"Faith Cometh By Hearing"

The Scriptures present the reverse of this theory. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43). First believe, then receive. John writes, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life" (5:24). First hear, then believe, then receive. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). As a result of hearing, the dead are given life.

James, Peter, and John all clearly testify to the fact that life is entered into by believing, by faith. James: "Of his own will begot he us with the word of truth (1:18). Peter, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God" (1 Pet. 1:23). John: "But these are written, that ye might have life through his name" (20:31).

God commanded Israel to choose life. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" (Deut. 30:19). Concerning this plea to choose life, Dr. L.S. Chafer wrote:

God having designed that man as creature ... Continue reading →]]> IMAG-INATION The Doctrine of Biblical Self-Love. Miles J. Stanford

 

 

Introduction

 

Believers today are being challenged and exhorted to develop a better self-image, and to exercise more self-love. It is our intent to present both the unscriptural, and the scriptural aspects of this important facet of the Christian life.

 

If I have anything prominently before me except the Lord Jesus, that thing, however good it is, becomes a screen for something of myself, and where there is any self- consideration, the region of spirituality is lost. It may be an amiable thing, but because it is of man and not of God, it is not spirituality. –J. B. Stoney

 

Fall Of The Fall

There is a growing number of Christians for whom the fall has fallen. To the degree that the believer weakens his concept of the fall, he weakens his Christian life and service. Error concerning the fall results in error concerning the two Adams; and error concerning the two Adams results in error concerning one’s spiritual growth and outreach.

 

Totality Of The Fall

Scripture leaves no doubt as to the totality of the fall. It was utter, and irrevocable. God made it very clear to Adam that if and when he should sin, he would surely die. And the day that Adam disobeyed God’s single stipulation, he died spiritually–he died unto God. And all the race of mankind died unto God in Adam that day.

 

“For as in Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:22). As a result, “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” “Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation” (Heb. 9:27; Rom. 5:18). “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:10, 23).

 

Without question Adam was originally created in the image of God. “And God said, Let us create man in our image, after our likeness….”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him” (Gen. 1:26, 27).

 

But when Adam died to God, his God-like image perished with him. “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Gen. 6:3). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). “Among whom also we all had our manner of life in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:3). “For to be carnally (fleshly) minded is death….Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be. So, then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:6–8).

 

The extent of the apprehension of the depth and utter ruin of the first Adam nature caused by the fall, determines the extent to which the new life in Christ can be brought to full growth in the believer; for just so far as man clings to one supposed “good thing” in him, so for the power of the Cross is nullified in his life, and so far the growth of the new life is constricted in him.

Freedom from the dominion of sin is the message of the Cross, but it can only be realized in experience up to the extent of the believer’s recognition of the fall, and a consequent offcasting of the fallen life of the first Adam at the place called Calvary.

 

Anomaly

Those who slight the fall refer consistently to the image of fallen Adam as “marred,” or “blurred,” or “in need of restoration.” They dare not consider Adam’s image a total ruin because they are seeking its restoration, its reformation. For them it is back to the unfallen Adam, via Christ!

 

There is a strange anomaly at the core of the Reformation realm. On the one hand they go to the extreme of teaching that the fall was not beyond recovery of the original; while on the other hand they go so far as to insist that man is so dead in sin that it is impossible for him to believe–”total depravity.”

 

These Calvinists insist that the Spirit must first regenerate the dead-unto-God individual, thereby giving him life in order that he may believe unto life. This the Covenant theologians refer to as “monergistic regeneration: the faith which receives Christ for justification is itself the free gift of a sovereign God, bestowed by spiritual regeneration in the act of effectual calling.” –J.I. Packer

 

“Faith Cometh By Hearing”

The Scriptures present the reverse of this theory. “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). First believe, then receive. John writes, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life” (5:24). First hear, then believe, then receive. “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25). As a result of hearing, the dead are given life.

 

James, Peter, and John all clearly testify to the fact that life is entered into by believing, by faith. James: “Of his own will begot he us with the word of truth (1:18). Peter, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23). John: “But these are written, that ye might have life through his name” (20:31).

 

God commanded Israel to choose life. “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deut. 30:19). Concerning this plea to choose life, Dr. L.S. Chafer wrote:

 

God having designed that man as creature shall be possessed of an independent will [volition], no step can be taken in the accomplishment of His sovereign purpose which will even tend to coerce the human volition.

God does awaken the mind of man to spiritual sanity and brings before him the desirability of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. If by His power, God creates conviction of the reality of sin and of the blessedness of the Lord Jesus as Saviour and under this enlightenment men choose to be saved, their wills are not coerced nor are they deprived of action of any part of their own beings.

(Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, p. 284.)

 

[Webcurator's Note: A more in depth discussion of the above is found in the MJS Position Paper entitled Sovereignty and Responsibility.]

 

Sin—issue; Sins—Symptoms

In his book True Spirituality, Dr. Francis Schaeffer wrote:

 

When I accepted Christ as my Savior, when my guilt was gone, I returned to the place I was originally made. When I accept Christ as my Savior, the guilt that has separated me from God, and from the fulfillment of my purpose, is removed. I then stand in the place in which man was made to stand at his creation (pp. 75, 76).

 

Consider the fact that he is referring to guilt, not the guilty; he is dealing with the subject of sins, not sin; the symptoms, not the source. Dr. Schaeffer believes that once the guilt of his sins is removed he is then free to be restored to what he considers to be his original standing– that of unfallen, innocent Adam.

 

There are thousands who profess to believe in the atoning virtue of the death of the Lord Jesus, but who do not see therein beyond the forgiveness of sins. They do not yet see the crucifixion, death, and burial of the sinner– the entire displacement of the old system of things belonging to their first-Adam condition– in a word, their perfect identification with their dead and risen Lord. –C.A.C.

 

Wrong Adam

Ranald Macaulay is secretary of Dr. Schaeffer’s L’Abri Fellowship. Jerram Barrs is also on the L’Abri office staff. In their IVF Press book, Being Human: The Nature of Spiritual Experience, they write: “The reflection of God’s character has been marred by sin” (p. 60). “The Bible’s view of spiritual experience is an affirmation of life, that is, as a recovery of the human experience lost at the fall” (p. 117).

 

It is plain to see just which Adam these Reformation people focus upon. Or is it? They say the right thing to begin with, but actually mean the wrong thing, i.e., the wrong man:

 

Christ, not Adam, is our model. The focus is to be on Christ. But we must be clear in what sense Christ is our model. Here is the connection with Adam: the model of the Christian life is the recovery of ordinary human experience–”ordinary” not in the sense of sinfulness, but as opposed to suprehuman; “ordinary” in terms of God’s

original creation and Jesus’ perfect example. (Emphasis mine. )

The natural, the human, the categories of experience which come down to us from Adam, are all good and are to be received with thanksgiving. Although our natural experiences since the fall are also the vehicles of sin, the Bible identifies sin as the evil, not the experiences themselves. Just as impurities in water must be filtered out leaving the water itself good, so sin is to be removed leaving the human faculties themselves good (p. 26).

 

How aghast these Calvinists would be if they but realized that this is Wesleyan “holiness” teaching–the amelioration of the first Adam! (See Tri-S-IV). They go on to say:

 

The natural (Adamic) need not be crushed, nor superseded. It needs to be restored so that it resembles its new Creator, Christ; who in turn resembles Adam before the fall (p. 27).

 

How does that statement set with you, and with your Bible? These men are not alone in their error. J.B. Stoney states just how general it is:

 

In the Reformation there was, through grace, a great deliverance. The groundwork of Christianity was recovered; namely, justification by faith. But though this was recovered, it was not maintained that the old man Adam was crucified on the Cross. Retention of the old man is the weakness of the Reformation.

(Ministry, Vol. IX, p. 117.)

 

Wrong way – wrong man! They are expecting “the last Adam…a life-giving spirit” to take them back to “the first man, Adam…made a living soul” (1 Cor. 15:45). They look for “the second man…the Lord from heaven” to restore them to “the first man…of the earth, earthy” (1 Cor. 15:47). In essence, their expectation is in the shadow, rather than in the reality; in “Adam…who is the figure (type) of him that is to come” (Rom. 5:14). C. Crain gives us the Biblical rectification:

 

We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (I John 3:2). We are to be conformed to the Lord Jesus as He is, not as He was. 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, but in the risen, glorified condition in which our Lord now is. (The Serious Christian, Vol. VIII, p. 94. )

 

The co-authors of Being Human, Macaulay and Barrs, disciples of the Schaeffers, dedicated their book on Christian humanness, “To Francis and Edith Schaeffer who have shown us so much about serving God and being human, both in their lives and by their teaching.”

 

Mis-Placed Identity

Some years ago Edith Schaeffer wrote a book entitled Christianity Is Jewish, published by Tyndale House. The problem is compounded by her new work, just produced by Crossway Books. The title is telling: Lifelines–The Ten Commandments for Today. The ad information is as follows:

 

Who am I? What will fulfill me? Many have searched the world for answers. Yet the answer is right at hand.

The loving God who made us in His image has given us His perfect pattern for living–the Ten Commandments. In a time when the Commandments are often ridiculed or ignored, Edith Schaeffer shows that they are vitally relevant today, the only sufficient basis for a rich and fulfilling Christian life.

 

Upon encountering this ad a fairly new believer asked, “Is this woman Jewish?” One might also ask, “Is this man Jewish?” Dr. Schaeffer concurs completely with his wife:

 

Our desire must be for a deeper life. And when I think of this, the Bible presents to me the whole of the Ten Commandments and the whole of the Law of Love.

(True Spirituality, p. 17)

 

It should not require mention, but the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. L. S. Chafer, wrote concerning the Law:

 

The Ten Commandments require no life of prayer, no Christian service, no evangelism, no missionary outreach, no Gospel preaching, no life and walk in the Spirit, no union with the risen Lord Jesus Christ, no fellowship of saints, no hope of salvation. and no hope of heaven.

(Systematic Theology, Vol. IV, p. 211)

 

Long ago J. B. Stoney put his finger on the main Reformation weakness:

 

There is a grievous leaven in Christendom. The Lord Jesus’ death is presented to the soul after the manner of the sacrifices under the law, where the pious Jew found relief from his immediate sins, but he still retained the flesh with its enmity against God–he knew no freedom from its dominion upon which to reckon.

 

Weaken the fall and you weaken all! Dr. Schaeffer also touches tellingly on the above question, “Who am I?” It is sadly evident that he really does not know. It is true that he thinks he does–but we all have to be careful concerning much that we are “sure” of. On page 48 of his Genesis in Space and Time, he writes:

 

For twentieth century man, this phrase, the image of God, is as important as anything in Scripture, because men today can no longer answer that crucial question, “Who am I?” In contrast, I stand in the flow of history. I know my origin. As I look at myself in the flow of space-time reality, I see my origin in Adam and in God’s creating man in His own image.

 

Lack Of Differentiation

One refrains from being too hard on this outstanding brother, especially since his Reformation theology made him say it. Those who cannot recognize the full fall, cannot repudiate Adam. They will even see the Last Adam as but a means of their getting back to the first Adam. Again Stoney probes this error to the quick:

 

I do not see the Cross truly if I only see it as opening a way of escape for me, and yet allowing that in me to escape which has incurred the judgment.

(Ministry, Vol. IX, p. 99)

 

The believer’s origin stems from Calvary, not from Eden. Actually, in the Father’s mind, his origin is in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). There is a severe drawback involved for those Christians who erroneously see their origin in Adam. Oriented to an earthly Adam, they become law-governed, kingdom centered, legal, and earthbound. Unable to “rightly divide the word of truth,” they tend to be anti-dispensational, and amillennial.

 

What we have touched on thus far is but to prepare you for the worst. Before going on, however, we will share a further thought from Dr. Schaeffer’s book on growth–True Spirituality–in order to leave no question as to his true Adam centeredness.

 

The only difference between our relationship with God now (as Christians), and that which man’s would have been if he had not sinned, is that now it is under the covenant of grace, and not under the covenant of works. That is the only difference

(p. 89).

 

What Dr. Schaeffer is saying is that there is but one difference between being in the unfallen first Adam, and being in the risen, glorified Last Adam. In the first, he says, one would be under law; in the Last, one is under grace. Otherwise, no difference.

 

No difference? No difference between being in a created, earthly, innocent, figure-of-the-true, susceptible- to-death, man; and being in the man Christ Jesus, the Lord from heaven, Creator, the life-giving spirit, God the Son, the resurrection and the life? No difference? “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (I Cor. 15:49).

 

Viva la différence infinite!

 

New Kingdom Covenant

The weakness and inadequacy of all this is summed up by J.N. Darby:

 

Covenant theology, at the utmost, is forgiveness of sins and divine favor enjoyed; and all that concerns their new position in the Lord Jesus is ignored, or alas! guarded against as dangerous.

Men are placed under the New Covenant which does not go beyond remission of sins and the law written in the heart. But being in the Lord Jesus Christ, and knowing it by the Holy Spirit, and what it involves now, has all but dropped out of their creed.

(The Bible Treasury, Vol. XIV, p. 263)

 

The Covenant theologians are not the only ones who seek to bring members of the Body of Christ under the restrictions of the New Covenant–it is but the general teaching of the day. Two more of the early Plymouth Brethren leaders can help us here. First, William Kelly:

 

Scripture carefully avoids the error of assuming that the New Covenant in Hebrews Ten expresses the standing of the believer. The Blood of it is shed; the spiritual blessedness of it is ours who believe, that is true. But its strict and full import awaits the House of Israel and the House of Judah at a future day, as we see in Hebrews Eight. Then all its terms will be verified.

(The Bible Treasury, Vol. XIX, p. 344.

 

On the same subject, H. H. Snell wrote:

 

We are come “to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant” (Heb. 12:24). We are not come to the New Covenant, but to Jesus the Mediator of it. We are associated with Him Who is the Mediator; that is a much higher thing than if merely come to the Covenant. He will make this New Covenant with Israel on earth.

(The Bible Treasury, Vol. XIX, p. 367)

What an indignity religion puts to every person of the Godhead alike, on the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ, when it drags souls back to the dread distance of Judaism.

(The Bible Treasury, Vol. XIX, p. 344)

 

God In The Image Of Man

Another Reformed theologian, Dr. Stephen Board, as executive editor of Eternity magazine, ended his April 1982 editorial as follows:

 

Since we are made in God’s image, the original is with him, not us. And since the great Original has told us with his mouth how we are like him, we can know what he is like.

 

Once again, wrong man. Adam was the only man made in God’s image. When he fell, that image was obliterated in sin and death. As the fallen head of the human race, Adam consequently brought forth sons and daughters [mankind] “in his own likeness, after his (fallen) image” (Gen. 5:3).

 

Even as believers we cannot tell what God is like by looking at ourselves, or any other Christian. We are being conformed to the Lord Jesus’ image. “Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

 

If anyone would know what the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is like, he must look away from Adamic man, away from Christian man, away from the Law, beyond the heavens that declare the glory of God, and by means of the Word of God simply look “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).

 

“God…hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son…who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…” (Heb. 1:1–3). “He that hath seen me (Jesus) hath seen the Father.” “Neither knoweth any man the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (John 14:9; Matt. 11:27). William Kelly knew where to look:

 

Certainly the child of God has eternal life. But where shall I look at it? I see a beautiful trait of the divine life in this saint; I see something sweet, and at the same time humbling to my soul, in another–perhaps where least expected.

But in all this is weakness and even positive failure. Who would not confess it? Who does not feel it? This, then, is but an unworthy expression of what divine life is, because it is shaded too often and modified by the effect of the world, by the allowance of nature, by a thousand thoughts, feelings, ways, habits which do not savor of the Lord Jesus Christ.

All these things break in upon and mar the perfect outshining of that new life that is communicated to all the children of God. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7). There is but one adequate and worthy object of the Holy Spirit, and that is the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ! How could it be otherwise?

(First John, p. 297.)

 

Imag-ination

This self-image question is extremely crucial, and it affects every Christian today. We are being exhorted and taught by the professionals, Christian and otherwise, that we are to love ourselves more. We are advised to improve our self-concept, to become self-fulfilled and self actualized, because a poor self-image is the source of all our problems. Further, it is insisted that we must love ourselves before we can really love God and others.

 

In the current effort to get the Christian to build up his self-image, we have religious leaders talking and writing like this: “There must be something truly wonderful about us if God can love and accept us so readily. ” –Cecil Osborne (The Art of Learning to Love Yourself)

 

Readily? In the face of Calvary?

 

Sorry, but there is nothing wonderful about us that God can love and accept. Rather the contrary. We were born dead in trespasses and sins, at enmity against God, and the Lord Jesus saved us as such. “But God commendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). The Father did not save us on the basis of our personal worth–there was “no good thing.” We were “condemned already” in the fallen and rejected Adam.

 

The Lord Jesus saved us for the glory of His Father. “I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). The Father called us as a gift to His beloved Son. “Thine they were, and thou gavest them to me” (John 17:6).

 

Before time began the Father called us by making us the subjects of his gracious thought and counsel, and His purpose and object in thus taking possession of us was that He might give us to His Son. We shall be forever the expression to the Son of the Father’s love to him.

–C. A. C. (Spiritual Blessings, p. 92. )

 

“You’re Someone Special”

The further we progress into this problem, the more painful it becomes. Dr. Bruce Narramore, nephew of Dr. Clyde Narramore, is Professor of Psychology at the Rosemead Graduate School of Professional Psychology. Bruce has written a book entitled, You’re Someone Special. At the outset we had better see where Dr. Bruce is coming from.

 

The infant in the crib is a product of God’s handiwork. Although marred by sin, the design passed down through his genetic structure is straight from the hand of God. Made in God’s image, according to His design, the infant has wonderful, complex potential for physical, intellectual, spiritual, and social development

(p. 129).

God built into Adam and Eve an inherent goodness. We know that God was pleased with His creation because the Book of Genesis states that He “saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good”

(Gen. 1:31).

But what about sin? Weren’t we ruined and didn’t we become worthless when Adam and Eve plunged our race into rebellion? Definitely not! Sin greatly corrupts our lives and mars the image of God, but it does not wipe it out. We are still divine creations, with intellectual abilities, a knowledge of right and wrong, the capability to make choices, and the powers of communication and creativity. While these likenesses have been damaged, they continue to exist and will be totally restored in eternity. No matter what our state in life, God sees us in His image (p. 23).

 

Hear him reflect the thoughts of others in this reversed-image realm:

 

When I discuss self-love, I am talking about how we can learn to accept God’s total evaluation of us. This is exceedingly important, since our attitude toward ourselves influences the quality of our relationships with God and others. In fact, our attitude toward ourselves is a major factor in determining the type of attitude we have toward God

(p. 177).

 

Still the wrong man! When we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ for what He did for us, and for what He did with us, and for what He is to the Father, we will thereby have the right attitude toward our Father, and we will grow in Christlikeness toward others. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, through which he hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).

 

Backtrack

As to his direction in life, Dr. Narramore is on the same backtrack as those in the Reformation realm.

 

When we begin our life in eternity, we will be totally restored to our original condition. In the meantime, we are moving in that direction. We must base our principles of self-esteem on this most basic aspect of our nature. Only in the fact that we are God’s creations do we have a solid base for self-acceptance and self-love.

 

Back to Eden, instead of on to Glory! To bolster his basis for restoration, Dr. Bruce quotes Philippians 1:6–”Being confident of this, that he who hath begun a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.” But as believers our Father did not begin His good work in us in Adam in Eden. He began it in the Last Adam, at Calvary. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).

 

This wrong-image influence has a devastating effect upon the conviction of sin, the all-important basis for true evangelism. Dr. Narramore is typical:

 

Focusing on man’s sinfulness in order to demonstrate his need for redemption, the church has overlooked the fact that God has created man in His image. Many churches, for example. emphasize man’s sinfulness to such an extent that they overlook our great value and significance to God. In sermon after sermon we are told that we are sinful, wrong, bad. These messages tend to undermine our self-acceptance, especially if we are already prone to feelings of self-rejection

(p. 117).

 

William Kelly would remind us of the lost chord of true evangelism–repentance.

 

Consider the case of God’s dealing with my soul when He is converting me. Is faith the only thing produced by the Holy Spirit? What is the first effect of His breaking in upon the lost sinner? It is making nothing of him. Is not this love? Yes; but it is God’s love that deals with me in the truth of what He is, and of what the sinner’s awful condition is. So the effect produced on the heart of him that is renewed is not merely faith in the Saviour, but repentance toward God. “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:27),

(The Bible Treasury , Vol. V, p. 10)

 

Anti-Keswick

From the evangelistic field Dr. Narramore moves on to the so-called deeper life area. Now this unfallen fall theory really begins to reveal itself for just what it is.

 

Followers of the Keswick Movement believe that we really don’t possess any dignity or worth and that we should not like ourselves. “Since we are sinful and worthless,” they argue, “we should give up all our efforts to develop and think positively about ourselves. In fact, we should find a way of bringing our life to an end so that Christ’s life can live through us”

(p. 703).

 

This is simply too much for those who would seek to renew the Adamic image.

 

This view is degrading to God because it pronounces His creation to be a total waste and implies that nothing can be done to renew our fallen lives. They are so worthless that they can only be replaced

(p. 703).

 

Those who thus hold themselves dear, must look upon the Cross with fear.

 

Those who hold this Keswick view take a few Scripture verses out of context, mix them with the truth of man’s sinfulness, and come to the conclusion that it is somehow possible to bring an end to life and substitute Christ’s life in its place. By acknowledging that they are absolutely worthless, they can become the recipient of something great–”Christ’s life.”

I appreciate their sincere goal. They want to overcome their sinfulness. But replacing their lives with God is not the way to do it. God does not hate us and He does not yearn to put us to the cross of Christ. Christ has already gone to the cross for our sins (p. 105).

 

Alas! A Lack

Did you hear him? “Christ has already gone to the cross for our sins.” True, but what about the Adamic sinner? God forgave the believing sinner’s sins, but He did not forgive sin–He did not forgive the sinner. Both sin and the sinner were condemned on the Cross. As for sin: “God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemnedsin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). As for the believing sinner: “I have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20).

 

Even in Romans Six, these Adam-bound teachers see only the forgiveness of sins. They are unable to face up to the fact that God dealt with sin in toto: Adamic nature, image, life and all, in the crucifixion of the death-dealing Cross. The death of the first-Adam life on the Cross released the resurrection and new-creation life of the Last Adam, and He came forth from the tomb as the Head and the ascended life of every newly-born, newly-created believer.

 

The Lord Jesus did not merely die to put away my sins, but to give me the infinite privilege of being placed before the Father in all His acceptance and loveliness.

(For this the first Adam would never do, however pristine.)

I could not be in heaven if it were not so–if it were only that sins were put away. God cannot have anything in heaven merely negative. Mere absence of evil is not enough.

(Hence the inadequacy of pre-fall innocence.)

If we are to be in heaven at all, God must have us there, lovely in all the loveliness of His beloved Son; and that, as far as the new man is concerned, He communicates to us here and now. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). –J. N. Darby

(The “old man” is Adamic, put off forever at Calvary!)

 

Finally, Dr. Narramore summarizes his case for self-love, concerning which we make no further comment.

 

Self-love is not a narcissistic or self-centered goal. It is a central part of seeing ourselves as God sees us. We should learn to value ourselves, both because God values us and because we will then be able to love God and others more.

We must make a commitment to seeing ourselves as God sees us. We must acknowledge to ourselves, “God, You have made me in your image and made me to live eternally with You. Like Adam and Eve and all the other members of the human race, I have sinned and marred that image. But Christ has paid the penalty for my sins. I know that You want me to recognize the facts. I know that You want me to lovingly respect myself and every other member of the human race” (p. 127).

 

Symptomatic Level

It is quite evident that these men have not yet learned to say, “I always knew there was plenty of bad in me, but it took a long time for me to know and acknowledge that there is no good! “

 

The level upon which these leaders are thinking should be obvious to all. They are dealing with mere symptoms. To them, all that is required is the removal of guilt, and the payment for sins. And, to get back to Adam’s innocence, that is all it would take.

 

The problem is that once innocence is lost it can never be regained. Plus the wonderful fact that God is not returning us to pre-fall conditions, but rather He has re-created and positioned us in His righteous and holy Last Adam. J. B. Stoney gives us another good evaluation:

 

If I have lost anything by sin which was a glory to man, that is not restored to me in grace. Grace gives me something altogether new and infinitely better, not to suit the man that was, but to suit me as recreated by God.

The grace of God does not reinstate me in the paradise lost by sin, but sets me in a much greater one. I am forgiven, like the prodigal, for all I have done, but nothing that I squandered is restored to me. I get something entirely new; and I am made, as he was in figure, quite new, and fitted for the immense exaltation to which I am raised by grace.

The prodigal was not restored to the land, as a Jew would have expected, but he was received into the father’s house with a favor and distinction never accorded to any one before; and this was all simply of grace.

(Ministry, Vol. XI, p. 383.)

 

Falling Short

We have seen how Dr. Schaeffer levels off at the symptom of “guilt.” “When I accepted Christ as my Savior, when my guilt was gone…” (True Spirituality, p. 75.) Dr. Narramore goes no further than the symptom of “sins,” and their “penalty.” “Christ has already gone to the cross for my sins. ” “I have sinned and marred the image. But Christ has paid the penalty for my sins.” (You’re Someone Special, p. 212.)

