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  WRITINGS OF C CRAIN
  by C. Crain
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A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by C. Crain, compiled
for study and devotional reading.

  Chapters: 30

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 01.00 Readings on the Epistle to the Romans
    2. 01.00i     Index
    3. 01.01     Romans 1
    4. 01.02     Romans 2
    5. 01.03     Romans 3
    6. 01.05     Romans 5
    7. 01.06     Romans 6
    8. 01.07     Romans 7
    9. 01.08     Romans 8
   10. 01.09     Romans 9
   11. 01.10     Romans 10
   12. 01.11     Romans 11
   13. 01.12     Romans 12
   14. 01.13     Romans 13
   15. 01.14     Romans 14-15.7
   16. 01.15     Romans 15:8-33
   17. 01.16     Romans 16
   18. 02.00 Readings on the First Epistle of John
   19. 02.00c     Contents
   20. 02.00i     *Introductory
   21. 02.01     1Jn_1:1-4.
   22. 02.02     1Jn_1:5-10.
   23. 02.03     1Jn_2:1-2.
   24. 02.04     1Jn_2:3-11.
   25. 02.05     1Jn_2:12-27.
   26. 02.06     1Jn_2:28 to 1Jn_3:24.
   27. 02.07     1Jn_4:1-7.
   28. 02.08     1Jn_4:7-19.
   29. 02.09     1Jn_4:20 to 1Jn_5:13.
   30. 02.10     1Jn_5:14-21.

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  CHAPTER 1: 01.00 READINGS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
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Readings on the Epistle to the Romans

C. Crain. The epistle to the Romans is, in character, a treatise on the gospel.
It is a divinely authorized unfolding of the nature and character of the gospel.


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  CHAPTER 2: 01.00I     INDEX
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Index

Romans 1

Romans 2

Romans 3

Romans 4

Romans 5

Romans 6

Romans 7

Romans 8

Romans 9

Romans 10

Romans 11

Romans 12

Romans 13

Romans 14

Romans 15

Romans 16


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  CHAPTER 3: 01.01     ROMANS 1
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Romans 1:1-32

Romans 1:1-17 is a fitting introduction. In it we are assured that the epistle
is written by divine authority. Paul, the human author of it, writes as one who
has been specially called by God to the apostolic office. He was divinely set
apart to the proclamation of the gospel to men — all men. As so called and set
apart, it was his divinely-imposed responsibility not only to publicly proclaim
the gospel to all nations, but also to unfold to the saints — all believers —
the fulness of the blessing it bestows on those who receive it.

Insisting on the divine authority by which he writes, the apostle also declares
that the message which God has put in his trust relates to God’s Son. The Son of
God is its great theme. This leads him to make a statement which is a remarkable
unfolding of the unique Person who is the subject of the message committed to
him. In this statement reference is first made to His earthly origin. He comes
of the family of David. By a true human birth He is a son of David. He is thus
in reality a true man. But the apostle goes on to say that He is a man to be
distinguished from all other men. The power of the Spirit of holiness was
displayed in Him throughout the life He lived in human flesh. In His human life
He came in contact with dead people; but whenever and wherever this contact
occurred there was manifested a power equal to the destruction of death and
corruption. Displayed thus as being in His own person the annulment of death and
corruption, He was shown to be the Son of God, proved to be God as well as man.

What a unique Person! What a glorious Person! How transcendently glorious even
in the lowest depths of humiliation!

It was by such a Person Paul was called to the apostolic office. He filled the
office by the highest possible authority. God’s object in putting him in trust
with the gospel, in setting him apart to the public proclamation of it among all
nations, was to secure faith-obedience. Among those who had thus obeyed the
gospel were the believers at Rome. They were very dear to God.

Paul evidently had never been at Rome, had never seen the believers there. They
were bright lights, since they were being spoken of everywhere; and this fact
filled the apostle’s heart with gratitude to God. He solemnly assured them that
he was continually praying for them, specially pleading to be granted the
privilege of making them a visit. It was his desire to bestow upon them some
spiritual blessing; and to have the comfort of enjoying in their midst the
mutual exercise of their faith.

It was not from lack of interest in them that he had never visited them. He had
often formed the purpose to go to Rome, but had been hindered thus far in
carrying it out. He acknowledged, however, that he owed the gospel to all men —
to the Barbarian as much as to the Greek; to the unwise as well as to the wise.
He was therefore ready, as far as it depended on himself, to proclaim the gospel
at Rome. He was not ashamed of it, for it was God’s power to save men. It meant
salvation to every one who believed it. The believer of the gospel is assured of
a full salvation — a salvation to be known and enjoyed as a present salvation.
What assures this to the believer is the blessed fact that the gospel contains a
full revelation of the righteous character of God. The gospel proclaims God’s
right, or title, to show grace — that there is no contradiction between
righteousness and grace in Him. It is this revelation of the harmony of divine
grace and divine righteousness that assures the believer of the gospel that he
is saved. The revelation is for faith. Faith therefore, — i.e., the believer —
possesses the revelation. It belongs to him. It is his right to enjoy it. It is
his privilege to be in the full comfort of the revelation.

It is the failure of preachers of the gospel to emphasize this blessed
revelation of the apostolic gospel that accounts for the doubts and lack of
assurance of salvation of large numbers of believers in the present day. May God
raise up among His people everywhere faithful proclaimers of the gospel
revelation that God, through the cross of Christ, has maintained His right to
show grace — full, free grace to sinners. Under such preaching we shall see
healthier converts and brighter saints. The cross of Christ is the full
revelation of what the wrath of God is. No mere governmental earthly and
temporal judgments, however severe and terrible, could be an adequate expression
of God’s absolute and eternal wrath. It was not until the cross, that men had a
full revelation of God’s estimate of sin. There, infinite and divine wrath was
fully told out. God showed all that it is as He poured it out on the holy head
of His beloved Son.

What a spectacle that scene was for both angels and men! How impressive! How
solemn! God revealing to all His intelligent creatures the due, the exact due,
of sin!

If God has made manifest in the cross of Christ the exact measure of what sin
must receive at His hand, it is necessary that men should learn that it is
impossible for them to come into the court of God and clear themselves of the
charge of guilt that in righteousness deserves such wrath as the cross is a
revelation of. Men need to be convicted of the absolute impossibility of giving
a justifiable reason for their sins, that they are absolutely without excuse,
before they will appreciate the grace that the gospel proclaims. From Romans
1:19-32, the apostle takes up the various pleas that men make why they should be
exempted from the judgment of God against sin, and shows how unavailing these
pleas are. He demonstrates the impossibility of any one establishing a valid
excuse for sin. He shows that no one can clear himself of being justly charged
with guilt.

First: If it is claimed that there are men who do not even know that there is a
divine Being, he shows the claim cannot be allowed. Creation, both as a whole
and in detail, is incessantly declaring there is a Creator, a God over all. It
is a demonstration of both the eternal power and divinity of the Maker of all
things. The responsibility and accountability of the intelligent finite creature
is involved in this testimony of creation. No one, then, can excuse himself for
violating the nature and character of his relation to the Creator — a creation
of which he knows himself to be a part. As rational beings, all men owe
subjection to their Creator, and sin in every form is in violation of this
subjection, but no valid excuse can be made. No plea for violating creation’s
witness will stand. It is inexcusable guilt (Romans 1:19-20).

Second: It is sometimes said there are hosts of men whom God has abandoned; that
He has left to indulge themselves in their lusts; are they then to be blamed for
sinking into low and degrading vices? The excuse will not avail. It is true that
God, in governmental dealings, because men have turned away from Him and have
chosen to indulge their lusts, has given them over to the vices they love. But
notwithstanding this, there is in them innately (such is the constitution of
their being) a sense of the justice of God in sentencing them to death. They
know they deserve to die. They know the sentence by which they have been
condemned to die is absolutely just. This is true of the lowest, of the most
degraded and abandoned. None, then, can excuse themselves, or their sins, in the
court of God on the ground of His having given them over to judicial blindness.
His governmental ways will not be a protecting shield against the charge of
guilt (Romans 1:32).


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  CHAPTER 4: 01.02     ROMANS 2
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Romans 2:1-29

Third: There are those who say, "But we are not so low and degraded as the great
mass of the poor, ignorant, blind heathen. We know better; we condemn their
vulgarities and vices. Are we to be judged along with them?" Especially in
so-called Christian lands, where the light of the truth of God shines more or
less brightly, is there a large class of people who are thus making their
superior light and knowledge a reason why they ought to be exempted from eternal
judgment. But in the day when a just God will judge, their plea will not stand.
It will be proof rather of despising the riches of God’s goodness, forbearance
and long-suffering, and of refusing to repent. It will be evidence of a
hardened, impenitent heart.

God is just. He will judge justly in the day of judgment. Righteousness will be
the principle on which He will judge. If any one can produce in the court of the
judgment-day a record that will prove that he has been a seeker of glory, honor
and incorruptibility, his record will be approved. But who will be able to
produce such a record? But if righteousness requires the approval of the record
(supposing it possible for such a record to be produced), it would necessarily
require the disapproval of a record that will be proof of disobedience and sin.
Will there be any whose record will not be that?

If, then, righteousness is the principle on which the judgment will be carried
out, it will be in vain for any to hope for exemption from judgment on the
ground of having better light and knowledge than the poor, ignorant heathen. God
will not respect persons when He judges the deeds and thoughts of men. Those who
have sinned without having special advantages and privileges will receive the
due reward of their sins. The guilt of those who have sinned under greater light
and knowledge will be all the greater. Righteousness will demand a judgment
commensurate with the guilt. Light and knowledge will not be accepted as an
excuse for sin.

If Romans 2:1-16 thus clearly insists on the inexcusable culpability of those
who boast of light and knowledge above their more unfortunate fellowmen, sunken
in vice, we are now to learn how the case of the Jew stands. By the will and
authority of God, he occupies a specially exalted position among men. He had
received a divine commission, had been called to be Jehovah’s witness and the
exponent of His will. Set thus in the place of a light, guide and teacher to all
men by divine authority, his responsibility was peculiarly solemn. How has he
met it? Why, instead of being a bright and shining light for God, a true and
faithful witness that Jehovah was the one only and true God, by his idolatry and
incessant disobedience he has become the occasion and instrumentality of God’s
being blasphemed among the Gentiles. He has incurred very great guilt. A Jew
might answer, while admitting all this, that circumcision protected him from
judgment by God. The apostle exposes the utter insecurity of such a retreat. No
Jew would be willing to have an uncircumcised man who kept the righteousness of
the law counted as a circumcised man. He, then, must submit to being counted as
an uncircumcised man if he breaks the law. It is not the formal ordinance of
circumcision that makes one a really circumcised man; for circumcision to be
real must be of the heart. No Jew has the right to count himself to be really a
Jew unless he is one inwardly (Romans 2:17-29).


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  CHAPTER 5: 01.03     ROMANS 3
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Romans 3:1-31

If a Jew objects that this makes formal circumcision useless, and that there is
no good in being outwardly a Jew, the apostle answers that many advantages and
privileges belong to those who have been outwardly circumcised, the principal
one being the guardianship of the "oracles of God." Here, alas, the Jew had
signally failed.

He might still argue, admitting the failure, that having put them in trust with
the faith, God could not possibly nullify it. If He should finally judge them,
He would falsify His character. To maintain His righteousness with those among
whom He had deposited His oracles, He must exempt them from judgment. The
argument means that God cannot vindicate His righteousness in the day of
judgment, if He takes account of the sins of a Jew. To silence this the apostle
appeals to Psalms 51:4. Just as He took account of the sins of David, and was
justified in doing so by David himself, so in the day of judgment the right of
God to take account of sins will be fully justified. He will overcome every one
who thinks to call it in question. It will be better to make every man a liar
rather than challenge God’s right to judge sin.

If refuge be taken under the plea that the unrighteousness of the Jew will
commend the righteousness of God, the answer is, "That destroys God’s right to
judge at all. Every Jew is anticipating the judgment of God upon the world; but
on this principle it never could be."

Besides this, it implies that the truth of God is dependent, for example, on my
lie to abound to the glory of God; but this means that it is my right to sin —
that it is a justifiable thing to say, "Let us do evil that good may come." But,
the apostle says, The judgment of such is just.

Thus every argument is met, and the Jew is left without a single reason why he
should be exempted from judgment in the day when God will call men to an account
about their sins. He is in no better case than the Gentile. All Jews and all
Gentiles are under sin. All are chargeable with guilt.

Thus far the apostle, saving a single exception, has been reasoning without
appealing to the Scriptures. Every argument has been forceful, and there is no
escape from the conclusion that not a single man can offer a valid excuse for
his sins in the court of God. But before he drops the subject he adds now many
scriptures to show that they confirm his reasoning. Their testimony is that
every mouth is stopped, that the whole world is guilty; and this is just what he
has been proving.

He concludes now by insisting on the absolute impossibility of a man’s
justifying himself before God by deeds of law. The law convicts of sin. It does
not clear the guilty, but affirms the guilt. It must be useless, then, to seek
justification before God by it.

We have seen that all men, without exception, are chargeable with sin. Not one
has any valid excuse. No one can put in a plea that his case must be treated as
an exception. Though varying in degrees of guilt, there is not so much as one
who is not guilty. All being guilty, all are under the necessity of having to
stand before the throne of God’s judgment to receive the due, the righteous due,
of the deeds done in the body. In Romans 3:21-31 we learn of a provision of God
for a release from this necessity. There is a way in which a guilty sinner,
deserving everlasting judgment, can be righteously delivered from it. This must
engage our attention now.

Let us consider, first, What is needful for a holy and righteous God to
righteously set a sinner free from the necessity of receiving the righteous due
of his sins? Is it possible for God to forgive sins without conserving His
holiness? Surely not. Can He cancel the charges of guilt against a sinner at the
expense of His righteousness? Certainly He cannot. It is as impossible for Him
to violate His holiness, or ignore His righteousness, as it is for Him to lie.
If, then, He forgives sins, if He cancels the charges of guilt, if He shows even
the least mercy, if He exercises grace at all in dealing with sinners, it must
be in such a way that the questions, Where is His holiness? and, Where is His
righteousness? are fully answered. He must have what He can point to as being
full vindication. Grace, with Him, must be in every way above question. The
matter may be put very simply. Is God righteous in setting a sinner free from
the claim of everlasting judgment? What is God’s answer to this question? Christ
in heaven, "whom God has set forth a mercy-seat." The apostle is alluding to the
blood-sprinkled mercy-seat of Leviticus 16:1-34. Suppose one asking an
Israelite, How can God dwell among you? How can He vindicate His holiness and
yet dwell in the midst of such a people as you? the answer was, The
blood-sprinkled mercy-seat. So, now, to the question, Can God be righteous in
canceling sins and reckoning a sinner righteous? the answer is, Christ in heaven
as a lamb that has been slain is the fullest vindication of His righteousness in
doing so. He is there as the One who gave Himself for sins. He is there as the
One who paid the full price for the righteous title to redeem. He is there as
the One who by offering Himself as a sacrifice unto God has conserved His
holiness and maintained His righteousness. The sacrifice by which this was
accomplished was the ransom-price which had to be paid that God might be
righteous in delivering a sinner from the necessity of receiving the due of his
sins. Christ, then, by becoming a substitute for sinners, and making a
propitiatory sacrifice, has procured for God the righteous title to save
sinners; has put into His hand, so to speak, the title to redeem; has made it
consistent for Him to set sinners free from the claim of eternal judgment.

Thus far I have spoken of the righteous title. We will now consider God’s
exercise of it. In the scripture before us we learn something about it. In times
before the cross, we are told that God used it anticipatively. In forbearance He
passed over sins in anticipation of the atoning sacrifice He had foreordained.
He gratuitously pretermitted sins. The Old Testament believers were released
from the necessity of having to stand before the judgment-bar of God to be
judged for their sins. It was grace in God, but grace in forbearance in
anticipation of a sacrifice that would be a complete vindication of the grace.

It was not from any merit in themselves that the Old Testament believers were
released from the eternal due of their sins. They were children of wrath as
truly as ourselves, but they will not come into judgment any more than we,
because it was a righteous thing for God to act in grace in view of a
substitutionary propitiation that would be an unanswerable defence of it.

Now Christ in heaven as the Lamb that was slain is the declaration that this
grace of God in Old Testament times was both holy and just. His presence there
as the One who died for sins proclaims the righteousness of God in His
pretermission of sins — that the Old Testament saints were righteously released
from the wrath of God which their sins deserve. Their salvation and eternal
blessing thus stand on an immovable foundation. But that which proclaims how
just God was in the grace He exercised in Old Testament times proclaims also how
just He is in New Testament days. He is now exercising His righteous title to
justify, to cancel sins, to release from the charge of guilt. It is, as we have
seen, through Christ’s shedding His blood that this righteous title to remit
sins exists. In delivering from them; in setting free from their due; in not
keeping them in the account of charges, but canceling them, He is justly
exercising that title which the sacrificial death of Christ gives Him. Christ
gone into heaven, in the efficacy of a death which His resurrection declares, is
a perpetual witness that God is just. He is also the witness that God is the
justifier of those who believe. He is perpetually proclaiming that God is freely
using His righteous title to justify those who seek shelter from judgment under
the sacrificial death of Christ.

Through the redemption — the releasing — that is in Christ Jesus, there is a
gratuitous justification for sinners; a justification freely bestowed in a grace
that is vindicated against any charge of unholiness or unrighteousness.

Another point to be considered is, On what principle does God use His righteous
title to act in grace? The answer is, Faith. Faith is the one only condition of
partaking of the blessing God has a just title to give. It was believers, in Old
Testament times, as we have seen, whose sins God pretermitted. It is believers
that He justifies now. Faith is thus shown to be the principle on which God
exercises His title to act in grace. He has a good right to be gracious, to act
in grace, and all are free to profit by it, on the condition of faith.

Now this is the glorious revelation which the gospel of God declares. In it the
righteousness of God is revealed. It proclaims God’s righteous title to deliver
from judgment those who deserve to be judged forever. It is saying to sinners
(and all have sinned), God is the One who justifies. He is the justifier. He
justifies freely. He justifies on the principle of faith. Here is a
righteousness which is for all; and all who believe are securely sheltered by
it. What a grand message to be proclaimed to men everywhere! But if God is the
justifier, and justifies on the principle of faith, there can be no boasting.
The principle of faith excludes it absolutely. No one can claim a better right
to be justified than another. The privilege of faith cannot be offered to any
without offering it to all. If a sinner of one class or condition of men can
have the opportunity to believe, and thus be justified, then a sinner of any
class or condition of men can have the same opportunity. Justification is simply
on the principle of faith. Works in no wise enter into it. Neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision has anything to do with it. If God can justify a Jew on the
principle of faith, He can justify a Gentile in the same way. There is no
difference. It is gratuitous in any case. No one has a claim upon God for His
grace. A Jew might think this nullifies law, but it is not so. On the contrary,
it confirms the law. The law convicts all of sin; it brings all in guilty before
God. It does not cancel sins. It does not dismiss the charges against the
sinner. It affirms his guilt, and testifies to his need of grace — the free,
sovereign grace of God. The grace that meets this need establishes the law which
affirms the need.

God, then, can righteously cancel the charges of sins against sinners. This is
founded on the sacrificial death of Christ. Christ’s exaltation in heaven is the
proclamation of it, and that God is exercising it on the principle of faith.
Thus, believers in Jesus who was here in this world as sent of God to make
propitiation, are released from receiving the due of their sins, and stand
before the face of God judicially cleared from every charge of guilt. They have
been justified gratuitously through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; no
merit in them or their works entering into the justification they have received
from Him who has the righteous title to bestow it. In Romans 1:2, speaking of
the gospel in the form in which it was authoritatively proclaimed, the apostle
says that the prophets who uttered the Old Testament revelations distinctly
promised it. Either in type, illustration, or formal prophetic statement, the
Old Testament Scriptures anticipate the grand proclamation of the gospel of God.
They are rich in foreshadows of it. It is true, clouds and mists surrounded
these foreshadows; still, where there was faith, the clouds and mists were more
or less penetrated. Faith learned more or less distinctly to anticipate what God
was anticipating. As in the blaze of the full light that now shines we look back
upon the Old Testament saints in the dimmer and partial light that was shining
upon them, we can easily see how precious their foreshadows of our light must
have been to them. There is, then, a unity between the gospel as partially told
out then, and as fully declared now. The Old Testament promises and foreshadows
are a divine seal on the New Testament unfolding of the grace that is in the
heart of God. In Romans 3:21, in mentioning the righteousness of God that is now
fully revealed in the gospel message of New Testament days, the apostle speaks
of it as "witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets." Both the Law and the
Prophets strongly emphasize the need of man. They insist on the hopelessness of
his case except as God, in the sovereignty of His grace, takes him up. In doing
this, they foreshadow the ground on which this sovereign grace is, in
righteousness. The Law, by its typical system of sacrifices, clearly pointed out
the way in which the need of sinful men is met. It declared that God’s way of
delivering men from the due of their sins is by a substitutionary sacrifice;
that only by such a sacrifice could God righteously release men from their
guilt. In this testimony the Prophets abundantly joined. They urge again and
again the complete ruin of man, and point out God’s way of meeting that ruin.
The doctrine of the Prophets is that by the provision of an acceptable sacrifice
for sins sinners can righteously be set free from the due of their sins. The Law
and the Prophets thus, in their partial unfolding of the righteousness of God,
and in their anticipations of its complete unfolding as it is now since the
Cross, are Old Testament witnesses that God is just in His grace, and of how He
is just.


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  CHAPTER 6: 01.05     ROMANS 5
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Romans 5:1-21

Now, in Romans 5:1-11 we have the practical results for the justified. Here we
must remind ourselves that it is in no wise a question of how fully we are in
the enjoyment of these results. This depends on the energy of faith. These most
blessed consequences of God justifying us on the principle of faith may be
enjoyed in greater measure by one than by another. There may be times when the
same individual will be more fully in the enjoyment of them than at other times.
But the apostle is not occupying us with this here. He is rather stating what
are the normal consequences of justification for the believer.

Let us then seek to learn what these normal consequences are. The first
practical result of justification by faith mentioned by the apostle is "peace
with God." If God is the justifier, if He sets a believing sinner before His
face in an abiding, unchangeable righteousness, then all controversy about sins
between God and that soul is ended forever. By justifying him, God Himself has
ended it. He has put the believing sinner before His face in righteousness, and
no more charges up his sins against him. He no more presses upon him the need of
answering to God for his sins, so far as bearing their penalty is concerned.
This is peace — peace with God. The force of the expression is peace as respects
God. Through the instrumentality of our Lord Jesus Christ there is for the
believer — the spiritual child of Abraham — peace as regards God. On the ground
of the sacrifice of Christ God is for him, not against him. On account of the
work of the Cross, he being now a believer, God has ended His controversy with
him, What a blessed result of justification this is! God for us! God no longer
maintaining His controversy with us! And this blessed result, let us remember,
is true for "all them that believe."

Another result is the God-given privilege of entering by faith into the grace in
which we stand. Under law, the children of Abraham (his spiritual children)
could not do this. The grace in which they stood was clouded. Law was a
hindrance to them. The privilege of taking practically the place of sons was not
given them. But now, through the instrumentality of the Lord Jesus Christ, on
the ground of His atoning sacrifice, the privilege of entering by faith into the
grace in which we stand is given. It is in grace we stand. God gratuitously sets
the believer before His face in unchanging favor, and grants him now the
privilege of enjoying that favor without a cloud. This too is the right, a
God-given right, of "all them that believe" — a blessed consequence indeed of
justification by faith! A third result is the liberty of soul in which the
believer can now anticipate and await the day in which God will display Himself.
The justified may calmly contemplate the glory of God, and rejoice in it. God
has made them meet for it. And since the glorious revelations of which the cross
of Christ has been the occasion, no clouds nor mists remain to disturb the mind
in thinking of the day when there shall be a full display of God. The Cross has
settled every question concerning the believer’s right to be with God in that
day. It has disposed of everything that would make that day a thing to be
dreaded. The glory of that day is the hope of those whom God has justified. It
is their privilege to anticipate it with unspeakable joy. A fourth result of
justification by faith is the joy to be found in trials. The trials of the
justified are innumerable. Justification does not exempt from them, but it gives
power to rise above them. It enables the soul to value the priceless blessings
they minister. But what are these blessings? First, with the eye on the coming
glory, the trials are judged as incomparable with it. They thus become "light
afflictions, which are but for a moment," soon to pass away, and are thus easy
to be endured. Trials, then, develop patient endurance — one of the marked
characteristics of our blessed Saviour. How precious is fellowship with Christ
in patient suffering! We may well endure trial to experience the preciousness of
it.

Experience is next mentioned as the product of patient endurance. In patiently
enduring trial, we prove how good the will of God for us is. We gain a practical
experience of His thoughtful care, of the sufficiency of His love and the
resources of His grace for us. We get to know Him better, to know better what
His heart is. We realize better how Christ sympathizes with us, and we
understand better what His own path was; that path of which He could say, "The
lines are fallen unto Me in pleasant places" (Psalms 16:6). We thus learn by a
practical experience of it to say, with Him, "Yea, I have a goodly heritage."
How immeasurably blessed is such an experience! But let us remember that it is
in patiently enduring our trials that we find this precious experience.

We are next told that "experience works hope." As, in the path that leads to the
glory, we experience what the God of glory is, how that glory brightens! As by
patient endurance we learn experimentally the love and care and tender mercies
of Christ in His never-failing ministry to us as He guides us on our way, how we
are constrained to say, "What will it be to be with Him!" It is thus experience
works hope. It is thus experience strengthens in us the desire to realize the
hope that is set before us. The apostle now assures us that hope makes not
ashamed. The path we are in bestows upon us no worldly honors. The world
disdains it, looks contemptuously upon it; but, with the light of our glorious
hope shining upon it, we are not ashamed. Our hope, too, is an unfailing,
unfading hope. Worldly hopes fail, and disappoint those who wait for them; but
he who patiently endures the trials of the path of the justified will never be
disappointed. He will never be made ashamed. As he draws nearer and nearer to
the consummation of the glory he is waiting for, his confidence in its
realization strengthens. He grows steadily stronger in hope because along the
way he enjoys the love of the God of his hope. It is shed abroad in his heart.
The God of eternity, with whom he is to eternally dwell, is the God of love —
love already manifested and filling the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit
that indwells the believer.

Here we must notice that the gift of the Spirit to indwell the body of the
believer is a blessing from God that accompanies justification by faith. All who
are justified by God have the Spirit. The Spirit is now given, since the death
and resurrection of Christ, to all the children of Abraham — to all them that
believe. All who are justified by God have the Spirit as the power of realizing
and enjoying His love. It is the Spirit who sheds it abroad in the heart. But
while the love of God is shed abroad in the heart of the justified, it is not
there that its full measure is to be found. For this we must ever turn to the
Cross. It was there that the love was fully manifested. The love displayed in
the cross of Christ is a love for sinners, for those who are without God,
helplessly under the eternal doom of sin. It was for such Christ died. In this
death of Christ for sinners God displayed what His love toward us is. In thus
displaying His love toward us He commends it as surpassing all other love. Love
in God finds all its motives in Himself, not in the objects toward which it goes
out.

Love of that character is free to provide itself with the means by which to
justify the objects toward which it goes out. It supplies itself with the basis
on which it justifies itself for being the kind of love it is. This basis is the
blood of Christ — His sacrificial death.

If then the blood of Christ is love’s vindication of itself, and the basis on
which it goes out to sinners, it is the basis of the sinner’s justification, the
basis on which God acts in justifying.

Here I must call attention to the difference between justification by blood and
justification by faith. Justification by blood is justification on the basis of
the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ is God’s title, or right, to
justify. It does not mean that because Christ died for all, that therefore
everybody is justified, but that He died for all as providing a righteous basis
for God to justify. But the principle on which He justifies is faith. It is only
the sinner who believes that is justified. The actual justification of the
sinner, therefore, is individual. We are all individually justified when we
believe. Hence we may speak of being justified by faith. But God’s act in
justifying us individually when we believe, i.e., on the principle of faith, is
based on the blood — the sacrifice of Christ. Looking thus at our justification
as based on the work of the cross, we may speak of being justified by blood. It
is not that there are two ways of justification. There is only one way. This we
may state as justification by or on the principle of faith, on the basis or
ground of the blood of Christ. In Romans 5:9 it is the ground of justification
that is in the mind of the apostle; so he says, "Justified by His blood." But if
a righteous basis for our justification has been provided through the death of
Christ, He who died to provide this has risen from the dead; He is a risen,
living Christ, and believers live by and in Him. He is their life. He is thus
our salvation from wrath. He as the living One, the source of life to us, the
One by whom and in whom we live, stands forever between us and wrath.

We were enemies, but by the death of His Son God has reconciled us to Himself.
By the power of the love displayed in the sacrifice of the cross, God has won
our hearts. We are now no longer enemies. But, being reconciled, our full and
final salvation is bound up with Him who is our life. We live by and in One who,
having triumphed over death, can never again be brought under its power. Death,
then, can never have power over those who live by Him. Their full and final
salvation is thus assured by His life. And here let us remind ourselves that
this is true for all the justified. All whom God has gratuitously justified; all
whom He has set before His face in unchanging righteousness on the ground of the
sacrificial death of Christ, are eternally secure in that place, because they
live by Him who has brought them there. The power of life in Him must be applied
to their bodies as well as His if they live by Him. They shall be saved by His
life — finally and completely saved — finally and completely conformed to Him,
their bodies made like His. All the justified are assured of such a salvation.
It is a necessary consequence of justification.

There is yet one other result of justification mentioned by the apostle. The
justified, knowing God as the author and revealer of such a full salvation,
glory in His being what He is. He reveals Himself in the salvation He provides.
Those who are the happy subjects of it glory in Him as thus revealed.

There is another thing to call attention to. It is the place our Lord Jesus
Christ has in connection with all these blessed consequences of justification.
It is by, or through Him we have them. We must notice how the apostle emphasizes
this. If he speaks of having peace with God, he adds, "through our Lord Jesus
Christ"; if of access into the grace in which we stand, he reminds us it is "by"
Him we have this access. If he alludes to our being saved from wrath, he tells
us it is "through Him." If he refers to joying in God, he insists that it is
"through our Lord Jesus Christ." If he speaks of having received reconciliation
with such a God as the salvation He has provided reveals Him to be, he reminds
us it is by or through Him. Thus again and again our attention is fixed on the
fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is the One to whom we are indebted for all these
immeasurable blessings which are the portion of the justified. His sacrificial
death is the ground on which they are ours. How well may we sing, "Oh, what a
debt we owe"!

We have seen that not only is salvation from wrath the assured portion of those
who are justified by God on the ground of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, but
that they live by and in the living and risen One. We have also seen that the
power of resurrection which has already been applied to the body of our blessed
Lord, in its due season will be applied to the bodies of the justified. Our
salvation will not be a fully completed salvation until this is done. But such a
salvation is assured to the justified.

If, then, there is power in Christ, the living, risen Christ, to conform the
bodies of the justified (whether it be the mortal body or the dead body) to His
own resurrection body, there must be power in Him to use the mortal body as a
vessel for the display of this life: there must be power in Him to produce
practical holiness in those who have life in Him. Nothing in the life, walk and
service of the justified that is not produced by Him can be fruitfulness for
God. The living, risen Christ, then is the power of practical deliverance from
the power of sin still dwelling in the bodies of the justified. This practical
salvation from the power of indwelling sin is involved and included in the
expression, in Romans 5:10, "We shall be saved by His life."

Now, before we proceed with the epistle, it is important that this should be
clearly understood. From this point on, it is not a question of how a guilty
sinner can be saved from the necessity of having to stand before God, to be
judged for his sins — the deeds done in his body, but it is a question of how a
person — who has already been saved from that dreadful necessity — can be saved
from the present dominion of the sin that dwells in him. It is not a salvation
from a future judgment of sins that is being considered, but a day by day
salvation from a power that is realized to be ever inwardly present. Sin dwells
in the mortal body, how can it be nullified? That is the great question. How can
the tyranny of sin dwelling in the body be overcome? Can practical deliverance
from the dominion of indwelling sin be realized?

Here many serious and fatal mistakes have been made. Many, not realizing that
the living, risen Christ is the power of deliverance, have sought to curb the
activities of indwelling sin. They have endeavored to resist it and fight it
down. With many the conclusion has been accepted that it is not only a hopeless
struggle, but that they have no resource. They say, "We must go on in sin." They
abandon the struggle and give up the very idea of ever in this life realizing
deliverance from the power of sin. They reason that under grace it is
permissible to continue in sin. Some carry the argument so far that they justify
continuing in sin on the ground that the grace of God abounds by it. It is an
unholy argument — a shocking abuse of grace.

Another mistake, often made, is that the struggle with indwelling sin, to
repress and overcome it, is the normal Christian experience. They consider that
the struggle and the exercises connected with it are the sure proofs of being a
Christian. They would look upon one who has found deliverance, and lives in the
sense and joy of it, as being presumptuous and treading on very dangerous
ground. With them the cry, voiced by the apostle, where he says, "O wretched man
that I am," is the very acme of Christian attainment. They, too, thus give up
the idea of deliverance from the power of indwelling sin.

Others again consider that the struggle with the inward evil indicates that the
Holy Spirit has not been received. Some of those who hold this view contend that
we must die to sin. They constantly urge upon us that we must crucify self, that
we must persist in the process of self-crucifixion until we have succeeded in
eliminating the inward evil altogether. They argue that the Holy Spirit and sin
cannot dwell together, that the body must be made a holy body — a sinless body,
before the Holy Spirit can come into it to make it His habitation. Some, a few,
have persuaded themselves that they have been successful in their efforts to
destroy self, and that, in their cases, the mortal body has actually become a
sinless body. Many more are struggling hard to attain that result. But there are
others who would strenuously refuse such teaching as I have been referring to,
who yet hold that the Holy Spirit does not indwell the body of one who has not
learned or apprehended what is the real power of deliverance from the reign of
the indwelling sin. According to their view the believer, who is passing through
the exercises and experiences which are described and explained in the portion
of the epistle we are about to consider, is not yet in Christ. While they have a
more or less clear understanding of the character of the exercises and
experiences themselves, they yet regard the one who is passing through them as
still "in the flesh." For them he is neither in Christ nor in the Spirit.

Now all these views, and others, more or less akin to them, are erroneous. The
section of the epistle that is now to be before us fully answers them. To enter
intelligently on the study of it, it is needful to mark the character of it as
distinguished from that of the section we have already reviewed. In this no
question of the sinful nature inherent in all men was raised. There is no guilt
attaching to the children of Adam for having a fallen, sinful nature. They are
not responsible for it, will not be judged for it at the great white throne.
They are, however, responsible for allowing it to act. Guilt attaches to the
allowing the acts. It is for the deeds done in the body men are responsible.
This is what constitutes them guilty. It is their guilt — the deeds done — that
they will have to face and be judged for at the great white throne.

