01.07. Appendix on "Of Christ"

VII. APPENDIX TO PAGE 22. On the meaning of the genitive “of Christ” (tou Christou) in 1 Corinthians 15:23.

(This critical study is submitted with respect to those able to examine it.) The force of this genitive may be studied in the following passages.

1. In Acts 16:33 it is said of the jailer at Philippi that “he was baptized, himself and all those of him (hoi autou),” that is, all those who happened to form his household circle at that particular midnight hour.

2. In the first chapter of the epistle that is before us (1 Corinthians 1:12) the apostle reproves the believers on account of the contentions among them. “Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ (Christou).” It cannot be sup­posed that these believers were attributing their redemption to Paul, Apollos, or Peter; so that the meaning is, “I am of Paul’s circle; I of Apollos’; I of Peter’s; I of Christ’s circle.” It was sectionalism, schism, denominationalism, sectarianism; although all alike were on the only foundation (1 Corinthians 3:10-11).

Family relationship alone did not make the jailer’s relatives to be “of him” at that particular hour. It was those who were actually in his house at that time, which would include servants and slaves (if any). All believers were equally children of God, but some were “of Paul,” others “of Peter,” etc. Thus these two instances show that it is not relationship, natural or spiritual, but open member­ship in a known visible circle that is the idea in the term “of him.”

3. Romans 14:4 reads “Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? (oiketees, household dependent; Luke 16:13: Acts 10:7; 1 Peter 2:18 : all places). To his own lord he standeth or falleth.” Romans 14:7-8 add: “For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” (we are of the Lord, tou Kuriou esmen. The German can express this, as the Greek, by case ending, “wir sind des Herrn,” Elberfeld version). “For to this end Christ died, and lived again, that He might be Lord of [might rule over] both dead and living” (Darby). Christ’s lordship, His proprietorship of and authority over all, is indis­putable: in the apostle’s argument all are assumed to be owning it: “he that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord” (Romans 14:6), but, as we shall see shortly, not all believers do in fact own that lordship, or do not own it continuously and to the end of life. Thus ideally all are “of Him,” but actually some who might be, and ought to be, are not.*

[* Herodotus narrates that Astyages, king of the Medes, ordered a courtier, Harpagus, to kill the infant Cyrus, the king’s grandson. The courtier says: “But for safety’s sake it is necessary for me that this child should die; it is necessary however that one of those of Astyages himself (ton tina Astyageos) should be the slayer and not (one) of mine (ton heemon). This he said and straightway sent a messenger to (one) of the herdsmen of Astyages (ton Astyageos) whom he knew. . .” and left the matter to him (Hdt. I. 109, 110). Here two circles are distinguished, that of the king and that of the courtier, and each, in relation to its head, is described by the genitive. This force of the genitive occasions in English the italicized words in 1 Corinthians 1:11, “them which are of the household of Chloe,” where the original has simply ton Chloees (those of Chloe).]

4. This same meaning is to be seen in 2 Corinthians 10:7, “Ye look at the things that are before your face. [It is something visible that is in question.] If anyone has confi­dence in himself of Christ to be (Christou einai), this let him consider with himself, that as he is of Christ (Christou) thus also are we”: that is, I Paul am evidently and obviously of Christ’s circle at least as much as my critic is: in proof of which he adduces the known public features of the measure and power of his ministry of the Word, which were the Lord’s open acknowledgment of His faithful servant.

5. The same thought of a circle of persons that may be contrasted with other circles lies in the statement in Galatians 5:24, “And those of Christ Jesus (hoi tou Christou leesou) crucified the flesh with the [its] passions and the [its] cravings.” In fallen human nature there works a powerful principle of evil, described in christian terms as, “the old man which gets more and more corrupt according to the [its] deceitful cravings” (Ephesians 4:22). Its cravings deceive man into indulg­ing them, because they promise satisfaction though they produce corruption. Through partaking of the divine nature the believer in Christ is afforded a way of escaping “from the corruption that is in the world through lust [the cravings of the old man]” (2 Peter 1:4); but it abides a certainty, to the Christian as well as to the unbeliever, “that the one sowing to the flesh out of the flesh shall reap corruption” (Galatians 6:8).