 

Macaulay and Barrs insist that “the whole purpose of the Christian life is the recovery of the original image of God.” Then they present to us the road to that “recovery.”

 

Only as we strive to put to death the desires of our sinful natures do we become truly conscious of how great our gratitude for Christ’s work should be and how dependent we are on the power of the Holy Spirit. In our weakness, wearied by the battle against sin, we learn to cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ” (Rom. 7:24, 25).

Some read Paul here as if he were suggesting passivity. For from saying “Give up trying,” Paul is making the point that our very striving against sin causes us to be aware of the riches of Christ’s work for us and our need for the Spirit’s help. Only as we actively obey God’s commands to put away sin and do right do we learn to appreciate truly the love of Christ and grow in our dependence on His Spirit. (On Being Human, pp. 16,96)

 

In the face of this attempt to correlate the two Adams, F.W. Grant simply and scripturally shows the absolute differentiation between them:

 

The Lord Jesus’ work is different in its character and results, Godward, from anything that could be of Adam. It was such as the “Only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father” alone could accomplish.

Peerless in His person and work, the place which He has taken as the result of it with the Father is one suited not to the first man, “of the earth, earthy,” but to “the second man…the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47).

Taking His seat at the right hand of the Father, He is become Head of the “new creation, ” not Restorer of the “old.” He is not the first Adam set up again, but the Last Adam, and He is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14).

All things are restored by Him and in Him, but not in the primitive condition before the fall. They are all “made new.” The old condition of things is done away. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). (Leaves From the Book, p. 274. )

 

Step Down!

Although we may not go to the depths of this sad self-image theme, we must yet delve deeper before we rise to the level of Scripture. In the February 1979 issue of Eternity magazine, Raymond Foster wrote:

 

Because I love me, I seek to expose myself to pleasant things. Because I love me, I avoid feelings that are disagreeable. I hate burnt toast and sour milk.

Because I love me, I often wonder why other people hurt me so easily. I wonder how they can pass me by without showing compassion–without helping me. I wonder how they can ignore me when I am reaching out to them.

Yes, I love me very much! I’ll admit it. It is true! Should I deny it? And what is so bad about that? I show my love for me every moment, in every action. And while I am counting the ways in which I love me, I am overwhelmed by Jesus’ command, “Love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself.”

 

Granted that under the Old Testament commandment God’s standard for Adamic man, man in the flesh, was to love others as he loved himself. And the ultimate purpose of God’s holy and just Law was to reveal to Adamic man what he could not accomplish.

 

David loved God’s Law (Ps. 119:97). David loved himself–and he remained home from the battlefield. David loved his neighbor…and raped her. David loved himself, and had her faithful husband murdered so that he could have her for himself. In all this David loved himself, and as a result God said to him through Nathan, “Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house…” (2 Sam. 12:10). So much for self-love via the Law.

 

Dr. L.S. Chafer certainly knew the difference between the two Adams:

 

The New Commandment for believers in the Last Adam is love for others “as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” “By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

Under the Mosaic (first Adam) system, love for others was to be the degree in which one loved himself; under grace it is to be the degree in which the Lord Jesus has loved the believer and given his life for him. (Systematic Theology, Vol. IV, p. 187. )

 

That’s All!

One more step down–the final step to which all of the foregoing inevitably leads. In the February 1979 issue of Eternity magazine Dr. Robert Schuller said:

 

If I violate the self-respect, the self-dignity, the personhood, the self-worth of any person, no matter what my goal might be, if I have to insult them to try to convert them, that is a sinful strategy of evangelism.

 

In his October 1981 issue of Cathedral Chronicle, he wrote:

 

I want to rewrite the classical historical theology and synchronize psychological truths in such a way that the gospel is proclaimed positively and in purity–purged of the destructive negativity which often accompanies its interpretation which would demean a human being. The gospel of Jesus Christ is unhealthy and unfaithful to its Lord, if when it is communicated, it has to put a person down in an effort to try to lift him up.

 

Thus we have the outcome spawned from the false image:

 

Dear Dr. Schuller: My husband and I listen to your program and messages on positive thinking. We always feel joyous afterward. Before this we were both non-believers, but now we have faith in ourselves and others.

 

The Ultimate

We share here a picture of the overall effects of wrong-Adamism, drawn by J.B. Stoney a century ago:

 

There has been on atonement in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of the man who has failed; and as the sacrifice has been provided by God, it testified of the entire inability of man to do anything for himself or God; and as it is in God’s hand only, He does not restore that which had ever proved itself unworthy and incompetent; but He introduces, in the Last Adam risen from the dead, an entirely new man.

If man, since the Cross, is still under trial, one consequence or another must ensue. The trial must either succeed–and if man answered to the trial, then he is sinless–or if unsuccessful, then there must be another sacrifice; for if man is under trial again and fails, there must be another atonement, or he is lost.

Now to escape this dilemma, there are the present two systems of theology. One, the Romish [Roman Catholic], maintains that the sacrifice or mass is a continual one; and hence there is no room for seeing that there is an end of the Adamic man judicially in the Cross, or that the new man has come in and is before God in His Last Adam, risen from the dead. The first Adam is looked at as still the one under trial.

The other – Calvinistic Protestantism, set on foot by the Reformers–admits that the sacrifice is one and sufficient, but with no consistency; for practically they neither own that the trial of the first Adam is over on the Cross, nor the Last Adam’s rejection from the earth.

Hence the law is their rule of life, and the believer seeks a position on earth as if the Last Adam were reigning here. They call the sacrifice of Christ a full and sufficient atonement, but they do not see it as brought in by God in His love, when the first Adam was proved utterly worthless and rejected in crucifixion; or that the believer is risen with the Last Adam, in whom and from whom he received new-creation life.

Nothing is more evident than that, the atonement being provided by God for that which has been proved thoroughly worthless and unfit for Himself. He does not restore it; He judged it in death on the Cross of His Son, and, in Him risen, receives every returning prodigal in a new and risen life. The Last Adam is a life-giving spirit, and therefore everything for the saint is now determined by the position of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory as the Second Man.

(Ministry, Vol. IX, pp. 169,170)

The Growing Believer

In the second half of this paper we will seek to establish the scriptural basis of the true Christian self image and self-love. And in so doing we refer only to the growing believer, i.e., the one who is yearning to be free from the dominion of the sinful Adamic life, while hungering to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Forever Earthly

You remember the earthy adage, “No matter how you slice it, it is still baloney.” Similarly, no matter what is done with the Adamic race, it will be forever earthly. That part of it which remains lost will be forever in hell; that portion of it which is redeemed will be forever on earth – first the renewed millennial earth, then the new eternal earth.

If you begin with Adam, you end with Adam. “The first man is of the earth, earthy…. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy” (1 Cor. 15:47, 48). All of those who believed on the coming One and died before the Day of Pentecost, were saved–saved for the earthly kingdom, both millennial and eternal. All are either saved Israelites, or saved Gentiles–none are Christians, none are members of the Body of Christ: none are heavenly, no, not one!

Hence it is a serious matter for a believer to be locked into Adamic, earthly, law-oriented, kingdom-environed theology and thinking. One should have a heart for the welfare of these back-tracking Christians, and their name is legion–they are second in number only to the pitiable charismatics.

Forever Heavenly

In deep, eternal counsels,
Before the world was made,
Before its deep foundations
On nothingness was laid;

God purchased us for blessing
And chose us in His Son,
To Him to be conformed,
When here our course was run.

In order to become heavenly, one must begin heavenly; in order to get to heaven, one must originate in heaven. That can never be said of the Adamic race, which began, and ever remains, earthly.

The believer is to have nothing to do with the first-Adam life; it has been rejected in crucifixion. “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin” (Rom. 6:11). On the contrary, the believer is to have everything to do with the Last-Adam life; it has been accepted in glory. Reckon yourselves to be “alive unto God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11, ARV).

Pre-creation Pact

The first recorded thing God did, back in eternity before creating anything, was to make a promise to the Son. God conceived and formulated, in His heart and mind, every single believer, and promised each one to His beloved Son. “in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).

Our portion in life existed before the foundation of the world, not only in the counsels of God, not only in the Person of the Son, but in the promise made to the Son as our portion in Him.

It was the subject of those communications from the Father to the Son, of which we were the objects; the Son being their depository. Marvelous knowledge which has been given us of the heavenly pronouncement of which the Son was the object in order that we might understand the interest which we have in the thought and intent of God, of which we were the objects in Christ before all ages. –J. N. Darby

There, in eternity past, prior to all creation, each Christian began–not actually, but intentionally and potentially, in God’s heart and purpose, and in His Son, the Last Adam. Not in the first man, Adam, but in the Second Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 1:4).

Chosen In Heavenly Adam; Created In Earthly Adam

The earthly, created Adam was but a step in the process of God’s eternal purpose for us in His heavenly Adam. We were identified with the unfallen first Adam, the federal head of the human race. That first man sinned, and we sinned and died unto God in him.

Doomed in Adam! “For as in Adam all die.” “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (1 Cor. 15:22; Heb. 9:27). “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.” “Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation” (Rom. 5:12, 18).

But God had chosen us in His Last Adam, eons before the first Adam was created. And to carry out His eternal choice, His promise to His Son, God set up the Cross of Calvary – the instrument of death to realize the intention of life.

In God’s foreordained time the Last Adam came to that Cross, to retrieve each called one from the first-Adam death, to the last-Adam life. The Father identified each one of us with His Son on the Cross, thereby making Him to become (our) sin. “For he hath made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Hence the Lord Jesus died for our sins–and in that respect of His death sins were identified with Him, but not the sinner. At the same time, in His death unto sin, each one of us died unto sin with Him. “I have been crucified with Christ.” “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him” (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6).

By His substitutionary payment for our sins, we were freed from our Adamic guilt and penalty. In our identification with Him in His death unto sin, we were freed from the fallen Adam life and nature. Therefore, in the resurrection from Calvary death, the Father was free to re-create us in His Last Adam. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).

J.B. Stoney brings out the fact that while sins demand payment, sin requires a totally new creation.

Every believer knows that he is forgiven, that his offences are cleared away; but the lack is this, that while he knows that he was guilty, and that he is now clear of guilt, he does not really know what it is to be re-created.

We are not only guilty but lost, and we are not merely forgiven, but we are given a new place with God. As having been at the greatest distance, the lost one is made meet for the Father’s house.

In Luke Seven the woman who was a sinner, comes to Jesus; an affection is established between her and the Saviour; her sins are forgiven, but with no sense of a new place with God and fitness for it. That is where thousands are now; they know they are forgiven, but they have not the joy and assurance of having been brought to God.

In Luke Ten the sinner is cured, carried, and cared for all the journey, until “I come again.” Very blessed, you may say; so it is, but there is no new place with God there; it is all man’s benefit in the place where he is. We must bear in mind that man was driven out of Eden, and in order that he should obtain a new place with God he must be a man after a new order, a new race.

As Paul says, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him” (1 Thess. 5:10). When? Now! “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).

Old Creation

It is not only essential for the believer to know that there is an old creation and a new creation, but that he understand his relationship to each. The first creation was made by the Lord Jesus, with the first Adam as its head and source. The first creation began with the heavens and the earth, and culminated in an earthly man.

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers–all things were created by him.” “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (Col. 1:16; John 1:3).

When Satan sinned the entire created universe went into ruin with him. When Adam sinned the entire race died in him, as did all the earth. “As in Adam all die.” Cursed is the ground for thy (Adam’s) sake.” “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (1 Cor. 15:22; Gen. 3:17; Rom. 8:22).

All of this condemnation and judgment was positionally accomplished at the Cross in the death of the Lord Jesus. “God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” “The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment” (Rom. 8:3; 2 Peter 3:7). “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are in it, shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

Judicially, Calvary ended Adam and all of his creation. In God’s own time, the judgment of it will be carried out, The Last Adam did away with all of the creation that He produced in and for the first Adam.

New Creation

After the total termination of the first creation on the Cross, the Last Adam was free to rise as the Head and life of the spiritual, eternal, all-new creation. And as such He stepped forth on resurrection ground bearing in His heart every single believer whom by death He has separated from the first Adam. Whereas the first creation began with the heavens and the earth, followed by the creation of the earthly man, the “new creation” began with the heavenly Man, to be followed by the new heavens and the new earth.

“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14). The first creation was produced by the Lord Jesus as the groundwork for the new creation of God.

Each believer’s relationship to the fallen Adam race was terminated at the Cross. “Our old (Adamic) man was crucified with him.” “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Rom. 6:6; 6:5).

Risen, the Lord Jesus “is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18). No restoration, no reformation of the old, but a totally new beginning from death unto eternal life. “Therefore, we were buried with him by baptism into death, that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

Home Free!

Now the Father has every believer whom He chose in eternity past, every single one whom He then promised to His Son, safely and eternally in His risen Son. “And this is the Father’s will who hath sent me, that of all that He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39).

And in His prayer to His Father in the Garden He said, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:2, 6, 24).

The Lord Jesus prayed this prayer on the eve of His death on the Cross. It was all settled, and had been settled since eternity past. It was there we were “chosen …in him,” the Father “having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph. 1:4, 5).

The Lord Jesus had to die in order to bring us to Himself, in order to fulfill the eternal calling of the Father who “hath chosen us in Him.” “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” “Of his own will begot he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures” (John 12:24; James 1:18).

“All Things Are Become New”

In dying and rising again He begot us, recreated us, as His “first-fruits.” No recycling, no reclamation, no restoration, no reformation–no first Adam at all. Now Paul says to each believer, risen in Christ, “seeing that ye have put off (in death) the old man (Adam) … and have put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him; where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:9–11).

As believers we are “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him,” not in the image of him that was created.

Since we were cut off from Adam in the death of the Cross, and re-created in the Lord Jesus in the resurrection, Paul says that we are to reckon upon these facts and by faith “put off concerning the former manner of life the old (Adamic) man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts … and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:22, 24).

Despite the reformation hopes of the light-fall folk, Paul says that we are to put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:10).

When the great Grain of Wheat emerged from the tomb and ascended into the eternal Harvest Home, He took His precious harvest of “new creations” back with Him. “Hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 2:6; 1:3).

We can rejoice together in what these long-departed grains of wheat had to say about our new-creation position in glory.

The Lord Jesus come from God alone, but He has gone back to the Father as the Head of a new and blessed race, as One who has secured everything for God. He is the perfect contrast to Adam the first, who came from God’s creative hand, and then lost everything, and went to the dust. –C.A. Coates

(Spiritual Blessings, p. 90.)

“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). Does this not mean a new sort of creature, as the Word implies? Do we go back to Adam, the innocent man in the garden in which God set him to dress and keep? No, that would be no creature new in kind. Adam even, pure and good before his fall, was yet of the earth, earthy.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ but the first man set up afresh? No. He is the second Man, the Lord from heaven! He is a heavenly man, the Last Adam–Head of a new race; beginning of a new creation–and you and I who believe are “in Him, seen and accepted before God in the Beloved! The full image of Him we have not yet: true. That will be ours in the day of His coming. The thing we are! –F. W. Grant

(Leaves From the Book, p. 403.)

In creation God planted man in the garden in innocence; in redemption God planted a Man in heaven, in glory. There is a glory that excelleth! The glory in redemption leaves the glory that was once in creation as nothing. –J. G. Bellett

(Hebrews, p. 23.)

Negative And Positive

At this point you may be tempted to ask what all of this has to do with your self-image and self-love. Just keep on taking in all these truths concerning yourself and your Lord, and you will soon see.

In paying the penalty for our sins, and taking us into death with Himself, the Lord Jesus dealt with the negative aspects of our need as lost Adamic sinners. As to the penalty: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). And as to our death with Him unto sin: “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11). “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

However, as we noted previously, clearing us from the negative would never qualify us for the Lord Jesus or for heaven. There had to be the positive. Innocence in itself would never do–that is but the basis for righteousness and true holiness.

Adam prior to the fall had the negative–no sin; but he did not possess the positive–the knowledge of good and evil as God knows it: that of loving the good, and hating the evil. That alone is holiness. “That ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:24). It is not only that we have been forever Cross-cleared from the unholy first Adam, but we have been forever reborn into the righteous and holy Last Adam.

Eternal Life

Having freed us from the fallen Adamic life and justified us, the Father brought us into newness of life. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 John 5:11; 1 Peter 1:3).

Sanctified

Once justified, we were sanctified simultaneously. “To them that are sanctified by God, the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called” (Jude 1).

Glorified

Further, it was necessary that we be glorified. “Whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).

Completed

Now the Father has the necessary work completed. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9, 10).

Accepted

Hence we are in the full benefit of His finished work on our behalf–fully and forever accepted. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, through which he hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).

Intimacy with Himself is the marvelous thought of our Father concerning us, who, in the first Adam, hid ourselves from His voice; and who, until He gave us in His sovereign grace to believe on His Last Adam, dreaded the very thought of meeting Him.

Formerly the thoughts of His holiness were terrible; and the contemplation of Him as light made us shrink from His presence. But the Cross of His Son, the body of the Lord Jesus in death–the end of all that we were as children of Adam, in God’s sight–has calmed every fear, and therefore we are perfectly happy in the presence of our Father. –H.F. Witherby

(The Serious Christian, Series II, Vol. II, p. 210.)

Past–Present–Future

The Father accomplished all of this in His mind concerning us, and much, much more, prior to creation. Then He accomplished all of it for us in the Son, through His death, resurrection and ascension. Now He is accomplishing it in us, by His Spirit, for His Son. All will be actually completed in us at the Rapture, plus a few finishing touches at the Bema!

As co-working with the Father and the Son, think of the ministry of God the Spirit in all of this. Once He has each and every eternally chosen and called one complete and accepted in the risen Lord Jesus at the Father’s right hand in glory, once He has us positionally established there, down He comes to earth in order to place each believer there in his eternally decreed position.

On the Day of Pentecost He descended to earth and immediately began to baptize believers into their position in the Body of Christ. “For by one Spirit were we all baptized into one body” (I Cor. 12:13). And think of all that He has accomplished in order to place us in our position: He has to seek each of us in our sin, woo us, convict us, present the Saviour to us, and enable us to carry out our responsibility of accepting the Lord Jesus as our own personal Saviour.

Then, having hidden us in Him, He begins the patient, unseen, life-long work of causing us to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus–slowly conforming us to His blessed image. It is the Spirit who works all things together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to the Father’s eternal purpose.

The Holy Spirit never rests nor hesitates until He has every single called one raptured and possessed of his glorified body–so shall we ever be with the Lord. Does the Spirit then stop to draw a breath of relief, so to speak? Not He! Back down to earth he descends, to seek out from the four corners of the earth every elect Israelite, to bring him to Jerusalem and to the Messiah-King and the glorious kingdom he has been longing and waiting for.

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.” “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh …. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Zech. 12:10; Acts 2:17, 21).

Wrong Is Right

However wrong the self-love advocates may have proven to be thus far, they are perfectly right in the accusation that most Christians have a very poor self-image. We had better face up to this taunt, and look it in the face.

Positive Poor

First of all there is the mass of up-front “born again” show folk, athletes, musicians, writers, TV stars, self-monument builders, and all of the other super-luminaries.

In this vast realm there is some talent, and much flash–all driven by a highly confident self-image and, for the most part, carnal to the core. Many of these, it seems, would have Christ conform to their image. This type of positive self-image and self-love is simply bizarre in comparison to the image of the Lord Jesus, in which the believer is to be conformed by the Holy Spirit.

Legal Poor

Those who seek to build and maintain a good self-image by means of law-keeping seem to have a great advantage. Their lives for the most part are exemplary, and a great deal of good works are displayed in their walk and service. They feel good about themselves much of the time, and where sincere, make a good impression upon others.

Where the language of morality is that of rules, principles and laws, prescribing duties, asserting rights and enshrining obligations, we have moved out of the sphere of personal relations, with its emphasis on intimacy, attitudes and dispositions, and into the sphere of law, with its emphasis on generality, conformity and behaviour.

In law, as in legalistic morality, what ultimately matters is conduct, not character; as long as rules are obeyed, principles observed, laws followed, duties fulfilled and obligations met, it does not particularly matter what manner of person does them. It is more a matter of doing, than of being. –J. K.

There is only one problem. They are not like Paul, who said, “Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9). Paul also said, “The law is not of faith, but, ‘The man that doeth them shall live in them.’” (Gal. 3:12). J.B. Stoney supplies us with a composite of this legal mode:

The mistake with many is that they begin with the attempt to control or correct their characters or nature. It is a matter of self-culture when the standard is law and not simply the Lord Jesus Christ. And hence, after much self-control and education, they do not make any true spiritual progress.

They may be able to attain an appearance among men, as the Pharisees had done, but there is really little growth in the Lord Jesus. Their knowledge and apprehension of or satisfaction in Him is not increased, and their own consciences are not satisfied by their attainments. Their old tendencies break out when they least expect it, and they feel they have to try all the harder.

With this class of legalists there is generally a better appearance, because the flesh is not so openly or manifestly opposed as when there is a distinct attempt to displace it. The lion would much rather be tamed than put to death. It may entail serious trouble to tame him, but he cannot be trusted. Just so with the flesh; while there is only a controlling or correcting of it, it never discloses its real animosity to the Lord Jesus. And in a way the flesh is flattered by its own apparent improvement.

J.N. Darby gives a further thought along this line from his Collected Writings, Vol. X V1, p. 158:

While a Christian may be walking outwardly upright and blamelessly, it may be very feebly as a believer and without spirituality. You will find many a true Christian with nothing to reproach him as to his walk, and yet he has no spirituality whatever. If you talk to him about the risen Lord Jesus Christ there is nothing that answers. There is, between the life that is at the bottom and the blamelessness that is at the top, between him and the Lord Jesus, a whole host of affections and objects that are not Christ at all.

Negative Poor

There is an extended stage in the growing believer’s progress when he is the epitome of the poor self-image, the very quintessence of all poor self-images. He is really the one the self-lovers are complaining about. And although they are right in their observation, they are totally wrong in their evaluation, their diagnosis–as we shall see.

Let’s trace the cause and development of this poor image of the growing believer. He, or she, becomes a Christian and starts out on the eternal path–in which, unknown to him, the way up is down. Before long he may be drawn into the charismatic error, a catastrophe from which he may never recover.

In the opposite erroneous direction the young believer may fall into the grip of a legal church or para-church organization. The result in either case is that he is organized, “disciplized,” memorized–and put to work. And from this, humanly speaking, he may never recover- -although the law may accomplish its designated “Oh, wretched man” work, in the course of time.

The theological teaching since the Reformation has never set forth clearly our utter end in death with the Lord Jesus at the Cross. The fatal result of this terrible error is to leave the Law as claimant over those in Christ: for “law has dominion over a man as long as he liveth” (Rom. 7:7).

Unless you are able to believe in your very heart that you died unto the law in Him, and that you were buried, and that your history before God in Adam the first came to an utter end at Calvary, you will never get free from the claims of the law upon your conscience. –Wm. R. Newell

Now if we were to tote up these two present-day categories, there is nothing left but a minority–the truly “poor self-image” folk. And what of this type? This believer begins well, and makes good progress for the first year or so. He loves the Lord, himself, and everyone else. But, as the saying goes, you can’t live on love alone–especially if it is puppy-love.

From the new life within, there is a yearning to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). But the more he learns of Him in the Word, the more he realizes how unlike Him he is. Hence, meaning well, he begins to try harder. He has begun to place himself under law in his effort to grow in grace.

What would be effected by the law, if all its commands and precepts were carried out and maintained? It would form man in the flesh; it would make Adam what he ought to be for God in this world. The law would only form Adam in us. –C. A. Coates

(The Believer Established, p. 36.)

But Paul states that “the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith” (Gal. 3:11, 12). As a matter of fact, “the strength of sin is the law,” and “by the law is the knowledge of sin” (I Cor. 15:56; Rom. 3:20). It doesn’t take the law long to cool off his love, deplete his joy–and there goes his peace. Good riddance! This process usually covers years, and all the time the struggling believer is seeking to cover up his failure.

Although he may maintain an outwardly acceptable self-image, his self-love has turned to self-hatred. Good riddance for that, too! “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25). He is totally unaware that the Father has him well on the path of spiritual growth. All he can think of is his utterly desperate plight and condition.

Reckoning Wreckage

It is under these conditions that the Spirit is apprising the believer of the growth truths. He begins to see the wonderful fact of his identification with the Lord Jesus in His death unto sin, and His resurrection and ascension to “newness of life.” In time Romans 6:11 becomes his key verse, as he steadfastly seeks to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ. His expectations are high, but his new results are low.

He is making the common miscalculation. Having been saved by faith, he naturally expects to be liberated from the dominion of sin by faith. It is the Arminian error of “holiness by faith.” What he does not yet realize is that while he entered into the new birth by faith plus nothing, instantly and eternally, he is to grow by the Holy Spirit–a measured, life-time process. “Walk (step by step) in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). Faith in the facts, but dependence upon the Holy Spirit. And, let it be remembered, “if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Gal. 5:18).