We have already seen that what characterizes that part of the epistle we have
gone over is the ground and principle on which God gratuitously and righteously
delivers a guilty man from the necessity of being judged for what he is guilty
of, from having to endure the eternal penalty of his sins.

Nothing of this is found in the next part of the epistle. The wrath of God, as
the deserved due of sins, is not contemplated here. It is not this that causes
the exercises and experiences that are described. We are not in any way occupied
with a soul that is fearing the judgment of the great white throne and is
seeking deliverance from it. This has been fully considered in the previous
chapters, and peace with God established on a secure basis. But what we find
here is a soul that, having deliverance from eternal judgment, and being so in
the sense of the love of God in providing such a deliverance for him, earnestly
wants now to live for God. He wants to serve God in a life of holiness. He wants
his life now henceforth to be one of fruitfulness for God. Hitherto his body has
been a vessel for the use of sin, for Satan’s use, now he wants to be a vessel
for the use of God. But with these desires, purposes, aims, longings and
aspirations, he finds in himself a power that hinders him from realizing what he
so ardently desires. By this power — the power of evil within him, an
indwelling, fallen, sinful nature — he is turned from normal Christian
occupation (the enjoyment of Christ) to self-occupation and introspection. He
longs to be delivered from this power. He feels what terrible bondage it is to
be so helpless under a power which, the more he struggles against it, the more
miserable he gets. It is a wretched condition to be in. The exceedingly sinful
thing that is in him, his fallen, sinful nature, seems to be triumphant. It is
reigning in his body. Is there a power that is greater than this power of
indwelling sin? — a power equal to the deliverance out of this wretched
self-occupation and miserable introspection? — a power of sufficient energy to
produce holiness notwithstanding an ever-present sinful nature? — to produce
fruit for God, to use the body as a vessel for the display of the life of the
risen Christ, though sin still dwells in it?

Yes, thank God, there is such a power. Only it needs that we be turned to the
place where it is to find it, and be conscious of its workings. It is this need
that the second part of Romans meets and provides for. It turns us to the place
where the power for living the life of Christ practically is to be found. To be
occupied with it there is to be practically under the delivering power, and
practically delivered from the power of indwelling sin. This part of the
epistle, then, answers the question, Where do the justified find power to live
practically by Christ? Where do they find power to display the life of the risen
Christ in their mortal bodies?

We shall now turn to it to follow the apostle’s discussion of the question. May
the blessed Spirit guide us in doing so. And may we be helped to a fuller and
deeper apprehension of the deliverance that the God who righteously justifies
the sinner that believes, has provided for the justified to enjoy. The blessings
which grace bestows along with justification by faith are all, as we have seen,
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this suggests the idea of many being involved
by the act of one, and sharing the results of that act. Possibly the thought was
before the apostle’s mind as an objection raised by some to his teaching. At all
events, he fully indorses the idea. If the word "wherefore" is changed to the
expression, "with reference to this" (which is really the force of the words in
the original), the meaning is made more simple. Thus the apostle’s argument is:
With regard to the justified being involved in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and sharing in its results, it is the same as it is with sin and death coming
into the world by one man. Many are involved by the one sin of Adam, and share
in the results of that sin.

There is no other explanation of the fact that the children of Adam universally
have a corrupted moral nature. The moral nature of man was first corrupted in
him — our progenitor. Having become corrupted in him, it has passed on naturally
as an inheritance to his descendants. They have a fallen, sinful nature through
him. All his children are thus involved in his fall and ruin — the many involved
by the act of the one. As regards death, it is the penalty of sin. It was by sin
that death came to Adam, but the death that came thus to him has passed on to
his descendants. Involved in his moral ruin by his sin, deriving from him his
fallen, sinful nature, to be righteously exempted from the death he brought in
by sin, his children must establish a right to live. Not one has ever done this.
They all sin, and so death justly passes to them. In the holy government of God
it would be impossible to exempt from death the sinning children of Adam,
although it is not their sinning that brought death into the world. It was
brought into the world by the sin of Adam. It came in thus under the government
of God as penalty for sin, and it necessarily passes to all that sin — which all
do.* Righteously, therefore, all die.

{*The apostle is not here taking the case of infants and idiots into
consideration. It is quite true that they have, as an inheritance from Adam, a
corrupt nature, and die. They are, so far, involved by his one act of
disobedience. Still, when the apostle says, "For all have sinned," he must be
exempting infants and idiots. He surely exempts them in Romans 3:23. Those who
die in infancy, in irresponsibility, are exempt from a judgment of "deeds done
in the body." It is of those in responsibility that the apostle says, "For all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Even the irresponsible die,
for they are linked by the body with the old creation which must pass away. But
there is no reason why they will not have part in the first resurrection. If we
view them in their irresponsibility as exempted from judgment, their case
presents no difficulty.} The law did not alter this. It was a special system of
dealing with man; a system in which sin was taken note of in detail, and under
which sin became transgression, and was thus shown to be in nature and character
enmity to God. If death thus rightly reigned under law, it is still true that it
rightly reigned when and where there was no law; for it was not law that brought
death into the world; it came in by sin, and sin was in the world before law.
The principle, then, of many being affected by the act of one is clearly
established by appealing to undoubted historical fact. The entire human race is
involved in the one act of disobedience by which the moral nature of our
progenitor became corrupted. The universal reign of death is a sufficient appeal
to demonstrate the principle of many sharing in the consequences of the act of
one.

Now Adam, looked at as the fountain-head of the stream of fallen, sinful
humanity, a race of sinners, sharing in the disastrous results of his sinful
act, is a "figure" of Christ. He, too, is the Head of a race, a spiritual race,
all of whom are involved in His blessed obedience unto death, and share in its
glorious consequences. The principles we have been considering are as true in
connection with Christ as they are in connection with Adam.

However, before the apostle draws his conclusions from the argument he is using,
he stops to point out certain features connected with those two fountainheads in
which they stand in remarkable contrast, and in which Christ abundantly exceeds
over Adam. While Adam is a type of Christ, and thus in certain features there is
a similarity between them, there are three features in which there is
dissimilarity. The dissimilarity consists in this, that in the case of Adam
there is the measuring of penalty in exact righteousness; while with Christ
there is a wealth of blessing that far exceeds the need that has to be met. It
is a "much more" than the recovery of a position and condition that have been
lost. It is the gaining a much higher place and a condition of blessing
infinitely greater than those which were forfeited by sin.

Let us look at the three features in which the dissimilarity between the first
man, Adam, and the Second Man, the last Adam, is so strongly emphasized.

First, there is a difference between "the offence" of the one and "the free
gift" which is by the Other. By Adam’s one offence death has been transmitted to
"the many" who have sprung from him. The death that came to Adam as penalty for
sin has passed on in that character to those that have descended from him. Now
the "free gift" by Christ, conferred on "the many" to whom it is given to "live
by Him," abounds for them far beyond their deliverance from death, the penalty
of sin. It means for them life in the abundance of its power. It is "much more"
than salvation from the death duly and righteously deserved. It is the positive
reality and blessedness of living with God.

Again, there is dissimilarity between the effects of "the one sin" and the
effects of "the gift." A state of condemnation was established by one sin. One
sin produced a subsisting state of condemnation. One sin brought it in. The gift
through Christ has established a state of righteousness. An abiding, subsisting
state of righteousness is the effect of the gift of Christ. This established
state of positive righteousness is "much more" than deliverance out of the state
of condemnation. The gift does indeed deliver out of the state of condemnation,
taking full cognizance of the accumulation of offences; but beyond the
deliverance from the condemnation, there is the provision of a state of positive
righteousness, which is one of abiding acceptance. This is a righteousness
already produced, fully accomplished — a completed righteousness conferred by
God in grace. How blessed to have it thus as the transcending favor of God! The
third feature in which there is dissimilarity relates to the final results.
Through the offence of the one, there has come in by the one a reign of death.
It has been an absolute reign — a reign of irresistible power. Now on the other
hand there are those "who receive abundance of grace and the gift of
righteousness." It is not merely deliverance from the power of death, from its
reign and triumph, but a "much more," by which they themselves are "more than
conquerors." By the power of the life grace confers on them, they themselves
reign. The life they have is life through and in the living, victorious Man,
Jesus Christ. In this life they reign. What an abundance of grace!

Now we have seen that in Romans 5:12-14 the apostle sets before us the features
in which there is similarity between Adam and Christ; and in Romans 5:15-17 the
features in which there is dissimilarity. In Romans 5:18-21 we get his
conclusions. To rightly understand these we must keep in mind the dissimilarity
as well as the similarity; the unlikeness as well as the likeness; the features
in which there is contrast as well as the features in which there is
resemblance. In other words, we must not forget the "much more" and the
"abundance" of Romans 5:15-17 while we are considering the apostle’s summing up
of his argument.

There are three conclusions that the argument leads to. First, by one offence
there was brought in for all men a state of condemnation. The one act of Adam
operated in the way of establishing a subsisting state of condemnation for all
men. So, too by one righteousness there has been brought in for all men an
abiding state of righteousness. Before his fall Adam lived in a state of
innocence. But it was living under conditions of testing, and so was not in an
abiding state of righteousness. When he fell, he came into a new state. After he
sinned, he was no longer under testing in innocence. He was in a new condition
entirely. It was a state of condemnation. Condemnation was connected with the
new condition in which he lived. This state of condemnation was brought in by
his one offence. His one offence bringing in such a state, determined for all
men a living in a state of condemnation.

Now Christ by His one righteousness has established an abiding state of
righteousness. He is living in such a state. The abiding state of righteousness
in which He lives is a provision He has made for all men. Just as Adam by his
one offence passed out of a state of testing in innocence into a state of living
under condemnation, so Christ by His one righteousness has passed out of a state
of living in which He was in relation to sin (always personally sinless, of
course), into a state in which He lives no more in reference to sin, but to God
— a state of subsisting righteousness. He has passed out of a state in which He
had to do with sin and death. He now lives in a state in which He no more has to
do with them. He has established a state of abiding righteousness in the behalf
of all men. The apostle is affirming here the all-sufficiency of the provision
of this state of righteousness. It has been established as a provision for all
men. It is available for all. If any have difficulty about it, let them remember
the apostle, in the verse we are considering, is not speaking of the final
results of either the one act of Adam or of Christ. He is speaking of the
bearing of their acts. Just as the one offence of Adam was toward all for a
state of condemnation, so the one righteousness of Christ is toward all for a
state of subsisting righteousness of life.

Again, in speaking of a state of condemnation, he does not say "of life." Those
who are living in this state are living in a state that is really death. When he
speaks of a state of abiding righteousness, then he says, "of life." Those who
are in this state are the only ones who are really living. They live by Him who
has established a state of life in unchanging righteousness. In Romans 5:19 we
get a second conclusion. By the disobedience of one the many springing from him
have been caused to be sinners. They are sinners by the fact of inheriting his
corrupt moral nature. So, too, on the other hand, by the obedience of Christ
those who derive life and nature from Him, by that very fact have a life and
nature in which they are righteous. They are not righteous in themselves, but in
Him by whom they live. In Him they are holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable.
In the life and nature they have derived from Him, the righteous One, they are
in life and nature righteous. By His one obedience they have been caused to be
righteous.

We must now look at the third conclusion — Romans 5:20-21. Here the apostle
refers to the introduction of law as a special dealing with man. It did not
bring in sin and death, but caused the offence to abound. It turned sin into
transgression. It demonstrated sin to be, in its essential character, enmity
against God. It was given as a special system of dealing with man for that very
purpose. But law did not bring either sin or death into the world. They were
already in the world when the law was given. If sin reigned unto death under
law, it did before law also. Nevertheless, whether in the time of law or before
it, wherever sin abounded grace has abounded in a far more abundant measure. In
every age-time there have been those who received "abundance of grace and the
gift of righteousness." They reigned in life — a life not derived from the first
Adam, but from Him of whom he is a "figure." They were involved in the one
obedience. They were sharers in the results of the one righteousness.

How glorious these triumphs of the grace that is through Jesus Christ! How
glorious, whatever the age-time, whether before law, after law came, now, or in
the age-times to come!

If now sin has reigned in death, the reign of grace through righteousness is
unto eternal life. While Old Testament believers derived their life — the life
in which they reigned — from Him that then was to come, yet they did not have
the life in the abundance and fulness of its power in which it is possessed by
those who receive it now. But even we who derive life from Christ in this
Christian age do not yet possess it in its most abundant power. For this all
receivers of the "abundant grace" must wait until life is possessed in its final
condition. But this final condition — a condition that is permanent and eternal
— is the assured portion of all the recipients of the grace that reigns through
righteousness. All who derive life and nature from the second Fountain-head live
by Him. Living by Him, they are more than victors. The end will be the
completion of the triumph of grace, living by Him still, but having life in its
final and unchanging condition.

Now we must notice that the apostle adds, "through Jesus Christ our Lord." He
has fully justified the principle of many being involved in the act of one, and
sharing in the consequences of the act. Thus, in adding here, "through Jesus
Christ," he reaffirms the principles.

Christ, then, is a new fountain, or source of life. Those who derive life from
Him — the receivers of grace, the justified — live by and in Him. This fact
assures of final and complete salvation — a salvation that will embrace the
body.


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  CHAPTER 7: 01.06     ROMANS 6
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Romans 6:1-23

Having unfolded the character of the transcending triumph of grace over sin, the
apostle is anxious that those who are participators in this triumph should be
preserved from what is, alas, a common abuse of his doctrine.

Enemies of the doctrine of grace have sought to discredit it by charging it with
making sin a necessity. There are those who understand the doctrine to mean that
it permits going on still in sin. Flagrant violations of holiness have been
defended by the plea that it is allowable under grace to continue in sin — to
indulge the lusts of the flesh. In many quarters it is taught that victory over
sin is not to be counted on as long as we remain in our earthly life. It is
said, "We have not yet received our sinless body, and as long as we have the old
sinful body we must inevitably be subject to sin. It must have at least a
certain measure of rule over us." But the apostle will not allow those who are
in Christ, those who live by and in Him, to entertain such unholy deductions
from his doctrine of grace. When he says, "What shall we say then?" he is
speaking as one of the numerous subjects of the reign of grace. He speaks as
representing those, once among the victims of sin, whose hearts have been laid
hold of by the grace which is by the one Man, Jesus Christ, and who have thus
come to be of Him — sharers with Him in the life and blessing of which He is the
Fountain-head. On their behalf, in their name, we may say, he asks, "Does the
doctrine of grace allow one to go on still in sin? Do we take the view that
grace abounding over sin implies that sin, or a measure of it, is justifiable as
furnishing occasion for the triumph of grace?"

How indignantly the apostle refuses the thought! With what vigor and earnestness
he denounces such a conception of his doctrine! The thought is intolerable. It
is an unholy implication. It would destroy the true character of grace; it would
rob it of the reality of its triumph; it would mean serious damage to souls, as
it would vitally affect the state of their minds and the condition of their
hearts. No! Such a view is to be wholly condemned. Those who are participators
in the triumph over sin through Jesus Christ are to put the unholy thought far,
far away. The authoritative apostolic declaration of the doctrine of grace
demands it. Be it so that we still have our old sinful body, we can not allow
that we must therefore sin more or less. That, indeed, would not be deliverance
from the dominion of sin.

If it be said, "Our future deliverance is secure, but present deliverance is
impossible," the answer is, That is not the apostle’s teaching. He teaches and
insists on a present deliverance from the dominion of sin. As our Lord in John
8:34 said, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." The doctrine of the
apostle is the same. With him, being under grace and under sin is an
impossibility. Those who are the subjects of grace should regard bondage to sin
as incompatible with subjection to grace.

We come now to the apostle’s discussion of the subject of present deliverance
from the dominion of sin. We shall see that he divides his discussion into two
parts. In the first he dwells on our title, or right, to be in present practical
deliverance from sin’s dominion; in the second he shows how deliverance is
practically attained, and what it is found to be when practically reached.

Before we begin to follow the apostle’s argument, let us remind ourselves that
all men, as sprung from fallen Adam, are victims of sin and of death. Those laid
hold of by grace, which is by Jesus Christ, have become His seed (Isaiah 53:10).
As thus sprung from Him, they are sharers in the eternal life which is in Him.
This participation in eternal life in Christ Jesus is a blessing to be realized
now, as well as in eternity. The subjects of grace have now the eternal life
that is in Him. It is in that sense that they now live by and in Him. But living
thus in connection with Him, i.e., as sprung from Him, they are of the position
in which He is. They belong to it.

What then is His position? Here we must remember that Christ, in grace, once
took our position under sin. He was not personally under it, but in grace
entered into the position of being under sin in the behalf of those who were
personally in that position. Having thus in grace taken the position, He died —
death being the penalty of sin, and so the due of those in that position. It was
a vicarious death; He could die in no other way. Having died thus atoningly in
behalf of the victims of sin, in rising again He has taken up a new position,
and is dead to the former position under sin, which in grace He had taken for
those under sin.

Now, as we have already said, as sprung from Him we are of Him in His new
position. We are of the position in which He is, and therefore dead to sin.

It is to this blessed fact that the apostle appeals in beginning his discussion
as to our right to be practically delivered from the dominion of sin. His
argument is this: Sin having had its reign over us to its legitimate end in
death, and Christ having taken our place in subjection to it, we who have been
laid hold of by His grace have passed out of that position from under sin. We
are subjects of grace, and as such dead to sin. We have the right to be free
practically from sin’s power and rule. We have a positional deliverance which
entitles us to live in happy subjection to grace, in the realization that sin’s
rights over us have all been annulled. We are freed completely from every claim
of sin upon us, even from its claim to the use of the old sinful body. What a
perfect deliverance grace has thus provided for us!

Alas, how little it is understood! How difficult it is to lay hold of the true
conception of what our deliverance is! How few are in reality entering into what
the apostle means when he teaches, as he does here, that the subjects of grace —
those who are in Christ — are dead to sin!

Some, in their inability to lay hold of the real import of the doctrine of being
dead to sin, deny it altogether. They insist that the fact of our having still
the old sinful body is the clearest proof that we are not yet dead to sin.
Others, while they do not deny that the doctrine is taught, and that there is a
certain ideal sense in which it is true, yet deny that it can be practically
true. Others still modify the form of the words in which the doctrine is taught,
and say, "We ought to be dead to sin." In their teaching there is much
exhortation to the effect that Christians should strive to die to sin. How
forcefully sometimes we are exhorted to put the old man to death. But in all
this teaching the true conception of what deliverance from sin is, being dead to
sin, is lacking. The widespread misunderstanding of what being dead to sin is,
shows how difficult it is for us to lay hold of it. Those who so zealously
promulgate such teachings as we have referred to, in contradiction to the
teaching of the apostle, will do well to weigh the incontestable argument of
verses 3-7, in which the fact of our being positionally in the place of death to
sin is clearly demonstrated. Let us now turn to it. The apostle’s first appeal
to prove that we are in the position of being dead to sin is the significance of
baptism. Baptism is the badge of discipleship to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
What makes it a suitable badge of discipleship to Him is that, as Peter tells us
(1 Peter 3:21), it is a figure of salvation by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Baptism being such a figure, shows that in our being baptized we were in figure
put into the position of being dead with Christ. Furthermore, our being
figuratively put into this position was in view to our living henceforth in a
new life. But the new life our baptism calls for is one in the likeness of
Christ’s life in resurrection. Plainly then our baptism, though it is a figure,
witnesses to a position of death to sin. It declares that Christ has died to sin
(having in grace put Himself under sin to do so), and that we are in figure
identified with Him in His position of being dead to sin, to be identified with
Him in the life He is living as risen.

Now what baptism witnesses to, the gospel declares to be true of us. As having
heard and received "the word of the truth of the gospel," we know that when
Christ died, the old, fallen, sinful man was being judicially dealt with. We
know that if One died in behalf of all men, judicially all men have died (2
Corinthians 5:14, Greek). Having heard and received the word of truth, by which
we have become new creatures in Christ, we know that our old man (the man
connected with the old position in Adam) has been crucified — judicially put to
death. His claims to the body have been annulled in his judicial death. The
body, therefore, which once was in the power of the old man, now belongs to the
new man; and though yet unredeemed, is no more for the use of sin.

Even though still in our old body, we are of Him who died and rose again, and
our body, though still a sinful body, belongs to Him; and as belonging to Him,
it is not under sin’s dominion. How manifestly we have title to be practically
delivered from sin’s power and rule! We are, positionally, delivered. Though we
have still the old sinful body, as being in Christ we cannot be charged with
being sinful men. We do not have to wait until we receive the redemption of the
body to be in Christ. We are in Him now. We are His seed now by His grace having
laid hold of us. We are thus constituted righteous; we are no more chargeable
with our old state under sin than a dead body, a corpse, is.

Clearly then is our position demonstrated to be Christ’s position of being dead
to sin. But this implies and involves living with Him; and living with Him now,
not merely by and by. We shall surely live with Him when we get our redeemed
bodies, but we have title to live with Him now, while we are still in the old
body. He lives no more under sin’s dominion. He went under it once in grace, but
by dying and rising again He lives in eternal deliverance from sin’s power. As
subjects of grace — as being in Him — we are in the same sphere of life in which
He is, where sin cannot enter. It is not simply that we have life in Him, but
that we live with Him; and living with Him implies living in practical
deliverance from sin’s dominion. The apostle is not yet ready, however, to take
up the question of the practical deliverance. Other questions of serious moment
must first be given attention to. The reason why many never get far along in the
road to deliverance from sin’s power is because they fail to take the very first
step. Having established beyond question that the subjects of grace have title
to be practically delivered from the dominion of sin, the apostle now points out
what is the first step in the road to deliverance. What is it?

It is taking the right standpoint from which to look at ourselves. Many who are
in Christ do not think of themselves as in Him. They think of themselves as in
Adam. They think of themselves as under sin, as necessarily so because of sin
still dwelling in them. It is not true, however, that because we have still the
sinful body, we are under sin. We are under sin as yielding to it, as serving
it, as yielding the members of the body to its use; but we are not under sin as
being still in the old body. We are thinking wrongly when we think of ourselves
as under sin because we have still the old body of sin.

Now, to think rightly of ourselves is the very first step toward deliverance
from the service of sin. The apostle tells us in Romans 6:11 how we should think
of ourselves. He says, "Likewise reckon" — consider, think of — "yourselves as
dead to sin and alive to God." We are still in our earthly life, but as in
Christ we are entitled to think of ourselves as if we had died and were risen
from the dead. It is this right thought of our position that the apostle presses
upon us here.

Now another thing necessarily accompanies this right thinking of ourselves as if
we were dead and risen. Viewing ourselves as connected with Christ in His
position of having died to sin and living to God, we will consider that sin has
no longer any title to the use of the mortal body. We will not consent to its
reigning there; we will refuse that its lusts should govern us. We will look
upon the members of our body as belonging to God, as if they were members of the
new body which we are yet to receive. We will hold them to be instruments of
righteousness — not of sin.

If now we take the apostle’s standpoint of looking at ourselves as being in
Christ, as if we were thus dead and risen and living to God, we shall then
regard sin’s title to our body as annulled, and that our Saviour-God has claims
upon it, its members to be instruments of righteousness; and, as under these
claims, there will be in us a purpose to have God’s rights to our body realized.
We will be actuated by the thought that God’s title must be made good
practically — that His title over us should be realized in practical life. The
formation in our minds of this purpose, the establishment in our souls of this
aim to be practically attained, carries us on a good step on the road to a life
of practical deliverance from the dominion of sin; but until this purpose is
formed, and the aim becomes the absorbing desire of our soul, progress toward a
practical life of liberty from sin’s power is impossible. Alas, how many are
lacking here! They are content to drag on in weary bondage to sin with little or
no purpose to be free from its rule. May the Lord use the apostle’s exhortations
in Romans 6:11-13 to establish in the souls of all the subjects of His grace an
insatiable desire to be practically delivered from sin’s power in its use of the
body for any sinful purpose.

We have seen that the apostle teaches that the victims of sin, who have been
laid hold of by the grace of Christ, who took their place under sin’s dominion,
are now connected with Christ in the new position He has taken up as risen from
the dead. They are of Him. They live now — live by Him. Living by Him, they
belong to Him, are in Him; and with Him are dead to sin, and have title to think
of themselves from this point of view — as in Christ. It is their right to take
the place of being of the risen Christ — to look at themselves from this
standpoint.

Now it may be said, "From that standpoint it is true that those who are the
subjects of this grace have title to be practically free from the service of
sin; but title to deliverance from sin is one thing, and ability to use the
title is quite a different one." It will be said, "It is one thing to look at my
mortal body and think of it as subject to the claims of Christ, and quite
another thing to keep from activity the sin that dwells in it." We are told, "It
is quite right to regard our members as being instruments of righteousness and
for the use and service of God, but it is another matter to hinder their being
used as instruments of unrighteousness."

We are thus reminded that there is a distinction to be made between title to be
free from the service of sin and ability to make the title good practically. To
this distinction we readily agree; but before we discuss the question of the
power by which we live practically to God, and where we find that power, there
are other questions which must be looked at first. We must first inquire, Are
there any necessary hindrances in the way of being practically delivered from
the rule of sin? Are there limitations to which practical deliverance is
possible, and beyond which it is impossible?

If we turn back to the preceding dispensations we readily see that there were
then subjects of grace — men who lived in faith, in the light of the prophecies
of the grace that has been brought to us (1 Peter 1:10). They thus lived by the
One of whom Adam was the figure, but they did not live in the abundance and
fulness in which it is given to us to live (John 10:10). Life and
incorruptibility were not then illuminated as they are now (2 Timothy 1:10).
They lived the life of faith under limitations. Again, they did not have the
full measure of God’s estimate of sin as we have since the cross of Christ, and
here we cannot fail to see a very great limitation which must very largely have
affected their practical lives. Furthermore, the law, when it was given to
Israel, must have been a very great limitation to the extent in which the life
of faith could be practically maintained.

Here is a matter which requires careful consideration. It should be remembered
that the law as a rule of life was given to Israel as a nation — to men in the
flesh; and the children of faith were not separated from the rest of the nation;
they were not exempted from the rule of life under which the nation was put.
Being thus under the same rule of life as the rest of the nation, they were
under restraints that made it impossible for them to take the place of children
with God. While they were children in reality, they could not be children
practically (Galatians 4:1-7).

Now, the rule of life under which they were put, as being a part of the nation
upon whom it was imposed, is the strength of sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). It made
the offense abound in them as well as in the rest of the nation. Being thus
under an order of dealing which stirred sin in the flesh into activity, they
were continually in bondage through fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). They could not
be set free as long as that order of dealing with them stood. The law gave to
sin an opportunity and advantage, and it was impossible for them to claim
exemption from its penalty. They could never say sin did not have dominion over
them.

Believers, then, under law, were under conditions of restraint — limitations
which prevented the grace that had laid hold of them abounding in the fulness
and abundance of its power. But Christ dead, risen and glorified, is the end of
these conditions of restraint for believers. He is the end of the law for
believers, whether it be for righteousness or for a rule of life. The subjects
of divine grace are not under it now. This has been authoritatively declared,
and with this declaration there has come also the assurance that "sin shall not
have dominion over us" (Romans 6:14). In the apostle’s statement, "For sin shall
not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace," we learn
there is no necessary hindrance to those who are of Christ being now practically
free from the service of sin. God is not now requiring His children to live by a
rule which is the strength of sin. He has brought to a complete end, for
believers, the whole system under which formerly He held them under restraint,
and under which it was impossible to know and enjoy the complete measure of
grace.

It is, then, the privilege of every child of God now to be practically delivered
from the rule of sin. Deliverance from the dominion of sin is his present right.
It is not to be thought of as an ideal, impossible of realization until the body
is changed. It is to be maintained that the grace of God, which is by Jesus
Christ, provides for all its present subjects not only eternal exemption from
judgment, but also present freedom from the service of sin; and that God is not
now imposing on them a rule of life that hinders their enjoyment of deliverance
from sin’s power. But the apostle’s assertion that the subjects of grace are not
under law is often disputed. Many still maintain that the law is the Christian’s
guide to right living. But freedom from it as the rule of life is most
unequivocally stated by the apostle. There is not the least ambiguity about his
expression of it. He is speaking, too, as the exponent and representative of
Christianity. His statement is authoritative. Nevertheless, it is not accepted
as being the truth by many. There are many who refuse it with horror. They say
it means license to sin. They tell us freedom from law as a rule of life means
lawlessness, indulging in sin as much as one pleases. But this is plainly a
misconception of the apostle’s teaching. It is a thorough misunderstanding of
the character of divine grace. No one really entering into that grace, in which
Christ took the place of the victims of sin, could conceive of it as meaning
license to sin, or think it necessary that the subjects of that grace should be
under law as a rule of life to keep them from sinning. That freedom from law
means lawlessness, the apostle resents, and strenuously refuses. That it means
license to sin is an intolerable thought to him. He exclaims most vigorously
against it. All who submit to his authoritative statement of what the grace of
God means, will join him in denouncing as a false conception the thought that
freedom from the principle of law is liberty to indulge in sin — a thought to be
put far away.

Having strongly denounced the idea as repulsive and intolerable, the apostle now
proceeds, in Romans 6:16 to show what the misconception really means. To say,
"If we are not under law, then let us sin as much as we like," means
deliberately choosing to be the servants of sin. To willingly indulge in sin is
to make one’s self a voluntary servant of it. That should be self-evident. What
is so manifest ought to expose the error underlying the statement that "because
we are not under law, but under grace, therefore we may sin as much as we
choose." It is plainly wrong: it certainly is not apostolic teaching. The
apostle goes on to insist that it is not the form of teaching to which the
subjects of grace have submitted themselves (Romans 6:17). They have received a
different type of teaching altogether. They have surrendered themselves to a
teaching of another character. Having received the apostolic teaching, that
which he denounces as intolerable must be unholy and abhorrent to them.

Now, let us remark, the teaching that freedom from law as the rule of life means
lawlessness, is not the teaching to which the Roman saints had given their
adherence. Taking them as representatives of the saints of apostolic times, we
may say, such teaching was not a part of the faith of those saints. It is
therefore a teaching antagonistic to Christianity. Those who are seeking to
introduce it into Christian teaching, who would make it a part of Christian
instruction, are corrupting and subverting Christianity. It is therefore to be
vigorously refused and strenuously opposed. The defenders of the apostolic faith
must join with the apostle in refusing it, as a misconception of the character
of Christianity, as unholy, and intolerable. But we must follow the apostle
further. Having thanked God that the Roman saints were not adherents of such a
false and unholy teaching, he tells them (Romans 6:18) that through the
surrender of themselves to the right form of teaching, they were made free from
sin, and are now the servants of righteousness. He then exhorts them to let
righteousness have the use of their members even as formerly they had allowed
sin to use them (Romans 6:19).

Then, next, he contrasts the fruit. He says, When you were free from
righteousness you lived in unholiness. You are now ashamed of the unholy lives
you lived as the servants of sin. You were on the road that leads to and ends in
death. But now as servants of righteousness you are living in holiness; and are
on the road which leads to the final condition of life which is in prospect for
all those who have become connected with the risen Christ.

We may now sum up the apostle’s argument in the chapter: The grace that is by
Jesus Christ has provided and secured, for those of whom it lays hold, a new
position and condition of life in which they are entitled to be practically free
from the service of sin. Though they are still in their old, mortal, sinful
bodies, yet there is no necessary reason why these bodies should be under sin’s
power, or their members be yielded up to be used for sinful purposes. Christ, by
whom we live, being the end of the law, both for righteousness or as rule of
life, for those who have life in Him, we are not limited by what gives strength
to the sin that dwells in us; hence there is full liberty for the life of Christ
to manifest its power in using the body, though still mortal and sinful, to the
glory of God. This is what the grace of God confers on those who submit
themselves to the grace of Christ in His one obedience unto death. We are
granted the inestimable blessing of living unto God. This is eternal life
indeed. May we submit ourselves more fully to the grace that has made it our
portion. But in spite of the plain and authoritative statement of the apostle,
that we are not now under a rule of life that prevents our enjoying this liberty
from sin’s service, there are many who very mistakenly regard the principle of
law as the only means by which a life of practical holiness can be produced.
Notwithstanding the apostle’s unequivocal statement that we are not under law,
they insist that law is the power for holiness. Evidently, some in the apostle’s
day maintained this. It was necessary for the apostle to take up the question of
law to show the effect of it upon a believer who undertakes to make it the rule
of life. As we shall see, the question that is raised is, What is the power by
which a believer lives a life of holiness and fruitfulness to God? Is it law
that gives him strength to serve God, or is it Christ enjoyed by the power of
the Spirit? Does the one who is in Christ find in the principle of law power to
yield himself to God? Is it the principle of law that gives him ability to yield
his members to righteousness? Is practical righteousness produced in those who
are in Christ by walking after the law as a rule of life?

These are all serious, sober-minded questions. Every soul that the grace of
Christ lays hold of sooner or later raises them. Finding themselves the objects
of the love of God they cannot long enjoy that love as the Holy Spirit sheds it
abroad in the heart without feeling themselves under the obligation to live to
God. In their efforts to do so they find they need power to enable them to live
to the honor and praise of God. We naturally suppose a life to the glory of God
will result by making the law our rule of life. The supposition is an entire
mistake. But the experience under the trial of it is necessary to manifest the
mistake.


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  CHAPTER 8: 01.07     ROMANS 7
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Romans 7:1-25 This experience is explained and interpreted in Romans 7:1-25. The
explanation of this experience answers definitely and authoritatively the
question, Can the law give the Christian power for a life of holiness and
fruitfulness to God?

We will now consider the apostle’s statement of the effect of one who is in
Christ making the law the rule of life.

It is of very great importance to notice that the apostle does not admit that
God imposes the law as a rule of life on those who are connected with the risen
Christ. He looks upon them as being dead to the law with Christ. He recognizes
that in the past dispensation the subjects of divine grace were put by God into
relationship with law — a relationship he illustrates by the marriage bond. If
death removes the husband, the woman is no longer in the marriage bond. So too
the death of Christ, as our representative and substitute, ends for believers
their relationship with law. A woman whose husband is dead is free to be joined
to another man. So also, since the death of Christ, the law cannot prevent those
who are of Christ being joined to Him. Their bond with law having been dissolved
by the death upon the cross, they are thus freed from it, and a new bond has
been formed. By the Spirit of God, who is given to believers (to all believers
since the ascension of Christ — John 7:39), those who are of Christ are united
to Him in this new bond (Romans 7:1-4).

