or yield themselves once-for-all (aorist tense) to God as a
living sacrifice. Some students of Scripture have thought that this exercise
is far from being solely individual in its meaning and application. They see
in this verse, many bodies but only one sacrifice,
that is, the idea of believers yielding up themselves in a corporate sense to
God and this being an intelligent service in response to the compassion of
God. Whether we agree with this application or not, the truth of it is
enshrined in other New Testament Scriptures (e.g. Phil.1:27, 2:27, 1 Thess.1:7
R.V.) God's purpose for the saints of this dispensation, in a corporate
sense, is the assembly and the individual believer's yielding up of himself in
a sacrificial sense should be within that divinely appointed sphere; this
calls for spiritual intelligence and discernment. The aggregate of this
individual exercise, becomes therefore a corporate spiritual sacrifice,
fulfilling God's intention that the local church should be His bondslave. To
make progress therefore in the things of God, it is important for us to
recognise that service is scripturally centred in the assembly context and is
therefore corporate in character. The compassion or mercy of God is extended
to men for the principal reason that He desires a people for Himself in the
image of His Son. That desire will find fulfilment in the church as the bride
of Christ, but meantime it finds expression in the assembly, there being no
other sphere of christian service envisaged in Scripture. It should, of
course, be a matter of common knowledge and understanding among us that the
assembly is God's appointed sphere of fellowship and service for all
believers, the embodiment and manifestation of Christianity. This
constitutes, or should do, the reason for our being in it.
Misdirected Service:
As we have noticed, there are those in
assemblies who have little or no appreciation of local church principles so
that both assembly fellowship and service are regarded in a casual way; as a
result these saints feel free to participate in non-assembly activities such
as denomination and mission work. (The distinction between denomination and
mission is necessary in view of strenuous efforts being mounted on a widening
scale to promote direct links between City Missions and assemblies). Then
there are those who know the truth bearing on these matters but who pursue
their own course, apparently determined to 'serve' on their own terms. Even
more incongruous is the spectacle of 'overseers' and 'leaders' among the
saints actually encouraging these unscriptural links or at best turning a
blind eye to them. The plain fact is that true elders do not guide the flock
of God contrary to divine principles. Departure on such a gross scale leaves
little scope for the assembly to retain its distinctive character. Believers
in assembly fellowship should recognise God's eternal purpose in the gospel
and yield themselves in corporate unity to dedicated service in and through
the sphere that God has devised for this purpose.
Meaningful Service:
If we sincerely desire to serve God then we
will want to do so in His own way, that is, in and through the assembly. This
corporate dedication should be an act of unison - one heart, mind and purpose
(Phil.1:27) - in which the saints demonstrate total commitment in service,
intelligently recognising the divine purpose and corporate nature of their
calling. It represents a position of spiritual maturity on the part of an
assembly, where unity of purpose based on the willing submission of saints to
the divine pattern prevails. The practical outcome of such submission to the
will of God will be a like-minded people (John 17:21) and this is what God had
ever in view in the proclamation of the gospel. Ideally, the assembly is a
corporate, living sacrifice inseparably identified with Christ, who in the
days of His flesh was a living sacrifice wholly committed to rendering service
to God in accordance with His word. This spiritual stance on the part of the
local assembly is described as holy - separated to God - conveying the thought
that saints in this condition before God are separated from all that is evil
and thus acceptable to Him.
Service and the Gospel:
It is a sad fact that believers in our day
appear to have little appreciation of either the nature or scope of the
gospel. The general view seems to be that the gospel is an entity in itself,
an isolated presentation of the issues of salvation, the means whereby sinners
are saved and added to the Church - the mystical body of Christ. This
unconnected view of the gospel is not only widespread in the evangelical
circles of Christendom but also has its adherents in assemblies. Such
brethren take the view that the gospel may be preached without regard to the
divine pattern for service. The error of this will be apparent to all who
recognise that the gospel is an integral part of The Faith (Jude 3), that
deposit of doctrinal truth that is inseparable in Scripture from the local
assembly. Clearly then, gospel testimony in New Testament terms is a function
of the local church and not an activity independent of it. Further, it is not
an end in itself but always has in view baptism and assembly fellowship with
all that this implies doctrinally (Acts 2:41-42).
Service and Fellowship:
It follows that the pattern God has laid down
in His Word for gospel testimony precludes its preaching in circumstances that
compromise divine principles. In the light of this, is it not incongruous for
us to have fellowship with gospel effort in the missions and systems of
Christendom, all of which have no basis in Scripture? Surely such activity is
a contradiction of assembly fellowship and what the assembly represents.
Whilst it is recognised that many who engage in such 'service' may be unaware
of the nature of their behaviour, the effect nonetheless is to disobey God's
revelation whilst professing His name. Those who assume local stewardship,
leaders of the flock of God, have responsibility to ensure that divine
principles are not flouted in this way. However, it has to be recognised that
there are 'elders' today who seem only too ready to associate themselves and the
assembly with these unscriptural activities. There is no such thing in God's
Word as serving in two camps; it's either the assembly or Christendom, it
cannot be both. The same is true of freelance preaching, the idea that
believers are free to please themselves how and where they 'serve'; this is a
product of the natural mind that finds no place in Holy Writ. For those who
claim fellowship in God's assembly there can be no compromise with spiritual
evil, no matter how dressed up it may be in order to appear either socially or
spiritually good. A return to godly order in the churches is long overdue.
The Challenge to Service:
So the aim of the gospel in this present age
is to produce saints who recognise the corporate nature of divine purpose and
intelligently yield themselves to service in and through the assembly. In
this way we are separated unto God from the spiritual evil of Christendom and
the related institutions of men (2 Cor.6:17-18). The clarion call of God's
word has ever been to separate ourselves from spiritually evil associations in
order to serve Him in the appointed way. It is surely the desire of every
servant that his work finds acceptance and abides in the day of testing (1
Cor.3:13), but if this is to be achieved then reassessment of individual
service may be called for in the light of the divine pattern (2 Tim.2:15). It
is clear then that nothing less than wholly dedicated commitment to God's ways
will meet the divine requirement for service and that is only possible if we
contribute to a corporate, holy sacrifice in the divinely ordained sphere of
service, the assembly.
THE HIDDEN MAN
The Lord Jesus was
God manifest IN flesh but not manifest TO flesh.
To the world of natural man He was Jesus of
Nazareth, made like His brethren, apparently the same as them, a man amongst
men.
He was in the world ................ and
the world knew Him not (John 1:10), because that which is natural cannot
discern that which is spiritual (1 Cor. 2:14).
Natural faculties could not penetrate the
veil of His flesh to behold the Christ, the Son of God; only faith could do
that (Matt. 16:16,17) (Heb. 11:1) for God’s dealings with mankind are on the
basis of faith, not the flesh.
It is the glory of God to conceal
a thing (Prov. 25:2) and He did so with the eternal Word, the Logos, in a body
prepared for Him: hidden by God, unseen by men,
revealed to faith.
What was true of the Lord Jesus in this
regard is true also of the believer; the world knows us
not because it knew Him not (1 John 3:1). We are also eternal life in
flesh, a spiritual entity concealed in a body, a new man (Col.
3:10) and a hidden man (1 Peter 3:4) (Col.3:3)
Further, as the Apostle shows in chapters 6
and 7 of the Roman epistle, the believer is two identities in
one body, the natural or old man and the spiritual or inward man; the one is
visible to the world in secular life, the other invisible
to natural faculties.
We are seen and known as the sons and
daughters of men and as religious folk, but hidden and
unseen as sons of God.
Consequently, the world’s perception of
what a christian is bears no relation to divine reality, nor can it
considering the circumstances outlined. The corollary is that unregenerate
mankind considers that any good-living person, displaying good works,
possessed of a kindly disposition, perhaps a churchgoer, is a christian.
Put another way, being like Christ in
the flesh is what constitutes a christian in the world’s view
- it should not be ours (2 Cor.5:16). It is not the purpose of
Christianity to make people better citizens, though in some instances they may
become so, nor to make the world a better place; that is the aim of
Christendom.
The reality is that a christian - a new
(spiritual) creation - is about being like Christ
spiritually (2 Cor. 5:16,17), like the Man who was faithful and
consistent in His spiritual service, walking in God’s ways, obedient to divine
precepts and principles, in glad subjection to God’s will, always abounding in
the work of the Lord. Significantly, He was unceasing in
His efforts to raise the minds of God’s people above the natural and
temporal, to engage the spiritual and eternal, a work no less relevant today.
Because the world can only know a natural
Christ, its notion of the christian and of Christianity is of necessity one of
visual perception, in contrast to the hidden nature of the true.
It says seeing is believing but the spiritual reality is that believing is
seeing.
It is a visible interpretation of divine
truth that is presented to the world by Christendom, Satan’s
natural counterfeit of God’s spiritual kingdom.
However, as the Lord indicated to
Nicodemus, the Kingdom of God in its new spiritual form cannot be seen by
natural man (John 3:3) because spiritual things cannot be discerned by natural
faculties. Only by the spiritual faculty of faith and new birth can the
Kingdom in its present spiritual form be seen and entered, basic truth that
clearly establishes the spiritual nature of the Christian Faith and the basis
for interpreting New Testament Scripture. The sentient world has no means to
discern that the local New Testament church is the Kingdom of God or
Christianity, any more than it can see eternal life in flesh, the new man.
The divine system of Christianity has
always been for the eye of God, whereas Satan’s Christendom has always been
for the eye of man.
Just as they were originally born into a
natural environment, so believers have been born-again into a
spiritual one, a spiritual people, called out
of the world spiritually, separated to God to be engaged in
spiritual service in and through a spiritual
environment created for them by God, the true normal Christian life; all very
different from spiritually corrupt Christendom’s religious ethic.
Though Scripture is primarily concerned
with spiritual precepts and principles, it is not exclusively
so, for the very good and obvious reason that the believer has a visible
presence in the world. Consequently, the Word of God also provides
counsel and guidance of a secular nature, that by it the
believer may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in daily life
(Titus 2:10). These are not the spiritual things of faith but
things that accompany faith, the only things the world can recognise. So,
whilst spiritual and natural or secular are clearly different and distinct,
the one impacts on the other in accordance with scripture bearing on moral and
related matters. A commendable secular life speaks to natural man in the only
way he can understand, complementing the unseen, inward reality of divine
life, and thus glorifying God.
Christianity is a religion of the new
nature and things spiritual, Christendom a religion of human nature and things
secular.
MINDSET
Mindset is a word in common
usage and is defined as "a habitual attitude of mind and set of basic
assumptions that influence judgment and actions".
Mindset is also a scriptural concept
(Col.3:2), "set your affection (mind) on things above ......". We may deduce
from the dictionary definition and the apostle’s instruction that the
christian’s attitude of mind is crucial to a right perception of the Christian
Faith and to the interpretation of Scripture.
Scripture recognises the importance of the
mind in spiritual things. In chapter 12 v. 2 of his Roman
Epistle, Paul exhorts the saints "And be not conformed to this world but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind
............", a clear reference to the need for a change of mindset
in order to rise above temporal considerations and embrace spiritual values in
their practice of Christianity. Similarly, in chapter 4, v.23 of the Ephesian
Epistle, "Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind",
something that can only be achieved by setting the mind on
spiritual things, not on natural things on the earth (Col. 3:2).
The greatest threat to a right
understanding of spiritual things is the mindset of natural man;
it caused Cain to slay Abel (1 John 3:12) and it slays spiritually
today. The principle of the natural mindset in a believer
is found in Romans 8:6 & 7, "For to be carnally minded is death
............" and "Because the carnal mind is enmity against
God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be". This is
the natural mind active in the divine sphere of the assembly where it spells
death to spiritual things, for the one is contrary to the other. The newly
born-again believer comes to Christianity with a natural mindset
which requires renewal, so that the concepts of the old order of Adam, whether
secular or religious, are replaced by the spiritual ones of the new man.
The mindset of religious
natural man was a threat to the early church as converted Jews
entered the spiritual environment of the assembly with minds
that were at odds with it; they brought with them a traditional, naturalistic
appreciation of divine revelation that required renewal. This was the task of
the Apostle Paul in particular and, had he not prevailed, then an early form
of Christendom would have been established well before it actually occurred.
In the event, Paul prophesied in his address to the Ephesian elders (Acts
20:28-31) that, after the close of the apostolic age, the church there would
come under attack from unspiritual men, both from without and within.
Believers, perhaps of a Jewish mindset and thus opposed to Paul’s
spiritual Christianity, would come in as wolves to wreak spiritual
havoc, whilst within, elders operating in the flesh - the carnal mind of
Romans 8 - would corrupt spiritual things with a naturalistic form of teaching
and so bring about division.
(Division is a work of the flesh, so is
never caused by upholding spiritual values but by opposition to them).
That spiritual degeneration was not
confined to Ephesus is clear from early church history, as traced in such
works as "The Pilgrim Church" by E. H. Broadbent. The intrusion of the
natural mind at the expense of the spiritual became
widespread and early forms of clerisy, human expedients such as infant
baptism, together with Gnostic corruptions were all symptomatic of an alien
mindset operating in the sphere of the spiritual. Thus the stage was set for
the emergence of Christendom - a Satan-inspired pseudo-Christian religion of
natural man, before the close of the first century. This grotesque
manifestation of the natural mindset in the divine sphere of
spiritual operations produced a religious order ideally suited to
the unregenerate. In due time the spiritual nature of
Christianity would be replaced by a religious philosophy that could be
recognised and understood by natural man - a ‘Christianity’ of
everyday life, a secular religion of morals and social values.
There followed more than a millennium of
spiritual darkness before the perverse and pervasive influence of the
natural mindset was arrested by the Reformation and then reversed by
the recovery of much lost spiritual truth early in the nineteenth century,
when believers left the sects of Christendom to gather in simple adherence to
New Testament Scripture. However, as with the movement out of Judaism in
apostolic times, so saints coming out of Christendom to establish local
assemblies unwittingly brought with them the religious mindset of that pseudo-christian
institution. In all the circumstances it is hardly surprising that, despite
its inherent contradictions, Christendom’s religious ethic continued to be the
accepted norm in these local gatherings.
That we in our generation have followed in
the same mindset is apparent, in that we commonly display a tendency to think
in natural rather than spiritual terms.
Consequently, it is not unusual to find the "new creation in Christ" (2
Cor.5:17) construed as a new Adam - christianised flesh - whereas it describes
a new spiritual entity, the new man, and invisible as such, for
that which is spiritual is not discernible by natural means (I Cor.2:14).
Similarly, to the naturally inclined mind, divine love is natural affection,
good works automatically mean natural good deeds, righteousness invariably
translates as good living and references to the believer’s walk are assumed to
refer to daily life rather than his spiritual walk before God and the saints.
This is all symptomatic of the Christendom
mindset which can only produce spiritual death (2 Cor. 3:6 & 7); it is a
mindset that does not recognise the spiritual character of
Christianity, that renders natural and moral issues as matters of faith and
interprets the things of faith in a naturalistic way. It emphasizes the
natural at the expense of the spiritual, which is why it is an instrument of
death so far as spiritual things are concerned.
Religious ethic is the creed of
Christendom, the world’s interpretation of divine revelation, a mindset of the
old order of mankind. It is not Christianity and as such it should find no
place in the sphere of the new man, the local assembly. Regrettably, the
assemblies of the saints today largely fail to distinguish between the natural
and the spiritual, the secular and the divine. In secularising divine truth
they fail spiritually and have received the grace of God in vain.
CHRISTENDOM – THE GREAT
DECEPTION
Christendom, a potpourri of Christian
profession representing disparate sects and denominations, is
recognised by the world as Christianity. That fact by itself is sure
testimony that Christendom is a pseudo-Christianity that is not of God. In
reality it is a cunning deception calculated to lull mankind into a false
sense of eternal security.
How did it come about; who is behind it if
it is not of God? Satan is the great deceiver of men and opposer of God,
dedicated to the overthrow of divine purpose in the world. "The whole world
lieth in the wicked one". It is his domain and he is opposed to anything that
challenges his sphere of influence.
God planted a garden eastward in Eden in
Satan’s domain and there He placed man, a creation in His own image. Satan
succeeded in converting Adam to his cause, paving the way for universal
opposition to the work of God in the world and the co-existence of good and
evil.
God responded to the loss of Adam with the
call of Abraham on the basis of faith, and the establishing of a new kind of
garden, the nation of Israel (Isa.58:11). With corrupt human nature as his
ally, Satan infiltrated this second divinely-inspired garden so that in due
time the faith of Abraham was superseded by the corruption of the Pharisees
and Saducees. Judaism ceased to function as God’s garden, sharing the fate of
Eden and answering to the fig tree that bore no fruit (Matt.21:19), speaking
of empty profession.
In grace, God responded yet again by
creating a new man, a spiritual creation in the image of His
Son, and collectively a new (spiritual) garden (1 Cor.3:9). This new garden of
God was a latter- day (spiritual) Eden, the perfect spiritual
environment for the new man. Recognising that the first order of mankind he
had converted in Eden was now being reconverted spiritually, Satan moved to
counter this new threat to his sphere of influence. Thousands were being saved
and ‘gardens of God’ were springing up wherever the gospel was preached, a
real threat to his hold over mankind. The strategy of infiltration and
corruption had worked in Eden and Israel so why not in this new divine
initiative!
Accordingly, the close of apostolic
ministry in the early days of the church was soon followed by a progressive
turning away from divine precept and principle and the adoption of human
expedients. Human nature superseded the divine nature in God’s spiritual
garden and in due time apostolic Christianity was transformed into a
‘Christianity’ suited to natural man, rather than born-again
man. This new system, in which divine revelation was interpreted in a
naturalistic way and added to as thought necessary, the hallmark of
Christendom, had an obvious appeal to unregenerate man. Human organisation
took the Holy Spirit’s place and the gifts of natural man replaced the
spiritual gifts of the new man. The transformation was now complete, the
divine, spiritual system of Christianity naturalised
to suit unregenerate man’s religious needs, a system of empty profession.
Christendom, a pseudo-Christianity professing belief in God yet denying the
power thereof and using His Word, was born - a religious philosophy that could
be recognised and understood by natural man – a ‘Christianity’ of secular
life, a religion of morals and social values. Satan’s counterfeit of the
divine system, a religious ethic, became an accomplished and
accepted fact, a 'Christianity' accepted as the real thing for over a thousand
years. Little wonder that it's 'Christianity of every day life', so firmly
lodged in the mind, continued to be taught alongside spiritual truth by
believers who came out of the system. Christianity proper, believers
gathered to the name of the Lord, came to be regarded by the populace at large
as just a quirky sect of Christendom.
Natural man cannot understand spiritual
things (1 Cor.2:14) but he can readily embrace a naturalistic form of religion
designed to appeal to human nature. It is important to recognise that this is
the defining characteristic of Christendom viz a worldly corruption of
Christianity, the naturalising of a divine system that is spiritual.
Today, Christendom is the dominating religious institution of the western
world, testimony to Satan's’strategy of infiltrating and corrupting the divine
to deceive mankind. Unregenerate man cannot discern between the true and the
counterfeit but the believer can and should. Saints should not be involved in
a satanic religious system that is ripening for judgment (Rev.17). Nor
should they adopt it's naturalistic creed in their gatherings, nor adopt a
sectarian name such as 'The Brethren', 'Christian Brethren', 'Plymouth
Brethren', etc. To do so is to invite inclusion in man's religious
institution, Christendom. That many believers are unwittingly caught up in
Christendom is no excuse for enlightened saints to have fellowship with it.
When the Lord returns Christians who are in it will be taken out of it and the
great counterfeit left for judgment. Meantime, "Be ye separate saith the Lord
and touch not the unclean thing" (2 Cor.6:17).
THE ACTIVITY OF SPIRITUAL
EVIL
The essence and source of spiritual evil is of
course Satan, whose wiles are well catalogued for us in Scripture. In this
present time of accelerating spiritual degeneration, it is apparent that God's
assembly is his specific target as he promotes increasingly subtle forms of
deception calculated to deflect saints and undermine divine order. It has
ever been his unrelenting activity to seek every means by which to nullify
assembly testimony, for he well knows its spiritual potential as the corporate
embodiment of divine purpose (I Cor.12:12 and 1 Cor.3:16). Would that many
saints today had an equally clear perception of divine purpose in relation to
the assembly! Thus we recognise that the forces of spiritual evil are engaged
to bring about the effective elimination of corporate divine testimony in the
world, Satan's domain, by seeking to deceive assemblies into embracing that
which has an appearance of good but which is in reality evil.
Believers generally have little difficulty
recognising evil at the moral level but spiritual evil is a very different
matter, calling for the acquired ability of discernment to judge between good
and evil at this level (1 Cor.2:14-15). Unfortunately, this necessary skill
of the new man is noticeably lacking in conditions of spiritual decline, with
the result that the nature and operation of spiritual evil often goes
unrecognised in the very sphere where God has made provision for its detection
and exposure. In the light of these prevailing circumstances, it is useful to
remind ourselves that evil operates at two distinct levels in God's assembly
but with one end in view - to lead saints astray from a pathway governed by
divine principles and to disrupt the divine peace and tranquility that should
characterise the house of God. If Satan can strike successfully at the
doctrinal basis of the assembly then he knows it is effectively neutralised as
a force for God.
In the first instance, the adversary misses no
opportunity to activate the flesh in believers so that destructive human
nature can have its way in the divine sphere of the new man. The flesh, or
human nature as it is more readily understood, has of course been put to death
in God's purpose and therefore has no legitimate place in the assembly
(Rom.6:6). However, it is not uncommon in our day to find that the truth of
the end of the flesh is either unknown among the saints or is ignored, with
the consequence that human reasoning and compromise are much in evidence in
the house of God. This grotesque reversal of divine order, with ensuing loss
of assembly character, presents a grave enough situation but even this is
eclipsed when spiritual counterfeit is embraced by God's people. The use of
counterfeit is Satan's speciality and his masterpiece is Christendom, its
beguiling presence and seducing influence posing a constant threat to local
church integrity. All professing religious testimony that is broadly contrary
to New Testament church principles comprises false Christendom, no matter how
zealous, evangelical or excellent in social good works it may be. Assemblies
court it and its connections at their peril!
So we can see that the main plank of Satan's
strategy in relation to God's assembly is the promoting of religious activity
in forms which simulate the real thing, with the view to attracting the
unlearned and any whose faith is not firmly grounded in the Word of God.
Failure to recognise the nature of evangelical denominations, mission efforts
of various kinds, national gospel campaigns, indeed any spiritual activity
outside the sphere of the assembly, has proved a snare to many down the years,
including some who take the place of being assembly leaders. It is not our
purpose to decry religious organisations or works for the sake of being
critical but rather to identify spiritual evil for the guidance and wellbeing
of saints who might otherwise fall victim to its seducing influence: ideally
this is an important function of overseers.
The more subtle a form of spiritual evil, the
more difficult it is to differentiate between it and that which is true or
scriptural. A particularly cunning example of this in our day is the type of
mission activity that appears to have no particular religious connection,
projecting an apparently non-sectarian image and holding a place at the very
forefront of good works and evangelical endeavour in many of our cities. This
kind of work has great appeal to the young and the unwary and may even be
presented as having had strong assembly connections in its early beginnings,
to say nothing of 'assembly' support in its present activities. Little wonder
that City Missions have been damaging to the assemblies while securing
widespread support among the denominations of Christendom. Godly elders,
however, are not so easily deceived by 'appearances' of good, no matter how
attractively packaged, preferring to submit all such activity to the test of
Holy Writ. Under this scrutiny it is readily identified as being outside the
scope of God's New Testament pattern and therefore designed to overturn divine
principles and divide the saints. In the final analysis it is quality of
service that counts and that cannot be achieved by any natural perception of
what is good, only by what conforms to New Testament precept and principle (2
Tim.2:5). We hear increasing murmurings among God's people today that this
view of things is far too narrow; it may be too narrow for the flesh bit it
poses no problem for the spiritual, whose delight is to bow in worshipful
obedience to the requirements of God's word (Psalm 119:15-16).
The assembly is unique in divine purpose and
it is clearly the mind of God that saints should be separated from the leaven
of Christendom in all its forms, both individually and corporately. To engage
in service that is contrary to divine principles constitutes rebellion against
godly order and is wholly at odds with the doctrinal basis of assembly
fellowship. Links with any aspect of Christendom or its works bespeaks either
ignorance of God's ways or spiritual bankruptcy, for the reality is that such
associations advance the cause of the adversary in his implacable opposition
to God and the sphere of divine rule. Let us take due note then that
spiritual evil is not to be trifled with and separation from it in all its
forms is a positive necessity if New Testament assemblies are to retain their
character and the presence of God in the midst (2 Cor.6:17-18 and Rev.2:5).
FLESH AND SPIRIT
In chapter 3 of
John’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus revealed to Nicodemus that the Kingdom of
God was spiritual in character, neither seen nor entered in any
natural way, a Kingdom closed to natural faculties.
To remove any doubt about the
spiritual import of being born-again, He confirmed it in the most
emphatic way, saying, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit" (verse 6). The form of life that is sourced
in nature is earthly, whereas that which is sourced in God is heavenly. There
is access to the Kingdom for the heavenly but not for the earthly, the two
forms of life being intrinsically different, unrelated and mutually exclusive.
This is highly instructive, a
fundamental spiritual principle of the utmost importance to a right
understanding of the nature of the present testimony.
The Kingdom of God is the sphere of divine
rule and in this present age of grace it is ideally found in the local
New Testament church or assembly. Because it is spiritual
in character, it comprises a spiritual people and has to do with spiritual
things. Peter knew this (I Peter 2:5); though he was of the same stock as
Nicodemus he had come to understand the spiritual nature of the Kingdom and so
he wrote to Jewish saints, "Ye also as living stones are built up a
spiritual house .............". This basic truth seems to have eluded
many, for we live in a day when the assembly appears increasingly to be
regarded as a kind of religious social club. The Kingdom of God is not food
and drink (Rom.14:17) nor is it any other natural thing. The
reality is that it is a spiritual fellowship designed by God
primarily for the sharing of spiritual things, the things of
heaven, not the things of earth (Col.3:2).
This spiritual Kingdom (the local assembly)
is unrecognised by that which is born of the flesh, for natural man thinks
that Christianity is enshrined in Christendom. However, it is evident that
Christendom is in much the same predicament as Nicodemus was; it thinks the
Kingdom can be seen and entered by natural (religious) means and it interprets
the things of faith in a naturalistic way. Consequently, its brand of
‘Christianity’ is concerned with those secular things and issues of everyday
life that it understands as, in common with Nicodemus and his contemporaries,
it cannot discern that which is spiritual; in other words, it transforms
the faith into a religious ethic. This is the widely accepted view
of Christianity in the world today but in the light of the Lord’s words in
John 3, it is plainly erroneous, as indeed it must be for unregenerate man
cannot know the things of God (I Cor:2:14). As discerned and recognised by
intelligent faith, Christianity is the active, corporate spiritual presence on earth of the redeemed
(the assembly),
not an ethic that the world can understand and in which
it can participate. It is about the new (spiritual) life God has given us,
eternal life, and the spiritual things of faith - heavenly things - whereas
Satan’s Christendom is a religion concerned with the things of natural life,
whether social, moral or political - earthly things.
Some may ask, if Christianity is concerned
with spiritual matters, as the Lord’s words plainly indicate, how is it that
the New Testament Epistles treat of secular and moral issues? Clearly, because
the believer has a natural, secular life in the world and Scripture gives
guidance for that sphere also, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars".
These issues are not matters of faith (faith is a spiritual faculty) but are
matters relating to the believer’s life in the world. It may be stating the
obvious but the believer has both a natural life and a spiritual life and God
has made abundant provision in His Word for both. The word "spiritual" seems
to cause a problem for some and one has heard it spoken of in the strangest
terms, as though it was some kind of abstract thing. Clearly, it describes the
things of divine revelation that can be discerned only by the divine nature,
the spiritual things of faith that are unknown and unseen by natural man; in
other words, the things of Christianity. That which is natural is natural and
that which is spiritual is spiritual.
To recognise this important scriptural
principle and its implications is to distinguish things that differ and to
establish a spiritual basis for the interpretation of divine revelation.
To deny it is to be identified with the Pharisees in their wilful opposition
to divine truth and, in present day terms, with the naturalistic delusion of
Christendom, missing the whole point of being born-again as a present
spiritual experience. The Scripture says to avoid all such, Rom.16:17-18.
The first chapter of John’s gospel
introduces the New Man, the Word become flesh, first of a new order of
humanity. He was also the Second Man in divine purpose (I
Cor:15:47) and the Spirit alludes to this in the words of John Baptist "… He
that cometh after me is preferred before me …..".
Students of Scripture will have noted the divine preference for a second
man, enshrined in many Old Testament types commencing with Abel.
So, in chapter 1 we have the first
New Man, in chapter 2 the first miracle and in chapter 3 the
first doctrine, important and defining in its implications.
First things in scripture are significant
and the words of the Lord to Nicodemus define a fundamental principle for the
new Christian era. He made clear that natural man could neither see
nor enter the kingdom of God, indicating it was unseen by
natural faculties and therefore spiritual in nature. On a later
occasion He would say, "My kingdom is not of this world". A spiritual
kingdom could be discerned only by spiritual means, by being born-again into a
spiritual life.
It follows, therefore, that the Kingdom of
God is a spiritual sphere of fellowship, one which is
unseen and unknown so far as the world of natural man is
concerned. According to the Lord’s teaching, the natural and spiritual spheres
are entirely different and separate, their mutual exclusivity emphasised by
His words in verse 6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit". The corollary is that the Kingdom of God in
its present spiritual form, the divine system of Christianity
represented by local New Testament churches or assemblies, is solely concerned
with spiritual things, the unseen things that are eternal (2 Cor.4:18).
The apostle Peter understood this principle
for he described each local gathering of dispersed Jewish saints as living
(born-again) stones built up a spiritual house (1 Pet.2:5),
while Paul described the saints at Corinth as a (spiritual) garden, building
and temple (1 Cor.3). As already indicated, he then went on to say, "We look
not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen
…….. but the things which are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor.4:18).
It is clear from these scriptures that the
flesh (human nature in all its aspects) and the secular things of daily life
form no part of the spiritual system of Christianity. That the
inherited tradition of Christendom dictates otherwise merely demonstrates that
its tradition is wrong. Christendom is a counterfeit work of
Satan designed to confuse believers and convince the unregenerate that it is
Christianity. In order to achieve this aim it presents the things of God in a
naturalistic way so that natural man can readily
comprehend them. It brings spiritual things down to the
natural level, interpreting Scripture in terms of morals,
social graces, etc. with the view to improving human nature and man’s world.