The Scriptures tell me what God gives me, but they do not

give it to me. The Spirit applies the Word to me in its divine meaning, and then I possess what the Word tells me is mine through God’s grace.

For instance, Scripture tells me that if I behold the Lord’s glory I shall be transformed (2 Cor. 3:18). It does not transform me, however clearly I may see what it states. It communicates to me a very great thing, but the communication is in order that a very great thing may happen to me, and this can be only by the Spirit. “Even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” –J. B. Stoney

(Ministry, Vol. VIII, p. 467.)

In this frustration the growing believer neglects to reckon himself to be alive unto God through Christ Jesus our Lord, as he diligently works to reckon himself to be dead indeed unto sin. Since his reckoning does not seem to work, he continually works himself back under the principle of law in a futile effort to free himself from the reign of indwelling sin. As Stoney says:

When grace comes in, the new believer rejoices in the assurance of forgiveness.. and, as he knows atonement, his conscience constrains him to live to please God; but this is often taken up on the principle of law, so that self-improvement becomes his great aim, and the law his standard of conduct.

(Ministry, Vol. VIII, p. 397)

Romans Seven

Now he is well submerged in the throes of Romans Seven, as the law irresistibly brings him to the realization that he is a totally wretched man. Now he has lost both his self-love, and his acceptable self image. He is not only being crushed by the relentless power of the external law, but he is also in helpless captivity to the law of sin which is in his members (Rom. 7:23).

We were born in the first Adam. He was responsible before God to stand in righteousness. He failed. We were responsible in him and we failed. We sinned in him (Rom. 5:12, 19).

What did God do with us? He gathered us up into the Last Adam, and we died with him. God allowed His holy law to condemn us utterly and the law seeking to slay us, found us in Christ on the Cross and set upon us and slew us. “I through the law died unto the law” (Gal. 2:19). –Wm. R. Newell

“The law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth” (Rom. 7:1), but when it has cursed him, and killed him, the law has no more to say to him; and we “are become dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Rom. 7:4), for we have died judicially with Christ. The new life which we have in Him comes to us from Him in heaven, the risen Man before God. –H. F. Witherby

(The Serious Christian, Series II, Vol. II, p. 136.)

The struggling believer is in the process of seeing the truth that he has died unto the law in Christ on the Cross. In this conflict the Spirit increasingly reveals to him the awful facts concerning the old nature. He is being taken further into death, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in his mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11). The harder he tries to live the Christian life, the worse he proves to be. Consequently we have the classic poor self-image of the growing believer, which is exaggerated as it is compared to the legal believer and his good showing in the flesh. J.B. Stoney explains this unfair comparison to us:

The law addresses a man in the flesh, in the Adam-life. “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners” (I Tim. 1:9). “The law is good if a man use it lawfully” (I Tim. 1:8), but for the Christian to be under it is to use it unlawfully. I do not disown or ignore the old man by the law; rather, I cultivate and restrain him, and according as this is successful, I add to his self-respect and self-distinction.

On the other hand, as the Lord Jesus is known as life, man as he is in the flesh is ignored; and the Spirit, which controls and uses his body and mind as belonging to the Lord Jesus, is alone acknowledged and depended upon. The Lord Jesus is only known and maintained by His own Spirit. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

Now there is a great difference between these two standards; and not only so, but the effect or demand which each has on me is vastly different. In the one case I am required to exalt man to the only true, proper, and divine revelation for an Adamic man; on the other hand I am required to reckon on being a dead man and accept another and a higher life, and in the power of it to manifest Him who is the fountain and source of it to me. Surely the difference is immeasurable.

Therefore, if I analyze the history of a disciple of each of these standards, I cannot fail to see that the one who is required to exalt himself to his highest moral point makes a much better experience, and walks apparently with more consistency than the one who is called to set aside the old man at every point–which is the ground he has professed to take, i.e., “Not I, but Christ,”–and to walk outside that which is of the flesh, in the Spirit of Christ, as a heavenly man.

It is plain that if I make myself my study with any true purpose, I cultivate myself to exhibit a certain commendable appearance. The law was to set up the first-Adam life in its best estate. But if through grace I seek to live outside the first Adam, and to live in the Last Adam, I am infinitely worse off in appearance when I seek to do so by the principle of law, or when I fall back to my old nature, than the one who never abandoned the old man at all.

Another thing has to be taken into account. The man who cultivates himself obtains commendation from man in a measure that the one who cultivates the life of the Lord Jesus will never receive or elicit. The one cultivates what exalts man, and therefore what suits man; the other, that which ignores and condemns man and rises above him. We must not forget that that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God (Lu. 16:15).

Many a one. falling, or failing to fly, but still accepting no lower position, is more acceptable in the eye of God than one very fair in his conduct and walk among men, who seeks only to raise himself to the standard of the law, which is the first Adam’s highest elevation.

The inconsistency complained of arises in fact not from the high position to which we are called, but from our not walking according to it. There is no fault in the high position, but it is easier to nature to walk in the lower position. But then this lower law position, however commended by man, loses all its value before God when I find He has called me to a higher one, and not to the lower at all. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2).

A saint may be censured for not walking up to his high position, but one cannot be commended who excuses himself for taking a lower position to which God has not called him. “Now are we delivered from the law ‘having died to that in which we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter” (Rom. 7:6).

(Ministry, Vol. IX, p. 21-23)

As the Spirit patiently takes the hungry-hearted believer through this poor-image processing of Romans Seven, he is slowly being brought to some all-essential realizations. He is beginning to see that the actual source of sin in his life is not himself as a new creation in Christ Jesus, but that it is the sinful old Adam-life. “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (Rom. 7:20).

Many a justified man might describe his experience in words like this: “I fully recognize, and rejoice in the fact, that I am righteous before God according to Christ risen; and this being so, nothing but Christ can be my standard of holiness or rule of life. If I could only walk up to it I think I should be a perfectly happy man. But it is one failure after another; and when I think I have got on a bit, something turns up, and I find myself as bad as ever, and the thought of this damps all my spiritual joy.”

In this stage of spiritual experience there are continual discoveries of the old man which make him more and more repulsive; and there is also the presentation of Christ again and again in which the soul finds increasing delight. Growth. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This repulsion and attraction go on together until the soul accepts with God the reality of the incorrigible badness of the Adamic life. This fact prepares one to see that the death of Christ severs us from our old man, and that the Lord Jesus is our life. We are free. by the finished work of the Cross, from the dominion of the man who is now so repugnant to us, and we discover with untold delight that the One who has so attracted our hearts is our very life. –C.A. Coates

However valuable and essential it is for him to see the differentiation between these two indwelling Adams–the crucified first and the ascended Last–his misery is only accentuated because of the total captivity to the law of sin which is in his members (Rom. 7:23). But all of this wretchedness is carefully calculated by the indwelling Holy Spirit to bring him to the truth of these two following statements:

“Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord” (Rom. 7:24, 25).

His Spirit-wrought wretchedness has finally brought him to understand that reckoning himself dead to sin does not liberate him from the power of sin itself, but rather it delivers him to the Deliverer.

I must not only see my position in the risen Lord Jesus, but I must come near to the One who set me there. Many are disappointed that after hearing the truth and reckoning on their position they are not more affected by it.

The reason is that they rest too much in the position and have not occupied themselves increasingly with their risen Lord; have not drawn nearer to Him, and recognized Him as the only One who can make it all experiential to them.

Conception of a truth is one thing, and execution is quite another. Grace may have furnished you with a true conception, but you must depend and wait on the Holy Spirit to carry it out. The working out of a true conception is the real discipline. –J. B. Stoney

(Letters, Vol. II, pp. 200, 249)

Slowly the Spirit turns the believer’s attention to where and who he is in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who is his Christian life. The Spirit speaks to his heart by means of the Word: “If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1–3, ASV).

It is a wonderful moment for the believer when by faith he occupies his position in the favor of his Father–when he knows that he is received by Him in all the acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He does not then think of himself, of his worthiness or unworthiness, at all. He thinks of the Lord Jesus–His perfections, His suitability to divine favor, His infinite acceptance with the Father–and by faith, he has access into the favor of which He is so worthy. –C.A. Coates

(Spiritual Blessings, p. 34)

The Great Divide

This is the spiritual watershed, the great turning point in the life of the growing believer. Knowing and counting upon the fact that he is “alive unto God in Jesus Christ” – that he is free to turn his full affection and faith upon the risen Lord Jesus in whom he is; yes, with Him where He is before the Father in glory.

The reality in the Christian life is in the measure in which the Lord Jesus is the Object. There is where the Christian is happy. His soul’s affections are set free and occupied with Him. He is the One we love and delight in, and we rejoice to be with Him, and hunger to be like Him.

If your heart is dragging through this world, and you are trying to get as free from all the spots as you can, you cannot be happy. This personal abiding life is real liberty of heart, and that is what happiness means. –J. N. Darby

(Collected Writings, Vol. XXVIII, p. 283)

It is thus by occupation with, feeding upon, and contemplating the risen Lord Jesus that we are brought, by the Holy Spirit, into fellowship with our Father; enabled to enter into His own thoughts concerning, and even to share His own affections for, that blessed One who is now seated at His own right hand. Surely here, then, is the source of all growth, strength, and blessing! –E. Dennett

(The Spiritual Christian, Vol. XVII, p. 88)

“No Longer I”

Rather than being wretched and distracted by what may be going on within him, he is progressively occupied with the One in whom he is. The Holy Spirit is establishing the growing believer in one of the principles of growth as set forth in 2 Corinthians 5:15–”And that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again.”

The believer accepts the Lord Jesus, and finds life in Him, outside the life and being which is judged in the Cross; and as he lives in this life, now his in the Lord Jesus, he is consciously above and apart from all that man which was judged at Calvary; so that he seeks to live no longer unto himself, but unto Him who died for him, and rose again. –J.B. Stoney

(Ministry, Vol. VII, p. 318.)

The Lord Jesus in glory, and He alone, is faith’s object; it knows no other. Ought I to have faith in myself? Ought I to have an object there? The Cross of the Lord Jesus, then, is the death of the old man. His grave its burial, that, burying my dead out of my sight, I may be free to concentrate upon the One who is not dead, but living, and in Whom I live. –F. W. Grant

(Leaves From the Book, p. 216.)

The progressing believer is learning, by faith, to rest in his position in the Lord Jesus, in the presence of his Father. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). He knows that “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son” (I Cor. 1:9).

What many legalists object to is the wonderful position in which grace sets us. I have often asked myself what is the measure of grace? No one can tell, because it is not the need which is the measure of grace, but the Father’s heart which is the measure.

He has removed everything to His entire satisfaction in the Cross of the Lord Jesus, so that He can now do His heart’s pleasure in taking this poor prodigal and conducting him into all the blessing of His own presence, and that not by and by, but now (Eph. 2:13). –J. B. Stoney

(Ministry, Vol. V, p. 265.)

Further, the maturing one is given more light and assurance as to 2 Corinthians 5:17–”Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” By faith he has “put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Col. 3:10). He also has the spiritual awareness that he is predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, and that all things are working together for his good according to that purpose (Rom. 8:28, 29).

Walking in the Spirit, He leads our hearts to where we are in the risen Lord Jesus. The new man finds delight in Him, nowhere else. The Spirit is the living link between us and Christ Jesus in glory. He causes us to gaze upon Him, and we slowly become changed into the same image from glory to glory. This is true Christianity–the heart drawn off from things here, and lovingly occupied with the One who is our life. –W. W. Fereday

(The Bible Treasury, Vol. N 1, p. 285.)

Now the believer knows who is his Christian life; he abides in and looks upon his Source of life. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). As he looks upon and fellowships with the Father and the Son, the Spirit carries out His ministry within. “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

The Christian’s Self-image

We have finally arrived at the purpose of this paper! The growing believer understands that he is a new man in the Man, the glorified Man, Christ Jesus. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” “For we are members of his body of his flesh, and of his bones.” (1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 5:30). He knows that he is a new creation in Christ; that he has the divine nature of the very essence of the Lord Jesus’ glorified Manhood.

Just here we would make it very clear that our Christian life consists of the divine nature of the Lord Jesus’ glorified Manhood. We do not, nor shall we ever, partake of His Godhood. Further, we repudiate in toto the faith-fantasy theory of “holiness by faith,” along with the no-nature teaching that “now I am Christ in human form”?

The believer is now before the Father, not in the man who was under judgment, but in the Man who has glorified God in bearing the judgment; and consequently, there is not a cloud between his soul and the Father, because the man who caused the distance has been judicially displaced in the judgment of the Cross. –J. B. Stoney

(Ministry, Vol. VIII, p. 285.)

There can be no doubt as to the believer’s self-image. It is nothing less than the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who in turn is the express image of the Father. When the believer looks upon the Lord Jesus, via the Word, he is contemplating his own Christian image. That is how he is to see himself; that is how the Father sees him. There is his rest and his confidence–and the indwelling Spirit of Christ begins to reflect that image in his Christian walk and service.

The believer is positioned before the Father according to the beauty of the Lord Jesus, and is, according to the Father’s eye and heart, as His Beloved.

By faith, the believer has taken upon him the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has been made the righteousness of God in Him. He is “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). Faith alone gives him all this comeliness. He has been re-created in the Lord Jesus–he has “put on Christ. ” This is the beauty of the believer; and he is lovely in the eye of the Lord Jesus. “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him” (Ps. 45:17).

The Christian’s Self-love

We can now forget the indwelling first Adam and his totally ruined and rejected self-image. We can also forget about him in his unrecoverable innocence–that is not our Father’s intention or purpose for members of the Body of His Son. We have been made free to fellowship with and rejoice in the Last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Since the Lord Jesus is our Christian life, to love Him is true Christian self-love. If you want to love and esteem yourself, love and esteem Him, who is your life!

]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2012/01/02/imag-ination-the-doctrine-of-biblical-self-love/feed/ 0 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/the-adamic-natures/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/the-adamic-natures/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:43:16 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/the-adamic-natures/ THE ADAMIC NATURES

Miles J. Stanford

Spiritual Sharing Service (Tri-S-Series) Number 15b of 19

 

The question we are dealing with is,

Does the Christian have one, or two natures*; has the old man been eradicated, or not?

I believe there are two keys that unlock the scriptural answer. The one is the doctrine of the two men, and the other is the doctrine of position. First we will consider the two representative men--the First Adam and the Last Adam who constitute the foundation of all God's dealings with humanity.

[* nature - an inherent propensity, inclination, bent, or disposition.]

THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO MEN

"THE FIRST MAN" -- When "the first man, Adam," sinned, he died positionally--totally dead to God: spirit, soul, and body. Thereafter his position was manifested in his condition; he began to die experientially. In God's mercy, it was some 930 years before Adam fully experienced the inevitable outcome of his position of death.

Adam, as head of the human race, took all of humanity into that position of death. "In Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22). All in Adam have his life and therefore are "by nature the children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). The Adamic life is the source of sin in everyone, whether unsaved or saved (Rom. 5:12).

Due to the Fall, Adam became "flesh"--not only his body, but his soul and spirit as well. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh" (Gen. 6:3). Hence the race spawned by Adam and Eve is "flesh." "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). It is not that the natural man has flesh, or is in the condition of flesh; he is flesh.

Paul wrote, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18). Note well that he said "my" flesh. As a believer Paul was indwelt by his Adamic life, the old man, and he assumed full responsibility for his sinful actions.

In his position Paul was not "in the flesh," but "in Christ Jesus." Still, in his condition his Adamic life was present with him, and he owned full responsibility for its sinfulness. He said, "Whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption" (Gal. 6:7,8). He also said that the believer will, at the Bema, suffer loss for the fleshly deeds done in the body.

Because the first Adam sinned and became mortal flesh, he was superseded by the spiritual Last Adam, the "new Man." This constituted condemned Adam the "old man." The fallen Adam is the old man, he is the flesh; he possesses a sinful nature. One complete man.

The Word speaks of the activities of the old man, both in the unsaved and the saved, as "the wills of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, the workings of the flesh, the wisdom of the flesh, the purposes of the flesh, the warring of the flesh, the glorying of the flesh." It also refers to those who "walk according to the flesh, after the flesh, and make a fair show of the flesh." Here we have the personification of the old man--identically manifested before and after one's salvation.

A man is a substantive entity, a person. The traits, or characteristics, of a man are non-substantive, and comprise his nature. A nature is a composition of attributes, and is not to be considered a substantive entity. Some of the positive characteristics of the old man, aspects of the old nature, are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. However lovely, these are but fleshly facsimiles of the fruit of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5.

On the other hand, some of the negative fleshly characteristics of the old man, aspects of that same old nature indwelling every man are, "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, hatred, strife, jealousy, wrath, factions, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and the like."

Beautiful and beneficial as the positive characteristics of the flesh may be, all, including both the positive and the negative, are rejected of God. Why? Because their source is the condemned Adamic life. For "in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing."

"THE SECOND MAN" (the Last Adam) -- Who can deny that the Lord Jesus has two natures? And if two natures, two lives: He is the Son of God, and He is the Son of Man. He is perfect God and Perfect Man in hypostatic union--the oneness of the God-Man.

The blessed aspects of the Lord Jesus' divine-human life and nature are His love, His joy, His peace, His longsuffering, His gentleness, His goodness, His faithfulness, His meekness, and His self-control. All positive--no negative. He was and is, and ever shall be, impeccable.

THE DOCTRINE OF POSITION

THE POSITION FACTOR -- Consider the believer's positional history. Before anything was brought into being--the universe, the world, Adam--I, a chosen, elect, and called person was conceived in my Father's heart and purpose. (See Eph. 1: 4, 5; 2 Tim. 1: 9; Ps. 139:16).

My Father called the world into being, and created Adam to be head of the human race for that world. I was identified positionally with the source of humanity. When Adam sinned and thereby positionally died to God, I died in him. When he became flesh, I became flesh in him. When he was condemned, I was condemned in him.

The rejected old Adam was replaced by the accepted new Man, the Last Adam. When the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world, He subjected Him to the death of the Cross in order to rescue me from my Adamic death, because He loved me as His chosen one from all eternity.

While the Lamb of God was on the Cross, my Father laid all my as-yet-uncommitted sins upon Him, and ... Continue reading →]]> THE ADAMIC
NATURES

Miles J.
Stanford

Spiritual Sharing Service
(Tri-S-Series) Number 15b of 19

 

The question we are dealing with
is,

Does the Christian have one, or two
natures*; has the old man been eradicated, or
not?

I believe there are two keys that unlock the
scriptural answer. The one is the doctrine of the two men, and
the other is the doctrine of position. First we will consider
the two representative men–the First Adam and the
Last Adam who constitute the foundation of all God's dealings with
humanity.

[* nature - an inherent propensity,
inclination, bent, or disposition.]

THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO
MEN

“THE FIRST MAN” — When “the
first man, Adam,” sinned, he died positionally–totally
dead to God: spirit, soul, and body. Thereafter his position was manifested in
his condition; he began to die experientially. In God's mercy, it was some 930
years before Adam fully experienced the inevitable outcome of his
position of death.

Adam, as head of the human race, took all of
humanity into that position of death. “In Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:22).
All in Adam have his life and therefore are “by nature the children of
wrath” (Eph. 2:3). The Adamic life is the source of sin in
everyone, whether unsaved or saved (Rom. 5:12).

Due to the Fall, Adam became
“flesh”–not only his body, but his soul and spirit as well. “My
Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Gen.
6:3). Hence the race spawned by Adam and Eve is “flesh.” “That
which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). It is not that the natural
man has flesh, or is in the condition of flesh; he is
flesh.

Paul wrote, “For I know that in me (that is,
in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). Note well that he said
“my” flesh. As a believer Paul was indwelt by his Adamic life, the old
man, and he assumed full responsibility for his sinful actions.

In his position Paul was not
“in the flesh,” but “in Christ Jesus.” Still, in his
condition his Adamic life was present with him, and he owned
full responsibility for its sinfulness. He said, “Whatever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the
flesh reap corruption” (Gal. 6:7,8). He also said that the believer will,
at the Bema, suffer loss for the fleshly deeds done in the body.

Because the first Adam sinned and became mortal
flesh, he was superseded by the spiritual Last Adam, the “new Man.”
This constituted condemned Adam the “old man.” The fallen Adam is the
old man, he is the flesh; he possesses a sinful nature. One complete
man.

The Word speaks of the activities of the old
man, both in the unsaved and the saved, as “the wills of the flesh,
the desires of the flesh, the workings of the flesh, the
wisdom of the flesh, the purposes of the flesh, the warring
of the flesh, the glorying of the flesh.” It also refers to those
who “walk according to the flesh, after the flesh, and make a
fair show of the flesh.” Here we have the personification of the old
man–identically manifested before and after one's salvation.

A man is a substantive entity, a person. The
traits, or characteristics, of a man are non-substantive, and comprise his
nature. A nature is a composition of attributes, and is not to be considered a
substantive entity. Some of the positive characteristics of the
old man, aspects of the old nature, are love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. However lovely,
these are but fleshly facsimiles of the fruit of the Spirit as found in
Galatians 5.

On the other hand, some of the
negative fleshly characteristics of the old man, aspects of
that same old nature indwelling every man are, “adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, hatred, strife, jealousy, wrath,
factions, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and
the like.”

Beautiful and beneficial as the positive
characteristics of the flesh may be, all, including both the positive and the
negative, are rejected of God. Why? Because their source is the condemned Adamic
life. For “in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good
thing.”

“THE SECOND MAN” (the Last Adam) —
Who can deny that the Lord Jesus has two natures? And if two natures, two lives:
He is the Son of God, and He is the Son of Man. He is perfect God and Perfect
Man in hypostatic union–the oneness of the God-Man.

The blessed aspects of the Lord Jesus'
divine-human life and nature are His love, His joy, His peace, His
longsuffering, His gentleness, His goodness, His faithfulness, His meekness, and
His self-control. All positive–no negative. He was and is, and ever shall be,
impeccable.

THE DOCTRINE OF
POSITION

THE POSITION FACTOR — Consider the
believer's positional history. Before anything was brought into
being–the universe, the world, Adam–I, a chosen, elect, and called person was
conceived in my Father's heart and purpose. (See Eph. 1: 4, 5; 2 Tim. 1: 9; Ps.
139:16).

My Father called the world into being, and
created Adam to be head of the human race for that world. I was identified
positionally with the source of humanity. When Adam sinned and thereby
positionally died to God, I died in him. When he became flesh, I became flesh in
him. When he was condemned, I was condemned in him.

The rejected old Adam was replaced by the
accepted new Man, the Last Adam. When the Father sent His only begotten Son into
the world, He subjected Him to the death of the Cross in order to rescue me from
my Adamic death, because He loved me as His chosen one from all
eternity.

While the Lamb of God was on the Cross, my
Father laid all my as-yet-uncommitted sins upon Him, and His death
for those sins freed me from their penalty. While the Lord
Jesus was on that same Cross the Father identified me, in my Adamic life of sin,
with His Son who was made to be that sin (2 Cor. 5:21). In Him, I died
unto sin–positionally.

I, the sinful one, was not
forgiven–my sins were forgiven, but not the old man, the source of those sins.
“God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8: 3). I was not forgiven in order
to start all over as a first-Adam person. No; “I was crucified with
Christ”; I died unto sin in Him. In that death I was
positionally separated from my Adamic life, the source of sin. The Lord Jesus'
death for me redeemed me from the penalty of my sins; my
positional death with Him freed me from the condemned Adamic
life and its reign.

As “his (God's) workmanship, (newly) created
in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2: 10), I may be progressively freed from the reign
of indwelling Adamic sin in my condition, as I reckon myself dead indeed unto
sin and alive unto God in Christ (Rom. 6:11).

MY ESSENTIAL IDENTITY –My Father, in
eternity past, formed me positionally as an individual in His
mind. He formed me actually (condition), at a later date, in my
mother's womb. The Fall did not unmake me as a man, a particular person; my new
birth does not unmake me as that man. What is intrinsic to my personhood I never
lose; my identity is never changed.

Whatever change I pass through in my new birth
as to spirit and soul, whatever change awaits my body at the Rapture, I shall
never lose my essential identity with what my Father conceived me to be before
the foundation of the world. My crucifixion with the Lord Jesus did not affect
my unique identity as newly created in Christ Jesus. Rather, it destroyed
positionally all that I was in the fleshly Adam. “Behold, old things are
passed away,” –positionally.

Romans 6:6 sets forth doctrinally, and
positionally, what happened to me as identified with the Lord
Jesus in His death unto sin on the Cross. Paul wrote, “Knowing this, that
our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed
[rendered inoperative], that henceforth we should not serve
sin.”

I, the old Adamic man, was crucified with Him,
that the body of sin (sin in toto) might be destroyed,
condemned in death–not forgiven. I the sinful one was
condemned in the death of the Cross in order that I might be re-created in the
risen life of the Last Adam.

“ONE-NATURISM” — Before going on
with our positional history, we will deal briefly with the “one-nature” error.
The teaching of the eradication of the “old man ” is centered in a wrong
understanding of Romans 6:6, mainly through the influence of Arminian and
Covenant theology. Here is where the growing number of those who reject or
misunderstand positional truth, have faltered and fallen.