We must also note another thing. Whatever fruit for God there was in the
practical lives of those who were of Christ before His death, it was not the
fruit of their bond with law. That was a barren, fruitless bond. But the new
bond, the bond by the Spirit, is not a fruitless one. The law’s very
prohibitions intensified the opposition of the natural man’s sinful passions
(Romans 7:5). For this reason it could not help the true children of faith to a
life of fruitful service for God. But now, since the death of Christ, believers
are delivered from the bond with the law, and are in a bond with the risen
Christ, in which the Spirit of God is the energy of service — a service
acceptable to God. Serving thus by the Spirit, they serve in newness of spirit;
not now with minds in rebellion against the authority of God, but with hearts in
subjection to His grace. The doctrine of the apostle, then, is that those who
belong to Christ now, not only have title to be practically free from the law,
but are in a bond with the risen Christ, the fruit of which is realized and
enjoyed in the measure in which the Spirit, who is the power of the bond, is
obeyed in His leading (Romans 7:5-6).

Here an objection presents itself. An ardent defender of the doctrine that the
law is the rule of life for Christians, says, "If Christians are dead to the
law, then the law is sin." The apostle’s answer shows that it is in nowise so.
Instead of its being sin, it convicts of sin. This was one of the purposes for
which it was given; and no matter to whom it has to say — an unconverted or a
converted man — it convicts of sin. Whoever undertakes to live by it finds the
lusts it forbids are in him, and that the very prohibition is the occasion of
their vigorous activity. One just converted usually delights, with more or less
ecstasy, in the love of God, which the Spirit that dwells in him sheds abroad in
his heart. While thus occupied in the power of the Spirit with the love of God,
he is not concerned or occupied with the sin that dwells in him. Without the
law, it is not active (Romans 7:9). But as he begins to think of the claims
which the love he has so much enjoyed has upon him, he assumes that the law is
the power by which he is to meet those claims. He takes it up thus as the rule
of his life. He finds, however, that he is continually being made aware of the
presence in him of the prohibited lusts. Their activity has revived, and his
conscience continually accuses him. What he took up for life, he finds to be a
ministration of death — see 2 Corinthians 3:7. He has been deceived. The coming
in of the law in this way as the rule of life, was the occasion of his being
deceived. The result of the experience is the writing upon his conscience that
he has no title to live — his conscience is under the sentence of death. He has
to own that even as a child of God he has not the least title to live. The
lesson thus learned is a good one; he has learned it through the law, though
mistaken in taking it to be the rule of life. The law, then, is not sin. It is
holy, and the commandment is "holy and just and good" (Romans 7:10-12).

There is yet another objection. The defender of the law as being the Christian’s
rule of life, considers the apostle’s reasoning to imply that what is "good is
made death" to the Christian. The apostle now shows that the objection is an
entire misapprehension. Instead of the law being made death to a believer in
Christ, as a ministration of death it shows how exceedingly sinful sin is. The
fact that it is by means of what is good that sin works death in one who belongs
to Christ, makes the deadly character of sin the more manifest. The objection,
then, is shown to have no force (Romans 7:13).

We come now to the apostle’s explanation of the exercises and experiences
resulting from the mistake which so many believers in Christ make in taking the
law to be the rule of life (Romans 7:14-20). To understand this explanation we
must remember the apostle is not speaking of the exercises and experiences of an
unregenerate man — of a man whose position before God is that of being in Adam —
in the flesh. He is speaking of a regenerate man — a man in Christ; in the new
bond, therefore, possessed by believers ever since Pentecost. He is a man
indwelt by the Spirit. While he is not walking according to the Spirit, yet the
indwelling Spirit is leading him. He is leading him as to his aims and purposes,
and He is also leading him in his decisions as he passes judgment on the strife
that he finds going on within him. Terrible as it all is, he is being led and
taught of the Spirit.

Let us trace the Spirit’s ways with him under the authoritative guidance of the
apostle.

First, let us mark that the spirituality of the law is spoken of as found in
what we may call a common Christian consciousness. In other words, it is the
instinctive consciousness of every regenerate soul. The measure of its
spirituality is another matter. This, no doubt, differs in different
individuals. But every new-born soul will unhesitatingly confess the
spirituality of the law. With this common Christian instinct the Spirit allies
Himself; hence the one who has mistakenly taken up the law as a rule of life is
led to realize that by his carnality he is a captive in sin’s power. He consents
to the law, agrees with the Spirit that it is good, in mind and heart is subject
to the Spirit’s view of the law as being spiritual, yet he finds inward
insubjection as well.

Second, as, under the Spirit’s watchful eye and superintending care, he studies
the conflict going on within himself, he is taught to distinguish between
himself and the sin that dwells in him. He is unwillingly serving sin. He sees
there is an "I" that is right though he has not yet learned to identify it. He
does not yet see himself as a man in Christ, but he distinguishes the "I" that
is right from the sin dwelling within him, and to which he is captive.

Third, further exercise and introspection, still by the sure guidance of the
Spirit, teaches him the utter profitlessness of the flesh. The carnal mind, or
the mind of the flesh, is not subject to the law of God. There is no power in
the law to make it subject. He sees there is a will to do the good — a will that
is not the will of the flesh — but power to do the good he does not find. His
previous conviction and conclusion is thus confirmed, and in fact greatly
strengthened. While he does not yet see himself to be a man in Christ, he is
more than ever confirmed in the conviction that there is an I that is right,
from which the indwelling sin is to be distinguished.

We come now to the final conclusions to which the Spirit leads him (Romans
7:21-23). All the exercises the Spirit has been pressing upon him, and all the
experiences he has passed through in connection with the exercises, reveal
plainly an ever-present law: however desirous of doing the good, evil is always
present with him. It is a fixed, established law. While he delights in the law
of God, approves God’s expressed will, he sees there is an opposing law in his
members, not only antagonistic to the law of his renewed mind, but with
sufficient power to make him a helpless captive to the law of sin dwelling in
his members. Thus by the guidance of the Spirit, who characterizes his true
condition before God as a subject of divine grace, he has learned to place a
right estimate upon his practical condition in not enjoying the aims and
purposes with which the Spirit has energized him. He has not yet learned what
the Spirit’s power is, but he has become assured that it is a mistake to look
for it in himself. He is now ready to abandon his search for it by
introspection. He turns thus away from himself to find in another the power for
holiness and fruitfulness that he has thus far been looking for in himself in
vain.

We will now inquire, Where did he find the Spirit’s power? How did he find it?
When he found it, what did he find it to be? All these questions are answered
for us in verses of Romans 7:24-25, Romans 8:1-4. Let us look at them.

Having learned to realize his wretchedness as a helpless captive to the power of
indwelling sin, he turns away from himself to think of and enjoy Christ — the
Christ that died and rose again, with whom he is connected as being a subject of
grace. Occupied now with Him, he sees himself as in Him — as belonging to Him,
as being of Him. This, that he now sees, has been true of him all through. It
has been the mind of the Spirit as to him all along. But the discovery fills his
soul with praise. Convicted of needing a deliverer, he finds the need fully met
in the One to whom he has turned, and his soul responds, "I thank God!" Through
Jesus Christ he has been delivered from his captivity, and the joy of it fills
him.


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  CHAPTER 9: 01.08     ROMANS 8
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Romans 8:1-39

Now as a delivered one he looks back with spiritual intelligence — the
intelligence of the Spirit — upon the terrible struggles through which he has
passed. He understands that, as serving the law of God with the mind, and the
law of sin with the flesh, he had been entirely mistaken as to his real
condition before God. He did not have the mind of the Spirit about it. He now
understands that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ: that God
views them as being of the risen One, and thus as sharing in the favor and
acceptability in which He stands before God.

If now (having learned to look at himself as belonging to the risen and accepted
Man) he rejoices in being delivered from the bitter conflict he had been
maintaining, what is it that has effected the deliverance? If it is the truth
that sets free, what truth is it which sets free from the struggle we have been
considering? Plainly, according to the apostle, it is learning this precious
truth that, as being of Christ, he is under the operation of the law of life,
which operates by and in Christ. Knowing, as he now does, that this is the law
with which the Spirit identifies Himself, he understands that, according to the
mind of the Spirit, he is no longer a subject of the law of sin and death.

Furthermore, he now sees that sin in the flesh has already been fully condemned
of God in the death of Christ; that God therefore is not requiring fruit from
the flesh; that the righteous thing required by the law, instead of being
produced by the flesh as he has hitherto supposed, is produced in him by Christ
with whom now he is occupied. Walking according to the Spirit is holiness and
fruitfulness.

Thus we see that all the victims of sin whose hearts have been laid hold of by
the grace that comes in through Jesus Christ, belong to the risen Christ. They
are of Him — are sharers in the nature and character of His risen life. They
belong to the position into which He has entered as risen from the dead. As
being thus of Him they are entitled to be practically free from the power of
indwelling sin; but to really enjoy this practical freedom from sin’s power,
they need to learn the impossibility of doing so by walking according to law;
that holiness and fruitfulness are found in the enjoyment of the mind of the
Spirit. Walking thus according to the Spirit in the enjoyment of the risen
Christ is practical liberty.

Having described the walk of a Christian, not exactly after the flesh, but
according to the power of law, the apostle now goes on to describe his walk
according to the power of the Spirit. No believer, even though he be but the
merest babe in Christ, is after the flesh. One who is after the flesh is in the
condition and position of the fallen first man. He is under sin and death — an
unregenerate man whose heart has not been laid hold of by the grace which has
come through Jesus Christ. He minds only the things of the flesh.

One who has been a victim of sin and death, but whose heart has come under the
grace that is by Jesus Christ, has a renewed heart and mind. He belongs to the
risen Christ, is of Him, and is no longer in the position of the fallen first
man, but in the position of the risen Christ. Being in this position he is also
in the condition that attaches to it, i.e., he is "in the Spirit" — a condition
in which he characteristically minds the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5).

Now these two conditions are essentially different. The mind of the flesh is
death. The mind of the Spirit is life and peace. A condition of death on the one
hand, and a condition of life and peace on the other — two contrasted and widely
differing conditions, which cannot commingle. The mind of the flesh being in its
nature and essence enmity against God is intrinsically antagonistic to the
expressed will of God. Law will not subject it to God. Hence it is impossible
for those who are of Adam to please God. The walk according to the flesh is not
suitable to Him (Romans 8:6-8).

Plainly, then, all efforts on the part of those who are in Christ to improve or
regulate the flesh are misdirected and contrary to the mind of the Spirit. This
we have seen in our consideration of Romans 7:1-25. We saw there a renewed man,
ignorant of his true condition according to the Spirit, endeavoring by the power
of law to subject the mind of the flesh to God. It was a vain and useless
effort, for if we are not in the flesh (not in that condition) why seek to
improve or better a condition we are not in? What a great deliverance it is to
be set free from such a profitless conflict! But those who are in Christ — those
whose hearts the grace that is by Him has laid hold of, are not in the flesh.
They belong to the risen Man — the new Head and Fountain of life and blessing.
They are of Him, and the Spirit of God dwelling in them is the divine
acknowledgment of it. He characterizes the condition of all those in whom He
dwells. That He dwells in all believers John 7:39; Galatians 4:4-6, and
Ephesians 1:13, rightly translated, plainly declare. The children of faith, even
the babes among them, are justified, are children of Abraham, are Christ’s. Even
if we should read, as it is by some claimed we should read, "Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him" instead of "none of His," the truth
remains the same. The force of "not of Him" or of "none of His," must be
determined by the doctrine taught in Romans 5:12-21. Those who have derived life
and nature from the fallen Adam are of him, they belong to him and share with
him in the consequences of his disobedience. On the other hand, those who have
derived life and nature from the risen Christ belong to Him, are of Him and
share with Him in the consequences of His one obedience. He is the Head of the
family, of the race, and all who belong to Him are of Him, and thus are sharers
with Him in the position in which He is as risen; they are the sons among whom
He is the First-born. Being thus sons they are given the Spirit. The indwelling
Spirit is connected with being of Him — not with deliverance from sin’s power.
Hence all who are in Him are in the Spirit. All His race are in Him. They are
all in the Spirit. Being in the Spirit they are not in the flesh (Romans 8:9).
But as yet we have the old mortal body. This is our present participation in the
sin that came in through Adam. The body being mortal cannot be the power by
which we manifest the life of Christ. It is not able to express our vital
connection with Him. The Spirit indwelling us is the power for this.
Righteousness having come in, having been maintained, or accomplished, the
Spirit can now righteously dwell in our bodies, and doing so He effects in us
the display of the life and nature of Christ. Nothing else but the effect of His
activities in us is life according to the thought of God (Romans 8:10). But the
Spirit that dwells in us, in our mortal bodies, is the Spirit of Him who raised
up Jesus from the dead. In taking up His abode in our mortal bodies He has thus
claimed them for Christ. He is the witness of God’s title to quicken them. We
see thus that even the mortal body itself is delivered from the claims of death.
If the Lord tarry it will die, but not as being under the claims of death. If
the believer dies it is as being "put to sleep by Jesus," not as under the
penalty of sin. The indwelling Spirit then is the proof of Christ’s absolute and
complete title to our mortal body itself. It is in His right to deliver it from
the sin that dwells in it by applying the power of life to it, by quickening it,
by changing it into an immortal body (Romans 8:11). This makes it clear how we
can look for the Lord to come for us before we die. If He had not title to
quicken our body with immortal life, death would be our inevitable lot before we
ever could be with Him. But the mortal body of the believer belongs to Christ.
He can do what He wills with His own. If He so wills it, it is His right to
leave us here in the mortal body. If He wills it, He may with perfect right "put
us to sleep," i.e., take the spirit to be with Himself while the body goes to
corruption. But whenever He wills to do it, it is in His right to change our
body, and quicken it into an immortal body.

If now the very mortal body itself is no longer under the claim of death, but
subject to the claim of Christ, then in no sense are we debtors to the flesh to
live according to it (Romans 8:12). The natural relationships which God has
formed for man on earth are of course to be owned and walked in, but the
believer is under no obligation to the sinful lusts which have their seat in the
mortal body. The mere natural man, whether under law or not, lives according to
the flesh. He is led by the fleshly passions and lusts. He is on the road to
death as the penalty of sin (Romans 8:13). But those who live through Christ,
participating in His life as risen from the dead, are characteristically
Spirit-led men. Through the Spirit they mortify the deeds of the body. The
measure of it is doubtless never perfect in any one of us, but, with whatever
defects, mortifying the deeds of the body is characteristically true of all
those who are of Christ. They are in the way of life. They are already
participators in eternal life. Being thus Spirit-led men, they are sons of God
(Romans 8:14). Man, the natural and fallen man, has lost his place as a son with
God. The children of grace and faith are now put in the position of sons; but
their sonship is the concomitant of their connection with the risen Christ; it
is therefore a position of greater exaltation and dignity than the one that has
been forfeited by sin. The sons of God of Old Testament times (Genesis 6:2) had
the spirit of bondage and fear. The full truth had not then come; the full
measure of grace had not been given. Necessarily, therefore, they were all their
life-time subject to bondage through fear of death. But now the sons of God have
the Spirit of adoption, characterizing the position in which they are. In the
power of that Spirit the cry, Abba, Father, is in their hearts (Romans 8:15).
Here again the measure is never perfect, even in the hearts of those with whom
the sense of it is deepest, but it is a cry characteristic of every one whose
heart the grace of Christ has laid hold of. By the Spirit it is instinctively in
the renewed soul. The renewed spirit instinctively turns to the One from whom a
new life has been derived. With this renewed spirit, the Spirit of God allies
Himself. He joins His own testimony to that of the intelligent part of the
renewed man. The twofold witness is one — the one testimony confirming the
other. Thus the fact of being in a relationship with God, that of a child with a
Father, is fully certified to (Romans 8:16). Our own spirits agree in declaring
it. The subjects of the grace of the Cross are children of God. The race of the
risen Christ have God for their Father. But if those who are participators with
Christ in His risen life are the children of God, then they are heirs — and what
heirs! Heirs of God — possessors with Him of what He possesses, all things ours!
But it is through Christ that we have come into this wonderful inheritance. It
is as being joint-heirs with Him it is all ours. We have no claim upon it. We
are absolutely without title to it save as He holds the title to it for us. But
if we are joint-heirs with Him, then we share with Him the sufferings of the
time of His patience, so that our glorification will also be a
joint-glorification with Him (Romans 8:17). But if the present time is a time of
suffering, of patience and endurance, we seriously err if we think of the
sufferings as deserving comparison with the glory that is to be revealed to us
in its own suited time (Romans 8:18). The former are temporal; the latter is
eternal. But, beside this, creation itself is not yet in its final and permanent
condition. The manifestation of the sons of God will bring about a great change
for it. By the will of God it was not given its permanent, abiding condition. It
was subjected to change and decay, to vanity. But this condition was not
intended to be permanent and final. So there is before it the prospect, not only
of a measure of relief from its present groanings and travail-pains, when the
sons of God shall be manifested, but of full and permanent deliverance at the
end, when all things will be made anew to abide forever. It is to have finally
the liberty from corruption that will characterize the glory of the children of
God (Romans 8:19-21).

If creation, now in a state of decay, in earnest hope looks for a final and
permanent deliverance from it, how much more must we who are of the race of the
risen Christ, already possessing the Spirit (the pledge and foretaste of new
creation), be in earnest longing for the glorious change that awaits us, the
redemption of our bodies. It is this that will complete our salvation. How we
long for it! (Romans 8:21-25)

Meanwhile, as we wait for the consummation of our hope, how incapable we are of
measuring our present dependence. But here we realize the great value of the
indwelling Spirit. He joins His help to our infirmity. Whatever sense of need
there is in our souls it has been produced by the Spirit. But our sense of need
is never in the full measure of the Spirit’s sense of it. Hence in expressing
our need to God we never do it as we ought; we always come short of the measure
of the Spirit. But it is He who is working in us, and He is at work according to
God. In our inability to lay hold of His full measure, so far as His mind is
concerned, there is a longing with Him that is never fully expressed by us,
though what we do express is by His power (Romans 8:26). But the God who
searches our hearts knows perfectly the mind of the Spirit — what He is working
in us. Our imperfect, defective utterances go up to Him, reach His ear; and,
inadequate as they are as expressions of what the Spirit means, He gives them
all the value of His own mind (Romans 8:27).

Romans 8:28-39 are a triumph-shout which the apostle puts into the mouths of the
subjects of the grace of the Cross. All things are absolutely in the hands of
Him who has purposed the glory of the Man Christ Jesus, in whom He has called
the joint-heirs. Nothing whatever can defeat that purpose. He has seen the end
from the beginning, and determined all the steps by which to reach that end.
Everything must necessarily be subservient to the eternal purpose, and work for
the blessing of those marked out for participation in the image of the glorious
Firstborn.

God is manifestly for (working in behalf of) the subjects of His grace. If there
is nothing that is not under His mighty hand — the hand displayed in the
resurrection of Christ — then there is nothing that can be against those who are
of Him who died for them and is risen again. The love that spared Him not, but
delivered Him to judgment and death for us, triumphs in His glorious
resurrection, proclaiming the impossibility of anything being charged against
the elect of God. It is God Himself who justifies, and there is none to override
His judicial decrees.

He whom God has raised up from the dead as justifying those believing on Him,
sits now on the very throne of God itself as Intercessor — a continuous
Intercessor for the objects of His love, who live through and in Him. His
ceaseless intercession is in the same love in which He assumed their judgment
and death. Nothing can possibly separate them from that love which even judgment
and death could not overcome — the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How complete and glorious is the victory of the Cross! What boastings for those
who are altogether the debtors of grace — the grace of Christ! How these
boastings glorify Him who loved us and gave Himself for us!


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 10: 01.09     ROMANS 9
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Romans 9:1-33 In Romans 9:1-33, Romans 10:1-21, Romans 11:1-36 the apostle
answers an objection which an unconverted Jew would naturally make to
Christianity as it has been unfolded in the previous chapters. He would say that
Israel, the descendants of Abraham, were the God-chosen nation entrusted with
this testimony, and to whom the promises were made. He would claim that God had
put into their hands the covenants and the promises, as well as the law. He
would argue that Christianity, as the apostle has expounded it, nullifies all
this, and makes the word of God to be without effect. In answering this
objection the apostle shows that he knows how to appreciate the force of it as
it would be felt by an unconverted Jew who was imprecating Christ. In his own
unconverted days he had done the same. He had justified the murder of the Son of
God by the Jews. Their solemn declaration, "His blood be on us, and on our
children," he had made his own. He had thus "wished himself accursed from the
Christ." But now, since He had been revealed to him, and he was prostrate at His
feet, there was constant heaviness and sorrow in his heart on the behalf of his
brethren according to the flesh. This he affirms in the most solemn way. He is
declaring the truth in Christ. He is not lying, as they thought (Romans 9:1-5).

Having thus assured his kinsmen after the flesh of his deep concern for them,
and of his ability to understand their objection to Christianity, he goes on to
show from the Old Testament Scriptures that Christianity in no way nullifies the
word of God to Israel.

First, he appeals to the case of Isaac to show that the children according to
the flesh are not the children of God. Isaac was not the seed of Abraham on the
mere ground of the flesh, which Ishmael might also claim; but on the ground of
promise it was that Isaac was reckoned to be Abraham’s seed. The apostle thus
clearly shows that not all who are of Israel are truly Israel. Those merely
children of Abraham after the flesh are not counted to be his children in
reality — not connected with faith and the promise to faith (Romans 9:6-9).

Furthermore, the case of Jacob and Esau illustrates still further the same
truth. If Isaac was made the seed of Abraham by the word of God, it was the same
also with Jacob. He had his place by grace — sovereign grace. It was the purpose
and election of God, not works of flesh, that made Jacob the object of favor
that he was. It was a calling and election of which God did not repent, as
Malachi 1:2-3 sufficiently shows — written as it was after 1600 years of sin and
failure on the part of Jacob’s descendants. Plainly the election and calling was
not founded on any foreseen goodness in Jacob as a man in the flesh. During all
these years God had not transferred His favor from Jacob to Esau, though many
might judge Esau to have been the better man. But God clearly had acted in His
sovereign right in the purpose He had formed for Jacob, and in the call He had
given him (Romans 9:10-13).

Jacob then, like Isaac, was a child of promise. It might be thought this choice
of Jacob instead of Esau looks like unrighteousness. This the apostle strongly
refuses, and justifies his refusal of it on the ground that in the case of the
guilt of Israel in the matter of the golden calf God claimed it to be His right
to show mercy to whomsoever He willed to do so (Exodus 33:19). From this the
apostle deduces the general principle that mercy is not of the will or work of
man, but of God, as having the sovereign right to show it. He also appeals to
the case of Pharaoh, to whom God said that He had set him up as the head of
Egypt for the express purpose of displaying His power in connection with him, so
as to make Jehovah’s name known throughout all the earth. Mercy and hardening,
then, are both in the sovereignty of God (Romans 9:14-18).

If now it be objected that if God shows mercy where He wills, and where He wills
He hardens, He cannot rightly censure men, the apostle rebukes it as arrogance.
Men should remember that it is unseemly to argue with God. Furthermore, it is
His right of the same lump of fallen, sinful humanity to make one a vessel to
honor, and another a vessel to dishonor. It is His sovereign prerogative to find
delight in the part of the lump that submits to His grace, and to be displeased
with the part that resists it. Those who reject the Ideal after which His grace
would form them are surely vessels quite fit for judgment. God’s long-suffering
and patience with them make this manifest. On the other hand, those who yield to
the formative power of His grace are suited vessels to display the riches of His
glory; and this, too, whether such vessels are found among Jews or Gentiles.
That such are to be found among the Gentiles the quotations from Hosea 2:23 and
Hosea 1:10 fully show (Romans 9:19-26).

Now Isaiah 10:22-23 and Isaiah 1:9 show the two kinds of vessels formed from the
same lump of sinful, disobedient Israel: on the one hand, a remnant submissive
to grace; on the other, a vast body of them resisting grace, and cut off in
judgment (Romans 9:27-29).

It is then to be concluded that the Old Testament Scriptures are not in any way
nullified by the grace of Christianity which includes Gentiles among the
subjects of its blessings. It is in accordance with their predictions that
Gentiles who followed not after righteousness have attained to it by faith;
while Israel, seeking it by works, and not by faith, has not obtained it. A new
beginning in Christ was a stumbling-stone and rock of offence. He came in in
grace, but they would not yield themselves to be formed by it. They would not
call upon Him. They have stumbled to their great confusion (Romans 9:30-33).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 11: 01.10     ROMANS 10
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Romans 10:1-21

Nevertheless the apostle earnestly desired salvation for them. He owned they had
a zeal for God, but yet it was not according to knowledge — the knowledge of the
written Word. Did they know that rightly, they would understand how righteous
God is. It is because of their ignorance of this that they are seeking to
establish a righteousness of their own; but in doing so they are not submitting
to a righteousness provided in grace by God. They are in the darkness of
unbelief; for, for believers, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness;
Christ being received, He is to the believer all that the law can claim (Romans
10:1-4). The apostle now turns to explain the difference between the
righteousness which is of law and the righteousness that is by faith. The
righteousness of the law consists in doing the things it requires. This the law
affirms repeatedly, as every reader of the Old Testament Scriptures should know.
Now, to show the character of the righteousness which is of faith, he appeals to
Deuteronomy 30:12-14. In this chapter Moses is informing Israel that after they
have fallen under the curse of the law their only hope will be in the grace of
God, who will no longer put them on the ground of their obedience as the way of
life and blessing, but will circumcise their hearts to love the Lord (Romans
10:6). This answers to the prophet’s word in Jeremiah 31:31-33, where Israel is
told that God will in grace establish them under a new covenant — a covenant of
a very different character from that of the old legal one. The principle of the
new covenant will be faith, not works. Therefore, instead of doing, in order to
have God’s law in the heart, it will be having the law in the heart by grace,
the doing it being the result. Consequently, when Israel from the heart calls
upon the name of the Lord, she will be saved. She will then stand before God in
a righteousness not her own, but given her of God — a righteousness which is of
faith.

Having thus shown by appealing to Moses the character of the righteousness which
is by faith, the apostle now informs the Jew that this is what he is preaching;
and if he objects that it should only be preached to the Jew, he shows that the
prophets expressly apply it universally: their oft-repeated "whosoever
believeth" opens the door of the gospel to the Gentiles (Romans 10:5-13).

Therefore, if the prophets contemplate the gospel going out to the Gentiles as
well as to the Jews, it is those who are resisting its world-wide proclamation
that are nullifying the word of God. Hearing, whether in a Jew or a Gentile,
comes by faith; and faith in the heart is by the power of the word of God. It is
by preaching the Word that God reaches the heart. Necessarily then there must be
messengers of the Word, and those who seek to carry the message of God’s grace
to the Gentiles can justify themselves in doing so by abundant Old Testament
scriptures (Romans 10:14-17).

Furthermore, Israel is fully without excuse for resisting Christianity, because,
while on the one hand her own Scriptures anticipate it, on the other hand she
has been faithfully warned, by Moses himself too, that God would provoke her to
jealousy by them that are no people; and Isaiah very boldly declares the turning
of the Gentiles to God, and finding Him, while Israel is still a disobedient and
gainsaying people (Romans 10:18-21).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 12: 01.11     ROMANS 11
========================================================================

Romans 11:1-36

If then Christianity does not nullify the word of God, Israel’s present
rejection is only temporary — not final. As witness of this, the apostle appeals
to his own case. He was an Israelite, yet God had shown him mercy. He was one of
a remnant — an election of grace in a day of apostasy, such as God reserved to
Himself in the days of Ahab (Romans 11:1-6). As to the rest, they are in the
blindness of their unbelief. Of this present state of unbelief, in the great
mass of the nation, their own prophets have sufficiently foretold. But if they
have thus been given over to blindness, under God’s judicial dealings with them,
it is by no means to be the final state of the nation. While they are in this
state, God is provoking them to jealousy by the privileges He is conferring on
Gentiles. From this the apostle argues that as Israel’s stumbling and temporary
setting aside from the place of privilege was the occasion of blessing going out
among the Gentiles, the recovery of Israel, and her restoration to the position
she has temporarily lost, will be the occasion, not merely of widespread
blessing among the Gentiles, but of the recovery of the world. The bringing of
the world back in allegiance to God waits on the restoration of Israel. As being
specially an apostle to the Gentiles, Paul would particularly appeal to this,
being desirous of stirring up in his brethren after the flesh the spirit of
jealousy (Romans 11:7-15).

Abraham was called of God to occupy a special place of privilege and
responsibility among the nations of the earth, already then swamped in idolatry.
Israel had been identified with this place of privilege and responsibility, but
the unbelieving part of it has been separated from it. Since their rejection of
Christ and the testimony of the Holy Spirit, come as His witness, only the
believing remnant among them have continued on in the special place of privilege
and responsibility. But Gentiles have been brought in to occupy that place along
with them. The Gentiles, however, are warned by the apostle not to be
high-minded. They must remember the place of privilege into which they have been
brought is also one of responsibility, and their continuing in the place depends
on their meeting the responsibilities of it. The unbelieving part of Israel had
been cut off for this very thing — because of their continued failure to meet
its responsibilities. In like manner also would the Gentiles be cut off if they
failed as Israel had done. How needed the warning! Alas, how unheeded! (Romans
11:16-21). In Israel’s case the goodness and severity of God had been
illustrated; the believing remnant realizing His goodness, the unbelieving part
of the nation experiencing His severity. The same result will be seen at the
close of the Gentile period of their time of testimony. Israel was cut off for
unbelief. The Gentiles apostatizing in like manner will also be cut off. But the
same grace that introduced Gentiles into the place of privilege when Israel was
cut off will also restore Israel to the place from which she fell, when from the
heart she turns to the Lord. Her blindness is only in part, for a time, while
the fulness of the Gentiles is being gathered in. In a day now fast approaching
there is to be a remnant in Zion to whom the Lord will appear, and then from
Zion He will come forth in the character of Israel’s Deliverer, turning
ungodliness away from Jacob, in accordance with the new covenant that is yet to
be made with Israel. Thus it is clear that as regards the gospel the Jews are
now enemies, i.e., regarded so by God for the sake of the Gentiles;
nevertheless, as regards the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes
(Romans 11:22-29). The Gentiles were once disobedient, but God has shown mercy
to them on account of the disobedience of Israel. Likewise Israel has disobeyed
God’s present mercy to the Gentiles, that in their restoration they themselves
may become objects of mercy. Gentiles and Jews alike are shut up in unbelief, so
that mercy may be shown to them both. In thus reviewing the dispensational ways
of God, how manifest becomes the wisdom of God! Every heart that enters into
this mercy of God surely joins with the apostle in saying, "O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His
judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the
Lord? or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it
shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and for Him,
are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:30-36).


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  CHAPTER 13: 01.12     ROMANS 12
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Romans 12:1-21

Romans 12:1-21, Romans 13:1-14, Romans 14:1-23, Romans 15:1-33, Romans 16:1-27
are exhortations. The recipients of the mercies of God are told what ways should
characterize them. We have seen that the apostle regards the body as being dead.
It is in no way capable of displaying the life of Christ; the power for that is
in the Spirit that indwells it. We need then to place it at His disposal, to
yield it to God. His mercies, of which we are the subjects, impel us to
deliberately surrender ourselves — our bodies — to His will. Our practical lives
are thus, and only thus, acceptable to God — a sacrifice rich in the fragrance
of Christ. The life of Christ is produced in us by the power of the Spirit
(Romans 12:1). But this means non-conformity to the life of the world which is
astray from God, and at enmity with Him. It is ours to pass through it with
minds laid hold of by what is found only where the risen Christ is. Living in
the practical realization of association with Him where He is, is to prove the
blessedness of the will of God (Romans 12:2). The Christian’s practical life
becomes thus a life of service. Self-seeking is no expression of the life of Him
who humbled Himself and was meek and lowly. We are therefore warned against it.
We are reminded of the nature and closeness of the tie by which we are bound to
one another — a tie that makes us dependent on one another. Whatever the line in
which the Spirit of God exercises us, and in which He leads us out, it is not
for self-exaltation, but for the profit of others. The spirit of service then
befits us. We should accept our gifts as being grace to us, and in humbleness of
mind use them for the benefit of those whom love so urgently prompts us to
serve. The spirit of service will find its justification in the need of the
objects of love. Let each one then serve as prompted by love in the measure in
which he finds he has capacity for it (Romans 12:3-8). The remainder of the
chapter shows us the holy ways of the spirit of service — the ways in which
love, which is the spring of service, manifests itself. Those who have derived
such immeasurable blessing from the grace of Christ are here exhorted to see to
it that they walk in these beauteous ways of love. It is not necessary here to
enlarge on them singly, or even to enumerate them. We need to remind ourselves,
however, that the actual attainment of a walk characterized by these things is
not, and cannot be, the fruit of legal effort. It is by the power that is in the
renewed mind that such a transformation is effected. It is alone by putting God
at the helm, to be our governing power, that we can walk in ways that display
such characteristics as are here declared.


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  CHAPTER 14: 01.13     ROMANS 13
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Romans 13:1-14

If, as we have seen, Romans 12:1-21 gives us the character to which divine grace
transforms us, in Romans 13:1-14 we find what characterizes our relations to the
world through which we are passing. If we have the practical character of which
we have been speaking, though we are yet in the world, evidently we cannot be of
it. We are of heaven; we belong to the new creation. Here is where we find our
new origin and citizenship. This separates us completely from the old creation.
This takes us entirely outside of the course of this world. But that does not
empower us to regulate the world or reform its ways. We are reminded that God
has authorized the governments of the world, and are exhorted to be in
subjection to them. We are to see in them a divine institution, and leave those
charged with the exercise of government to their responsibility to God, to be
dealt with by Him who will call them to give account as to their use of the
power which He has put in their hands. The Christian, then, needs to be in
subjection to the governments under which God has placed him. He is to show due
respect to their agents, honoring them as servants of God Romans 13:1-7). But
subjection to governments does not mean that Christians should be under
obligation to them. In fact they should not be indebted to any one. As having
found their resource in God, they should be dispensers of blessing. Themselves
indebted to the love of God, they should regard themselves as under the
obligation of showing love to all. In doing this they are fulfilling what the
law required. It demanded love, but man in the flesh is without power to meet
the demand. The Spirit dwells in the Christian. With Him there is power to
produce what the law required. The requirement of the law is carried out in the
Christian through the power of the Spirit without his being under law either for
righteousness or as a rule of life.