This is the tradition mistakenly subscribed to by many of the Lord’s people;
it is Satan’s grotesque misrepresentation of God’s spiritual system for the
new man and should be rejected by every born-again saint.
The believer clearly has a secular life and
a spiritual life, subject to commandments of the Lord relating to both. He is
thus a new (spiritual) creation in Christ involved with unseen
things, principally in House of God circumstances, whilst also being involved
with the natural, seen things of secular life, the two
activities being entirely different and separate.
The Lord’s defining first doctrine also has
implications for the interpretation of Scripture. Failure to note the
distinction He draws between the natural and spiritual conditions is to
approach divine things from the naturalistic standpoint of Nicodemus. The
inevitable result is that our understanding of Scripture falls short of the
Spirit’s intentions with undesirable consequences for both secular and
spiritual life. The correct interpretation of divine revelation will always
have this defining principle as its starting point, viz. that we are a
spiritual people concerned in the christian walk with spiritual things.
However, to deny the explicit meaning of
the Lord’s words, even to the point of opposing exposition of them, is to
follow the rebellion of the Pharisees.
Paul had no difficulty recognising the
spiritual nature of The Faith; writing to the saints at Corinth he
said, "…… the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life" (2 Cor.3:6). A
ministry which takes no account of the Lord’s stated distinction between the
natural and spiritual conditions is a ministry of (spiritual) death.
The divine system of Christianity
cannot properly be understood or practiced without embracing the clear
implications of the Lord’s ministry to Nicodemus.
THINGS SEEN AND UNSEEN
In his
second letter to the assembly at
Corinth the apostle Paul wrote, "the things which are seen are temporary but
the things which are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18). Hence, creation, the
things of nature and every living thing, including humanity, are all
transient, a type or shadow of invisible, eternal things (Rom.1:20). It is the
unseen things, the things of the spiritual realm,
which are enduring, eternal.
Paul says it is these eternal things that
the believer is concerned with in his christian walk; they constitute what
Christianity is about. The world thinks that the Christian Faith is a religion
of moral and social values aimed at improving society, a religion of everyday
life, whereas in reality it is a divine system of the unseen, of spiritual
precepts and values. In christian experience we look not at the things of
nature, the realm of natural life, but at unseen spiritual things; it is a
spiritual walk of faith, for in the divine system of Christianity
its adherents walk by faith, not by sight.
It is a different matter in the world of
secular life and natural relationships however; in this environment the
believer does walk by sight, being concerned with the things
that are seen. Effectively, he is involved in two spheres: like his fellow man
he has a place and life at a natural level in the world, employment, family,
etc. but unlike him, he also has a place and spiritual life in the house of
God. In secular life he applies his natural talents and abilities, whereas in
the divine sphere he exercises spiritual gifts and acquired spiritual
ability.
In revealing the spiritual nature of The
Faith, Paul was effectively confirming the Lord’s ministry to Nicodemus (John
3); only one born spiritually could see the Kingdom of God or
enter it, for the simple (though to Nicodemus mysterious) reason
that it was a spiritual kingdom. The different and separate natures of the
natural and spiritual conditions were clearly defined and emphasised with the
words "That which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit" (John
3:6). The apostle Peter also recognised this truth for he wrote to Jewish
believers that the local church or assembly is a spiritual house
(1 Pet.2:5).
It is also instructive and most relevant in
the context of distinguishing things that differ to recognise that, whilst God
has established the spiritual system of Christianity, Satan has introduced his
own counterfeit natural religious system - Christendom. Not being based on
faith and a new man, it is concerned with the things that are seen, the
temporal, a religion of secular life and all things natural because it has no
means of seeing or understanding things which are spiritual. For centuries,
Satan’s naturalistic Christendom, posing as Christianity, taught the world
that the Christian Faith was a religion of natural, social things aimed at
improving human nature and making the world a better place, a
corruption of the truth that has regrettably been accepted by many
in the christian community.
This spiritually grotesque but seductive
institution has been raised up to counter the true, to deceive, to delude
mankind into thinking that a religious system devoted to natural man and the
things that are seen is of God. In reality it is a religion of the old nature
and the natural issues of daily life, whereas Christianity is a religion of
the new nature and the spiritual issues of the Kingdom of God. Christendom
uses the Bible but knows only the letter of Scripture and so presents The
Faith in terms of moral and social principles in a highly visible,
religious context designed to appeal to natural man.
That believers are deceived by it says a
great deal about spiritual discernment, whether it be involvement with the
religious systems of Christendom or subscribing to its naturalistic doctrine.
The naturalistic interpretation of spiritual things is satanic.
The world says that seeing is believing but the truth is that believing is
seeing.
The Lord Jesus told Nicodemus that the
sphere of divine rule was unseen (spiritual) and the apostles repeated His
teaching to the churches. The message is simple and clear: the divine system
of Christianity is a spiritual system about spiritual things, the unseen and
eternal, not about the temporal things that are seen.
NEW FOR OLD
The believer in Christ
is a new creation, 2 Cor.5:17, eternal life, the divine nature,
in flesh. This new spiritual form of life is described in Scripture as the
"new man", Eph. 4.24 and Col.3:10 and being spiritual it is unseen, clothed or
veiled in a body. Says the apostle to the Corinthian saints, "The things which
are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2
Cor.4:18). The believer is seen, from the divine standpoint, as being "in
Christ", 2 Cor.5:17, completely and fully identified with Him who was eternal
life veiled in flesh. To natural man He was Jesus
of Nazareth and only to faith was He recognised as the Christ, the Son of God;
He was concealed in a body and we are identified with him,
hidden with Christ in God, Col.3:3. The new man cannot be seen with
the natural eye, which is why he is described as the "inward man", 2 Cor.4:16,
in direct contrast to "the outward man", the physical body. New life,
born-again life, is spiritual life and spiritual life is unseen life, for it
is eternal in character, 2 Cor.4:18.
Whereas the believer is "in Christ", he was
formerly unregenerate "in Adam", the failed old order of
humanity. Thus, the ‘Adam nature’ in the believer is referred to as "the old
man", Rom.6:6, a nature that no longer exists in God’s sight, having been
superseded by "the new man"; we have died so far as the old nature is
concerned and are alive to God in a new spiritual form of life.
Some have mistakenly thought that "the new
man" is a reconstructed or improved Adam but "new man" is the divine name
given in God’s Word to a new spiritual creation; it has no
reference whatever to natural manhood.
Again, some would make a distinction
between "the old man" and "the flesh" but it would appear that they are one
and the same. Paul writes in Rom.7:18 "……in my flesh there dwells no good
thing", certainly something that is true of "the old man", which is why it had
to be crucified with Christ, Rom.6:6, while in Rom.8:9 he says, "You are not
in the flesh but in the spirit …….", again equally true of "the old man" or
old nature.
So the believer, though outwardly still a
physical human being, a natural man to his fellow men, is a new spiritual
being in God’s sight, divine life in a body, as was the Christ, alive to God
in a new form of life, relating spiritually to God who is
Spirit.
In Col.3 he is seen as one who, in
embracing salvation, has once-for-all (aorist) done with, "put off" the old
man and once-for-all acquired, "put on" the new man, affirmation on his part
of the fact of new birth.
In Eph.4 the requirement is to
recognise the effects of the work of Christ in salvation and so here
the exhortation to "put off" and "put on" is a conscious renewing of the
mind to intelligently understand what God has done.
It is not a conscious
natural act on the part of a believer as clearly, on the one hand he
cannot do a work that only God can do and on the other, Eph.4 cannot be seen
as a contradiction of Col.3. Again, the idea that a believer can "put on" some
outward identity of the spiritual nature is plainly contrary to
the concealed nature of spiritual things, Col.3:3, 1 Cor.2:14.
We see, therefore, that there are two forms
of life operating in one body in the believer, "the old man" at the natural or
secular level of life and "the new man" at the Christian or spiritual level of
life. In the believer, "the old man" has been put to death in the death of
Christ, finished with in divine purpose, and we are required to reckon it to
be so in our spiritual walk Rom.6:11. "(The) old things (of the flesh, the old
man) are passed away, behold (the) all things (of Christianity) are become
New" (2 Cor.5:17).
The believer who walks by sight in
spiritual life rather than by faith says that his old nature is alive because
he sees that it is so, but in so doing he sees what God does not
see, not realising that he is no longer alive to God in that form of life. The
believer is a new creation, a spiritual being, a
new (spiritual) man – new for old.
NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL
Scripture
reveals that from the beginning of human history, natural and spiritual
have been fundamentally different and opposing conditions. Cain was opposed to
Abel in his response to divine things and this established a principle
repeated throughout the Word of God, whether in Jacob and Esau, David and
Goliath or the Lord and the Pharisees. Nicodemus was left in no doubt about
the gulf between natural and spiritual (John 3) and the apostle Paul confirmed
it in his letter to the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 2:14). The gulf
between Israel (earthly, natural) and the church (heavenly, spiritual) was
unbridgeable by any natural means.
What may not be as readily appreciated is
that the same principle is equally applicable to the believer. This is so
because he represents the two identities in one body, the old man
(Rom.6:6) and the new or inner man (2 Cor. 4:16). The one has
reference to natural life, the other to spiritual life and both are clearly
demonstrated in the exercise of gifts. The natural gifts common to mankind are
exercised by the christian in daily secular life, whether in employment or the
home, but all such skills and abilities of the flesh are excluded
from the spiritual sphere of the house of God, where only
spiritual gifts apply.
We see, therefore, that the natural and
spiritual elements in the believer are quite different and separate, having
their own spheres of operation. However, some have thought that the old man,
encompassing the flesh (human nature) in the believer, is dead in secular life
as well as in divine purpose, but this manifestly fails to distinguish between
the different spheres in which the believer is engaged, quite apart from the
contradiction of daily experience in which we obviously use the natural
abilities of the flesh common to man (2 Cor 10:3). The flesh is of course
reckoned dead so far as divine things are concerned (Col.3:3), which is why
natural gifts and propensities should be excluded from spiritual
considerations. Again, some have thought that the flesh is represented only by
Gal.5:17-21 but this fails to recognise that the flesh
is descriptive of natural man in his totality (Vine).
The testimony of Scripture text
is also clear in the matter of natural and spiritual. We sometimes hear
reference to ‘the plain truth of Scripture’, as though divine revelation was a
simple, straightforward exercise of reading the letter of the
Word. But there is nothing ‘plain’ about spiritual truth; God has
concealed it in the letter of Scripture (1 Cor.2:7) so that man by his
natural faculties cannot discern it (1 Cor.2:14). On the other hand, there
is plain truth in the epistles, relating to secular
life, that anyone can understand because it is not of a spiritual nature.
Nothing concealed about that. Not surprisingly, it is this natural
aspect of Scripture that the religions of Christendom erroneously perceive to
be Christianity. We see, therefore, that Scripture text itself testifies to
the separate nature of natural and spiritual (Heb.4:12), an important
distinction to recognise if we are to have a proper understanding of the
believer’s place in the spiritual sphere and in the world, and thus of the
nature of Christianity.
None of this excludes the fact that being a
believer influences secular life, in that different motives and
priorities now apply than was the case prior to salvation. Life in the world
for the christian is seen from an entirely different perspective to his
fellows, ideally being lived "in the Lord", that is, in subjection to the
plain commandments of the Lord relating to natural life; not
Christianity but secular life influenced by it.
Another aspect of the believer’s life that
illustrates the difference between the natural and spiritual spheres is that
of good works. There are the natural good works of daily life
with which we are all familiar, such as any public spirited person might
undertake, including the believer, and there are spiritual good
works that only a regenerate person can perform (James 2:21-25). Ideally the
believer is engaged in both, whereas the unbeliever can only engage in one
because he is separated from things spiritual. Similarly, natural
relationships have their place in secular life but not in the divine system of
Christianity where spiritual relationships apply.
It could hardly be clearer that the
world is the sphere of the natural and moral,
the scene of the manifestation of the flesh, whether for good or bad, whereas
the house of God is the sphere of things
spiritual. They are quite separate and the believer has his place in
both, alive to the world in the flesh with its varied gifts, abilities and
failures and alive to God in the new nature with its spiritual gifts and
appreciation of divine things. Scripture makes a clear distinction between
these two opposing conditions and so should we, recognising that Christianity
is an exercise of spiritual things, not to be confused with the
natural graces and activities of secular life. To do so is
to rightly divide the Word of Truth.
END
Addendum
It is quite extraordinary that
some would deny this clearcut truth of Scripture, a response that indicates a
spirit of rebellion. Further, there are those of a naturalistic persuasion in
divine things, modern-day Pharisees, who take the view that recognition of the
scriptural distinction between the two conditions somehow infers that
believers can "live as they like". To conclude so is a perversion
that no right-minded believer would embrace (see article "The Believer and
Good Works").
The present Day of Grace is the
dispensation of the Holy Spirit, complementing the preceding ministry of the
Son, a divine work wholly unperceived by unregenerate man. His coming into the
world was as momentous as that of the Son and signalled the beginning of a new
age, the dispensation of the Spirit.
As the Son was introduced to the nation by John Baptist, so the Holy Spirit
was introduced to the disciples by the Lord Jesus as recorded in John 14:15 &
16. He said to them:
(1) "He
shall be in you" – John 14:17.
(2) "He
shall teach you all things" – John
14:26
(3) "He
shall testify of Me" – John 15:26
(4) "He
shall convict the world" – John 16:8-11
(5) "He
shall guide you into all truth" – John 16:13.
(6) "He will
show you things to come" – John 16:13
(7) "He
shall glorify Me" – John 16:14
Thus the disciples were instructed regarding the coming of the Spirit and the
character of His ministry. His coming, as that of His Predecessor, was for a
spiritual ministry, in this instance in and through the believer
and local gathering, not a ministry in connection with the natural sphere.
It is the task of angels to bring divine purpose to fruition in
the sphere of the natural world, whether relating to individuals, Acts
12:7-11, Matt.13:41, or nations, Rev.7 & 8. Angels are spirit beings but are
not engaged in a spiritual ministry on earth, that is the
province of the Holy Spirit as itemised above; rather they are learning
spiritual things, Eph. 3:10. Whilst they themselves are unseen, their
present activity on earth is concerned with the things that are seen,
the sphere of the natural world.
So whilst the angels have a ministry to bring divine purpose to fruition in
creation, the Holy Spirit has a ministry to bring divine purpose to fruition
in the spiritual sphere of the new creation. They are active in
the things that are seen, He in the things that are unseen; they
are consequently involved in the natural life and circumstances
of the believer in the context of creation and providence, He with the new,
spiritual life of the believer. This distinction is illustrated in
Acts 8 regarding Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch; in verse 26 an angel
spoke to Philip with instructions concerning his journey, while in verse 29 it
is the Spirit who speaks to him in an imminent spiritual
context.
Failure to distinguish between the natural and spiritual spheres, Luke 20:25,
Rom.14:17, (things seen and unseen, 2 Cor. 4:18), has contributed to the common
error of supposing that the Spirit has a guiding
role in the secular life of the believer. However, nowhere does
Scripture state that He guides the Christian in daily natural
life, rather as indicated by the Lord, His ministry has to do
with new, spiritual life, the new man, not the
old man and natural life. However, this should not be construed as in
any way inferring that secular life is divorced from divine interest or
scriptural guidance. The epistles are replete with (apostolic)
"commandments of the Lord" relating to secular life.
The Holy Spirit is in the believer, dwelling in Him and abiding with Him
permanently. In former ages He had come upon men for a specific
purpose; now He was to take up His abode in them for a permanent
dwelling place, 1 Cor. 6:19, Eph.2:22. He is the Divine Presence in the
believer, a spiritual presence, creating the new and inward man,
a new creation. By Him unregenerate man is born-again, acquiring a new
life, the life of the Spirit and that new life manifests itself
spiritually in fruit-bearing, the fruit of the Spirit. It is the law of nature
that all life should bear fruit after its kind and it is so in the spiritual
realm. It is the province of the Spirit in the believer to bear spiritual
fruit.
The fruit of the Spirit, as detailed in Gal.5, is unique to the believer and
assembly, radically different to those natural qualities which are the
equivalents in unregenerate man and the world. The believer is a new
spiritual man, not a new Adam, a new creation,
"created in Christ Jesus unto (spiritual) good works". It is "not by might nor
by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord".
Back to Top
PURIFYING
(1 John 3:3)
Those who
recognise the spiritual nature of The Faith (2 Cor.4:18) will understand
that it is not the calling of believers to enter into the meaning of this
verse from any natural standpoint. The saints are a heavenly,
spiritual people and Christianity has been formed and established
by God for spiritual, not natural, purposes. It is not an
ethic for the improvement of human nature, to make the world a better
place, as the religions of men seek to do; the flesh cannot be purified.
Unregenerate, religious man can only see this verse from a natural, moral
standpoint; we should see it quite differently, from a spiritual viewpoint.
Unfortunately, the naturalistic, moral standpoint of religious Christendom
holds sway with many believers so that purifying is seen as a 'laver
activity'. A leading teacher of the Word has written:- "We are holy and
without blame, clean every whit before Him in Christ, but
needing constantly the use of the laver for the washing of our feet".
This contradictory statement relies on so-called 'laver truth' which itself is
based on a false premise, viz. that the flesh defiles a believer in the sight
of God and that the "washing of water by the Word" in Eph.5:26 is a N.T.
reference to the laver in Exod.30. In the first instance, the flesh was dealt
a death blow in the death of Christ, Rom.6:6,7, once-for-all finished with in
divine purpose. Secondly, the correct rendering of Eph.5:26 rules out the
laver idea, viz. "having sanctified (aorist tense) and cleansed
(aorist) her with the washing of water by the Word", something already
accomplished. The fleshly purifying advocated by naturalistic traditionalists
has no basis in scripture.
The purifying in view is as He (Christ) in heaven is pure - divine,
spiritual purity; heaven is a spiritual, not a moral environment. Any
pretentions to the unique moral purity of Christ on earth are an
illusion of the spiritually blind at best; it is not in view. The Christ of
God has attained to the highest pinnacle of glory by His own righteous
response to God's revealed will for Him and in this spiritual purity
He still devotes Himself wholly to the realising of divine purpose (John
17:19). He has assumed and embodies such a place in glory that He makes
available, through the Christian system He mediates, all that the Father is in
love for those that God has given Him to perfect. In this glory He is
firstborn of many brethren; consequently the realising of divine intentions
requires that the new man (2 Cor 5:17 and Rom. 7:22) be like
Him, physically and spiritually and with Him, in manifested glory.
God has begotten by His love a new sort of humanity, which is alive and active
to Him in possession of His life (the new man). However, it is not yet
manifested what we shall be, for the treasure is hid in the
earthen vessel (2 Cor.4:7). The Lord Jesus did not manifest Himself
to the world as He might readily have done. For Him, as for us now, eternal
life lived in a body in the world was concerned with making the necessary
preparations so that one day we will together be manifested for what we are
godwardly.
God has committed Himself to reproducing His life and image in those who by
nature were children of wrath and the Lord Jesus is now devoted to bringing
this about; "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the
Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor 3:18). In doing so, in heavenly glory, He is
pure; correspondingly more than new birth is required of those who are
involved on earth in the present outworking of divine purpose. God demands
spiritual purity of the adherents and exponents of the divine
system He has formed on earth - "The wisdom that is from above is first
pure........." (James 3:17). To this end they must dedicate themselves, as the
Lord Jesus has done in heaven. They do so by purifying themselves from any
involvement with the flesh and the world in their Christianity, that is, in
their spiritual service. In doing so they become (spiritually) like
Him in nature and ability, "Behold I and the children God has given me" (Heb.
2:13). God is acquiring for Himself a perfected people, not in any
natural sense of course but perfect in spiritual ability. As it was
with the Lord Jesus in His service on earth, so our spiritual lives in
Christianity are to be lived with the ultimate goal of the manifestation in
view.
God is bringing many sons to glory and making them (spiritually) like His Only
Begotten Son in the process. The Christ of God is Man alive in glory, having
died to the flesh and the world in His present existence, that is, death has
separated Him from them, and this characterises Christianity for His people
now. It is a divine system established on earth in which man lives in glory
spiritually in preparation for glory physically and in which neither the flesh
(human nature) nor the world has any part. The love of the Father is the
present transforming power; it does not transform the flesh, what we are by
nature, but what we are in divine life. In this we are growing to the
ultimate, now seen in the Lord Jesus as He is. What God desires and will
acquire from Christianity is a people made capable of seeing the Son in His
glorified humanity.
So, "Everyone that has this hope in him purifies himself", having the sure
hope that Christ is able to confer upon him all that he needs for spiritual
perfection. As previously stated, this is not a puritanical purification
of the flesh (in any event an impossiblity) to which so many mistakenly
dedicate themselves but the spiritual purity of a heavenly
people.
To apply our Christianity to natural life in the world as Christendom does is
to corrupt The Faith and render ourselves and our service impure.
Our hope for personal glory and for the ultimate salvation and blessing of the
world is in Him. Our true response to having such a hope is to live and act in
a spiritually pure way in the Christian
system in order to acquire Christlikeness and so arrive at "the
measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ" (Eph. 4:13).
HOLINESS
Holiness, or sanctification
(R.V.), signifies separation to God. "It is predicated of God
and describes a characteristic godlikeness in those who are sanctified and
thus called saints" (Vine). Because God is Spirit, it follows that godlikeness
is spiritual in character, and it is in that sense that His
people are like Him.
Holiness then, is the intrinsic
spiritual standing of the believer, separated to God
spiritually by the quickening of the Holy Spirit in salvation; holy because
in Christ the Holy One. It follows that when Peter exhorts, "Be ye
holy (aorist tense) in all conduct" (1 Pet. 1:15) he is referring to the
requirement for intrinsic holiness to be demonstrated by appropriate spiritual
conduct in the fellowship, echoing Paul's exhortation to Timothy, "That ye may
know how to conduct yourself in the house of God" (1 Tim.3:15). The flesh has
no part in it.
So holiness is initially a work of God, not
of man, and a subsequent holy life has reference to the
spiritual activity of the new God-given nature in a
believer. Clearly, therefore, the holy life does not consist of a
puritanical secular life, commonly referred to in religious circles as
‘holy living’ (Col.3:1,2). If that was the case then the unregenerate,
good-living soul could claim to be holy! To ascribe holiness to ‘good living’
is gross misuse of the word, a contradiction of terms. Puritanism is
exaltation of the flesh, error arising from failure to recognise that the old
order of mankind is finished with in divine purpose, i.e. in the divine system
of Christianity. Likewise, to interpret references to sanctification in the
epistles in a naturalistic way is to be at odds with the same fundamental
spiritual principle.
Practical holiness involves the
growth of the new man, for he is called upon to be holy
(1 Pet. 1:15,16 & 2 Pet. 3:11), that is, to so respond to divine revelation
(Scripture) as to live spiritually as one separated to God
(Eph.1:4). The exhortation to holiness is as He (God) is holy and, as already
stated, that can only refer to the spiritual life of the
believer.
The holy life is principally
corporate, conducted primarily among fellow saints in house of God
circumstances, the local assembly. Here, in divine purpose, the people of God
are set apart as a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9), a holy
temple (1 Cor. 3:17) and a holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5).
Holiness in the previous Judaistic economy
or dispensation was associated with things, tangible, material
things - holy ground, buildings, vessels, etc., consonant with an earthly
people. But this is not the case in the Christian system, which is a
spiritual religion, a called-out, separated-to-God spiritual
people (1 Pet. 2:5) for whom holiness is exclusively concerned with
spiritual things (2 Cor. 4:18), consonant with their calling.
Hence, a holy priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices, serving God in
spiritual things.
However, the naturalistic mindset (the
Pharisees’ error) sees things differently. This is the mind, prevalent in
Christendom, that says Christianity, like Judaism, has to do
with natural, tangible things. This arises because the natural mind cannot
discern things spiritual (1 Cor. 2:14) and so can only interpret Scripture in
natural terms. Of course, such a view denies the essential difference between
the dispensations (Heb. 9:23,24) and, when taught in christian circles,
ministers (spiritual) death to the people of God (2 Cor. 3:6).
A typical example of naturalistic
interpretation would be the bodies of Romans 12:1, where the believers in
assembly fellowship at Rome were exhorted to present or yield themselves as a
living, holy sacrifice. This naturalistic view would contend that the bodies
represent physical, tangible holiness; after all, what could be more visible
and tangible than the body? But, as W.E. Vine points out (Dictionary of New
Testament Words), it is not the physical body that is in view but the complete
person, the entity, the whole being; this quite apart from the plain fact that
the living, holy sacrifice is clearly the corporate gathering, the assembly.
Many other examples of the naturalistic
mindset could be quoted, such as the holy hands of 1 Tim. 2:8, where it is the
hands of holy men, not the physical hands of the brethren, that are in view.
Suffice to say that when the renewed mind (Rom. 12:2 & Eph. 4:23) is applied
to Scripture, it is apparent that there are no holy things in
the Christian system.
Holiness
is characteristic of every believer because it is the corollary of new life,
and seeking after holiness is the pursuit of spiritual things, not good living
in everyday life, which the unregenerate can aspire to and attain.
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Righteousness is
the quality of being right or just (Vine), an attribute of God that is
descriptive of His ability to confer His life upon man without compromising
His nature. The righteousness of God is revealed to faith, not human reason.
If God were to use human nature for His purpose, He would be using what is
unrighteous and so compromising with evil. So righteousness is not human
merit but God acting in character to realise His intentions. God's
righteousness acts in conferring upon man the new life and is the power
that causes the new man to respond to Him spiritually, not in nature.
Righteousness is linked with the spiritual faculty of faith from
its first mention in Scripture (Gen.7:1). Noah walked with God, did all that
God commanded him "and became heir of the righteousness which is by
faith" (Heb.11:7). However, he was not the first righteous man, that
distinction belongs to Abel (Matt.23:35). As with Noah, Abel was counted
righteous on account of his faith (Heb.11:4). Abraham's
righteousness was acquired by faith (Gen.15:6, Rom.4:3,13), as
was David's and a host of others (Heb.11:32,33). Likewise, through faith
in Christ we have His own righteous nature begotten in us. "If you know that
He is righteous you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of
Him", 1 John 2:29.
We see then that righteousness is intrinsic to the man of faith solely because
he is in a right or just relationship with God, a spiritual relationship,
"not by works of righteousness which we have done" (Titus 3:5)
but "even as David describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes
righteousness without works" (Rom.4:6). So, a man is not
righteous on account of what he is in nature or anything he does
in natural life. Righteousness has always been acquired by
grace, through faith, apart from fleshly works, and is the work
of God by which He perfects those who were by their own works spiritual
failures.
By the same token, the unregenerate live in ungodliness and unrighteousness
because in natural life "there is none righteous, no not one" (Rom.3:10).
Ungodliness describes the character of human life in its
relation to God in the realm of nature. Unrighteousness describes the nature
of man's activity towards God and his fellow man. In the gospel
God is revealing the work He has completed in Christ by which man can be
fitted spiritually to stand in His presence in righteousness. The gospel is
not to make men morally upright but to make them
spiritually righteous.
The Epistle to the Romans may be said to be the definitive New Testament
treatise on the subject of righteousness and no-one familiar with it can be
under the illusion that this spiritual quality may be attributed
to natural goodness or moral rectitude. That is the doctrine of
spiritually bankrupt Christendom, which does view righteousness
in a naturalistic way. A 'Christianity' which is naturalistic, which values
and develops natural rather than spiritual good in its adherents, is not of
God.
So, living righteously is living for God, not in nature in
everyday life, but in the new (spiritual) life He has given us. Those who are
constituted righteous practice righteousness by the new nature acting in them.
It is descriptive of that manner of life that is peculiar to a spiritual
people, walking with God in the spiritual sense, keeping His precepts. They do
so primarily in house of God exercise, in worship, prayer, ministry of the
Word, gospel testimony, etc., alive to God in a new form of spiritual life
called eternal life, life that is "created in true righteousness and holiness"
(Eph.4:24). It is predominently a collective manner of life, in
the local assembly, because that is where Christianity is primarily practised,
in the God-given sphere of the righteous.
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
The
Galatian letter highlights the
impossibility of uniting Judaism, a religion of the flesh, with Christianity,
a religion of the Spirit (JND), "For the flesh lusts against the spirit and
the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other
........." (chap.5:17). Clearly, the natural and the spiritual are different,
separate and wholly irreconcilable, a principle seen throughout Scripture. In
verses 19-23 of chapter 5 the fruit of the Spirit is shown in sharp contrast
to the works of the flesh, the manifestations of a new spiritual nature
contrasted with the worst manifestations of human nature.
The Holy Spirit's activity in the people of God, a spiritual people, is of a
spiritual order and so it follows that the fruit He produces is
spiritual, as in divine love, joy that is the exclusive
privilege of the redeemed, the peace of God and so on. It is the display of a
spiritual nature, just as its human equivalents are the display of human
nature. However, it is not uncommon to hear the fruit of the Spirit referred
to as the graces of a natural order, human affection, social joy and so on,
but such a naturalistic view is at odds with the spiritual nature of the Holy
Spirit's operations: "The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him ......... (John
14:17).
As the fruit of the Spirit is clearly of a spiritual order it can only be
discerned spiritually by the faculty of faith, and so it follows that it is
fruit for God (Rom.7:4) and for His saints: "The natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he
know them because they are spiritually discerned (I Cor.2:14). Natural man can
see and readily appreciate human love, joy, peace, etc. but not their
spiritual counterparts. It may be stating the obvious, but the world is the
sphere of the natural, the house of God the sphere of the spiritual.
A common fallacy is the notion that the unregenerate are influenced by the
display of the 'fruit of the Spirit' in a believer's secular life. It is a
fallacy because, in the first instance secular daily life is the sphere of
natural things and secondly because spiritual things are unseen by the world,
2 Cor.4:18, so that the unregenerate cannot be influenced by them. This
erroneous view arises from failure to distinguish between the natural and
spiritual conditions, a common error amongst us. A correct understanding of
the interface between the believer and the unregenerate would recognise the
influence borne by his natural manner of life, ideally a life in
keeping with the secular commandments found in the epistles. The believer's
testimony in the world is first and foremost at the natural level, credibility
in daily life, the only thing the unbeliever can understand, a fitting vehicle
for gospel testimony - "First that which is natural, then that which is
spiritual". We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which
are unseen, whilst the opposite is true of the unbeliever.