The scriptural context of Romans 6:1-10 is
positional, judicial. The “one-nature”
teaching views verse 6 as experiential and actual. Hence, it is maintained that
the old man is actually crucified and gone–eradicated. Yet this view admits to
indwelling sin in the believer. Some say it is a residual influence from the
pre-salvation life, along with accumulated habits. Therefore, some advocate the
forming of new habits to counteract and replace the old sinful ones. A form of
legalism/behaviorism.

Other “one-nature” proponents insist that while
the old man is eradicated, and the body of sin actually destroyed, sin remains
in the believer. This “energy force” of sin then works through the soul, with
the permission of the will. (It seems to be forgotten that the man in Romans
Seven was willing with all his might not to sin!) Sin working through the soul
and body is referred to as the “condition of
flesh.”

But the Word teaches that “flesh” is a
person, not a condition. “Fathers of our flesh” (Heb. 12: 9) produce
progeny of flesh. Belief in the eradication of the old man tends to relieve the
Christian of much of his responsibility concerning the activity of his fleshly
Adamic life. He is wont to place the blame on Satan, and upon tendencies
developed prior to salvation.

This is the crux of the matter: it is not
possible for the source of sin (the old man) to be eradicated,
while retaining sin itself. Effect must have a cause! If you have sin, you have
its source, i.e., the Adamic old man. Paul exhorts the believer to “put off
… the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Eph.
4: 22). He does not tell the believer to put off what is not in
residence!

“He that hath the Son, hath life; he that
hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John ,5:12). On the other hand,
He that hath the Adamic old man, hath sin; he that hath not the Adamic
old man, hath not sin.

Back now to our positional history. Positionally
freed from the Adamic life through my death unto sin in the Lord Jesus, the
Father was at liberty to identify the essential me with His Son, and in His
resurrection I was re-created alive unto God in Him. When He arose, “the
beginning of the (new) creation of God” (Rev. 3:14), I arose with Him in
newness of life–a totally new creation.

When the Lord Jesus, now Head of the new
creation, ascended to the right hand of His Father, He took me with Him. The
Father, having re-created me in His Son, raised me up together, and made me sit
together in heavenly places in Him.

I was separated by death (positionally) from the
first Adam to be re-created in union with the Last Adam in His crucifixion,
burial, resurrection and ascension. In Him I became a totally new creation. Old
Adamic things positionally passed away in the death of Calvary.
In my condition, they are passing away as I grow spiritually.
Actually, they will totally and eternally pass away at my death
or at the Rapture–whichever comes first. Even so, come Lord Jesus!

There I am in my position, “hid with Christ
in God.” In the Lord Jesus, I am accepted in the Beloved, complete in Him,
entirely sanctified in Him, perfect in Him. All of that, and more, has been held
in spiritual escrow ever since the One who is my Life ascended to the right hand
of the Father. All had to be completed positionally before a
single Christian existed, because Christianity is founded upon the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE CONDITION FACTOR — Born into
this world in the life and image of the first Adam, I grew up a condemned
sinner, dead in trespasses and sins. In His own time and purpose the Father
called me [effectual], and by His grace I responded in faith, responsibly
accepting the Lord Jesus as my Saviour. At that moment the Holy Spirit, by His
indwelling, brought the life of the Lord Jesus to be my Christian life. Then and
there I entered into my position as a new creation in the Last Adam, with my old
Adamic life still abiding in my body of mortal flesh. Remove that life and the
Adamic body dies, for both unsaved and saved.

In the Spirit's time, I came to realize the
positional facts in the Word concerning me. I saw that I had died unto sin at
the Cross, crucified with the Lord Jesus. In time I learned not to struggle
against the old man within, but to count by faith upon the
positional truth of the Cross: I as a new creation had been
taken out of the flesh, and been re-created in union with the risen Lord Jesus,
seated at the Father's right hand in Glory (Rom. 8:9). Abide above!

As I reckon my new self positionally dead unto
sin, the Holy Spirit progressively applies that finished position to my growing
condition. I experience step by step the freedom from the reign
of indwelling sin that was wrought at Calvary. My condition begins to conform to
its source, my position.

Likewise, reckoning upon my position as
“alive unto God in Christ Jesus,” the Holy Spirit centers my heart and
mind upon the One in Glory who is my Christian life. As I behold Him by means of
the Word (2 Cor. 3:18), in personal fellowship and worship, the Spirit develops
that completed life with ever-increasing growth, slowly conforming me to the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the Rapture, I will receive my renewed body,
like His glorious body. Then, and not until then, my body of mortal flesh will
be instantly transformed into my spiritual body. The old man will finally be
eradicated, and I will be in eternal condition what has been my
position since my death and resurrection in Him at
Calvary–yes, since My Father formed me in His heart in eternity past.

]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/the-adamic-natures/feed/ 1 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/one-naturism-part-ii/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/one-naturism-part-ii/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:21:00 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/one-naturism-part-ii/

Miles J. Stanford

---

I Know You’re In There!

-- Every honest believer who knows anything at all about the extensive and all-important Romans Seven experience, realizes that the sins in his Christian life are identical in character to those he experienced prior to salvation. They are "the works of the flesh," the same all-too-familiar traits of the person of the first Adam.

They are not the manifestation of some residual sinful habits, left behind by a long-gone, eradicated, Adamic source. And they certainly aren’t countered and replaced by the development of "good" new habits. Imagine the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our indwelling Christian life, having to develop habits!

Every believer who knows the liberating Romans Eight life, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (v. 2), realizes that the righteousness manifested in his Christian life has its source in the indwelling life of the Last Adam, "the fruit of the Spirit." "That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:11).

The nature is the essential character of a person, a life, the quality or qualities that characterize a person. The traits, the attributes, comprise the nature of a man—whether it be the first Adam man, or the Last Adam Man. We have the life of Adam, hence his sinful nature; we have the Life of the Last Adam, hence His new and divine nature. The Christian has two (2) life sources within, and the manifestation of their natures is the undeniable evidence thereof—"the works of the flesh," and "the fruit of the Spirit."

To mention but a few of the more prominent present-day eradicationists—the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones (via his voluminous writings), John MacArthur, David Needham, Charles Solomon, John Stott, Charles Stanley, Bill Gillham, and Bob George.

Further Personal History

-- Positionally free from the Adamic life through my death unto sin in the Lord Jesus, the Father was at liberty to identify the essential me with His Son; and in His resurrection I was recreated "alive unto God" in Him. When He arose, as the beginning of the (new) creation of God (Rev. 3:14), I arose with Him in "newness of life"—a totally new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).

When the Lord Jesus, now Head of the new heavenly creation (the Church), ascended to the right hand of His Father, He took me with Him. The Father, having re-created me in His Son, raised me up and made me to sit together in heavenly places in Him. "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). Abide Above!

I was positionally separated by death via the Cross from the first Adam, to be recreated in union with the Last Adam in His resurrection and ascension. Old Adamic things positionally passed away in the death of Calvary. In my condition, they are (slowly) passing away as I grow spiritually. Actually, finally, they will totally and eternally pass away at my death or at the Rapture--whichever comes first. "Even so, come Lord Jesus."

There I am in my glorious position, "hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). In the Lord Jesus I am a new creation, I am accepted in the Beloved, complete in Him, sanctified in Him, perfect in Him. With that position, who can question his unconditional eternal security?!

All of that, and much more, has been held in spiritual escrow for me ever since the One who is my life ascended to the right hand of the Father. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3).

All had to be completed positionally before a single Christian and the Church could be brought into being, because Christianity is founded upon and springs from the finished work of Christ. "And ye are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10).

The Condition Factor

-- Born into the world in the life and image of the first Adam, I grew up a condemned sinner, "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1). In His foreordained time and purpose the Father called me, and by His grace and the Spirit-caused conviction of sin, I responded in unconditional faith—responsibly accepting the Lord Jesus as my own Saviour.

At that moment the Holy Spirit, by His indwelling, brought me the life of the ascended Lord to be my Christian life. Then and there I was placed in my position as a new creation in the Last Adam. Nevertheless, the old Adam life continues to indwell my body of mortal flesh.

In the Spirit’s time I came to know of the positional truths of the Word concerning me—from Romans 5:12 on throughout Paul’s Church Epistles. I saw that I had judicially died to sin on the Cross, crucified with the Lord Jesus (Gal. 2:20).

In time, and years of that, I learned via Romans Seven not to struggle against the fleshly life of Adam within, but to count by faith upon the positional truth of the finished work of the Cross. "For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to have died indeed unto sin, but to be alive unto God in Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Rom. 6:11).

Likewise reckoning upon my position—"alive unto God in Christ Jesus"—the Holy Spirit centers my heart and mind upon the One who is my Christian life. As I behold Him by means of the Word, in personal fellowship and worship, the Spirit of Christ causes that completed life to manifest the "fruit of the Spirit." With ever increasing growth I am conformed to the image of the Son. "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, ... Continue reading →]]>

Miles J.
Stanford

---

I Know You’re In There!

–
Every honest believer who knows anything at all about the extensive and
all-important Romans Seven experience, realizes that the sins in his Christian
life are identical in character to those he experienced prior to salvation.
They are “the works of the flesh,” the same all-too-familiar traits of the
person of the first Adam.

They are not the manifestation of some residual sinful habits,
left behind by a long-gone, eradicated, Adamic source. And they certainly
aren’t countered and replaced by the development of “good” new habits. Imagine
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our indwelling Christian life, having to develop
habits!

Every believer who knows the liberating Romans Eight life, “the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (v. 2), realizes that the
righteousness manifested in his Christian life has its source in the indwelling
life of the Last Adam, “the fruit of the Spirit.” “That the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11).

The nature is the essential character of a person, a
life, the quality or qualities that characterize a person. The traits, the
attributes, comprise the nature of a man—whether it be the first Adam man, or
the Last Adam Man. We have the life of Adam, hence his sinful nature; we
have the Life of the Last Adam, hence His new and divine nature. The
Christian has two (2) life sources within, and the manifestation of their
natures is the undeniable evidence thereof—”the works of the flesh,” and “the
fruit of the Spirit.”

To mention but a few of the more prominent present-day
eradicationists—the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones (via his voluminous writings), John
MacArthur, David Needham, Charles Solomon, John Stott, Charles Stanley, Bill
Gillham, and Bob George.

Further Personal History

– Positionally free from the
Adamic life through my death unto sin in the Lord Jesus, the Father was at
liberty to identify the essential me with His Son; and in His resurrection I was
recreated “alive unto God” in Him. When He arose, as the beginning of the (new)
creation of God (Rev. 3:14), I arose with Him in “newness of life”—a totally new
creation (2 Cor. 5:17).

When the Lord Jesus, now Head of the new heavenly creation (the
Church), ascended to the right hand of His Father, He took me with Him. The
Father, having re-created me in His Son, raised me up and made me to sit
together in heavenly places in Him. “And hath raised us up together, and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). Abide
Above!

I was positionally separated by death via the Cross from the first
Adam, to be recreated in union with the Last Adam in His resurrection and
ascension. Old Adamic things positionally passed away in the death of
Calvary. In my condition, they are (slowly) passing away as I
grow spiritually. Actually, finally, they will totally and
eternally pass away at my death or at the Rapture–whichever comes first. “Even
so, come Lord Jesus.”

There I am in my glorious position, “hidden with Christ in God”
(Col. 3:3). In the Lord Jesus I am a new creation, I am accepted in the
Beloved, complete in Him, sanctified in Him, perfect in Him. With that
position, who can question his unconditional eternal security?!

All of that, and much more, has been held in spiritual
escrow for me ever since the One who is my life ascended to the right hand of
the Father. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”
(Eph. 1:3).

All had to be completed positionally before a single
Christian and the Church could be brought into being, because Christianity is
founded upon and springs from the finished work of Christ. “And ye are
complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power” (Col.
2:10).

The Condition Factor

– Born into the world in the life
and image of the first Adam, I grew up a condemned sinner, “dead in trespasses
and sins” (Eph. 2:1). In His foreordained time and purpose the Father called
me, and by His grace and the Spirit-caused conviction of sin, I responded in
unconditional faith—responsibly accepting the Lord Jesus as my own Saviour.

At that moment the Holy Spirit, by His indwelling, brought me the
life of the ascended Lord to be my Christian life. Then and there I was placed
in my position as a new creation in the Last Adam. Nevertheless, the old Adam
life continues to indwell my body of mortal flesh.

In the Spirit’s time I came to know of the positional truths of
the Word concerning me—from Romans 5:12 on throughout Paul’s Church Epistles. I
saw that I had judicially died to sin on the Cross, crucified with the Lord
Jesus (Gal. 2:20).

In time, and years of that, I learned via Romans Seven not to
struggle against the fleshly life of Adam within, but to count by faith upon the
positional truth of the finished work of the Cross. “For in that He
died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.
Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to have died indeed unto sin, but to be
alive unto God in Jesus Christ, our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).

Likewise reckoning upon my position—”alive unto God in Christ
Jesus”—the Holy Spirit centers my heart and mind upon the One who is my
Christian life. As I behold Him by means of the Word, in personal fellowship
and worship, the Spirit of Christ causes that completed life to manifest the
“fruit of the Spirit.” With ever increasing growth I am conformed to the image
of the Son. “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory
of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the
Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

At the Rapture I will receive my renewed body, like unto His
glorious body. Then—and not until then—my body of mortal flesh will be
instantly transformed into my spiritual, glorified body. The old Adamic man
will finally be eradicated, and I will be in eternal condition what has been my
position ever since my death and resurrection in Him at Calvary — yes,
ever since my Father formed me in His heart in eternity past.

Doctrinal Dearth

– The question remains: What of these
great liberating, positional truths have you learned at church—whether it be
through your local Bible church, or elsewhere?

From fifty years of close observation, I would say that your
chances are just about one in a thousand. If the leadership in the doctrinally
sound church realized who and where they are in the glorified Lord
Jesus, would they stop at Romans 5:11, and not enter into Romans 5:12 and
beyond? Would they be Old Testament and Synoptic-oriented, holding the Church
to the earthly level of Israel and her Law?

Would they substitute the synoptic “Gospel of the Kingdom” for Paul’s
exclusive “glorious heavenly Gospel”? Would they subject members of the
heavenly Body of the glorified Lord to Israel’s earthly New Covenant, her legal
Sermon on the Mount, and her Mosaic and Kingdom law systems–that to
which the Christian has died? “For I, through the law, died to the law, that I
might live unto God” (Gal. 2:19).

]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/one-naturism-part-ii/feed/ 1 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/one-naturism-part-i/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/one-naturism-part-i/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:14:00 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/one-naturism-part-i/

Miles J. Stanford

---

We will briefly consider the "one-nature" error.

1)

Wesleyan One-Naturism

This is the traditional Pentecostal aberration: "Total Depravity does not mean that human nature is essentially and completely evil, but that every part of it is damaged and infected by inherited Adamic sin. "It is insisted that there is no new nature involved at conversion, but rather the impartation of spiritual life that regenerates the old Adamic nature.

Eradication: This is the teaching that all sin is eradicated from the sinful Adamic nature. The Wesleyan "pure heart," is attained when the "second blessing" experience of the "Pentecostal flame" consumes the sinful propensities of the old Adamic nature. Presto, new divine nature!

2)

Arminian One-Naturism

Another type of "one-naturism" is set forth by J. Sidlow Baxter in his book, A New Call to Holiness. This holiness theory is that of amelioration of the sinful Adamic nature. Dr. Baxter writes:

"Sin is a diffused infection of thought, desire, motive, impulse, inclination, and even of instinct, right through the moral nature. From the moment the Holy Ghost fully possesses us, He begins to correct, purify, refine, inbreathe and renovate all the qualities, tempers, urges, propensities, and functions of the mind, the sensations, and the will. This is how holiness begins and continues to be inwrought" (p. 116).

This is the humanistic theory of change in contradiction to the spiritual principle of exchange; "Not I, but Christ."

3) Covenant One-Naturism

The most prevalent and insidious type of "one-naturism" today is that of Covenant Theology. Through the error of considering Romans 6:6 to be actual (condition), rather than positional, it is claimed that the old Adamic man is actually crucified, dead, and gone--eradicated. Those holding this view are forced, however, to admit to indwelling sin in the Christian. Some teach that it is simply a residual influence left over from pre-salvation days.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Dr. Jay Adams refer to indwelling sin as "old habits." Dr. John MacArthur terms it the "old coat of humanness." Dr. Charles Solomon says it is the "energy of residual sin." Another erroneous term for the indwelling old man is "condition of flesh." The one-nature proponents separate the alleged eradication of the old man from the indwelling "flesh."

However, the Word teaches that "flesh" is a person, as well as a condition. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh" (Gen. 6:3). "Fathers of our flesh" (Heb. 12:9) sire progeny of flesh. Belief in the eradication of the old man tends to relieve the Christian of much of his responsibility concerning the activity of his indwelling Adamic life and nature. He is wont to place the blame for his sinning upon Satan, and upon "residual tendencies" and "habits" developed prior to salvation.

But here is the crux of the matter: it is not possible for the source of indwelling sin to be eradicated, while retaining sin, the product of that sinful source. Effect must have a cause! If you sin, you have its source, i.e., Adam.

Dr. Lloyd-Jones taught that "The old man is non-existent. Your old self is gone" (Romans Six, p. 65). Dr. MacArthur: "The old man is dead, destroyed, removed…it isn’t around" (Tape GC 2147). Dr. Solomon: "The old man and sin nature no longer exist in the Christian" (Rejection Syndrome, p. 106). Dr. Bob George: "That old man is dead and gone; he will never exist again" (Classic Christianity, p. 90). Dr. Bill Gillham: "I claim by faith that the old man is extinct" (Lifetime Guarantee, p. 187).

What the one-nature eradicationist fails to understand is that death ever means separation! Separation from God is living death. I, as a new creation in the Last Adam, was positionally separated from the first Adam at the Cross (Gal. 2:20). Hence I reckon myself dead (separated) from sin and its source, the sinful indwelling old Adamic man. This is the meaning of Romans Six.

Continue reading →]]>

Miles J.
Stanford

---

We will briefly consider the “one-nature” error.

1)

Wesleyan
One-Naturism

This is the traditional Pentecostal aberration: “Total
Depravity does not mean that human nature is essentially and completely
evil, but that every part of it is damaged and infected by inherited
Adamic sin. “It is insisted that there is no new nature involved at conversion,
but rather the impartation of spiritual life that regenerates the old Adamic
nature.

Eradication: This is the teaching that all sin is
eradicated from the sinful Adamic nature. The Wesleyan “pure heart,” is
attained when the “second blessing” experience of the “Pentecostal flame”
consumes the sinful propensities of the old Adamic nature. Presto, new divine
nature!

2)

Arminian
One-Naturism

Another type of “one-naturism” is set forth by J. Sidlow Baxter in
his book, A New Call to Holiness. This holiness theory is that of
amelioration of the sinful Adamic nature. Dr. Baxter writes:

“Sin is a diffused infection of thought, desire, motive, impulse,
inclination, and even of instinct, right through the moral nature. From the
moment the Holy Ghost fully possesses us, He begins to correct, purify, refine,
inbreathe and renovate all the qualities, tempers, urges, propensities, and
functions of the mind, the sensations, and the will. This is how holiness
begins and continues to be inwrought” (p. 116).

This is the humanistic theory of change in contradiction to
the spiritual principle of exchange; “Not I, but
Christ.”

3) Covenant One-Naturism

The most prevalent and insidious type of “one-naturism” today is
that of Covenant Theology. Through the error of considering Romans 6:6 to be
actual (condition), rather than positional, it is claimed that the old
Adamic man is actually crucified, dead, and gone–eradicated. Those holding
this view are forced, however, to admit to indwelling sin in the Christian.
Some teach that it is simply a residual influence left over from pre-salvation
days.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Dr. Jay Adams refer to indwelling sin
as “old habits.” Dr. John MacArthur terms it the “old coat of humanness.” Dr.
Charles Solomon says it is the “energy of residual sin.” Another erroneous term
for the indwelling old man is “condition of flesh.” The one-nature proponents
separate the alleged eradication of the old man from the indwelling “flesh.”

However, the Word teaches that “flesh” is a person, as well as a
condition. “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh” (Gen. 6:3). “Fathers of our flesh” (Heb. 12:9) sire progeny of flesh.
Belief in the eradication of the old man tends to relieve the Christian of much
of his responsibility concerning the activity of his indwelling Adamic
life and nature. He is wont to place the blame for his sinning upon Satan, and
upon “residual tendencies” and “habits” developed prior to salvation.

But here is the crux of the matter: it is not possible for the
source of indwelling sin to be eradicated, while retaining sin, the
product of that sinful source. Effect must have a cause! If you sin,
you have its source, i.e., Adam.

Dr. Lloyd-Jones taught that “The old man is non-existent. Your
old self is gone” (Romans Six, p. 65). Dr. MacArthur: “The old man is
dead, destroyed, removed…it isn’t around” (Tape GC 2147). Dr. Solomon:
“The old man and sin nature no longer exist in the Christian” (Rejection
Syndrome, p. 106). Dr. Bob George: “That old man is dead and gone; he will
never exist again” (Classic Christianity, p. 90). Dr. Bill Gillham: “I
claim by faith that the old man is extinct” (Lifetime Guarantee, p.
187).

What the one-nature eradicationist fails to understand is that death ever
means separation! Separation from God is living death. I, as a
new creation in the Last Adam, was positionally separated from the first
Adam at the Cross (Gal. 2:20). Hence I reckon myself dead (separated) from sin
and its source, the sinful indwelling old Adamic man. This is the meaning of
Romans Six.

]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/one-naturism-part-i/feed/ 1 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/pauline-dispensationalism/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/pauline-dispensationalism/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:50:13 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/pauline-dispensationalism/ PAULINE DISPENSATIONALISM

Miles J. Stanford

 

PAULINE DISPENSATIONALISM

Miles J. Stanford

---

Breached Bulwarks-- There are three great fissures in the Dispensational dike, through which doctrinally contaminated Covenant theology is pouring. These inundating law-streams arise from three sources: (1) Israel’s New Covenant, (2) Israel’s Sermon on the Mount, and (3) Israel’s Millennial Kingdom.

These rifts are not only caused by Covenant-engineers from the outside, but also Dispensational-sappers from the inside. Unless these torrents are terminated, the Church will suffer greater devastation in the grip of Covenant Theology than she has from the turmoil and personal wreckage caused by the Arminian Charismatic chaos.

Pauline Dispensationalism -- Our theme is as follows: The Church is to be kept separate from all else, including Israel and her Law, via clear-cut Pauline Dispensationalism.

The Lord Jesus Christ loves His Church, for whom He gave Himself on the Cross. He did so that He might cleanse and sanctify her with the washing of water by the (rightly divided) Word of truth. He would present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having Charismatic spot, nor Covenant wrinkle, nor any such thing, but that she should be holy and without earthly Jewish blemish (Eph. 5:25–27).

The glorified Lord delivered His sanctifying and glorifying message exclusively to His Bride through Paul—a life-giving Word infinitely higher than His earthly message to the nation of Israel. The Pauline Gospel, governed by Pauline Dispensationalism, belongs to the Church.

Dual Gospels--Most dispensationalists and all Covenant theologians fail to realize that there are two Gospels, each dependent upon the Blood of the Cross. The one Gospel is earthly (Kingdom), the other is heavenly (Grace). Both Gospels are “according to Jesus,” and present only one way: by faith.

One Gospel was ministered by Christ on earth, during His pre-Cross humiliation, and was exclusively addressed to Israel regarding her Millennial Kingdom. The other—altogether “new creation” other—was ministered to Paul by the glorified Lord Jesus Christ; after Calvary, from heaven, exclusively to and for His chosen heavenly Body.

John the Baptist’s, Jesus’, and the Apostles’ Gospel concerned the Messiah and His Kingdom-specifically and repeatedly referred to as “the Gospel of the Kingdom” (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Mark 1:14; Luke 9:2, 6). The other, “the Gospel of the Grace of God, “was neither preached nor mentioned until Paul went forth to declare it (Acts 20:24; Rom. 3:21–28; Eph. 3:1–3).

Heaven-based Church -- The Church’s Source is in heaven; as a unique body she was brought into being on earth at Pentecost. She will return to her eternal Source and abode in heaven at the Rapture—not partially, but each and every member of His completed Body. The glorious heavenly Church has no relationship, no continuity, with anything prior to the Cross, nor after the Rapture. His Body will be completed; His spotless Bride presented to Himself in heaven.

Paul’s heavenly Gospel is exclusively for the Church. One need not go down to earthly Israel for anything! Why should a heavenly citizen, “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, stoop to purloin some “spiritual” blessing from comparatively poor Israel? Like the wealthy shoplifter, in the 5 & 10! The Bride shares the throne with her Bridegroom, whether in heaven, or on earth.

Anti-“Ultra”-- Before going further, be assured that the dispensational aspects of the Word presented here are simply normal, clear-cut, Pauline teaching. We have always been opposed to all so-called “ultra,” “extreme,” [or post-Acts2] Dispensationalism. We insist that the Church was born on the day of Pentecost; we insist upon the privilege and responsibility of the Lord’s Supper; we insist upon believers’ baptism by immersion. We have been associated with the Bible Church movement for over half a century; we are just seeking to give God’s revelation to Paul its proper place and nothing more—there is no more!