How this corrupting principle in human nature originated perplexed philosophers and how to master it baffled moral­ists. Various schools had different methods. The circle of Epicurus proposed the sensually agreeable plan of stifling the flesh by satiating it. That of the Stoics advocated a stem rigid suppression. Eastern philosophy, as in Buddhism, recommended a sustained passive ignoring of all desire. The circle which bore the name of Christ Jesus had a method peculiar to itself. It was neither satiating, suppress­ing, nor ignoring, but crucifying: “those of Christ Jesus crucified the flesh.” They taught that Christ died on account of the old man himself, as well as his corrupt doings. They held that, judicially, before God, man’s creator and judge, the death of the Substitute was the death of the sinner, that therefore the old man “was crucified with Christ” (Romans 6:6). The messengers of this faith offered a promise from God that whoever would accept from the heart this view, with its implications and practical consequences, should receive power from His eternal Spirit to live in freedom from the old tyranny of sin. The new method worked effectively where all other attempts had failed. Moral crucifixion with Christ led on to moral resurrection with Him, and the circle that bore His name became, as a circle, and by contrast, con­spicuous for holiness. No doubt this crucifixion was more distinctly apprehended and more fully exhibited by some than by others; we know that in fact some in the circle were not children of God at all ‑ they seemed to be "of Christ Jesus” in the sense of publicly belonging to the circle that bore His name, though they were not “in Christ Jesus” by spiritual union: but the thought in the statement before us is that a certain known circle or school – “those of Christ Jesus” ‑ was character­ized by a certain attitude and doctrine, which its members were presumed to have adopted, and were expected and exhorted to maintain in practical conduct.

6. The important argument in Galatians 3:23-29, contains the same conception. “But if ye are of Christ, then are ye Abraham’s seed, etc.” (ei de humeis Christou, Galatians 3:29). Those who fear God are viewed by Him in two classes: first, such as in, spiritual growth are yet infants, and therefore under control by rules – “thou shalt . . . thou shalt not”; second, those who have become of age, grown up sons, who are freed from such restrictions; are at liberty. The former are under a tutor, the law (Galatians 3:23-25), who orders their conduct, who restrains and punishes the outworking of their carnal nature: the “sons” are “of Christ” (“but if ye are of Christ”), Who enables them by the Spirit to walk by the free, holy impulses of the new nature.

Translation from the one status and association into the other is by faith and baptism: that is, by an act of the heart known to God, but also by a public act seen by men; for we become “in Christ Jesus by faith” (Galatians 3:26), but we “put on Christ” by baptism (Galatians 3:27). Thus here also to be “of Christ” means something more than to have exercised faith in Him, even to have associated openly by immersion with those who profess to have died out of the old circle and to have risen again into a new circle, that of Christ Jesus.

7. In 2 Timothy 2:19-21, the apostle again speaks of things plain and visible; such as a foundation stone, and the inscrip­tion carved upon it; a house built on the foundation; the various utensils of the house, of either valuable or common materials, gold and silver or wood and earth. The picture is very like Paul’s earlier metaphor in 1 Corinthians 3:1-23 where also is the foundation, the superstructure, the precious or the perishable materials, either of which may be built by the believer into the life‑work and character which each is erecting on the one foundation. He exhorts the Corinthian Christians not to use the perishable: in Timothy he exhorts to purge out of one’s character the common elements, that the gold and silver of the divine nature, created in us by the Spirit upon the ground of redemption, may alone remain, and one be thus a vessel fit for the immediate use of the divine Master, not one relegated to the lower purposes of the great house. The said inscription on the foundation reads thus: “Knows the Lord those being of Him (tous ontas autou), and, Let every one naming the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” That is, the Lord, on His side, knows distinctly each one who in reality, according to the Lord’s standard, is of His circle. On our side the sign that warrants any person being accorded by us a place in that circle is that he forsakes unrighteousness. He who never yet has forsaken unrighteousness (wrong doing, adikia, as 1 Corinthians 6:8-9) is not “of Him,” (that is, not as the Lord judges), even though he may hold membership in a Christian church. He who having forsaken wrong doing afterward returns thereto is to be put out of the Christian circle (1 Corinthians 5:13), and thus ceases to be “of Him” for the purposes of this expression. This does not affect the final salvation of every believer; for one is saved before he is added to the church, and therefore final salvation does not depend upon member­ship in that privileged company who will form “the church.” * This cuts away the root of the Romish error that one must belong to the church to be saved. But the wrong doers of the church circle are plainly warned that they “shall not inherit God’s kingdom” (1 Corinthians 6:9 : etc.). Such will not be “accounted worthy of the kingdom of God” (2 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:11), and hence will not be of the “blessed and holy” who will rise in that first resurrection which assures reigning in that kingdom.