The believer is, of course, involved in both the secular world and the
christian sphere of the house of God and so he is in the unique position of
displaying human graces and exercising natural
gifts in secular life, whilst displaying the fruit of the
Spirit and exercising spiritual gifts in Christian
or assembly life. Though the natural and spiritual spheres are shown to be
distinct and separate in scripture (John 3:3,6 and 1 Cor. 2:14), they are
considered to be one and the same thing in the religious confusion of
Christendom, error that should not mark the Christian community. The
fruit of the Spirit is spiritual fruit, exclusively for God and the
spiritual people of God, nothing to do with the world.
"AVOID"
(Rom.16:17-18)
In featuring use of the
word 'avoid', applied to believers in Romans 16, we draw attention to similar
injunctions in 1 Cor.5 and 2 Thess.3. The effect in all three instances is the
same, viz. that saints are not to keep company with believers who are marked
by the excesses of carnality mentioned in each letter. The offences are as
follows:
Division -
Romans 16:17.
Immorality,
covetousness, idolatry, reviling, drunkenness and extortion - 1 Cor.5:11.
Disorderly
behaviour and disobeying apostolic instruction - 2 Thess.3:6,14.
It is perhaps more than coincidence that
the epistle to the Romans was written from Corinth, an assembly where division
was rife. It may well be that this brief reference to division in the final
chapter of the apostle's letter was an instruction to the saints in how to
deal with the problem should it arise, rather than with an actual occurence of
it at Rome. Certainly, this brief reference stands in contrast to the many
greetings which form the major content of the chapter. However, it was a
serious matter - borne out by events at Corinth - that needed to be addressed,
in common with all intrusions of the flesh among the saints.
Division
is a work of the flesh in which believers behave like the unregenerate in
spiritual matters, particularly in the house of God. Such behaviour arises
from misconceptions about the nature of the divine system of Christianity,
principally a failure to recognise that the natural gifts and reasonings of
human nature, the flesh, are excluded. It is the error of Christendom, the
sphere of naturalistic religion, perpetrated in the sphere of divine rule, the
assembly.
In v.17 the apostolic instruction is to
mark or note those carnal believers who, by their naturalistic
behaviour, cause division and stumblingblocks or snares and avoid
them. The effect of their carnal activity is to attract a following among the
immature and vulnerable saints. As the old order of humanity, the flesh, has
no legitimate place in the sphere of the new man it follows that there can be
no meaningful fellowship with those who walk in the flesh.
In v.18 the characteristics of these carnal
believers are described. They "serve their own belly", i.e. they are
self-serving, egotistic and motivated by natural rather than spiritual
instincts. In the apostle's day they would likely be Judaisers. In our day
their counterparts are no doubt naturally pleasant folk, well suited to a
social type of religious environment and with a corresponding naturalistic
approach to Scripture but, lacking in spiritual ability, they are in reality a
menace to the saints.
In keeping with their naturalistic
tendencies, these men are marked by oratory and flattering
speech which deceives the innocent, the spiritually immature,
the inexperienced. Their lengthy orations appear impressive and are calculated
to be so, whilst their flattering speech is such that it appeals to the
natural instincts, the hearts, of the vulnerable, but none of it to
edification. The fleshly nature of this activity is unrecognised by those
whose minds are not exercised to judge between good and evil at the spiritual
level and so they are deceived.
The carnal believer does not recognise or
understand the spiritual nature of the house of God and
consequently does not know how to behave in that environment. Such men
exercise natural gifts and abilities among the saints and baulk
at genuine spirituality and its exercises. They persuade the young, the
unlearned and the inexperienced to follow naturalistic interpretations of the
Word, which is a ministry of death in the spiritual sense.
The very presence of such naturalistic men
spells division among the saints because it is an alien presence
in the house of God. They are division, they represent it, they
cause it, they guarantee it. Scripture says "Avoid them".
CARNALITY
The word carnal (Sarkikos
from Sarx, flesh) signifies fleshly, governed by human nature instead of the
new nature with the idea of unspirituality, of human wisdom (Vine).
The carnal saint is one who behaves, and
relates to fellow saints, in a fleshly manner in the sphere of spiritual
exercise, i.e. with language and conduct characteristic of the unregenerate,
like natural man (1 Cor. 3:3).
God’s people are a spiritual people and so
it is the spiritual walk of the believer that is in view,
not secular life in the world. The world is the sphere of the flesh,
human nature in its widest sense, and in daily life the believer exercises
natural abilities and exhibits natural traits in
common with his fellows. However, walking in this way in the house of God is
indicative of spiritual immaturity (1 Cor.3:1), the spiritual eyes of
understanding not being enlightened (Eph.1:18), the mind not renewed
(Eph.4:23, Rom.12:2).
Carnal tendencies may be excused in those
young in the faith who are learning how to behave in the spiritual sphere, but
they are tragic and regrettable in believers of mature years in divine things,
the stunted growth of the spiritual cretin. Clearly, saints in this condition
have never progressed to the point of understanding that the Adam nature, the
flesh, has been terminated in divine purpose, spiritually put to death in the
death of Christ. The carnal believer thinks and acts according to the dictates
of the old nature, a waste of divine resource (the new nature) and a challenge
to godly order, whether male or female.
Regrettably, we have to acknowledge that
carnality has become a common feature in assemblies of the Lord’s people in
parallel with spiritual decline. Where it is manifest in the leadership it
sets a carnal example to the young and has a spiritually demoralising effect
on mature saints as they witness those who claim to be elders conducting
themselves in a contrary manner in the house of God. Rudeness, bad temper,
refusing to listen to or debate a different point of view (quenching the
Spirit), interpreting Scripture in a naturalistic way (the Christendom ethic),
etc., are all manifestations of the old man, carnality in the
spiritual sphere. Similarly, where sisters dress immodestly or attend the
gatherings without a head covering, it promotes a spirit of anarchy, the
carnal activity of the god of this world.
God’s assembly was designed to be a
spiritual Eden in an ungodly world, the ideal environment for the new
man, one from which the old man, the flesh, is excluded, a
divine sphere for the exercise of spiritual gifts. Human nature in all its
aspects including the gifts and abilities of natural man, be they
intellectual, musical, artistic, etc. have no place in the sphere of the
Spirit. To operate in the flesh in the house of God as though it is legitimate
behaviour, when God has declared it dead and finished with, is to make God a
liar (1 John 1:6) and to cause division. It is a serious matter, as the saints
at Corinth discovered (1 Cor.11:30).
Where believers are obdurate in
naturalistic conduct in the sphere of spiritual things they should be avoided
(Rom.16:17). This is in order to leave them in no doubt that their behaviour
is unacceptable. It is one of only three instances in which believers are
instructed to avoid fellow saints. Carnality is alien to the
house of God and those who practice it are guarantors of division in the
company.
To be carnally minded is (spiritual) death
and enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed
can be (Rom.8:6,7). Though we walk in the flesh in secular daily
life, exercising human gifts of wisdom, common-sense reasoning, etc., we do
not war according to the flesh in divine things,
for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual (2 Cor.10:3-4).
Every aspect of the flesh, whether naturally good or bad, is excluded from
spiritual considerations by the death of Christ. By walking according to the
flesh in the sphere of spiritual things, the carnal believer unwittingly acts
in denial of the crosswork of Christ and, like Peter (Mark 8:33), becomes a
tool of satan.
A LIVING SACRIFICE
The Lord Jesus
was the living sacrifice in divine purpose,
and unique in that He yielded Himself to the divine will before
He became a man, saying "Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of
me, to do thy will, O God" (Heb.10:7). He offered Himself freely to fulfil the
will of God contained in the book of eternal counsels before He became in a
position of obedience (JND). He declared His intention to come in absolute
submission to the divine will and took a position of obedience by accepting
the body prepared for Him.
In Manhood He confirmed that commitment,
saying "My food is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work"
(John 4:34). In His days of service He continually manifested obedience and
submission to the will of His God as One in total surrender to it; He said it
and He did it. He who was in the form of God became in the form of a servant,
the Word assuming a body in order to offer Himself a
living sacrifice to divine service; in this also He was unique.
Henceforth divine service would feature believers yielding themselves
corporately in the context of the local assembly (Rom.12:1).
Despite the evident assembly context of
Romans 12:1 - the epistle is addressed to saints in Rome, gathered in one or
more assemblies - it is commonly taught that the one living
sacrifice refers to the individual believer. However, this is incorrect as the
apostle is clearly not addressing individuals but saints in assembly
fellowship and exhorting them to offer themselves together as
one living assembly sacrifice. Also, the individual
interpretation fails to recognise that it is the assembly, the local gathering
of believers, that is the divine servant of testimony, one new man (Eph. 2:15)
progressing unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Eph.
4:13). The Lord was unique as an individual living
sacrifice. It would be contrary to the corporate nature of N.T.
church testimony to suggest that the saints at Rome were exhorted by the
apostle to be individual living sacrifices; in the circumstances
hardly "intelligent religious service".
Christianity is enshrined in the local
assembly, not the individual believer and so Paul’s exhortation was that they
should yield their bodies in a once-for-all collective offering
to the will of God, a priestly act of service and worship that is only
meaningful in the House of God: it expresses a unity of purpose and a single
corporate mind on the part of the saints that culminates in one
living sacrifice, fulfilling God’s intention that the assembly should be His
corporate bondslave.
Advocates of individualism advance the
argument that the context is individual in the first three verses of the
chapter but overlook the fact that the individuals are saints in
assembly fellowship. Further, it is not without significance
that only in this context in the whole epistle is the assembly referred to as
a body (verse 5).
The believer is viewed as a living stone in
a (local) spiritual building (1 Pet.2:5), not as a living stone on his own.
The call of the Spirit through the Word is to yield ourselves to the divine
will as part and parcel of the corporate living sacrifice, which
in the present age of the church and the churches is God’s assembly.
Without the local assembly there is no Christianity and therefore no
meaningful living sacrifice. N.T. Scripture, in its spiritual
application, does not promote individualism and neither should we in our
interpretation of it.
It is fundamental and important to
understand that the people of God in the present dispensation of grace are a
heavenly (born-again) people. The christian calling is to
spiritual things, called out of the world spiritually to engage in
spiritual service.
This is in contrast to God’s earthly
people of the previous dispensation of law, Israel.
Judaism was a divine system of
literal sacrifices and offerings, whereas Christianity is a divine
system of spiritual sacrifices and offerings, 1 Pet.2:5, Heb.
13:15.
It follows, therefore, that God’s present
(spiritual) people do not offer tangible things to
God.
However, notwithstanding the clear
distinction between the two dispensations, law (Judaism) and grace
(Christianity), the natural and the spiritual, some would refer to the
collection on the first day of the week, 1 Cor.16:1, as an offering.
This is unscriptural and therefore erroneous. Scripture clearly states it is a
collection. The idea of offering money to God in the
dispensation of the Spirit is plainly incongruous, contrary to the spiritual
nature of the christian calling.
It is the application of the
"collection", the result of spiritual exercise, which may become
a sacrifice wellpleasing to God, Phil.4:18, not the physical collection
itself. Similarly in Heb.13:16, doing good deeds and sharing among the saints
are sacrifices wellpleasing to God.
Some would quote 1 Cor.16:2 in support of
the offering idea, viz. God apparently prospering saints in material things,
but the authorised rendering is misleading. The correct text reads, "…..let
each of you put by at home, laying up in whatever degree he may have prospered
…..".
God did prosper his
earthly people in material things and they offered in
kind but He prospers His heavenly people in spiritual
things and they too offer in kind.
If it were contended and preached that God
prospers His present (spiritual) people in material things, then the
unregenerate would be queuing at the doors to get ‘saved’!
Another misunderstood scripture in this
context is Rom 12:1, where saints at Rome were exhorted by the apostle to
yield (offer) their bodies a (one) living sacrifice. Despite it being contrary
to the fundamental spiritual principle already outlined, this scripture is
often cited as an example of tangible christian offering.
However, it is not physical bodies that are in view but, by synecdoche, the
complete man (Vine).
Scripture is not contradictory and we
should not give credence to interpretations that are contrary to fundamental
truths.
v.10
"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
v.11
For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the
life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh,
v.12
So that death worketh in us but life in you".
The apostle wrote at the beginning of his
second letter to the Corinthian church of the privations he suffered in Asia
and it is to these sufferings that he alludes in the verses under
consideration, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus
…..", v.10. This was for the holy purpose "that the (resurrection) life also
of (Christ) Jesus might (aorist tense) be made manifest in our body".
From a naturalistic viewpoint it might be
thought that "the life" refers to the natural life of the Lord
but that of course could not be the case for in that life He was unique.
As students of the Word will have noted, it is the life of Christ
Jesus, His resurrection life, that is in view and the
apostle clearly infers so in v.12. Further, this life is manifest,
as with the Lord, to faith for resurrection (spiritual) life is
unseen by natural eyes – it is veiled in flesh.
So we live in the power (spiritually) of
resurrection life as a present experience, for just as we died with Him so we
are raised with Him into newness of life, Rom.6:4, Col.2:12. This
is the life of Christ Jesus that is manifest in our body.
The context presents the
identification of the servant with his master, "… bearing about in the
body the dying of the Lord Jesus…", following after His steps in the pathway
of suffering.
'The more the natural man was annihilated the more was it
evident that a power was there which was not of
man’ – JND.
"For we who live are constantly
experiencing being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake that the
resurrection life of Jesus also may (aorist tense) be evidenced
through our flesh which is liable to death", v.11 (Amplified N.T.). Again, the
evidence or manifestation of new life in our flesh is to faith,
not the world of natural man.
The apostle concludes with a short summary,
"So then death is working in us but (resurrection) life
in you". v.12.
We may not be called upon to suffer in the
signal way of Paul, whose ministry was in so many respects unique, but we are
called to share with him in manifesting the spiritual
evidences of divine life, "the life also of Christ Jesus", for the
pleasure of God and His saints.
VAIN WORSHIP
(Mark 7:7)
In a world of turmoil it is the birthright
of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to enjoy the rest and peace of heavenly
conditions that ideally prevail in a local N.T. church or assembly. Such a
fellowship looks to Scripture as its sole guide and fulfils its divinely
appointed role as a centre of true worship, teaching and gospel testimony.
This reflects divine intention, the assembly being the appointed sphere of
God's rest for His people, Heb. 4:9 and Psalm 132:14.
However, divine intent is not always
realised in gatherings of the saints and in this article we examine the
consequence of corporate spiritual failure in relation to worship.
The context of Mark 7 tells us that God's people can lapse into a state of
spiritual delusion that assumes all is well, when in reality there is
departure from God's ways. In the case of Israel, conditions were such that
they effectively forfeited the right to engage in true worship. Their
worship was in vain!
Our concern then is the reality
of worship, how we view this holy corporate exercise and the collective
fitness of saints to engage in it. Worship should be the prime spiritual
exercise of a N.T. assembly, though of course there is a sense in which every
spiritual exercise of the gathering is an act of worship. However, the
breaking-of-bread or remembrance meeting on the first day of the week should
occupy the central place in collective worship, since its prime objective is
worship godward rather than service manward.
The significance of this priestly occasion
cannot be overstated, for it represents the highest form of service to which
saints can aspire and calls for a corresponding level of spirituality for its
proper function. This in turn can only arise from a spiritual environment
fostered by godly leadership. The sad decline observed in the quality of
worship in our day tells its own story, no less than in the day of the
Pharisee.
There seems no doubt that the
circumstances of worship have a direct and vital bearing on its
reality. The Scribes and Pharisees had for generations presided over a
spiritually decadent nation that paid only lip service to the conditions laid
down by God for the practice of Judaism. The people had effectively, albeit
willingly, been corrupted by the teachings and traditions of men with the
result that Judaism as a divinely conceived religious system for worship had
virtually ceased to exist. Their leaders had much to answer for.
We are bound to acknowledge that such
fleshly activity, teaching and allowing the ways and traditions of men rather
than the "commandments of the Lord", 1 Cor.14:37, is not just a thing of the
past. Whilst Judaism maintained an outward appearance, in reality it had lost
its divine character and become a manmade institution,
Jer.7:1-15. The dire consequence of this degeneration was revealed as the Lord
applied to them the prophecy of Isa.29:13. Worship in Judaism was exposed as
a sham, an utterly vain exercise.
Thus the worship of God is meaningful only
insofar as the system retains its divine character. Judaism had become
unfitted for the holy exercise of worship because it was devoid of any real
heart exercise toward God, being marked by empty profession. It was merely an
outward religious form. What a powerful warning for God's people today! Those
responsible for this spiritually evil state of affairs in the Lord's day were
branded hypocrites, men who had betrayed their stewardship in
the things of God while posturing as holy leaders.
These spiritual principles challenge us
today as we lay claim to be scripturally based and worship centred. The
example of the past is clear, Scripture is teaching that the worship of God is
no light thing, no haphazard exercise that can be undertaken on man's terms;
rather it is one that demands holy subjection to God's revealed ways. There is
a manifest need in our day to acknowledge God's holiness and to recognise that
He will not and cannot be worshipped by His people in circumstances that fall
short of those He has established. It was for just this reason that God
stressed to Moses that all in connection with His house had to
be carried out strictly and exactly in accordance with the pattern laid down.
There could be no deviation of any kind.
Do we somehow imagine that God's standards
in relation to divine order and procedure have changed in our day? Is it to be
assumed that because we operate for God in a day of grace that anything will
do so long as it is sincere? Confirmation that this is far from being the case
comes from the Lord Himself, "they that worship Him must worship
in spirit and in truth", John 4:24. It follows that there can be no true
worship when the conditions of Mark 7 prevail in a N.T. assembly, no matter
who is involved and however apparently godly. Such 'worship' is an empty,
meaningless charade, which poses the distinct possibility that the Lord's Day
morning meeting could in reality be a meaningless exercise from
the divine viewpoint. What is certain is that if human nature is permitted to
operate in the gathering rather than the new nature in the power of the
Spirit, then the ways of God will be set aside in favour of human expediency,
with all that such conduct in the house of God implies, Isa.55:8. In this
event the gathering ceases to be God's assembly for, having
usurped divine authority, it then becomes man's assembly.
Scripture presents the assembly as the
ideal environment for the new man and, as "temple of God", 1
Cor.3:16, it bespeaks God's holy presence among His people and thus the place
of true worship. However, this is effectively the case only when
"building of God" and "house of God" conditions apply. As the corporate
environment for worship is dependent on these divine features, it is important
that we consider them carefully. As "building of God" the assembly is a
spiritual edifice comprised of living stones or born-again believers. As
"house of God" the assembly is the sphere of divine administration and godly
order, actively expressing the N.T. pattern for local churches with God in the
midst. When a gathering of saints thus displays these unique characteristics,
there is created an environment in which the God of divine revelation can be
worshipped in true "temple of God" circumstances. Nothing less will do.
However, a regrettable fact in our day is
the marked absence of understanding among saints as to what is meant by the
divine pattern for gathering and its attendant principles. Acknowledging this,
we set out some examples of departure from divine standards that, in light of
Mark 7, would render assembly worship null and void.
For instance, do we accept the known
presence of unbaptised believers in the fellowship? Has the assembly adopted
the so-called 'open table' practice whereby believers from Christendom are
received to the breaking-of-bread meeting, thus denying the doctrinal basis of
fellowship? Is there unjudged moral or spiritual sin in the gathering? Do
sisters flout divine authority by attending with heads uncovered or in
immodest dress, or take audible part in the gatherings? Is there intrusive
human arrangement in the meetings, even the rigging of Bible readings causing
the quenching of the Spirit? Does the assembly engage in unholy alliances with
Christendom and its works, thus denying the truth of separation from spiritual
evil? Is there opposition to spiritual truth, even rebellion
against clearly defined scriptural teaching? Has the gathering adopted
charismatic practices, contrary to sound teaching?
This is by no means an exhaustive listing
of failure and departure in these last days but is indicative of how readily
we may fall short of required holiness in the house of God.
All such failure is a violation of the
divine order for N.T. Churches. Some may ask, are God's standards really so
demanding? Clearly they are and it would be a backward people indeed who
imagined that true worship could arise in circumstances similar in principle
to those prevailing in Israel's day. There must of course be a turning away
from ungodly ways if meaningful worship is to take place; this is true
holiness, believers in willing subjection to the divine pattern. "Be ye holy
for I am holy" is the divine call to God's people. The time is long overdue
for many gatherings of the saints to review conditions prevailing in the house
of God. Professing assemblies that ride roughshod over divine principles must
turn about and bow the knee to divine authority, Scripture, if the collective
exercise of worship is to be more than just a religious act that satisfies
pious needs manward.
We are called to take heed to the warning
of Mark 7, to cleanse the house of God of wayward practice and so restore the
right to worship, ensuring that God is not robbed of His
rightful due. That is what is at stake, the robbing of God by His saints.
Back to Top
The context concerns the Lord leaving the
disciples, by way of death and resurrection, to prepare a dwelling place for
His own in the Father’s house. They would be left alone and desolate by the
circumstances of His going and it is with touching concern that He prepares
them for their time of sorrow, saying, "Let not your heart be troubled ….."
The tacit implication of these words is that their sorrow would be
short-lived because He would return to them.
His going would be for a positive reason
with the promise that He would return, "I will not leave you
(the disciples) orphans; I will come to you" v.18. Some have
thought, in view of vs.16 & 17, that this coming relates to the Spirit but the
following v.19 would appear to indicate it is the Lord, "A little
while longer and the world will see me no more, but you
will see me …." v.19.
The Lord repeated His words of comfort, as
if to reassure the disciples, saying, "Let not your heart be troubled ….",
v.27, and, "… I am going away and coming back to you",
v.28.
It is commonly thought that the Lord was
referring to the rapture in these verses, His coming to the air for all
His saints at an indeterminate time. But if that were the case His words of
comfort would ring a little hollow to disciples traumatised by the manner of
His leaving them. Further, His promise was to them and in
a little while, and that of course is precisely what happened – He
returned to them in a little while.
Again, some have construed the Lord’s words
in ch.21:22 concerning John, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is
that to thee", as supporting the rapture interpretation in ch.14. Spoken in
resurrection, these words clearly relate to the rapture, which He no doubt
revealed to the disciples during His forty days with them (Acts 1:3). However,
the coming in ch.14 had already taken place when He addressed these words to
Peter. Their hearts were no longer troubled for He had received them to
Himself.
It might be thought that His words "….
Receive you to Myself that where I am there you might be also", pose a
difficulty. However, "Receive you to Myself" surely means just what it says,
viz. that He would receive them in a private, not public, capacity when He
returned to them consequent upon His resurrection, while "Where I am there you
may be also" speaks of fitting proximity and fellowship.
The theme continues in ch.16:16 with the
same words, "A little while and you will not see me; and again
a little while and you will see me …." The disciples were puzzled
and reasoned among themselves what He meant. The Lord knew they wished to ask
Him and He repeated His words, v.19, expanding on them in v.20, "I say to you
that you will weep and lament but the world will rejoice; you will be
sorrowful but your sorrow will be turned to joy",
and in v.22, "Therefore you now have sorrow but I will see you again
and your heart will rejoice….". Again, some have suggested that while the
coming in ch.16 is undoubtedly His coming to the disciples in resurrection,
the coming in ch.14 is the rapture, but this is hardly sound exegesis
considering the inescapable similarity of the language in the two contexts.
Taking due account of the Lord’s expressed
concern for His followers, it must surely be the case that the Lord intended
these soon-to-be-troubled and sorrowing disciples should be reassured by the
prospect of seeing Him again soon in joyful reunion on
earth, not meeting Him in the air at some undefined time in the
future. The context would appear favour this interpretation.
ASHAMED AT HIS COMING
(1 John 2:28)
"And now little children
abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be
ashamed before Him at His coming"
As previously in his letter, John addresses
the saints as "dear children" (Newberry), a term inclusive of all the people
of God. His exhortation is to go on abiding, that is to go on to full growth
and knowledge as a (spiritually) developing family, having in view the Lord’s
impending manifestation – "… when He shall (aorist tense:
once-for-all) be manifested…". The present time for the family of God is to be
characterised by abiding in Him who is in the light. In so doing they fulfil
their present function and service of glorifying the Father and the Son by
entering into full knowledge of the Persons of the Deity.
This is also set forth by Paul in the
Ephesian letter - "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He
would grant you, according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with
might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by
faith; that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to
know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God", Eph.3:14-19.
Again, "For the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we
all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ", Eph. 4:12-13.
The Holy Spirit's anointing is for this
purpose, Eph. 3:16.
John desires that the dear children of God
will attain to such a state of spiritual maturity that, when the Christ shall
be manifested to the world in all His glory, they may feel confident and bold
in their acquired glory. The people of God have a most solemn responsibility
in relation to the Lord’s coming in power and glory. The ideal
is to be spiritually competent now in order to be spiritually
confident then, the day when all that God has wrought for the
establishing of His ultimate intentions will be manifested.
Peter refers to this in his first epistle – "But rejoice, inasmuch (to the
extent that) as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory
shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." The benefit the
saints have reaped from this present age of spiritual opportunity will then be
apparent.
Some have thought that John refers to the
rapture, with saints being found in worldly circumstances that would cause
them to be ashamed at His appearing, but this is a mistaken notion as it is
clearly the manifestation (Newberry) that is in view and
spiritual fitness. It has nothing to do with what we may or may not be
according to the flesh.
John writes that "WE may have
confidence", evidently including the apostles. God gifted and sent them forth
to complete the Word of God and to establish local assemblies, which in turn
received the written oracles. God has determined that by this means divine
purpose will be achieved. He has revealed Himself and decreed that this full
revelation of truth will become fully known by His people before
the establishing of the age of universal blessing.
However, there is the grim possibility of
evil intervening to prevent them attaining to the ideal, with the sad
consequence that they find themselves ashamed before Him on the
occasion of His coming in power and glory, ill-prepared for millennial
service. This warning of ultimate inadequacy applies to any local assembly at
any time in the outworking of divine purpose.
If God’s people are not devoted to the task
of acquiring divine knowledge, with the view to the day of
manifestation, then they have received the grace of God in vain.
They are not contributing to what is of ultimate importance to God for the
full and final blessing of earth. Christianity’s contribution to improving the
world lies not in present intervention in its affairs – that is the doctrine
of Christendom – but in abiding in Christ, in the things that are of God.
"THAT YE SIN NOT"
(1 John 2:1)
The first thing to be clear about is that
sins of the flesh, the failures of fallen human nature in daily life, are not
in view. It would be contrary even to human logic to exhort saints to attempt
the impossible, as well as being contrary to the truth revealed by Paul that
the old nature has been declared (spiritually) dead by God (Rom.6:6, Col.3:3).
God has finished with the old order of humanity in the death of Christ. It is
now a new (spiritual) man, eternal life in flesh, a new race of
mankind, that He is dealing with. That which God has declared dead is
dead so far as divine purpose is concerned, and we are called upon to
reckon (by faith) that it is so. We are alive to God in an
entirely new nature, not the old sinful one; to think otherwise is an act of
disbelief and a denial of the work of Christ at the Cross.
Thus the people of God in this present age
of grace are a spiritual people, living stones constituting a
spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5) and it is as such that John addresses them. He
wrote this section of his epistle that the fellowship might not
sin (aorist tense); it has to do with what is negative, with guarding against
spiritual evil. Whilst there can never be a group of believers
that is sinless in the natural sense, it is possible for there
to be a sinless company spiritually. Having John's writings
should prevent God's people from failing (sinning). Collective failure is the
greatest failure of all. We are thus set into the most significant and
responsible place in the outworking of divine purpose. By giving His Word to
His people in a sphere (the assembly) in which it can rightly be interpreted,
God is fitting them spiritually to fill the place they will occupy in the day
of Christ's manifestation and universal reign. It is, therefore, sin for the
people of God to fail to attain to spiritual maturity in view of what God has
done to make this possible.
John's epistle is written to prevent this
failure - "That ye sin not".
Christianity is a heavenly (and thus
spiritual) system which functions because of the continued work of a Mediator
in heaven. This produces results on earth from the death and subsequent
glorification of the Christ. John then traces out the perfections and
potentialities of this divine system. He shows the provision God has made in
it for failure on the part of those who are its exponents - "if any man sin
….."; this demonstrates the stability of what God has constituted in heaven in
respect of the system He has established on earth, a stability unaltered by
sin. The ideal remains, Man in the presence of God in unsullied holiness.
Attainment of the ideal on earth remains possible so long as we do not lose
sight of the heavenly nature of the system God has established.
Sin can be directed against and represent a
failure in any of the three aspects of collective Christian life, i.e. our
place and relationship towards the Father, our position towards one another
and our place in the world. 'Sin' here is also in the aorist tense, signifying
an act complete in itself rather than continuous sin.
As Advocate with the Father, Christ is
answerable to failure towards the Father; He is Paraclete with the Father, One
in His presence to help His people to maturity despite their natural
weakness. The spiritual ideal to which we can attain is "the measure of the
fulness of the stature of Christ" (Eph.4:13), the full grown man. This is
attained as we regard the ideal in glory with increasingly enlightened eyes.
However, in our original spiritual immaturity as a family of God on earth we
may sin against the truth displayed in the completed Word. The throne of God
established in heaven responds to us according to the advocacy of the Man who
occupies it for our progress out of spiritual shortcomings.
As Jesus Christ the righteous, He is
answerable to internal spiritual failure. This is the man Jesus,
who walked in spiritual perfection in this world in order to become the Christ
we have in Christianity. In our response to this Personification of truth and
perfection, we may sin but He still remains for us Jesus Christ the righteous.
Righteousness is not human merit but God acting in character to realise His
intentions. To enable us, collectively, to attain to the perfections embodied
in Christ in glory, God has given us the same life as Christ lives in and His
completed revelation, a (spiritually) perfect man in a perfect system.
THE BELIEVER AND GOOD WORKS
Good deeds are one of the more pleasant
manifestations of human nature in society - the socially acceptable face of
the flesh - but they are not the only form of good in the world, albeit the
only form of good recognised by the world. Unknown to natural man is a form of
good that is the product of faith, good that is unique to the new man,
born-again man, e.g. worship, prayer, gospel testimony, etc.
So there is natural good, which has its
place in the sphere of human experience, and spiritual good that is exercised
in the sphere of divine operations. Unfortunately, this distinction is not
readily understood among saints despite its prominence in Scripture. However,
students of the Word will have noted that two different Greek words are
employed to indicate the respective natural and spiritual conditions.
The new man is a spiritual
creation, 2 Cor.5:17, with the capability to perform a kind of good that is
beyond the scope of unregenerate man, Eph.2:10. He is able to operate for God
at a spiritual level in the world, whereas natural man can
operate only at a secular level of life. So there are good works of a natural
order and good works of a spiritual order; the believer should be active in
both. Reference is made to the two kinds of good works in Eph. 2 and more
particularly in James 2.