Heavenly Gospel-- The Gospel for the Church, the Gospel of the Grace of God, Paul’s Gospel, is not mentioned in the Scriptures until 1 Corinthians 15:3–5. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received [from Christ in glory], that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen…”

“But I make known to you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11, 12). “For I [the glorified Lord] have appeared unto thee [Saul] for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee” (Acts 26:16).

“All the Apostles (except Paul) accompanied the Lord and followed Him to the cloud (Acts 1:9). Paul sees Him the other side of the cloud, and it is this which characterizes his entire ministry.”

The glorified Lord directly communicated to Paul not only the great fundamentals of the heavenly Church Gospel, but totally new revelation concerning His Body—truths that He never shared with the nation Israel. These truths concerned our identification with Christ crucified, buried, resurrected and ascended; our heavenly position; our co-heirship and co-reign with our Beloved Bridegroom, and much more.

Dr. Chafer wrote, “The current neglect of the extensive doctrine of the Church is not only blameworthy, but has led to a considerable array of baneful errors. The Church is the purpose of the Father in the present dispensation, and His supreme purpose in the universe” (Systematic Theology IV: 54).

Infinitely Above-- All the while the Lord Jesus’ heavenly Gospel in content and position is infinitely above the Kingdom Gospel that He shared with earthly Israel—which they rejected.

Those who do not center in the truths which the ascended Lord communicated directly to Paul will not know who and where they are in ... Continue reading →]]> PAULINE
DISPENSATIONALISM

Miles J.
Stanford

 

PAULINE
DISPENSATIONALISM

Miles J.
Stanford

---

Breached
Bulwarks– There are
three great fissures in the Dispensational dike, through which doctrinally
contaminated Covenant theology is pouring. These inundating law-streams arise
from three sources: (1) Israel’s New Covenant, (2) Israel’s Sermon on the Mount,
and (3) Israel’s Millennial Kingdom.

These rifts are not only caused by Covenant-engineers from the outside, but
also Dispensational-sappers from the inside. Unless these torrents are
terminated, the Church will suffer greater devastation in the grip of Covenant
Theology than she has from the turmoil and personal wreckage caused by the
Arminian Charismatic chaos.

Pauline
Dispensationalism — Our theme is as follows: The Church is to be
kept separate from all else, including Israel and her Law, via clear-cut
Pauline Dispensationalism.

The Lord Jesus Christ loves His Church, for whom He gave Himself on the
Cross. He did so that He might cleanse and sanctify her with the washing of
water by the (rightly divided) Word of truth. He would present her to Himself a
glorious Church, not having Charismatic spot, nor Covenant wrinkle, nor any such
thing, but that she should be holy and without earthly Jewish blemish (Eph.
5:25–27).

The glorified Lord delivered His sanctifying and glorifying message
exclusively to His Bride through Paul—a life-giving Word infinitely higher than
His earthly message to the nation of Israel. The Pauline Gospel, governed
by Pauline Dispensationalism, belongs to the Church.

Dual
Gospels–Most dispensationalists and all Covenant
theologians fail to realize that there are two Gospels, each dependent
upon the Blood of the Cross. The one Gospel is earthly (Kingdom), the
other is heavenly (Grace). Both Gospels are “according to Jesus,” and
present only one way: by faith.

One Gospel was ministered by Christ on earth, during His pre-Cross
humiliation, and was exclusively addressed to Israel regarding her
Millennial Kingdom. The other—altogether “new creation” other—was ministered to
Paul by the glorified Lord Jesus Christ; after Calvary, from heaven, exclusively
to and for His chosen heavenly Body.

John the Baptist’s, Jesus’, and the Apostles’ Gospel concerned the Messiah
and His Kingdom-specifically and repeatedly referred to as “the Gospel of the
Kingdom” (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Mark 1:14; Luke 9:2, 6). The other, “the
Gospel of the Grace of God, “was neither preached nor mentioned until Paul went
forth to declare it (Acts 20:24; Rom. 3:21–28; Eph. 3:1–3).

Heaven-based
Church — The Church’s Source is in heaven; as a unique body she
was brought into being on earth at Pentecost. She will return to her eternal
Source and abode in heaven at the Rapture—not partially, but each and every
member of His completed Body. The glorious heavenly Church has no relationship,
no continuity, with anything prior to the Cross, nor after the Rapture. His Body
will be completed; His spotless Bride presented to Himself in heaven.

Paul’s heavenly Gospel is exclusively for the Church. One need not go down to
earthly Israel for anything! Why should a heavenly citizen, “blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, stoop to purloin
some “spiritual” blessing from comparatively poor Israel? Like the wealthy
shoplifter, in the 5 & 10! The Bride shares the throne with her Bridegroom,
whether in heaven, or on earth.

Anti-“Ultra”– Before going further, be assured that the
dispensational aspects of the Word presented here are simply normal, clear-cut,
Pauline teaching. We have always been opposed to all so-called “ultra,”
“extreme,” [or post-Acts2] Dispensationalism. We insist that the Church was born
on the day of Pentecost; we insist upon the privilege and responsibility of the
Lord’s Supper; we insist upon believers’ baptism by immersion. We have been
associated with the Bible Church movement for over half a century; we are just
seeking to give God’s revelation to Paul its proper place and nothing more—there
is no more!

Heavenly
Gospel– The
Gospel for the Church, the Gospel of the Grace of God, Paul’s Gospel, is not
mentioned in the Scriptures until 1 Corinthians 15:3–5. “For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received [from Christ in glory], that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was
buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures; and that He was seen…”

“But I make known to you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me
is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I
taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11, 12).
“For I [the glorified Lord] have appeared unto thee [Saul] for this purpose, to
make thee a minister and a witness of these things which thou hast seen, and of
those things in which I will appear unto thee” (Acts 26:16).

“All the Apostles (except Paul) accompanied the Lord and followed Him to the
cloud (Acts 1:9). Paul sees Him the other side of the cloud, and it is this
which characterizes his entire ministry.”

The glorified Lord directly communicated to Paul not only the great
fundamentals of the heavenly Church Gospel, but totally new revelation
concerning His Body—truths that He never shared with the nation Israel. These
truths concerned our identification with Christ crucified, buried, resurrected
and ascended; our heavenly position; our co-heirship and co-reign with our
Beloved Bridegroom, and much more.

Dr. Chafer wrote, “The current neglect of the extensive doctrine of the
Church is not only blameworthy, but has led to a considerable array of baneful
errors. The Church is the purpose of the Father in the present dispensation, and
His supreme purpose in the universe” (Systematic Theology IV: 54).

Infinitely
Above– All the while the
Lord Jesus’ heavenly Gospel in content and position is infinitely above the
Kingdom Gospel that He shared with earthly Israel—which they rejected.

Those who do not center in the truths which the ascended Lord
communicated directly to Paul will not know who and where they are
in Christ, nor what their portion is in the purpose of the Father.
Neither will they know their privileges and responsibilities. Those who are
ignorant of, and hence not centered in, the Pauline Gospel as set forth
exclusively in his Church Epistles, are constantly astray in their
interpretation of the Gospel, to say nothing of all-important Church truth.

“Few are restful and enlightened enough to ascend from earth to
heaven, and therefore there are so few who can descend from heaven to
earth to manifest the Lord Jesus and to share His mind and thoughts as regards
things here. The great secret of all blessing is to come from the Lord.
Every Christian goes to Him.” —J.B. Stoney

If Paul’s Gospel were not other than that of Jesus’ earthly Kingdom
Gospel, he would naturally have been instructed by the Apostles who had been
with and taught by Jesus all during His earthly ministry. On the contrary, the
Apostles had to be indoctrinated by Paul concerning most of the new-creation
truth.

“…even as our beloved brother, Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto
him hath written unto you; as also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of
these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that
are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto
their own destruction” (2 Pet. 3:15, 16). Be warned, all ye who would wrest,
rather than rest and rightly divide! There is a heavy penalty involved in
forsaking Pauline Dispensationalism for Covenant Theology, or even
Neo-Dispensationalism.

“The sublimest truths are still needed to enforce the simplest
responsibilities. As the laws which mould the stars and move the gigantic orbs
of Saturn and Uranus in their tremendous circuits shape the dew-drop that
glistens at the end of a blade of grass, so should everything in the Christian’s
life be regulated by the principles which lie in the Person and Cross of the
glorified Lord Jesus Christ. To isolate Christian morality from Christian
theology is to rend asunder the teachings of the Pauline Epistles, as to their
deepest and most vital elements.” —W.G. Scroggie

“The laws of the Kingdom are not required to be combined with the teachings
of Grace, since every item within those laws which could have any present
application, is exactly and amply stated in the Pauline teachings of Grace.”
—Chafer (Grace, p. 233)

“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a
good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good
doctrine, unto which thou hast attained” (1 Tim.
4:6).

]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/pauline-dispensationalism/feed/ 0 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/what-does-it-mean-to-pray-in-jesus-name/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/what-does-it-mean-to-pray-in-jesus-name/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:21:22 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/what-does-it-mean-to-pray-in-jesus-name/ Question: "What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?"

Answer: Prayer in Jesus’ name is taught in John 14:13-14, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Some misapply this verse, thinking that saying “in Jesus’ name” at the end of a prayer results in God’s always granting what is asked for. This is essentially treating the words “in Jesus’ name” as a magic formula. This is absolutely unbiblical.

Praying in Jesus’ name means praying with His authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers because we come in the name of His Son, Jesus. Praying in Jesus' name means the same thing as praying according to the will of God, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). Praying in Jesus’ name is praying for things that will honor and glorify Jesus.

Saying “in Jesus’ name” at the end of a prayer is not a magic formula. If what we ask for or say in prayer is not for God’s glory and according to His will, saying “in Jesus’ name” is meaningless. Genuinely praying in Jesus' name and for His glory is what is important, not attaching certain words to the end of a prayer. It is not the words in the prayer that matter, but the purpose behind the prayer. Praying for things that are in agreement with God’s will is the essence of praying in Jesus’ name. Continue reading →]]> Question: “What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?”

Answer:
Prayer in Jesus’ name is taught in John 14:13-14, “And I will do whatever you ask in my
name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything
in my name, and I will do it.” Some misapply this verse, thinking that saying
“in Jesus’ name” at the end of a prayer results in God’s always granting what is
asked for. This is essentially treating the words “in Jesus’ name” as a magic
formula. This is absolutely unbiblical.

Praying in Jesus’ name means
praying with His authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers
because we come in the name of His Son, Jesus. Praying in Jesus' name means the
same thing as praying according to the will of God, “This is the confidence we
have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears
us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we
asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). Praying in Jesus’ name is praying for
things that will honor and glorify Jesus.

Saying “in Jesus’ name” at the
end of a prayer is not a magic formula. If what we ask for or say in prayer is
not for God’s glory and according to His will, saying “in Jesus’ name” is
meaningless. Genuinely praying in Jesus' name and for His glory is what is
important, not attaching certain words to the end of a prayer. It is not the
words in the prayer that matter, but the purpose behind the prayer. Praying for
things that are in agreement with God’s will is the essence of praying in Jesus’
name.

]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/what-does-it-mean-to-pray-in-jesus-name/feed/ 0 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/a-few-words-about-grace/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/a-few-words-about-grace/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:27:00 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/a-few-words-about-grace/ The Nature of Grace:

1. Grace is God acting freely, according to His own nature -- as Love; with no promises or obligations to fulfill; and acting of course, righteously -- in view of the cross.
2. Grace, therefore, is uncaused in the recipient: its cause lies wholly in the GIVER, in GOD.
3. Grace, also is sovereign. Not having debts to pay, or fulfilled conditions on man's part to wait for, it can act toward whom, and how, it pleases. It can, and does, often, place the worst deservers in the highest favors.
4. Grace cannot act where there is either desert or ability: Grace does not help -- it is absolute, it does all.
5. There being no cause in the creature why Grace should be shown, the creature must be brought off from trying to give cause to God for His Grace.
6. The discovery by the creature that he is truly the object of Divine grace, works the utmost humility: for the receiver of grace is brought to know his own absolute unworthiness, and his complete inability to attain worthiness: yet he finds himself blessed -- on another principle, outside of himself!
7. Therefore, flesh has no place in the plan of Grace. This is the great reason why Grace is hated by the proud natural mind of man. But for this very reason, the true believer rejoices! For he knows that "in him, that is, in his flesh, is no good thing"; and yet he finds God glad to bless him, just as he is!

The Place of Man under Grace:

1. He has been accepted in Christ, who is his standing!
2. He is not "on probation."
3. As to his life past, it does not exist before God: he died at the Cross, and Christ is his life.
4. Grace, once bestowed, is not withdrawn: for God knew all the human exigencies (needs) beforehand: His action was independent of them, not dependent upon them.
5. The failure of devotion does not cause the withdrawal of bestowed grace (as it would under law). For example: the man in I Cor. 5.1-5; and also those in 11.30-32, who did not "judge" themselves, and so were "judged by the Lord, -- that they might not be condemned with the world"!

The Proper Attitude of Man under Grace:

1. To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret.
2. To refuse to make "resolutions" and "vows"; for that, is to trust in the flesh.
3. To expect to be blessed, though realizing more and more lack of worth.
4. To testify of God's goodness, at all times.
5. To be certain of God's future favor; yet to be ever more tender in conscience toward Him.
6. To rely on God's chastening hand as a mark of His kindness.
7. A man under grace, if like Paul, has no burden regarding himself; but many about others.

Things Which Gracious Souls Discover:

1. To "hope to be better" is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.
2. To be disappointed with yourself, is to have believed in yourself.
3. To be discouraged is unbelief, -- as to God's purpose and plan of blessing for you.
4. To be proud, is to be blind! For we have no standing before God, in ourselves.
5. The lack of Divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, and not from failure of devotion.
6. Real devotion to God arises, not from man's will to show it; but from the discovery that blessing has been received from God while we were yet unworthy and undevoted.
7. To preach devotion first, and blessing second, is to reverse God's order, and preach law, not grace. The Law made man's blessing depend on devotion; Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing: our devotion may follow, but does not always do so, -- in proper measure.

Studies in Deuteronomy

by William R. Newell

Instead of blessing the people altogether on the ground of promise, that is altogether in view of Christ's coming work, He says "If you obey My law, I will bless you." Obedience first, then blessing, is the order under the law. There is nothing for the people to fall back on, except their own obedience now. They may indeed remember that they are God's chosen people, according to His covenant with the fathers: but the law has come in since those days, and they are under it. So Moses insists, in Deuteronomy, on their obedience as the condition of everything, as they are about to enter their inheritance.

Now the position of the Christian is entirely different. It is of absolute importance that we understand this. Thousands upon thousands of Christians today are in bondage because they do not see the essential difference between our position and that of Israel under the law. Now, Israel depended upon their own obedience to get their blessings in the land. Christians get their blessings because Christ obeyed in their stead. This gives them rest of heart, so that they have leisure to love God for His own sake, and learn to delight in His will.

But there are hardly any Christians who dare believe this. That is, they cannot apprehend such grace as this. They think, of course, that their blessings depend upon their faithfulness, their earnestness, their consecration, etc. But, this is not to be under grace (where God says we are Rom. 4:14) but under law; that is, under responsibility to do, in order to have, which is the order of the law, not that of grace.

Grace says, "You have been blessed already, in Christ Jesus, with all spiritual blessings." Eph. 1:3 The only obedience that pleases God now, is the obedience of FAITH, which enters boldly in, and appropriates these things that Christ's obedience unto death has secured for us.
Now I know someone will read these words who will say: ''Yes 'but we must do our part', ere we ... Continue reading →]]> The Nature of Grace:

1. Grace is God acting
freely, according to His own nature — as Love; with no promises or obligations
to fulfill; and acting of course, righteously — in view of the cross.
2.
Grace, therefore, is uncaused in the recipient: its cause lies wholly in the
GIVER, in GOD.
3. Grace, also is sovereign. Not having debts to pay, or
fulfilled conditions on man's part to wait for, it can act toward whom, and how,
it pleases. It can, and does, often, place the worst deservers in the highest
favors.
4. Grace cannot act where there is either desert or ability: Grace
does not help — it is absolute, it does all.
5. There being no cause in the
creature why Grace should be shown, the creature must be brought off from trying
to give cause to God for His Grace.
6. The discovery by the creature that he
is truly the object of Divine grace, works the utmost humility: for the receiver
of grace is brought to know his own absolute unworthiness, and his complete
inability to attain worthiness: yet he finds himself blessed — on another
principle, outside of himself!
7. Therefore, flesh has no place in the plan
of Grace. This is the great reason why Grace is hated by the proud natural mind
of man. But for this very reason, the true believer rejoices! For he knows that
“in him, that is, in his flesh, is no good thing”; and yet he finds God glad to
bless him, just as he is!

The Place of Man under
Grace:

1. He has been accepted in
Christ, who is his standing!
2. He is not “on probation.”
3. As to his
life past, it does not exist before God: he died at the Cross, and Christ is his
life.
4. Grace, once bestowed, is not withdrawn: for God knew all the human
exigencies (needs) beforehand: His action was independent of them, not dependent
upon them.
5. The failure of devotion does not cause the withdrawal of
bestowed grace (as it would under law). For example: the man in I Cor. 5.1-5;
and also those in 11.30-32, who did not “judge” themselves, and so were “judged
by the Lord, — that they might not be condemned with the world”!

The Proper Attitude of
Man under Grace:

1. To believe, and to
consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret.
2. To refuse to
make “resolutions” and “vows”; for that, is to trust in the flesh.
3. To
expect to be blessed, though realizing more and more lack of worth.
4. To
testify of God's goodness, at all times.
5. To be certain of God's future
favor; yet to be ever more tender in conscience toward Him.
6. To rely on
God's chastening hand as a mark of His kindness.
7. A man under grace, if
like Paul, has no burden regarding himself; but many about others.

Things Which Gracious
Souls Discover:

1. To “hope to be better”
is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.
2. To be disappointed with
yourself, is to have believed in yourself.
3. To be discouraged is unbelief,
– as to God's purpose and plan of blessing for you.
4. To be proud, is to
be blind! For we have no standing before God, in ourselves.
5. The lack of
Divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, and not from failure of
devotion.
6. Real devotion to God arises, not from man's will to show it;
but from the discovery that blessing has been received from God while we were
yet unworthy and undevoted.
7. To preach devotion first, and blessing
second, is to reverse God's order, and preach law, not grace. The Law made man's
blessing depend on devotion; Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing:
our devotion may follow, but does not always do so, — in proper measure.

Studies in
Deuteronomy

by William R. Newell

Instead of
blessing the people altogether on the ground of promise, that is altogether in
view of Christ's coming work, He says “If you obey My law, I will bless you.”
Obedience first, then blessing, is the order under the law. There is nothing for
the people to fall back on, except their own obedience now. They may indeed
remember that they are God's chosen people, according to His covenant with the
fathers: but the law has come in since those days, and they are under it. So
Moses insists, in Deuteronomy, on their obedience as the condition of
everything, as they are about to enter their inheritance.

Now the
position of the Christian is entirely different. It is of absolute importance
that we understand this. Thousands upon thousands of Christians today are in
bondage because they do not see the essential difference between our position
and that of Israel under the law. Now, Israel depended upon their own obedience
to get their blessings in the land. Christians get their blessings because
Christ obeyed in their stead. This gives them rest of heart, so that they have
leisure to love God for His own sake, and learn to delight in His will.

But there are hardly any Christians who dare believe this. That is, they
cannot apprehend such grace as this. They think, of course, that their blessings
depend upon their faithfulness, their earnestness, their consecration, etc. But,
this is not to be under grace (where God says we are Rom. 4:14) but under law;
that is, under responsibility to do, in order to have, which is the order of the
law, not that of grace.

Grace says, “You have been blessed already, in
Christ Jesus, with all spiritual blessings.” Eph. 1:3 The only obedience that
pleases God now, is the obedience of FAITH, which enters boldly in, and
appropriates these things that Christ's obedience unto death has secured for us.

Now I know someone will read these words who will say: ''Yes 'but we must do
our part', ere we can claim or enjoy these spiritual blessings.” The which shows
that such a person is at heart, a miserable legalist to this day believing
neither that Christ is the end of the law, nor that His work has really made
these heavenly things actually ours. This is the hellish insult that unbelief
ever flings into the face of God, that His Word is not good for the exact face
of it.

The primary reason Christians today are living such unhappy, such
empty, such weak and fruitless lives, is not (I dare to say it), that they are
“not consecrated,” “not surrendered,” “not self-denying,” “not obedient,” not
this and that and the other that the thousand and one preachers of legal
holiness are complaining — not these at all: the trouble, the one great
trouble, is, Christians do not believe that they are free from the law, in
Christ Jesus; and that they already have the glorious blessings they are seeking
after, and need only claim them, to enjoy them. People dare not believe that
Christ has done all the obeying and fulfilling for them, and that “their part”
is simply to enter in and enjoy the infinite spoils of Christ's victory.

Someone needs to die for this great truth in their own day, as Paul died
for it once and all the martyrs since. God bring it back to the church, this
glorious truth of grace! “By the obedience of the ONE, the many are made
righteous,” and are blessed for His sake alone. Rom 5 Eph 3.

]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/a-few-words-about-grace/feed/ 0 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/none-but-the-hungry-heart-5/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/none-but-the-hungry-heart-5/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:06:37 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/none-but-the-hungry-heart-5/ None But the Hungry Heart #5

What is shared herein is designed to further your acquaintance with the Lord Jesus on high, and to enrich your fellowship with Him and with the Father. Through prayerful meditation in None But the Hungry Heart #5, we trust the Holy Spirit will bring about a strengthening of faith and an upward drawing of heart.

Furthermore, it is hoped that these thoughts may provide you an opportunity to try your "faith wings"--to learn more fully the need to abide above, and thereby walk here below in the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2).

"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment (discernment); that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:9-11).

-Miles J. Stanford; Sept. 1973

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5-1. THE GREATEST

"We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

We first come to know something of the Lord Jesus' love by what He did for us; but that is only the basis for coming to know His love in what He is to us. The first is known at the Cross, the latter is entered into through personal fellowship with the risen Lord.

"There are three steps in appreciation of His love for us. First, I learn that He loves me so much that He saved me. He is our treasure 'My Beloved is mine' (Song of Solomon 6:3). The second step of affection is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He has a right to me. He would have me for Himself. 'I am my Beloved's' (Song of Solomon 6:3).

"The third step is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He wants my company 'His desire is toward me' (Song of Solomon 7:10). Love's delight is found in the company of its object. May we know in a deeper way, and in a fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with 'the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me' (Galatians 2:20).

"Much ministry is lost upon us as to any practical result, because we are not prepared to be detached from things here, so as to be simply here for Christ. And the preparation for this is to come personally under the influence of the blessed attractiveness of the Lord Jesus. When we sit under His shadow with great delight, everything else becomes so small, and loses its hold upon our hearts." -C.A.C.

"But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

---

5-2. INITIAL PREPARATION

"Saul armed David with his armor.... And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not tested them" (1 Samuel 17:38, 39).

Years of preparation are worth a moment of truth! Rest assured that once we are developed and trained by the Holy Spirit, the work whereunto He has called us will be ready and waiting (Acts 13:2). "Our Lord must have an instrument which He has formed in the fire and to which He has given peculiar knowledge of Himself."

"The greater the knowledge committed to a servant, the more necessary and important it is that he should be much alone with God about it, in order that he may realize the nature and effect of it on himself before he undertakes to make it known to others.

"It rebukes the haste and readiness with which many now enter the ministry, attempting to impress others with a measure of the truth which they have not proved for themselves. Surely the servant should ever be able to say: 'I believed, and therefore have I spoken' (2 Corinthians 4:13). It is better to lose time as to work in preparation for service than to lose time in repairing one's mistakes in undertaking a work for which one is not yet qualified."

"A servant's discipline must always be in advance of the service prepared for him. He cannot lead beyond the point to which he himself has been led. But when the depth and reality of the truth has been established in his own soul, he is made the channel of it."

"I have found that many a thing which I had presented in an extreme way because I was sure of it, I put forth in a simpler and a more real way when I had touched it in my own experience." -J.B.S.

"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you" (1 John 1:3).

---

5-3. APPREHENDED TO APPREHEND

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord" (Philippians 3:8).

Positionally, our Father subjected our old nature to the Cross and its resultant death. Experientially, He applies the work of the Cross to our old life, thereby progressively holding it in the grip of that death. He is "unforming" the old nature in death, and conforming the new nature in life.

"Life more abundant requires that what He did for us shall be made good in us. In His Cross He dealt with our sins, and He also dealt with ourselves; but that is something which has to be made good progressively. It is as we ourselves are dealt with in the power of the Cross that the way is made for His life to express itself in ever deepening fullness.

"The fact is that it is the old life which is in the way of the new life and its full expression. It is the natural life which obstructs the course of the divine life. Thus what has been done for us has ... Continue reading →]]> None But the Hungry Heart #5

What is shared herein is designed to further your
acquaintance with the Lord Jesus on high, and to enrich your fellowship with Him and with
the Father. Through prayerful meditation in None But the Hungry Heart #5, we trust the
Holy Spirit will bring about a strengthening of faith and an upward drawing of heart.