What a wonderful thing this! The very fulness of the law — what was sought after
by those under it, but not attained unto — through the power of the Spirit is
produced in the Christian, in the measure in which the power of the Spirit is
realized and depended on. How little this is understood! In how many is the
measure extremely scant! (Romans 13:8-10). May it be much enlarged in us all.
The Christian belongs to the day that is coming, which in fact is at hand. It is
fast drawing near. It is nearer now than when we believed. The Christian is not
of the night; but passing through the darkness, the power of the day to which he
belongs should be manifested, not the power of the night. Walking here in the
sense of the light of the coming day he is armored against all the temptations
of the night. He needs to be awake, to be in the sense of the light — in the
practical enjoyment of the things of the coming day. Let us be diligent, then,
in casting off the works of darkness! May we be sincere and wholehearted in
putting on the Lord Jesus. Let there be such a sense in our souls of His claim
to the exclusive use of our bodies that we shall be kept from providing for the
sinful lusts of the flesh (Romans 13:11-14).


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  CHAPTER 15: 01.14     ROMANS 14-15.7
========================================================================

Romans 14:1-23, Romans 15:1-7 In Romans 14:1-23; Romans 15:1-7 the apostle
unfolds the principles which are to regulate our dealings one with another.
There are three general principles. The first is the supreme authority of the
Lord. The right to command is in His hands, not ours. He is the only dictator of
the conduct of His people. His way of ruling His people is by the conscience.
Each one needs to be individually before Him. It is a most serious thing to
interfere even in the slightest way with the conscience of another. It is
damaging to the soul to hinder one from being in his own conscience before the
Lord. No one can make his own conscience the rule for another.

We must remember, of course, the apostle is not here raising any question about
doctrine. He is not speaking of the faith. We are not at liberty to believe what
we like. A faith has been revealed and committed to us. If question arises as to
truth or doctrine, revelation is the only appeal. But this is not what is under
consideration here. It is a question of practical conduct that is occupying the
apostle now. How am I to act towards a brother whose conscience, as truly before
the Lord as my own, does not permit him to do the things 1 feel myself free to
do? Is it my conscience that is to govern him or his own? Am I to decide his
doubts for him?

Here we need to remember that we each have our predilections, our prejudices,
our tastes, our likes and dislikes. In these things we are accountable to the
Lord surely, but we are not each other’s master. These are things in which one
is not the judge for another. We should receive one another without regard to
them (Romans 14:1-12). The second principle governing our conduct towards one
another is love. Love will not find its pleasure in censuring, nor will it
delight in causing a brother to offend or fall. Where true love is operating, no
brother who thinks a thing to be wrong will be forced to do it. If he thinks it
is sinful, to him it is sinful; and to force him to do it is to crush his
conscience. To despise the conscience of another is not to walk in love toward
him. One may indeed be within the limits of what is perfectly right, and as to
which his own conscience is free and clear, yet be liable to have his good
considered evil. As the servant of Christ he is not to think of what he may
consider his rights, but of the benefit and blessing of his brother. Love will
seek peace and edification for its objects (Romans 14:13-23).


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  CHAPTER 16: 01.15     ROMANS 15:8-33
========================================================================

Romans 15:8-33 A third principle is the glory of God. We should diligently seek
this in all our dealings with one another. What simply pleases ourselves may not
be to His glory. It is to His glory to seek to profit our brother. The weaker he
is, the more needful it is to be considerate of him — the more necessary to
think of what will prove best for him. The example of Christ is appealed to: He
pleased not Himself, but endured and suffered even the reproaches of those who
reproached God. Let us be like-minded with Him, tender towards one another,
considerate of one another’s weaknesses, ready to bear another’s infirmity. We
shall glorify God in so doing.

Romans 15:8-33 is the apostle’s vindication of his boldness in writing as he has
to the saints at Rome. In the first place he appeals to the fact that the Old
Testament, while marking out the Jewish Messiah as the minister of the
circumcision for the truth of God to confirm, or establish, the promises made to
the fathers, at the same time distinctly declares that the Gentiles would
glorify God for His mercy through Him. He draws on both Psalms and Prophets to
show this. Naturally, therefore, he encourages Gentile believers to lay firm
hold on the hope the gospel has brought to them, and to be filled with joy and
peace in doing so.

While thus exhorting and encouraging them he declares his confidence in them and
in their ability to admonish one another. At the same time it was his special
privilege and right, as called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, to put them in
mind of the claims upon their hearts of the blessing it was his to minister to
them. For him it all was a happy priestly service, in which believers from among
the Gentiles, laid hold of by the power of the Spirit, were an acceptable
offering to God. Thus the apostle glories in the power by which he had been
sustained to fully preach Christ in those extensive regions through which he had
journeyed. His work had been abundantly manifested as authorized by God.
Throughout he had acted in accordance with what is written in the prophet, "To
whom He was not spoken of, they shall see; and they that have not heard shall
understand."

It was the faithful carrying out of this service that had so long stood in the
way of his going to Rome; but now that he had fully covered the field which had
been thus far the sphere of his labors, moved by the same principle which had
hitherto governed him, he was thinking of Spain. He saw in his journey there his
opportunity to see the saints at Rome whom he had so long desired to visit. But
before undertaking the carrying out of his purpose, he felt the need of the
saints at Jerusalem had a claim upon him. He was going there to deliver to them
the offerings of the Macedonian and Achaian saints. Having performed that
service, his purpose was to immediately set off for Spain. He was anticipating a
season of refreshment among the saints of Rome, confident that in coming to them
it would be "in the fulness of the blessing of Christ." Nevertheless he realized
the dangers to which he exposed himself in going to Jerusalem, and thus implored
the earnest prayers of the Roman saints. He desired them specially to beseech
God for his deliverance from the disobedient, the favorable reception of his
ministry, and the privilege of making his long-purposed visit to them.


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  CHAPTER 17: 01.16     ROMANS 16
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Romans 16:1-27

Romans 16:1-27 needs little comment. It is touching to notice the delicacy with
which the apostle makes mention of one and another. How quick love is to notice
and single out what deserves approbation in the service of saints. There is also
a warning against the makers of division. Such are to be turned away from,
characterized as they are by self-seeking and pretentious speech. He rejoiced in
the obedience of the saints. He desired them to be wise in what is good, and not
to be dwelling on evil.

He closes with the salutations of Timothy and others, wishing the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ to be with them.


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  CHAPTER 18: 02.00 READINGS ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
========================================================================

Readings on the First Epistle of John

C Crain.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 19: 02.00C     CONTENTS
========================================================================

00c Contents

Introductory 1 John 1:1-4. 1 John 1:5-10. 1 John 2:1-2. 1 John 2:3-11. 1 John
2:12-27. 1 John 2:28-29, 1 John 3:1-24. 1 John 4:1-7. 1 John 4:7-19. 1 John
4:20-21, 1 John 5:1-13. 1 John 5:14-21.


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  CHAPTER 20: 02.00I     *INTRODUCTORY
========================================================================

*Introductory In taking up the study of the first epistle of John, a comparison
of John’s ministry with that of Peter and Paul will be helpful. The words
addressed to Peter in John 21:18-19 imply that in some sense his ministry was to
have a character similar to that of the Lord Jesus. Is the implication supported
by Scripture elsewhere? If so, in what sense was Peter’s ministry similar to the
ministry of Jesus Christ?

Light is shed on these questions in Romans 15:8 and Galatians 2:7-8. In the
former passage Jesus Christ is called a "minister of the circumcision," the
evident meaning being that His ministry was in connection with the people in the
covenant of circumcision — that made with hands. In the latter passage there is
mention of "the gospel of the circumcision" as having been committed to Peter.
The thought evidently is that a gospel specially addressed to the circumcision
was committed to Peter. Peter is also spoken of as having the "apostleship of
the circumcision." Undoubtedly the intention is to show that Peter exercised
apostleship in connection with the circumcision. In this sense, then, Peter’s
ministry was similar to that of Jesus Christ. But while this marks out the
people for whom his ministry is intended, it does not define its theme and
character, which are to be inquired into. If we refer again to Romans 15:8 we
shall find it stated there that "Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision
for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: and that
the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy." This needs to be carefully
considered. In the Old Testament we learn about these promises to the fathers.
It is plain we have a record there of a ministry of promises. Indeed there was a
period which we may consider as specially characterized by the ministry of
promises. From the call of Abram until Jacob’s going down into Egypt, at least,
God was making or ministering promises. For my present purpose I do not need to
notice these promises in detail. I will merely cite the passages where they are
found: Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 15:1-21; Genesis 17:1-22;
Genesis 22:15-18; Genesis 26:2-5; Genesis 26:24; Genesis 28:10-15; Genesis
35:9-12; Genesis 46:2-4. All these promises are absolute, made in the
sovereignty of grace, and are entirely unconditional. It should be remembered
that none of them are addressed to the Gentiles. God gave them no promises, no
covenant (Ephesians 2:12). It is true the Gentiles are contemplated in the
promises, but the promises were not ministered to them. They were ministered to
the fathers of the nation of Israel (Romans 9:4).

Now while God ministered these promises to the fathers, the heads of Israel, the
fulfilment of them was not yet to be. They heard them and believed them, but, if
they were persuaded of them and embraced them, they saw them only as to be
fulfilled in a time to them "afar off" (Hebrews 11:13). They died in faith,
leaving these unfulfilled promises as a legacy to their children. But God put
their descendants on a different footing altogether. Promises and covenants He
made to them also, but they were conditional, not absolute. The reason for this
was the need of raising — not alone for their sake, but for all men — the
question of man’s ability to establish a righteousness on which to claim what
had been promised. Under the Mosaic law the children of Israel were on the
ground of responsibility. They took the responsibility of working out a
righteousness they could call their own, by which a title to the things promised
would be established, and which God Himself would necessarily recognize. But God
not only would signalize by circumcision (as He had done and was still doing)
the unprofitableness of the flesh, but He would practically demonstrate it. He
would prove man’s inability to claim as his own anything but his sins, and thus
that he is shut up to sovereign grace, exercised on the principle of faith — not
of works. The trial was a long one, thus perfectly fair and conclusive. But
while this question, raised by putting Israel under the law, was being worked
out, to show how utterly void of righteousness man is in himself, the fulfilment
of the sovereign, unconditional promises made to the fathers had necessarily to
be delayed. The question raised had to be definitely answered once for all; and
the lesson of the law now abides. But on the ground of responsibility Israel
lost the promises. If Israel was unable to establish a title to them, there is
surely no power to recover them. No pleading of descent from Abraham could
avail, no taking refuge under being circumcised could secure the forfeited
promises (Matthew 3:9). Israel’s only hope then is the sovereign grace of God.

Having demonstrated that Israel is in irretrievable ruin, having lost the
promises beyond all hope of recovery, God then sent forth His Son, not only made
of woman, but made also under the law (Galatians 4:4). This was God acting in
the sovereignty of His mercy. It was raising up in Israel an Israelite in whom
the promises were yea and amen. It was providing One who could establish a title
to them. Jesus Christ was thus in their midst as maintaining the truth of God —
His word. His promises. He was one of their fold — a minister connected with the
circumcision, in behalf of the promises made to the fathers, to secure their
establishment.

Having Himself a personal claim on them, He had also title to remove what was a
hindrance to their fulfilment. He had a right to end the Mosaic dispensation and
bring in the dispensation of the fulfilment of the promises. He had title to
take the curse of the law, and thus be the end of the law as a way of getting
righteousness for all who believe (Romans 10:4). He had the right to be Israel’s
Substitute to sacrificially endure the judgment of their sins, and thus open the
channel in which the grace of God could flow, in which God could in
righteousness bestow the forgiveness of sins and fulfil the promises made to the
fathers.

But, although Christ did thus establish or secure the promises, Israel continued
in blindness and unbelief; therefore it became necessary to continue the
dispensation of confirming the promises. It became necessary to appeal to facts
in evidence that the promises have been permanently secured. It is this appeal
that characterizes the ministry of Peter. Like Christ, he was connected with the
circumcision. Like Christ, he was a minister in behalf of the truth of God: he
announced to Israel the security of the promises and their permanent
establishment. Like Christ, Peter had a ministry which was specifically
addressed to the circumcision — to Israel as a nation. The careful student of
Peter’s ministry as recorded in Acts 2:1-47, Acts 3:1-26, Acts 4:1-37, Acts
5:1-42, will readily see that his very first address to the Jews begins with a
declaration that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the powers accompanying
it are a beginning of the fulfilment of promise (Acts 2:16). When he says, "This
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel," he does not mean that Joel’s
prophecy has had its complete fulfilment, but that what has occurred is of the
nature and character of what was promised in Joel. It is fulfilment beginning.
This announcement made by Peter means that the hindrance to fulfilment of
promise has been removed. and the fulfilment has begun.

Next, in Acts 2:22-36, he appeals to the resurrection of Jesus and His
exaltation on high by the power of God as evidence that God has acknowledged His
rights. This acknowledgment is conclusive proof that Israel must look to Him for
the fulfilment of her promises. Accordingly, in Acts 2:38, the nation is invited
to submit to the One they have rejected, but whom God has made Lord and Christ,
in order to receive the promise of the forgiveness of sins; and in Acts 2:39,
Peter encourages them to do so, by assuring them that the promise of forgiveness
of sins has been made to them. He tells them plainly that if they will receive
the forgiveness of sins in this way, i.e., by submitting to Christ, they will
also participate in the promise that accompanies forgiveness — the Holy Spirit.

Again, in Acts 3:19, still addressing himself to the nation as such, Peter tells
them the promised blotting out of their sins and "times of refreshing" are
waiting on their repentance.

It is thus very clear that the ministry in which Peter addresses himself
specifically to Israel partakes of the nature and character of our Lord’s
ministry in which He appealed to them. In both cases it was a ministry in behalf
of the truth of God — a ministry of the security and establishment of the
promises made to the fathers. But Peter’s ministry was rejected as that of
Christ had been. The Israel of his day was a nation "stiff-necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears," as their fathers had been (Acts 7:51).
Individuals submitted to Christ and became recipients of a blessing that was
according to promise, but the nation in blindness and unbelief refused their
blessings.

Peter had another ministry also, the character of which we shall now consider.

If Christ had a ministry in which He addressed Himself to the Jewish nation as
such, He had also a ministry in which He specifically addressed Himself to the
true children of God in the midst of it. In John 10:1-42 He speaks of thus
ministering to the true sheep of the Jewish fold. Peter was given a ministry of
like nature — a ministry specially intended for the real believer among the
circumcised. In John 21:15-17 our Lord commissions Peter to shepherd and feed
His lambs and sheep. The Lord knew what the lambs and sheep among the
circumcision would need. He knew what persecutions they would have to endure. He
knew the stiff-neckedness, the unbelief, the blindness of the rulers and leaders
of the nation, and that they would forbid teaching and preaching in His name.
Accordingly He provided for the need of His true sheep. He knew they would need
the most considerate nourishing, the tenderest care and oversight, diligent
strengthening and constant encouraging.

Carefully and effectually training Peter for this special service to the objects
of His tender interest and love, He puts them into Peter’s care — He entrusts
them to him. Hence a special ministry is given to Peter. If he was to have a
ministry in which he would address himself to the nation as such, so also was he
to have a special ministry in which he would address himself specifically to the
believers in the midst of the nation.

If in the earlier chapters of the book of Acts we have the record of that
ministry carried out by Peter, in which the nation of Israel as such is
addressed, the two epistles of Peter carry out a special ministry to the
persecuted and dispersed disciples — the followers of the despised and rejected
Messiah. Of course, in speaking of Peter’s ministry in his epistles as
especially intended for converted Jews, I do not wish to be understood as
meaning that it has no application to a wider circle. It certainly applies to
all Christians, but its primary application is to believers connected with
Israel wherever they have been scattered (1 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1).

I do not need here to consider this ministry in detail. It will be sufficient to
characterize it as a ministry in which the government of God is explained: in
the first epistle, as being the Father’s discipline of His children; and, in the
second, in its bearings upon the world. The first epistle shows that the
governmental ways of God are pregnant with inestimable blessing for the
children; the second shows their issue for the world in a sweeping judgment
after long-suffering and patient waiting for it to repent. In the second epistle
Peter says he writes as anticipating soon to put off his tabernacle. Writing
thus that what he had ministered to them may abide in power in their minds, he
completes or fills out the service with which his Lord had entrusted him, in
commending to them the ministry of Paul (2 Peter 3:15-16).

John’s written ministry was then not begun, but Paul’s was practically, if not
entirely, finished. Before turning to John’s ministry I will seek to
characterize that of Paul.

I will notice that Paul also had a double ministry: one towards the world — the
nations — all men; the other, towards the body of Christ, the Church (Colossians
1:23-24). In either case it was a ministry of the grace of God — a dispensing of
blessings from God, whether to believers individually or collectively. A word of
explanation is perhaps necessary here. In the Old Testament times promises were
made, but the blessings implied in the promises were not dispensed. When our
Lord was on earth He did dispense certain blessings to individuals where He
found faith. He did minister the forgiveness of sins, for instance, to
individuals who believed; but He did not minister the full blessing that goes
with the fulfilment of the promise of forgiveness; nor did He, in the days of
His flesh, give the Holy Spirit. In connection with the ministry of Peter there
was both the ministration of the forgiveness of sins and of the Holy Spirit; yet
Peter did not minister the fulness of blessing which is the present portion and
possession of faith. In God’s wisdom, this was reserved for Paul. The full range
of faith’s blessings, so far as they are now bestowed, is through the ministry
of Paul. We have also in Paul’s ministry the blessings that are in hope — that
is, what will yet be done for us and given to us as completing the blessings
which redemption has acquired for us.

What we find in Paul’s ministry, then, is the entire sphere of blessing in which
God displays His wondrous grace. Paul thus occupies as with what, in a true
sense, we may speak of as outward or external — not unreal, far from it; it is a
most real display of the grace of God. But we now turn to John’s ministry. Its
leading feature is that it occupies us with God Himself — with what He is in
Himself. It is what is intrinsic, essential, underived and eternal. It is the
life of God — the eternal life that was ever with the Father. In his Gospel,
John’s ministry relates to the manifestation of God in His Son become Man. His
life on earth is viewed as a declaration of what God is — His nature, character,
and life, displayed on earth as testimony to men — the features and
characteristics of His unchangeable nature, not only proclaimed, but shown,
exhibited. In the epistles the life that is eternally in the Son and has been
manifested among men in its eternal, unchanging nature, is viewed as a
communication, and the ways in which it displays itself in those to whom it has
been communicated are unfolded. In the book of the Revelation John writes of the
ways of the Eternal — He who is the First and the Last, the living One, though
He died — in bringing all things into accord with His own eternal nature. The
distinctive features of the ministries of Peter, of Paul, and of John, are
distinct and plain. They are in no way in opposition, but perfectly harmonious,
each in agreement with the others, none to be pitted against the others. They
are not to be compared as if one was paramount to the others. There should be no
depreciation of Peter’s ministry as if it were defective — not equally perfect
with that of Paul or of John. There is a tendency, perhaps naturally in us all,
to give a prominence to the blessings ministered by Paul which overshadows the
Blesser Himself. It was this tendency that was in the mind of one whose memory
we all rightly cherish, when he counselled us not to neglect John in pressing
Paul. He did not mean by this advice that John is a balance to Paul, but that
the apprehension and enjoyment of John’s ministry will be a cure to our
proneness of being occupied with the range of our blessings in such a way as to
have them more distinctly before our souls than the One who has blessed us.

It is the Blesser Himself with whom John occupies us. What He is — what He is
essentially, intrinsically, eternally. What He is in essence, in nature, in
character: this is what John shows us.

Beloved brethren, what would all the range of our blessings be without God
Himself? It certainly ought not to need much consideration to realize that the
Blesser is greater than the blessings. The Giver is higher than His gifts. Our
God and Father is higher, greater than all His hand bestows. The Son of God who
came from God and the Father to give us the knowledge of Himself is above the
benefits He has procured and secured for us, inestimable as all these are; and
we need the sense of this in our souls to keep us from glorifying ourselves on
account of the great blessings that have been given us. The ministry of John
serves to maintain us in this very needful apprehension. The links of the
epistles of John with his Gospel are very close; so close, that an apprehension
of the doctrine of the Gospel as to eternal life is essential to a right
understanding of the epistles. Before we enter on our detailed study of John’s
first epistle, therefore, let us as briefly as possible outline the teaching of
his Gospel as to life — the life eternal.

First, the teaching of John’s Gospel is that life — essential, underived,
unchangeable and eternal — dwells in the Son of God. In Him who was with God as
the eternal, divine Word, was life (1 John 1:4). Living in divine community of
life, He was personally the absolute expression of what God is, in essence,
nature and character. He, in whom the life thus essentially dwelt, was the light
— the truth — the Source of it to man. It is important to remark here that none
of the living creatures created by Him had community of life and light with Him.
Those that became living beings by the word of His power, cease to be also by
the same Word. Man became a living being, not by the word of His power, but by
an impartation, not of the divine, eternal life, but of the spirit-nature; so
that as being by creation a living soul having spirit, a spirit-nature, he was
in the image and likeness of God. But if man thus lives and moves and has his
being in God by creation (Acts 17:28), that is not living in community with the
divine eternal life of God — the life that is in the Son of God. Even if man had
not sinned, a special work of God in his soul would have been necessary for him
to possess life in community with God, to have become a participator in the
divine, the eternal life. But man sinned, and his mind became darkened. Sin
alienated him from God and rendered him incapable of finding out God, or of
understanding Him, or of discerning and receiving the things of God. Hence, from
the garden of Eden to the present time, men have not apprehended the life and
light dwelling in the Son of God. Whether it be the partial manifestations since
Eden, or the full shining forth of the light in Himself become a Man and
tabernacling among men, the light of eternal life in Him has not been perceived
by man naturally.

Nay, more: the Gospel of John tells us when the Son of God was upon earth the
testimony given of God to Him was rejected. There was adequate testimony — of
John the Baptist, of the works wrought by the Son, of the Father’s testimony and
seal of the Holy Spirit; that of the Old Testament Scriptures also, and of the
Son Himself — yet the world does not recognize Him; even His own earthly nation
does not receive Him (John 1:1.) Man’s mind is darkness, under the power of
unbelief.

It is true that from Eden until now individuals have received Him, have
discerned His personal and divine glory, have waited for Him, have welcomed Him,
have bowed the knee to Him; but these, according to John’s Gospel, have all been
subjects of a work of God in the soul. They have been born of God by faith; they
have been laid hold of by the testimony of God in the power of the Spirit (John
1:1-13). They have been born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5). But until the
Son came into the world, in full revelation of the Father, such were not given
the privilege of taking, in the full reality of it, their place as children with
the Father. That could not be until the place and the work to fit us for that
place were fully revealed, and while, as we learn elsewhere, the children were
being treated as servants. But the place of the children is now made known by
the Son sent by the Father, and the right of the children to take it is divinely
authorized (John 1:12). Even while our Lord was on earth He granted to faith
this privilege, as John’s Gospel abundantly shows (John 8:19; John 12:44-45;
John 14:7-9). In chapter 3 the universal need of new birth is pressed (John
3:3-7). Everywhere, even in Israel, there was necessity that the testimony of
God should lay hold of the soul in the power of the Spirit. This is needed no
less in order to share in the earthly things of the kingdom of God than in the
heavenly; both alike are subjects of divine revelation and testimony. The Lord
was but insisting on a need the Old Testament Scriptures affirmed. The refusal
to submit to this necessity is as fatal in connection with the earthly things as
it is in connection with the heavenly. The Lord is not teaching that new birth
is an earthly thing, but that it is essential to participating in either the
earthly or heavenly things of the kingdom of God. But how can new birth, giving
that new life and nature which constitutes those upon whom it is conferred
children of God, be bestowed upon sinners? The Cross is the answer. The basis on
which God ever gave life — life eternal — is the sacrificial death of the Son of
Man. The Son of God became Man to die under man’s penalty, that life might
righteously, though in grace, be communicated to those deserving the death
eternal. So earnestly does God desire men to live in the life that is eternal,
and not abide in eternal death, that He gave His own Son, to become Son of Man
to provide a righteous basis for the communication of divine, eternal life (John
3:14-16). The one that believes on Him, the object of divine testimony, receives
the life — the eternal life that is in the Son; the rejector of Him does not see
life, but abides in death and under the wrath of God (John 3:36). This statement
is absolute truth — true for all ages and dispensations, those preceding the
Cross as well as since. Believers before the Cross believed on the Object of
divine testimony. Such and only such were then born of God; and it is such and
only such that are born of God now. The measure of revelation and testimony has
nothing to do with the matter of the communication of life. It is not at all the
amount of revelation laid hold of; it is the laying hold of the Object of
revelation and testimony. Wherever and whenever the object of divine testimony
is laid hold of in the power of the Spirit, there is a child of God — one born
of water and the Spirit; there is one to whom the life eternal, that is in the
Son of God, is imparted. In John 4:1-54 the imparted life is shown to be a
spring of refreshment and satisfaction within the one to whom it is given. The
possessor of this "spring" is independent of the world through which he is
passing, since the spring within him rises up to the sphere of the abiding and
eternal realities. Linked with these by the life and nature bestowed on him, he
has capacity for their enjoyment; the measure of the enjoyment being, of course,
according to the measure of the revelation and the energy of faith in the
apprehension of it.

John 5:1-47 insists that the eternal life that dwelt underivatively in the Son
of the Father before the world began, dwells underivatively also in Him as the
Son become Man; that thus He has the sovereign and divine right to be both the
Life-giver and the Judge; and further, that His communication of life, divine
and eternal, absolutely frees those that receive it from judgment; they pass out
of death into life. It is eternal life they have passed into. Resurrection to
life is thus guaranteed to all who have died in faith, from whatever age or
dispensation.

John 6:1-71 shows the Giver of life — the Quickener — to be also the abiding
Bread of life, its sustainment, its nourishment. The life develops and expands
as it feeds on Him. This explains the various degrees of growth in the divine
life found among the children of God. If the life by which we live is a common
life — the life that is in the Son of God — the practical, experimental life,
the life lived, varies in the different dispensations on account of the varying
measures of the revelation, and in the same dispensation also on account of the
varying degrees of the energy of faith.

We are instructed in John 7:1-51 that it is through drinking of the fulness that
is in the Son that the possessor of life eternal becomes a filled vessel, the
overflow of which the Spirit uses to bless and refresh others. He who drinks in
the things of Christ as the Spirit has taught them, is in turn the Spirit’s
channel of these things to others.

John 8:1-59, John 9:1-41, John 10:1-42 show that the portion of those whom He
quickens — those born of water and the Spirit — is communion with Himself. Life
in the Son of God, communicated to the believer, implies communion with the Son,
after the pattern of the communion of the Son with the Father (John 10:14-15).
This communion in its full blessedness necessarily waited its full revelation.
Those having life before the full revelation enjoyed communion in a partial
measure, but after its full revelation, the communion is life abundant — fulness
of joy. In John 11:1-57, John 12:1-50 we are shown that the life with which we
are quickened in new birth, given as it is by Him who in His own person is the
annulment of death and judgment, and on the basis of His own death and
resurrection as grace for men, is a life that links its possessors with the
sphere of life beyond death. Hence the certainty of the resurrection of all
dying in faith in Old Testament times, while death is no more death for the
believer in this New Testament age. Its power is annulled for those for whom
life and incorruption have been illuminated (2 Timothy 1:10). The quickened from
the beginning are all the fruit of the Corn of Wheat that fell into the ground
and died. It has risen. He is the manifested Living One, and all that receive
life from Him, of whatever age, are by that life forever linked with Him in the
sphere of life to which He belongs. The Son of God, then, is the Source and
Fountain of life. He is that as a divine Person; He is that as become Man. It is
His right to give life, to quicken. Divine testimony deposited in the soul in
the power of the Spirit is His way of imparting life, and life imparted thus is
of the same nature as life in its Giver. It is life in identification with the
life eternal in the Son. It is a divinely bestowed capacity for the knowledge
and enjoyment of God. It is that in every age; the measure of the knowledge and
enjoyment depending on the measure of the revelation; the full revelation
expanding the enjoyment into fulness of joy — life abundant. The above statement
of the doctrine of life, as taught in the Gospel of John, is very brief — too
brief if we were engaged in the study of that Gospel; but it may suffice as
presenting what needs to be kept in mind while studying the first epistle. As we
proceed with the epistle in course, there will be frequent need of referring to
the Gospel. The Gospel record is for the purpose of showing that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that they who believe the record may have life
through His name (John 20:31), for life is communicated on the principle of
faith. This life, being a derived, dependent life in those to whom it is
communicated, has those characteristics seen in the earthly life of the Son of
God. This is what the first epistle insists on. He that says "he abides in Him
ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked."

We will now take up the epistle in detail.


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  CHAPTER 21: 02.01     1JN_1:1-4.
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1 John 1:1-4. The apostle Paul tells us that God dwells in light —
unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16). He is the invisible God (Colossians 1:15;
1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:27). No man has ever seen Him. It is not possible for
man to see God in His essential Godhead. Man’s constitution makes him able to
see only what is within the range of his vision — not the invisible.

Even angels, who by creation are nearer to God than man, have not seen and
cannot see that essential glory of God in which He is alone, and which is known
only by the three persons in the one Godhead. The apostle Paul tells us that
angels are dependent on God coming out of the unapproachable light in which He
dwells to display "the riches of His grace" and His "manifold wisdom" to acquire
the knowledge of them (Ephesians 2:7; Ephesians 3:10). Surely, if they have not
this knowledge instinctively, and can only have it through a revelation of it, a
display of it, then certainly they do not know the fathomless depths of the
being of God — what He is in Godhead essence — what He alone is and cannot share
with another.

God, dwelling in the unapproachable light, is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; a
community of essence, a community of moral nature and character, a community of
life both in principle and continuous activity — a community of fellowship
peculiar to themselves, known only to themselves and enjoyed only by themselves;
and that jointly and co-equally. It is an eternal fellowship, abiding,
unchangeably the same from everlasting to everlasting, an eternally mutual and
reciprocal fellowship.

It is evident that the purpose to reveal Himself was ever in the mind of God. He
designed ways of displaying Himself. This, however, needs to be guarded. God
never planned to reveal His Godhead essence. In this He is, and must forever be
alone. He cannot communicate His Godhead essence to any other. If this could be,
He would cease to be absolutely God alone; but created beings can never become
uncreated, self-existing ones, whether they be men or angels.

What then was His purpose? It was to make known His moral nature and character
and the blessedness — the happiness — of the life He lives. It was as to this
that He designed to bring others into community with Himself — a community not
of being, but of moral nature and of life. To do this, to carry out this
purpose, it was necessary for Him to come out from the unapproachable light in
which He dwells alone. This He did when He came forth in the exercise of the
creatorial power inherent in Himself. In the creation which He has produced He
has clothed Himself "with light as with a garment" (Psalms 104:2). But God
looked at in the light of creation is not seen in His moral nature and life.
Creation manifests "His eternal power and divinity" (Romans 1:20, Greek). It
proclaims the power and divinity that was eternally in Him, but not what He is
in moral nature and character and their continuous activity.

God comes out of the light in which He dwells to exercise His providential care
over His creatures. He cares for every sparrow. It has but little value in the
eyes of men, but not one falls to the ground without His notice. He does not
forget one of them (Matthew 10:29; Luke 12:6). He "maketh His sun to rise on the
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust" (Matthew
5:45). He opens His hand, the desire of every living thing is satisfied (Psalms
145:16). The least need of the least of His creatures is provided for, and the
supply is superabundant. But if, on the one hand, God witnesses to Himself in
giving by sun and rain and other forces "fruitful seasons," filling men’s
"hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17); on the other hand, by "sweeping
rain" (Proverbs 28:3) and the burning heat of the sun, He destroys the food of
both man and beast (James 1:11).

If we look at God in the light of His providential care for His creatures, we
find mysteries that that care does not solve. Questions arise that it does not
answer. We look there in vain for the revelation of God’s moral nature and
character, and the manifestation of the life He lives.

If we turn to His governmental ways with men, both with individuals and nations,
as publicly exercised, we fail to learn our lesson if we do not realize that we
are studying ways that proclaim the sovereign Ruler of the universe to be in a
pre-eminent sense a moral Being. His moral nature is plainly manifested in His
moral government, but how inscrutable are these ways! How past finding out
(Romans 11:33)! To our finite minds there are contradictions which seem
irreconcilable. The mystery of it is to us impenetrable. He acts sovereignly,
does His own will, and "giveth not account of any of His matters" (Job 33:13).
We wonder at His silence when evil insolently lifts up its head. We tremble in
the presence of His punishments of it. We see Him putting limits to the
operation of evil, and ask, Why then does He permit it at all? If, on the one
hand, God "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What
doest Thou?" (Daniel 4:35); and, on the other hand, tolerates sin, allows it to
go on unrebuked, at times seems to be indifferent to it and exposes Himself to
the charge of seeming acquiescence in it; where is the line of demarcation
between His abhorrence and His sufferance of it?

Looking at God in the light of His moral government, we reach certain
conclusions as to His moral nature and character, and up to a certain point our
conclusions are correct, but beyond that point there is felt to be a need of
fuller light. The same is true also with regard to God’s special government of
His own people. Any observer of the governmental ways of God with His own
children, both individually and collectively, will readily see that He warns
them against disobedience, threatens them with penalties, and in case of
disobedience often visits them with severe punishments. On the other hand there
is often apparent indulgence. There is indeed patience, long-suffering with
their manners, and what seems like indifference. We see here, too, God exposing
Himself to implications which upright souls feel cannot be true of Him; yet the
mystery of it is not explained until God is seen in a fuller light.

God came forth from the unapproachable light to make known His law — His demands
on man, what He requires of him as standing on his own responsibility; but He
did not manifest Himself. He surrounded Himself with "a thick cloud" (Exodus
19:9). He spoke out of "fire and smoke" (Exodus 19:18) and "thick darkness"
(Deuteronomy 4:11). There was a display of majesty, power and authority. So
great was the tempest and the quaking of the mount that the people trembled, and
Moses himself feared exceedingly (Hebrews 12:21). Even on the occasion of the
second giving of the law, though not accompanied with such terrible
manifestations, there was still reserve and distance. When Moses requested to
see the glory of God, his request was not granted. He was told, "Thou canst not
see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live" (Exodus 33:20). The
revelation then given was not of the "face" of God, but His "back parts" (Exodus
33:23). It was not the Light in the full power of its shining, manifesting God
in the fulness of what He is in moral nature and life, but a ray of the Light,
partially revealing the One from whom it was reflected.