In Eph.2 the apostle makes clear that
salvation is not by the good works that characterise natural man, v.9. Rather,
it is by the spiritual faculty of faith that we become the workmanship of God,
v.10, a new creation in Christ (a spiritual man) pre-ordained to good works.
These are the spiritual good works of faith that only the new
man can do, characteristic of a heavenly people, v.6. Some have thought them
to be natural, social good works but, clearly, one does not need to be
born-again (a new creation in Christ) to perform the good works common to
natural man. If the new man was only capable of the same works as the old man there would indeed be something amiss! We did these good works before we
were saved and continue to do them as good citizens now we are saved. But we
have been created anew to do the good works of God as citizens
of heaven, spiritual works of faith befitting a people whose
mission in the world, like the Lord, is spiritual.
In the epistle of James, social and
spiritual works are featured in the second half of chapter 2. Here works are
seen as necessary proofs of faith, not for God but for man, both unsaved and
saved. Leaving aside the Jewish context of the epistle - "It is a practical
exhortation which still recognised the 12 tribes and the connection of the
christian Jews with them" (JND) - it is evident that the principle is one of
works demonstrating something which, by its very nature, cannot be seen.
The world can recognise what it thinks is faith only by the evidence of
natural works, vs.14-18, whereas the believer recognises faith by the evidence
of spiritual works, vs. 21-25.
In the first instance, vs.14-18, it would
be an appalling testimony and the very negation of faith as natural man
understands it to ignore the stark needs of a brother or sister, v.15. So far
as men are concerned, v.18, the profession of faith is void in such
circumstances, v.17.
In the second instance, vs.21-25, faith is
void if there is no evidence of spiritual works, as seen in
Abraham and Rahab. By faith Abraham offered up his son. By faith Rahab
received the messengers of Israel, associating herself with the people of God
when everything was against them and separating herself from her own people.
Such were the fruits of faith. "These proofs have nothing at all to do with
the fruits of a kindly nature or natural good, such as men call good works" (JND).
The spiritual good works of faith encompass all these evidences of faith
peculiar to the people of God.
Notwithstanding the testimony of Scripture,
some have proposed that the natural, secular good works of believers are the
products of new life, works of faith energised by the Spirit.
But this is to confuse things that clearly differ, the natural and spiritual.
"Can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs", James 3:12. Of course
not. New life is spiritual life, not secular life. Faith is a spiritual
faculty, not a natural faculty. The Spirit, as His name implies, has a
ministry in spiritual things, not natural things. Attributing human responses
to spiritual influences is a concept that has its origins in Christendom.
Further, it is said that the flesh
cannot please God in the way of natural good works and that is true in
the case of the unregenerate and salvation. It is also true in the case of the
believer with regard to the spiritual sphere (the flesh is considered dead)
but doing good, the good works of the flesh in secular life is, as we have
seen, a testimony to the unsaved and that is pleasing to
God. The secular good works of the believer are most often a human
response to human need - we do not cease to have human feelings because we are
saved - but may also be a conscious response to those commandments of the Lord
that relate to natural life, Gal.6:10.
We see, therefore, that there are two
distinct kinds of good and good works. The spiritual kind are the prerogative
and should be the prime activity of the believer - it is why he was saved -
but natural good works should not be neglected.
BURDENS
The Lord Jesus said,
"My yoke is easy and my burden is light", Matt.11:29,30. This was a liberating
word to the Jewish hearer of the day, contrasting sharply with the legalistic
dictates of the Pharisees - "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be
borne and lay them on men's shoulders ……" Matt.23:4. These unenlightened
religious zealots of Judaism never came to terms with the spiritual
nature of Scripture and as a result were ministers of (spiritual) death to the
people of God, 2 Cor.3:6, interpreting holy oracles in a fleshly (natural) way
and, as it suited them, adding their own rules and regulations.
Such misuse of Scripture finds an echo in
our day. Though we often think of Christendom as a kind of latter-day Judaism,
the pharisaical spirit also afflicts local N.T. churches or assemblies, where
men of a legalistic persuasion minister divine things in such a way that the
lives of saints are burdened with rules and taboos contrary to the liberty
which is in Christ, Gal.5:1.
The Lord said to beware of
the doctrine of the Pharisees and we should likewise beware of
men imbued with the same spirit. Their neo-pharisaical ministry is a line of
teaching that often reflects personal prejudices and mistaken ideas about
separation, together with an overriding desire to organise and dominate
believers' lives.
There is rule in God's assembly but it is
of a spiritual order, not an authoritarianism that intimidates, dominates and
controls every aspect of believers' lives. Legalistic rules may produce
conformity but they cannot produce spirituality, the acid test of the
wellbeing of an assembly. It is not what the apostle had in mind when he said,
"….Be ye all of one mind…." 1 Pet.3:8.
The truth of the matter is that
spirituality engendered by a spiritual environment readily bows the knee to
divine principles of both a spiritual and moral nature, without recourse to
heavyhanded rules and regulations. The local assembly is house of God in
character, an environment designed by God for the spiritual exercises of a spiritual people, heavenly conditions on earth, clearly not a place
for lawmakers.
It is a matter for regret when pharisaical
legalism rears its ugly head in assemblies of the Lord's people, for it often
brings the things of God into disrepute and always blights the lives of the
saints. The Kingdom of God in its present spiritual form should
be an environment of spiritual liberty, of divine joy, peace and gentleness,
Rom.14:17, a place of spiritual growth that produces subjection to house of
God principles. Subjection based on any other premise is counterproductive.
To seek to interfere in the legitimate
private life of the believer is not only unwarranted from the scriptural
standpoint but also impertinent - in a word it is phariseeism. Clearly, we
need to be reminded constantly of the liberating words of the Lord in Matt.11,
as also His severe criticism of those referred to in chapter 23. There are
those in our day who do not appear to have heeded His words.
THE TRUE HEART
(Heb.10:22)
The dictionary defines "true" as genuine, a
word we would commonly regard as the opposite of false. However, naturalistic
definitions may not apply in spiritual things and "true" in the Hebrew context
has in view "spiritually discerning". The Hebrew mindset was Judaistic, taken
up with form and ritual, figures or types of spiritual realities. So, in
writing to Jewish believers, Paul was using "true" as opposed to figurative,
urging approach to God from the spiritual (christian) standpoint.
"True" as distinct from figurative was an
expression employed by the Lord Jesus, e.g. "the True Bread", "the True Vine",
"the True God" and by the apostle in the Hebrew epistle, "the true tabernacle"
and "the true heart".
It is instructive to note that the
naturalistic, Jewish mindset was perpetuated by Christendom from its earliest
beginnings and is also prevalent among believers gathered to the Lord's Name,
with resultant misinterpretation of Scripture.
As the word "true" is of spiritual
interpretation, so also is "heart", denoting the seat of perception, as
indicated in Eph.4:17,18, "This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that
you should no longer walk as the gentiles walk, in the futility of their
mind, having their understanding darkened, being
alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart". Similarly, "the hidden
man of the heart", 1 Pet.3:4.
Just as the "heart" in this
context is not the organ that
pumps blood around the body, so neither is it some mystic entity divorced from
the mind, as some would have us believe. Mark 2:6 clarifies that for us, "And
some of the scribes were sitting there reasoning in their
hearts".
So, it is apparent that the "true heart"
speaks of spiritual intelligence, a heart that is able to distinguish types or
shadows from spiritual realities, earthly things from heavenly, temporal from
eternal, secular from divine; in short, a heart that discerns things that
differ. It is in this frame of mind (heart) that we should approach God and
the things of God, understanding what God has made us in Christ - "nigh by the
blood" and "accepted in the Beloved".
MORTIFYING THE DEEDS OF
THE FLESH
(Rom.8:13)
Theologians interpret this verse in the
naturalistic way of Christendom to mean that, by divine power, we are to
(literally) put to death all the base pursuits of the body. But this is
plainly a natural impossibility and we deceive ourselves if we think
otherwise. No more than Paul, chapter 7, can we put to death the deeds of the
flesh in a natural sense. So much for natural thinking, 1 Cor.2:14. That which
is of the Spirit is not to be interpreted literally, nor applied to secular
life in a puritanical manner. The christian system is not a divine means to
improve human nature to make the world a better place. The flesh cannot be
purified.
In considering the true (spiritual)
interpretation, we might ponder why, as the flesh has already been put to
death in the death of Christ, Rom.6:6, it is then required that we in turn
mortify its deeds? Surely, if the flesh by divine act is dead, then there can
be no deeds to mortify! The answer to this apparent conundrum lies in
understanding the spiritual nature and implications of the
divine act.
The death of the flesh, the old nature,
signalled in the death of Christ, was a spiritual effect of the
cross, so that the flesh is dead only in a spiritual sense, in divine
estimation. By faith we are to reckon it to be so in our christian (spiritual)
walk, to have the same spiritual mind about it as God, despite the fact that
in natural life we are conscious it is very much alive. That God has declared
the flesh dead in divine purpose is all that matters to the spiritually
attuned mind. We walk by faith not by sight.
The corollary is that the mortifying in
v.13 is likewise to be construed spiritually. If God has acted spiritually,
then the response of a spiritual people likewise must be spiritual. As we have
seen, it is in any event a literal impossibility. What God has
done spiritually we are also called to do if we are to enter into the good of
the divine act. Spiritual things are enacted in the power of the Spirit, whose
activity has to do solely with the spiritual realm.
The (natural) life of the flesh is a life
that is "about to die" (Newberry,Darby). It is temporal and hence of no
eternal significance, so responding to God in that nature is
unprofitable and a waste of the new (spiritual) life.
It renders God's accomplished work in Christ vain and fruitless in the present
outworking of divine purpose.
Paul, having given that warning, then shows
how we can profitably use the divine power given to us. We can now, as Paul
had discovered, put the deeds of the flesh to death in a spiritual sense by
the Spirit. We do so by our present spiritual response to God, the Spirit in
us enduing us with spiritual intelligence to understand the spiritual position
into which God has placed us. It is "by the Spirit".
So, if by the Spirit we apprehend our
spiritual situation aright and act accordingly, we shall live. That is, we
shall live in present experience towards God in a new
(spiritual) life which is not "about to die" but which is
eternal and significant to divine purpose. Just as Christ acted by the
Holy Spirit in divine service, so we are called upon to act in the divine
system of Christianity, not according to the flesh in us.
In God's sight we are not in the flesh and
recognising that divine fact should ensure that we do not act in it in our
christian (spiritual) walk. So-called practical holiness, the vain puritanical
attempt to harness secular life to the divine system of Christianity by
subduing the flesh, is entirely misplaced for the holy life consists in
spiritual growth and activity of the inner man.
ONE
FLESH
We learn from Gen.2 that God made woman to
be a help and companion for man and it is here also that she is first called a
wife, implying relationship and commitment.
In the light of N.T. Scripture it can be
seen that the book of Genesis contains many types and shadows of spiritual
truth. The God-given relationship of man with woman is one such type or
picture.
The meaning of this type is revealed in
Eph.5:31. Paul says that it is a "great mystery" for he is really speaking
about Christ and the church. This is truly a spiritual revelation. So just as
man would leave his parents and be joined to his wife and the two become "one
flesh", one identity, in like manner the Eternal Son would leave His
Father and heavenly home to be joined (potentially) to His bride the church, in
oneness.
We see, therefore, that what God really had
in mind when forming Adam and Eve was the eternal relationship of His Son and
the church. The man and the woman became "one flesh", one identity in
the sight of God, for what God joins together He also 'makes one' in divine
estimation.
This oneness of Christ and the
church is graphically portrayed in Acts 9:4 where the risen Christ says to
Saul, 'Why are you persecuting ME?' So, the "one flesh" relates primarily to
the divine view of marriage, the oneness of two committed people, a
type or picture of that indivisible union of Christ and the church.
However, some have thought that "one flesh"
relates solely to the physical consummation of marriage but, as Eph.5 clearly
shows to the spiritual mind, that can only be a secondary application.
Physical consummation is merely confirmation of a condition that
already exists in the sight of God, as in the case of Adam and Eve, where in
Gen.2 and 3 Eve is referred to as Adam's wife before he "knew" her in
chapter 4. Equally, where such consummation is not possible, viz., in the
case of advanced years or invalidity, it in no way invalidates the marriage
for the two are "one flesh" in divine estimation, one identity as in Christ
and the church.
A
PROPHET WITHOUT HONOUR
Matt.13:57
An Old Testament prophet was a proclaimer
of a divine message to the people of God and such was the Lord Jesus, as He
tacitly implied in Matt.13:57 and as Peter testified in Acts 3:22-23.
The Jews had a history of persecuting and
killing the prophets, Matt.21:37, Acts 7:52, because they did not like the
divine messages they brought.
The Lord Jesus came to them with a message
of rebuke, Matt.23, and of enlightenment, John 8:12. The Jews had corrupted
the Oracles of God, the O.T. Scriptures, and the Lord was in their midst to
teach them the intrinsic spirituality of God's Word, but in the event
they preferred their tradition.
He spoke words that were spirit and life,
John 6:63, with the view to revealing the spiritual nature of the law
but they had not ears to hear. His words were the spiritual language of heaven
but they knew not the language.
In common with all the prophets who
preceded Him He was despised and rejected, not on account of His mighty deeds
but on account of His mighty words, Luke 24:19. His continued emphasising of
the spiritual nature of divine things both mystified and antagonised
the naturalistic Scribes and Pharisees.
Nicodemus was baffled by the spiritual
doctrine of the new birth and the Jews were confused when Jesus spoke of
Himself as the bread of life. After the feeding of the 5000 He said to the
representatives of the multitude, "Labour not for the food which perishes but
for that food which endures to everlasting life". He revealed that the manna
in the wilderness was a spiritual type or shadow of Himself, was at pains to
distinguish natural and secular from spiritual and eternal, Matt.22:21 and
brought new (spiritual) light to many of their traditional interpretations of
Scripture.
On account of His spiritual ministry
He was charged with having a demon, John 8:52, for the Jews were unable to
discern between good and evil in spiritual matters. They did all in their
power to thwart divine purpose but inevitably failed, not that they saw it
that way. They were sure they had succeeded in extinguishing the threat to
their religious supremacy when they beheld Roman soldiers nailing Him to a
cross.
But the extent of their failure was brought
home to them when a 'rising star' in their midst was summarily called by a risen
Lord Jesus to "follow after His steps". The newly named Paul continued the
spiritual ministry of his new Master, stating that the law was indeed
spiritual, Rom.7:14, and speaking and writing many words that were, in like
manner, spirit and life. Even his fellow apostles had to concede that his
ministry was at times difficult to comprehend, 2 Pet.3:15-16. But that is the
nature of spiritual things, they are spiritually discerned.
Nothing has changed. A like spiritual
ministry today would fall largely on deaf ears and servants who ministered it
would similarly be despised, rejected and undermined. Notwithstanding, the
spiritual ministry of the Lord Jesus and the apostles will finally prevail
over fleshly opposition and rebellion. A spiritual remnant will be found
adhering to apostolic truth in the last days.
Back to Top
ROMANS
6 - 9
A
COMMENTARY
CHAPTER 6
If in chapter 5 Paul presents what God has
done for us in Christ, in chapter 6 he reveals what God has done
in us in Christ. In chapter 5 we see what we were positionally in
Adam closed by our new standing in Christ; in chapter 6 what we were
conditionally in Adam closed by our new spiritual state in Christ -
newness of life.
Verse 1
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound?"
Here Paul is
answering a difficulty which might arise in the mind of a believer who had not
properly understood the doctrine of sin. The new question concerns how grace
continues to abound to us 'in Christ' after we are constituted righteous, not
a question of how it abounds to us 'in Adam' and in condemnation. Present
enjoyment of salvation and eternal life is the subject of this chapter.
Are we to continue in sin that grace may
abound? Sin became the occasion for grace abounding to man when he was found
in sin. So the question might be asked whether our continuing in sin will
evoke more and more grace from God. A believer who thinks so is one who still
sees himself as being alive toward God in the old, sinful nature, missing the
basic truth that the believer is alive 'in Christ' and no longer 'in Adam' in
God's sight. Grace is the effective power of God to realise eternal purpose.
Paul, in the three chapters under consideration, reveals how this power
effectively operates. It is not by our continuing in a sinful nature and
asking for grace upon specific deeds of sin committed by that nature.
Verse 2
"God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?"
This is sinful
thinking, the activity of unbelief and spiritual ignorance, no matter how
widely accepted as normal christian practice. We have died to sin once-for-all
(aorist tense), a completed act. To God and to faith, a believer died to
sin when he became 'in Christ'. We must regard our new state from
the divine viewpoint. If we died to sin, how can we live in it? This is not an
exhortation never to commit natural sin because we have been saved, but to
show the folly and ignorance of one who has received the virtue of the work of
Christ thinking that he still lives in a sinful nature toward God.
Some observations regarding
verses 3-11.
The death and consequent resurrection of
Christ is presented three times in these verses. The Lord Jesus is not only
the means by which we receive the new life, He was in his life in flesh
the pattern of how that new (spiritual) life should be lived. By the
death which ended His existence in flesh He has given us the (spiritual) life
in which He lived that we might live in it as He did, for righteousness
sake, for the furtherance of God's eternal purpose. What was true of Him is
true in us.
Consequently, in this chapter we find terms
of comparison - like as, likewise, also, even so, so also, etc. We should copy
Christ in the new life toward God, realising all that Christ was toward
God in the world, finding therein the spiritual virtues of life 'in
Christ' in which we are now alive and active toward His God and Father.
We must distinguish and separate between what we are 'in Adam' and what we
are 'in Christ'. Contrary to modern theology, if God's grace is to abound
to make us profitable in our divine calling, we must separate the natural
from the spiritual, the secular from the sacred in thought, word and deed.
Toward God and for the eternal purpose to
which we are called and gifted we are not alive in Adam, in the flesh,
human nature, but solely in the conferred life of Christ. "We will
never be fit for things below till we bring the fitness down from above" (JND).
In becoming a man the Lord Jesus established a relationship for us with God,
entered into by receiving 'new life in Christ' and realised experientially by
acting in it, (Yield yourselves unto God).
The death and resurrection of Christ Jesus
is presented to us here as a threefold pattern of the newness of life:
a.
vs.3-4: It brought His life in flesh to an end and opened up for Him a
new form of life as a man, alive in resurrection life, insusceptible to the
power of evil and anti-purpose.
b) vs.5-7: It
was the means of clearing him, or justifying Him, from God's condemnation of
the sin He voluntarily took upon Himself in the sphere of divine judgment.
Thereby we are also in a position of justification.
b.
vs.8-11: It ended the life in which He had to do with sin and death and
began a life in which He lives wholly and solely unto God. For us this
involves our present spiritual life and responsive service to God. It also
looks forward to the ultimate redemption of our bodies.
Certain knowledge comes to us as a
result of assuming the spiritual position which the work of Christ
opens up to us. The knowledge is both inherent and acquired, from possessing
the new life and from its being developed in us. Knowledge is mentioned
four times in this chapter, in verses 3, 6, 9 and 16 showing its definitive
importance. It is the knowledge of what has taken place for us in Christ,
particularly as a result of His death in its past, present and future
implications for us. The subject is the service which God seeks from us in
response to His work for us and in us.
We are required to realise that we
cannot serve God's eternal purpose in the power of a sinful nature.
We are not to live in it that grace may
abound. In God's sight, and in spiritual reality, we have died to that nature.
The work of God in Christ presented in chapter 5 deals once-for-all with sin,
the sinful nature of man. This is a finished work on God's part and to
receive its virtue we must receive it as such. In chapter 6 a work of God
which continues is presented. The life of Christ in us has to do with our
continued response to God.
- Firstly,
the glory of the Father is involved in it.
- Secondly,
the restitution of man to spiritual perfection in life and work from the sin
and death introduced by Adam is involved.
- Thirdly,
life unto God in the new creation is
involved.
Verse 3
"Know ye not that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were
baptised into his death?"
Spiritual ignorance may
prevent us from rising to divine expectations. Paul presents the doctrinal
facts and then the present implications and applications of these in the
believer's life and service. The first basic fact is that, by the work of God,
we have all been baptised into Christ Jesus. Baptism in water is an outward
confession of the death of all that we are by nature in God's sight and of our
association with Christ Jesus in new (eternal, spiritual) life. Here baptism
has in view conversion rather than the ordinance itself. The spiritual nature
of a christian is characterised as having been baptised into Christ Jesus. God
has associated us with the saving work of Christ, baptising us into Him.
Christ Jesus is the Christ who was Jesus, the Man now in glory, our Leader.
The life in which we lived in the flesh has been ended in the sight of God by
our baptism into His death. Baptism in water is a confession by us that God
has finished with the flesh (the old order of human nature) in divine purpose,
NOT that we are finished with it in secular life.
Verse 4
"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death; that like as Christ
was raised up from thedead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life."
That we have been
buried with Him is divine revelation of great spiritual significance and
interpretation, a spiritual situation which God has brought about. It is
presented to faith as the christian position from the divine standpoint. What
we are in sinful nature has been buried in Christ, hidden away forever from
the sight of God. Because of this divine intervention we have, in
spiritual reality, been buried as to the nature which sins. (So great
salvation). The death in verse 3 is the death of Christ, here it is death
generally and our own death in the flesh in particular. The virtues associated
with the death of Christ are conferred upon us, the spiritual effects opened
up for us that we may follow after Him spiritually.
"Christ was raised up from among the dead".
The Man anointed by God for the accomplishing of eternal purpose went into
death to be raised from among the dead by the glory of the Father, glory that
acted upon Him to vindicate His life of service and the purposefulness of His
death. When the Son had finished His eternally purposeful work in life and in
death, the Father worked to raise Him up, opening up the new creation for Him.
One of the purposes served by the Father acting upon the Christ in this way is
that the spiritual realm into which He raised Him might thereby be opened
to us. We were buried with Him unto death that we might walk (aorist
tense) in newness of (spiritual) life. Through the glory of the Father we are
brought into a spiritual sphere by possessing newness of life. It is an act
complete in itself. In the sight of God we walk in this newness of life.
Before we can render meaningful service to the cause of God we must know what
God has introduced us into spiritually. In our life of service to God we
walk in new life in a spiritual realm. We do not act in divine service in
natural human life, which is the realm of nature.
Verse 5
"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall
be also in the likeness of His resurrection."
God has
incorporated us with Him in the likeness of His death. Again, God is presented
as being at work, grafting us into Christ in His death. The "likeness" of His
death sets forth the fact that God has caused us to die the same death as
Christ did, in a spiritual sense of course. We have been identified with Him
so as to be made one with Him in His death to the flesh. 'In Adam' we had in
us a sinful nature which made us, primarily, spiritual failures. Christ
had no such sin in Him and hence it is the "likeness" of His death which Paul
presents. We are identified with the spiritual success of His death and
this closes the history of our life of spiritual failure before God.
So also shall we be with His resurrection.
Paul now looks to the future, showing the certainty of resurrection before
proceeding to set forth the present implications of it - knowing this.
The present time is characterised by our being united by God with a Christ who
died in absolute spiritual perfection concerning the work He did for God's
eternal purpose. His life, and the virtues of the work He performed in it, are
implanted in us so that we can act in that life toward God. Further, we wait
and act in it in the certain knowledge that God will yet act upon us in
the likeness of His resurrection.
Verse 6
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."
Paul then proceeds to
reveal what we get to know in the present time as a result of the
effectiveness of the work God has wrought for us and in us through the death
and resurrection of Christ. We gain the knowledge that our "old man" was
crucified (aorist) with Him. This is an act complete in itself, having been
completed by God. It is not we who should crucify the old man, rather
that we know God has done so as a result of the death of Christ and our death
in His likeness. It is our old man, not the old man which was
crucified. The death of Christ was a judicial sentence on sinful human failure
but the act by God in identifying us with it is a spiritual reality
for us. The knowledge of this governs the way in which we respond to God.
What we were once before God, 'in Adam', is
now described as the "old man". From the divine standpoint, human life in
nature has now become the 'old order of humanity'. An altogether 'new order of
humanity', a spiritual order, has appeared as a direct result of the completed
service of Christ. 'In Adam' we lived in the world but were 'dead' in divine
purpose. This spiritually dead form of life was crucified by God with Christ.
Men crucified Christ in flesh, acting in spiritual failure in the power of the
old nature. Christ became obedient unto death, even the death of a cross, and
as a result God has crucified our "old man" in present christian experience.
He has so acted that we might live and act in the knowledge that He has
done to us spiritually what men did to Christ literally.
The second basic fact which we come to know
is that God has so acted that "the body of sin" might be annulled (aorist). It
is not destroyed in any literal sense but is annulled spiritually by the
completed work of God in response to the work of Christ. The "sin" is the
spiritual failure resulting from the deficiencies of the old life in its
involvement in the spirit of evil. (It is important to understand that the
failings of human nature are not just moral but spiritual in their
consequences, falling short of the glory of God). This was fully
demonstrated by the crucifixion of the embodiment of eternal good. This "body
of sin" remains in us in our continued existence as men in the world of
nature. However, in possession of new life in Christ, we are alive in a new
spiritual realm in which we live and act spiritually toward God. "The body
of sin" is excluded from this realm. This then, is the true christian
situation from the divine standpoint and God presents it to us that we may
know it and act accordingly in our service for Him.
The third basic knowledge which we acquire
as a result of God's completed work is that we should no longer serve (present
continuous tense) sin. Again, this has in view our new life in the
spiritual realm. We are gifted and called by a divine work to complete
the spiritual service which God requires of us for the realising of eternal
purpose. We should not go on serving sin as its bondservants. The question of
our spiritual service is now introduced. God demands that we know what He has
already wrought so that we might no longer go on serving spiritual evil in the
power of a spiritually evil nature. What God does not do is give us a power
to efface the sins of the flesh, because we no longer live in it, so far as He
is concerned. If we view ourselves as still being alive in the flesh and
respond to God in its power in an attempt to better it and to improve the
world by human effort, then we are continuing to be slaves of sin by failing
to realise the nature of the work of God for us.
Verse 7
"For he that is dead is freed from sin."
The believer
is justified, cleared or discharged from sin. This is how we must see
ourselves as a result of God's completed work for us. By the work of God
in response to Christ's death, we have died. The old nature which sins is
no longer alive and active so far as God is concerned and that is what
matters. This is how we must understand what has happened to us
spiritually. Not only do we no longer serve the old master but we have been
justified from the sinful nature in which we once served him. We cannot be
held answerable as a spiritual people for the sins of a life which God has put
to death spiritually, though we can be at a natural level in the world.
In our natural life and experience we are
of course still alive and active in the power of a nature which is sinful.
That this is not true spiritually is entirely on account of God's work for us.
In God's view, and in that of the spiritually discerning, we have died and
been justified from sin once for all.
Verse 8
"Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him."
The death
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is presented a third time, emphasising that
a work of positive spiritual value has been done within us by God. We
died with Him in spiritual reality as well as in likeness. The Christ in flesh
died to that fleshly form. He did not come to make the world a better place
naturally nor to enable us to do so by a fleshly christianity.
"We believe that we shall live with Him".
As before, Paul states the doctrinal fact and then reveals its present
spiritual implications. True christian belief is that we shall come to live
with Him in the glory in which He now lives. This is already true spiritually
in present christian experience. The character of the life in which we now
live is described as being 'with Christ', 'in Christ Jesus' and 'unto
God'.
Verse 9
"Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no
more dominion over Him."
Paul declares
what we now know concerning the Christ of Christianity. The word for knowledge
signifies inherent rather than acquired knowledge. Paul is setting forth the
basic truths which we know and upon which we can build and progress
spiritually. "Knowing" is a past participle - having known and knowing.
True christian service arises from this knowledge which God has begotten
in us. Being raised up from among those who have died, Christ dies no more.
The life in which He served God's eternal purpose amongst men in the flesh has
ended. Divine power acted upon a Christ who was among the dead to separate Him
forever from dead humanity, raising Him to live in human life in a realm in
which there are no dead. (Resurrection always has to do with the body). The
Christ of Christianity is One who will never die again, such is the body of
glory in which He now lives.
Death no longer has lordship over Him. He
once became obedient unto death, being made for a little while lower than the
angels, in assuming a natural body, for the suffering of death. Death was once
the final authority in nature. The Christ, coming in flesh as the Christ of
Judaism, assumed a natural form and submitted Himself to death's lordship.
This was that He might break death's lordship over Himself forever. He ceased
to live in a form upon which death can exercise its authority. The dominion of
death had hitherto prevented man from entering into the fulfilment of all the
promises of God. Those who died bodily entered into the kingdom of death and
anti-purpose. Christ did so in order to assume a glorified form in which He
lives as a man in glory, beyond the authority standing between man and the
enjoyment of all that God has purposed.
Verse 10
"For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth
unto God."
He is a Christ
who died (aorist) but in contrast to others His death was eternally
purposeful. He died in order to die to sin, another spiritual power which
stood between man and the enjoyment of the promise. His death in a natural
body had to do with sin. Though He need not have died in such a body, yet He
chose to do so because the realising of eternal purpose was to be
accomplished by such an act. For in that He did die, He died to the sin in
which He had voluntarily involved Himself for God's eternal purpose. He died
bodily in a death which was devoted to resolving the problem of sin by which
mankind had become involved in the power of evil and anti-purpose. By living
and acting as Christ in the flesh He could have reigned in a world in which
death and sin had co-dominion. He died to the sin once-for-all, departing from
the realm in which sin reigned in death, by dying. This was not a spiritual
defeat by the enemies of God and man as in the case of Adam and his seed. They
die because of sin. He died to sin in a victory accomplished once and for all
in a world in which sin and death had hitherto reigned.
"But that He continues to live, He lives
unto God". His accomplished victory has given Him a form of life which is
wholly devoted to God, having taken His now glorified humanity into the realm
of eternal life. The Christ of our profession is a Man who died to every enemy
in order to live in possession of eternal life in a bodily form. In this realm
in which all the eternal blessings are to be enjoyed, life is wholly unto God.
We know that we shall live in such a realm in like bodies in glory.
Verse 11
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Paul now
comes to the present implications for us of these known facts about the
Christ. A true response to God from knowing such a Christ can only come from
us if we consider aright the spiritual position into which we have been set.
To "reckon" is to see ourselves spiritually as God sees us, in relation
to the accomplished work of Christ. We must consider ourselves dead to sin and
alive to God as a result of divine activity. What we know to be true of Christ
in eternal reality we must consider to be true of ourselves spiritually toward
God. Christ has died to sin and lives to God, as already stated.