Furthermore, it is hoped that these thoughts may provide
you an opportunity to try your “faith wings”–to learn more fully the need to
abide above, and thereby walk here below in the “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2).

“And this I pray, that your love may
abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment (discernment); that ye may
approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day
of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto
the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).

-Miles J. Stanford; Sept. 1973

 Go
to frames set

---

5-1.
THE GREATEST

“We love Him, because He first loved
us” (1 John 4:19).

We first come to know something of the Lord Jesus' love by
what He did for us; but that is only the basis for coming to know His love in what He is
to us. The first is known at the Cross, the latter is entered into through personal
fellowship with the risen Lord.

“There are three steps in appreciation of His love for
us. First, I learn that He loves me so much that He saved me. He is our treasure 'My Beloved is mine' (Song of Solomon 6:3). The second step of affection is the consciousness that He loves me
so much that He has a right to me. He would have me for Himself. 'I am my Beloved's' (Song of Solomon 6:3).

“The third step is the consciousness that He loves me
so much that He wants my company 'His
desire is toward me' (Song of Solomon 7:10). Love's
delight is found in the company of its object. May we know in a deeper way, and in a
fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with 'the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me' (Galatians
2:20).

“Much ministry is lost upon us as to any practical
result, because we are not prepared to be detached from things here, so as to be simply
here for Christ. And the preparation for this is to come personally under the influence of
the blessed attractiveness of the Lord Jesus. When we sit under His shadow with great
delight, everything else becomes so small, and loses its hold upon our hearts.”
-C.A.C.

“But we all, with unveiled face
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

---

5-2.
INITIAL PREPARATION

“Saul armed David with his armor….
And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not tested them” (1
Samuel 17:38, 39).

Years of preparation are worth a moment of truth! Rest
assured that once we are developed and trained by the Holy Spirit, the work whereunto He
has called us will be ready and waiting (Acts
13:2). “Our Lord must have an instrument which He
has formed in the fire and to which He has given peculiar knowledge of Himself.”

“The greater the knowledge committed to a servant, the
more necessary and important it is that he should be much alone with God about it, in
order that he may realize the nature and effect of it on himself before he undertakes to
make it known to others.

“It rebukes the haste and readiness with which many
now enter the ministry, attempting to impress others with a measure of the truth which
they have not proved for themselves. Surely the servant should ever be able to say: 'I believed, and therefore have I spoken' (2
Corinthians 4:13). It is better to lose time as to work
in preparation for service than to lose time in repairing one's mistakes in undertaking a
work for which one is not yet qualified.”

“A servant's discipline must always be in advance of
the service prepared for him. He cannot lead beyond the point to which he himself has been
led. But when the depth and reality of the truth has been established in his own soul, he
is made the channel of it.”

“I have found that many a thing which I had presented
in an extreme way because I was sure of it, I put forth in a simpler and a more real way
when I had touched it in my own experience.” -J.B.S.

“That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you” (1 John 1:3).

---

5-3.
APPREHENDED TO APPREHEND

“I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).

Positionally, our Father subjected our old nature to the
Cross and its resultant death. Experientially, He applies the work of the Cross to our old
life, thereby progressively holding it in the grip of that death. He is
“unforming” the old nature in death, and conforming the new nature in life.

“Life more abundant requires that what He did for us
shall be made good in us. In His Cross He dealt with our sins, and He also dealt with
ourselves; but that is something which has to be made good progressively. It is as we
ourselves are dealt with in the power of the Cross that the way is made for His life to
express itself in ever deepening fullness.

“The fact is that it is the old life which is in the
way of the new life and its full expression. It is the natural life which obstructs the
course of the divine life. Thus what has been done for us has to be done in us, and as it
is done in us that life becomes more than a deposit, more than a simple, though glorious
possession; it becomes a deepening, growing power, a fullness of expression.” -T.
A-S.

“You may have been in the fires and have been having a
pretty hard and painful time in your spiritual life, but that only means that God has been
preparing you for something more. No, God is not a God who believes in bringing everything
to an end. He is always after something more. And if He has to clear the way for something
more by devastating methods (Cross), well, that is all right, for it is something more
that He is after. There is so much more, far, far transcending all our asking or
thinking.”

“I follow after, if that I may
apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12).

---

5-4. FIXED
POSITION

“And He said to them all, If any man
will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me”
(Luke 9:23)

True spiritual experience will result from our standing
immovable in our position “in Christ.” All too often believers allow certain
“experiences” to move them from the faith-ground of their objective position,
and they are soon adrift on the sea of subjective feelings and unscriptural influences.

“The Christian life is essentially a continuous dying,
and a continuous living. Of course, there may come a particular crisis in experience where
the Spirit of God brings the soul face to face with a definite issue as to a willingness
for the Cross, and a yielding of the life to God. Yes, the first revelation of the secret
of victory also may constitute a real crisis in the life of the believer, but that crisis
or experience can never, in itself, avail for the future.

“There is a subtle danger in relying upon some
isolated experience of 'sanctification,' so-called. The victorious Christian life is a
Person, not an experience. Following the crisis, whatever phase or landmark in the life
that may represent, there must be the daily reckoning, the moment-by-moment abiding and
the control of the Holy Spirit. Whatever may have been our experience of holiness, and the
measure of spiritual attainment in the past, we can never get beyond the need of abiding
in Christ and the continuous reckoning of faith.” -R.W.

“For we, alive though we are, are
continually surrendering ourselves to death for the sake of Jesus” (2 Corinthians
4:11, Wey.).

---

5-5. OLD
REJECTED, NEW ACCEPTED

“You were set free from the tyranny of
Sin, and became the bondservants of Righteousness” (Romans 6:18 Wey.).

The principle underlying resurrection life is, of all
things, death. “For since we have
become one with Him by sharing in His death, we shall also be one with Him by sharing in
His resurrection. Surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the
dead” (Romans 6:5, 13, Wey.). Let the facts of
your position overwhelm the feelings of your condition.

“By exercising faith in the Word, apart from any
feelings, be 'planted together with Him
in the likeness of His death' (Romans 6:5). Only by
thus standing in your position will you begin to experience 'the likeness of His
resurrection. Reckon on your life-union with Him. Reject the old life on the basis of your
death in Christ on the Cross, and count yourself alive in Him until He makes experiential
your resurrection position. Do not forget that you must stand firmly upon the specific
truths: 'dead indeed unto sin–alive
unto God in Christ Jesus' (Romans 6:11).

“The sharing of His life is our blessed experience
just in the measure in which we share His death. So many of us are content merely that the
Cross should be the power to save us from the penalty of sin, but death was not the end of
the manifestation of Christ. It was resurrection, and it is the risen life, shining forth
in the believer, that alone can carry out the purpose of God in redemption. The believer,
in whose daily attitude the mark of resurrection is seen, becomes what the world is
looking for, a convincing witness to the power of the Living Redeemer.” -G.W.

“That I may know Him and the power of
His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).

---

5-6.
TRANSFERRED AND TRANSFORMED

“If [since] ye, then, be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God” (Colossians 3:1).

The growth truths seem complicated and difficult to
understand on first encounter. However, with progress in grace we find them to be as clear
and logical as the truth of justification. For both time and eternity, all is summed up in
John 17:3: “And this is life
eternal. . . [to] know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ.” Study on!

“The marvel of divine grace is that not only has
everything according to the heart of God been secured for me through the death and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but that I, a child of Adam, should be, not only in peace
with God where I was under His judgment, but that I am transferred from Adam to Christ,
and I am to have Christ formed in me now.

“I am born of God–of new and divine origin–a new
creation to be here on earth now where I was a child of Adam, in the grace and beauty of
Christ, led by His own power to stand for Him; daily more and more 'transformed into the same image from glory to glory
even as by the Spirit of the Lord' (2 Corinthians 3:18).”

“I used to study this passage and that passage to
obtain guidance and light. I see now that if I were really near Him beholding His glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), I should be transformed, should come from Him so impressed with Himself
that His interests would, as it were, naturally control me.” -J.B.S.

“When the heart has found its rest and satisfaction in
Him, it can turn to Him naturally and continually in every circumstance.”

“Set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2).

---

5-7. ABIDE
ABOVE

“And hath raised us up together, and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

The Cross has separated us from the power of sin (Romans 6:11),
the old man (Romans 6:6), the world (Galatians
6:14), the law (Romans 7:4), and the devil (Hebrews 2:14).
The Spirit has joined us to our risen Lord, and we are “hidden with Christ in
God” (Colossians 3:3). We are free–to abide above; free–to fellowship with our Father
in glory.

“The lack I find in souls is, that while they know
that their sins are forgiven, they do not know their new place. What place do you have? Is
it earth or heaven? It could not possibly be earth, for the Lord Jesus was rejected from
the earth. It has a great moral effect upon a person to be able to say, 'I have a place in
heaven; I have no property on earth at all, it is all in heaven.'

“'It is the Lord's property I have on earth, but in
heaven I have my own.' In the garden of Eden, man lost his place; the question to him then
is, First–Where art thou? then, What hast thou done? Every believer seeks to be clear as
to the latter, but very few are clear about the former.” -J.B.S.

“Many do not go beyond Christ's resurrection; they do
not extend to His ascension. They do not know Him in glory. They are occupied with Him in
relation to their own side. He was at my side and glorified God there both in His walk
here and in His death; but He is now at His own side, and it is there I intelligently
realize the vastness of my life, for He is my life.”

“My mind must rise above what I am to what God is;
then it is that one is formed by the revelation of what God is. To this we are
called.” -J.N.D.

“Faithful is He that calleth you, who
also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

---

5-8.
POSITION POSSESSED

“The God of peace . . . working in you
that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:20, 21).

Abiding involves a dual choice. We can abide in the old
nature and thereby become the victims of the internal civil war as depicted in Romans
Seven. Or, we can abide (rest) in the risen Lord Jesus, the Source of our new nature, and
thereby become the glad recipients of His life and liberty, as depicted in Romans Eight. “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made
me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).

“How do we abide? 'Of God are ye in Christ Jesus' (1 Corinthians 1:30). It is all the work of God to place you there, and He has done it.
Now stay there! Do not be moved back onto the ground of the old nature. Never look at
yourself as though you were not in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Him and see
yourself a new creation in Him. Look at Him as the very source of your Christian life.
Abide in Him. Rest in the fact that God has placed you in eternal union with His Son, and
let the Holy Spirit take care of His work in you. It is for Him to make good the glorious
promise that 'sin shall not have
dominion over you' (Romans 6:14).”

“We should be spared years of struggle and failure if
we learned at once–as the converts did in the days of Paul–that we ourselves were taken
through the death of the Lord Jesus. The past blotted out, the pardoned sinner accounted
crucified with the crucified Lord, henceforth joined as a new creation to the risen Lord
and now sharing His life (Romans 5:10).”

“The Lord Jesus is all that we need for all that we
are.”

“Your life is hidden with Christ in
God” (Colossians 3:3).

---

5-9. WRONG
SOURCE

“Rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3).

There are two ways in which God reveals to us the true
condition of the natural man. The first is via the Word: “In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing”
(Romans 7:18). The second is via experience: years of
struggle with the constant sinfulness and failure of that old nature. If we were more
willing to face up to the incorrigibility of the Adamic life within, it might not take us
so long to be freed from its domination.

“It is quite possible for every one of us to have a
perfectly good conscience. A happy state to be in! Have you a good conscience? Are you
under accusation, under condemnation? Are you fretting and worrying about the badness of
your own heart? That means that you have not the answer of a good conscience to God. What
is the matter? You are still looking for something from nature, from the old man. You had
better give it up, as that is the only way out; repudiate it.

“Tell yourself and tell the accuser once for all that
in you, that is, in your flesh, dwelleth no good thing, and you never expect to find
anything. The enemy knows it, and yet he is trying to get you on an impossible quest for
something he knows you will never find, and that is how he worries you. Years of it! Then
why not come onto the Lord's ground and out-maneuver him? Let us settle it that we can
never expect to find any good in our old nature. All our good is in another, even our Lord
Jesus. It is 'the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:2).” -T. A-S.

“Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty
with which Christ hath made us free” (Galatians 5:1).

---

5-10.
“SEARCH ME, O GOD”

“I, the Lord, search the heart”
(Jeremiah 17:10).

During the early, carnal years we are afraid to face up to
the sinful nature within, not fully realizing that it was dealt with in condemnation to
God's full satisfaction at Calvary. When we come to see that all the old nature was taken
down into the death of the Cross, and in Christ Jesus we are completely clear of its
penalty and power, then it is that we begin to welcome the work of the Cross upon all that
of which the Holy Spirit convicts us.

“The natural man cannot bear the thought of being
searched by God; he cannot stand to think of being found out in his true condition and
character. But to the truly hungry believer it is a positive comfort to be assured that
God knows everything about us; He knows the very worst that can be discovered. He has
searched out all that we are, and in spite of all He has thoughts of blessing concerning
us. There is, therefore, no fear of anything coming to light that might cause Him to
change or reverse His thought of blessing and acceptance.” -C.A.C.

“Our acceptance with God in Christ is perfect, and
therefore unimprovable. It never alters; never varies. And it is very important for us not
to mix the acceptance itself with our enjoyment of it. Our acceptance is 'in Christ,' and
therefore eternal; the enjoyment is 'by the Spirit,' and therefore (because of the working
of the flesh) often hindered.” -J.B.S.

“The sense of His goodness removes the guile of heart
that seeks to conceal its sin.” -J.N.D.

“For I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected
end” (Jeremiah 29:11).

---

5-11.
RELIANT REST

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My
Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

Our Father allows us to be independent until by that means
we come to know our own weakness and need. “Strength is always the effect of having
to do with God in the spirit of dependence.”

“Some say, 'I want to feel that I am strong.' What we
need is to feel that we are weak; this brings in Omnipotence. We shall have a life of
feeling by-and-by in the glory; now we are called upon to lead a life of faith. What
believer but knows from the experience of the deceitfulness of his own heart, that, had we
power in ourselves instead of in Christ, we should be something. This is what God does not
intend.”

“The very essence of the condition of a soul in a
right state is conscious dependence. Now one may use the fact of completeness in Christ to
make one independent. Two things are implied in dependence: first, the sense that we
cannot do without God in a single instance; and, secondly, that He is 'for us.' In other
words, there is confidence in His love and power on our behalf, as well as the
consciousness that without Him we can do nothing.” -J.N.D.

“We are to walk humbly and lean ever and only on the
mighty arm of the living God. Thus the soul is kept in a well-balanced condition, free
from self-confidence and fleshly excitement, on the one hand; and free from gloom and
depression, on the other. If we can do nothing, self-confidence is the height of
presumption. If God can do everything, despondency is the height of folly.”

“But my God shall supply all your need
according; to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

---

5-12.
TRUSTED TRAINER

“He knoweth the way that I take; when
He hath tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

In every field, whether the arts, industry, sports, or the
Christian life and service in general, the necessary training goes far deeper and is much
more rigorous than the actual performance. “Now, at the time, discipline seems to be a matter not for joy, but for
grief; yet it afterwards yields to those who have passed through its training a result
full of peace–namely, righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11, Wey.).

“The Father chooses the servant who is suited to carry
out His will; but though that servant be endowed by Him with power to do so, yet unless he
be controlled and disciplined by the Spirit of God he will continually fall into the
devisings of his nature, no matter how godly and divine may be his intent. For we greatly
err if we think that having the divine thought is all that is necessary as to our service;
we must truly and efficiently be expressive of the thought; and this subjects us, as
servants of God, to discipline which we often cannot understand.

“Discipline for known faults or shortcomings we can
easily comprehend; but when it is that peculiar order of training which fits a man to be
God's instrument and witness, we can no more understand it than the plants of the earth
can understand why they must pass through all the vicissitudes of winter in order to bring
forth a more abundant harvest.” -J.B.S.

“God leaves us in the world that we may learn the
sufficiency of His grace in practice, as we know the triumph of it in Christ.”

“Jesus answered and said unto him,
What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter” (John 13:7).

---

5-13.
FREE, TO SERVE

“No man that warreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a
soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4).

God has a unique plan concerning each one of us. The secret
of realizing our personal calling is not to look at others, but simply to walk in close
fellowship with the Father. “My
soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him” (Psalm 62:5).

“No one Christian has a right to stop on his way for
another; he must go forward himself in individual faithfulness. The effort to drag others
along with us is in reality but a device of Satan to keep ourselves back. Note Jehovah's
word to Jeremiah, 'Let them return unto
thee; but return not thou to them' (Jeremiah 15:19).
Are any desirous of going forward, let them not stop to carry along with them 'the men of
Ephraim.' Far better is it to go on with but a few to follow, than to get numbers with us
who are only halfhearted.”

“You may say, 'Show me a pattern man.' We all like to
copy; but there is no gain in copying. You have to learn the Lord for yourself. All you
learn for yourself will remain, and nothing else. Every one has his own history.”

“It is plain enough that every believer is called of
God to something definite. The real difficulty is to ascertain the specialty, and this I
do not think can be discovered but in nearness to the Lord, and when you are interested in
His interests. We first learn that He is interested in us, and then we gradually become
interested in His interests. It is then you apprehend your mission in life.” -J.B.S.

“And if a man also strive for
masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully” (2 Timothy 2:5).

---

5-14. FULL
PROVISION

“Let him ask in faith and have no
doubts; for he who has doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed
into spray. A person of that sort must not expect to receive anything from the Lord–such
a one is a man of two minds, undecided in every step he takes” (James 1:6-8, Wey.).

First, we are to rest in the fact that our Father has made
full provision for all our needs; positionally, we are complete in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then it is that we can trust Him daily for His “exceeding abundantly above.” “But my God shall supply all
your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19)

“It is true that all God requires of us we lack; but
it is also true that all we need He supplies. The believer can give thanks that God has
supplied all his need as to standing, and He engages to supply all his need as to walk.
But while we see our Father's requirement, and recognize His provision, let us not
overlook our responsibility.

“When we fail it is to this our failure may be traced.
It is not because the provision has been insufficient, or unavailable, or afar off–but
because the channel has been obstructed, the avenues of the soul have been closed, so that
the need has remained unsupplied. Our responsibility lies in the exercise of faith.”
-E.H.

“I will not think of the infinities of my need, except
to lead me to the divine simplicity of the infinity of His supply.” -H.C.G.M.

“And this is the confidence that we
have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us; and if we
know that He hear us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired
of Him” (1 John 5:14, 15).

---

5-15. THE
FIRST CAUSE

“A man's goings are established of
Jehovah; and he delighteth in His way” (Psalm 37:23, ASV.) .

Throughout time and eternity the God of circumstances has
every situation planned for our good and for His glory (Romans 8:28, 29). That is all
that should matter to us. “Surely
the wrath of man shall praise Thee” “For all things are for your sakes, that the
abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God”
(Psalm 76:10; 2 Corinthians 4:15).

“What the other person said or did to you was
undoubtedly wrong and cannot be justified. Nor did he do it at God's direction; but God
permitted him to do it for some wise reason which will yet prove to have been abundantly
worthwhile for you. By the time that action reached you it had become the will of God for
you, since to a yielded believer there are no second causes.

“He believes the Psalmist's declaration that every
step of his life's pathway has been ordered by the Lord. No trial or affliction can reach
you who are abiding in Him, without His permission. You can, therefore, be confident in
every circumstance of life, however baffling, that it has been permitted in your own best
interest by the wisest and most loving of fathers, who knows our 'load-limit' (1 Corinthians 10:13).” -O.S.

“All that we pass through is that we may get a fresh
view of the Lord Jesus, or a deepening of a former one; but often we are so occupied with
ourselves and the circumstances, that we fail to 'behold the glory of the Lord.'”
-C.T.

“If the external plannings of men or Satan further
God's plans, they succeed; if not, they come to nothing.” -J.N.D.

“Though he fall, he shall not be
utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand” (Psalm 37:24).

---

5-16.
SELFLESS SERVICE

“In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will!” (Ephesians 1:11).

It is easy to just “let George do it,” but it is
so unrewarding. There is a Christ-honoring ministry of being and sharing awaiting each
believer, and the secret is to let Christ do it!

“Our Father has a different line of things for
everyone, and each of us has been sent into this world for some special mission. It is not
a question whether it is great or small; it may be only a flower to shed fragrance, though
this is really the greatest of all.

“There is no higher service than moral influence, 'thy
whole body . . . full of light'; and this, of all the highest moral order, is within the
compass of all. 'Christ shall be
magnified in my body whether by life or by death' (Philippians 1:20).” -J.B.S.

“A mark of the true servant is that he is consciously
nothing. John could speak of himself as only a 'voice,' and a greater than John was
consciously 'less than the least of all saints.' The moment we think ourselves to be
anything, we are out of the servant's true position and spirit. There is a beautiful
contrast between John's account of himself, and the Lord's description of him (John 1:22-27; Luke 7:26-28). The more worthy we are of the Lord's commendation, the less do we think of
ourselves.” -C.A.C.

“For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them” (Ephesians 2:10).

---

5-17.
FRUSTRATED ENEMY

“Then saith Jesus unto him, Begone,
Satan” (Matthew 4:10).

There is a great difference between a foe, and; defeated
foe. A conquered enemy can be put to valuable use in the hands of the victor, and that is
exactly what God is doing with that old serpent. Satan is allowed to sift, and try the
believer; he is used of God as a winnowing machine to clear away the chaff in us.

“No power in present things allowed to Satan annuls
the will of the invisible God.” -W.K.

“The story of Job shows clearly that it is God who
sets the limit to the extent of the devil's activities and power. From the human viewpoint
the Cross looks like a colossal failure. In it the victory of the power of evil seemed
complete. But 'the weakness of God is stronger than men' or the enemy, and by the power of
weakness having 'spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it' (Colossians 2:15).” -C.J.M.

“It is inevitable that in a world like this the faith
of Christians must be tried. For we are in an enemy's land, and he resents our presence.
And we have an enemy within our gates–the old man–that opposes us too. But take heart
fellow believer, the trials of your faith will be 'found unto praise, honor and glory at the appearing of the Lord Jesus
Christ' (1 Peter 1:7). The happy outcome is a foregone
conclusion. Trials work patience, experience, hope–and these are abiding qualities.
Satan, as it were, is God's scavenger, and all he can do is to remove out of your life
those things that mar your joy, your growth, and your service.”

“For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that He might destroy [undo] the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

---

5-18. GAIN
THROUGH LOSS

“But what things were gain to me,
those I counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:7).

As far as our Father is concerned, the early and middle
years of the Christian life have to do primarily with our spiritual development. Maturity
must underlie all abiding effectiveness. Most of our service during this time is learning
how not to do it.

“Incalculable harm has been done to the deeper
spirituality of the Church, by the idea that when once we are saved the using of the gifts
in His service follows as a matter of course. No; for this there is indeed needed very
special grace. And the way in which the grace comes is again that of sacrifice and
surrender. We must see how all our gifts and powers are, even though we be children of
God, still defiled by sin, and under the power of the old nature. We must feel that we
cannot at once proceed to use them for God's glory. We must first lay them at Christ's
feet, to be accepted and cleansed by Him.

“We must feel ourselves utterly powerless to use them
aright. We must see that they are most dangerous to us, because through them the flesh,
the old nature, will so easily exert its power. In this conviction we must part with them,
giving them entirely to the Lord. When He has accepted them, and set His stamp upon them,
we receive them back, to hold them as His property, to wait on Him for the grace to daily
use them aright, and to have them act only under His influence.” -A.M.

“Above all the difficulty which Paul had to meet in
his care of the churches, that which arose from our disposition to return to the law, or
to 'confidence in the flesh,' was the most frequent and the greatest.”

“I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).

---

5-19.
ABIDING PRAYER

“And this is the confidence that we
have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us” (1 John
5:14).

In order for us to pray according to His will, we must
first know His will; not only that, but His blessed will must become our will. “If ye abide in Me . . . ask what ye will, and
it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). Prayer is
the fellowship of an intimate, living union; as with all of the Christian life, it must be
carried on in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. He is known as “the Spirit of grace and of supplications” (Zechariah
12:10).

“If I ask anything of God, and have received His
answer, I then act with assurance, with the conviction that I am in the path of His will;
I am happy and contented. If I meet with some difficulty, this does not stop me; it is
only an obstacle which faith has to surmount.

“But if I have not this certainty before I begin, I am
in indecision, I know not what to do. There may be a trial of my faith, or it may be that
I ought not to do what I am doing. I am in suspense, and I hesitate; even if I am doing
the will of God, I am not sure about it, and I am not happy. I ought therefore to be
assured that I am doing His will before I begin to act.” -J.N.D.

“All flows from the soul being consciously in the
place where it is set, in Christ risen. He can then trust us with the knowledge of His
will; He can trust the sons of the family with the family affairs.”

“And if we know that He hear us,
whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John
5:15).

---

5-20.
SPIRIT-MOTIVATED SURRENDER

“Keep on seeking the things above
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:7, Wms.).

When the Spirit of Christ has the hungry heart prepared,
there will be surrender. No struggle; no questions. “We reason when we ought to
repose; we doubt when we ought to depend. Confidence in our Father's love is the true
corrective in all things.” “For
I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have
committed unto Him” (2 Timothy 1:12).