God came out of the light in which He dwells directly after Adam’s disobedience
and fall. He came out to reveal to him the coming of a Man to triumph over Satan
and bring life out of death (Genesis 3:15); but, though the revelation was a
promise of eternal life (Titus 1:2), the life and incorruption of the promise
was not illuminated till the giving of another revelation long after (2 Timothy
1:10). By types, by the shadows of the sacrificial system connected with the
law, by specially appointed events — events happening by divine intervention and
under divine control, God came out of the unapproachable light to give forth
rays of what dwells in Himself. These rays, either singly or combined, while
telling us something of the character of God, were in no wise a full and
adequate revelation of what He is. It was a true revelation, so far, but not the
full truth.

God came out of His dwelling-place in light in the promises He made to the
fathers. These promises were a revelation to faith of her inheritance and
portion; yet the revelation was incomplete. The promises, however truly implying
what was in God’s mind, did not in reality express it all. If the "God of glory"
(Acts 7:2) appeared to Abraham, He did not show Abraham all His glory. So also
in prophecy, God came forth out of the light in which He dwells, speaking by the
mouth of men who were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). None of the
prophets, however, could say: "We speak that we do know, and testify that we
have seen" (John 3:11). Only He who came from God could thus speak. The prophets
spoke as and when moved by the Spirit, and thus only what was given them to say.
Their utterances therefore were always in measure, fragmentary and partial, not
the full revelation of the God they served. Old Testament prophecy does not
adequately and fully declare what God is. However much it does tell us of Him,
it does not make Him known to us in the fulness of His moral nature and life. In
the various ways in which I have thus far spoken of God (as coming out of the
light in which He dwells to display before men some distinct and special
characteristic of Himself), He remained still the invisible God. In none of them
had He yet placed Himself in conditions in which He could be seen; but in the
incarnation He has done so. There we see "God manifest in flesh." The
incarnation is a profound mystery. The mind of man cannot explain it or
understand how it was effected, but the fact is plainly evident. The power of
the Holy Spirit in and through the virgin produced a Man who is both a divine
and a human Person. Thus supernaturally come into the world, He unites Deity and
humanity in Himself — in one Person. He is thus truly God and truly Man: with
human spirit, soul and body — God is seen in flesh. The incarnation of the Son
of God then was a stooping from "the form of God" (Php 2:6), the condition of
essential Deity to the condition of humanity — a coming down into the condition
of human and creature dependence. In this human condition He is not only "the
Firstborn of all creation" (the One who has the first and highest rank in it),
but also the image, the representation of God (Colossians 1:15). Come thus from
the unapproachable light, from the bosom of the Father, to be the image of God
among men, He has declared the God whom no man has seen nor can see (John 1:18).
So far as knowledge of God is communicable He has fully communicated it. He has
fully expressed and exhibited it.

Here I may mention the competency of the Son of God become Man to witness to God
and declare what He is — to reveal Him to man. Being Himself a divine person,
one of the dwellers in the unapproachable light, He knows God in a divine way,
with absolute knowledge in the essence of His being; He knows what His moral
nature and character are; He could, and did say, "We speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen" (John 3:11). "What He hath seen and heard, that He
testifieth," was said of Him by the Spirit through John the Baptist (John 3:32);
and Himself said, that He did the works and spoke the words He knew in the
Godhead intimacies (John 8:26; John 8:38; John 12:49).

Existing eternally as one of the Godhead, when He came down into our dependent
creature-place He brought with Him the eternal intimacies in which He was with
the Father and the Spirit, and possessed them and lived in them here. As living
in them from everlasting, He was fully competent to declare and reveal them
here.

While tabernacling among men, He was the Light of the world (John 8:12; John
9:5). He was not, as some others, a light merely; He was the Light. Every
prophet was a light, some brighter than others. John the Baptist "was a burning
and a shining light" (John 5:35). But all these were mere lights — were fallible
men, though under the power of the Holy Spirit for the light they gave (2 Peter
1:21); but Christ was in His own person the Light — God in humanity manifesting
Himself.

What light in which to see God! God Himself come out of the unapproachable
light, in the person of His own Son, to be seen, heard, studied, and even
handled by men! What light in which to see the invisible God, had men eyes to
see! Alas, they had not. They were in the darkness, and, blinded by it, they
could only think of Him as a blasphemer — He the incarnate Son of God! (John
10:33). But what wondrous revelations of God were to be seen in Him! What
illumination of those partial revelations in the Old Testament! The promised
woman’s Seed, the Man from the Lord had come — Abraham’s Seed and heir — David’s
Son and Lord — the foreordained Lamb of God, to whom the oft-repeated sacrifices
of the Old Testament ages all pointed — the One of whom the prophets all had
spoken, and the psalmists in Israel had sung and prophesied. But how could I
enumerate, much less unfold, all the revealed glories of the incarnate Son, as
the light of men (John 1:4)? There are some, however, which need special mention
as having to do with what is before us in our studies of this epistle.

First is the revelation of the Godhead relationships of Father and Son. I have
already mentioned the fact that God who dwells in the unapproachable light is
made known to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit — three Persons in the one
Godhead — a Trinity in unity, a community of essence in life, nature and
character. In the Old Testament, Elohim (the Hebrew word for God) is in plural
form, implying at least three, and is constantly used as the subject of singular
verbs, suggesting plurality in unity.

It may be of interest to some to mention that in Isaiah 48:16 we have the three
persons of the Godhead spoken of: "The Lord God and His Spirit hath sent Me."
This trinity in unity is thus clearly indicated in the Old Testament, though not
in the terms of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But He is thus made known to us in
the New Testament, by one of the persons of the Godhead coming forth from that
unapproachable light, stooping down from the form of God to the form of a
servant, tabernacling among men, a veritable Man and Son of God, uniting Deity
and humanity in one Person. When this Visitor from heaven was baptized by John
the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended and abode upon Him (John 1:32), and a
voice from heaven said, "This is My beloved Son" (Matthew 3:17). Thus God is
revealed to be Father, Son and Holy Spirit — relationships which were not
revealed and therefore not understood before. Our Lord, however, constantly
speaks of "the Father" and addressed Him as "My Father." He speaks of Him as One
who has already been declared as the Father (see Matthew 11:25-26; Mark 13:32;
Luke 9:26; John 4:23; John 5:20, and many other places). In His life upon earth
the Son of God was for men a revelation of the life and character of God. In Him
was life (John 1:4). As the Father has life in Himself — a life uncreated and
eternal — thus also has the Son life in Himself (John 5:26). He was personally
the Life eternal that was with the Father (1 John 1:2). Had it not been in Him
as in the Father, it would not have been said "with the Father." It was a
community of life, therefore, in the persons of the Godhead. So also as regards
the activities of the life. It surely is impossible for us to measure the
infinite fulness of the joys that filled the divine Persons’ bosom as they
mutually and reciprocally participated in constant fellowship of eternal
activities. There are many scriptures implying this, but none perhaps that helps
us more to appreciate this fact than Proverbs 8:30-31 : "Then I was by Him, as
one brought up with Him; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before
Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the
sons of men." If we apply this (as undoubtedly we may) to the Second Person of
the Godhead, as being the personification of the wisdom of God, then we have
expressed here the eternal happiness of God in the activities of divine life.
What mutual intimacies! How deep the outflow of love responding to love! What a
community of enjoyment; what fellowship of the Father and the Son in these
eternal, divine activities! And when the Son of God became Man, He did not cease
to have life in Himself. The same underived, eternal and divine life that was in
Him as dwelling eternally with the Father was in Him in humanity. He was the
only Man to whom it was given to have life in Himself. In the first man, Adam,
God breathed the breath of life, and he became a living soul. This was a
creature-life — not the divine, eternal life. But the human life assumed by the
Second Man was produced by the power of the Spirit in the virgin. Thus in Him
were the divine and human life united in one Person, a unique Person, a unique
Man: "The Word was made flesh." Life was essentially in Him upon earth as in the
Father (John 5:26).

If the Son of God become man united in His own person divine and human life,
humanity in Him was a new humanity — in community of life with God. The Son of
the Father become man was a Man possessing life in community with the Father.
But if He thus raised up humanity into community of life with God, it is also
true that He brought divine life down into a condition of human life. The life
He had with the Father eternally was thus possessed in the human condition He
assumed. For Him to assume the conditions and limitations of human life, meant
living dependently and obediently. This of course was an entirely new experience
for Him, and for which it was necessary He should come into the condition of it
(Hebrews 5:8). He could not experience creature dependence and obedience while
in Godhead form and condition. To have that experience He needed to stoop down
to the form and condition of man — of dependence and service. To this He
stooped, assuming a condition in which He lived dependently and obediently. He
lived "by the Father" (John 6:5; John 6:7), i.e., the living Father was the
reason or ground of His life here below. But, living thus, there was no
interruption of the divine and eternal intimacies as the eternal Son with the
eternal Father in the unapproachable light.

Living here among men dependently and obediently, yet as possessing and enjoying
the intimacies of Godhead community of life, He was the revelation of them for
men. If men had had eyes to see it they would have seen in Him not only the One
who was personally the life with the Father, but also the activities of the life
which habitually and constantly expressed itself in Him, both in word and work.
(See John 3:11; John 3:32; John 5:19-20; John 5:36; John 8:26; John 10:15; John
10:32; John 11:44-45.) There never was a moment, save in the darkness of the
cross, when the divine, eternal intimacies were interrupted: the Father finding
in His Son, become man, His eternal delight; and the Man Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, realizing His eternal rejoicing. His earthly life was a manifestation of
the life of the divine Dwellers in light brought down into the condition of a
dependent human life. The true Life thus was shining, was manifested in its own
proper activities; but men, blinded by the darkness they were in, had not eyes
to see it. There had been rays of the light shining from the beginning of fallen
man’s history, but only in the Son of God become man and living here in the
world did the light shine in its full power. It was shining for every man (John
1:9), but they hated the light thus manifested.

Still, through grace, there were those whose eyes were opened and who did see.
From the garden of Eden, down the long history, there were those who saw and
received the light so far as it was shining. So, too, when the Son of God was
among men as the Light of men, there were those who through grace, saw it,
welcomed it, received it — received of its fulness, grace upon grace (John
1:16). They saw in the One who was made flesh, a divine Person; for, as they
contemplated His glory, they saw it was the glory of the Only Begotten of the
Father.

I have said this was through grace; for it was by the power of the Spirit that
divine testimony laid hold of those who thus set to their seal that God’s
testimony concerning His Son become man is true (John 3:33). They thus became
children of light and of God, through faith, receiving Him who had come from
God. It was by believing on His name they were born of God — born of water and
the Spirit. It was by believing on His name they were born from above, that is,
from a higher sphere than the natural. Of course, it was ever by faith that men,
from Eden down, became children of God; but, though born of God, they were not
granted the privilege of taking their place with God as children. They could not
take the place of children until that place was made known; nor could they know
the blessedness of the place until it was revealed. Hence, until the Son of God
came into the world and revealed the children’s place and its blessedness, the
children of God died in faith, without full knowledge of their place with God.
But the Son of God having come, the place was made known and the intimacies of
it communicated. To His children, the Father’s name was made known (John 17:6;
John 17:8).

It was thus they became competent witnesses of the life eternal that was with
the Father and was manifested here. They were qualified to witness by their
personal enjoyment of the manifested life, and testified to what they
experienced of it (1 John 1:1). So far as they enjoyed the word of life they
have declared it. What they saw, they have testified to (1 John 1:2). Their
testimony is an announcement of the life eternal which was with the Father, but
manifested to them here in the Son. Not only have they given us the testimony of
the Son of God Himself — the testimony He bore as being the true Light of men —
but they have reported what was their own enjoyed portion as those to whom He
manifested the Father’s name.

What this wondrous, blessed portion was, we shall consider directly, but I wish
to emphasize the fact that John, as one of these qualified witnesses,
representing and speaking for them, has authoritatively declared (John 21:24)
what the testimony of the Son of God to the world was, and also His
communications to the men given Him out of the world. In his Gospel he writes to
all men, declaring the things that Jesus did and said to bring conviction "that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," that by believing they might have life
through His name (John 20:31). In the epistle he writes to those to whom the Son
has manifested the Father’s name, unfolding the characteristics of the Life
eternally with the Father, that they may not merely have the life, but have it
as inwardly understood (1 John 5:13), as subjectively realizing what its
character is, and what its accompanying blessedness. Of this privilege, bestowed
upon the children of God of this present period, we shall speak in the proper
place. My object now is to fasten attention on the fact that John, as the
divinely-chosen witness, has testified to the children of God, as being himself
in the realized enjoyment of it, the character of the life of which by faith
they have become participants. What he saw and heard, what he thus inwardly
knew, what he enjoyed of the manifested life, he has reported to us. In their
day these witnesses testified orally; by divine inspiration their testimony was
put into permanent form to be handed down. We of this 20th century have their
personal testimony of the life of our Lord upon earth. Through the divine
testimony and power of the Spirit they saw His glory; they believed Him to be
the Son of God; and what they saw and heard, they testified to.

Now, in John 17:20-21, our Lord prayed for those who should receive the
testimony of these witnesses, that they might be participators in this divine
community of life with the Father and the Son: "That they also may be one in us"
(the Father and the Son), i.e., should share in their community of life and
nature. It is in this light we must understand what the apostle says when we
read: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may
have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with
His Son Jesus Christ." Through faith in Him they had come into the community of
life of the Father and the Son.

I speak of course of the fact, not of the measure of their apprehension and
enjoyment. But, as is said, their fellowship was truly with the Father and the
Son. It was a fellowship of life and nature — in divine community — and those
who believe through their word share with them in it: "That ye may have
fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son
Jesus Christ," affirms this. The apostle is speaking of the fact. The measure of
its enjoyment is another matter. Whatever be the measure in which we are
enjoying it, the fact is and abides, and we know it by divine revelation. The
Son has come and manifested its nature and character, and believers now are made
acquainted with the fact of their participation in what has been manifested.

Here I must pause to consider some questions that have been raised and variously
answered. Some think the possession of this blessed privilege, this
participation in the divine community of life, is the result or consequence of
attainment, of reaching a certain stage of intelligence, of believing some
testimony beyond what is received when new birth is effected in the soul. But it
is the one who believes on the Son that possesses the life eternal (John 3:36).
As an unbeliever, instead of being a sharer in the life, he is under the wrath
of God. This is a state of death out of which he passes through faith. By faith
he is born into the divine community of life. He must first be in the life
before he can make attainments in it. In Leviticus 1:1-17 we learn that the one
who brought turtledoves or young pigeons for a burnt-offering was accepted as
fully as the one who brought a bullock. The one of the feeblest apprehension as
well as the one of the greatest is made accepted in the Beloved. So with the
life received in new birth; it puts one into this community of divine life with
the Father and the Son.

Another question has also been raised. It has been asked, "Did the Old Testament
saints have fellowship with the Father and the Son?" I reply, As regards the
fact, they did; but as regards the knowledge of it — since it had not been
revealed to them — they could not know that they were partakers in the divine
community of life. Unquestionably, however, as born from above by the power of
the Spirit, they were in reality partakers of the divine nature — had eternal
life. In Old Testament times God did not give His children the place and
privileges of children; consequently He did not reveal to them the true nature
and character of their relationship to Him. They were truly His children, but He
did not tell them they were. They in fact were possessors of His life, of His
moral nature and character, but He did not reveal it to them. They could not
have understood it if He had told them. To understand what divine, eternal life
is, it had to be manifested. The Son has come and manifested the life, and along
with its manifestation comes also the revelation that God’s children are sharers
in it. As born of the Spirit they have eternal life, and are in community of
life with the Father and the Son. This explains the difference between the Old
Testament saints and us as regards eternal life. God not having revealed it to
them, they knew not that they had it. We have it, and know it, because God has
declared it to us. In saying we know it, I remind the reader again that I am not
speaking of the measure of our enjoyment of it. This is, as already said, a
different matter, and is not the Spirit’s subject in verse 3. If any should say
that I am overlooking, or that I am forgetting the practical side, I answer that
I am simply reserving its consideration till we come to those parts of our
epistle where it is treated of; but here the Spirit’s thought is that of our
participation in the divine community of life.

There is another question I must not overlook. We are sometimes told that
fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ is the only fellowship
Scripture ever speaks of, and thus it is taken to mean Church fellowship. This
is a serious mistake. It is true there is no real participation in Church
fellowship unless there is participation in the fellowship of the Father and the
Son. To be a sharer in the ecclesiastical community or unity really (not merely
professedly), one must be a sharer in the community of the divine life; but they
are different things. This should be evident from the fact that there are those
who share in the latter that do not share in the former. The children of God of
both the Old Testament and millennial times participate in the divine community
of life, but do not in the Church community. For Church fellowship, whether
ideal or practical, we must turn to those scriptures where it is spoken of; but
we do not find it here. Here, the apostle speaks of the life that is common with
the Father and the Son. The incarnate Son has life in community with the Father
(John 5:26). Those who receive the divine testimony are brought into that
community of life. The apostles and others in their day participated in it, and
all those who receive their testimony share in it now, through infinite grace.

What unspeakable blessing! How little are we in the practical enjoyment of it!
How amazing the grace that has made such a rich portion ours! We, who have
forfeited even merely human life, being laid hold of by this life from above,
are raised up, not merely out of the death and the judgment due to our sins, but
to oneness in life and nature with God! "Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God!" A word of
caution here may perhaps be needed by some. We are not brought into oneness of
essence with the Father and the Son. To say that, would be serious error; in
fact, blasphemous. We do not become what God is in the essence of His Being. To
be "children of God" does not mean or imply that. The unity into which by grace
we are brought is not a unity of essence, but of life and nature. We are not
made participators in His Being and attributes, but in His moral nature and
character. Fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ is not community
of being, but of life.

We briefly notice 1 John 1:4. If faith comes by hearing and hearing by a report,
and the believer is thus brought into community of divine life, the unfolding of
the nature and character of the life thus participated in makes the joy
complete. By inspiration of the Spirit the apostle thus authoritatively unfolded
the blessing which divine testimony brings to believers to make their joy
complete. The saints of old had joy surely, but their joy could not have been
complete under the then conditions and circumstances. But now, the true nature
and character of the relationship in which the children of God stand to Him
having been made known, how much the joy has been enlarged. Our joy, as compared
with theirs, as measured by theirs, is fulness of joy. It is not that we are
better than they; it is not that we are more worthy than they, but in the wisdom
of God the time has come for the children of God to take practically the place
of children. And to this end our revelation is immensely larger than was theirs.
The revelation given to us, beside revealing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
also reveals the fact that the children are in community of life with them, and
that this blessedness is ours.

What richer, fuller joy can there be? What is there beyond and above God? We now
know Him, His moral nature, His character, His life, and we are made partakers
of them! This is fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 22: 02.02     1JN_1:5-10.
========================================================================

1 John 1:5-10. In 1 John 1:5, the apostle who had been a witness of the earthly
life of the Son of God gives us the message which, by word and work, He had
communicated to them, making God known to them in His nature and character as
Light, without a shade of darkness. No doubt John gave our Lord’s message orally
to those to whom he could thus speak, but here he puts it in permanent form that
it may be the heritage of all believers. If, then, we have received the message
concerning the moral nature and character of God, it becomes us to seek to
realize the import of the message.

We may best do this perhaps by considering three statements — "God is spirit,"
"God is light," and "God is love." When our Lord tells the woman of Samaria that
"God is spirit" (John 4:24), He is teaching her that while the substance of God
is immaterial and invisible, it is of the nature of spirit: He is not
characterizing the spirit substance in God, not distinguishing it from the
spirit substance in other spirit beings. There can be no doubt that the spirit
substance of angels is not identical with the spirit substance in God, which is
uncreated, underived, subsisting from everlasting to everlasting. Not so in
angels. In them it is a created substance. But this distinction or difference is
not the point in our Saviour’s conversation with the Samaritan woman. He is
emphasizing the fact that God being of a spirit substance, it is unsuited to
worship Him with material things — with shadows. He should be worshiped in
spirit and reality.

Returning to 1 John 1:5, when the apostle says, "God is light," he is not
speaking of God’s spirit substance merely, but of His moral nature as well; He
is declaring what one of the qualities is by which His moral character is
distinguished.

Light and love describe God’s character. Light is used here symbolically: a
beautiful symbol it is. In the first place, light, constituted as it is of three
distinct rays, is in itself a trinity in unity, and suitably symbolizes God as a
unity of three distinctions. God is a trinity of one common substance. But this
is not all that light speaks of. The distinctions in the Godhead are
distinctions of personal relations. The three Persons constituting the Trinity
are not only a trinity of one common spirit substance, but also of one common
life, of one common moral nature and character. To say, "God is light," is not
only to say the Trinity is of one common spirit substance, but also of a common
moral nature, since the distinctions in the Godhead are distinctions of moral
relations. The distinctions of Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinctions of
individual and personal moral relations. As light is unchangeable, it
beautifully symbolizes God as the unchangeable One, both in substance and moral
nature.

Again, light is self-manifesting and therefore symbolizes the capability in God
of manifesting Himself, of putting Himself in the light. The second Person of
the Godhead eternally was its power to manifest itself, whether partially or
fully. The partial revelations of God have been by the Word; through His
incarnation and earthly life He has fully revealed God — the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit — revealed their moral nature. It is in this sense that the Son of
God is the light of men. In Him become Man the invisible Father is seen. "He
that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). God the Spirit is able to
make men sensible of His unseen immanence — that He is near even if invisible;
but the Son not only manifests His nearness, but makes Himself visible — puts
Himself in the light.

Again, as the symbol of what God is, light is transparent, perfectly
transparent. It is thus the symbol of intrinsic purity, of God’s moral
character. To say "God is light," is to say He is holy; not only relatively, but
absolutely so. His holiness is essential, intrinsic. This means He is able to
preserve Himself as He is. As light is unchangeable; so is God incorruptible,
untarnishable; it is impossible for any moral poison to come into His moral
nature. No evil, no sin can ever originate or be in Him. What He is in moral
nature and character He has ever been and must ever be. He cannot be deceived;
"cannot be tempted with evil" (James 1:13). "God is light" tells us that His
moral discernment is absolutely perfect. It is a moral impossibility for God to
look complacently upon sin. He cannot behold iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13). If, then,
His perceptions are unerring, His moral discernment absolutely perfect, His
judgments must be right. He must perfectly resent everything that is contrary to
what He is in His own nature. He can never compromise with what is against or in
opposition to His character. That He is light is the assurance and guarantee of
all this. And light is an active agent. It is not a passive thing affected by
outside influences. Darkness may hinder its being seen; but seen or unseen it is
ever the same. It is not moulded by powers outside itself. It is ceaselessly,
uniformly active, symbolizing thus the active energy in God by which He
ceaselessly and uniformly asserts or expresses His moral character.

We see, then, that in saying "God is light," the Spirit uses a most appropriate
symbol, whether we think of God as a trinity of Persons, or community of spirit
substance, or moral nature and character. In 1 John 4:1-21 the apostle says,
"God is love." If light expresses the divine energy in manifesting the stainless
and unstainable purity of God’s moral nature, "love" expresses the energy of God
in asserting and maintaining the absolute perfection of His goodness.
Necessarily these two distinguishing qualities unite in God. If He were not
absolutely "light" He could not be absolute goodness; and if He were not
absolutely "love" — perfect goodness — He could not be unsullied light.

We return now to the thread of the apostle’s argument. He has shown that the Son
of God become Man has by word and work, especially by the cross, manifested the
life eternal in its fulness and power; and that believers on the Son of God
participate in the life thus manifested; that believers now not only share in
the life but may know it, and so have the full joy which that knowledge gives.
Then he declares the spotless purity of God’s moral character as manifested in
the Son come from God, that the participators in God’s moral nature may
apprehend and understand the character of the life and nature in which they
share. This is used to test the reality of the profession as to possessing this
divine life — whether the profession be our own or others’. The qualification to
test whether the profession is real or not is the knowledge of what God is in
His moral nature. But this knowledge must be, not only reliable, but
authoritative. It is reliable, because the Son of God Himself has come and made
known the truth about God. It is authoritative, because He was sent of God to
reveal Him.

Again, the knowledge we possess of God’s perfect moral nature is reliable and
trustworthy knowledge, because it has been communicated to us by those who were
personal witnesses of its revelation in and through the Son of God. These
witnesses have borne testimony to what they heard Him declare. It is His
revelation that they have announced to us, and were commissioned by Him to make.

Let us notice also the form of the announcement. It is stated both positively
and negatively. "God is light" declares what He is positively. The negative
statement is, Darkness is not at all in Him. Through the Son of God become Man,
God is in the light. Faith knows what He is morally as revealed in His Son. Of
this life, through grace, the children of faith partake.

We have seen that God has put Himself in the light. The invisible God has made
Himself visible in His Son become Man. Faith owns Him thus.

If then, for faith, God is in the light, believers are in the light also. On the
authority of the divine testimony they can say that they know God. They can
truthfully affirm that they have community of life with the Father and the Son.
It is not a question of development in the knowledge of God: it is true of the
babe in Christ. Though their acquaintance with God may not be based on long
continued companionship with Him, they have an apprehension of what He is in His
nature and character. This apprehension is, in greater or less measure, in every
soul that sets to its seal that the testimony of God is true, i.e. — in every
soul that is born of God. Feeble as his intelligence and apprehension may be, he
is not speaking falsely when he says he knows God and has fellowship with the
Father and the Son. He is in the light where he sees God — what He is. He is not
in the darkness; he does not belong to it; he has passed out of it as surely as
he has passed out of death into life. He is now one of those who live to Him who
died and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:15); he lives and walks in the light.

It is necessary to notice here the expression "Walking in the light." It is
important to apprehend the mind of the Spirit. The expression refers to a fact —
not to the degree in which that fact is realized. The expression denotes the
moral condition in which the children of God are by virtue of their new birth
and the manifestation of the life they have been born into. The apostle is not
speaking of their practical consistency with the light, but of their essential
and necessary relation to it. They are in the light. It is the moral sphere to
which they belong, with which they are connected. How far they are faithful or
unfaithful is not in question here.

Now, for an unbeliever to say he is in the light, or to profess that he has
community of life with God, is to make a false claim. He is in relation to the
darkness, belongs to it, does not know God, has not the life eternal. He is not
practising, not even feebly, the truth. He claims to be in relationship with
God, to be His child, to be a sharer in His nature and life, but the claim is
not true. Now that the light has come and is shining, those who are in it can
judge and denounce as untrue the boastful professions of those who are not in
it.

1 John 1:7 is a precious text for every child of God. There are two things
affirmed in it of those who are in connection with the light. First, those who
walk in the light with God now manifested, are now in the light with Him,
participating in life with Him. They are one family. What a bond! What a blessed
tie! How intimate and close the relation of one child of God to every other
child of God. It is a relation of nature and life, always subsisting, abiding
forever. Here again the apostle is speaking of the unchanging fact, an abiding
fact, whether we are faithful or unfaithful. Of course, if we are faithful or
unfaithful has much to do with our practical enjoyment of the ever subsisting
bond. The normal outflow of the common tie is often interfered with through what
violates its distinctive character, but the tie once formed abides. It is an
eternal tie; He who lives from everlasting to everlasting being the source of
it, and in which, through grace, we have been brought. The rest of the verse is
the declaration of a most important truth. Every child of God, every one born of
Him (who is thus a participator in the life eternal), stands before the face of
God in all the value of the priceless blood of Christ. The light in which God
has put Himself shows that. What a blessed revelation! God Himself is in the
light; the sin in us is in the light; and though we see it to be utterly
abhorrent to God, yet the same light that shows this manifests how God removes
all the defilement there is in us. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son is shown to
be God’s provision for it, and it is a perfect provision. The light itself can
discover no sin in us for which that blood is not an absolute remedy.

Here I would make a practical observation. Those who come to the light, drawn
there by the power of the grace of Him who is light, find the light manifests
their deeds. Now this manifestation is not simply for the moment in which we
first come to the light. It is a continuous work: the light constantly detecting
in him the contrarieties to the light; but in this searching of the heart, the
light shines as well on God’s remedy for the contrarieties detected, and
manifests its absolute perfection as a remedy. This sustains the soul before the
light. No sin can possibly be discovered by the light for which God has not
provided, or for which He is not perfectly sufficient. Hence the child of God
can say, No matter what evil in me may be searched out by the light in which I
walk, my abiding standing there is secured. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s
Son, in its infinite value and eternal efficacy, is what cleanses me before God.
In the consciousness of this I may say, Let the defiling evil in me be searched
out: nothing can possibly be brought out to light that can alter the abiding
place of favor and blessing in which God has put me on the ground of the merits
and value of the blood of Christ.

What peace! what rest! A sinful creature in myself, put before the face of One
who makes me realize as I abide with Him how unlike Him I am, but to realize
also that He who is thus constantly searching out the defiling evil that is in
me is ever looking upon me as perfectly and eternally cleansed from it! May God
grant to His beloved people to have an ever-deepening sense of this. But to
return. In 1 John 1:8-9 the apostle deals with another pretension which the
light manifests to be untrue. What characterizes those who through grace have
come to the light is the confession of what that light manifests. It shows that
men are sinful, that sinners practise sin. For any man to say he is not a sinner
is to deny the truth; it is resisting the testimony of the light. The very claim
makes manifest that those who make it are not in the realization of the truth.
The truth is not in them. They are deceiving themselves.

It must be kept in mind the apostle is not here contemplating failure in the
children of God to fully realize the truth. While it is true that the child of
God may have such a feeble sense of the truth that he may be betrayed into
similar language to that of the mere pretender, it is not characteristic of him
as one who is in the light. John is reasoning in the abstract, not concrete. He
is speaking of what is characteristic, of principles, not persons.

It is not characteristic of one born of God to deny that in himself he is a
sinful man (see Luke 5:8), or pretend that he does not sin. The measure of his
realization of what he is in himself is quite another matter. Speaking
characteristically, as John does, he sets to his seal that the testimony of God
is true, he accepts the truth, he owns as true of himself what the light has
shown to be the truth. To acknowledge oneself a sinful man is to acknowledge the
commission of sins. And if the confession of having a sinful nature is
characteristic of a child of God, it is also true, speaking still
characteristically, that he confesses his sins. It is not simply that he
confesses his sins when he first comes as a sinner seeking a Saviour, but as he
walks in the light he owns the continuous exposures of his sins. The light in
which he walks is constantly detecting them and manifesting them. But then as a
child of faith he is the heir of God’s promise: "I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). The believer is a son
of Abraham and has the privilege of appropriating the promise to himself. The
God who gave the promise is faithful; therefore, characteristically speaking,
the believer has the divine assurance that his sins are forgiven. But it may be
asked, Are not his sins a violation of righteousness? and do they not defile?
The answer is, God is just in fulfilling His promise of forgiveness and
remembering the sins no more. He has provided a remedy — a way of cleansing. He
has given His own Son to bear the due of sins. Purification of sins has been
made (Hebrews 1:3), and the Maker of it has the right of cleansing all who
believe on Him. It would be unjust to Christ if God did not apply the
purification to the one who believes on Christ Jesus. The believer, then,
whatever the record of his sins, and however conscious of being sinful in
himself, has the divine assurance that in the sight of God he is perfectly
cleansed, and stands before His face eternally forgiven. As identified with the
interests of Christ here on earth he is subject to divine discipline, correction
or reproof. He is not exempt from the government of God. But as in Christ, he is
cleansed from every unrighteousness.

Again, as stated in 1 John 1:10, if men claim they are not sinners by practice
they contradict the testimony of God who declares that all have sinned. The
light in which believers walk shows the claim is absolutely false. Any one
making the audacious pretension that man is not fallen, has not the truth of God
dwelling in him. All believers, characteristically speaking, set to their seal
that God’s testimony is true. The word of God dwells in them; it may be often in
feebleness, very defectively realized, but as a class what marks them, all of
them, is submission to what the light has made manifest, i.e., that man without
exception is a sinner both by nature and practice. These haughty pretenders,
then, are in and of the darkness which comprehends not the light (John 1:5). But
the children of faith — being born of God and in the light, while confessing
that grace has cleansed them from all defilement, do not deny that in themselves
they are sinners both by nature and practice. The degree in which all this is
realized is not the apostle’s subject in these verses. This we must keep in mind
to avoid confusion and misunderstanding.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 23: 02.03     1JN_2:1-2.
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1 John 2:1-2.

It should be noticed that the apostle changes his style of address in 1 John
2:1. In 1 John 1:6-10, he uses the expression, "If we say," three times; "If we
walk," once; and, "If we confess," once. It is plain he is speaking on the broad
ground of profession. The profession may be real or it may not be, but the
difference between the real and the unreal needs to be clearly defined. Having
done this, he addresses himself in 1 John 2:1 to those with whom the profession
is a reality. He has said of the profession which says "we have no sin," or "we
have not sinned," that it is pretending to what is not true; but now the apostle
would guard all true believers against making a wrong deduction. Because we have
sin we must not conclude that therefore we must sin. Because we have a fallen, a
sinful nature in us, it will not do to settle it in our minds that necessarily
we must more or less practise sin. "My children, these things" (referring of
course to what he has just been saying), "I write unto you, that ye sin not,"
safeguards the children of God against drawing the wrong conclusion we have
mentioned.

One often hears this false reasoning; but Scripture, neither here nor elsewhere,
allows it. It is not reasoning with the Spirit of God. But while the apostle
here authoritatively pronounces against such reasoning, he does not forget the
believer’s liability to sin. Surely as long as we are in this body, with sin
dwelling in it, we are liable to sin. If we have in us a sinful nature, we are
of course predisposed to sin. The tendency to sin is there. But even so, that
does not mean that the believer must sin. It is one thing to hold that there is
in us a tendency or liability to sin, and quite another to believe we must
necessarily sin. The former is the teaching of Scripture; the latter is not. But
if there is in us a tendency to sin, we should not ignore the fact or forget it.
To do either is to expose ourselves to an ever-present danger. We need to be
constantly in a state of watchfulness against our predisposition to sin lest it
manifest itself in an actual outburst. The apostle, then, would remind us of a
danger to which we are exposed through our having in us what makes us liable to
sin.

We are not to conclude that John and Paul are in conflict because Paul tells us,
"Sin shall not have dominion over you" (Romans 6:14), and John reminds us that
we are liable to sin. Paul teaches that the body is still a mortal, sinful body,
and so recognizes the liability to sin; while John, on the other hand not only
recognizes the liability, but supposing an actual outbreak of sin, gives the
provision which God has made for it in grace. Mark, he says, "If any one sin."
He is looking at it evidently not as a necessity, but a possibility. God has
given us deliverance from the power, from the rule, of sin, but we are not yet
delivered from its presence in us; hence the liability to sin. It is an
ever-present liability. But even so the apostle would not have the thought of
our liability to sin to destroy the sense in our souls of the abiding,
unchangeable character of the place of favor in which divine grace has
established us. It is not only that the flow of communion with God the Father is
intercepted if we sin — that is true of course, and there is need of recovery —
but that is not exactly the apostle’s subject here. The point here is, if an
actual outburst of sin has occurred, what will be the effect of it on our
relationship with God — on our position before the face of the Father?