We are dead to sin and alive to God in
Christ Jesus, the glorified Man,
even though we still live on earth. We must be governed by this godward
consideration and no longer see ourselves as being alive for eternal purpose
'in Adam'. The sin and death associated with the old life is in God's sight
ended, however real it may appear to be to believers who do not discern the
christian position correctly. We live by faith, not by sight.
Verse 12
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in
the lusts therof."
The
reign of sin and death as it affects, or ceases to affect, us is then
considered by Paul. These issues are first set forth negatively and then
positively. The negative is set forth in the present tense. We must keep on
refraining from a wrong and thus unrighteous response to God and His work in
Christ for us, and we must engage once for all in the spiritual activity by
which we can further eternal purpose. Paul presents the fact that though God
has called us to live for His pleasure and purpose, we still do so in mortal
bodies. We remain in the world in bodily limitations but this need not hinder
us from our true life and work toward God.
We are not to go on letting the sin
reign in our spiritual life and work
in the present time of fleshly weakness. The sin is the sin that reigned in
spiritual death as a result of man's involvement in the spirit of evil. If we
realise that we died to the sin, to the spiritual failure associated with
natural human life, we shall not cause it to reign further in our response to
God in a mortal body. Conversely, if we still see ourselves as being alive in
a sinful nature, and our response to God is to seek to prevent that nature
from sinning, then we are in spiritual failure in spite of the work of God for
us. This is a lamentable position for a believer to be in. The puritanical
response by which believers seek to improve the old form of life by conscious
human effort is the reign of sin which God expressly forbids. Such a
response militates against the work of God in us.
Paul warns us not to let the sin, the
spiritual failure associated with Adam, reign in our present spiritual
service. The lusts which are forbidden in our response to God are not the
lusts of our natural existence but those of the power of sin, which
declares that we can be profitable to God in the old order of life, the old
man, 'in Adam'. The consequence is that the new life in us cannot express its
desires in life in the body. Ignorance and spiritual pride, arising from not
regarding aright the new spiritual situation, are dangers from which we must
retreat.
Verse 13
"Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but
yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
Paul
then speaks of the second negative response to God which is to be avoided.
Neither go on yielding, or presenting, your members instruments of
unrighteousness to the sin, the sin of spiritual failure. Paul
distinguishes between 'your mortal bodies and your members' and 'yourselves
and your members'. The first category sets forth that which we are by nature,
the second what we are spiritually in the sight of God. Our members are the
powers which express what we are as men, whether 'in Adam' or 'in Christ'.
In the days of spiritual failure we
presented our members as instruments, or weapons, of unrighteousness. Man 'in
Adam' reckons that he can perform true good, the good that God desires, by
harnessing his gifts and powers to the cause of present natural peace and
prosperity. This is a response the believer must avoid, seeing it is
unrighteous spiritually. Righteousness does not arise from improving the
world by our natural powers. This is the sin, the spiritual failure
of mankind, against which wrath is revealed from heaven in the gospel.
The positive response which Paul commands
is that we yield (aorist) ourselves to God, presenting ourselves, as a
completed act. (In chapter 12:1 the same exhortation is seen in the context of
a corporate spiritual sacrifice). What God desires is that we realise the
significance to His purpose of the new life He has begotten in us. What we are
by nature is now merely a snare and a hindrance, to be avoided. Our true self
is now 'Christ in us'. Being alive from among the dead spiritually by the
possession of His life, we can be profitable to God. It is imperative that we
realise the spiritual situation which we occupy. We live on earth amongst
the seed of Adam, who remain spiritually dead toward God and His eternal
purpose. We have become, by the effective work of God, a new race alive in
present possession of eternal life. In this new life we have faculties
which are serviceable to God. We are required to present these powers of the
new nature as instruments of righteousness to God. A new power, resident in
us, has been acquired by God to effect the present purpose on earth for which
He has already raised up Christ into glory. Our new spiritual faculties are,
potentially, His members on earth. These have been acquired to perform the
spiritual work for which God has called and gifted us.
Verse 14
"For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but
under grace."
The
spiritual failure which dominates the life of Adam's seed will not have
dominion over those who reckon and respond aright to God. Just as
Christ lives in a life and realm in which sin no longer has dominion over Him,
so it is with those who are 'in Christ Jesus' and respond to God in spiritual
enlightenment. The expression and service of the new life in us, the fruit of
righteousness, is in a spiritual sphere in which the sin which dominates Adam
and his seed has no authority. We must rise to God's thoughts of our life
and position in Christ if we are henceforth to be profitable to Him. "If
the Son has made you free then ye are free indeed". We have lost the lordship
of sin and have a new Lord to serve. We have been brought by Him into the
liberty of grace and are not under law. We are alive spiritually from
among those who remain dead spiritually. We are not under the law in this new
life nor as to the service which God desires of us. In Christianity there is
no natural, fleshly ethic to govern the life and work which we perform unto
God. We are under the power of grace, the power by which God effects His
eternal purpose in creation.
Verse 15
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under
grace? God forbid."
Paul then
answers a possible objection which could be raised by a believer, particularly
a Jewish believer, to this doctrine. If we are freed from all legal
obligations in our present life and service to God, shall we not thereby sin
all the more? At least the law was a curb upon natural sin for the Jew. Can we
be saved and then do what we like after the flesh? Are we to live in a
sinful life? This is the force of the question rather than "are we to go on
sinning?" Paul is concerned with our true service to God rather than with our
natural lives before men in the world. Paul's doctrine is not antinomian,
in the sense that the flesh has freedom from the law to act as it desires.
Not at all, rather he teaches that we are not under the law spiritually. Our
spiritual position is apart from the law, as in chapter 3:21. Are we to sin
because we are under grace? The grace of God has acted upon us to gift us a
righteousness which consists in the possession of new life in Christ and has
nothing to do with natural human merits or otherwise.
We are not to live and act in a sinful
nature toward God, even though we
still possess a sinful nature in our ordinary secular life. We act under
grace, the form in which God's eternal power and wisdom now acts. It does so
through the new life that grace has already produced in us.
Verse 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."
Spiritual character and maturity develops itself in this service of grace.
Again, the importance of acquiring true knowledge is stressed. Have you not
got to know? Paul rebukes those who offer such an objection to his doctrine
for being spiritually immature. Service, the activity of our members, results
either in death or righteousness, depending upon which master we serve. We are
to present ourselves as slaves for obedience. As believers we can do so in a
sinful or righteous form of obedience to God. 'Slaves for obedience' is the
nature of the service we are called to render as a result of God's spiritual
work in us. A slave is the highest form of servant, one who is willing to
devote his life to his master. The question concerns which life and power we
are to devote to God, our fleshly life and its members, or that which is
spiritual. It is possible for the present people of God to fail spiritually,
as man did in creation and under law.
We are slaves to him whom we obey. Paul's
argument is practical and not rhetorical. He addresses believers in their
contracted responsibilities to God. Our responsibilities lie in the way
in which we serve the God to whom Christ became obedient in His life in flesh.
We may in our day be bondmen of sin, despite receiving and being under
the grace of God. We can receive the grace of God in vain, in a spiritually
purposeless manner. If we obey sin, the result and the present effect produced
in us by accepting its lordship, is death. If we devote our natural talents
to a christian ethic we are being obedient to the cause of death. As a
result the world would remain a place in which God and His grace would be
unknown.
On the other hand we may be bondmen to
obedience. This was the character and pattern of the Lord's service. He
took upon Himself the form of a bondman and became obedient. His obedience to
His God and Father consisted in revealing the Father and not in glorifying
Himself on earth even if He was the Son. Though He was the Son He learned
obedience. So we also should subject the new life of Christ in us to obedience
to the same cause. Our obedience is fulfilled in coming to know the God whom
Christ has fully revealed. The end is eternal life, as in verse 22. This is
life eternal that they might know only the true God and Jesus Christ whom He
sent. The end of service to obedience is righteousness. This is practical
Christianity, the true activity of the new nature, the works of faith. We
are justified before God by faith alone, apart from works. We justify our
present possession of new life by serving the cause of righteousness in the
present time. God is glorified for His righteous activity by acquiring a
people who serve Him spiritually and not naturally.
Verse 17
"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."
God is to be
thanked for opening up such a spiritual possibility. It is an effect produced
in us by His own eternal work. He acted upon us in grace when we were bondmen
to the sin. Both Jew and Gentile were in spiritual failure, the sin for
which the gospel charges us. We lived and acted toward God in ignorance of
spiritual, eternal things.
As a result of the basic work of God in the
gospel, those whom Paul addressed obeyed from the heart. God has produced a
new heart in them which, unlike the fleshly heart, is capable of
responding to God in spirit and in truth. From this heart, which is capable of
loving God, they obeyed the pattern or type of doctrine unto which they were
delivered. They had received and accepted it as being of God and not of man.
This is a basic essential. The teaching of the apostles is to be received as
the teaching of God. The basic work of the gospel leads to this. Having a new
nature is not of itself sufficient for the realising of God's eternal purpose.
Being freed from bondservice to the sin,
they had acquired new bonds which they willingly accepted as being from God.
It is essential that the present people of God be formed and governed by the
pattern of the teaching. It is a question of growing up spiritually into
maturity of the spiritual life and power which is effective for God's eternal
purpose. The doctrine of God is all-important for this development. We must
obey God in being subject to apostolic doctrine. "Effective service flows from
a just appreciation of our relative place toward God, and from a deepening
sense of separation to God" (JND).
Verse 18
"Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Emancipated from the sin, they had become
enslaved to righteousness. Freedom from the sin which had captivated the seed
of God in spiritual evil comes from the work of the Son, as in John 8:36. They
were delivered, by obedience to the teaching, from the bondage of the sin in
which they had been held when they previously lived in nature and under law.
In these realms they were subjected to a power of spiritual evil which is
greater than man's fleshly powers.
Now they had become bondmen to
righteousness in this new spiritual realm into which the work of God had
introduced them, in possession of new life and in subjection to the spiritual
teaching which governed them. So we are called to realise the new service
which we are now able to render to God. This service has to do with
righteousness and not with sin. We cannot overcome the sin by dint of fleshly
powers but we can nevertheless be effectively enslaved to eternal
righteousness.
Verse 19
"I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh; for
as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto
iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto
holiness."
Paul now reveals that he is speaking
humanly, using a human illustration to set forth what he means spiritually.
This is because of the fact that God's bondservants continued to serve Him in
fleshly, natural weakness. The Roman believers had not as yet progressed to
spiritual maturity in the things of God, hence the necessity for the epistle
and its content. Paul speaks as if they were as yet carnal in their approach
and response to God. In that state, man's members, his natural faculties and
powers, are devoted in fleshly weakness unto lawlessness.
Paul, by his epistle, encourages them
henceforth to yield (aorist) their members in bondage to righteousness unto
holiness. Now is the time when they are to so respond to his provisions that
they may acquire true holiness. Holiness is the growth of the new life in
them. As the people of God mature spiritually, so they shall not sin
(fail) in their service to His eternal purpose. This once-for-all yielding of
the spiritual abilities of the new nature to the bonds of the teaching, in
righteous activities, is the only way to prevent failure. Far from being a
means to avoid it, fleshly devotion to an ethic is sin in the highest
sense. Holiness, or godliness, is not possible in the old nature.
Christianity does not make us holy in any natural sense. Christ did not
die to make us better than other men naturally. The flesh cannot be yielded
to God. Ideally, the new life begotten in us by the gospel is
yielded to God at its birth. The important thing is that we realise what is
involved and live and act accordingly. This is true reckoning.
Verse 20
"For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness."
Before we received the virtue of the gospel, we kept on being the bondmen of
the sin. In Rome they served the Roman ethic of peace and prosperity by power
and human government. The gospel exposed this to be slavery to spiritual
failure on the part of man. It does not advance divine purpose. In days of
spiritual failure they were free as to the righteousness of God revealed in
the gospel. They were not concerned with righteousness, that is, with
performing the spiritual service necessary for the ultimate fulfilment of the
promises.
Verse 21
"What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For
the end of those things is death."
Paul is not
merely speaking of the moral debauchery associated with pagan worship. He
addresses both Jews and Gentiles in Rome. Everything associated with natural
life and its fleshly works in the world is seen to be shameful spiritually
when the gospel is received in power. This corresponds to what Paul declares
in chapter 1:16. He was not ashamed of the gospel, even in the context of
Rome. In Rome, they thought they enjoyed the benefits of the greatest power
that could reign on earth. They enjoyed the rule of law and order and the
natural prosperity and culture this affords. They did not see beyond present
things in the world. However, now that faith had been produced in them by the
gospel, they could regard eternal issues. Consequently, they were ashamed of
their previous spiritually ignorant and purposeless way of life.
For the end of these things is death.
However powerful and affluent society becomes by human effort under the rule
of man's best political system, the net result of those things is death. We
are to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, knowing that these
are not the things of God. They are things of a world order in which spiritual
death still reigns as a result of man's failure to render to God the things
that are God's. Righteousness shall fill the earth only when revealed
truth reigns in spiritual power. The people of God are now called to serve the
cause of righteousness by becoming spiritually mature. For them to be
otherwise engaged as their response to the gifts and calling of God is sin,
which results in spiritual death.
Verse 22
"But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your
fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."
But now the highest spiritual realm - and
opportunity for eternally purposeful service to God in that realm - has been
opened up to us. We have been emancipated from the sin, as in verse 18. We
have become bondmen to God. This is a new expression. We are to realise that
by divine activity we are constituted bondmen to God Himself. God acquired
'slaves' in Rome for service to His eternal purpose. God has freed us from
sin, which rendered us purposeless spiritually, to become His (spiritual)
slaves just as He did with Israel in Egypt.
Our spiritual slavery is
concerned with fruit unto holiness, the development of godlikeness in the
slaves-of-God in the present time. Paul is concerned with the fruit of true
christian service here. In chapter 1 Paul spoke of the fruits of sin and
traced these to the root of Adam's act of sin in chapter 5. In the new
creation the order is different. The root of all grace and power for service
is the saving act of the Christ and its efficacy produced in us by the gospel.
If their new life is lived in true spiritual conditions in obedience to the
doctrine, and from understanding the true response demanded of us as God's
slaves, then the fruit which God desires from His saving intervention will be
forthcoming.
The fruit of the things gained in the world
from a spiritually shameful response to God was fit only to elicit divine
judgment. The end of those things is unto death. The gain of true spiritual
service in the new creation is the producing of holiness or sanctification in
'slaves'. Its end is everlasting life. The present time in the outworking of
divine purpose is a time when men who are involved in spiritual slavery to God
are being perfected spiritually for the future. The reign of everlasting life
is still to come on earth. Christ Himself entered into such a life in His
glorified body, already perfect for future reference.
Verse 23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord."
The
wages is the food which sin, the slavemaster, feeds to its slaves. Men who
respond in spiritual error and ignorance to God in the world receive a present
reward. In creation, when men regard their own natural activities and lives as
being purposeful, they build up a strong and prosperous society. So it is when
the Jew regards the law as a fleshly ethic. So also Christendom has become the
most naturally successful form of rule and religion on earth. These are
the wages of sin, the spiritual failure perpetrated by man against the
things of God which they have received. The Lord Jesus indicated this in His
criticism of the Pharisees. Those who do things to be seen of men, to produce
effects which are tangible to ordinary humanity without faith, have had their
reward. These wages are death. When men live by such food they are
contributing to the present reign of spiritual death in the world. It
continues to be in a vain, purposeless state spiritually so long as God is not
given His true place.
"But the free gift of God is eternal life".
This is the promise that is presented to those who render true service to
divine purpose. In our slavery we receive from God only what we merit. If we
do respond aright we receive the divine fulness. God has freely given us
eternal life. As we serve Him aright however, we develop the spiritual ability
increasingly to enjoy it. If we yield our members to the cause of
righteousness and present acquisition of holiness, we shall live and act in
the realm in which God acts to confer His free gift. This is the spiritual
sphere in which we are 'in Christ Jesus' and in which we confess Him as Lord.
In verse 11 Paul had called upon believers to reckon themselves to be alive
unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now believers are presented as being
ideally in slavery to God. Then they will realise all that is involved in
being both alive and active in Christ Jesus our Lord.
CHAPTER 7
The subject in this chapter is still how
the eternal power of God operates in us and through us. In chapter 6 the power
is for living toward God. Here it is for the bearing of fruit. Paul deals with
the removal of what would hinder this. First it is the law, so far as those
under it were concerned. Secondly it is the flesh, as to those who were in it
(or who thought they were in it in their response to God).
- Chapter 6 is re. life,
chapter 7 re. fruit
- Chapter 6 is actions,
chapter 7 is thoughts
- Chapter 6 is
objective, chapter 7 is subjective
- Chapter 6 in Christ
Jesus, chapter 7 through Christ
- Chapter 6 re. newness
of life, chapter 7 re. newness of spirit
- Chapter 6 re. life,
chapter 7 re. relationships.
The first six verses describe the
relationship from which power for fruitbearing develops. Then follows the
removal of hindrances to fruitbearing. The change in pronouns is instructive -
"ye", "we", "I".
- "Ye" refers to those
brethren who were under the law previously.
- "We" refers to the
body of believers.
- "I" refers to Paul
himself, showing the development of his own christian experience and, by
extension, the normal development that should characterise christian growth
in every believer.
Verse 1
"Know ye not brethren (for I speak to them that know the law); how that the
law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?"
Again Paul
emphasises the importance of true knowledge if we are to be purposeful to God.
"Know ye not?", "I speak to those that know the law". It is possible to know
the 'letter' without knowing its true, spiritual interpretation. Paul
addresses them as his brethren in the divine activity in which they were
mutually involved. The teaching of Paul brings out the true significance of
the words of O.T. Scripture, particularly in order that it may be interpreted
aright in the new spiritual circumstances brought about by the death and
resurrection of the Christ.
The law has lordship over the man who is
under it so long as he lives. It is essential to recognise that the man and
the husband presented in this chapter is Christ and not the believer. The
believer is the wife. Death alone is more powerful than the law in its
authority. So long as the man lived in the flesh under the law, his legal
relationships were wholly determined by the law. It imposed restrictions upon
Christ so long as He lived under it. As long as Christ was a man in the flesh,
born of a woman under the law, He was bound wholly and only to those who were
also under the law. While He lived in that state and realm, His associates
under the law lived merely in the flesh. The Spirit had not yet been given.
Verse 2
"For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so
long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of
her husband."
In
verses 2 and 3 the people of God under the law were bound to their husband,
Jehovah, and Christ was Jehovah in flesh. The conduct of this wife was
governed by the law, which exercised sanctions upon disobedience. The law
never passes away, so death became the only means of freedom from it. We shall
see in verse 4 that in fact both partners died. Christ died literally, the
believing Jew has died spiritually. The Jewish nation, the woman of divine
purpose at that point in the outworking of God's purposes on earth, had a
husband - the God of the law - to whom she was bound so long as He lived. Such
a God had assumed a fleshly form in which He himself lived under the law. That
relationship was binding upon her in the terms set forth in the law of the
husband. The gospel reveals that the law was spiritual rather than natural.
If the husband died she was loosed from the
law of the husband. The terms which bound the Jew to his God could be unloosed
only if God ceased to exist toward them as Jehovah. This is in fact what
happened at the death of Christ. Jehovah is the God of the partial revelation
of the Old Testament. As a result of the work of Christ in flesh under the
law, God has been revealed as the Father and not just Jehovah. The terms which
bound Israel have been changed by the death of One who was Jehovah. The law,
though it remains, is no longer binding upon the believing Jew, who has died
toward Jehovah in flesh and lives toward the Father in possession of divine
life.
Verse 3
"So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she
shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from
that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man."
Paul sets forth the illegality, the spiritual error, involved in the Jewish
nation being given to another man while her legal husband lived. So long as
God acted toward His people under the law, then the law remained the highest
authority in the nation. The highest spiritual ideal attainable under the law
was that the nation become the bride of Jehovah, according to the terms of
spiritual faithfulness defined in the law. If the nation failed in this she
would be called an adulteress. She would be called this and treated as such by
Jehovah in His dealings with the nation. This is the spiritual situation
which prevailed at the coming of the Son in flesh, born of a woman under the
law. The nation showed by her rejection of God manifested in flesh that
she was given over to another, to the vain tradition of the elders.
But if the husband has died, the situation
is changed. The spiritual ideal realisable in the law has perished in the
death of Christ in the flesh. Yet, in the purpose of God, this has opened
up a greater ideal. By the death of Christ we have come into a higher form
of life than that which the law governed. We do so in a realm in which death
no longer has any authority. The Jew is free from the law as a result of the
death of Christ. Those who believe the gospel are not committing spiritual
adultery in being "to another man". They are united to the Christ who died in
order to enter into a new form of life, resurrection life, with which the law
has nothing to do. So, the new Israel is no adulteress, even if she is
married to another Man. This is the Man of the new system of access to God, in
which the spiritual ideal of eternal fruitbearing is alone possible.
Verse 4
"Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."
In fact both parties have died. First, the Christ has died. His
body, his life in flesh, became the means in which Jehovah came forth to
consummate the ideal spiritual relationship with Israel under the law. The
dead body of the Christ was the means which ended this relationship and formed
another greater one. Secondly, "ye also were put to death" to the law through
the body of Christ. The Jewish nation awaited the coming of the Christ as its
earthly fulfilment. His death in the body, to the flesh, ended this natural
hope. They were put to death spiritually because of the cross, at the
time of their highest opportunity. They knew not their visitation and so
incurred this form of death as the judgment of God for their failure.
According to the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, they crucified Him with lawless hands. From the godward
viewpoint this took place in order that new ties might be formed between them
and the Man in glory who remains both Lord and Christ. They were (spiritually)
put to death by God so that they might live toward Him who has been raised out
of death physically. At this point Paul widens the fellowship to all who live
by the gospel, whether Jew or Gentile, that we bring forth fruit to
God.
The Jew was judged for the previous
spiritual failure of his response to God. This had been the cause of the
death of Christ. Yet this created spiritual bonds between God and the people
He has acquired by the gospel, in which fruit is produced unto God. Again the
aorist tense (once-for-all) is used in the description of the fruitbearing.
Attention is thus drawn to the fact and not to any moral obligations on
our part to God. The work is wholly of God.
Verse 5
"For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law,
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death."
In
this verse Paul reminds them of their experience when they lived in the flesh
toward God. He is about to show true christian development and begins his
argument by characterising our unconverted days. We went on living in the
flesh. Before God produced faith in us by the gospel, we lived in the world in
spiritual purposelessness. In that state, two conflicting principles governed
us. The passions of sin (plural_ worked in our members. These members
are the powers which express what we are inherently in flesh. The passions of
sins were the only powers we had with which to respond to God. Our inherent
sin, failure toward God in the things of God, acted to assert the
powers of man in the service he performed in nature. Sin in us, in the flesh,
was stimulated to passions of sins by the way in which we understood
and responded to law. These were through the law, which was given to condemn
both sin and sins.
The law, given to forbid the activity of
sins, in fact merely brought them out in their full development because of the
inability of the flesh, human nature, to comprehend aright the previous system
of God. The fruit which such spiritual conflict produced was spiritual
death. The law manifested that there were no powers in human nature to
produce eternal good, nor to overcome the spirit of evil. On the contrary,
spiritual evil abounded and spiritual death accumulated. This was the work
which continued in such a spiritual state.
Verse 6
"But now 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."
By a divinely accomplished fact we are delivered from the law and our
failure in it. We no longer live and act toward God in the fleshly nature,
which the letter of the law condemns by exposing its spiritual failure.
The accomplished spiritual fact is that we have died to that in which we went
on being held captive. Once we had only fleshly lives and in its powers sought
to live by the law as the flesh interprets it. Now we have died to that nature
and to the law as we once understood it.
We have been delivered so as to serve as
slaves in newness of spirit. We have died to that which held us bound, the
sinfulness of the flesh, in the old system of approach. It is not that we have
liberty in the flesh to do as we please morally and socially. Our fleshly
life in the old realm has nothing to do with the service to which God calls us
and fits us. In God's sight, and ideally in our own reckoning, we died in
the old realm associated with fleshly spiritual failure to serve in newness of
spirit. It remains a natural fact that we have an ordinary fleshly life, as
have all men, but this is a fact of no spiritual consequence in the new
spiritual realm in which we serve God. Our fleshly limitations do not
limit our spiritual service. We walk (aorist tense) in the newness of life
(6:4). We continue to serve (present) in newness of spirit. This supposes
the development of spiritual maturity in the people of God. This comes from
knowing the law and its spiritual significance as unfolded in the New
Testament. We serve not in the oldness of the letter. Our service is not
directed by legal rules which govern the flesh. The old Jewish way of
interpreting the law literally and applying it to ordinary human life in the
present world was their spiritual failure. An enlightened christian is
delivered from this.
Verse 7
"What shall be say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I
had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except that law
had said, Thou shalt not covet."
What follows is
the practical, experiential knowledge of the removal of every difficulty and
obstacle which would hinder the power of God acting in us. Suppose for the
sake of argument that I was still in the flesh and under the law before God,
and at the same time in possession of new life in Christ. What then would my
experience be? Paul here transfers the argument to himself - "I".
He traces
out for us the experience through which he had to pass before he realised the
nature of the new christian position. He is not setting forth the position
of a sinner before God under the law, nor of a saint in normal experience.
Here is a christian who was spiritually immature, a carnal christian. Paul
describes himself as being carnal at that stage in his spiritual development
(v.14). He had found new life in Christ and was trying to outwork it under the
law, using the law as a rule of life.
Is the law sin? Lest it be said of Paul's
doctrine that he declared the law to be sinful, Paul first of all upholds the
law's perfection. It could be argued that Paul taught that God did not demand
full obedience to the law and therefore would be satisfied with something
less. In fact Paul's teaching manifests the true purpose for which God gave
the letter of the law to man, viz. to give man the knowledge of sin. Paul
would not have known the sin unless through law. As before, the sin is man's
spiritual failure in relation to God and the eternal things of God. Man's
natural conscience gives him the knowledge of natural, moral and social sin,
that which men call sin. The Scriptures, in relation to salvation and new
life, do not deal with the natural but with spiritual issues. Law, as it was
understood in naturalistic Judaism, made Paul conscious of the sin, the
spiritual failure which necessarily manifested itself in man in such a system.
Paul appears to distinguish between "the law" and "law". "The law" is the
writings which came from God through Moses. "Law" is the economy in which the
Jews lived as a result of this divine intervention. In his experience in that
economy, Paul was made aware of the sin which rendered perfection unattainable
in the system of Judaism as he had understood it.
Paul should not have been aware of the
covetousness. Through the law he was made aware of the existence within
himself of a spiritual power of evil which coveted that which God had
forbidden. The law said, "Thou shalt not covet". In the legal economy
in which Paul had been raised, particularly in Phariseeism, this meant what it
said literally. Thus God was making demands upon human nature which it could
not meet. He was condemning it for its inability to do so. The dilemma of the
religious Jew is brought out in the very nature of the law spoken by God. It
was given in negative terms - thou shalt not. Paul selects this particular
commandment to show that there is no denying the naturally unattainable
perfection by the letter. Men might honestly have believed that they could
live up to the literal demands of the other commandments, but an honest man is
confounded by this one. To covet natural things is an inherent desire of
human nature. By the old interpretation of the law, the desire in itself
was sinful. Paul would not have known this desire in him to be sinful and
condemnatory before God except through the law. The law revealed it to
represent transgression in the sight of God.
Verse 8
"But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence, For without the law sin was dead."
The sin, the inevitability on the part of human nature to
fail spiritually toward God, found the opportunity to manifest itself in Paul
through the commandments. Naturalistic Judaism worsened the spiritual
situation in Paul's experience in those days when he sought to serve God after
the manner of his fathers. The commandment, held up for fleshly obedience,
afforded the irrepressible power of the spirit of evil in Paul the occasion to
develop itself more fully. The more devotedly he sought to serve the God of
the commandment in the nature which the law condemned, the stronger this
nature became. The moralistic Jewish religion had to do with making man's
ordinary life in the world better at a natural level. Paul exercised his
self-control and devoted his will to this ethic.
His experience was that known sin wrought
in him all manner of covetousness. As he grew stronger morally and socially by
his religion, he found himself acting to gratify the nature which coveted
greatness for itself under such a law. Religious flesh acquires spiritual
pride in its own capabilities and covets all kind of fleshly attainments in
the world. It does so before a God whose law condemns it.
For apart from law sin is a dead thing.
"Apart from law", as in 3:21 signifies man living in creation outside the
economy of law, not being judged by divine revelation for being in
spiritual failure. Sin is present in all men but in the case of the Gentiles
it was spiritually powerless. In the accepted Jewish religion, man's natural
sinfulness was deadly in a spiritual sense. It caused men who sought to live
in the flesh after the letter to be in a hopeless position. It manifested
their sin and gave it irrefutable power over them. They were engaged in a
hopeless struggle with their own defective nature.
Verse 9
"For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin
revived, and I died."
At this point Paul brings forward his conversion to the gospel as the divine
means of new life. He was alive (imperfect tense) apart from the law once.
Understood literally, this would indicate the first seven days of his life
before he was circumcised and brought under the law. Clearly, this is not the
intended meaning. Paul remained alive thereafter in the law until his
conversion. It was after this that he came to live before God apart from
the law. This is the righteousness of God which is apart from law, as in
3:21. He knew that his sin had been forgiven on the basis of the gospel and
that he lived in the possession of a new life.
Yet he did not then know the full
significance of the spiritual position into which God had brought him.
The commandment coming to him in this new
state of life would signify the fact that, being in possession of this new
life, he subjected himself to the law again. His hope would be that this new
life in Christ within him would give him a new power to overcome the previous
spiritual failure and enable him to outwork the commandment perfectly. It was
of course doomed to failure.
His experience then was that the sin sprang
to life again. At his conversion he knew that sin was dead and that Paul was
truly alive before God. When, in spiritual immaturity, he put himself back
under law, he found the opposite to be true in his practical experience. The
sin from which he vainly sought deliverance by the gospel came to life again
and Paul was dead. The sin was demonstrated to be still present in him and
this was a contradiction of the gospel which he had learned. As yet Paul
had not learned the true spiritual significance of God's work in him. He
had not learned the spiritual implications of having been constituted
righteous by God. The old Paul, Paul in the flesh, was dead before God and he
lived only in the new life in Christ. At this point, however, Paul still
reckoned that he was to remain under the law in flesh. To act toward God -
after receiving life in Christ - in a nature which inevitably comes short of
the demand of the law, is to act in deadness spiritually.