“If a believer surrenders or lays aside anything
without an adequate divine motive, he will either secretly hanker after it, and probably
long to return to it, or he will take credit to himself for having given it up, and will
thus reveal self-righteousness and spiritual pride.

“A certain school of religious teachers make much of
'surrender' as the way to attain blessing, but it ends in self-sufficiency, because the
only motive that is presented for it is the acquisition of a better spiritual state, or
power for service, or something of that kind. A divine motive and attraction is needed if
souls are to be drawn into the race and prepared to surrender in a truly spiritual way,
and this divine motive and attraction is our risen Lord in Glory.” -C.A.C.

“Communion with the Lord Jesus requires our coming to
Him in the Word. Meditating upon His person and His work requires the prayerful study of
His Word. Many fail to abide in Him because they habitually fast instead of feast.”
-J.H.T.

“Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us;
for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee
have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name” (Isaiah
26:12, 13).

---

5-21.
FULLNESS OF LIFE

“To know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians
3:19).

Our Father's fullness of supply infinitely exceeds the sum
of our needs. Positionally it is so: “For
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him.” Conditionally it is so: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Colossians 2:9, 10; Romans
8:32).

“As to the Gospel and the work of the Lord Jesus, I do
not find that it is adequately apprehended that the benefit conferred by the Father is far
beyond the need of the sinner. You cannot measure the benefit by the need. You may ask,
'Does it not cover the need?' It does; but you get no clue to the benefit from the measure
of the need. You cannot find it in your own thoughts or expectations; it cannot be found
anywhere save in our Father's heart. It is 'above all that we ask or think. . . . '

“How little, indeed, do we enter into the fullness of
the benefits of the Gospel! The elder brother in Luke 15 did not object to his brother
being forgiven, but it was unwelcome to him to see the wonderful excess of grace bestowed
on him by the Father. 'Thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.' Many have the sense of
forgiveness without the knowledge of His abundance.” -J.B.S.

“We shall never be able to glorify God, if we only
take what we need.”

“Now unto Him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh
in us, unto Him be glory” (Ephesians 3:20, 21).

---

5-22. FROM
MILK TO MEAT

“By people who live on milk I mean
those who are imperfectly acquainted with the teaching concerning righteousness. Such
persons are mere babes” (Hebrews 5:13, Wey.).

Promises and blessings have mainly to do with the milk of
the Word. In order for a believer to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus,
he must fellowship with Him in the Word. There is general Bible study, and there is
feeding upon the Lord Jesus in the Word of life. The former serves for foundation, the
latter is needed for growth.

“People may receive 'blessings' and temporary
'deliverances' in answer to prayer, for God is merciful to His children and His Spirit
refreshes and blesses us even apart from the real walk of faith. But it is of greater
benefit finally to us, and much greater glory to God, if we simply accept His Word and
learn to walk in the power of it by naked faith; which asks no longer certain ecstasies,
but being sure of God's truth because it is His truth, maintains an attitude of faith
therein; attitude–a fixed heart.

“Faith, when once we see the truth, consists of a
believing attitude of the will toward God. This involves a negative attitude toward all
doubt of His promises or anything that would raise a doubt; and it also involves a
continued refusal to rest upon appearances or feelings, even though these may come in
great abundance. It is God's written Word that supplies strength to the heart of
faith.” -W.R.N.

“It is an easy thing to set sail and get fairly out
into the ocean; but when many days have passed and no land is in sight, one is apt to
weary. If the heart is not fully occupied with the Lord in the Word, something is taken on
board to fill up the void.”

“Nourished up in the words of faith
and of good doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:6).

---

5-23. GOD
WILL DO IT

“For it is God who works in you both
will and deed” (Philippians 2:13, Cony.)

As we mature we come to see more and more clearly that our
Father just as fully controls our lives as He does the universe. As C.A. Fox said,
“Climb on, and you will find the correcting, the chastening, the cleansing, the
calming of the deep affection of God.”

“All the testing and trying is to first deal with, by
the Cross, that which can never stand the stress and which must be forever failure to the
Lord, and then to develop that which is Christ within us. That is the spiritual
life–Christ in us in all His fullness. 'I will make him a pillar.' 'I will write upon him
the name of my God.' He is going to do it. All the striving will never bring that end
about, but He will do it.

“The great majority of us would say, 'If it all
depends on me, then it is a bad lookout!' Well, of course, that is true, but let us look
at the blessing of Joseph–'The arms of
his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob . . . even by the God
of thy father' (Genesis 49:24, 25).” -C.O.

“Let a man renounce himself, and see himself as
crucified with Christ, and soon another Himself–the Lord Jesus Christ–will take the
central place in the heart, and quietly bring all things under His sway.”

“It is a great thing to offer the Lord Jesus Christ as
the Saviour to sinful man, but it is still greater to express Him in a world where He is
rejected.” -J.B.S.

“According as His divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).

---

5-24.
GRACE CROWN

“The God of all grace, who hath called
us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect
(mature), establish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).

At first, the old nature hides from us. Then, we try to
hide from it. But when we begin to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus,
we are able to face up to the awful facts concerning the old man and his condemnation at
the Cross. As the Holy Spirit reveals the old man (Colossians 3:9), we count upon death; as
He reveals the new man (Colossians
3:10), we count upon life (Romans 6:11).

“The believer, at the opening of his course, never
knows his own heart; indeed, he could not bear the full knowledge of it; he would be
overwhelmed thereby. 'The Lord leads us not by the way of the Philistines lest we should
see war, and so be plunged into despair. But He graciously leads us by a circuitous route,
in order that our apprehension of His grace may keep pace with our growing
self-knowledge.” -C.H.M.

“It was not for nothing that God let Satan loose upon
His dear servant, Job. God loved Job with a perfect love; a love that could take account
of everything, and, looking below the surface, could see the deep moral roots in the heart
of His servant–roots which Job had never seen, and, therefore, never judged. What a mercy
to have to do with such a God! to be in the hands of One who will spare no pains in order
to subdue everything in us which is contrary to Himself, and to bring out in us His own
blessed image!”

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under
the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him;
for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:6, 7).

---

5-25.
STAND WHERE YOU ARE!

“God, who is rich in mercy, for His
great love with which He loved us . . . hath made us alive together with Christ . . . and
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6).

Believers are not occupying their position! At best, most
are trying to attain a victorious position by means of prayer, Bible study, commitment,
reconsecration, surrender, and so forth. But the answer is simply to abide where we have
already been placed–in our risen Lord Jesus Christ. Abide above, and keep looking down!

“Our Father has taken us over Jordan and placed us in
Canaan, but the reality of it is never known until by faith we accept the fact on the
basis of having died with Christ, and that therefore heaven is our place, and we know it
to be our place now; and that this side is not our place, and we know that it is not.

“The more we abide in the Lord on the other side, the
less disappointed we will be here, for when we are there we import new joys and new hopes
into this old world, from an entirely new one, and we therefore in every way surpass the
inhabitants of this lost world.”

-J.B.S.

“You must abide in Christ in heaven before you can
descend with heavenly ability to act for Him down here. The great secret of all blessing
is to come from the Lord. Most Christians go to Him.”

“Christian experience is our measure of apprehension
of that which is already true of us in the Lord Jesus Christ.” -A.J.

“Stand fast in the Lord”
(Philippians 4:7).

---

5-26.
“GOOD GROUND”

“Jesus answered and said unto him,
Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee” (John
1:48).

“And other fell on good ground, and
sprang up, and bore fruit an hundredfold” (Luke 8:8). The more fully and thoroughly hearts are cultivated before conversion the
more healthy and fruitful they will be after conversion. Many Christians hurriedly seek to
plant the seed in unprepared soil, and then wonder why it is so soon withered, choked, or
snatched away. “Good ground are
they who. . . having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience”
(Luke 8:15).

“I believe that a work of God sometimes goes on behind
a particular man or family, village or district before the knowledge of the truth ever
reaches them. It is a silent, unsuspected work, not in mind and heart, but in the unseen
realm behind these. Then, when the light of the Gospel is brought, there is no difficulty,
no conflict. The battle has been won.

“It is, then, simply a case of 'stand still and see
the salvation of God.' This should give us confidence in praying intelligently for those
who are far from Gospel light. The longer the preparation, the deeper the work. The deeper
the root, the firmer the plant when once it springs above the ground. I do not believe
that any deep work of God takes root without long preparation somewhere.” -J.O.F.

“Concentrate your prayers on behalf of
some soul or souls and pray for such, night and day, until they come to Christ. Then
continue to pray for them until Christ is formed in them!” (Galatians 4:19).

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and
he shall prepare the way before Me” (Malachi 3:1).

---

5-27. SLOW
BUT SURE

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently
for Him; fret not thyself” (Psalm 37:7).

Our Father moves on the basis of His finished work,
therefore hurry is not a factor with Him nor should it be with us. We are to 'walk in the
Spirit,' and the blessed Holy Spirit will see to it that we obtain all that our Father has
for us, step by step. “The steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in His way” (Psalm 37:23). Don't be discouraged–Enoch walked with God for three hundred
years before he was translated!

“We cannot become spiritual all at once; we must be
content to begin as babes. Spiritual maturity and strength do not come by effort but by
growth; and growth is the result of being nourished by proper food. But if we do not grow
by effort it is important to remember that we do not grow without exercise.

“God begins by giving our hearts a sense of the
blessedness of the grace in which He has called us, that we may be awakened and enhungered
to pursue the knowledge of all this with purpose of heart and prayerful study.”
-C.A.C.

“Whatever we do accurately must take time and
collectedness of mind, and there is no accuracy in all the world like keeping company with
God, and yet nothing so free from bondage or tediousness. By going slow with the Lord we
accomplish more than by going with a rush, because what we do is done so much better and
does not have to be undone. It is done in a better spirit, with deeper motives, and bears
fruit far out in the future, when all mushroom performances have been dissipated
forever.” -G.B.W.

“Delight thyself also in the Lord, and
He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4).

---

5-28.
HEAVEN NOW AND FOREVER

“[God] hath raised us up together; and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

In the first stage of our Christian life we seek to bring
the Lord Jesus down to our level, for our use; later on we learn to take our position in
Him at His level, for His use.

“The desire of many and the tendency of all is to
connect the Lord Jesus with ourselves on this earth, instead of accepting that we are in
living union with Him in heaven. The Lord give us to apprehend the reality of our true
position; that we are outside this scene when we are in our true place. We are thankful
that Christ was here, and that He made a pathway through the wilderness, but we have
properly to come from Him in glory to learn the path and to find His succor in it.”

“If you do not know your union with the Lord Jesus in
heaven, you cannot come out in the power of the heavenly Man to act from Him on earth, to
be descriptive of Him. You can never be heavenly by effort. Many seek to be heavenly by
prayer, reading the Word, devotedness, but the only pathway to it is to be brought by the
Holy Spirit to realize union with our risen Lord. You are heavenly by union, by nature.
Abide in Him.”

“Are we prepared to accept our union with the
crucified and risen Lord, not only as the basis of being received by the Father, but also
as the way we walk day by day? If this question was honestly faced, and answered
affirmatively by the members of our churches, there would be no need to endeavor to whip
up a 'revival.' There would be a spontaneous upsurge of life and blessing–the direct work
of the Spirit of God Himself.” -J.C.M.

“Risen with Him through the faith of
the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12).

---

5-29.
CHRISTO-CENTRIC

“Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).

Just whose side are we on? The enemy who would occupy us
with ourselves, or the Comforter who would occupy us with the risen Lord Jesus? The spirit
of death, or the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).

“If we have only learned the Lord at our own side, the
tendency is to be occupied with ourselves, or to seek to be an object of consideration;
whereas if we have been led by the Spirit to His side, His interests and concerns will
singularly occupy us.”

“The natural inclination is to make oneself the center
of everything passing, how it pains or cheers oneself, even musing on oneself as if one
were the one solitary object for the sunshine or the cloud to rest on. If I am a hero, or
a martyr to myself, I look at and regard divine things as they suit my thinking about
myself, and not as answering to what He is thinking of me. I am confining the Lord to
myself instead of rising up and seeing myself lost in Him, and then following Him in all
the greatness and blessedness of His work and ways down here.” -J.B.S.

“We may love as Jonathan, and follow as Ruth, but
until we know that we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, we will not be free
enough from our own interests, to take up His.”

“[Who] made Himself of no reputation,
and took upon Him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).

---

5-30.
“LOVE NEVER FAILETH”

“And to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians
3:19).

God led the children of Israel into the desert with its
thirst, that He might bless them. “For
they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1
Corinthians 10:4). It is for no less a reason that He
takes us into the desert at times. “How
shall He not with Him [Christ] also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:2).

“Our Father disciplines us that we may be more fully
free from the old nature, and find everything in the Lord Jesus. But He begins the lesson
with the assurance, 'I love you perfectly.'

“'I bring you into the desert to learn what you are,
and what I am; but it is as those I have brought to Myself!' He gives us a place with the
Lord Jesus, but then shows us what He is and what we are. The discipline of the way
teaches this; but if He, in His love, strikes the furrows in the heart, it is that He may
sow the seed which shall ripen in glory.”

“Those who receive deliverance from their troubles
never grow like those who get strengthened in the difficulties.”

“How slowly one learns that His sympathy is not
expressed in removing the affliction but in raising one above it to Himself, so that He
becomes so endeared to the heart that He is more an object to the heart than
oneself.” -J.B.S.

“The hand of God never deals but in concert with His
heart of infinite love towards us.” -J.N.D.

“Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

---

5-31.
ETERNALLY NIGH

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who once
were far off are made near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

Until we know our position in the risen Lord Jesus, we can
never really face up to the sinfulness of our old nature. But “hidden with Christ in
God,” we can both face up to and face away from the old, “looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter [marg.] of our
faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

“God sets me in nearness to Himself in the Lord Jesus;
and as I learn my nearness to Him, I am prepared for the exposure of my natural distance
from Him, and I am, through grace, morally apart and sheltered from it (Romans 8:9), at
the very moment when I see it. The greater my height, the greater the enormity of the
depth appears; but I am safe from it. As a consequence I 'rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh'
(Philippians 3:3).”

“Two things mark spiritual growth; one is a deeper
sense of the sinful old nature, the other is a greater longing after the Lord Jesus
Christ. The sinfulness is discovered and felt as the power of the Holy Spirit increases;
for many a thought and act passes without pain to the conscience where the Lord Jesus is
less before the soul, which will be refused and condemned as the knowledge of the Lord
increases in spiritual power within.” -J.B.S.

“When the Lord Jesus Christ is enjoyed, things unlike
Him drop off like fading leaves.”

“For the word of God is living, and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

---

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]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/none-but-the-hungry-heart-5/feed/ 0 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/should-christians-judge/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/should-christians-judge/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:19:00 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/should-christians-judge/ Should Christians Judge?

Occasionally, we receive correspondence from individuals (liberal, progressive, postmodern, moral relativist, monist, etc.) being judgmental and seeking to censor our liberty in Christ and our obligation to exercise discernment.  Curiously, these individuals fail to see the hypocrisy of their own position--that of engaging in the very behavior which they CLAIM is religiously, philosophically or politically unacceptable.  Typically, they quote Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." as a 'proof text' to the exclusion of what the rest of Scripture has to say on the subject.  Of course, their motive is often that of intimidating anyone who would seek to discern error/falsehood from truth, immorality from virtue.  Consider the following thoughts written by Miles J. Stanford.   

---

The terms "judge," or "judgment," are used in different ways in the Word of God; their meanings and usage are mainly governed by the context in which they are found.

When they mean to condemn, to sentence, or to punish, man [individually] is to leave that prerogative with God.  "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19).   [During "the times of the Gentiles," God has established government--civil authority--as His earthly delegated representative/agent to administer justice upon evildoers.  See  Romans 13:1-7.]

At other times the words mean to distinguish, to decide, to determine, to conclude, to try, to think, and to call into question.  This is what God would have believers do in love, especially as to whether or not preaching and teaching is true or false to His Word. Paul wrote, "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent" (Philippians 1:9,10).

The Lord Jesus both warns and commands to "Beware of false prophets" (Matthew 7:15).  We could not "beware," or know a false prophet unless we exercised true judgment.  For that we are given the correct standard: "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20).

There are realms in which the believer is generally not to judge.  In most instances he is not to judge whether or not a person is saved, if he professes to be scripturally* born again. "The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Timothy 2:19).

Nor are we to judge another's motives.  Only God can see into the heart and know the motives that underlie actions.  (1 Corinthians 4:1-5) [However, Scripture does allow for some exceptions--e.g. Philippians 1:15-18].

And we are not to judge believers concerning the eating of certain kinds of foods or drink, or keeping certain days, etc.  (Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 10:23-33; and Colossians 2:16,17)

All too many believers remain immature or are actually drawn into error because they seek to exercise love apart from Scripture-guided discernment and judgment.  Christians who are mature, of "full age," are "those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14).

One of the reasons for the Church being in such a sickly condition today is that believers have not obeyed the commands of God's Word to judge error.  "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them" (Romans 16:17).  The false teachers make the "divisions," and not those who protest against their errors.

An often misapplied Scripture is "Judge not" (Matthew 7:1).  This is a command against hypocritical judgment, and is not directed to those who in love and sincerity discern whether a teacher or teaching is true or false to the Word.  "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considereth not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye" (Matthew 7:1-5).

Actually, the last statement of this Scripture commands sincere judgment: "then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."  We are not to forget nor seek to avoid the fact that our Lord Jesus commanded us to "judge righteous judgment."  He commended one, "Thou hast rightly judged."  He asked others, "Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?" (John 7:24; Luke 7:43; 12:57).  Paul wrote, "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say."  Again, "He that is spiritual judgeth all things" (1 Corinthians 10:15; 2:15).

It is all too common and easy for Christians to assume a critical and censorious attitude toward those who do not share their opinions about matters other than those which have to do with Bible doctrine and moral practice.  But it is our privilege and duty to do all we can to encourage their spiritual growth.  We are to love and pray for one another, and to consider ourselves lest we be tempted.  The safest and most profitable thing to do is to judge ourselves. "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened (child trained) of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (1 Corinthians 11:31,32).

It will make all the difference if we judge our own faults as uncharitably as we do the faults of others; and judge the failings of others as charitably as we do our own!

* Mr. Stanford's statement was written several decades ago, ... Continue reading →]]> Should Christians Judge?

Occasionally, we receive correspondence
from individuals (liberal, progressive, postmodern, moral relativist, monist, etc.)
being judgmental and seeking to censor our liberty in
Christ and our obligation to exercise discernment. 
Curiously, these individuals fail to see the hypocrisy of their own position–that of
engaging in the very behavior which they CLAIM is religiously, philosophically or politically unacceptable.  Typically,
they quote Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”
as a 'proof text'
to the exclusion of what the rest of Scripture has to say on the subject. 
Of course, their motive is often that of intimidating anyone who would seek to discern
error/falsehood from truth, immorality from virtue.  Consider the following thoughts written by Miles J. Stanford.   

---

The
terms “judge,” or “judgment,” are used in different ways in the Word of God;
their meanings and usage are mainly governed by the context in which they are
found.

When they mean to condemn, to sentence, or to punish, man
[individually] is to leave that prerogative with God. 
“Vengeance is
mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19).   [During
"the times of the Gentiles," God has
established government--civil authority--as His earthly delegated
representative/agent to administer justice upon evildoers.  See 
Romans 13:1-7.]

At other times the
words mean to distinguish, to decide, to determine, to conclude, to try, to
think, and to call into question.  This is what God would have believers do
in love, especially as to whether or not preaching and teaching is true or false
to His Word. Paul wrote, “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet
more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that
are excellent” (Philippians 1:9,10).

The Lord Jesus both warns
and commands to “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15). 
We could not “beware,” or know a false prophet unless we exercised
true judgment.  For that we are given the correct standard:
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

There are realms in which the believer is generally not to judge.  In
most instances he is not to judge whether or not a person is saved, if he
professes to be scripturally* born again.
“The Lord knoweth them that are his” (2 Timothy 2:19).



Nor are we to judge another's motives.  Only God can see into the heart
and know the motives that underlie actions.  (1 Corinthians 4:1-5)
[However, Scripture does allow for some exceptions--e.g. Philippians
1:15-18].

And we are not to judge believers concerning the
eating of certain kinds of foods or drink, or keeping certain days, etc. 
(Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 10:23-33; and Colossians 2:16,17)

All too many believers remain immature or are actually drawn into error
because they seek to exercise love apart from Scripture-guided discernment and
judgment.  Christians who are mature, of “full age,” are
“those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

One of the reasons for the Church being
in such a sickly condition today is that believers have not obeyed the commands
of God's Word to judge error.  “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark
them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye
have learned, and avoid them” (Romans 16:17). 
The false teachers make the “divisions,” and not those who protest
against their errors.

An often misapplied Scripture is
“Judge not” (Matthew 7:1).  This is a command against
hypocritical judgment, and is not directed to those who in love and
sincerity discern whether a teacher or teaching is true or false to the Word. 
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall
be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy
brother's eye, but considereth not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how
wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and,
behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out
of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of
thy brother's eye” (Matthew 7:1-5).

Actually, the last statement
of this Scripture commands sincere judgment: “then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”  We are not to
forget nor seek to avoid the fact that our Lord Jesus commanded us to
“judge righteous judgment.”  He commended one,
“Thou hast rightly judged.”  He asked others,
“Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?” (John 7:24;
Luke 7:43; 12:57).  Paul wrote, “I speak as to wise men;
judge ye what I say.”  Again, “He that is spiritual judgeth
all things” (1 Corinthians 10:15; 2:15).

It is all too common and easy for Christians
to assume a critical and censorious attitude toward those who do not share their
opinions about matters other than those which have to do with Bible doctrine
and moral practice.  But it is our privilege and duty to do all we
can to encourage their spiritual growth.  We are to love and pray for one
another, and to consider ourselves lest we be tempted.  The safest and most
profitable thing to do is to judge ourselves.
“For if we would judge ourselves, we should not
be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened (child trained) of the Lord,
that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:31,32).

It will make all the difference if we judge our own faults as uncharitably
as we do the faults of others; and judge the failings of others as charitably as
we do our own!

* Mr. Stanford's statement was
written several decades ago, when the profession to be “scripturally born again”
was largely if not exclusively used in fundamental/evangelical circles. 
Accordingly, the exercise of discernment was conditioned upon a “scriptural”
profession.  It was never his intention to convey the idea that it was impossible
to discern
who are true Christians and who are imposters, e.g. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.  Today, the term “born again” has been
prostituted and carries numerous meanings.  Believers have both the right
and the obligation to discern (judge) when the term is abused or the context is not
scriptural.   Dan R. Smedra

---

Further comments by Dan R. Smedra

• BIBLICAL KNOWLEDGE
  – An understanding (judgment), supernaturally given to
  new-creation
  Christians by God the Holy Spirit, concerning a specific proposition,
  statement, or point-of-view; the truth or falsehood of which is adequately
  supported by the Word of God–the Bible.  In theological terms, the
  process by which such certain knowledge is obtained is referred to as
  “illumination” and is the sole privilege of new-creation Christians. 
  Despite human fallibility, illumination produces genuine
  (qualitative, not exhaustive) knowledge—knowledge with “epistemological
  certainty.” 

  We do, however, speak a message of
  wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of
  this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we speak of God's secret
  wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory
  before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for
  if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  However,
  as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
  what God has prepared for those who love Him”, but God has
  revealed it to us by his Spirit.  The Spirit searches all things, even
  the deep things of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man
  except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the
  thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  We have not received the
  spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand
  what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words
  taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing
  spiritual truths in spiritual words.  The man without the Spirit does
  not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are
  foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are
  spiritually discerned.  The man without the Spirit does not accept the
  things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
  and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
  The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not
  subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that
  he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.

• OPINION —
  Opinion is a point of view regarding any proposition, statement, theory or
  event, the truth or falsehood of which is supported by evidence.  This evidence renders the viewpoint
  probable, but
  does not produce the degree of knowledge or certainty mentioned above. 
  Opinions often contain some degree of bias and can be
  speculative in nature.  Because men and women originally were created in the
  image of God, they possess a God-given right to form opinions, but only
  in those areas in which the Bible is silent or unclear.  To assert a differing
  opinion where God has provided clarity is arrogance and an act of
  independence/rebellion; it is sin.

• PREJUDICE
  and BIGOTRY —
  Prejudice is a premature, emotionally-adverse perspective, which is formed
  without awareness or regard for evidence or facts.  Bigotry is
  prejudice push to an extreme.  It  finds expression in an
  emotionally-controlled,
  unreasonable, and obstinate attitude and often seeks to masquerade as opinion. 
  Because God is reasonable, just, and fair, both prejudice and bigotry are
  ungodly; they are sin.

• BULLSHIT
  – First, an apology for use of this 'expletive' term. 
  However, given its ubiquitous presence in today's society, it's important to
  provide a clear definition so that you can accurately identify it when
  it's encountered.  The rise of 'bullshitting' and 'bullshitters' is
  directly related to the rise in forms of philosophic relativism,
  which reject categories of truth and error.  Without
  these philosophical categories, or the
  ability to discern the difference, all dialogue is reduced to the level of
  propaganda and/or the exercise of power.  Since no viewpoint can be more
  “true” than another, superiority of argument is measured according to the wit, skill, stealth,
  or force by which the viewpoint is presented.