8. The expression under review is in Romans 8:9 : “But ye are not in flesh but in spirit, if at least spirit of God dwells in you. But if any one has not spirit of Christ, this one is not of Him.” The omission from verse 1 preceding of the clause “who walk not according to flesh but according to spirit” is of first importance, showing that the justification of a believer in Christ is not dependent upon his walk as a Christian. At the very moment that a repenting sinner rests his salvation upon the atoning work that Christ accomplished upon the cross, and therefore before he has had opportunity for doing any works, he acquires a new standing. By that faith in Christ he obtains access to the standing of one who is in the favour of God (Romans 5:1-2). He is then and there seen by God, his judge, no longer as he is in himself, but as he now is “in Christ.” He is deemed to have met his doom and to be free therefrom. The storm of wrath due to him on account of his sins has burst upon him in the person of his Divine Substitute: he has thus endured its full fury; that storm has exhausted itself, and “there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” But this eternally justified believer may henceforth walk either by the impulses of his old fleshly nature or by the leading of that new spirit nature which is created in us when we believe on Christ. That a justified person may walk “according to flesh” is certain from many Scriptures and much sad experience. “I, brethren,” says Paul, “was not able [formerly] to speak to you as to spiritual but as fleshly . . . But neither yet now am I able, for yet fleshly ye are. For whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not fleshly, and walk according to men,” that is, not according to God? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3. See also Galatians 5:13-26, for a sustained contrast between “flesh” and “spirit,” the old nature and the new, in the believer). To the Romans the apostle declared that if they lived according to flesh they would be unable to please God and were liable to die (Romans 8:7-8, and comp. 1 Corinthians 10:1-6). Upon this possibility of premature death we have before spoken. But, he adds, “ye are not in flesh but in spirit, if at least (eiper) spirit of God dwells in you.” This “if at least” * shows clearly the possibility of one who is for ever free from condemnation not being indwelt by “spirit of God.” It is God the Spirit Who creates and energises the new nature, but it is not the Holy Spirit as a person that is here in view: the question is whether the believer is ruled still by the mind of the old nature, which is “flesh,” or by the mind of the new nature, which is “spirit,” according to the exhortations “be renewed in the spirit of your mind”: “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 4:23; Php 2:5). And, adds the Scripture (Romans 8:9), “If any one has not spirit of Christ, this one (emphatic) is not of Him (ouk estin autou).”

[* “The Greek particle is more than merely ‘if’ (which often equals ’since’ or ’as’), and suggests just such doubt and enquiry as would amount to self‑examination. See 2 Corinthians 13:5.” Moule, Camb. Bible for Schools, in loco. So Alford: “if so be that (‘provided that’; not ‘since’ . . . that this is the meaning here is evident by the exception which immediately follows).”] In the light of the other places considered this will mean that one not ruled by the same spirit which animated Christ is not of that company which He owns as His circle, His household. “He is not His (belongs not to Him, in the higher and blessed sense of being united to Him as a member of Him)” Alford, in loco; italics mine. In his learned critical work Licht vom Osten (Light from the East ‑ ed. iv. 322) Professor Adolph Deissmann has re­marked upon the parallel between this genitive Christou, of Christ, and doulos Christou Christ’s slave, and the expressions Kaisaros of Caesar, and Caesar’s slave, belonging to Caesar, his own personal property; that is, his personal retinue and slaves as distinct from the vast host of his subjects out­side of his immediate household. In illustration he cites several of the passages here examined, including the one chiefly before us, 1 Corinthians 15:22, “they that are of Christ in His Parousia.” This usage is found in Php 4:22 : “All the saints salute you, especially they that are of Caesar’s house­hold” (hoi ek tees Kaisaros oikias). Comp. also Matthew 22:21 and parallels: “the things that are Caesar’s” (of Caesar, ta Kaisaros) contrasted with the other circle, “the things that are God’s” (ta tou Theou). Similarly, Christ also has a vast number who do acknowledge Him as Saviour but have not learned to be His slaves, and so are not “of Him” within the force of this term.

Many of the topics of this pamphlet are opened more fully, in THE REVELATION OF

JESUS CHRIST Some of the themes of this pamphlet are enlarged in

FIRSTBORN SONS Their Rights and Risks

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