Verse 10
"And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death."
The resultant experience is that this commandment, given by God for
the development of spiritual life and for effective service, was unto death.
The commandment was given to the old nature to manifest its sinfulness in the
sight of God. It is given to the new man in Christ to govern and develop the
new nature conferred by the gospel. This effect is not produced when a man who
lives toward God in new life, apart from law, seeks to use this power of life
to make the flesh obedient to the letter. The flesh in him is not changed
by conversion. Rather it is put to death in God's sight and the believer
is called to reckon accordingly. Otherwise he will find that he has believed
in vain. He continues to live unto death in spite of God's work in him.
The word "for" is used frequently in this
chapter, showing the progressive development set forth in it. Paul is
revealing the experience which resulted from his pristine immaturity in the
new things of God.
Verse 11
"For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
Paul then repeats what he had said in verse 8, concerning his
experience when he sought to do his best to obey the law. He now found himself
back where he started when he lived after the flesh under the law. The new
birth had afforded him no help to live up to the commandment. The flesh, when
it seeks to live before God and serve Him legally, is deceived by such
appearances. At this stage of his development, Paul acted as if he still lived
in the flesh in moral obligation to obey the commandments in order to be
profitable to God. He thought he had received new life in Christ to enable him
the more effectively to fulfil the commandment. He thought that Christianity
was a divine means to improve what is of nature, the flesh.
This understanding of his new spiritual
position in Christ was false. This
was the sin which deceived him through the commandment. Through it sin slew
him. Paul was deceived because at that time he could not distinguish aright
between good and evil. This spiritual failure, concerning the true
significance of Christianity, slew him. The search after natural good as a
means of responding to the work of God by one who has new life, is spiritual
evil. It was this sort of response that killed him spiritually, rendering
him dead as to the realisation of God's calling. Paul lost a conflict in
which he ought never to have been engaged.
Verse 12
"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good."
That which
God had declared to be the standards by which man is acceptable and profitable
to Him is holy. It is of God as to its origin and in its nature. The
commandment is the law insofar as it puts obligations upon men who receive it.
This is the commandment which gave the sin in Paul the opportunity to deceive
and slay him. It exposed his inward deficiencies as to the things which God
has entrusted to man. So the commandment is still found by Paul to be holy,
even if it manifested his unholiness. Paul was still at fault spiritually. The
new life in him did not manifest any imperfections in that which God
had given to Israel. God's new dealings with man magnified the law in Paul's
sight. So also the Lord Jesus told the Jews that, by His teaching, He had not
come to destroy the law but to fulfil it.
The commandment is also described as just.
The standard demanded by it for man in the presence and service of God, was
righteous. No conduct short of this would suffice for God and for man's
profitability to God. It is good. It is so in an ultimate, eternal rather than
a relative, natural, sense. It defined that which God considered good. It was
not merely the standard of good which should prevail between man and man. Paul
saw it to be holy, just and good godwardly, and in it the fundamental dilemma
for man.
Verse 13
"Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But
sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that
sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful."
At this point in his spiritual experience and development Paul began to
look at the position godwardly. As a result, spiritual insight began.
Previously he had been slain by the sin through the commandment. The
commandment was the occasion and the sin the cause of his defeat. He now
realised that it was not due to that which is good. Rather it was due to the
sin in him, which caused him to have an evil appreciation of the good. Paul,
representatively, had to be slain before he could come to appreciate the true
significance of the law.
Paul had been deliberately and purposefully
slain. This was wrought by the enemy which stood between him and the realising of the purpose for which God had called him.
It was necessary
for him to go through this experience, as also it is for us. By it we have
the Word of God which sets forth the way in which we also can produce fruit
for God in the new system. He was not slain by that which is good but by the
sin, that it might be shown to be sin. The sin is the fundamental
spiritual error which he had made in relation to the new life and to the law
as it is now to be understood and obeyed. Sin is to miss the mark. Paul had
missed the whole point of God's new dealings with him in giving him life apart
from the law. This error was exposed to be the nature of his sin in
Christianity. It renders all who come under its influence purposeless so far
as the present gifts and calling of God are concerned.
The result of this sort of sin was death.
It wrought death to him through that which is good. God had set at his
disposal the means by which he might have performed good. This is the new life
and the law which governs it. Paul responded in spiritual error and this
produced the defeat. Despite receiving new life in Christ he carried on as
before, in the power of a sinful nature in attempted obedience to the letter.
The sin caused him to use that which is good in an evil way godwardly.
The sin through the commandment became
exceedingly sinful. He brought the previous spiritual failure of his
naturalistic, moralistic response to God under law into the new spiritual
realm to which God had introduced him. The sin became exceedingly sinful in
that it was directed against the new life in him and the purpose for which God
had given it to him. This was wrought as a result of the commandment and
Paul's carnal appreciation of it. At that time he had not appreciated the
truth which he reveals in verse 6.
Verse 14
"For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin."
We know, we have inward knowledge, that the law is spiritual. At this
point Paul is speaking about what is known to be true basically by those who
have embraced the christian system. This knowledge, that the law is spiritual
and not natural, would be both a revelation and revolutionary to the Jew in
his religion. As a Pharisee Paul interpreted the law literally and applied it
to the only sort of human life of which he was aware, i.e. to ordinary human
nature in the present world. However, his task was now to realise the
significance of the spiritual nature of the law which this new knowledge can
give.
"But I am carnal". We must be careful how
we understand this. Though Paul says that he is carnal, it should be
understood that he is referring to that time in his spiritual development when
he had not learned to distinguish between good and evil spiritually. He
certainly was not carnal at the time when he wrote this epistle. He was then
the most spiritual of men. He declared to the Corinthians that they were yet
carnal in their response to God when there were divisions amongst them. To
be carnal is to respond to God as if we were still alive to God in the flesh,
involved in natural things and issues in our service to divine purpose.
To be carnally minded in our orientation to God in Christianity is to be dead
to eternal purpose.
In that unspiritual state of carnality
toward the God who had renamed him, Paul was sold under sin. He still served
the old master and wrought that which was spiritually evil in such service.
His redemption from sin was merely true judicially and not functionally. He
was not in the present enjoyment of eternal life and did not act in
power in the things of God, despite the accomplished work of God for him and
in him. He remained sold under the sin despite being alive toward God, apart
from the law, by faith. Thus it is still possible for one who has received the
free gift of God's grace to continue to be sold under sin in his thoughts and
activities. A fleshly response to God, puritanism, is a death-producing way of
life.
Verse 15
"For that which I do I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I
hate, that do I."
That
it is purposeless for a christian to put himself under the law is demonstrated
by the result. There is conflict between two mutually opposed natures and known
evil is produced. The flesh necessarily overcomes spiritual good when a
carnal, albeit devout, believer seeks to perform ultimate good by conscious
fleshly effort. The knowledge which "I" have gained by experience in the new
life, the spiritual desires produced by it, the hatred of sin resulting from
its activity, are contradicted by the results which work themselves out from
submitting "myself" to the law in such a carnal way. What I work out, what I
will, and what I hate, set forth the spiritual objectives known to be
desirable by Paul.
In this carnal state he desired carnal good
and desired to avoid carnal, naturalistic evil. What he actually worked out by
his devoted fleshly efforts he did not approve of. He knew it not to be good.
These carnal actions, when he came to scrutinise them in his newly acquired
christian knowledge, were rejected as imperfect. Sin obviously still acted in
him and this was a contradiction of the known fact that he was alive in
Christ, in a nature which does not sin. That which he then willed in practice
he did not practise. He willed for fleshly holiness still, just as he had done
in the Judaism which he previously practised. He sought to glorify the God who
had given him new life by being in practice a perfect specimen of humanity
after the flesh, good which men could judge as good. Yet he knew that he
remained, before God, a man who did not practise absolute good.
This is
an unattainable ideal, not the ideal set before the people of God, either
under law or grace.
That which Paul hated in his carnal state
and carnal response to God, would be that which a fleshly minded believer
considers evil, i.e. moral evil. After doing his best at this level Paul had,
in the end, to confess that he did what he hated. He still coveted as all men
covet. This puritanical brand of Christianity does not make men utterly
selfless.
Verse 16
"If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good."
The outcome and inescapable conclusion of that way of responding to God -
still having the mind of Adam toward God - was that the carnal Paul did what
he willed not to do. He was governed by his own will, by ordinary humanity's
conception of good and evil. His ideals and objectives were as yet spiritually
evil, no matter how naturally good they were. He discovered that he was
seeking after an illusion.
Thereby he consented unto the law that it
is good. The experience derived from this form of response to God gave him
fresh insight regarding the law. He sought to live by the letter of the law
morally and found this to be impossible. He came to realise that this was the
result which the giving of the letter of the law to man was intended to
produce. The letter presents and demands absolute naturalistic good,
unattainable in and by the flesh.
Verse 17
"Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
Then another conclusion came to him when he considered the end of that way of
life. This is a positive spiritual conclusion. It forms the only true basis
upon which a believer can live a life of profitable service to God in the christian system.
The law is good because it proscribes the
actions of the flesh and condemns a carnal believer's obsession with the old
nature. To put onself under the law is to show how incorrigibly evil one is.
This demonstration of increasing evil proved to Paul that it was sin that was
active under the law and not the new nature. Paul came to know that this
nature which then acted was not the real "I". He then learned to distinguish
between the real "I", that is Christ in him, and sin still dwelling in him.
It is no more I who work it out but sin
which dwells in me. Paul presents this monumental conclusion, which is to be
accepted by faith, not by feelings based on natural, fleshly, worldly
experience. Paul is not speaking of an organised and a disorganised self.
The flesh is all that a man is naturally, not merely that which men regard as
being base, morally and socially. The true self is not the finer
parts of a man but the new life which is the Christ-life in a believer.
There are two natures in a believer. One is spiritually dead and still goes on
failing naturally and morally. This is not "I" but sin that dwells in me.
This
nature, which we must reckon to be dead no matter how much it is active in
secular life, works out a form of good which is not the good for which God
saved and called us. Natural sin still dwells in us but it is not "us".
There is no struggle between the two natures when the true christian position
is known. The working of spiritual purposelessness in our old selves can
then be accepted and dismissed as being resident sin for which we are not
spiritually responsible. We do of course remain morally and socially
responsible for evil conduct toward mankind. This however is not the realm of christian life and service.
Verse 18
"For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to
will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."
Paul has dealt
with the state of affairs which he experienced when, after becoming alive in
Christ, he put himself back under the law in order to be profitable to God.
Now he deals with the state that he found when he still failed to appreciate
that the flesh is dead in normal christian experience and practice.
Here he is concerned with good and evil. He first conceived of this in a
fleshly way and then came to see what ultimate good is and how it is to
be worked out. He presents the case of a believer still struggling with the
flesh and its evil in order to perfect good in it.
He had the inward knowledge that in
himself there dwelt no good thing. That was when he still regarded himself
as being alive in the flesh toward God. Sin dwelt in him in that form of life,
as previously stated. Further, no ultimate good dwelt in him in his ordinary
natural life as a man in this world. The lack of good was first lack of
ultimate natural good and then the knowledge of his lack of spiritual
good and the means of good in this natural form of life. His
previous experience had caused him now to act by true christian insight and no
longer by the will of the flesh. In this knowledge he had learned that no
good thing dwelt in his natural self.
The only good thing which he then saw was
the natural good which he willed to perform but could not. As yet he did not
know how God had dealt with his flesh and he still sought to deal with it
himself. Such a believer feels the strong desire in him that he ought to do
good as a result of the work of God in him and for him. But how to work out
that which is good he had not yet discovered. The only power which he knew
was the conscious effort of 'no-good' flesh to effect the desires of this new
life in him.
Verse 19
"For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I
do."
The power to develop the character of God and do the work of God, THE GOOD, is
what is desired. It is not generated while the evil, the continued presence of
sin which the carnal man desires to suppress as a response to God, remains
active as the impelling power. Paul was involved in the conflict between good
and evil but to be under either the law, or to act by the flesh, would not
give the victory. This did not resolve the conflict for him in favour of good
and repression of evil in present experience. The sort of good that I will, I
do not. He willed that natural good should result from his carnal
response to having received eternal salvation.
The evil that he willed not was the moral
evil defined by the letter of the law. Thou shalt not covet. This was still
understood literally and naturally. In that response he did evil and served
the cause of anti-purpose in his activities in sinful flesh. He still
practised that which he knew to be evil, despite his apparently good desires
after holiness and his utmost fleshly efforts.
Verse 20
"Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me."
Neither by the law, nor by a believer's own
efforts and struggles with sin, is deliverance to be found from present
natural evil. Paul here presents himself as doing what he willed not to do. He
still found himself to be a servant of sin. His fleshly power and spiritual
will were both active, albeit in conflict. The flesh lusts against the spirit.
At this stage in his spiritual development Paul found himself trying to
reconcile the two, now knowing that the flesh cannot and will not subject
itself to the spirit.
Paul then progressed to realise and accept
that this was according to the present outworking of the will of God. If he
did what he did not want to do, it was no longer his true self, "I", who
worked out this effect. He came to view things from God's standpoint by the
intelligence of faith after he had acted in the flesh and been let down. He
reaches the same conclusion he had already expressed in verse 17. It is so
astounding and so essential to spiritual progress that it is repeated for
emphasis. He is not spiritually responsible for the activity of indwelling
sin. A believer is held spiritually responsible for understanding how he
can serve God's eternal purpose. We must come to understand the christian
system if we are to bring forth fruit to God. Chapter 7 must be interpreted
aright before we can understand chapter 8.
Verse 21
"I find then a law that, when I would do good, evil is present with me."
In the rest of the
chapter Paul sums up the conclusions he reached under the hand of God in his
spiritual development out of carnal thinking and acting toward God. By his
experience he found that he was governed by an unalterable law. This is the
general principle that when he would do the good then evil was present with
him. This is a law to him who would practise the good set before him in the christian system. It is not the experience of a sinner doing that which
natural conscience and reason tell him is no good. It is a saint found willing
to practise the supreme, ultimate, eternal good for which God has called and
gifted him.
Here it is the good and not good as
in verse 19. The word for good is also different. It would appear that when
Paul used the word agathos for good he had naturalistic good in mind.
When he uses the word kalos he is speaking in terms of spiritual,
eternal good, the right response to God. In verse 19 Paul says that he willed
to practise good. He had already learned that to live under the law and serve
by the flesh was not the good which God desired from those to whom He had
given new life.
The law which he then found to operate was
that, in this state of true spiritual awareness, the evil was present with
him. It is not natural evil in him but the fact that spiritual evil still
remains with him even if he is willing to do the good. There is a conflict but
it is of a spiritual rather than of a moral or natural character. He found it
to be the governing rule that he was to perform ultimate good in the presence
of the power of evil which God intentionally did not remove. The power of
anti-purpose acts in the present time in a world in which God has also called
and gifted a people to serve His eternal purpose. Paul retained a nature which
was susceptible to its power but acted toward God in a nature which was not.
Verse 22
"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man."
Paul then found another law which he calls
the law of God. For His purpose, God has given him a nature which delights in
this law. These are the two positive, essential features which characterise
our way of response to God in Christianity. Paul then sets forth the means by
which we are to perform eternal good, before he shows how we are to avoid
spiritual evil. It is a question of being aware of all the laws which are
involved. The law of God is the rule of eternal truth, not that of the letter.
The letter kills but the spirit contained in it gives life. Paul at this stage
realised that he no longer lived under the letter in the flesh toward God. The
commandment was not to be interpreted literally nor applied to the flesh if
effective service was to be rendered to God.
Paul now delighted in the truth which his
new life, and the insight resulting from his experience, had opened up to him.
The Word of God and the new nature are the two crucial things for those who
are called by God to further His eternal purpose in their present service.
The
inward man is this new life which he had received, which had been developed
spiritually, and in whose power he now responded to God. He delighted in the
law of God after the inward man and no longer in the letter after the flesh.
Verse 23
"But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."
Paul proceeds now to reveal another,
different law still at work in him in his members. As before, the members set
forth those powers which express the nature within us, whether old or new.
Here it is our natural powers which express what we are as human beings in the
world, in the flesh. A certain law governed Paul's fleshly nature and its
works, which warred against the law of his mind. This law of his mind is that
of his spiritual mind, the mind of the Spirit in him. The flesh lusts against
the Spirit ……. and these are contrary to one another ……. (Gal.5:17). By a law
which remained irrevocable there was a conflict in Paul's experience. He
perceived it to be warring against the law of his mind. He sought to effect
natural good in the flesh but was not able. He sought eternal good as a result
of the law of God operating in his mind.
So long as Paul sought to equate the
conflicting demands of these mutually opposing laws and natures, he was
brought into captivity. At this stage in his spiritual development he saw
that he lived before God in the possession and power of the new life only.
He also realised that he was governed by the law of sin in his secular life in
the world. He sought to use his spiritual powers to break this law. In so
doing he was once again brought into bondage. The law of sin which was in
his members remained so strong in its control over him that he could not break
it with the power of the new life and godliness which he possessed. What
we become spiritually by divine activity and spiritual experience does not
free us from the presence and power of indwelling sin. To engage in a
profitless, impossible task is the bondage of a life freed by God and
spiritual maturity to engage in work of spiritual significance and profit.
Verse 24
"O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?"
This sets
forth Paul's emotions arising from him seeking to put to death the deeds of
the flesh by acquired spiritual ability. Instead of devoting this wholly to
the things of God he had also sought to straighten out his naturally crooked
self. He found himself then to be more wretched than ever. He had used all his
resources in vain, merely to be captivated by the sin, the spiritual failure
which necessarily characterises fleshly existence.
Who will deliver me out of the body of this
death? Paul now looks for deliverance from another, having perceived that God
had not given him the means to deliver himself from the warfare in which he
had wrongly involved himself. Total deliverance lies in the future. His
present life in bodily form exposes him to the activity of a power of evil
from which he cannot deliver himself. He must await divine intervention in the
form of the return of the Lord Jesus, being raised into life in a glorified
body which, like that of his Lord, is not susceptible to the law of sin and
death. Present life in the flesh necessarily involves our being governed by
the operation of the law of sin at a fleshly level. We live and act still as
men in the world beset with fleshly weakness, despite the operation of the
grace of God in us spiritually in the inward man. Meanwhile, we can still
serve divine purpose despite the body of this death. Now is the time
characterised for us at a worldly, fleshly level as being alive in a body of
humiliation governed by the law of sin.
Verse 25
"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I
myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
Wretched in powerless flesh, Paul was nevertheless able to thank God.
He raises his thoughts now to the spiritual realm in which he already lived
and enjoyed the fruits of God's victory in Christ. God has delivered us
spiritually to live and act toward Him in the new life. He will
deliver
us totally from the law of sin just as He has already delivered
our Lord Jesus from the life in which He had to do with sin unto a life in
which He now lives wholly and solely toward God. Present spiritual delivery
from the law of sin and unnecessary, unproductive conflict with it comes from
owning the Lordship of Christ. He is the only Lord we serve as to the
realising of
eternal purpose. For the furtherance of divine purpose we live and serve
through our Lord Jesus in the spiritual realm in which He lives and acts in
absolute spiritual supremacy.
Paul had arrived at a state and feeling of
hopelessness by assuming this sub-christian place and service. Yet as a
result, he arrived at a crucial spiritual conclusion on behalf of us all.
With the mind he (I myself, the true I) served a law of God. He had acquired a
spiritual mind by which he could rightly appraise the things of God. He served
God in the spiritual power of the new nature. But with the flesh he served a
law of sin. This is a most unpalatable conclusion for a carnal believer. He
desires to be freed from the law of sin by devoted fleshly willpower, even
seeking to escape such service by the exercise of the new nature and its
desires. But this is a corruption of true, eternal good. There was in
Paul's ultimate experience a realised division between the two natures.
He
had his senses exercised to distinguish between good and evil. The new man and
his powers were devoted to obedience to the law of God. The flesh remained
subservient to a law of sin. Paul thus began to serve on the basis of this
knowledge. He was thus no longer embarrassed by, nor was he obsessed with, a
fleshly nature in his response to God. Thus he would press on to perfect
service to divine purpose in unhindered fashion, aside from man's natural
desires and ideals.
CHAPTER 8
Verse 1
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
It is now true, from the spiritual standpoint, that there is nothing to
condemn in those who are in Christ Jesus. The true response of a believer
to God is based upon such knowledge. Now everything depends upon the work
of Christ for the position into which His work sets the believer before God.
God sees nothing to condemn in us. Paul is now presenting the positive
spiritual conclusion which he had arrived at from his experience as set forth
in chapter 7. This is the present answer which he found to his cry for
deliverance. It is applicable to all who are in Christ Jesus.
The law of sin operates in our members. We
have the body of this death at a natural level. This is true humanity as to
our present experience in secular life. It is, however, not true spiritually. In
God's sight there is nothing to condemn us. We are alive in Christ in a
spiritually perfect life. So also we must see ourselves; as God sees us, if we
are to be profitable to divine purpose. We are in Christ Jesus, alive in this
Man who has already entered into glory.
The latter half of the verse in the
Authorised Version is excluded in later translations as it has no reliable
basis.
Verse 2
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the
law of sin and death."
In this spiritual position a new law
operates. Paul describes it as the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ
Jesus. In fact two laws are described in the first three verses:
a.
The law of the Spirit of the new life
b.
The law of the sin and the death, the law given by Moses literally
interpreted.
For spiritual progress, it is crucial to
realise and accept how these laws operate in the present stage of the
outworking of divine purpose. The primary law is that of the Spirit of the new
life. This is the law of God as in the previous chapter. It is the law which
characterises our present service and governs the new life which Paul realised
he possessed in Christ Jesus.
This chapter is particularly concerned with
presenting the Holy Spirit and His present work by which divine purpose is now
being realised. First, the Spirit produces new life in us. It is in this
life alone that we live toward God for the sake of His eternal purpose.
The Holy Spirit has for this become the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus. He
works in us according to this new law which makes us free from the law of sin.
The Holy Spirit governed the life and work of the Lord Jesus in His life in
the flesh, as in chapter 1:4. He was God in flesh and yet acted spiritually in
the work He did under the governing influence of the Holy Spirit. We now
possess His life and are governed by it by the law of the Spirit also.
Paul came to realise that this divine law
freed him spiritually from life and service toward God in the flesh. He
possessed and served God in a life which comprehended revealed, eternal truth
by the Holy Spirit. Thereby he came to understand the law spiritually, for
the law is spiritual and not natural in its interpretation. He
comprehended the law godwardly and not manwardly. This freed Paul from the law
of the sin and the death. Previously he had served God in the flesh,
interpreting the law literally and in a naturalistic way, applying it to
secular life and its works in the present world. Such life and service was
spiritual failure and resulted in spiritual death. Divine purpose is not
furthered by fleshly obedience to the letter. The new man in Christ is
freed from such an interpretation of the law to serve in Spirit and in Truth.
Verse 3
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh."
What
the law, as Paul previously understood and interpreted it, could not do, God
has done in Christ. The letter of the law was given to man in the flesh. This
could not result in the outworking of divine purpose by natural power, no
matter how devoted this became to the law conceived of as a fleshly ethic. The
law was weak through the flesh. First that which is natural and afterward that
which is spiritual, as in 1 Cor.15:46. The law of God was given to man in the
flesh in the form of the letter. This did not by itself result in the coming
of spiritual, eternal perfection. Ordinary human nature is weak in relation to
ultimate eternal issues. The giving of the law to man in the flesh was
intended by God to manifest this weakness. Yet it was also intended to lead to
something better and more positive.
This was accomplished by God sending His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. The letter of the law was really
given to man so that Christ might come to obey and perfect it in the flesh. In
the christian system we look back upon the fact that God sent His Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh. The Christ whom we own and obey was the Son of God
sent by the Father into nature, into a form of the fleshly humanity which had
received the letter of the law. He was sent in the likeness of sinful
flesh and not in sinful flesh. He partook of human nature, sin apart.
He subjected Himself at His coming to the limitations associated with being
alive in the world in human likeness. He identified Himself, at the behest of
the Father, with the humanity which had received the law and was found in
spiritual failure in relation to it. Thereby He was responsible for perfecting
the purpose for which God had given the law to man. In the case of Adam's seed
it had been the law of sin and death.
God has performed the eternal purpose for
which He gave the law by the life and service of the Christ in the days of His
flesh and by His dying in the flesh as a sacrifice for sin. He lived a life of
holiness under the law and so justified and glorified God for giving the law
to man. His life in flesh is a condemnation of sinful flesh. His perfection in
flesh qualified Him to be the sacrifice of God for man in spiritual failure.
He did not merely come to exemplify the perfections made possible by the
giving of the law in an exemplary way. He died to the fleshly life in which He
was uniquely spiritually perfect and did so for sin.
God has condemned the sin in the flesh.
The sin in the flesh is the failure of man to effect the eternal purpose
for which God gave the law. The success of Christ under the law is God's
condemnation of the sinful nature of every other man. Yet this work of Christ
was for sin rather than for the sin. God has dealt with man's sinful
nature by sending His Son.
Verse 4
"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
By living in this life and being governed by the law of
the Spirit, the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled (aorist) in us
rather than by us. Everything in Christianity is characterised by these two
basic spiritual facts. We live in a new nature in which we know the law to be
spiritual and the things of God to be spiritually discerned. By nature, the
new nature, and in divine power, that of the Spirit, we live in the very life
which in Christ did the work required by the law of Moses. We are delivered by
God through the work of His Son, which is made effective in us by the Spirit.
This is the basic condition and position from which the eternal power of God
operates in us by the gospel. We have been set there by the operation of the
three Persons of the Godhead. By divine work there is in us a nature which
fulfils that which the law requires. The fulfilment is an accomplished act
rather than a continuous process. It is what God has done in us and not, first
of all, what we do for God. We must understand this basic situation if we are
henceforth to be eternally purposeful to God.
Paul then characterises us, including
himself, as being those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. The
Spirit has acted to free us. Then, ideally, He continues to act to lead us. In
this position we enjoy - and from which we should proceed to serve God's
eternal purpose - a negative and positive way of acting is presented to us.
The issue is how the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus in us
continues to operate to make us walk before God in eternal service. A believer
may be either carnal or spiritual in his subsequent response to God after
having been brought into a condition and position of 'no condemnation' in
Christ.
If we walk after the flesh as a way of
responding to God we will not be walking in the nature by which the righteous
requirements of the law are fulfilled in us. The flesh in Scripture means
ordinary human nature. If we walk according to the letter of the law as if we
still lived toward God in flesh, we shall fail spiritually.
Verse 5
"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they
that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit."
Paul uses the word 'for' frequently in this chapter, setting forth the
implications of the christian position. "They that are after the flesh" presents
believers in the carnal state which Paul had described in chapter 7:14. A
believer is not 'in' the flesh but may walk 'after' it. The spiritual
character and activity of those who are after the flesh is that they
mind the things of the flesh. This is a believer who interprets the law
literally and applies it to secular life in the world. The letter is natural
but the eternal truth which it contains is spiritual. Those who respond to God
in natural things and issues have their mind upon the flesh. In divine service
they are obsessed with it.
They that are after the Spirit are those
who have understood that to God they are alive in the new life produced by the
Spirit in them. They respond to God accordingly. The Holy Spirit has things
which He presents to us in the new spiritual realm. Those who are after the
Spirit live and act godwardly entirely in a life which is capable of
appreciating the things of the Spirit. This is the truth in its inward parts.
The law is really the rule which governs the new life and its service to God.
It is our true function and service to God in Christianity to mind the things
of the Spirit. In our day we have a completed revelation of God, Genesis to
Revelation, with which to be occupied in purposeful response to a God who has
become the God of full revelation for the realising of His eternal purpose.
Thereby the righteous requirements of the law, spiritually apprehended, are
fulfilled in us.
Verse 6
"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace."
The mind of the flesh is death. The mind of ordinary human nature is capable
of seeing no further than the letter, that which is natural. This is spiritual
death. It produces spiritually fruitless service to God's eternal purpose in
those who act in its power. We have been freed by the law of the Spirit in
God's sight and to faith's reckoning. Spiritual failure is still possible on
the part of believers however. Acting toward God by the mind of the flesh will
produce this.
But the mind of the Spirit is life and
peace. Life of the Holy Spirit is in us so that His mind may operate in us
concerning the things which are of God. We will develop divine intelligence if
we realise and accept the position into which the completed work of God has
brought us. Then the continuing work of the Spirit will act unhinderedly in
us. Consequently we acquire a mind which is capable of apprehending the things
of God. This is accomplished in a realm of spiritual life and peace. This is
the inheritance of the saints in light. We live in the realm in which God
Himself lives and acts. The Lord Jesus revealed that the Spirit would take of
the things which are His and reveal them to us. In possessing the mind of the
Spirit we have a divine outlook upon the eternal things of God in the new
creation. As a result we now enjoy all the peace and prosperity which God has
secured for us by the work of Christ. "My peace I give unto you".
Verse 7
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be."
Paul now again speaks in terms of conflict. The mind of the flesh is
enmity against God. The mind which regards only natural things militates
against the eternal purpose for which God's work in us and for us would have
us act. The enemy which we are to guard against is the fleshly power in us
which concerns itself only with worldly things. In our secular lives we
live by the mind of the flesh. If we introduce this power into the
spiritual realm we are introducing an enemy. We would thwart the realising
of the purpose of God whereunto we are called and gifted. By understanding the
Word of God merely literally, in a way which men call critically, we are
acting in a power which God has condemned, the sin of the flesh.
This mind is not subject to the law of God.
The law of God is that which is spoken of in chapter 7:22. The law is
spiritual and not natural. The mind of the flesh is not subject to that which
is spiritual, eternal. Two deadly dangers present themselves to the people of
God in the present day. First there is that which is called higher criticism.
By it men regard the Word of God as merely the work of human genius. To such,
spiritual things are merely human issues and values - natural goodness, truth
and love. The other danger is that of Phariseeism or Puritanism. In this men
apply eternal truth to secular life and activity in the present world. This
form of responding to God is a denial of the fact that the mind of the flesh
cannot be subject to the law of God. It must be accepted as a basis upon which
true, spiritual response to God can be produced in us. The mind of the flesh
is incorrigibly evil spiritually.
Verse 8
"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
They that are in the flesh are not christians. They do not live
by faith, not having the new nature. It is impossible for natural man to
please God by means of the law or by means of Christianity as they understand
it. God can have no pleasure - despite His completed work for men in their
spiritual condemnation - in their life in the flesh, no matter how good their
actions. The pleasure of the Lord cannot prosper in their hands. They cannot
serve eternal purpose by the natural good of a devoted, religious, fleshly
life.