Bullshit is commonly
used to describe statements made by people more concerned with the response of
the audience than in truth and accuracy, such as goal-oriented statements made
in the field of politics or advertising.

“Bullshit” does not
necessarily have to be a complete fabrication; with only basic knowledge about a
topic, bullshit is often used to make the audience believe that one knows far
more about the topic by feigning total certainty or making probable predictions.
It may also merely be 'filler' or nonsense that, by virtue of its style or
wording, gives the impression that it actually means something.

In his essay 'On
Bullshit' (originally written in 1986, and published as a
monograph in 2005), philosopher Harry Frankfurt of Princeton University
characterizes bullshit as a form of falsehood distinct from lying. The liar,
Frankfurt holds, knows and cares about the truth, but deliberately sets out to
mislead instead of telling the truth. The “bullshitter”, on the other hand, does
not care about the truth and is only seeking to impress. It is impossible for
someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires
no such conviction. A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he
is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says only what
he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable
that he considers his statements to be false. For the bullshitter, however, all
these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the
false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of
the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting
away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe
reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his
purpose.

]]> http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/should-christians-judge/feed/ 0 http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/holiness-tradition-and-pharisees/ http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/holiness-tradition-and-pharisees/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:33:12 +0000 Glenn http://www.queeramericablog.com/2011/11/17/holiness-tradition-and-pharisees/

Mark 7

Holiness is one of those words that means different things to different people, isn't it? What associations does it conjure up in your mind? For some of us I suspect holiness has decidedly unattractive connotations. A "holy joe" is one of those religious fanatics who embarrasses you by his antisocial killjoy attitude to life. "Holier than thou" is the way we describe pompous prigs who reckon themselves morally superior to everyone else. Even at its most positive, the word "holy" I guess conveys rather austere if nostalgic memories of the hymns we used to sing in school chapel... "Holy, holy,holy" - intoned to a ponderous organ amid hushed whispers, stained-glass windows, gothic architecture and acute physical discomfort. No, holiness is not a quality to which the majority of people feel attracted. 

But then it would rather defeat the object of the exercise if they did. For the whole point of holiness is to be different, separate, clearly distinguished from everything that is profane and ordinary. In Old Testament times the pots and pans they used in the sacrifical ritual of the Temple were "holy"...because they were kept especially for that "sacred" purpose. The priests were "holy" too, because of their special role in offering the sacrifices. Defining such objects and persons as "holy" was a way of making clear to the Jewish people that in a very real sense God didn't belong to this world. He was different and therefore those who wanted to have dealings with him had to be different too. 

The holiness code that comprises a substantial part of the Book of Leviticus generated a sacred-secular divide in ancient Israel for precisely this reason. To embed in every Jewish mind an awareness of the mystery and transcendence of God... what biblical scholars have sometimes called his "otherness". 

The trouble was, some of them took it too far. The idea of holiness always has this risk attached to it. In the wrong hands instead of being a vehicle of witness to the sublime uniqueness of God's person, holiness can all too easily be perverted into mere religious eccentricity...a pious theatrical that awakens at best the amusement of the watching world, and at worst its contempt. The boundary between being sanctified and being sanctimonious, between being pious and being downright peculiar, is a frighteningly narrow one. The risk of the former degenerating into the latter is always greatest when the people of God feel threatened. 

Take the period, for instance, five centuries before Christ, when the Jews were taken into Babylonian exile. It was a devastating experience for them. Suddenly they found themselves surrounded by a totally pagan society. Everything familiar had been snatched away from them. The instinctive response of any ethnic or religious minority in such a hostile environment is to become culturally defensive; to guard with jealous pride every cultural distinctive it is possible to preserve. And that is exactly how the exilic Jews reacted. They may not have had the Temple any longer, but they could still circumcise their children and observe the Sabbath. The might have to speak Aramaic in the market-place, but they could still use Hebrew in their synagogues. These cultural markers thus became more important than they had ever been before. For they were the only way the they could retain their identity as Jews in the cosmopolitan melting-pot of Babylon where they were now forced to live. 

In many respects it was a perfectly understandable, even laudable development. We observe exactly the same kind of thing in many countries today where minority groups strive to preserve their local dialect or their national dress against a cultural tide that would homogenize the entire world if it could. But the trouble was that in the case of the Jews, because of their special self-consciousness as the chosen people of God, this need for the maintenance of their cultural distinctiveness got tangled up with their ideas of holiness. They turned their traditions into a system of regulations and defined holiness as obedience to these rules. 

Take for example the issue of ceremonial washing. The Book of Leviticus certainly laid down certain regulations regarding ritual ablutions in its holiness code. But the scribes of post-exilic Judaism amplified these regulations to such an extent it was considered improper to eat a single mouthful of food if the appropriate handwashing procedure had not been observed. Mark, you may have noticed, draws our attention to this practice with what I sense may be a slightly sarcastic edge to his tone. (Mark 7:3-4)

Now as I say, this kind of legalistic attitude towards things like ritual washing became increasingly influential in the post-exilic period. The original biblical idea of holiness was being subtlely subverted by the need of Jews to defend their sense of cultural superiority in a world where they were now politically and economically powerless. The rabbis vied with one another to pile more and more regulation on top of the ancient law of Moses. They were convinced that only by the painstaking observance of such rules could the Jewish people maintain their cultural distance from the Gentiles and thus preserve their unique privilege as God's "holy" people.And in the first century no group was more zealous in its conformity to those rabbinical rules than the Pharisees. 

Now in some respects the Pharisees have had a bit of a raw deal at the hands of Christian commentators over the years. The very word "Pharisee" has a pejorative, almost villainous overtone to it, which is really unfair. For there was much about the Pharisees that was admirable. (i) this was a group who believed passionately in the inspiration of scripture and devoted themselves to the rigorous exposition of the biblical text. (ii) this was a group who zealously pursued personal holiness (iii) this was group who scrupulously tithed their income. (iv) this was group who enthusiastically sought to win new converts to their faith. 

Who does that remind you of? I have to say ... Continue reading →]]>

Mark 7

Holiness is one of those words that means different things to
different people, isn't it? What associations does it conjure up in your
mind? For some of us I suspect holiness has decidedly unattractive
connotations. A “holy joe” is one of those religious fanatics who
embarrasses you by his antisocial killjoy attitude to life. “Holier than
thou” is the way we describe pompous prigs who reckon themselves
morally superior to everyone else. Even at its most positive, the word
“holy” I guess conveys rather austere if nostalgic memories of the hymns
we used to sing in school chapel… “Holy, holy,holy” – intoned to a
ponderous organ amid hushed whispers, stained-glass windows, gothic
architecture and acute physical discomfort. No, holiness is not a
quality to which the majority of people feel attracted. 

But then it would rather defeat the object of the exercise if they
did. For the whole point of holiness is to be different, separate,
clearly distinguished from everything that is profane and ordinary. In
Old Testament times the pots and pans they used in the sacrifical ritual
of the Temple were “holy”…because they were kept especially for that
“sacred” purpose. The priests were “holy” too, because of their special
role in offering the sacrifices. Defining such objects and persons as
“holy” was a way of making clear to the Jewish people that in a very
real sense God didn't belong to this world. He was different and
therefore those who wanted to have dealings with him had to be different
too. 

The holiness code that comprises a substantial part of the Book
of Leviticus generated a sacred-secular divide in ancient Israel for
precisely this reason. To embed in every Jewish mind an awareness of the
mystery and transcendence of God… what biblical scholars have
sometimes called his “otherness”. 

The trouble was, some of them took it too far. The idea of
holiness always has this risk attached to it. In the wrong hands instead
of being a vehicle of witness to the sublime uniqueness of God's
person, holiness can all too easily be perverted into mere religious
eccentricity…a pious theatrical that awakens at best the amusement of
the watching world, and at worst its contempt. The boundary between
being sanctified and being sanctimonious, between being pious and being
downright peculiar, is a frighteningly narrow one. The risk of the
former degenerating into the latter is always greatest when the people
of God feel threatened. 

Take the period, for instance, five centuries before Christ, when
the Jews were taken into Babylonian exile. It was a devastating
experience for them. Suddenly they found themselves surrounded by a
totally pagan society. Everything familiar had been snatched away from
them. The instinctive response of any ethnic or religious minority in
such a hostile environment is to become culturally defensive; to guard
with jealous pride every cultural distinctive it is possible to
preserve. And that is exactly how the exilic Jews reacted. They may not
have had the Temple any longer, but they could still circumcise their
children and observe the Sabbath. The might have to speak Aramaic in the
market-place, but they could still use Hebrew in their synagogues.
These cultural markers thus became more important than they had ever
been before. For they were the only way the they could retain their
identity as Jews in the cosmopolitan melting-pot of Babylon where they
were now forced to live. 

In many respects it was a perfectly understandable, even laudable
development. We observe exactly the same kind of thing in many
countries today where minority groups strive to preserve their local
dialect or their national dress against a cultural tide that would
homogenize the entire world if it could. But the trouble was that in the
case of the Jews, because of their special self-consciousness as the
chosen people of God, this need for the maintenance of their cultural
distinctiveness got tangled up with their ideas of holiness. They turned
their traditions into a system of regulations and defined holiness as
obedience to these rules. 

Take for example the issue of ceremonial washing. The Book of
Leviticus certainly laid down certain regulations regarding ritual
ablutions in its holiness code. But the scribes of post-exilic Judaism
amplified these regulations to such an extent it was considered improper
to eat a single mouthful of food if the appropriate handwashing
procedure had not been observed. Mark, you may have noticed, draws our
attention to this practice with what I sense may be a slightly sarcastic
edge to his tone. (Mark 7:3-4)

Now as I say, this kind of legalistic attitude towards things
like ritual washing became increasingly influential in the post-exilic
period. The original biblical idea of holiness was being subtlely
subverted by the need of Jews to defend their sense of cultural
superiority in a world where they were now politically and economically
powerless. The rabbis vied with one another to pile more and more
regulation on top of the ancient law of Moses. They were convinced that
only by the painstaking observance of such rules could the Jewish people
maintain their cultural distance from the Gentiles and thus preserve
their unique privilege as God's “holy” people.And in the first century
no group was more zealous in its conformity to those rabbinical rules
than the Pharisees. 

Now in some respects the Pharisees have had a bit of a raw deal
at the hands of Christian commentators over the years. The very word
“Pharisee” has a pejorative, almost villainous overtone to it, which is
really unfair. For there was much about the Pharisees that was
admirable. (i) this was a group who believed passionately in the
inspiration of scripture and devoted themselves to the rigorous
exposition of the biblical text. (ii) this was a group who zealously
pursued personal holiness (iii) this was group who scrupulously tithed
their income. (iv) this was group who enthusiastically sought to win new
converts to their faith. 

Who does that remind you of? I have to say it reminds me in a
most uncomfortable way of conservative evangelical Christians. What the
Pharisees identified as the marks of a “righteous” person, we label
today as the marks of a “born again”, “committed”, “Spirit-filled”,
“evangelical” Christian. We distinguish ourselves from the
non-Christians around us, in just the way that the Pharisees sought to
draw a “them” and “us” line of separation between themselves and those
they labelled as “sinners”. Like us, they vigorously opposed the decline
of biblical authority and standards within first century Judaism. To
use vocabulary familiar to evangelical Christians, they were worried
about “liberalism” and “worldliness” in the church. And just like the
old evangelical Keswick movement, they pursued their pietistic concern
for moral and theological purity in the name of “holiness”. The people
of God had to keep themselves “holy”, they insisted, that is
uncompromised by the defiling contamination of the “world”. 

As I say, in many respects this was a noble endeavour. The people
of God needs in every age the stimulus and challenge of its puritans if
it is not to become spiritually indolent and undisciplined. And at
their best that's what the Pharisees were. But unfortunately the way the
Pharisees sought to pursue their campaign against worldliness was by
embracing with open arms all that pedantic detail of rule and regulation
which had been developed by Jewish rabbis since the exile. And, as we
have already said, much of that had less to do with authentic biblical
holiness than with the preservation of Jewish distinctiveness. That was
why they came into collision with Jesus. 

Jesus' vision of the coming kingdom of God was global in its
dimesions. It embraced all the nations of the world, not just the Jews.
And this meant that the Old Testament law had to be radically
re-examined in order to retain the essence of its moral,nd spiritual
purpose' but eliminate those elements which were designed only to keep a
cultural distance between Jews and the idolatrous pagan world around
them. 

The rules about ceremonial washing were a classic case in point.
For as Mark tells us in our reading, Jesus and his disciples ignored the
ritual washing rules of the rabbis. Hence the indignant inquisition
they mount against him in v. 5. You pretend to be a teacher of true
religion, Jesus, then why don't you teach followers to observe the
halakha regulations about eating with ritually clean hands? Is this
ignorance on your part? Or is there some more sinister heretical motive
behind this non-conformist behaviour? (see Mark 7:.5) 

Now, I couldn't blame you if you told me you felt such a question
was very remote from your personal sphere of interest. What possible
relevance could this debate about first-century Jewish ritual ablutions
have for us? Washing your hands before meals is surely an issue more
appropriate to the kindergarten than to a church. But while I can
sympathise with such a reaction, the fact is your wrong. Indeed the
reason Mark has recorded this incident is because it is hugely relevant
to Christians in every age. In replying to this, admittedly rather
obscure and pettifogging issue raised by the Pharisees, Jesus expounds
two enormously important principles. If as evangelical Christians today
we fail to understand and apply those principles then we shall fall into
precisely the same error as the Pharisees did. We shall end up writing a
rule book and calling it holiness. And in the process we may very well
miss out on the content of true holiness altogether.

1. True holiness is not to be confused with the rules which religious people keep in order to be different (see Mark 7:8)

The Pharisees as we have already said held the teaching of the
post-exilic Jewish scribes in great reverence. According to Jesus they
held it in too much reverence. Maybe in theory they didn't put that
tradition on a par with Scripture, but in Jesus' obervation that was
what in practice it came down to. 

It is important not to overstate the issue. Jesus is not an
iconoclastic revolutionary who believes the way things have been done in
the past has to be bad. The issue is one of relative authority. 

(i) Things specified by tradition are not mandatory. There was
absolutely no reason why his disciples should ritually wash their hands
just because some Rabbi two centuries earlier had insisted upon it. If
the Pharisees wanted to observe such rules that was their business.
Jesus does not say they are wrong to do so. But no way was Jesus going
to have his disciples strapped into the straitjacket of their
fastidiousness. Tradition is not mandatory. That means there must always
be diversity in the Church. Peope's opinions about what biblical
holiness requires will differ. That's fine. We are bound to obey our own
convictions on the matter. But no one, be they a Jewish rabbi, a
Catholic Pope or an evangelical church-leader, has the right to force
their interpretation of what the Bible requires down the throats of
everyone else. Tradtion is not mandatory. A tolerance of diversity is. 

(ii) Tradition must never prevent a fresh and radical examination
of what the Bible says. God's Word does, of course, possess mandatory
authority, but all too often a blinkered legalism blinds us to what that
divine requirement really is. Isaiah was talking about “rules taught by
men”. And that's what the Pharisees' teachings were according to
Jesus.But true holiness is defined by God's Word in the Bible, not by
such manmade traditions. 

It is for this reason that the church must always be prepared for
change. You know, I'm sure the proverb “You can't teach an old dog new
tricks”. Its not always true of course. I recall with great affection
one old age pensioner I knew years ago who learned to ride a motorcycle
in her 70th year. But granted there are exceptions, it has to be
admitted the generalisation is an accurate one. The passing of the years
brings with it a mental inertia that makes change more difficult. And
if that is so for individuals it is true also of churches. New churches
are in the main always more adaptable. As the history of a church gets
longer, so do its traditions become more inflexible. How many new
initiatives have run into sand over the years I wonder to the
reactionary chorus from the back pew: “But we've always done it this
way!” 

But that conservatism becomes all the more intractable when those
who cling to the past in that way try to theologically rationalise
their traditionalist prejudices with pious talk about Christian
holiness. It is far from uncommon to encounter the attitude that the
church should not seek to move with the times or think afresh about some
issue. because to do so is by definition “worldly”. It is good for the
church to retain archaic practices and old-fashioned opinions, because
whether they are right or wrong, they prove we are “holy” and not being
influenced by secular trends. Among some contemporary Pharisees this
expresses itself in a preference for gothic rather than contemporary
architecture or for the language of the AV rather than the NIV. Such
ecclesiastical relics feel more “holy” somehow. Among others it is
conservatism on moral and social issues that is the touchstone of
sanctity – isues like divorce, abortion, contraception and, of course,
homosexuality. 

No matter that these issues are complex and raise difficult
questions of biblical interpretation. The rule is thus …and holiness
means obeying it. But often such rules have more to do with cultural
defensiveness than real holiness . They are sanctified by hallowed
tradition and nothing else. And (i) tradition is never mandatory: you
may prefer the traditional opinion on things…that's your
privilege…but your preference is all it is. Once you start insisting
that everyone must do things your way you are joining the Pharisees in
manmade legalism. And (ii) tradition can sometimes be wrong; as Jesus
reviewed the moral and religious practices of his contemporary Judaism
in the light of fresh and radical examination of the Bible, so we must
constantly subject our church traditions to the same scrutiny. 

This was the issue of course which divided Christians at the time
of the Reformation. Medieval Catholicism would not change. It insisted
its traditions were binding. But many of those traditions not only had
no basis in Scripture, they were downright contrary to the teachings of
the Bible, as Martin Luther pointed out. The church must always be open
to reform…not just because hidebound traditionalism can be obstacle to
its progress…but because sometimes the church makes mistakes. And
sometimes it takes centuries before those mistakes are recognised. One
of the great ironies of our present situation is that those churches
which label themselves “Reformed” are often the most reactionary in
their attitudes. Its not uncommon to find an intolerance of new thinking
every bit as belligerent as the Spanish Inquisition There are countless
so called “Reformed” churches around today who seek to solve their
problems not by a radical fresh reflection on needs of modern culture in
the light of the Bible, but by the old catholic method…”What did our
denominational forefathers say?” The Reformation didn't end in the 16th
century. Properly understood the church of Jesus Christ must be always
reforming itself. 

There must always be change in the church. For the only
alternative to change is the tradition of the elders. And tradition
never saved anyone! But that brings me to the second great principle
that Jesus is expounding in our study passage.

2. Holiness is not about external actions but the internal state of our hearts (Mark 7: 14-15) 

Whenever we human beings think about meeting God it is inevitable
that we experience a sense of unworthiness and shame. Like children who
have been playing in the mud, we'd rather get ourselves cleaned up
before Dad sees us. And it is the characteristic of all forms of
legalistic religion that it tends to externalise that sense of
defilement…to treat it, quite literally like “mud”…a form of
contemination that you acquire through contact with dirty places and
which adheres, as it were, to the outside. A lot of religion is Jesus
day was of this sort. Holiness, it said, was about what you touched or
didn't touch, where you went or didn't go, whom you met or didn't meet,
what you did or didn't do. In short, holiness was about external actions
of one kind or another. 

A careful reading of the Old Testament would have exposed the
fallacy in all this. Moses himself in the book of Deuteronomy constantly
impresses upon the Jewish people that it is their hearts that must be
circumcised not just their bodies. David in the Psalms exposes the
inadequacy of ceremonial sacrifices ..it is a contrite heart God is
really interested in he says. And, as Jesus points out in this passage,
Isaiah like many of the prophets, is scathing in his denunciation of a
religion that never gets beyond the superficialities of ritual
performances…again it is the location of the heart that really
matters. But not many Jews of the 1st century understood that. 

Certainly the Pharisees, in their obsession with ritual washings,
don't seem to have done so. The real trouble with the Pharisees
comments Jesus in these closing verses of our passage, is that they
grossly underestimate the inveteracy of evil. They treat evil as if it
were a form of environmental pollution or a bacterial
infection…something in other words separable from the human being to
which it is attached. Something that can be washed off with ther
appropriate ritual disinfectant, or killed off by conformity to the
appropriate prescription of antibiotic rules…without any racical
change being necessary in the underlying human personality. But it isn't
so. The root of evil in this world doesn't lie in external action. Iit
lies within the individual human heart.(see Mark7: 20-23). Jesus lists a
terrifying catalogue of vice, but who can deny that heis right when he
implies that the seed of all this moral corruption lies inside each one
of us? 

Robert Louis Stevenson understood it, demonstrating that within
every sophisticated and educated Dr. Jekyll there is a cruel and sensual
Mr. Hyde William Golding understood it, showing us in his novel Lord of
the Flies that inside every polite, middle-cless choirboy there lurks a
barabric and murderous savage. Sigmund Freud understood, uncovering in
his exploration of the subconscious mind a seething cesspit of
incestuous lust and bestial violence. And at the end of the twentieth
century surely modern man now understands it.. After the atrocities of
two world wars, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and goodness
how many other killing fields, can anyone any longer entertain the
utopian fantasies of those evolutionary optimists who at the end of the
last century were insisting that the human race was making moral
progress? We are not getting better and better as a race. It is very
arguable that we are actually getting worse and worse! 

That is why a religion of rules such as the Pharisees advocated
could never meet our real need. It will take more than a little holy
water to purge the moral filth out of us. What we need is not just clean
hands, but a new heart! For that is where the true holiness that God
demands resides: not on the surface of our human lives but inside at the
profoundest depths of our human nature. 

It is our unwillingness to accept this humiliating knowledge
about the true depths of our depravity that makes legalism so popular
with religious people. Legalism is a way of evading the demands of
radical repentance. It fastens our attention upon trivial details and
petty rules and pietistic practices which, though irksome, can be fully
observed if we are really determined to do so. In this way our minds are
distracted from the big moral issues about love for God and neighbour,
with regard to which our consciences can never be completely clear and
which constitute therefore a permanent source of inescapable moral
anxiety for us. Legalism is a guilt avoidance device. It is the
religious alternative to repentance and faith. 

And that of course is why, while change in the church is vital,
changing the church is never enough. It is always a temptation to think
that defects in a society can be amended by institutional means. That's
why we put so much effort into politics and education. It would be so
reassuring to think that the evils we see around us can be put right by
better laws, or better schools. It would be nice to think that
deficiencies in our holiness could be compensated by similar remedies:
better creeds, better sermons, better conferences, better theological
colleges, better Christian books, better Christian youth clubs, better
this, better that. The fact is the only thing which can make a lasting
and substantive difference either to the world, or to the church, is the
moral regeneration of human hearts. The only source of true holiness is
the Holy Spirit. For all the good that politics and education can
achieve. For all the good that reformation in the church can achieve;
for all the good that relgious and moral rules can achieve; at the end
of the day evil is just too deeply embedded in us to be treated by such
means. It isn't a fungus adhering to the outside. It is a virus, like
AIDS, that has insinuated itself into our very genetic code. It isn't
part of our reprogrammable software; it is hardwired into our human
nature. 

And that of course is why Jesus said to that other famous
Pharisee, “You must be born again!” (see John 3). We shall not see the
kingdom of a holy God unless we ourselves are holy. And that demands a
spiritual change that penetrates to the very root of our personalities. 

There were many Pharisee in Jesus' day who technically possessed
impeccable holiness. Do you remember Jesus parodied one of them praying
in church? “I've never committed sexual immorality; I ttithe my income
scrupulously every month; I never cheat or steal; I read my Bible and
say my prayers every day; I am a good evagelical Christian!” But it was
all externals.What a shock it must have been to his listeners when Jesus
said that an “unholy” taxman who just beat his breast and begged for
mercy on his sins was accepted by God and that pious Pharisee ignored. 

But that's the way it is. God looks on the heart. That is why
Jesus said that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees if
we wanted to enter heaven (see Matthew 5) – not meaning that we must
keep the rules better, but that we must offer God a moral and spiritual
response from the heart. As Paul would later put it: “the righteousness I
used to be proud of, a righteousness based on rule-keeping, I regard as
rubbish. The justification that Jesus offers me has its roots in
faith.” (see Philippians 3). And faith is primarily a function of the
heart: a fruit of the Holy Spirit's work within. We must be born again. 

The biggest trouble with legalistic tradition in the church is
not that it obstructs the church's progress, or even that it prevents
biblical reform. The biggest trouble is that it distracts our attention
from the really important issue. We argue about women priests, we argue
about gay marriage, we argue about modern liturgies and social justice;
we argue about so many things in the church today, and all the time a
desperate world waits in ignorance of the one issue that really matters,
the one person who can really change us. Like the Pharisees we shake
our censorious heads at these wicked people who refuse to follow our
conventions We complain of the immorality of the age, the corruption of
the culture, the worldliness of the church. But what remedy do we offer?
Rules! Traditions! Ecclesiatical face-cream of a dozen different brands
(see Mark 7:14, 21) 

You want to be holy? Then clean up the inside. The job is too
big? Take yourself back to the one who made you in the first place and
ask him for a major overhaul. Ask him, as David once did: “Create in me a
clean heart”. He can do it. And once he has done it, you will amazed
how pathetic and trivial the so-called “holiness” of all our modern-day
Pharisees seems by comparison.

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