Now if we are born of God we are abidingly His children, and since the Son of
God was in the world the children of God have had the right to take their place
as that before God. It is now their privilege to think of themselves according
to what they are as being in Christ; and this is always maintained by Christ.
That is abiding; it is unchangeable. Christ is ever before the face of the
Father. He is our Advocate there. What we are by grace, as in Him before God, is
unchangeable, and our interests are in His hands. He has a righteous claim to be
our representative there. Beloved brethren, do our failures, our sins, in
anywise alter what He is there for us before the face of God? What He is there
is what we are, not of course in ourselves, but as being in Him.

It may be needful perhaps to explain what is intended when I say, What He is
before the face of God is what believers are. Let it be remembered that is
distinctly what the word of God teaches. It is not a mere inference that I am
drawing. In 1 John 4:17, we read, "Because as He is, so are we in this world."
In what sense then is this true? Our standing before God is not according to
what we are in ourselves. By the grace of God we have been made partakers of
Him. This participation in Him is a reality. We have His nature, we partake of
His life. As having it, for God we are characterized by it. What the nature and
life are in Him determines what they are in us. Our bodies are yet to be
conformed to His body. In this respect we are not yet "as He is," but as regards
the life that has been given to us it is even now, while we are still in this
world, what it is in Him. If we speak of ourselves as characterized by the life
that has been imparted to us we may say, "We are as He is;" that is, simply
saying, we have community of life with Him. But if we are participators with Him
in life, the abiding character of that life does not depend on us. Whether we
are faithful or not, the character of the life we have is unchangeable. We ought
not to sin; there is no excuse for sinning; provision has been made sufficient
to preserve us from it, and that notwithstanding there is in us the tendency to
sin. But if on account of this tendency we are in the fear of falling into sin,
there is great comfort for us in knowing that our possession of the life that is
in Him cannot be affected, its character cannot be altered. To destroy our life,
He who is the Source of it to us must be destroyed first. Nor can the character
of the life given us be altered, as it cannot be altered in Him. The sins of
believers have no such power. If we sin, He remains the same, and the believer,
however troubled he may be about his sins, has the privilege of looking at Him
and to say, By my sins I have falsified the life He has imparted to me, but in
Him it abides in its perfect, eternal character. He is before the Father’s face
for me, my Representative there, my Advocate. In Him my relation to the Father
is maintained in righteousness.

It will be asked: What then is the effect of sin in a believer? The answer is,
It hinders the intercourse, the flow of fellowship. It limits the measure of the
enjoyment of communion. But this is not the apostle’s theme here. Nor is he
speaking of the discipline needed to arouse the conscience, and awaken exercise
and repentance and confession, nor of the priestly activity of Christ in
cleansing the believer from the sin into which he has fallen. His subject here
is the fact that the believer’s life is maintained inviolate in the Person who
is its source — the believer’s constant representative before the face of the
Father. As regards our sins, then, our Advocate with the Father is propitiation.
This does not mean that He has to make propitiation for our sins. He did that on
the cross. He does not need to make any further offering concerning sins. When
He offered Himself it was once for all. He is not now making propitiation;
Himself is the propitiation.

I shall have to inquire here, In what sense is He propitiation? The attentive
reader will observe He is propitiation in a two-fold way, or perhaps better, in
a two-fold relation. He is, first, propitiation in relation to the sins of
believers; and, second, in relation to the sins of the world. The statement,
"And He is propitiation concerning our sins" naturally follows the statement we
have just now been considering. If Jesus Christ, the righteous One, is our
Representative and Advocate before the face of the Father, we can readily
understand that He is in the place of favor. In thinking of this we must not
limit it to Himself. It is true of course that He is personally the object of
the Father’s favor. He was always that. He was that from eternity. But what I am
now referring to is the fact that He is appearing "in the presence of God for
us" (Hebrews 9:24). He is in the place of favor for us. This means that God’s
attitude towards us is based on Him. We are the objects of the favor of God as
being in Him. No doubt God takes pleasure in our faithfulness, but it is not on
the ground of our faithfulness that God has taken us into favor. It is solely as
being in Christ that we are in His favor. Having put us in Him by making us
participators in the life that is in Him, He ever sees us as in Him. Christ then
is His satisfaction concerning our sins. It is not that He does not abhor them;
He surely does; but Christ having glorified Him concerning sins has an
undisputed claim on Him for being looked upon as full appeasal respecting the
sins of those who through grace have come to be in Him. He is thus propitiation
concerning their sins — the sins of all for whom He is an Advocate, and whom He
represents as appearing in the presence of God.

What joy to the believer who has the knowledge of this! What comfort in knowing,
when I have been ensnared and overcome, that as I turn to look upon my
representative before the face of God, His gracious attitude towards me has not
been affected; that He still looks upon me, not according to what I am in
myself, but according to the One in whom He has accepted me.

We must turn now to consider the sense in which Christ is propitiation in
relation to the sins of the whole world. I must first observe that the apostle
does not imply that there is any need now of propitiation being made for the
sins of the whole world. Since the cross, it is no more a question of making
propitiation concerning sins. That was done then, done once for all, and it was
done for the sins of all. Now it must not be inferred from this that all are
saved from the due of their sins. That is not the fact. The making propitiation
for the sins of all does not by itself save anybody. It provides a righteous
basis on which salvation can be bestowed on all — on all who submit to the one
condition on which it is offered, faith. Only believers are actually saved; but
the propitiation concerning sins made at the cross was the ransom-price paid in
behalf of all. It is not now the time of making propitiation, but the time of
testimony. The gospel, which is for all, is a proclamation of an accomplished
propitiation as a righteous basis of an offer of salvation, received by the
believer. So, then, during this time of testimony God is not imputing sins to
men. He is, by us, beseeching them to be reconciled (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Here we may ask, How is it that God has been content to wait so long on men to
repent? How is it that He does not cut men off suddenly, and without mercy, who
have refused His gospel and rejected the salvation He has offered them? The
answer is: "Jesus Christ, the righteous" is before His face with a just claim on
Him for a time of forbearance and long-suffering. He is thus Himself
"propitiation concerning the sins of the whole world." God’s present attitude
towards the sins of men is based on Christ. It is because His eye is resting on
Christ that He exercises patience. Christ is so fully His appeasal, His
satisfaction, that He is content to show long-suffering still, even though His
mercy in it is despised.

I cannot leave this subject without a few further remarks. In what I have
expressed above I have avoided errors that prevail in certain quarters to the
injury of souls. The limitation of the propitiation, made at the cross, to the
sins of believers, necessitates a limited provision. If that were the truth it
would follow that salvation has been provided only for believers, whereas, in
truth, it has been provided for all. All are invited to come and get it. None
lose it because it is not for them, but because they decline to receive it.

Again, in this view, the evangelist can proclaim the gospel without any reserve.
He can boldly tell men — all men — Christ died concerning your sins. He can
unhesitatingly say, God has been so glorified about your sins by Christ’s death,
that on the ground of it He is now offering you salvation and is beseeching you
to come and take it. You cannot refuse on the plea that the provision for
salvation is only sufficient for a limited number. Every man can be told that
the provision is for him, and that if he refuses it he can never say he perished
because salvation was not provided for him. It is a misrepresentation of the
gospel of God to say God has provided salvation only for those who actually
believe. God has put no limit to the number who can be saved. He has made
provision for all. While all thus can be saved, none are saved except they
repent and believe the gospel.

Once more: When I insist that the provision for salvation is unlimited — is as
truly for those who miss it as for those who get it — I am not teaching
universal salvation. I am teaching universal provision — provision for all. But
while all are provided for, many will not get what has been provided for them.
Their not getting it is not because provision has not been made for them, but
because of not availing themselves of it. The provision is for all; faith gets
what has been provided; unbelief misses it. The distinction to which I call
attention is between Christ making propitiation concerning sins by the death of
the cross, and His being propitiation now as appearing in the presence of God. I
would ask the prayerful meditation of the Lord’s people on this subject. It
supplies the key to the right understanding of the passage at which we have been
looking.

It is also important to consider the two-fold sense in which Christ is now
propitiation. If this is clearly apprehended there will be no difficulty in
realizing that Christ’s being propitiation for the sins of believers before the
Father does not in any wise make light of their sins. It does not show that they
are not a very serious matter, or can be treated as of light importance. How
humiliated we should feel every time we think of them! And as regards His being
propitiation for the sins of the whole world, if we rightly understand it we
shall not be involved in applications which have no place in the mind of the
Spirit of God.


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  CHAPTER 24: 02.04     1JN_2:3-11.
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1 John 2:3-11.

Before I proceed to consider the teaching of 1 John 2:3-11, a few words of an
explanatory nature are required. In the portion we have examined, the children
of God are authoritatively informed that they have community of life with God,
with the Father and with the Son; that through the blood of Christ the stains of
their sins no more attach to them; and that the life they are partakers of, and
the cleansing that is connected with it through the blood of the cross, are
abiding and unchangeable realities, infallibly maintained in the person of the
One who is the believer’s Representative in the presence of God. This knowledge
is a matter of revelation. However true it all might be as a fact, we could not
know it to be true of us if God had not made it known.

Thus far, then, we have been occupied with the objective reality — with what is
objectively presented, or set before us. In saying this, I must warn my reader
that in thus speaking, I mean, of course, objectively set before us as being
true of us, i.e., of believers, and not merely as being something that has been
established in Christ, and is true for us to be appropriated by us. I repeat, it
is true of us. It is what God in His blessed grace has given us. It is what we
really are in Christ. In 1 Thessalonians 2:3-11, there is an unfolding of the
subjective side. The apostle now speaks of what is inwardly realized. Every
believer is conscious of operations going on within himself. He may not
necessarily understand or be able to explain them, but he is quite conscious of
their presence in him. He knows something is going on within himself that never
took place there before he was born from above. He has quite new desires, new
aspirations, new hopes. He has new thoughts and feelings. He knows these things
are not natural, but the result of a new power outside himself altogether. It is
not simply a new power acting on him, but working in him. A new life has been
received, and it is making itself felt.

Now, as he speaks of these new activities in his soul, he is simply saying, I
know God; I am in Christ; I am in the light. It is not that he has apprehended
the full import of these expressions, but the things he is conscious of mean
that what they imply is true of him. He is a new creature, he has divine,
eternal life; the true light is in him, so that he is in the light and has thus
the knowledge of God; feebly it may be, yet, in whatever measure of power, it is
true knowledge. He now knows that he is in relationship with God in a new way,
though he has yet to learn the full blessedness of the relationship. He thus
possesses the two-fold testimony that he is a child of God — the direct
testimony of God (in which the truth and reality of what he has become through
grace is objectively set before him), and the testimony of his own consciousness
of what he realizes to be going on within him.

We must now look at the way in which these inward activities are manifested as
being there; the way in which the believer takes note of the reality of their
presence in him. He experiences in his heart the desire or spirit of obedience
to God, and a love that makes others instead of self the centre of interest. As
regards the spirit of obedience, its presence in the soul is displayed in two
ways. First, in submission to what God has expressly commanded; and, second, in
treasuring up and keeping the communications of God’s mind, of His will, of His
heart. These two things exist together in the soul. I speak as distinguishing,
not as separating. Wherever the one operation is found, so is the other. It is
true, of course, that one may be more plainly discernible than the other, but
wherever there is the spirit of submission to what God has commanded, there is
also in greater or less measure the appreciation of what may not be an express
command, but an expression of what is in His heart, of some purpose or counsel.

I turn now to the portion before us. The apostle says (1 John 2:3), "And hereby
we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments." He is speaking of what
every soul born from above realizes to be in operation within himself. He is
conscious of the presence in him of the spirit of submission to what God has
enjoined. He has heard the voice of the Son of God. He recognizes its authority.
It is not that everything in him is in subjection to God, but he sees an
operation within himself that is unnatural — an activity that he realizes to be
from a new power producing in him what was never there before. He is conscious
that now the spirit of submission to what God has commanded is in his soul. The
strength of this new principle working within him is not what the apostle has
under consideration here. He is not occupying us here with the measure in which
this spirit of submission to what God has enjoined is developed. That is a
distinct matter, and is not the apostle’s point. What he is here directing our
attention to is the fact of the presence, in the soul of one born from above, of
this spirit of submission to what God commands. Every truly converted soul is
characterized by keeping the commandments of God. Obedience to God marks him, in
greater or less degree; but whatever the measure, greater or less, it is there,
and the consciousness of it.

Now this consciousness is the witness that we know God. For us to say, "We know
Him," is no pretense. It is no false profession; even though they see and
recognize much inconsistency in themselves, they are not speaking falsely. The
false professor is one who claims to know God with no spirit of submission
whatever. The truth, the light, is not in him (1 John 2:4). There are many
things in Scripture which God expressly commands; many things He expressly
forbids; to the soul in whom the spirit of submission dwells, they have divine
authority. Where this spirit of obedience is not, their authority is not owned
and God is not known.

If the spirit of obedience is manifested in submission to what God has enjoined,
it is also seen in the esteem in which the various communications are held. If
God has rights over us which He requires us to maintain, it has been also His
good pleasure to treat us as His friends (John 15:15). As being His servants, He
commands us; as being in the position of friends, He communicates to us His
thoughts. He reveals to us what He wishes us to know. Very many of His
revelations are like the communications of one friend to another. They are not
commands — something expressly enjoined, but expressions of His love. The child
of God prizes these communications, and sees in them intimations of God’s mind
and will, and he observes them as carefully as he does that which God has
expressly commanded. The character of this form of obedience is of a higher
order than simple obedience to a positive command. It is doing God’s will, even
though He has given no command. It is of this form of obedience the apostle
speaks in 1 John 2:5. He calls it keeping God’s word. The soul to whom God has
become an object of love, will find in that love a divine authority for all that
God commands. It is, however, in prizing and keeping the word of God that this
love for God gets its full character: "Whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is
the love of God perfected." By this the apostle does not mean that the character
of obedience which I have called submission to commandments, is ever found
without the other character of obedience. They go together. What the apostle
means is, that the element of obedience exemplified in keeping God’s word is
what gives to the love of God its perfect or full character. To "keep His
commandments" is one side of the character of the love of God; to "keep His
word," is the other side. This latter side makes manifest that the love of God
is perfected in the heart. But we must avoid the mistake of supposing that the
love of God is present in its full character only in advanced Christians. It is
present thus in every Christian. It is present in the soul from the moment the
new birth has taken place. As soon as a soul is born from above he possesses a
new nature. This new nature is an active nature. Its activities, its operations,
are the expression of its character. From the moment the new life has been
imparted (which immediately operates in the soul), it has a distinctive
character of its own. All the elements of its character are there. I do not mean
there will be no growth, but that the growth is the development of what is
already present — the growth of the love of God already in the soul, as not
lacking any of its characteristics.

We have seen that the consciousness of keeping the commandments of God is a
witness to the soul in whom this consciousness exists, that he knows God. So,
also, to be conscious of keeping the word of God is to know "we are in Him." The
child of God is making no false profession when he speaks of knowing God, or of
having community of life with the Son of God. As born of God, he lives by a life
through which he dwells in God. Our Lord declared this to be the truth: "At that
day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (John
14:20). I am aware of the use some make of this passage, but our Lord is not
singling out some special class among the family of God who were to know that
they would have community of life with Himself in the day of the Spirit’s
presence on earth. He is declaring this knowledge to be the common heritage of
all the children of God in the day to which he refers. He is not speaking of the
extent to which they would enjoy the fact he is revealing. He is simply saying,
When the Spirit is personally present on earth He will enable the children of
God to realize that they are such. He will enable them to be conscious of being
in the Son of God.

We have been considering the way in which this consciousness is proved to be in
the soul of every believer: the consciousness of knowing God and of dwelling in
the Son; in realizing that the spirit of obedience operates in his soul. This is
made manifest to him — the desire to keep the commandments and word of God —
which was not present in him as an unregenerate man. He sees resisting
tendencies, and is conscious of a conflict going on, but he knows a new force is
at work in his soul which he attributes to God. He knows the God of the Gospels
and of the Cross has put it there, though the full significance of its presence
may not yet be comprehended.

We must not forget that responsibility goes with the possession of a new nature
— with being born from above. We are professing to possess the same nature and
life that are in the Son of God if we profess to know Him and to be in Him — a
nature and life which had its fullest expression in Christ’s walk of unwavering
obedience to God when He was in this world. He kept perfectly the commandments
of God. Most earnestly, most heartily, He kept God’s word. His life, His walk of
perfect obedience, is our example and standard (1 John 2:6). It is in His steps
we are walking, if we are in Him. True, we have to confess we are not walking
perfectly, as He did, but our walk is the same in character as His. However far
He has outdistanced us in the path of obedience, if we are following Him in the
path He trod, we must not be discouraged, but press on after Him. May the Lord
grant us steadfastness of purpose in seeking for His steps! In considering the
import of 1 John 2:7-8, it will be necessary to refer to John 12:1-50. In John
12:49 our Lord says, "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent
Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I
know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak." He is here speaking of the
testimony He has been giving from John 1:35 to chapter 12. This testimony He
calls "a commandment," because it is what the Father had enjoined on Him as
sending Him into the world. The Father had commanded Him what He should say —
what He should speak. His testimony then — the word He had spoken — was the
commandment of the Father.

Now what the Father had enjoined on Him to speak was the revelation of life
eternal both in its principle and its constant activity. The eternal life that
was with the Father had been declared, testified of, precisely as the Father had
enjoined it to be done.

John was a representative of those who had heard the testimony the Son had
given. He knew the word the Son had spoken — the word, the testimony, which was
the revelation of life eternal. As we have seen in 1 John 2:3-6, the apostle has
been writing of the activities of eternal life in the souls of those who through
grace have become the recipients of it. In 1 John 2:7 he assures the children of
God that he is not writing a new commandment — something different from what the
Father gave to His Son as sending Him into the world. He is writing what they
had heard from the lips of the Son of God Himself. He is writing of the life
that is in the Son — the nature, character, and activities of which were fully
manifested in His life upon earth.

Writing then of the old commandment — the Father’s commandment to the Son — he
is not introducing any new commandment; he is not speaking of some new
revelation in advance of the Christian revelation; not of some progress beyond
the revelation given by the Father through the Son. But if it is of the old
commandment he is writing, of what is "true in Him;" there is a sense in which
it may be called a new commandment: for the thing that is "true in Him" is also
true in those who are born from above. The same life that is in Him is in them.
They are in community of life with Him, participators of the life in Him — the
life eternal. Once they were in the darkness — belonged to it, were a part of it
— but they have been laid hold of by the light that shines in the darkness. They
are following Him who is the light of life (John 8:12). They are in the light,
and the light is in them. The darkness is thus passing away. They are delivered
from the darkness by the light of life; and those who have the light of life
dwelling in them are not walking in the darkness, but in the light. The same
thing that is true in the incarnate Son is true in them. The light that is in
Him is in them; the life that is in Him is also in them. In principle, it is the
same thing in them as it is in Him.

It must be borne in mind that I am speaking of the nature and character of that
which is "true in Him and in them," not of the degree of its manifestation. The
manifestation of it in Him was perfect. There was nothing in Him to cloud and
obscure its manifestation. How much, alas, there is in us to hide or check this
life that is in us! The life that has been communicated to us is covered over to
a large extent by the activities of the life that is natural to us, so that the
characteristic activities of the imparted life are not seen in us in the
perfection that they were seen in Him. But even so, having what is "true in Him"
within us as a divine deposit, we are in the light, though the display of it in
us is not full and perfect as in Him, what display there is in us is the display
of the same thing that is in Him. It is in us through the light that is in Him
laying hold upon our souls. The light in which He is is the light in which we
live and walk. To profess to be a child of God, to claim to be born from above,
to say, We know God and dwell in the Son, is to profess to be in the light — the
light of life. But the profession may be made when the reality of the thing
professed is wanting. The professions made therefore have to be tested, and the
test of this claim is very simple. If there is no activity of love to those who
are fellow-partakers of a common nature and life, the claim to be in the light
is a false claim (1 John 2:9). As we have seen, the love of God dwells in those
who are born of Him — with the elements of His nature, therefore. Love in God is
active. It is His nature to love; and this activity of love is in those who have
become partakers of the moral nature of God. This activity of God is displayed
in His children in loving the brethren. Loving the brethren is the mark of the
presence of divine love in the soul. Where it is not present, the soul is still
in the darkness. The one in whom divine love is abides in the light. It is not
an intermittent thing; sometimes there and sometimes not, but is dwelling there.
However much its manifestation may vary on different occasions, the love that is
of God is permanently and abidingly in the soul, and the soul is permanently and
abidingly in the light — does not become a scandal (1 John 2:10).

Alas, how many scandals there are! How many are turning away from the truth! How
many are giving up the faith! They are thereby manifesting themselves as not
having the light of life in their souls. The profession to be in the light is
mere profession — not a reality, but a scandal. The love that is of God is not
in them; they are yet in the darkness; they know not God, and walk in the
darkness. The light of life is not in them.

These apostates from the truth not only lack what marks one who is of God — the
love that is of God — but there is enmity in the soul towards those professedly
their brethren. The apostle calls it "hating his brother" (1 John 2:11). Loving
the children of God is the fruit of knowing God; hating them is the fruit of not
knowing Him — the, fruit of man’s fallen nature. Those marked by enmity to the
children of God are therefore in the darkness. They live and walk in the
darkness; blinded by the darkness in which they walk, they know not whither they
are going. The light of the Christian hope and prospect does not shine upon
their path; they have not in their souls the cheer of trusting Christ as "the
way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). The light that is in them is
darkness, and how great that darkness is!

Before passing from this portion of the epistle, I wish to guard against two
mistakes which are often made. When the apostle says, "He that loveth his
brother," he is not thinking of the measure in which that love is manifested,
not speaking of the perfection of its display, but of the fact of its existence
in the soul as an active principle — a principle abidingly present and
continuously operative, though it may be in varying measure as regards our
observance of it. We must not therefore make the mistake, as is sometimes made,
that failure in the display of that love proves its absence in the soul. If
there is any measure of its display, the love is there. Indeed, only One has
displayed it perfectly. All others must confess to coming short of the
perfection seen in Him. When the apostle says, "He that hateth his brother," we
must not understand him to be speaking of the outbursts of the flesh in true
Christians. Sad, unnecessary and unjustifiable as these are, the apostle is not
fixing our attention on them here, and we must not make the mistake of some who
take them to be proofs of the absence of love. The love that is of God, however
feebly exhibited, marks those who dwell in the light. Antagonism to those who
walk in the light, displayed in varying measures, marks those who are of the
darkness. This is what the Spirit expresses here by the apostle.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 25: 02.05     1JN_2:12-27.
========================================================================

1 John 2:12-27.

We enter now on another division of the epistle. Before unfolding the
characteristic features of eternal life in the children of God, the apostle
pauses to show that he is addressing them expressly on the ground that they are
children of God. If he is exposing false profession, it is not to raise doubts
in the minds of those in whom it is a reality. If he contrasts the false and the
real, it is not to make real children of God question whether they are such. He
would have them know that they have eternal life (1 John 5:13), that their sins
have been forgiven for Christ’s sake. The forgiveness of sins is the common
blessing of all who have faith — all who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. It is not a question of how far they are in the realization or
enjoyment of it, but of a fact which is true of those who are the subjects of
the regenerating power of God. This blessed fact could not be known if it were
not revealed; but God has revealed it; and those who are born of God accept the
revelation. There may be varying degrees of faith in laying hold of the
revelation, but it is the common faith of all saints that God has blessed them
thus for Christ’s sake. The merest babe in the knowledge of God is entitled to
regard himself as not excluded. But if the apostle writes thus to the family of
God as a whole, he does not forget or ignore the different degrees of
development in which the children of God may be found. In verse 13 he defines
them.

First, there are the "fathers," those who have matured in the experimental
knowledge of God — the fruit of experience. Walking with God in practical
subjection to His word as used by the Spirit, acquaintance with God has
developed in them the realization of the unchanging character of "Him that is
from the beginning," the apprehension that He is the one and only-abiding
reality. As that, He is the object that stands out distinctly before them,
attracting their thoughts and satisfying their hearts. Outside of Him there is
nothing to desire; apart from Him there is nothing worth trying or seeking
after. He alone can and does satisfy both mind and heart. Such are the fathers.
Alas, how few there are! How few have so matured in the knowledge of Christ,
that it is a practical reality that He is everything! But what wise counselors
are the real fathers! What safe leaders and guides! May God grant us more of
them.

Second, the "young men" are those whose experimental knowledge of God is less
advanced than that of the fathers, though not inexperienced. They are
overcomers. They have had conflicts and have overcome. Through conflict they
have gained in strength. They have acquired skill in the use of the word of God;
they have learned their dependence on the Spirit of God in resisting error and
defending the faith. Their experience has given them knowledge; and knowledge
thus obtained is of great value. It is a knowledge of Christ, yet not maturity
in that knowledge. Though faithful workers and earnest defenders of the faith,
they are not yet necessarily safe leaders and wise counselors. Their knowledge
of God needs rounding out through continued companionship with Christ and deeper
practical intimacy which gives maturity in wisdom and knowledge. In contrasting
the "fathers" and "young men," the apostle is not writing depreciatively of the
young men. He is not calling the fathers spiritual and the young men
unspiritual; but the experience of the "fathers" has given them greater
maturity. It must not be understood to mean that they have reached a stage where
they have no more to learn, but that Christ has been experimentally proved to be
the one abiding reality and satisfaction for the heart, in which, however, there
is ever growth and development.

Now as to the "babes" — I say "babes" because, as is well known, the word for
"little children" in 1 John 2:13 in the Greek is not the same as in 1 John 2:12.
The word in 1 John 2:12 is comprehensive, embracing the entire family, the whole
household of faith. In 1 John 2:13 it is a restrictive word, applicable only to
a specified part of the family. The babes are the experimentally undeveloped —
the inexperienced in the practical knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ.
The apostle is not speaking disparagingly of those he calls "babes" — not as
unspiritual, not as in a wrong state of soul. He does not look upon them as not
having all Christian privileges and full Christian blessings. Nay, they are
entitled to, and have, everything that goes along with the forgiveness of sins —
that goes with faith in Christ. But he is thinking of their practical knowledge,
i.e., the knowledge they have acquired through experience. In "babes" experience
is beginning. They have had little or no experience in service or in conflict,
consequently have not gained the knowledge that is acquired in those ways. Not
that they are absolutely without any experience, but it is what I may call the
initial experience of Christians — knowledge of God as their Father. Every one
born from above has to do with God, according to the revelation He has given of
Himself in different dispensations. From new birth the child is having to do
with the Father, is having some knowledge of Him, and is learning of Him. Hence
of all children of God, however little service they have seen, however little
conflict they have had, it can be said, "Ye have known the Father." They need to
acquire fuller knowledge of Him, but they are not altogether destitute of
experimental knowledge of the Father.

It is clear that it is in reference to experimental knowledge that John divides
the family of God into these three groups — not in respect to revealed Christian
blessings. Life, forgiveness, the indwelling Spirit, adoption, union with
Christ, membership in His body, the Church, heirs of God, joint-heirs with
Christ, and more, are blessings common to all who belong to the family of God in
this dispensation; but it is not in reference to these blessings the apostle
speaks of "fathers," "young men," and "babes." These terms have to do, as we
have pointed out, with development in experimental or acquired knowledge.

If in respect to experience and practical knowledge the children of God are
divided into three groups, we may well expect that the apostle has something
special to say to each group. Let us proceed to consider what it is.

1 John 2:14-27 give a special message to each grade in which the apostle has
divided the family of God. In these messages John reaffirms the character he has
already given to each grade; a character based on practical experience, as we
have seen. In addressing himself again to the "fathers," nothing is added to
what he first said. The reason of this is plain. The experience of the fathers
has been such that Christ — "Him that is from the beginning" — is the one
absorbing Object of their hearts. They have become so engaged with Him that
everything else has ceased to have value in their eyes. He alone now attracts
them, and they are not in need therefore of special warnings. There is no
necessity of pointing out snares and dangers to them. It is sufficient therefore
to mention them as being in this practical knowledge — as fathers in the family
of God. But in the case of the young men, not having as yet this advanced
knowledge of Christ, there are dangers to which they are exposed. The apostle
shows them against what they specially need to be on their guard, and in 1 John
2:15-17 indicates the true way of escape.

We first notice that in describing their character here the apostle adds to his
previous characterization of them. He had spoken of them as having overcome the
wicked one; he now adds, "Ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you." I
judge he refers to the experience through which they have passed in conflict
over the word of God. The wicked one has sought to wrest it from them; to weaken
their faith in it; to induce them to give it up. But they have withstood him;
have stood firmly for the faith; have fought for it. The result of the conflict
is seen in the strength they have developed. They have acquired ability in
service; have learned how to convict gainsayers, and to stop the mouths of those
who oppose. They are earnest in maintaining the truth as revealed of God — the
word of God is in power in their souls; it abides in them. The apostle
recognizes their devotion and approves their zeal. He rejoices in the result for
them of the conflicts in which they have approved themselves. They have come
through them with great gain in strength, in skill, in experimental knowledge.
But while thus occupied in conflict, their attention has not been drawn to the
allurements and fascinations of the world. Now that they have become proficient
in the word of God, with ability to meet and answer the assaults of the enemy
upon the truth of Christianity, they are less likely to be the objects of the
enemy’s direct attacks. The world now offers an opportunity for the exercise of
the ability and power thus manifested, and will seek to enlist in its projects
those on whom they look as men of success. And here are temptations for such as
are full of energy! — movements designed to advance morality, to help and
elevate the unfortunate, to reform those who have fallen into evil ways, to
correct social and civic evils, are especially alluring; and the energetic and
zealous Christian is in danger of being drawn into them. They seem to offer
opportunity for the exercise of gift and knowledge. To many, such opportunities
are very attractive. It is said, Here is a chance to do good; and, on this
ground, joining such movements is justified. It is argued: Is it not right to
help men to be better? Is it not serving Christ to help on such movements as are
designed for the betterment of men? Ought we not to do all in our power to aid
plans and schemes that aim at the moral uplift of the unfortunate, the degraded,
the fallen? From the standpoint of the world such movements undoubtedly are
justifiable; from the standpoint of Christianity it is quite a different matter.
That they benefit the world will not be denied; that they promote the interests
of Christ is much more than doubtful. The world, not Christ, is their object.
The world seeks its own things, not the things of Christ. It is the love that is
of the world, not the love that is of the Father, that characterizes all its
projects. It is the glory of the world that is sought, not the glory of Christ.
But Christian love is the love that is of the Father. The activity of the love
that is of Him should mark the Christian, not the activity of the love that is
of the world. Hence, the apostle exhorts the young men not to love the world, or
the things of the world. He puts the two things — the love of the world and the
love of the Father — in direct contrast, as being diametrically opposites. He
would not have the young men entangled in what is opposed to the love that is of
the Father. It is against entanglement with the world or its things that he is
warning them. And to help them escape entanglement he points out the three
principles which underlie everything that is in the world. He is of course not
speaking of the physical world, but the world of which fallen, sinful man is the
centre, the world which has been built up around the failed first man.
Everything in his world is characterized by three principles — the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These three things mark
every scheme that is of the world. Every worldly project or movement is stamped
by these three principles. Now the love that is energized by these principles is
not the love that is of the Father. The Christian, then, when enticed by the
world or some worldly project, has but to ask, What are the ruling principles to
which I must subject myself? Is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and
the pride of life what characterize the movement he is desired to connect
himself with? If so, he may know it is not of the Father.

What a simple rule! What a certain safeguard! Am I asked to take part in any
movement in which the desires of the flesh are ministered to? I may
unhesitatingly decline. It may be pleaded it is benevolent, but it is not the
love that is of the Father. I may be told of a certain scheme which, if I will
link myself with it, will afford me opportunity for advancement in the world;
will make life in this world more enjoyable; will provide me with avenues to
gain, to the possession of things seen; but that is the lust of the eyes — not
the love that is of the Father. I may be assured too that I will be greatly
respected and honored, but that is the pride of life. It is not of the Father,
who would lead me to honor Christ — not to seek to be honored where He was
dishonored.

No, the energy of the Christian is not to be spent in furthering the interests
of this world. He is to be in the world for Christ. For Christ, and not for the
world or self. If the Christian loves not the world or the things in the world,
he will find Christ to be every way a satisfying portion. What experiences will
be his — experiences of Christ! What lessons of Him will be learned! What
pleasures will be realized! What possessions of wisdom and knowledge will be
discovered! How much there is in Christ to glory in and boast of! As Christ is
thus learned, how the world grows dim! How the things of the world lose their
attractiveness and power, as what Christ is is practically experienced!

How great, alas, is our loss in diverting our energies into channels in which
the profit is merely in present things — not the eternal things. The apostle is
here showing us how to escape suffering this loss. The Spirit of God would have
us spend our strength in seeking the things of Christ. We will find, if we take
His way, it will mean rich gain in experimental knowledge. But the apostle has
yet one more word for the young men. He says: "The world is passing away and the
lust thereof." Another apostle has said, "All flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and the flower
thereof falleth away" (1 Peter 1:24). For the Christian to be ensnared in the
love of the world or the things of the world, whatever present worldly advantage
he may gain, in the end it will be a sad experience. The stamp of death is on
the entire present scene, and the world of the fallen first man is under the
judgment of God. It must pass away. It will not abide. But the one who practises
the will of God will abide for ever. He is born of God — of the abiding word of
God; has in him the abiding nature and life of God. It is eternal life that is
dwelling in him. In so far as such an one turns aside from the things that
minister to the life that is of God, to participate in what builds up the world,
he is exerting himself in what is passing away, not in what abides. May the
gracious Lord stir up His beloved people to be zealously active in that which is
the will of God, to energetically seek the things of Christ! May we be
characterized as those who desire to advance in experimental knowledge! Let us
remember that the way to acquire this knowledge is to heed the apostle’s
warning, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." The
apostle now turns to the babes again (1 John 2:18-27). He directs their
attention first of all to the fact that it is the last time. This expression,
"the last time," signifies the time of the rise and progress of certain evil
principles; the full development of which will be the apostasy under the
Antichrist. The apostle Paul, in quieting the minds of the Thessalonian saints,
who were disturbed by the representation of some that the day of Christ was
present, assured them that before that day came there would be an apostasy (2
Thessalonians 2:3). He also shows what this will be, when fully developed. A
"man of sin," a "son of perdition," is to arise who will carry his opposition to
God to the height of claiming to be God himself. That blasphemous claim will be
the measure of his iniquity. The principle of it was already at work in
apostolic days. The spirit, the animus, of the coming Antichrist was already
there. The presence of this character of evil in various forms while yet there
were apostles on earth, made it manifest that the time, characterized by
blasphemous antichristian principles, had begun. The spirit of the Antichrist
was there, though not yet developed as it will be in him when he comes. How this
spirit has since progressed! How many movements of the present day are animated
by it! If the Antichrist himself has not come yet, his spirit — his character —
is plainly discernible in many current activities.