Verse 9
"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of His."
But ye are not in the flesh. This is the supreme spiritual fact
which all believers should realise. Only from such a realisation can effective
service result. A believer is not alive in the flesh toward God. And he
must not respond as if he were. We have no power in us by nature to further
His eternal purpose, even if we subject our natural powers to the rule of the
letter.
In spiritual reality we are in the Spirit.
Not only is the Spirit in us but we are also in the Spirit. We are in the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit, which has been formed on earth as a
result of the completed and eternally effective work of God. We are alive in
Deity in the realm in which Divine Persons live and act for the realising of the
promise. We live by the Holy Spirit in present possession of eternal life.
Ideally, we also enjoy this life in the present time in the Spirit. The Spirit
continuing to dwell in us is the characteristic feature which leads us to
spiritual maturity. He is now described as "Spirit of God" to emphasise His
Deity, His Person, not only His work.
Then He is described as "Spirit of Christ".
Christ still lives and acts in the world by His Spirit whom He sent forth. The
work which He initiated in His life in flesh is thereby being completed. Here
it is a question of being Christ's or not being His. This is determined by men
having or not having the Spirit. The Spirit has been sent forth to form a
people who are Christ's for the realising of divine purpose. If any have not
the Spirit of Christ they do not belong to Him. Such an order of humanity has
not received the eternal virtue resulting from the giving of the Holy Spirit.
They are spiritually purposeless in their life and work.
Verse 10
"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is
life because of righteousness."
The next stage in this spiritual
progression being presented by Paul is that Christ is in us by this divine
operation on the part of His Spirit. In verse 1 we are presented as being in
Christ. We are in Him before God and hence not in condemnation. Christ is in
us while we are still in the world as to the outworking of divine purpose.
Divine life is present and active in us even while we remain in natural
weakness on earth. The Christ, who completed the work of redemption in His
life in the flesh, continues to live and act for the realising of the eternal
purpose for which He performed that saving deed. He does so by His Spirit in
us.
If Christ is in us then, ipso facto;
a.
The body is dead because of sin, and
b.
The Spirit is life because of righteousness.
The body is the body of sin and death as in
the previous chapter. The sin is the sinful nature which enslaves our life in
the flesh. In the previous chapter Paul had seen this as the enemy which
prevented him attaining to perfection in the flesh. In chapter 7 he presents
it as the body of this death. Now Paul had arrived at a spiritual state in
which he saw it to be a dead body. The presence of Christ in us is spiritually
incompatible with deadness toward God and His eternal purpose. Our present
fleshly limitations are no spiritual obstacle once we perceive the spiritual
facts of life. By the Spirit of the life of Christ Jesus in us, the body is
dead. This is a basic doctrinal fact of the gospel. It is not a result which
we must strive to accomplish, as Paul had done in his carnal days.
The Spirit is life because of
righteousness. Righteousness, in contrast to sin and deadness, is
characteristic of the new nature. God is righteous in giving us His life
because of the saving work of Christ for us. Paul is now concerned with
the work of God in us. Righteousness resides in us in the Person of the
Spirit. We are the righteousness of God in Him. This is our true and only
life in the new creation into which we have been introduced.
Verse 11
"But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by
His Spirit that dwelleth in you."
The certainty of ultimate resurrection because of the operation in
us of the power which raised Christ, is then presented by Paul. The Holy
Spirit is now characterised as being the Spirit of Him, that is of God, who
raised up Jesus from among the dead. 'Jesus' presents the Son of God as a man
who lived and acted in humanity on earth. He assumed a natural form upon which
the Spirit of God could act in His eternal power to accomplish God's eternal
designs in nature. He died as to His natural humanity so that in that state of
natural deadness God could act upon Him in the fulness of His power and
wisdom. Thus God has displayed, by the work of the Holy Spirit in a dead
Jesus, that He has the power to accomplish eternal purpose. The great present
practical effect for us is that this same Power already dwells in us. As
yet He does not act in us at a natural level. The present work of God in us
for divine purpose is spiritual, in the inner man in newness of life. This
power shall continue to dwell until the time arrives when the purpose for
which God is forming a people has been completed.
Then He will act upon us naturally also.
God will use the same power by which He raised the Christ from among the dead
upon our mortal bodies also. Now it is the Christ rather than Jesus. The
Christ is the One whom God anointed by giving Him a resurrection body to be
the firstborn of many brethren for His eternal purpose. The Spirit shall
quicken - give life to - our mortal bodies. The natural form in which this new
divine life exists and acts shall then also be transfigured to live in glory.
That which is now necessarily mortal for the outworking of divine purpose
shall then be swallowed up in life. In that day, as in the experience of the
Christ when He had completed the work entrusted to Him in the flesh, we shall
be made alive physically also out of present mortality. In this verse also,
all the Persons of the Godhead are presented by Paul as being at work. In
verse 2 and 3 this was so for us. Here it is the completion of God's
eternal work in us. Paul presents the Son, the Spirit and the Father
acting upon the soul, spirit and body of the believer. This has to do with the
past, present and future implications of salvation.
Verse 12
"Therefore brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the
flesh."
Paul now presents the spiritual obligations
incumbent upon us, seeing these things are so. Therefore, brethren we are
debtors. The debt is toward God but it is not to be met by the flesh and its
powers. The Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit have not acted for us and in
us to make us debtors to the flesh. We are not dependent upon that which we
are by nature for the service which we are to render toward such a God. We
have been made brethren spiritually but not so as to live toward God after the
wisdom and power of the old nature.
Verse 13
"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
If ye live thus ye shall die. Paul now changes the pronoun to assert
that he no longer lived toward God as he did in his carnal, spiritually
immature days. Again, the living of which the spiritual man thinks is that of
the new life in us. Paul thus calls upon believers to realise that in this
form of life alone they live toward God for His eternal purpose. If
otherwise, they are alive in a life in which they are about to die. It is
temporal and hence not of eternal significance toward God and the present
outworking of His purpose. A response to God in that nature merely represents
a waste of divine provision. It renders His accomplished work vain and
fruitless in the present time.
Paul then shows how we are profitably to
use the divine power given to us. First of all this has to be used against the
flesh. However, no more than Paul can we put to death the deeds of the
flesh in a natural sense by our own devoted efforts. We can now, as Paul
discovered, put these deeds to death in a spiritual sense by the Spirit.
We do this by our present response to God. The Spirit in us gives us spiritual
intelligence to realise the spiritual position into which the work
of God has brought us. By Him we thereby mortify the deeds. The
theologians tell us this verse means that, by divine power, we are to put to
death all the base pursuits of the body in a literal, puritanical sense. This
is a naturalistic, carnal interpretation of our debt to God and of the way in
which we are to discharge it. It is obviously a natural impossibility
anyway, as Paul would testify.
If by the Spirit we come to apprehend our
spiritual situation aright and act accordingly, we shall live. We shall live
toward God in true discharge of our debt in a life which is eternal and which
can be of significance to divine purpose. As Christ acted by the Holy Spirit
in the days of His flesh, so we are called upon to live by the same Spirit and
not according to the flesh in us. We are not in the flesh. Ideally the flesh
is not to act in us concerning things of the Spirit. We are not to
interpret that which is of the Spirit, the Word of God, literally nor
to apply it to secular life puritanically. Christianity is not a divine
means to improve human nature and hence the world. This is a
falsification of revealed truth. Practical holiness lies in the spiritual
growth of the inner man.
Verse 14
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
Having become our (new) life and having
developed Christ in us, the Spirit now leads us to realise our true
relationship with God as sons. He occupies us with heavenly things, with the
truth in its inward parts. He leads us in the paths of righteousness according
to His perfect knowledge of the will of God. He witnesses to our spirits. He
intercedes for us in His perfect power to prevail with God.
"As many as" - the numbers are limited or
defined by the response. The response to His leading is by the new man
originally formed in us by divine activity. This life He develops in power by
His leading. Consequently we live and act as sons of God. Sonship implies
spiritual maturity, progressing from a carnal response to God, from mere
childhood in divine things. He leads them to comprehend the Word of God
progressively. This is a true and eternally purposeful response to God's
calling. So also the Lord Jesus in the flesh grew in wisdom and stature before
man and God. Then He was led by the Spirit as to the service He rendered to
His God. The nature and character of His Sonship was then on display. The
Spirit is in us to form us anew, as children. He is in the world with us to
lead us on in spiritual life and service as sons of God.
Verse 15
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have
received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
To bring out the character of our present
salvation, and hence the true nature of our present service, Paul contrasts
the present spiritual situation with that which obtained under the law. We
received the Spirit unconditionally upon believing. This is the basic effect
produced in us by God for His eternal purpose. He is in us and with us on
earth. He will not be removed from us, as was possible in the case of Old
Testament saints, e.g. David (Psalm 51:11). We have not received Him as the
spirit of bondage, that of fleshly slavery to the letter of the law. The O.T.
saints were through fear of death subject to bondage throughout their lives.
Fear was a potent force in governing their life toward God. This was so until
the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. He then proceeded to complete the
divine revelation and thereby unveiled the spiritual mysteries which remained
until the perfect system of access to God on earth, the christian system, was
established. In this divine system we have received a Spirit of sonship. The
reception of the Spirit by us is not again to fear in these new conditions,
but unto spiritual liberty.
The Spirit is for us in the same way as
that in which He led the Lord Jesus as a man on earth. By His power and
leading He caused the obedient Christ to display on earth the reality of the
relationship which He occupied with the Father. He was declared Son of God in
power by the Spirit of holiness, chapter 1:4. We have received the Spirit of
sonship whereby we cry 'Abba, the Father'. The Lord Jesus chose to live, for
the sake of the realising of divine purpose, by the leading of the Spirit,
even though He was the Son of God in the flesh. Consequently He has left us an
example that we should follow after His steps. His example is of course
spiritual, not natural or moral. This dependence upon and obedience to the
Spirit is exemplified in the Garden of Gethsemane where He also cried "Abba,
Father". His intent was to glorify the Father by His service on earth. We cry
'Abba, Father' not as a slogan but in functional reality. We are led as sons
of God to serve the Father, God fully revealed, by the leading of the Spirit,
once we have acquired the necessary spiritual maturity.
Verse 16
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children
of God."
When we are led by the Spirit in obedience to the Father's will,
another aspect of His ministry takes place. He witnesses with our spirit.
Now
also, we enjoy the communion which exists between divine Persons. This is
extended to us by the Spirit. We have, by the work of the Spirit, the
communication of present blessing. God has produced in us a new spirit which
is capable of appreciating the witness of the Holy Spirit. This is in contrast
to man in creation and man under the law. Their failure was spiritual. The
present work of the Spirit obviates this failure. Our spiritual success comes
from His witness, i.e. He brings us into the sure knowledge that we are
already children of God. We are so by faith and the Spirit bears witness to us
that we have within us a spirit capable of appreciating revealed spiritual
realities.
Verse 17
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so
be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together."
We already have divine life and we know it
to be so. The divine life thus begotten in man will yet inherit its true place
in glory. Also, we are already heirs. In possession of this life we are,
during the present time, being prepared spiritually for this inheritance of
glory. We are heirs indeed of God. The just shall inherit the earth. This
righteousness which fits us for such an ultimate function is of God and not of
ourselves. God has produced in us a nature which is of the highest
significance concerning the establishing of righteousness universally in
creation. In this realm the present continuing work of the Spirit fits us for
future reference.
We are joint heirs with Christ. By the
effective work of the Spirit we see ourselves as having already been
associated with Christ concerning His coming kingdom. Already we live in the
Kingdom of God and of His Christ, spiritually. In the present time the Kingdom
of God is spiritual, in mystery. The Heir to the throne has already assumed
His place on that throne in heaven. We are joint heirs already with Him there,
being prepared for its coming display and effective universal rule on earth.
At this point in the spiritual development,
Paul introduces the subject of present sufferings. He has already shown that
the eternal work of God must prosper and how this is being accomplished in us.
The present time is the time of our spiritual growth unto spiritual
perfection. It is also a time of present suffering at a natural level. Though
we are children, sons and heirs, we are so in a life in the world in which we
are subject to natural limitations. Because we now enjoy divine life in
natural existence and imperfection, a spiritual opportunity of the highest
magnitude is given to us. Now we are the sons of God in preparation. In the
future we shall be sons of God in manifestation.
If indeed we suffer together (present
tense) that also we be glorified together (aorist). The sufferings of Christ
in this context are the sufferings which were associated with His being alive
once in the world in the flesh, made subject to the limitations of a natural
body. While he became spiritually perfect for God's eternal purpose and was
led by the Spirit, He lived in a body in which he hungered, thirsted, groaned
and suffered physically, as upon the cross. He was crucified in weakness.
Christ lived in such natural sufferings so that He might be the author and
perfecter of the faith which we follow. We suffer with Him at
this
level, and not of course for sin. The 'togetherness' of sufferings is not
in time, for His sufferings in the flesh are over. It is in likeness. We serve
God spiritually in the new man despite present natural limitations. His deity
was clothed, or veiled, in humanity. We live and act in the likeness also. In
our case of course, divine life is conferred by divine righteousness. He was
the only begotten Son. He did not become a Son as we do. He became a Man to
pioneer a path for us, in human weakness and in divine power.
Christ, by His life and completed work in
flesh, has already opened up for us a sure path to glory. It is not that we
may or may not be glorified. The aorist tense presents the fact that we
shall be glorified together. The present time of suffering together is a
divine means to ensure this end. He has left us an example that we should
follow after His steps. He lived in eternal Sonship in flesh, in a form in
which He suffered. Thereby He entered into His glories, the glories which He
acquired, rather than His inherited glories.
Verse 18
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
Paul then declares how he had come to reckon himself as he
viewed this present stage of the outworkings of God's eternal purpose. He had
acquired the spiritual ability to regard the present in the light of the
future. Paul had to suffer greatly in the flesh in order that Christianity
might be established in the world. In human weakness he lived and acted for
divine purpose in an imperfect world. He was exposed to, rather than spared
from, suffering as a result. So also the church in Rome received the completed
Scriptures in human weakness in hostility. For the realising of His purpose in
us God does not confer upon us natural power and gifts by which we can
overcome present affliction. God is not intent upon modifying human suffering
by the means which He has chosen for the realising of His eternal purpose.
Yet Paul reckoned that present sufferings
are not worth comparing with the coming glory. God's end justifies the means
which He has chosen. Present sufferings continue while those who are called
are being prepared to ensure the coming of the reign of glory. God is
accomplishing that which is incomparably greater than merely removing present
sufferings. That which will be accomplished is the glory which is as yet
necessarily hidden from a world which is unprepared spiritually to regard the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Once we are fully prepared we shall
be glorified together with Christ. Then this glory shall be revealed to the
world in a way in which it shall benefit from the revelation.
Verse 19
"For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of
the sons of God."
The issues in which we are now involved are
the greatest in creation. By them the destiny of creation will be resolved.
The earnest expectation of the creation awaits the revelation of the sons of
God. The earnest expectation is that God will effect His purpose and promises
to bless all creation. Thereby He will finally bring it into the state for
which He originally created it.
This expectation of creation, that God will
establish conditions of eternal peace and prosperity in it, awaits the
revelation of the sons of God. This is the revelation of the glory into which
we shall already have been introduced. Glory is the keynote of this section.
Glory is the expression, or outshining of all the inward characters of the
divine nature. In glory God shines forth in His love, truth, majesty,
power, wisdom, holiness, righteousness, etc. Christ entered into the fulness
of this glory in His resurrected form. This body of the Lord Jesus, acquired
through death, was the first natural thing to enter into and bear that glory.
We shall be glorified with Him in due course, verse 17. Then will take place
the revelation of all that God has accomplished to ensure the establishing of
His ultimate intentions in creation. The sons of God, perfected in such
eternal glory, will be revealed to creation as the form in which divine glory
will be perceived, unto blessing.
Verse 20
"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of
him who hath subjected the same in hope."
Creation was made subject to vanity. It became purposeless in
itself. Paul then reveals how this was in the outworking of divine purpose.
God's natural handiwork was made subject to futility. Not a power was to be
found in it which could subject it to the divine design. Adam was called and
gifted to replenish and subdue the earth. The fact that it had to be
replenished declares that it had been already made waste and empty by
anti-purposeful powers. The fact that Adam had to subdue it shows that chaos
was already reigning. Yet God had not created it waste and void.
Nothing waste
and chaotic can come from the hand of God. Adam was called and gifted to act
at the level in which living-soul life exists. He was not to become involved
in the spiritual issues of good and evil which already existed in
creation. He had not in himself the innate power to resolve these issues. He
had not to partake of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam
by one act of disobedience involved himself in these issues he also became
subject to the vanity. All is vanity and vexation of spirit. No purposefulness
is to be found 'under the sun'. Now that man in divine life has been
manifested in Christ in creation and conferred upon others, the creation has
obtained an earnest expectation and hope. This expectation will soon be
realised by the revelation of a new glorified race which can subject
creation to the rule of God. Thereby God's glorious designs will be realised.
The creation was not made subject to the
vanity of its own will. Creation did not will its involvement in futility. Men
still act to rescue creation from the jungle and establish peace and
prosperity in it. In his blindness man believes that the world was made for
his own pleasure and purpose. Yet we believe in a God who can do and did
exactly what He determined in His creation. Creation itself had no choice in
the matter and this includes both the angels and men, whom God created for His
own pleasure and purpose. Anti-purpose became the governing power in creation
and it was so for the realising of God's eternal purpose. This was by reason
of - or in accordance with the purpose of - Him who subjected it in hope. That
which is created is not great enough to contain and apprehend the display of
the fulness of divine glory. Only that which is eternal and uncreated can do
this. The hope is that God will accomplish this by His own work.
Meaninglessness is therefore seen as a necessary means to this end. God could
only act in the fulness of His eternal love, wisdom, power, etc. in the
circumstances brought about by the reign of vanity. God did not act or respond
to some worth or merit in creation but wholly according to the dictates of His
own nature and desires.
Verse 21
"Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
God so acted with the hope that creation itself also shall be
delivered from corruption into the liberty of the glory. Now, as a result of
what God has done in Christ and is doing in us, we are aware of this eternal
hope. The hope is the coming of the eternal state which God has
designed and not just the wish or desire in itself. Faith, hope and love in
Scripture do not signify what they have come to mean in secular terminology.
These conceptions have been debased in the minds of men who have not the
knowledge of good and evil. The divine hope is already a reality in our
experience. Now abides (goes on abiding) faith, hope and love. We have entered
into and enjoy the hope in a spiritual sense, the highest sense of all.
The creation itself also shall be delivered
from the bondage, as we have already been, in receiving divine life in
spiritual conditions in which we can enjoy this supreme blessedness to the
full. The creation is now in bondage to a spiritual power from which there is
no natural salvation. This bondage is one of corruption. The power of
anti-purpose now corrupts natural life. It prevents present life from full
fruition and in the end causes it to fade away. God will set it free into the
liberty of the glory of the sons of God. This is the ultimate power and form
of rule which shall reign in creation. Under it the creation will know eternal
liberty and its effects. The glories which the sons of God will have received
shall be revealed in creation for this result. The creation will flourish
under the spiritual influences of such liberty. So creation will be introduced
into higher blessing than could have resulted naturally if there had been no
suffering nor vanity.
Verse 22
"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together
until now."
Paul then declares what we instinctively know as the sons of
God. The Spirit witnesses to us that we are the sons of God. So we know the
groans and the eternal reason for their necessity. There is power in the
gospel not only to liberate the saints in their present spiritual experience
from the bondage of sin but also to release the whole creation. Liberty is now
proclaimed and is effectively being enjoyed by us by the present experience
which we have as a result of living in creation in its present state. We know
that the groaning of creation is as purposeful and productive as a woman in
childbirth. It groans together in all its parts, that is, in its present
organisation. Providence and vanity are in conflict and creation still lives
under the curse imposed by God. Thereby conditions exist in which God can
perform His eternal work. In such conditions creation groans together and yet
labours together. The present time is seen by us to be a preparatory state or
stage in the unfolding of divine purpose.
Verse 23
"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of our body."
Not only do we know the eternal
significance of the state in which God's creation is now found but we also
know what God is doing about it. In the midst of this state we are those who
have the firstfruit of the Spirit. The beginning of God's eternal harvest has
already been produced by the work continuing in us. Man alive in possession
of the Spirit is God's grand design in creation. In the last days the
Spirit shall be poured upon all flesh. In the present time we live
spiritually in the realm in which eternal blessing exists for man's
enjoyment. In the natural realm in which we live as ordinary mortals, we
ourselves groan within ourselves. Again, Paul sets forth the present dichotomy
between the spiritual and the natural. The world is as yet excluded from the
spiritual blessings which God has given us by the Spirit. Even in our present
experience we groan, despite this. The presence and power of the Spirit in
us in no way makes us greater than others to overcome the trouble and problems
associated with present life.
We have the firstfruits and are waiting for
adoption. This sets forth the spiritual and natural facts of present life for
us. We can do nothing but wait concerning the completion of divine purpose in
creation. We cannot improve our natural state but know that we are waiting
until God again intervenes at a natural level. Then God will adopt us into the
realm of glory in bodily as well as in spiritual life. This is the redemption
of the body. Redemption is from the bondage and groaning of the present. It is
also into the eternal state in which God's creation shall rest for ever.
The
adoption of that which was originally only natural into that which is eternal
and heavenly has already taken place regarding the body of Christ. God
has thus crowned Him with glory above His fellows. It will also be our
experience who are involved in God's work for the realising of divine purpose. Here the
singular "body" is used in order to emphasise the formation of the Bride of
Christ that she may share His glory. Thus God will raise up out of nature and
into glory that which He is now perfecting spiritually for His eternal
purpose.
Verses 24/25
"For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man
seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it."
We are
saved in the hope. As stated, divine hope is the eternal state in which
creation will ultimately rest. We are brought into this state spiritually
already. We are saved (aorist), by God's present work, into this divine hope.
It is not that we hope to be saved. The salvation is an act complete in
itself. Hope that is seen is not hope. That which is seen is natural. By the
faith in us we look not upon the things which are seen in our present life and
service toward God. We do not look or hope for natural salvation in the
present time. That would be a contradiction of what we know in Christianity.
For what a man sees, why does he also hope
for it? Paul poses this question in order to correct any false notion that
Christianity is an end in itself. God has not given us the fulness of
revealed truth in order that by it we may bring natural order out of chaos.
The creation itself is involved in that for which God has established the christian system - the hope - on earth in the present time. That which is
natural and physical as well as that which is spiritual is involved. It leads
on to our resurrection and to the establishing of glory in blessing in
creation thereafter. If in this life alone we have hope, we are of all men
most miserable, 1 Cor.15:19.
In true faith we hope for that which we see
not by natural faculties. We live in the hope and wait to see this hope being
established universally in creation. Our hope is in God who raises the dead.
Eternal power already operates in the gospel in us to give us spiritual
insight, which creation now lacks. We hope, that is, we act in this eternal
power and spiritual awareness. The knowledge which we have received causes us
to respond aright to God's present work for us. We see beyond that which is
contained in, and governs, nature. By faith we see what God will accomplish by
this work which He has initiated in Christ and in us. We act accordingly by
devoting ourselves to the things which belong to the world to come.
With patience we wait for it. God Himself
is a God of patience. For the sake of the future, He endures the state in
which His creation is now found in its inherent vanity and groaning. So now
we also regard the glories which shall follow the sufferings of Christ in
nature. In the same patience which motivates God we wait for the coming glory.
We wait until the time comes when God will have completed the present
spiritual work which He performs in natural secrecy and in divine patience.
Thereby we acquire divine patience for future reference.
Verse 26
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we
should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered."
Likewise also the Spirit jointly helps our infirmities. By
this other means also we have help as to our path on earth in our weakness.
God is behind everything in creation, ensuring that no natural power will
frustrate us in the service which we are called to perform. The Holy Spirit
also is alongside us. Later Paul shows that Christ is above every power which
might otherwise have stood between us and the realising of our goal. Hence
all things work together for good, i.e. eternal good. The Spirit
does not by the present exercise of His spiritual power remove our
infirmities. Present natural imperfections cause our infirmities.
Within and without we are encompassed by powers over which we can exercise no
control. Our deficiencies are the means of our obtaining divine help. This of
course is a better state of affairs than if we were in charge of our
circumstances and in control of our fleshly nature. The needs and
sufferings are thus more than compensated for at a spiritual level by the
Spirit developing intelligence in us. He also uses His eternal wisdom to
control the powers which would otherwise wreck our usefulness.
Our intelligence is weak concerning the
great powers and issues which dominate creation in its present chaotic state.
As yet we have no knowledge of what we should pray for. We do not know what is
best for us regarding worldly circumstances and inward desires. Spiritual
progress is the only significant issue for us. Divine purpose in having a
people is not served by our having the ability to tell Him what to do for us
at a natural level so that we might serve Him better. The Holy Spirit
has assumed this responsibility. This makes our possession of infirmities a
positive spiritual advantage.
The Spirit Himself makes intercession for
us. This is another work which the Spirit performs for the sake of God's
eternal purpose. He intercedes or pleads for us. That which happens to us in
creation is therefore brought about by God's response to the pleading of the
Spirit, not by our willpower or natural influence. We are thus involved in
the present labours of divine Persons in the present state of creation.
The Spirit acts toward the Father on our behalf with groanings which cannot be
uttered. Thus there is now in creation another sort of groaning in addition to
the groanings of creation itself. The groanings of the new life in the new
creation arise from the activity of the Holy Spirit. They are the growth pangs
of the new creation, seeing that spiritual growth is in the present associated
with natural weakness in the vessels which contain the divine nature. God, in
the Person of the Spirit, is Himself still groaning in the midst of His
groaning creation. For the sake of His purpose God still suffers more than
men. These groanings cannot be uttered, or expressed, by any innate ability on
our part. God is in charge of the eternal operation. This work proceeds in our
spiritual favour and we are unconscious of it. We are conscious of our
infirmities but are now also confident in the ability of the Spirit so that we
can continue to live and act profitably in the spiritual realm.
Verse 27
"And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."
The
present work of Christ in this respect is now introduced, completing the
activity of the Trinity for us. The intercession of the Spirit for us is
associated with what is happening in heaven. There is a Man there who is the
Son of God. He is, in official service, the intercessor who is still concerned
with the formation and upbuilding of the new creation in the midst of the old.
He knows the difference between the groanings of the Spirit and those of the
old creation. He searches the hearts, distinguishing between the new nature
and the old. He is One who knows what is of God and for divine purpose
in the world. He knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, for He was once
alive to it in the same path in weakness and suffering. He has now been
glorified as a Man in heaven to bring about the purpose of God in creation.
The realising
of divine purpose is secure because of the present ministry of Christ and not
because of our present natural powers. He makes intercession for us who are
saints in divine estimation. We are set aside by the work of God to further
His present eternal counsels. He makes intercession for the saints according
to God, not according to supreme natural good.
Verse 28
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose."
We are consciously aware in our spiritual experience that all
things work together for eternal good. We know this because we see and know in
our experience the effects of this divine operation on earth for us and in us.
The good is the conformity to the image of His Son. By divine
operation, the new creation will be populated by a race of men who will
eternally bear the image of His Son. The Father so loved the Son that He
willed to produce a race exactly like him spiritually. The "all things"
are the natural powers and issues which still befall us in our fleshly
weakness in the world. These things befall us for the furtherance of the
gospel. All things work together for eternal, not natural, good. We
continue to suffer in creation but, by God's present intentions, make the
desired spiritual progress if we live and act in true awareness. Time and
circumstances are the necessary means by which God will characterise the
eternal state in which creation shall dwell.
These natural and spiritual facts are true
of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. These are the
conditions we are required to fulfil. God does the rest. We love the God of
complete self-revelation. Divine love acts in us toward God Himself when we
walk in this path of ultimate good. The purposeful calling of God is that
those who love God be conformed to the image of His Son. God's purpose is to
bring many sons to glory.
Verse 29
"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."
Paul then shows how God is bringing these sons to glory.
They are foreknown by God as Christ was foreknown as a Man in the image of the
invisible God. Foreknowledge is the work of God. He foreknew that there would
be at the end of His activities men with Himself in blessing. He predestinated
that those who would benefit from His work would by it be conformed to the
image of His Son. Predestination has to do with the final state of those who
are saved. It is not that God predestines some to heaven and some to hell. God
has determined that there will be in His presence eternally a race of men who
exactly bear the image of His glorified Son. From creation there will be
raised into eternal glory, in bodily form, a people who are together made like
the Son of God. God will then have many sons and not just one Son in His
image. Spiritually perfect God-like beings will result from God's finished
work, for the establishing of His will universally in creation. God has
determined that all who now receive life in Christ will bear His glorious
image eternally. He will then raise them completely and eternally out of the
natural realm, fitting them to live in glory.
Christ is the firstborn but as such has
many brethren. He became a Man in flesh to become a Man in glory by means of
death, resurrection and bodily ascension. He did so for God's eternal purpose
that He might be (might continue to be) the firstborn of many brethren. He was
originally the Only-Begotten-Son. As a result of His completed work in the
flesh, of the Spirit's present work, and of God's final work of glorifying us
who are in Christ, He is the firstborn of many brethren. He is the image of
the perfect race which shall result from God's completed activity in the
course of time.
Verse 30
"Moreover whom he did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called,
them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified."
To bring about these eternal designs, God has issued His
irresistible call. He has called those whom He predestinated. The call has
gone forth by means of the Spirit and His effective power in the gospel. The
sons and heirs respond to the call by the Spirit in them. Paul then shows how
God is making the call secure and effective. God has saved us and called us
with a heavenly calling. His call in Christianity has nothing to do with
nature.
He has also justified those whom He has
called. We are justified from what we were spiritually in nature, when the
call of God evoked a response in our deadness. We are constituted righteous by
divine work. This constitution lies in the possession of the life of Christ by
us. We are already also glorified by God. We are justified from what we were
and are glorified as to what Christ now is. By His already effective work, God
has associated us with the glorified Christ, so that in effective reality we
now live and act in the realm of glory, spiritually. We have been so acted
upon by God already that we are made fit to be partakers of the inheritance of
the saints in the light. This is God's view of history. By Him we are already
seen to be glorified. God knows the end from the beginning and is thus acting
to secure the intended destiny of His saints. The past, present and future are
already settled and we are involved in this irrevocable work.
Verse 31
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us?"
