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Darby Synopsis
4. Acts to Philippians
By John Nelson Darby
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Darby Synopsis
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Contents
e Acts of the Apostles ..................................................9
Acts 1 ............................................................................11
Acts 2 ............................................................................15
Acts 3-4 ......................................................................... 20
Acts 5 ............................................................................26
Acts 6-7 ......................................................................... 30
Acts 8 ............................................................................42
Acts 9:1-31 ....................................................................48
Acts 9:32-11:18 .............................................................54
Acts 11:19-30 ................................................................58
Acts 12 ..........................................................................60
Acts 13 ..........................................................................62
Acts 14 ..........................................................................71
Acts 15 ..........................................................................73
Acts 16 ..........................................................................80
Acts 17 ..........................................................................84
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Acts 18:1-19:7 ...............................................................87
Acts 19:8-41 ..................................................................93
Acts 20 ........................................................................101
Acts 21 ........................................................................107
Acts 22 ........................................................................120
Acts 23 ........................................................................122
Acts 24-25 ...................................................................124
Acts 26 ........................................................................126
Acts 27 ........................................................................134
Acts 28 ........................................................................135
e Epistles: Introduction ...........................................140
Romans .......................................................................146
Romans 1:1-17 ............................................................150
Romans 1:18-3:20 .......................................................162
Romans 3:21-31 ..........................................................167
Romans 4.....................................................................173
Romans 5:1-11 ............................................................178
Romans 5:12-21 ..........................................................183
Romans 6.....................................................................189
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Romans 7.....................................................................197
Romans 8.....................................................................209
Romans 9.....................................................................235
Romans 10 ...................................................................240
Romans 11 ...................................................................247
Romans 12-13 .............................................................252
Romans 14:1-15:7 .......................................................256
Romans 15:8-16:27 .....................................................258
1Corinthians ...............................................................263
1Corinthians 1 ............................................................267
1Corinthians 2 ............................................................271
1Corinthians 3 ............................................................274
1Corinthians 4 ............................................................277
1Corinthians 5 ............................................................280
1Corinthians 6 ............................................................284
1Corinthians 7 ............................................................287
1Corinthians 8 ............................................................293
1Corinthians 9 ............................................................296
1Corinthians 10 ..........................................................299
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1Corinthians 11 ..........................................................302
1Corinthians 12 ..........................................................313
1Corinthians 13 ..........................................................326
1Corinthians 14 ..........................................................329
1Corinthians 15 ..........................................................336
1Corinthians 16 ..........................................................357
2Corinthians 1 ............................................................363
2Corinthians 2 ............................................................373
2Corinthians 3 ............................................................375
2Corinthians 4 ............................................................381
2Corinthians 5 ............................................................387
2Corinthians 6 ............................................................405
2Corinthians 7 ............................................................410
2Corinthians 8-9 ........................................................415
2Corinthians 10 ..........................................................418
2Corinthians 11 ..........................................................420
2Corinthians 12 ..........................................................422
2Corinthians 13 ..........................................................431
Galatians .....................................................................434
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Galatians 1-2 ...............................................................436