We can thus understand the apostle’s concern as to the babes — the
inexperienced. They need to be instructed as to the character of the time, the
tendencies of it. They need to be put on their guard against all those
activities that are the prelude to the Antichrist’s coming and manifestation.
Hence the apostle in tender, pastoral care, tells the inexperienced babes of the
family of God, "It is the last time" (1 John 2:18). But he does not simply call
their attention to the fact of its being the last time, he wants them to be
fully awake to the seriousness of it. It is not some obscure evil of
insignificant activities that confronts them, but wide-spread, active evil,
manifesting itself in many places and in various forms. If the Antichrist
himself has not yet come, there are already many antichristian tendencies; many
movements in which the spirit or mind of the Antichrist is showing itself. The
evil, instead of being obscure, is very prevalent, of great strength and
energetically progressive. Attention is called to this, as well as to the fact
of its being the last time; and thus we realize that the antichristian blasphemy
is a characteristic of the time. We know it, not only as a matter of revelation,
but as a matter of observation. Its trend as away from, and opposed to, the word
of God, is a matter of common talk. The denial of inspiration, of the
virgin-birth of Christ, of the supernatural, of the resurrection of Christ’s
body, and much more, is not only current in many quarters, but it is a matter of
frequent comment. Even the on-looking world can distinguish between present day
Christianity and apostolic Christianity. The evidence of its being the last time
is overwhelming. The saddest feature of it all is that these pro-claimers of
antichristian doctrines have risen up in the very sphere of the profession of
Christianity. They are themselves professors who have departed from "the faith
once delivered unto the saints," and, while retaining the Christian name, are
apostates from the truth held by God’s people as a deposit from God (Jude 1:3).
But the fact of their not abiding in the truth has manifested them as never
having been of the truth. The truth was never really in them. They were of the
family of God only by profession. They are not in the light, and the light is
not in them. They are not in community of life and nature with God: they are not
participating in the thoughts, feelings, joys and activities of the Father and
the Son. They are not of us — of the family of God (1 John 2:19).

One distinguishing mark of the children of God in this dispensation is the
anointing from the Holy One — the Holy Spirit. Even the inexperienced babe has
it. By the Spirit of God who dwells in the bodies of all believers now, the ear
of the child of God is empowered to hear the truth revealed, by which the hand
is strengthened to do His commandments, and the feet energized to tread the path
of faith. Ear, hand and feet having been purchased with the precious blood of
Christ; the Spirit uses them in the interests of the truth of God. The child of
God then has an ear consecrated to the truth. The Spirit who uses his ear is his
capacity and power to hear the truth (1 John 2:20). By their abandonment of the
truth, the apostates make it manifest that they lack this distinctive mark of
the Christian. They lack the ability to hear the truth. In 1 John 2:21 the
apostle assures the inexperienced babe that in writing thus strongly about these
antichrists, it is not because he suspects them of being such. He sets them
fully at ease as to this. He expresses unequivocally his confidence in them. The
babes, inexperienced though they may be, are in the light, and the light is in
them. They know the truth. They possess it as from God. They are in the
realization of their link with God. Possessing and enjoying this link through
what they had heard from the beginning — the truth — they realized and
understood that no lie is of the truth. It is not that babes have taken in and
grasped the full range of God’s thoughts, or understood fully the counsels of
His will, or adequately comprehended the purposes He has revealed; but there is
in their souls the knowledge of God, and by this knowledge, whatever the measure
of their grasp of it, they are sensible that no lie is of the truth.

While antichristian doctrine expresses itself in varied forms, yet its detection
is easy even for the inexperienced babe. There are two lines along which the
opposition developed against Christianity moves. The antichrists, whatever the
special form in which they assert their tenets, either deny that Jesus is the
Christ — the Jewish form of unbelief — or else deny the distinctive Christian
revelation — that of the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22). Undoubtedly the
Antichrist himself, when he comes, will do both. He will adopt the Jewish
opposition to Jesus, denying that He is the Christ, and to this will unite the
denial of the Father and the Son. Both forms of error exist to-day and are
widely current. They characterize the apostasy as now developing. The Antichrist
will find them ready for his hand; he will appropriate them and expand them, for
he will not only deny that Jesus is the Christ, but claim to be Christ himself.
And to this claim he will add another: he will exalt himself by claiming to be
God. The Father is not now professedly and openly denied. It is quite the
fashion to talk of the fatherhood of God. In every system of error the claim is
made that they have the Father. This the apostle will not admit if they deny the
Son (1 John 2:23). He that denies the Son hath not the Father. Only those who
acknowledge the Son have the Father.

We have previously seen that the apostle includes the inexperienced babes among
those who know the Father. In that which they have heard from the beginning,
they have what gives them the knowledge of the Father. He goes on then to exhort
them to let that knowledge have its practical activity in their souls. It is
thus they will abide in, live in, the practical enjoyment of the Father and the
Son (1 John 2:24). This is eternal life (John 17:3) — the life promised to faith
(1 John 2:25). It was promised in Genesis 3:15, when God told the woman she
should have a conquering Seed; in John 10:10, when the Good Shepherd said, "I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have it in full quality;" in
1 John 2:28, when He said, "I give unto my sheep eternal life;" and in numerous
other passages beside. It is the life that was with the Father, and manifested
by the incarnate Son, of which through grace believers have been made partakers.
It is community of life with the Father through the Son. What a blessed, holy,
happy life! What fulness of joy!

1 John 2:26-27 conclude the apostle’s special address to the babes. He has
written them in this special manner because he has had the errorists, the
antichrists, in mind. They are seducers, leading astray. He is anxious to shield
and protect, the inexperienced babes. Hence he has addressed them as desirous of
showing them what the marks of the antichrists are. In doing this he has also
exhorted the babes to continue, or abide, in what they had heard from the
beginning — that is, to hold fast the revelation given them of God, which they
have ability to understand and enjoy in the Spirit that has been given them of
God. But while he has been exhorting them thus, and earnestly urging them to let
the truth they have from God have its practical activity and power in their
souls, he assures them of his confidence in them. They are not to think that he
doubts their possession of the Spirit. He says: "The anointing which ye have
received of Him abideth in you." He wants them to realize that through this
abiding Spirit they are placed above the need of having any one tell them what
is the truth. Any teaching that is not of the Spirit abiding in us, is of man,
not of Him. Believers have no need of it. It may be represented as a development
beyond what was given from the beginning. It may be commended as higher truth,
but the Christian has no need of it; having the Spirit, he has no need of human
authority to know what should be believed. Our Lord assured His disciples that
the Spirit, when He should come, would teach them all things. He told them He
would enable them fully to recall all He had taught them (John 14:26). This He
has done in the four Gospels which we possess as a sacred deposit from Him.
Further, our Lord assured His disciples that the Spirit would faithfully show
them all that He desired yet to reveal to them (John 16:12-15). The Acts,
Epistles and Revelation is the work of the Spirit in fulfilment of this promise
of Christ. This — what the Spirit has given us — is our heritage; having given
it, and He Himself dwelling in us to make it all good to us, we need no one to
tell us what is the truth.

Now He who has taught us the truth, who is Himself truth and no lie, teaches
that those who know the truth will abide in it. It is a part of His testimony
that those who are in the Father and the Son will abide in them — in a community
of life and nature which is unchangeable and eternal. If it be insisted that
"Him" should be "it" (though there be very little ground for it), it amounts to
the same thing. God, who has called us by His own glory and excellence, has made
us partakers of His life and nature, whose activities are developed and
maintained in us by the power of the greatest and precious promises He has given
us. While there is responsibility resting on us to abide practically in the
truth, God has made provision for this — a provision which secures practical
dependence upon the truth. The apostle then can say, even of the inexperienced
babes, "Ye shall abide in Him." He will not close his special message to them
without giving them this assurance of his confidence that they are such as the
anointing, the Spirit of truth, affirms will abide. This division of the epistle
closes here.


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  CHAPTER 26: 02.06     1JN_2:28 TO 1JN_3:24.
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1 John 2:28-29; 1 John 3:1-24 The apostle now turns to a consideration of the
ways in which the life eternal manifests itself in those in whom it dwells. He
begins by setting before us a most solemn fact. The one who professes to have,
but has not, life in the Son, will be ashamed in His presence when He appears.
The false claim and its presumption will be shamed away from Christ’s presence
(1 John 2:28).

What then are the marks of its possession? It is made manifest by its own
characteristic activities. Those who are born of God derive from Him who is the
source of it, a nature which has its own characteristic features. Our Lord could
say: "He that seeketh His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no
unrighteousness is in Him" (John 7:18). He was manifested as the righteous One
in a life which constantly sought the glory of Him who sent Him. His life
constantly bore witness that He is the righteous One. And those who have been
born of God have derived from Him a life characterized by the aims and objects
which characterized our Lord. The children of God are marked by that fact — by
the practice of righteousness; it manifests them as being partakers of the life
eternal; it proves them to be children of God (1 John 2:29).

If they are thus characterized, it is of the grace of God. The life which thus
manifests its presence in us, witnesses that we are the subjects of a work of
grace. No wonder the apostle exclaims: "Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God!"* It is by
grace we are His children, and through His grace we know it and have the liberty
to take the place of children before Him. This is the kind or fashion of the
love He bestows upon us. No angel is loved with such a love. God has seen fit to
reserve this for us, whom He has redeemed from among sinful men.

{*The Greek has "children," not sons. John speaks of relationship by life — not
of position, as Paul does.} But what a transformation has taken place in us!
From living to ourselves and seeking the praise of men, we are led to walk in
His steps who sought the glory of Him who sent Him. We have been turned from the
practice of sin to the practice of righteousness; from being governed by our own
lawless wills to being governed by the will of God; from aims, ends, purposes
and objects natural to us, to the aims, ends, purposes and objects of Him who
came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him. On this
account, therefore, the children of God are not understood by the world. It can
understand the pursuit of earthly and seen things, but it cannot understand the
Christian’s disregard of them. To be guided and controlled by heavenly and
unseen things is a mystery to them. There is a day coming when the world will
see us in glory with Christ; for, when He shall be manifested, we shall also be
manifested with Him (Colossians 3:4). It will then know that we are sharers in
the Father’s love of His Son (John 17:22-23). But we have not to wait until that
day to know we are children of God. We have the knowledge of it now. In the day
of manifested glory, we shall be conformed to the image of Christ; we shall be
like Him. It has been distinctly revealed to us (1 John 3:2).

Attention is called to the fact that we are to be conformed to Him as He is, not
as He was. When the Son of God became incarnate, He assumed humanity in the form
in which we are in this life. In men it is a fallen, sinful humanity; in Him it
was unfallen and sinless; but even so, it was in the same form. He took part in
flesh and blood, which we have. That form of humanity ended with His death. When
He rose He took it up in a new form. In 2 Corinthians 5:16, the apostle Paul
says: "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we
Him no more." This was the lesson our risen Lord taught Mary Magdalene in John
20:1-31, when He said to her: "Touch Me not." She thought she had got Him back
as He was before He died. Never again will He be in that form, but ever in the
form of humanity He took up when He rose. We are to see Him as He is. We are to
be like Him as He is — in manhood indeed, but in the form of humanity in which
He now is. To be changed into His image means to have bodies fashioned after the
body He now has. Not to have unfallen, sinless humanity simply, but in the
condition in which our Lord now is.

What a hope! What a blessed prospect! "Like Him," both morally and physically!
There is sanctifying power in such a hope. Every one who has this hope in
relation to Him, purifies himself. The Man Christ Jesus is not only the standard
of perfect moral perfection, but of physical perfection also. The very desire to
be as Christ is, to be in His image, will produce moral conformity to Him now
(ver. 3). It will promote and develop the practice of righteousness, which
manifests one to be a child of God. The children of this world are marked by the
practice of sin, by the activity of their own wills — not in subjection to God.
(It scarcely needs to be remarked that 1 John 3:4 should be translated,
"Whosoever practises sin practises lawlessness; for sin is lawlessness.") The
Son of God came into the world to take away our sins (1 John 3:5). He had to
stoop to the depths of the judgment of God upon our lawless practice to deliver
us from what by such practice we justly deserved. It strongly shows, therefore,
that the practice of sin cannot characterize one who is born of God. But there
is another statement in this verse equally strong: "In Him is no sin." This is
true, whether we think of Him as He was here upon earth, or as He is now, risen
and ascended to heaven: "In Him is no sin." Those born of God have received from
Him a sinless nature. The life He has imparted to them is characterized by the
same features as in Himself, in keeping therefore with righteousness. The
children of God then, as being that, as abiding in the Son of God, do not
practise sin. Such practice is altogether foreign to their nature; having
community of life with Him, they cannot practise sin (1 John 3:6). He that
practises sin is not abiding in Him, has never seen Him, does not know Him. The
practice of righteousness is not natural to us, but the practice of sin is. To
know and to practise righteousness, then, we must know Him who is righteous. The
apostle is especially in earnest that the children of God should realize this.
He says, in 1 John 3:7, "Let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as He is righteous;" it is the mark by which those are
distinguished as children of Him who is righteous; while, on the other hand, the
practice of sin distinguishes those who are in identification with the devil (1
John 3:8). A creature who abode not in the truth (John 8:44) became the
originator of sin in man. From the time that iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel
28:15) the practice of sin has marked him, and he is the great leader in the
practice. It is this practice that manifests the world as being in association
with, as of him. Through him, the original author of sin, works of evil have
been found among God’s creatures, whether angels or men. The practice of sin
everywhere is of his instituting; it is his work. The apostle reminds us now
that the Son of God was manifested for the purpose of undoing the works of the
devil. Every trace of him who introduced sin among God’s creatures is to be
removed. By the power of the blood of the cross all things, whether earthly or
heavenly, will be brought back into a state of perfect harmony with God,
absolutely and permanently purged from the defilement of sin (Colossians 1:20).
Acting according to His own nature, the Son of God will remove sin from God’s
creation. Having already laid the basis for it in the work of the cross, He will
entirely undo this scandal — the work of the devil.

"Which thing is true in Him and in you." As already said, righteousness attaches
to the life we receive from Him. Its activities, not only in Him, but in us
also, are all righteous. God’s seed — His nature — abides in them. As in that
nature the practice of sin is impossible to them (1 John 3:9).

It is needful to realize that the apostle is reasoning in the abstract. When he
says, "Whosoever is born of God doth not practise sin," he is speaking of the
child of God characteristically. He is not overlooking the fact that the old
nature is still in him, but he does not consider that in giving his character as
a child of God. He is not excusing the Christian’s failures — he is not making
light of the sins into which a child of God may fall, but it must necessarily be
omitted in any abstract description of his character.

Another thing must also be remembered. The apostle is speaking, not of the
perfection in which the character of the child of God is manifested, but of the
fact that the practice of righteousness, whatever the degree of the perfection
of its display, is a distinctive mark of God’s children.

If the reader will keep in mind these things, he will not find it difficult to
understand the account the apostle here gives of a child of God.

It may perhaps be well to restate this before we proceed to consider the next
feature by which the children of God are characterized. Every child of God is
born of One who is righteous, of One in whom there is no sin. His nature is a
righteous nature; its activities are all righteous activities. The children of
God have in them this seed of God — a sinless nature. It is this seed that
distinguishes them as born of God. It is an abiding seed; ever operative
according to its own righteous nature. All its activities are righteous; not one
of them is sinful. The children of God, viewed abstractly, not only do not
practise sin, but are incapable of it. It is incompatible with the righteous
nature by which they are characterized as born of God.

It is not only the practice of righteousness that marks one who is born of God,
but loving his brethren (ver. 10). We must now consider what the apostle says in
reference to this.

It is to be noted that he mentions the two characteristics in a way that shows
they go together. A child of God cannot be marked by one without the other. They
are inseparable. If one is lacking, so is the other. We have seen that there is
in the child of God a nature that is perfectly holy. This holy nature asserts
itself in two ways — in the practice of righteousness and in loving the
brethren.

Let us remember the apostle is speaking, not of the measure of realization or
degree of enjoyment, but of what is characteristically true of all children of
God. He is not discussing the hindrances to the full expression of the divine
nature in us, but what is true in fact. It is the fact that is insisted on, not
the extent in which it is displayed. If doing righteousness and loving the
brethren are in any measure present, if they are at all in operation, the divine
nature is there. There may be still much evidence of the old nature’s presence
which characterizes us as natural men — it shows what we are as natural men; not
what we are as born of God. It is the operations of our new nature that display
what we are as having been born of God, although overshadowed often by those of
the old. They are in error, however, those who reason that the old nature is
done away by the new, and teach that the evidence of the presence of the old
proves an absence of the new.

All this that I have been saying is of the greatest moment if the apostle is to
be understood. If we read him intelligently, it must be seen that he is speaking
in the abstract, that he is writing of what is characteristically true, and thus
of what is true of every believer, of every child of God. For proof of the
statement that loving the brethren is a mark of a child of God, the apostle
appeals to the message or instruction of the incarnate Son of God (1 John 3:11).
He refers to the fact that love to one another should characterize them. In John
13:34-35, He said: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another;
as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Our Lord is not
simply pressing upon His own the obligation or responsibility to love one
another, but that it would be a mark by which the reality of their professed
discipleship would be manifested. John appeals to this as a mark of the children
of God. A child of God is one who has been born of Him, and so is of God — not
like Cain, who was of the evil one (1 John 3:12). His works therefore were evil.
There was, even then, light shining sufficiently to manifest whether his works
were wrought in God or were evil. The light exposed his works, showed them to be
evil. God’s acceptance of what Abel had wrought in God manifested Cain’s deeds
to be evil. Cain therefore hates the light. His murder of Abel manifested his
hatred of the light. The children of God come to the light, and the light
manifests them to be of the truth; it shows that their deeds are wrought in God
(John 3:21). However misunderstood by the world, the children of God are seen to
be doers of righteousness and lovers of their brethren.

If Cain represents the natural man in his rejection of the testimony of God, and
is an example of the world’s hatred of the light which exposes its evil deeds,
the children of God need not wonder at the world’s hatred of them (1 John 3:13).
Our Lord said to His disciples, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me
before it hated you" (John 15:18). If it hates Him, if it refuses Him who is the
Light, it will desire to rid itself of every witness to Him. The light, even
feebly reflected by the believer, is unwelcome to it. But we have passed out of
death into life. We have the testimony of the Son of God for this (John 5:24).
John, however, does not appeal to this here but to love to the brethren (1 John
3:14). "He that loveth not his brother" he says, "abideth in death." If he does
not love, he hates; and "whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (1 John
3:15); that is, he is identified in nature and character with him who "abode not
in the truth," but became a murderer and liar (John 8:44).

"Ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" has often been
misunderstood. It has been taken to mean that no murderer can be saved. Let us
seek to understand what the apostle says. In the first place, he declares that
"whosoever hates his brother is a murderer." Is it not plain that the apostle
points to the nature which characterizes one who, like Cain, is of the wicked
one? Thus a man does not need to take the life of a fellowman to be a murderer;
he is that by the very fact that he possesses that nature. In this sense all men
are murderers by their very nature since the fall. But when the grace of God
lays hold of one who is such in the eyes of God, he is born anew, "born from
above." He possesses a new nature, which now characterizes him in God’s eyes.
God looks upon him as having passed out of death into life. He no more looks at
him according to the old nature which is still in him, but according to what he
is as born of God. A new life dwells in him. It is in the character of this new
life that God now views him.

We have spoken of love to the brethren as evidence of a new nature received from
God; but it may be said: Is not God above us, beyond us? Do we not read, "No man
hath seen God at any time?" How then is it possible for us to comprehend the
activities of love in God? It has been manifested in the person of His Son whom
He sent into the world to lay down His life sacrificially in behalf of men (1
John 3:16). In this we have learned what the love of God is. The knowledge of
this divine love is abiding in the soul that has bowed to the meaning of the
Cross of Christ. The activities of love in God must necessarily characterize His
children. It is not merely a question of duty or obligation, but a
characteristic of their nature, which in communion with God displays itself.
This is the force of 1 John 3:17. Of course, the verse may be used as an appeal
to rouse the conscience where there seems to be carelessness or indifference,
but the apostle is convicting of unreality the mere profession of loving the
brethren. His argument is, How can love be there if there is no activity of it?
How can love that is of God be dwelling where it is not in exercise? There is
danger, even in the children of God, of falling into pretension. So in verse 18
the apostle warns against it. Clearly he is speaking here to those whom he
recognizes as of God. He is exhorting them to see to it that there be no
pretence; no mere loving in word or tongue, but only in deed and in truth.
Unreality is a grievous sin in a child of God; it is really hypocrisy. Let us
then give due heed to the apostle’s warning against it. Our Lord also speaks of
this in Luke 12:1.

What is the test of reality? 1 John 3:19-20 are the apostle’s answer. It is for
us to know — to realize — that we are of the truth. It is the privilege of the
child of God to assure his heart before God. "God is greater than our heart, and
knoweth all things." Those who "walk in the light as God is in the light"
realize this; they are conscious that all unreality is exposed before Him. What
enables us to stand in the light, in which no unreality can be tolerated, is the
atoning blood of Christ. It is that which gives us assured hearts before God,
before whom all is thoroughly searched out. He who is greater than our hearts
has provided us with what gives us full confidence in His presence; the blood of
Christ is His answer to every question of our acceptance or attack of the enemy.
In the power of the blood of Christ, with uncondemning hearts, we abide in that
Presence before whom all is manifest. God Himself is our refuge and our
confidence; by His grace we are those who keep His commandments and practise the
things pleasing to Him. We are those who believe "on the name of His Son Jesus
Christ and love one another," and whose petitions are in accordance with Him in
whom we are accepted. We abide in God and He abides in us (1 John 3:21-24). A
marvelous blessing this, a wonderful privilege: abiding in God and God abiding
in us! We are in the community of life and nature, after the pattern of that
declared by our Lord when He said, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me"
(John 14:10-11). Just as He abode in the Father and the Father in Him, so also
we abide in Him and He in us. By the Spirit which now dwells in us we are able
to realize and enjoy the portion that is ours. Characteristically speaking (as
John constantly does), in this dispensation of the Spirit the children of God
are qualified to enjoy the intimacies of their relationship with God. They find
their power for this in the Spirit dwelling in them.


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  CHAPTER 27: 02.07     1JN_4:1-7.
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1 John 4:1-7. In the New Testament we have the full revelation of God, and in
connection with this revelation is unfolded to the children of God the nature
and practical character of their relationship with God. It is by the Holy Spirit
come down from heaven that this knowledge is given them. In Old Testament times
God’s children were marked by the practice of righteousness and loving one
another. The divine life in them was thus exercised; but they were not told or
taught these things; they were not even told they possessed this life eternal;
its practical character was never unfolded to them, therefore.

Thus those born from above in Old Testament times never were able to say,
"Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us."
The revelation in which such knowledge is found was not given them. They could
not be in the conscious enjoyment of what had not been revealed to them; the
Spirit that reveals it to us had not come to them. When the Spirit came, He gave
the children of God not only the revelation that God is Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, but also what is the nature and character of the relationship into which
new birth brings us. Hence we are able to say, "We know that He abideth in us."
It is by the Spirit bestowed upon us that we know it — as in 1 John 3:24. But
there are many false prophets who have gone out into the world claiming to be
speaking by the Holy Spirit. In every age since the apostolic times, various
systems of teachings have been urged upon the people of God. They are usually
antichristian in character. They are usually commended as a perfecting of, or
progress beyond, the Christian revelation. Their propagators claim to be taught
by the Spirit of God. It becomes necessary therefore to test the teaching we are
invited to receive. Our apostle warns against believing every spirit; he exhorts
us to try them, to see whether they are of God (1 John 4:1). He gives us also
the infallible tests by which to try the claims or pretensions of all who
profess to speak for God. And what are these tests? He gives us two sure rules
by which we may judge whether a teacher or prophet is bringing the truth of God.
If John tells us not to believe every spirit, he means that we must not accept
as true the profession one may make that he is speaking by the Spirit; and if he
says, "Try the spirits whether they are of God," he would have us realize there
is an absolutely sure way of detecting false claims, and exposing the
pretensions of those who are assuming to be what they are not. His first test
is: "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ
come in the flesh, is of God" (1 John 4:2). If we apply this test to
Christianity as apostolically established, it proves itself to be of God. In the
"faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3), Jesus Christ come in
flesh is fully acknowledged. He is the very centre of the system of teaching
which the apostles promulgated. The "form of doctrine" which they delivered
gives Christ His true place. In the form of "sound words," of which they were
the human instruments to communicate to the Church of God, Jesus Christ, the
Incarnate One, is honored and exalted. Jesus Christ come in flesh is everywhere
confessed in the New Testament Scriptures, and this one fact is evidence that
they are of God. It is the proof that the Spirit of God has given them. The
Christian revelation meets fully the test of the apostle. It is evident that the
New Testament writings are a system of teaching which the very brightest human
intellect could not have conceived. The Spirit of God is their true author. They
are a revelation of things which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the
heart of man conceived." They are a revelation from God by His Spirit (1
Corinthians 2:9-10), and the great proof of it is that everywhere they confess
Jesus Christ come in flesh.

We should be reminded here it is not merely to confess that Jesus Christ did
come in flesh; the idea of the verse in the original is the confession of
Himself, the acknowledgment of who and what the Incarnate One is — the bowing of
will and heart to Him — confessing the claims and rights of the Incarnate One.
Now this, we may say, is the distinguishing characteristic of the New Testament
writings. Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, is everywhere the theme: His
rights, His claims, His honor, His glory are, not simply recognized, but owned.
Christianity, or what we call the Christian revelation, stands the apostle’s
test. It is a divine system in which God speaks by His Spirit. No other system
of teaching meets the test. Every other form of teaching betrays its human, or
perhaps in some cases, Satanic origin. Very high claims may be made: it may be
professed that God is the source of what is being taught, that by His Spirit He
is addressing Himself to men, while yet Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God
is in various ways dishonored — in many cases even denied. His claims are not
owned and submitted to; His rights are ignored and even refused. There are
systems of teaching in which He is wickedly degraded and blasphemed.

Such systems of teaching are not of the Holy Spirit: another spirit is at work
in them. Our apostle tells us that every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
Christ, the Incarnate One, is not of God, but is the spirit of antichrist (1
John 4:3). The New Testament apostles and prophets warned the people of God that
this spirit of antichrist would come. John, the last of them, now tells them
that it has already come. It is not that the Antichrist himself has come, but
that many have come who are characterized by his spirit — the spirit of
insubjection to the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. We are justified,
therefore, in rejecting as not of God, every system of teaching in which Jesus
Christ come in flesh is disowned or dishonored. The family are now assured that
they are of God. The apostle would have them know that he is not implying that
any of them are of the false spirit concerning whom he is warning them. Nay, the
Spirit of God is dwelling in them; He is greater than that which animates the
false teachers that have gone out into the world; and, indwelt and led by the
Holy Spirit, God’s children have the victory over those of the antichristian
spirit.

These antichristian prophets and teachers are of the world; they speak according
to the world; therefore, the world hears them. The natural man receives not the
things spoken by the Spirit and deposited in the Scriptures for the children of
God. They that are of the world are not subject to the incarnate Son, Jesus
Christ, come in flesh. But some one may say, This test was for apostolic times,
to distinguish between the divinely-called apostles and impostors. But how are
we to test those who have risen up as teachers since the departure of the
apostles? How can we determine which of the many conflicting voices is really
the voice of God? The difficulty as to this is not so great as it seems. The
apostle provides us with a sure test of the reality of all that professes to be
of God. He shows us there is a spirit of truth and a spirit of error, and puts
in our hands the means of distinguishing them. To test and decide upon the
claims of those who profess to speak by the Spirit of God is thus very simple.

Let us turn to the rule he has given by which we are to know the spirit of truth
and the spirit of error. Notice that in the first place he insists on the divine
origin of the apostolic mission. He says, "We are of God;" which means that
those in apostolic times who had introduced and established Christianity had
done it by the authority of God; that by divine sanction, by the Spirit of God,
they had given the faith its permanent form — the form in which it was to be
handed down to succeeding generations. John teaches that the New Testament
Scriptures are given to us by the Spirit of God, and to be held as such. If we
speak of teachers, since the days of the apostles, we need ask but one question:
Do they hear the apostles and prophets who by the Holy Spirit have given us the
New Testament Scriptures? John says: "He that knoweth God heareth us" (1 John
4:6). The way to know whether a teacher or prophet is of God, therefore, is by
the teaching he brings. Does he teach apostolic doctrine and practice? Whatever
his claim may be, if he does not do this he has no claim to be received as sent
of God.

All atheistic, pantheistic, and materialistic teachings are marked by the spirit
that does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh. The many systems of so-called
Christian philosophy, antagonistic to the faith proclaimed in the Scriptures,
are excluded from the fellowship or support of the children of God.
Unitarianism, as degrading the incarnate Son of God, is manifestly shown not to
be of God. Universalism, as denying a part of apostolic teaching, is clearly not
of the Spirit. In the same way Millennial Dawnism, Christadelphianism, and all
kindred systems, are by our apostle’s rules shown to be of the spirit of
antichrist. Christian Science, Mormonism, Spiritualism, are stamped as
anti-christian. The many so-called holiness and pentecostal movements fail to
meet the test which John admonishes us to apply to them. Even many schools of
thought existing among those who are undoubtedly to be recognized as Christian
people, as for instance, the various unapostolic conceptions of the nature and
character of the gospel, cannot establish their claim upon the confidence of the
children of God. But we need not enlarge on these lines. It needs not to
enumerate all the systems of human or even Satanic origin; the great thing is
that the apostle has given us infallible rules by which to detect what is of God
and what is not — what is by the Spirit of God and what lacks the mark of His
approval. May we faithfully employ the rules of the apostle, and thus preserve
ourselves from complicity with, and support of, what has not the endorsement of
the Holy Spirit. May we remember it is by the Spirit that we have right
knowledge. It is in what He has given in the New Testament Scriptures that we
have the knowledge of our blessings from God and of the relationship in which we
stand to God and its practical character. It is as having the Christian
revelation — the common possession of all saints in this dispensation — that we
have the knowledge which enables us to say, We dwell in God and God dwells in
us.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 28: 02.08     1JN_4:7-19.
========================================================================

1 John 4:7-19.

We have already noticed that the apostle regards loving the brethren as one of
the marks of those who are "born of God." It is one of the ways in which the
divine life in us makes its presence manifest. But it is not enough to know that
we are children of God and have passed from death to life; that in virtue of
this new life and nature we dwell in God and He in us; that this knowledge is
not a mere fancy of our mind, but an authoritative revelation, we need to
understand the character of God’s love: that if God dwells in us it is in
perfect love; and if we realize it not, it means that we are not perfected in
His love, which is perfect in itself. If the portion of the epistle we are now
to look at communicates such knowledge, it demands our undivided attention. In
taking up afresh the theme of love’s activity, the apostle begins by exhorting
to it. He says: "Beloved, let us love one another" (1 John 4:7). He would have
us exercise ourselves in the nature we have received from God. Instead of
cultivating the old nature, he would have us cultivate the new. Instead of
developing the life natural to us, we should develop the life divinely
communicated to us. And, let us notice, the love which our apostle exhorts us to
practise ourselves in is the love which is of God — not mere human or natural
love, but of the new nature, which we have as born of God. New birth confers a
new relationship with God, a relationship in which God is definitely before the
soul, whatever the measure in which this is realized or enjoyed. Every one
therefore who loves, who practises the love that is of God, is born of God and
knows God; while every one in whom this activity of love does not exist at all,
does not know God — is not in this new relationship with God (1 John 4:8).

Love in God is active — He loves. Those who are born of Him have in them His
active nature. He is love, and therefore loves. They love therefore because He
loves. In saying this, I am not forgetting the hindrances in us to the
manifestations of love. In God, love is unclouded. Alas, how clouded it is in
us! Yet, even so, love’s activity in us is of the same kind as it is in God.
While it differs (how much!) in degree, it is the same in kind.

Now the activity of love in God has been manifested in our behalf. God has shown
it in sending His only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through
Him (1 John 4:9). As naturally born, we are under sentence of death: we are
appointed to death (Hebrews 9:27), which implies abandonment to an eternal doom.
To what wrath we are thus subject in our life of alienation from God! But God is
love. In sending His only-begotten Son into the world He has manifested the
activity of His love in providing a way for us to pass out of death into life.
In the activity of His love, He gives us a new life. The incarnate Son of God
put Himself under our sentence. Appointed to death as we were, with judgment
coming after death, He made for us a way out of that position and condition into
a new position and condition in which we are no more subjects of death and
judgment, but of life in community with God.

Thus we have life through Christ the Son of God. He is the source and channel of
eternal life to us. By Him we pass out of death into life — out of alienation
from God into community with Him. God had this in view in sending His Son into
the world. What activity, what display of love!

It should be remembered that this activity of love in God was manifested toward
us "while we were yet sinners" (Romans 5:8). We shall fail to apprehend the true
character of God’s love if we forget this. His motive for loving was entirely in
Himself, not in those towards whom He has shown His love. In loving, God is but
acting Himself out, acting according to His own nature — manifesting Himself,
manifesting what His motive is, showing the object or end He has in view. As
desiring to take us out of death into life, He sent His only-begotten Son into
the world in order to accomplish His desire: He has thus revealed His nature as
active in love.

Another thing also needs to be remembered if we are to apprehend the full
character of the love of God. To accomplish His purpose, to attain the end He
had in view, to secure the desire of His heart, He sent the very best He
possessed — His only Son. This is the measure of the love of God. His Son stands
to Him in a relationship immeasurably dear — His priceless Treasure; but God
willingly sent Him into the world that we might live through Him!

God having thus manifested the love that is in Himself, we are enabled to know
it, and in what it consists. This the apostle does in saying, "Not that we loved
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son a propitiation concerning our sins."
The apostle thus guards us against making the love of God consist in our love of
Him. Our love of Him is the fruit of His love. It is not natural to us; it is
produced in us. A power outside of ourselves has acted upon us and caused in us
love for God. But love in God was not caused by something without Himself: it is
in Him abidingly; it is His nature. The motive to love is in Himself. To
contrast love in God and in us, as I have been doing, is to emphasize the
difference — an essential one.