Paul has thus shown that by the gospel we have arrived at an
unassailable position spiritually, even if we still live in unalterable
natural weakness. He then asks the question which he had previously asked in
the course of his argument or revelation. "What shall we say then?" What
possible objection could be raised to this christian position and state in
which we are found by divine work? There is no need in this state of spiritual
enlightenment to ask the question, "who shall deliver me?" Who or what can
oppose us in such a path? If God be for us, as shown, who is against us? That
"God is for us" is a definition of the essential facts of life. God is not
only in us in the Person of Christ and with us in the Person of the Spirit but
He is also for us amidst all that proceeds at the natural level. We are
involved in the work by which God is proving Himself to be God in the world's
present transitional state. So our fleshly deficiencies and sinfulness are
irrelevant as to the eternal purpose whereunto we are called by God.
Who is against us? Paul came to realise
that the flesh which he saw and feared in himself was not an effective enemy.
Its lusts do not thwart divine purpose. This is the knowledge which the
possession of a spiritual mind confers upon us. That which the carnal mind
viewed as being an enemy in the path is no enemy.
Verse 32
"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He
not with Him also freely give us all things?"
The
extent to which God is for us can only be assessed by the greatness of the
Person whom God has given up for us. God is a God who indeed has not spared
His own Son. God did not spare His own Son from the sufferings resulting from
the creation being found in its present state. This was because God had chosen
to perform an eternal rather than a natural work in it. He sent His Son into
it to suffer so that His grand designs might be realised. This displays the
determination of God to effect His will. No price was too high for Him to pay.
What can we say when we consider these eternal issues? Christ is here
described as God's own Son. In this passage the emphasis is on the Person and
then upon the work of Christ the Son. He is presented as the image of God, the
firstborn of many brethren, and now as God's own Son. He was the Person whom
the Father prized in the fulness of His love. He was the perfect object of
divine affection in His eternal existence and co-equality with the Father. God
possessed Him in an eternal sense, in the eternal sphere.
This eternal state of affairs was however
ended in time, in the course of the outworking of divine purpose. God
delivered Him up, unto death itself. To secure the objects and objectives
which He desired, God has thus acted. One who lived wholly and solely in Deity
came to live and suffer in humanity. In that state of human weakness He was
caused by God to meet all the powers which stood between God and the realising of His ultimate intentions for us. He delivered Him up for us all,
that is, for the sake of a completed and perfected company.
Three things are involved.
Firstly, God
spared not His own Son. This sets forth His sufferings in the flesh for
righteousness' sake. Secondly, God delivered Him up. This sets forth His
redemptive sufferings and death to acquire us. Thirdly, God has freely given.
God has, in effect, relinquished the uniqueness of His relationship to His Son
that others might also share it and the things which belong to it. "The
all things" which God freely gives us with His Son are not the "all things" of
verse 28. There it is all things which befall us in the old creation. Here it
is the things of the new creation which cause our spiritual progress to the
goal of conformity to the image of His Son. There is no question of our
striving after conformity to this image. "The all things" which are the
means of bringing this about are freely given us of God, as in 1 Cor.1:30. God
now freely gives us all the spiritual blessings which resulted from His work
for us in His Son. We are given all the things which once belonged to Deity
alone, to be occupied with in our present life and service. Sanctification
does not come from our own efforts but from our present enjoyment of God's
free gifts.
Verse 33
"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth."
We are now to regard ourselves as God's
elect. The results, which proceed from the power of God in the gospel to
effect His eternal purpose in us, makes us God's elect. God is now acting in
us, just as He acted in Christ. He has elected to realise His eternal purpose
in us who are mortals by fleshly reckoning. He has chosen to continue and
perfect in us the eternal ends which He has made feasible by the work which He
accomplished in His own Son. Election has to do with the realising of God's
hope in creation, not only with bringing certain people to heaven. The
glorification of men is a means to an eternal end. Thus we are to see
ourselves as being already perfected spiritually by God for these purposes for
which He has chosen, called and gifted us.
If we are the present fruit of the work of
God in creation, none can lay a charge against us. We are God's handiwork and
have not perfected ourselves spiritually. If there is a deficiency in us who
respond aright, the deficiency would lie with God.
Verse 34
"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us."
What about
our sinful nature now? It had, in Paul's carnal days, been seen as an
intolerable load when he strove to perfect himself at a natural
level for divine purpose. God is for us even in this, for it is He
who justifies us. Who is great enough to condemn God's present work and the
effects which this has produced in us and for us? Such a one would be greater
than God Himself and capable of effecting a greater work in creation!
God's effective work cannot be undone.
Before condemnation could be brought against us, the accuser would first have
to find deficiency in the work of Christ. It is Christ that died. The man who
was God's anointed to accomplish the work upon which divine purpose is to be
founded, is a Christ who has died. Christ having died for us has freed us from
our previous condemnation. The emphasis is now upon the work of Christ for God
and for us. Having died, He was raised up. His resurrection from the dead, and
ascension, rather than His death in the flesh, is the work which characterises
the position and state in which we now exist before God. His death and
resurrection was to make Him the Man of God's purpose at His right hand. That
there was no deficiency regarding the work for which He died is proved by the
fact that God raised Him up again from a death which was for us.
As a result, He continues to be even at the
right hand of God. The right hand of God sets forth the power of God to effect
His eternal purpose. This power has acted upon a dead Christ to raise Him up
in glorified humanity beyond the reach of any power which acts in creation. In
this place of divine triumph and eternal blessedness, He still continues to
act on behalf of those who are His brethren on earth. He concerns Himself at
the right hand of God with the cause of those who live and act in fleshly
weakness on earth. The Spirit intercedes in heaven. Present weakness in the
flesh will not rob us of ultimate glory.
Verses 35/36
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Nothing can separate Christ from the objects of His love.
The love of the Christ is the power which binds us to Him who has already
entered into the glory. The eternal love which led Him to suffer and to die is
the power that secures us eternally, and not merely our love for Him. We are
now involved in the power which binds the Persons of Deity into a unity, that
of eternal love. Hence a power greater than eternal unbegotten love in full
display alone could separate us from the Christ.
Paul then considers the two sorts of power
which can still act against us. In this verse he lists the various adverse
earthly circumstances in which the believer might live and act for divine
purpose. In verse 38 he sets forth the spiritual powers of evil which still
act in creation in the present stage of the outworking of divine purpose.
Tribulation, distress, etc. set forth the
powers which hostile evil in the present world of chaos could bring to bear
upon those who deliberately reject natural power in the way in which they
serve God. These powers are natural powers which at worst would destroy the
body. They could terminate on earth the life in which we live in fleshly
weakness. They could create natural fear in us to persuade us to desist from
the spiritual way of life which meets with man's disapproval.
It is clear from this verse that Paul has
in mind the path of the just, suffering for righteousness' sake. "For thy
sake" we are being killed all the day long. This is according as it is
written. Such experience confirms that which was endured by those who wrote
holy oracles in natural weakness in a previous economy. It is according to
God's will and purpose that we still live in a life which is weak and
susceptible to the greater power of those who believe in human wisdom and
power. For the sake of God and the realising of His purpose, His Word was
delivered in fleshly weakness by prophets whom He permitted to be killed by
their opponents. The purpose of God owes nothing to natural, spiritually
corrupt powers.
They were reckoned as sheep for slaughter.
Their worldly opponents considered them to be fair game seeing that they lived
by the Word of God which was committed to them. Such a life is lived in
weakness and folly in the reckoning of the worldly- minded. God did not
intervene in their favour in this world. Thereby they were afforded the
opportunity of attaining to a blessed resurrection.
Verse 37
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us."
Men governed by evil and ignorance use these things in a
conflict in which we more than conquer, despite apparent outward defeat. Truth
thereby conquers, even if those who present it in spiritual power may be put
to the sword. The Scriptures were written in such circumstances. So also men
are spiritually enlightened by the preaching, men who were previously in
purposeless bondage to evil. God substantiates the truth even by the
manifested natural weakness of its exponents. Paul himself, for example, was
bound but the Word of God is not bound by these things. Divine purpose
triumphs in natural adversity. We more than conquer through Him who has loved
us. Christ having loved us also empowers us spiritually, for the sake of the
furtherance of divine purpose on earth. We do not conquer the power of the
flesh in ourselves. We do not overcome the hostilities of the world by this
spiritual power in us, which is profitable to God. We more than conquer
spiritually in a world in which spiritual ignorance had previously conquered
men.
Verses 38/39
"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
"For I am persuaded that neither death nor
life …….". Paul then lists the spiritual powers which dominated human life on
earth prior to the manifestation of the power of the gospel. Paul declares
that he was persuaded, by his own experiences in the present work of God, that a
power acted toward him in the pursuit of his calling which was greater than
the greatest created powers and authorities. I am persuaded. He had
come to realise that in the work he did for God he wrestled not against flesh
and blood but against principalities and powers. He had acted in supreme power
in the spiritual realm to overcome the powers of death and life. Paul was
given the task of establishing Christianity among the Gentiles in heathendom.
God had given him the power to cause the knowledge of God to be known in every
place. He had thereby succeeded in doing that which 'the circumcision' had
failed to do throughout the course of their service on earth.
He had found himself in conflict with
spiritual powers which had hitherto separated men from God and His love. Now,
however, the love of God has been poured forth in its eternal fulness in the
gospel toward men who were under bondage to vanity. Paul, with the spiritual
power of the message which he preached, was in conflict with the power of
spiritual as well as natural death. Thanks be unto God who delivers us from so
great a death, as in 2 Cor.1. The power of God acting in him, as a result of
the love of Christ, had produced spiritual life in men under the authority of
death. So also natural life is in itself a potential enemy to the progress of
the gospel. Men who live only for that which this can now give them, are
resistant to the love of God in Christ. This power also is broken down by the
gospel when it is effectively preached.
Angels, principalities and powers are the
spiritual beings who now reign in God's providential government in creation.
In this form of administration both good and evil act. Man, to whom the
power of divine love in the gospel is directed, lives in relative natural
weakness and lack of knowledge and insight in this spiritual realm. He is
unable to distinguish between good and evil at this level. He is unable to
raise himself up spiritually. Now, however, through the gospel the power of
God to effect His purpose by raising men to glory has already triumphed by the
service of spiritual men. By this power, man can come to know God, despite the
previous triumph of spiritual evil in the spiritual realm.
Things present and things to come had also
been a hindrance to man and to the furtherance of divine purpose. Man is now
involved in intractable natural problems and difficulties but neither these
nor any distance, whether height - He is there for us, or depth - He has been
there, nor any other thing in creation, can separate us from divine love. It
is an unbreakable bond, an impossibility.
CHAPTER 9
Paul has shown in chapters 1-8 how the
outworking of divine purpose now proceeds at a heavenly rather than at a
natural level. The gospel shows the difference between the flesh and the
Spirit, the old creation and the new. God is now working in the world to
raise men out of it spiritually to live in the life of Christ under the
influence of the Spirit in the heavenly places, while still living in the flesh
in the world. In chapters 9-11 Paul speaks of his brethren according to the
flesh. His gospel reveals how God first dealt with man in the flesh,
interpreting history from God's viewpoint. Again, that which was
spiritual was the ultimate reality lying behind that which was natural.
From God's first intervention in Abraham's experience to its culmination in the formation
of the nation, His dealings with men are only comprehensible when the
existence of the spiritual is seen behind that which is outward. The old
creation is purposeless in itself but God called and used men as vessels of
His power in it as He saw fit. Divine purpose according to election, the
calling out of a people, was in mind in His activity in the natural realm.
Verse 1
"I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness
in the Holy Ghost."
Paul
speaks from the thoughts and feelings of his heart, from the christian
position into which he had perfectly entered. Now he could understand what was
truly involved in Israel's nationhood. The truth in Christ and a good
conscience in the Holy Spirit summarises the christian position and the
spiritual state which results from it. Truth concerns divine revelation, that
which is of the God of full revelation in the world in the present. The
conscience is the spiritual ability of the new nature in us, itself a product
of truth. The two eternally purposeful things of God in the world now are the
Word of God and the new nature which can comprehend it. Paul now acted as
possessing the knowledge of revealed truth by the power of the Holy Spirit in
him. This activity took the form of words, that which Paul sets out in these
chapters. The New Testament is in fact the key which interprets the Old. Paul
had acquired the fulness of the knowledge of good and evil. Consequently he
could put the true interpretation upon the Old Testament, rather than a
spiritually defective natural interpretation as hitherto. His conscience bore
witness in the Holy Spirit of the reality of that which he had received in
departing from naturalistic Judaism and embracing spiritual
Christianity.
Verse 2
"That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart."
He first bore witness, by his spiritual
enlightenment, that he had great grief and uninterrupted pain in his heart.
Though he was filled with all knowledge of God's will and was full of peace,
knowing how eternal blessedness was being secured by God, he had these other
emotions also. The knowledge which he had received imposed a great spiritual
burden upon him. Great grief lies upon the heart of the spiritual man while he
sees humanity still suffering and living in spiritual ignorance despite the
coming of the gospel. Paul's gospel has not as yet produced the full and final
effects in the world for which God has given it. Thus unceasing pain remains
in the heart of those who come to realise how God is working and will work in
the gospel for the sake of eternal purpose. Divine purpose is not yet fully
realised on earth, even though God has given to man the means by which he can
complete the work still remaining. Such sorrow will only be turned into
complete joy when God's kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is
in heaven.
Verse 3
"For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh."
Israel is crucial to the realising of divine purpose. Such
purpose demands that the remnant be saved and then that the whole nation be
saved. Paul therefore went on wishing that he himself might be accursed from
the Christ for his brethren. Though he was himself in Christ and the Holy
Spirit was in him, Paul was wishing that he might give this up if thereby his
Jewish kinsmen might realise the truth. This corresponds to the case of Moses
when the nation in the wilderness rebelled in their spiritual ignorance.
The
spiritual man knows that the nation, and not merely the individual, is
all-important to God for the coming of blessing to men. Paul so realised the
blessedness of his new spiritual position that he wished to change places with
his brethren spiritually. They remained accursed despite the finished work of
Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit.
Two things are involved, therefore, in the
present work of the gospel. God is introducing man into the highest spiritual
realm, that which the Christ occupies at the right hand of God. By the
gospel, God will also enlighten Israel concerning the past and how the
promises can be fulfilled. It is abundantly clear that Paul has in mind the
fleshly nation of Israel. This aspect of the gospel is concerned with the Jew
and not the Gentile. The power of the gospel has yet to enlighten the Jew as
to eternal realities; it shall yet perfect the
Jew spiritually. This was the great task which Paul viewed as remaining to be
accomplished. The only way which Paul saw of assuaging the sorrow of his heart
was to see the Jews in Christ nationally.
Verse 4
"Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory, and the
covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the
promises."
Paul then declares the reason why the Jewish nation is of
eternal significance. He shows what really constitutes their nationhood and
characterised it godwardly. These privileges ought to have prepared them to
accept the virtue of the work of God in Christ and in the giving of the
Spirit.
They are the Israelites, 'the prince with
God'. The name which God had conferred upon those who were to be the people who
served His purpose on earth was invested in them nationally. In giving them
this name, God had committed Himself to the completing of the work through
them by which His reign of blessing will be established amongst the other
nations.
Whose is the sonship? Sonship declares
their ideal relationship toward God. "Out of Egypt have I called my Son".
These two characteristics and privileges declare the position which God had
called them to hold in the world. They were a nation for God and were so for
the ultimate blessing of all. Divine sonship on earth remains theirs, however
far short of the spiritual ideal they have come. The church will be the
heavenly brethren of the Christ. Israel will be, by the gospel, His fellow
sons on earth. Our sonship is in the heavens. Theirs is on earth. Sonship
in both cases is, however, spiritual and not natural.
Theirs is the glory. The Shekinah, the
presence of God on earth, is theirs. It was with them when they were His
people in reality on earth. The privilege and the glorious ideal still
remains. Israel shall yet be, by the gospel, a people who contain the presence
of the God of self-revelation on earth. Then they shall know God fully.
The covenant remains theirs, despite the
fact that they refused the gospel and its initial presentation and that it has
gone forth to effect an eternal work amongst the nations. By the covenants,
God entered into a fixed relationship toward them. Thus He bound Himself to
them. The effectiveness of the bond was and is, however, conditional. It is
dependent upon their obedience to it for it to be functional. The lawgiving,
rather than the law itself, still appertains to their nationhood. God counted
them worthy of the glory by entrusting to them His holy oracles and statutes.
The giving of the law to Israel is a divine means for an eternal end. This
shall yet be realised by the gospel. God's Word will accomplish that whereunto
He has sent it, Isa.55:11.
The service, or worship, of the God of the
Old Testament yet belongs to them. By the gospel they shall yet come to
worship God in spirit and in truth. Then they shall see the spiritual
realities set forth in the types and shadows of the ordinances of their
divine service. It was their official national honour to serve God in holy
things, that they might respond to His ways with them according to divinely
appointed priests and Levites etc. They were called and gifted nationally to
be Jehovah's servant, that He might be worshipped and known in truth in
creation.
Theirs are the promises. God has promised
both to bless them and to bless all the nations in them. The promises of God
stand sure because God is a faithful God. He has acquired in the gospel the
means by which the given promises will be fulfilled.
Verse 5
"Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who
is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."
The fathers, the patriarchs, are theirs.
It is not merely that the fathers were theirs. This still remains a
spiritual fact. They were men selected from all other men. They responded
aright to receive both the birthright and the blessing. That which was of the
fathers remains for their enjoyment. These men responded aright to God and
thereby received spiritual realities which still exist, despite their failure
concerning the gospel. As sons, the Jewish nation bears the spiritual dignity
and responsibility placed upon the fathers in the world. The fathers
demonstrated by their lives and work the possibilities which the God of
revelation had opened up to humanity.
Finally, and greatest of all, the Christ is
theirs according to flesh. Their having the Messiah is the epitome of all
blessing. He is its repository. The Jewish race is all that God revealed it to
be, according to the ideal and in spiritual potential, because the coming of
the Messiah was to set God's seal upon it. All the promises were to be
realised and the nation made perfect for God through Christ. Paul, however,
qualifies his description of the way in which the Christ is said to be theirs.
He belongs to the Jewish nation according to flesh in His life in flesh in the
world. His coming to them in flesh represented their highest privilege and was
the time of their greatest opportunity. Again, this shows the two different
ways in which the nation might have regarded their nationhood and its
blessings. There is the fleshly and the spiritual, the natural and the
eternal.
In the previous part of his epistle Paul
had shown that the true christian relationship toward God and its blessedness
is solely according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. That this
was in fact characteristic of Israel's position in true reality as Paul proceeds
to show in chapters 9-11. First, however, he declares this truth as it is to
be seen in the person of the Christ. He was the Jewish Christ in flesh when He
lived in human life in the world. Paul's gospel, however, reveals Him to be
much more than that. He is over all, God blessed forever. The Deity of the
coming Christ was revealed in the O.T. It was not, however, appreciated by the
nation that the Messiah was Jehovah Himself. This appreciation came only by
the Father's revelation and not by fleshly appreciation of the letter. This is
demonstrated by Peter at Caesarea Phillipi. "Thou are the Christ, the Son of
the living God." "Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but the
Father". The Christ can be appreciated according to the flesh or according
to the Spirit. The Jews looked for and so could only have appreciated the
Christ at a natural level. This failure by Israel to appreciate the O.T.
Scriptures and the embodiment of eternal truth in the form of a Christ come in
flesh, nullified all the other blessings. They failed to fulfil their true
nationhood when presented with their God in fleshly form.
Verse 6
"Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not
all Israel, which are of Israel."
It is not as though the Word of God has failed. The failure
lay in Israel's interpretation of it. Paul is about to show that the true
interpretation of the Word of God is spiritual and not natural. There was
no failure on the part of God, who had given His Word to Israel that His
eternal purpose might thereby be accomplished. The fleshly nation failed,
despite the adequacy of God's arrangements whereby He gave them the O.T.
Scriptures within the system of Judaism. In their hands Judaism had been
spiritually debased. It was merely a fleshly religion. The patriarchs were
viewed as being naturally great. Sonship was fleshly, etc.
Though Israel had failed as to the Word of
God, God's purpose in giving it to them was not thwarted. The death of Christ
in the flesh and the subsequent giving of the Holy Spirit emanated from their
fleshly failure. Thereby the gospel has resulted and it has enlightened those
of Israel who embraced it. Paul is about to prove this by the way in which he
proceeds to interpret the significance of the life of the patriarchs and of
the ministry of the prophets. A naturally-minded Jew would object to Paul's
gospel because of the fixed Jewish belief that they were the seed of the
promise and that God had chosen them to effect His purpose by their obedience
to the law. Paul had himself admitted that his brethren according to the flesh
were Israelites and had the sonship, glory, covenants, etc. Now, however, Paul
appears to contradict himself by revealing that not all are Israel which are
of Israel. He is about to define, by reference to the O.T. what is truly
involved in their nationhood godwardly. There are two races. First, there are
those who are described as being 'of Israel'. Secondly, there is Israel. That
which has resulted from the divine intervention by which the name of Israel
was conferred, is not wholly of such a God. Israel, prince of God, is a
spiritual reality and not a natural entity.
Verse 7
"Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, in
Isaac shall thy seed be called."
Paul first shows the nature of the seed as
demonstrated in Abraham and Isaac. Then in Sarah and Rebecca is shown their
selection or separation. In Jacob and Esau election is set forth. In Moses and
Pharaoh their development as a nation and its true significance is seen.
Finally in Christ is seen their eternal significance and ultimate destiny as
the children of the living God. In God's unfolding of their history there is
set forth a progressive development of God's purposeful ways on earth,
culminating in the coming of Christ and His entry into the heavens.
Concomitantly, the setting aside of the flesh is also to be seen for the
realisation of the purpose for which God has intervened. He communicated with
the various parties presented, so that His Word gradually came to be
completed. Purposefulness is not by the fleshly name (Israel signifies the
setting aside of the natural strength of Jacob), nor by fleshly descent (as
with Abraham's offspring), nor by fleshly activity (Sarah), nor by natural
greatness (Rebecca), nor by fleshly character (Jacob and Esau), nor by fleshly
power (Pharaoh).
That the Word of God cannot fail is the
second fact upon which rests Paul's defence of his gospel as being of divine
origin and effectiveness. The first is the Deity of the Christ. That the term
Israel is not synonymous with the nation can be shown from the Word of God and
particularly with the spiritual insight which the acceptance of Paul's gospel
gives. Just as Christ was both of the seed of David according to the flesh and
according to the Spirit of holiness, so also there is an Israel which is
according to flesh and a seed according to promise.
This dichotomy existed from the beginning
of their history. By that which God caused to happen, and recorded in
Scripture, in Abraham's experience, a definition of children and non-children
is given. Abraham produced seed which were not children by divine definition.
They were so in natural but not in spiritual reality. Seed and children have
resulted. The children are comprised of the seed who were called by God. "In
Isaac shall thy seed be called". It is not merely the literal name of Israel
which is involved. Divine calling came in Isaac before the name Israel was
given. The calling of God has to do with the realising of the promises given.
The seed are called by God to become children so that they might become the
means of blessing in creation. This purposefulness to God is not by fleshly
descent from Abraham for it was in Isaac, to the exclusion of Ishmael, that
the natural seed arose. The seed of the flesh exists to be blessed ultimately
rather than to become the means of present blessing.
Verse 8
"That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children
of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
The children of the flesh are not children of the God who
appeared to Abraham. Abraham begot that which God had not begotten for His
purpose. That which is merely of the flesh and not of God at all, has resulted
from Abraham's existence and activity. This is according to the outworking of
divine purpose. It is thus of supreme importance to Israel to understand that
which God had said concerning the events which took place. Divine childhood is
defined by God, not produced by the flesh. Fleshly life now lives along
with divine life in man. This is the significant factor. God had by His
intervention produced children. These developed along with that which
developed naturally. So there is a double seed still existing in Israel's
nationhood.
The children of the promise are counted for
the seed. God has done the counting and it is of utmost importance for the
nation to reckon the situation in which they are found, as God has done. It is
not the child Isaac but the children of the promise who are still counted for
the seed. God gave the promise concerning blessing and this produced children
for God and His purpose. It is the Word of God which begets in the seed the
sort of life and nationhood which is alone significant.
Verse 9
"For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall
have a son."
Paul
then shows what the word of the promise really is. There was first the seed of
the promise and then came the word of the promise which characterised and
governed this seed. The word of the promise came concerning the woman and the
divine seed which she was to produce. God revealed that He would come at a
certain time in order to produce that by which the promise would be fulfilled.
Until then, Abraham lacked the divine means by which the blessing should be
secured. God revealed that He Himself would then come to perform the work by
which the promise would be made sure. The seed of the flesh had already come.
'First comes the natural and afterward that which is spiritual'. In Paul's
day, Israel was also to appreciate that if they failed to realise the
significance of the Word of God, and hence of God's ways of achieving His
purpose, they were merely of the flesh. In that event God had not come to them
in effective spiritual experience. These things were a parable of the time now
present. The Word of God remains the means by which the promise is to be
fulfilled.
It was at the coming of God to fulfil His
Word that Sarah would have a son. It was not an accident of birth which
brought Sarah a son. It is the Word of God and not the flesh which produces
sons for divine purpose. The Lord Jesus declared that God could raise sons to
Abraham of the stones. It posed no difficulty for God to produce Jews. The
difficulty lies in the Word of God producing the desired spiritual effects in
Israel. As to Sarah, God came according to the promise which was then
fulfilled. God held Himself responsible for the fulfilment.
Verse 10
"And not only this; but when Rebecca also have conceived by one, even by our
father Isaac."
The case of Rebecca is also of great spiritual significance. Sarah could
produce no son. Rebecca produced twins so that God's sovereignty according to
His Word might be manifested. The name of Israel was secondary, being given
after the promise. Between these two things, two significant events happened
to the line of promise. Abraham had two sons and Isaac had two. Thus, being
the children of promise was not just a matter of fleshly descent. Further, the
two wives were associated by God with the transmission of the line. More was
involved than its legality. God spoke concerning the woman who had become the
means by which He was securing His purpose in creation. In Rebecca's case
divine communication came after she had conceived. That is, God
declared that He would intervene in this event which had already taken place.
She had already conceived by one whom Paul describes as our father Isaac. The
divine birthright was his and he had acted so as to transmit it. Here Paul
speaks as a descendent of Isaac. Salvation is of the Jews.
Verse 11
"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of Him that calleth."
"for the children being not yet born …..".
In Rebecca's case, God Himself selected the son of promise before the birth.
Their "being not yet born" shows that God was not dependent on fleshly power
and that He was in control of that which had already happened to Rebecca - the
formation of twins. That neither had done any good or evil shows that the
conduct of the flesh in the matter of natural good and evil is not involved in
the fulfilment of the promises. Human endeavour and merit is again shown to be
set aside. God was to fulfil the promise through His own power, through the
woman. He also made Himself answerable to resolve the issues of good and evil
which arose. Everything depends upon God's ability and not upon the response
of the flesh.
The accomplishment of divine purpose,
not the morality of the vessels, is what is of ultimate importance.
These events happened as they
happened, in order that the purpose of God according to election might abide.
Something of eternal significance was taking place on earth by the call of
God. The purpose of God in having the seed of promise is to save and bless all
the nations with eternal blessedness. Election has to do with the formation
of a people in whom that blessing will come. "In thy seed shall all the
nations be blessed". The purpose for which God so acted does not abide by the
works of the fleshly vessels. It is of God, who has become a God who calls new
things and a new order into being on earth. Election has to do with the
establishing of divine purpose on earth, not with sending some to heaven and
some to hell.
Verse 12
"It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger."
In order that
the purpose for which God had brought about this conflict in Rebecca's womb
might be known, to us as well as the patriarchs, God spoke to Rebecca. She
symbolises the true Israel with whom God was dealing in eternal
purposefulness. As such she received Holy Oracles. The spiritually significant
characteristics of Jacob and Esau's existence were revealed through her, and
through the prophet Malachi.
The greater was to be slave to the lesser.
Now the response to divine intervention and revelation is being raised. Hence
the son is brought forward, for the man symbolises responsibility. The truth
of God as it then existed in the world was associated with the birthright.
Esau was the greater by nature. The birthright was his by natural right as the
firstborn. Yet it was God's declared intention to reverse this order (the
divine principle of the second man). This was revealed to Rebecca and not to
Isaac.
However, she misunderstood the situation,
believing the blessing to be more important than the birthright. The greater
was to be a slave to the lesser by divine definition. That which was of lesser
worldly importance was to receive the crucial birthright. Position in the
new divine order was to be determined by the Word of God, given as
prophecy. In Jacob God declared that what was significant for His purpose
would be deposited in the lesser. This new order is the kingdom of God.
Except a man be born again, that is, receive the true birthright, he cannot
see the kingdom of God.
By God's dealings, Jacob became the greater
spiritually. He lived to serve the ultimate and eternal welfare of the seed
which was merely of the flesh. The spiritual man lives to perform the
spiritual work by which eternal blessing will be introduced into creation.
Verse 13
"As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
This is the next significant truth. It was not a question
of naturally good and evil deeds, as has already been revealed. The love of
God is the power by which God is effecting His purpose in the present time.
Divine love acted toward the spiritual man, despite his being the lesser
naturally. Jacob had a proper appreciation of spiritual values and of God's
revealed Word. The hatred of God is the power by which He rejects and
overcomes spiritual ignorance, that which opposes the purpose of His
calling. Esau valued the birthright so little that he gave it up for a meal.
He appreciated God so little that he believed He would allow one who had the
birthright to perish by natural forces. Jacob appreciated the true importance
of the birthright and obtained it when the opportunity was afforded. This
is the character that God loves and to which He will respond. When God
sees a true, spiritual response in the heart of the seed then He involves them
in His eternal work. God enters into a true relationship with man when he
takes up the purposeful gift which God has given, the birthright. Thereby
comes the blessing.
Thus the spiritual principle is unveiled,
that all relationship with God and the enjoyment of His blessing depends upon
the seed having a true appreciation of that which is of God, rather than of
that which is of nature. In the case of Israel finally, it was the coming of
Christ according to the flesh but in the true birthright. The nation acted
like Esau and sold the birthright to the true Israel, who accepted the gospel
of the kingdom of God. They were forfeiting the birthright they might have
received by their failure to appreciate the Christ as God had declared him to
be, the Son of God in power.
Verse 14
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God
forbid."
The rejection
of the Christ by the Esau-like nation does not mean that the eternal purpose
of God has been frustrated. This has become the means by which God is
fulfilling His eternal purpose in conferring the despised birthright upon
those who had no natural right to it. The gospel resulting from the fleshly
Is