It would be a serious mistake, therefore, to say the love of God consists in our
love of Him. It would falsify its character. Thus we understand the apostle’s
earnestness in guarding us against so serious a mistake. "Not that we loved
God," he says, "but that He loved us." But it is not sufficient, however, to say
that God is love and that He loved us; it is important that the holiness of the
love of God be safeguarded. It must not be thought that because God is love,
sins are of small account in His eyes. If we say, God loves men, it must not be
understood as implying that He overlooks their sins. That would be falsifying
His character. Sin is abhorrent to Him. He cannot behold iniquity. His eyes are
too pure for that (Habakkuk 1:13). As antagonistic to His nature, an
infringement on His sovereign rights, He cannot possibly tolerate sin. But how
can God’s love to men and His hatred of sin be harmonized? How can He maintain
the holiness of His love? If He loves us, does He not violate holiness and
righteousness? Such questions show the need of a fuller statement. The character
of God in His love to us must be expressed: hence in saying, "Not that we loved
God but that He loved us," the apostle adds, "And sent His Son [to make]
propitiation for our sins." The character of love in God is thus fully
safeguarded. For, seeking man, seeking to win men from their sins is very
different from visiting upon them the due of their sins. In seeking to reconcile
men to Himself, it involved atonement, therefore. While it is important to
insist on this, the great point in the statement we are considering is God’s
propitious attitude toward men in sending "His only Son to be the propitiation
for our sins." The very act of sending His Son for this purpose was the
wonderful display of God’s gracious attitude toward men. It was the love of God
exercised in consistency with holiness and righteousness. It was Love operating
in its sovereign rights, and in harmony with His hatred of sin.

Such then is the nature and character of love in God. What human mind could have
conceived of love like this? How could we know it unless it were revealed? Being
revealed, it is known and enjoyed by the children of God as infinite and
eternal, as having foreordained the Lamb before the foundation of the world as a
sacrifice for sin.

If such is the nature and character of love in God, if He loves in such a
fashion as we have been contemplating, it is fitting that we should love one
another (1 John 4:11). In saying, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one
another," we must not understand the apostle to be teaching that loving one
another is a mere duty. Duty it surely is; but that is not the spirit of the
love which the apostle exhorts us to exercise. He urges us to a love patterned
after that which we see in God. "We ought also to love one another," means,
then, the exercise of that divine life we have received — the practice of it
toward one another. The measure in which we fail in this is the measure in which
we fail to manifest the divine bond in the family of God.

What a bond! how precious a tie! One in which we are first of all in community
with God Himself, and necessarily share with all who are the objects of His
love. As in one bundle of life, they are necessarily dear to us, and we ought
even to lay down our lives for them.

We now pass on to other subjects in this section. It will be remembered that in
John 1:18 it is said, "No man hath seen God at any time." That statement is
repeated here, but not for the same reason or purpose. There, it is in
connection with the revelation of God. No one has ever seen God to be qualified
thus to witness to what He is — only the Son who has come from the bosom of the
Father, who has personal knowledge of God, is personally acquainted with the
perfections of His nature and character; He is thus a competent witness; He
speaks what He personally knows — what He has seen and heard (John 3:32).

Here, in 1 John 4:12, the apostle is not thinking of the Son of the Father
testifying among men to what God is, but of God being manifested in His
children. The children of God, loving one another, are displaying in their
measure the love that is in God. "No one has seen God at any time," but if we
love one another that is a display of Him. The moral nature of God is in us.
This, as we have already seen, is an active nature. If it is present at all in a
man, it is present in activity. Since it is the moral nature of God, it is
proper to say God is dwelling in us. God dwells in us by a nature and life from
Himself. It is His love that is in us. In loving one another, that love is
having its normal activity in us. This is what is meant by the expression, "And
His love is perfected in us." The apostle is not speaking here of some advanced
Christians, as if there were a class of believers of whom it is not true that
the love of God is perfected in them. He is speaking abstractly, as he so
commonly does. He is speaking of what is characteristic. He is not thinking of
degrees and measures, but of what is normally and characteristically true, and
marks every child of God. It is as loving one another that the children of God
manifest themselves as those in whom God dwells — in whom the love of God is in
activity.

If then we are marked by loving one another, God has given us "of His Spirit."
He has given us a nature which is of His Spirit. We are born of the Spirit. By
this nature God dwells in us and we in Him; and it gives capacity to recognize
those on whom it has been conferred. By this activity of love we realize our
dwelling in God, and His dwelling in us (1 John 4:13).

Along with this communicated nature there is the apostolic testimony that "the
Father sent the Son, the Saviour of the world." They had seen the Son manifested
upon earth as having the glory of an only-begotten of the Father. Their
contemplation of it had wrought in them a divine conviction. If "no one has seen
God at any time," they personally were witnesses that the Father sent the Son;
they could say, "We have seen, and do testify." The world has refused Him who
was sent to save it. It has rejected its Saviour, but the fact that the Father
sent the Son to save the world may be appealed to as a manifestation of the love
of God. If no man has ever seen Him, His love has been manifested. It cannot be
said, No one has ever seen His love. Multitudes have seen it and live in it. All
who have received the Saviour whom the Father sent, dwell in the love of God.
Every one who inwardly submits to Jesus as being truly the Son of God, lives in
the love of God. All such are born of God. A new life, a moral principle, is
begotten in their souls in the power of the Spirit, by which God dwells in them
and they in God (1 John 4:15). It is the characteristic fact, true of every one
who in reality confesses Jesus as the Son of God. The degree of individual
realization is quite another matter; the apostle is not speaking of this here.

Loving one another, then, characterizes, more or less, all the family of God,
and gives capacity to know or recognize one another. Undoubtedly there are
hindrances in all to any full capacity for this. The great point urged by the
apostle is that we have received a common life from the Spirit, and with it a
full and reliable testimony to the love of God by personal witnesses of its
manifestation. Those therefore who have become participators in this life
through faith in Jesus, are those who know and believe the love God has to us.
God is love; they are in community with Him; they dwell in God and God in them
(1 John 4:16). But while love may be in us, in a nature perfect in itself, yet
it is quite another thing to be perfect in our apprehension of it. It is of
immense comfort to be assured, as the word of God does assure us, that in new
birth we have received a new and perfect nature — received eternal life, which
abides for ever — an imperishable life indeed! Many who believe this do not
realize that it stamps us as being already (even while still here in this world)
as Christ is. If the day of judgment causes fear, love (the apprehension of it)
is not perfect with them.

There is need to consider well the apostle’s words, and to weigh them. First,
let us notice a defect in our ordinary translation. 1 John 4:17 reads: "Herein
is our love made perfect." Now our love, our response to the love of God, is
never perfect. It is never what it should be. To say it is, would be very
pretentious. No child of God, unless under some deceptive influence, would claim
that his love for God is perfect. In marginal Bibles this very serious defect of
translation is corrected. They give "Love with us," instead of "our love." We
should read, then, "Herein is love with us made perfect," which gives an
entirely different sense. It is evident the apostle is not thinking of our love
of God, but of the love which God has manifested.

Again, if the apostle speaks of the love of God being made perfect with us, it
is plain he speaks of our apprehension of it. What is meant by this is what we
must now consider.

Clearly it does not express the same thought as when we say, We are the objects
of God’s love. It is a great thing to know that. But many know this, heartily
believe it, yet manifestly have not been made perfect in love. Love, in the
perfection of its nature, is in them as we have seen; yet it has not been made
perfect with them; the apprehension of what it is needs perfecting. The apostle,
speaking of the day of judgment, says: "Herein is love with us made perfect,
that we may have boldness in respect of the day of judgment." (The Greek
preposition en often has the sense of "in respect of," "in view of." I so
translate it here.) Have we "boldness" — peace, rest of heart — in view of the
day of judgment? If so, then, according to the apostle, love has been perfected
with us. But if this is lacking, if there is timidity in our souls as we think
of that day, there is a defect in our apprehension of the Love that dwells in
us. What then is the defect? The answer to this question is found in what
immediately follows: "Because as He is, so are we in this world." This is what
is not realized where boldness in respect to the day of judgment is wanting. The
thought in the minds of many is that they are to be made as He is, not that they
already are as He is. How many a child of God shrinks from believing that now,
in this world, he is as Christ is!

It is said, We are not where He is yet. Our bodies have not yet been changed and
fashioned after His body of glory. Quite true; we are still in the body suited
to this life — not yet in a body suited to heaven. Our present body is a sinful
and mortal body. But the apostle is not thinking of the body; he is not
occupying us with the thought of physical likeness to Christ. If he were, he
would not say: "As He is, so are we in this world." We shall be physically like
Him when we are changed into His likeness, but until then our body continues to
be a natural body. In what sense then are we now as He is? Let us remember that
the apostle is looking at the children of God as characterized by community of
life with God. From that point of view, the thing that is true in Christ is true
also in them. They are one with Him in the new nature given them — one with Him
in life. The apostle thinks of us as identified in nature and life with Christ.
As having the same nature with Him, we are as He is. As having community of life
with Himself, we are already what we shall be in the day of judgment. Christ is
not, cannot be, an object of judgment. As children of God, neither are we
objects of judgment. The apprehension of this blessed truth, through the
ministry of the Holy Spirit, is what the apostle calls "Love perfected in us."


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  CHAPTER 29: 02.09     1JN_4:20 TO 1JN_5:13.
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1 John 4:20-21; 1 John 5:1-13 The apostle proceeds now to expose the pretensions
and claims of those who seek to be recognized as being children of God, though
lacking the marks by which such are distinguished. One may say, "I love God." He
is claiming to know God, to know the love that is of God. We have seen that love
in God is active. His love pours out, so to speak, on the objects of His love.
One who says he loves God professes therefore to participate in the activities
of that love which must, in some measure, be present in every one who loves God.
Instead of this the false professor shows hatred to those whom, by his
profession, he is bound to acknowledge as his brethren. The apostle uses a
strong term as to such: he says, "He is a liar" (1 John 4:20). In speaking of
hating his brother, the apostle is not thinking of some sudden, provoked, or
unprovoked, outburst of temper, though we may be sure he would not excuse this,
but would unhesitatingly call it sin: it is an interruption, for the time, of
the flow of communion between the Father and His child. But the apostle is not
treating of that subject here. He is speaking of what we may call the uniform
activity or state of the soul, its continuous habit. One characterized by hatred
of God’s children speaks falsely in saying that he loves God. He does not know
God, is not dwelling in love. But the apostle not only denounces such an one as
"a liar," making a false profession, but he would have us realize the utter
impossibility of that profession being true. "No one has ever seen God at any
time," he says; God is invisible; and how can one that does not love the
children of God whom he sees, love their Father whom he does not see? It is put
in the form of a question only to add force in the conscience that it is
impossible — the profession is not true.

There is another consideration to be mentioned. We have received a commandment
from the Lord to love one another (John 13:34). By obedience to this injunction
we prove ourselves to be His true disciples, and make manifest that we are His
"friends." Every one who professes to love God professes to obey Him; but hating
one’s brother is not obedience. Obligation to love rests on every child of God;
but it is not met by mere profession. Obedience to Him who is the source of love
in His children is the mark by which it is shown to be in us (1 John 4:21).

Another mark of the children of God is the reception of Jesus as the Christ. One
may not have much knowledge, may not be able to tell the blessings that are the
heritage of the children of God, but bowing the knee to Jesus, his soul
submitting to Him as the Christ of God, marks the true child of God. Being thus
manifested as born of God, such are embraced by us as objects of love. It is
true that many of their natural characteristics may still be seen in them. As
long as we remain in the natural body we must expect it, but the spiritual tie
is a stronger and dearer tie than the natural one. These natural characteristics
cannot obliterate the spiritual tie. Even the failures which we see in one
another cannot annul it. They may call forth grief, pity, even stern rebuke, but
the tie remains unchangeable, and its preciousness abides. The love that is from
God dwelling in us cannot be selective as regards the objects it embraces. To
love in community with God is to embrace all the objects of His love. He loves
every child as a child. Even though it may be at times disobedient, needing
correction, and severe discipline may have to be administered, yet the tie, that
through His grace has been established, abides, and is precious with Him. God
loves His children with an abiding and unchangeable love. If then we have
learned from Him what love is, and love in community with Him, then the objects
of His love are the objects of love in us. We love the children of God as that —
love every one who has received Jesus as the Christ.

Again, loving in community with the Father implies that we love for the Father’s
sake, that is, because they are His children. We would not be true to Him if we
did not; our love would not reflect His. This is surely implied in "Every one
that loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him." It means
that we entertain His thoughts toward His children. But this does not imply
indifference to wrong conduct, disobedience, or fellowshiping evil ways. The
apostle carefully guards the true character of love here. Love according to God
must be of the right quality. Hence we read, "By this we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments" (1 John 5:2). Our
love to one another is not true love unless it is defined and limited by love to
God, which is proved by submission to His will — obedience to His injunctions or
instructions. In verse 3 the apostle insists that obedience is the mark of
loving God. We show our love to Him, not by professing it merely, but by
unfeignedly governing ourselves by His instructions; they are by no means
irksome if we truly love God. In 1 John 5:4-5, another mark of a child of God is
given. The true love of God, which is in His children, overcomes the world. The
world is alienated from God, is in enmity to Him. The manifestation and proof of
this is its rejection of the Son of God when He came into it. It did not
recognize Jesus as the Lord of glory. It refused all testimony that He was the
Son of God. His presence troubled the world. His teachings and His testimony
that He came from the Father were resisted and contradicted. His works of power
were ascribed to the devil. His continuance here could not be tolerated, and
they nailed Him to a cross, between thieves. And the world has not reversed its
judgment of Jesus. It still denies Him His rights. It is a great triumph over
the world whenever an individual reverses the world’s judgment of Jesus. Through
the power of His love, individuals have, and still do, bow the knee to Him —
owning Jesus as Lord of all. A mighty victory this! But who are these victors —
these overcomers of the world? Are they the adherents of humanitarian movements?
the disciples of human philosophies? the promulgators of world-reform movements?
No; these things, whatever the outward effects produced, leave the hearts of men
unchanged, heralded though they be as great victories. Victories over certain
forms of evil in the world they may be, but not victories over the world.

Children of God alone are overcomers of the world — those who believe that Jesus
is the Son of God. Faith, faith in Him which sets to its seal that the divine
testimony to Him is true, is the real victory. What a triumph of the truth it is
when a soul steps out of the ranks of unbelievers, out from among rejectors of
Christ, and takes its place in the ranks of those who believe that Jesus is the
Son of God! "This is the victory that overcometh the world — our faith."

I must notice here an idea which some have urged, in a mistaken way putting 1
John 5:1 and 1 John 5:5 in contrast. It has been stated that the faith which
confesses that Jesus is the Christ is a lower faith than that which acknowledges
Him to be the Son of God. But the Spirit of God makes no such contrast here. The
idea cannot be justly drawn from the apostle’s argument. The two things, in
fact, go together: believing that Jesus is the Christ, and believing that He is
the Son of God. It is not a question of the measure of intelligence in either
case. Nathanael in John 1:1-51, acknowledges Jesus to be the King of Israel
because he is divinely convinced He is the Son of God. Martha, in John 11:1-57,
says, "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come
into the world," expressing thus the faith of those who inwardly, divinely,
received the Old Testament Scriptures. Peter’s confession, in Matthew 16:16,
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," is the expression of the faith
of those who through the gracious activities of the Spirit in their souls
hearkened to the voice of the Father as He had spoken in the Old Testament
writings.

These illustrations (with others which might be cited) make it plain that, as
already said, believing in Jesus as Messiah and believing in Him as Son of God,
go together. There may have been indeed lack in distinguishing; there may have
been much misapprehension as to both titles. The full truth connected with them
could hardly then be realized. The faith that was in them as a germ was to be
expanded later, but in that germ there were both conceptions of the Lord. Their
divinely given faith owned Him to be both Messiah and the Son of God. What
victors they were over the leaders and teachers who, assuming the seat of Moses,
were not obeying Moses! — who instead of listening to Him of whom Moses wrote,
rejected Him and did everything in their power to hinder others from receiving
Him. The faith that triumphed then is the faith that triumphs now. Those who now
are the overcomers of the world are those who set to their seal that the
testimony of God concerning Jesus is true. In receiving Jesus as the Son of God,
the believer, as we have seen, is simply building on God’s own testimony. We may
now inquire, What is the testimony of God on which faith rests in unshaken
confidence? In Old Testament times God had made promises. Faith believed God and
waited for the promise. But we are not waiting for the promised Seed of the
woman, or the Seed of Abraham, or the Heir of David: this now would be rank
unbelief. Faith now manifests itself in receiving Jesus as the Son of God. Faith
affirms and maintains that He who came in the world 1900 years ago, whose
personal name was Jesus, is the Son of God. God has in a most remarkable way
given testimony concerning Him. The testimony is threefold: the water and the
blood that flowed from Jesus’ pierced side, after His death, and the Spirit that
came down from heaven after He had risen and ascended back to glory. But we must
consider this more carefully; and in doing so we must first give a better
translation than the one in our ordinary version. 1 John 5:6-8 should be read:
"This is He that came in the way of water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in the
power of the water only, but in the power of the water and the blood; and it is
the Spirit that testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. Because there are
three that testify: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three are
with a view to one [testimony]."

"This is He that came in the way of water and blood" — what does the apostle
refer to here? The first has been referred to the baptism of Jesus by John the
Baptist: but there was neither cleansing for man nor expiation for God in the
baptism of Jesus; therefore the Spirit cannot have this in mind here. The same
objection applies if it be thought the reference is to the birth of the Lord
Jesus into the world. The Lord’s own statement, "Except a corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it abideth alone" (John 12:24), should be sufficient to
settle all controversy as to whether there was cleansing for man or propitiation
for God in either the birth of our Lord or His baptism. It is evident the
apostle is occupied here, not with the fact simply that the Son of God became
man, but with God’s purpose, the great object that was in view in the coming of
Jesus. Coming to be a Saviour (1 John 4:14) involved His death, because men were
under the sentence of death — a righteous sentence, which therefore could not be
set aside. The only possible way of effecting a deliverance from it was by the
Substitute assuming the sentence, and providing a new life for men — a life
beyond the death and the judgment to which men are appointed. Those upon whom
this new life is conferred become new creatures. They are thus clean creatures,
having been born from above — of water and the Spirit. Their new birth, for
which the death and resurrection of Christ is provision, is their cleansing: in
the words of Romans 5:18, it is a "justification of life." The Son of God in
this manner provides cleansing for men defiled by sin. This cleansing from sin,
we must remember, is not at the expense of the glory of God. That death, which
is the means of life to us, has fully met every demand of the nature and
character of God. It is a perfect satisfaction to God’s nature. This expiation
is fully acceptable to Him; it is a propitiation that vindicates God in every
way; it leaves no stain on His glory; the throne of government is untarnished.
Our acceptance is in no way inconsistent with the nature and character of Him
who cannot look upon sin. In our salvation He has not winked at our sins. His
grace to us is in full harmony with His holiness and righteousness. The Son of
God, then, came in the way of cleansing and propitiation. This is the apostle’s
thought when he says, "This is He that came in the way of water and blood"
(water being the symbol of cleansing, and blood the sign of propitiation),
laying down His life in vindication of the character and glory of God. But the
apostle adds, "Not in the power of the water only, but in the power of the
blood." Why does he now use a different preposition — the Greek en, instead of
dia? — "in the power of" instead of "in the way of?" "In the way of" indicates
the way or means. Moral cleansing for men and perfect satisfaction for God is
the only suited method of dealing with men in the condition in which they are
through sin; but it is not only a suited method, it is thoroughly adequate; it
is the only effective way of meeting man’s need. In coming to provide cleansing
and expiation, the Son of God has interposed in man’s behalf with what is fully
efficacious; hence the added expression, "Not in the power of the water only,
but in the power of the blood." The death of Christ provides both, and both
effectively; so that the soul that comes under the power of the cleansing Word,
symbolized by the water, is turned to God to stand before His face with the
assurance that he is made fit for His presence, having been made whiter than
snow by the blood — the sign of propitiation accomplished, which means the
unqualified acceptance of the one who believes and confesses Jesus to be the Son
of God.

Having thus spoken of the water and the blood, the apostle adds, "And it is the
Spirit that testifies, because the Spirit is the truth." He plainly refers to
the water and the blood which came out of the pierced side of the dead body of
Christ, as a divine testimony which God gave concerning His Son. It was not a
natural phenomenon, but a supernatural one (see John 19:35), by which God was
testifying that the death of His Son provides cleansing, or a new life, and
propitiation. In recording the pouring forth of blood and water from the pierced
side of Christ after death, John adds, "And he that saw it bare record, and his
record is true; and he knoweth that he saith true." The Spirit by John thus
attests and confirms the testimony of the blood and the water.

There are, then, three witnesses: the water, the blood, and the Spirit — a
threefold testimony; but a united testimony, and thus one. The Spirit and the
water and the blood affirm the same thing. They unite in witnessing that life is
in the Son and for men through His death. They bear their united testimony to
the truth, to produce faith: — "That ye may believe that Jesus is the Son of
God." In the epistle, however, John is writing to believers, and he urges that
the testimony he has been speaking of is divine testimony — the testimony of God
concerning His Son (1 John 5:9). The believer needs to have the sense of this in
his soul. The power and enjoyment of the blessing that is his as a believer will
be much affected by the consciousness, or lack of it, that the testimony is
Divine. If it has been received only as the word of men, it will not have its
full sanctifying power in the soul. We receive the testimony of competent,
trustworthy men without question; but how much greater is the testimony of God!
He speaks what He knows; with Him knowledge is absolute, not relative. He
witnesses to the truth as He alone fully knows it. But again, what is the
apostle occupying us with here? To what end is God so emphatically and solemnly
testifying? It is this: Life, eternal life, is in the incarnate Son of God, and
through faith is communicated to the believer on the basis of His death (1 John
5:11).

Perhaps this statement requires to be expanded, and guarded against
misunderstanding. Let the reader specially notice this: Life is in the incarnate
Son of God; and this form of expression is more important than at first appears
necessary. But it must be remembered that men have forfeited their life in Adam,
and it is a question of a new life in man, a life of such a nature and character
that the recipients become by the very fact, not merely new creatures, but
children of God: for those born of God, born from above, are in a higher and
more intimate relation to God than Adam was, even as unfallen. But how could
this be? Only through a new Adam. The Son of God became incarnate in order to be
this new Man. Now if we think of Him as incarnate, He was a Man who had life in
a double sense. Being a divine Person He had divine life. Having become a human
Person He had human life. He had thus both divine and human life; but, be it
remembered, not two lives (one divine and the other human), but one life which
was both divine and human. He was thus a unique Man.

Now keeping this in mind we can understand that He was a Man who had both
uncommunicated and communicated life — both independent and dependent life,
i.e., one life having both characteristics. John 5:26 shows this plainly. While
as an eternal Person He has eternal, divine life, as become Man, as incarnate,
He has life as given Him, i.e., as a communication. Mark, too, it is given or
communicated to be in Himself. It is intrinsic and essential to Himself. We
therefore may speak of Him as having divine, or eternal life in a dependent
form. But even so He was alone in it. He, alone, had it intrinsically. It was in
Him alone essentially. He had to fall into the ground and die as the corn of
wheat to provide a basis for its communication to others. His death — a death in
behalf of men — procures life for men to be received by faith. His death is
God’s justification in giving life to believers at any time — Old Testament
times or New.

It should be manifest that the form of the life that is communicated to
believers is the form of life possessed by Him as incarnate — a form of life
assumed by Him in order to be the Source of life to us. Dying and rising again
He abides, a Man still having both uncommunicated and communicated life. The
testimony of God concerning His Son is, as we have seen, to the effect that
eternal life is communicated to us — believers. This communicated life, life in
dependence, is in Him. He is the fountain-source of it. It is not life as He
possessed it eternally — independent life; it is life as He possesses it as Man;
but a life having, even in us, the twofold character it has in Him; a life in
which we are men still, yet the children of God also.

Now the believer characteristically has this witness of God in himself (1 John
5:10). The testimony of God received produces in the soul divine conviction of
the truth. He may not be able to unfold or explain all that goes with it, but
there is an inward sense of being connected with Jesus the Son of God, and that
thus he is in relationship with God. The unbeliever, by his disbelief of the
testimony, charges God with lying. What a dreadful thing! What bold effrontery
on the part of those who refuse the united testimony of the water, the blood,
and the Spirit! How sinful to treat their testimony as being false! To charge
Him who cannot lie with lying, in giving testimony concerning His Son by means
of these three supernatural witnesses, is audacious!

Now, let us mark again, this testimony of God concerning His Son is not only
that Jesus is His Son and that life is in Him intrinsically and essentially, but
that it is communicated to us — to believers (1 John 5:11). God has given to us
the life that is in the Fountain-head. We have it in ourselves, but not as
intrinsic to us. It is in us a communicated life in dependence upon the source
from which we receive it. If we have it, it is as in Him who became Man to die,
and thus to become the source of it to others: as the apostle says, "He that
hath the Son hath the life" (1 John 5:12).

If then the life is in Him, if the incarnate Son of God dead and risen is the
source of life, and if only those who believe on Him are the recipients of it,
then whoever does not have the Son does not have the life. To all this the
apostle adds, "These things have I written in order that you may know that you
have eternal life — you who believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John
5:13). Believers now are given the full knowledge of the truth, which could not
be given before the incarnation and death of the Son of God. However truly God
acted anticipatively in Old Testament times in conferring the life on believers
before the incarnation and death of the Son of God, He did not give them the
testimony that He has now given to us. The full truth of our relations to God is
now given. The revelation of it has been authoritatively communicated, not
simply that we may know we have the life, but that we may enjoy, appreciate, and
live in the power of it. The measure of our enjoyment, of course, depends on the
measure in which the power of that revelation dwells in us. Perhaps I should
say, on the measure of our receptivity. This conscious enjoyment and
appreciation of the life given us is characteristically true now of all who have
the life. There may be inward realization and true enjoyment where there is not
that full intelligence which a divine conviction of the testimony produces in
the soul — a sense of being in relationship with God. However weak his faith,
the believer knows he has eternal life.


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  CHAPTER 30: 02.10     1JN_5:14-21.
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1 John 5:14-21.

We must now look at the apostle’s concluding remarks. Viewing the family of God
as in the enjoyment of the revelation concerning the divine life in them, he
goes on to speak of the confidence that is to characterize them. To have the
sense of fellowship with God — fellowship with the Father and the Son — even in
the feeblest measure, is a great blessing. Confidence in Him, who is the source
of blessing, is an accompaniment of the realization that we possess life
eternal. To know God, inwardly to enjoy Him in any measure, gives freedom to ask
of Him according to His will. The more fully He is known, the more deeply He is
enjoyed, the greater will be our freedom to ask for what we know is according to
His will — for what we are conscious suits His nature and character. Up to the
measure of our enjoyed sense of what He is, so far shall we ask in unrestrained
liberty. We shall ask with confidence, because consciously asking according to
His will. And if conscious that we ask according to His will, we are conscious
of having His ear; we know we are heard, and that our petitions are granted (1
John 5:15). That there is much asking which is not according to God’s will I
fully grant; but our failure and inconsistency in no wise alter the fact that
"if we ask anything according to his will, He heareth us." We must remember that
the apostle is speaking here characteristically, as he so constantly does
throughout the epistle. For faith, God is now in the light, not in the darkness,
as under the law: He has revealed Himself, He is known. This is characteristic
of our dispensation. The power of the revelation in the soul is another matter;
but the apostle is not treating of that here. He is speaking of what is normally
true — true to some extent of every one belonging to the family of God now. When
he says, "This is the confidence that we have in him," the "we" is not a special
and privileged class in the family, but the family as such. Boldness in asking
according to the will of God is a characteristic of the family. It is a family
privilege which we all need to learn and avail ourselves of more freely. In this
boldness of presenting our requests to God, in drawing near to Him, we are at
liberty to pray for one another; we may embrace in our requests the objects of
our love. Loving Him who begets, we love those begotten of Him; they will
necessarily be subjects of our petitions. We shall have sympathy for those in
trial, will be interested in those who are in adverse circumstances. Their
sorrows will appeal to us as well as their joys. We shall think of, and
intercede for them in times of failure, and sin, and when under the Father’s
discipline, who corrects His child that he may be partaker of His holiness
(Hebrews 12:10). How acceptable to God are such sympathies and requests
according to His will. He delights to hear and to answer them.

What sweet and blessed privileges! What a precious thing is this drawing near to
God to make requests for one another! Do we value the privilege as we ought?

There is one limitation (1 John 5:16); and we must look at it. The apostle tells
us there is such a thing as sinning unto death. The question has been asked,
"What is the sin unto death?" Some have supposed it to be some specific or
particular sin. It is a misapprehension, however. But it is sinning under such
circumstances that holiness and righteousness require that the one guilty of it
should be cut off by death. It is a most serious thing so to outrage the
government of God that it must vindicate itself. For warning to others, for the
good of all, the outrage must be marked with God’s judgment here upon earth. The
cutting off of the offender is necessary to the maintenance of the dignity and
character of God’s government. Even repentance does not sufficiently satisfy the
claims of a holy and righteous government. In such a case, Christian sentiment,
based as it is on what is due to the glory of God, would feel that it is
antagonizing the rights of divine government to plead for any relaxation of the
penalty incurred. Hence the apostle says, "I do not say that he shall pray for
it." Liberty is not given us to pray concerning a sin having this character. We
could not expect God to hear us. How could He surrender His right to punish sin,
to the dishonor of His authority? The reader must remember that we are not now
speaking of the government of God in relation to the final and eternal issues.
We are speaking of it in connection with its present exercise, here upon earth.
There are present results flowing from God’s government of His people. All
unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17), but the government of God has penalties
short of death in cases where it is not outraged in some extreme or shocking
manner. As illustrating the matter before us we may refer to Acts 5:1-42.
Ananias and Sapphira committed what may be called a very common sin, but they
committed it under circumstances that greatly aggravated its character. It
became a sin unto death, and in present penalty they were cut off from their
place upon earth.

It is a great comfort to be assured that when we see a brother sinning, not unto
death, we have liberty to pray for him. It is also comforting to know that God
in such cases will deliver from the extreme penalty. All bodily affliction of
course tends to death; but every bodily affliction does not indicate sinning
unto death. To discern the case that is sinning unto death will require great
nearness to God. In any other case we may without hesitation pray for the
brother’s life to be spared.

It is interesting and instructive to note that it is in this connection the
apostle reiterates what he has taught before, that the practice of sin is not
characteristic of the one who is born of God (1 John 5:18). He has just been
speaking of a brother falling into sin, and also under specially aggravating
circumstances, but this is not the brother’s practice. There is a difference
between falling into the mire and wallowing in it. It is true of a child of God,
notwithstanding his falls, that he does not practise sin — sinning is not his
uniform practice. He is in the hands of the Father and of the Son (John
10:28-29). Satan may trip him up, but cannot seize him out of their hands. The
whole world lies in the grasp and power of the wicked one, but the one who has
been born of God has been delivered from his power. He is forever safe in the
divine hands that have effected his deliverance. How good to know the
limitations of Satan’s power! He may annoy, deceive and cause us to stumble and
fall, but he has no power to seize us out of the Hands that have plucked us as
brands out of the eternal burning. We are of God — in kinship with Him. It is an
abiding relationship (1 John 5:19). Is it presumption in the children of God of
this Christian dispensation to claim such confidence towards Him as we have been
speaking of? Is it arrogant assurance on our part to assert that we have access
to God? that it is our privilege to intercede with Him? and that He hears us and
grants our request? Do we exceed the bounds of proper humility when we say, "We
do not practise sin?" Is it unwarranted boasting for us to declare the absolute
impotency of the wicked one to seize us out of the hands of the Father and the
Son? Do we go beyond the truth when we say, "We are of God," "we have fellowship
with God?" Are we claiming too much when we declare that we are participating in
the life eternal? In 1 John 5:20 the apostle explains how it is we are able to
affirm so great things — things that surely are incomprehensible to the mere
human mind. He says, "We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an
understanding that we should know Him that is true: and we are in Him that is
true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."

Notice, first, "We know the Son of God has come." The incarnation of the Son of
God is a matter of common Christian knowledge. There is no child of God who
knows not that. When the apostle says, "We know the Son of God has come," he
appeals to what is apprehended and realized by every Christian. But he goes
further than this. If we know that the Son of God has come, we know also that He
"has given us an understanding that we should know Him that is true." This is
common Christian knowledge likewise. In the Old Testament ages God’s children
did not have this understanding. To them God was not fully revealed. He was not
in the light to them. He was surrounded by clouds, dwelt unrevealed behind a
veil. They knew and comprehended Him only so far as He had revealed Himself. But
now, through the incarnate Son, God is revealed. He is in the light. We
comprehend Him as the Old Testament saints could not. In the incarnate Son the
invisible God has come into visibility, and by the visible revelations of
Himself we comprehend the invisible One. He has thus given us an understanding,
to know Him that is true. And if the incarnate Son has given "us" an
understanding, it is not to a class among "us." It is the common heritage of the
saints in this dispensation; it is the possession of the family — knowledge in
which every member of the family shares. The very babes in Christ know Him that
is true. But more. We also realize that we are in Him that is true. It is not
that we measure the full blessedness of the position to which we belong, but we
know we are in the position. The fact has been revealed. The position has been
declared and we are told that we are in it. We are assured that we are partakers
of the divine nature. It is on the ground of divine testimony to the fact, that
we are able to say, "We are of God."

We know also how it is that we are "in Him that is true." The Son of God came
into our position here, assumed our humanity without its sinfulness, died, and
thus passed out of our position, and in resurrection took up a new position. In
this new position He associates with Himself those to whom He is the source of
life — those who live through Him. Such then have life in the risen, incarnate
Son of God. As connected with Adam we have died; the death of Christ being
judicially the end of that connection. But, living to Him who died and rose
again, we are new creatures — new men (2 Corinthians 5:14-17). We are connected
with the new Adam, the risen, incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. Being
connected with Him, having life in Him we are in Him that is true — the true
God. He is Himself the true God and eternal life. What a position — the position
of the risen, incarnate Son of God! He is still a man, and in Him we are new men
— children of God. This is our place before God, our relation to Him.

Outside this position and relation, everything on which the heart may be set is
an idol (1 John 5:21). Our apostle exhorts us to keep ourselves from idols —
from everything outside of our position in God’s Son. May we heed the
exhortation. We cannot honor and exalt the Adam-man without dishonoring and
degrading the incarnate Son. To worship Him — the Man Christ Jesus — to ascribe
divine honor and glory to Him, is not idolatry. It is our joy and glory.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-c-crain/
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