Galatians 3 ..................................................................448
Galatians 4 ..................................................................457
Galatians 5 ..................................................................464
Galatians 6 ..................................................................470
Ephesians ....................................................................477
Ephesians 1 .................................................................478
Ephesians 2 .................................................................500
Ephesians 3 .................................................................513
Ephesians 4-5 .............................................................. 522
Ephesians 6 .................................................................558
Philippians ...................................................................574
Philippians 1 ................................................................576
Philippians 2 ................................................................591
Philippians 3 ................................................................601
Philippians 4 ................................................................618
e Acts of the Apostles
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e Acts of the Apostles
e three divisions of the book
e Acts of the Apostles is divided essentially into
three parts- chapter 1, chapters 2-12, and chapter 13 to the
end. Chapters 11-12 may be termed transitional chapters
founded on the event related in chapter 10. Chapter 1 gives
us that which is connected with the Lord’s resurrection;
chapters 2-12, that work of the Holy Spirit of which
Jerusalem and the Jews were the center, but which branches
out into the free action of the Spirit of God, independent
of, but not separated from, the twelve, and Jerusalem as the
center; chapter 13 and the succeeding chapters, the work of
Paul, owing from a more distinct mission from Antioch,
chapter 15 connecting the two in order to preserve unity
in the whole course. We have indeed the admission of
Gentiles in the second part, but it is in connection with the
work going on among the Jews. ese latter had rejected
the witness of the Holy Spirit to a gloried Christ, as they
had rejected the Son of God in His humiliation; and God
prepared a work outside them, in which the Apostle of the
Gentiles laid foundations that annulled the distinction
between Jew and Gentile, and which unite them-as in
themselves equally dead in trespasses and sins-to Christ,
the Head of His body, the assembly, in heaven.1<P005>
(1. It is a sorrowful but instructive thing to see, in the
last division of the book, how the spiritual energy of a Paul
closes, as to its eect in work, in the shadow of a prison. Yet
we see the wisdom of God in it. e boasted apostolicism
of Rome never had an apostle but as a prisoner; and
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Christianity, as the Epistle to the Romans testies, was
already planted there.)
Acts 1
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Acts 1
e risen Lord and the apostles’ position before the
descent of the Holy Spirit
Let us now examine the chapters in their course.
Chapter 1 supplies us with the narrative of that which
relates to Jesus risen, and the actions of the apostles before
the descent of the Holy Spirit. e Lord’s communications
present several very interesting points. Jesus, the risen man,
acts and speaks by the Holy Spirit after His resurrection as
before it-precious token of our own position, as reminding
us that we shall have the Holy Spirit after our resurrection,
and that, being no longer engaged in restraining and
mortifying the esh, His divine energy in us will be
entirely consecrated to eternal joy and worship, and to the
service committed to us by God. e risen Lord then gives
His disciples commandments in connection with the new
position He assumes. eir life and their service are to be
formed and guided in view of His resurrection-a truth
of which they had irrefragable proofs. ey were still on
earth, but they were pilgrims there, having Him in view
who had gone before them raised from among the dead.
eir relations with Him are still connected with their
position on earth. He speaks to them of the kingdom, and
of that which concerned the kingdom. Jerusalem was the
starting point of their ministry, even more than of His
own. For He had gathered together the poor of the ock
wherever He had found them, especially in Galilee;1 but
now, resurrection having made Him in power the vessel of
the sure mercies of David, He calls Israel afresh to own as
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Prince and Saviour the One whom they had rejected as the
living Messiah on earth. e epistles of Peter are connected
with the gospel in this point of view.
(1. e mission given in Luke 24 is the one fullled both
in Peter’s and Paul’s discourses in the Acts, but especially in
chapters 2 and 13, not that of Matthew 28 which, indeed,
was only to Gentiles. Luke’s was on His ascension from
Bethany, Matthew’s in resurrection from Galilee, where
He had sought the poor of the ock. (Compare Matthew
4:15.))
e apostles’ mission in the power of the promised
Holy Spirit and the foundation of their testimony
Nevertheless, to exercise this ministry, they were to wait
for the<P006> accomplishment of the Father’s promise,
the Holy Spirit, with whom they were to be baptized,
according to John’s testimony, which the Lord assured them
should soon take place. e mission of the Holy Spirit led
them, at the same time, out of the Jewish eld of purely
temporal promises. e Father’s promise of the Holy Spirit
was a very dierent thing from that of the restoration of
the kingdom of Israel by the power of Jehovah, the God of
judgment. It was not for them to know the time and season
of this restoration, the knowledge of which the Father kept
in His own possession; but they should themselves receive
the power of the Holy Spirit, who would come down upon
them; and they should be witnesses unto Jesus (as they had
known Him, and according to the manifestation of Himself
after His resurrection), both in Jerusalem and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth-
thus making Jerusalem the starting point and rst object,
according to the mission (Luke 24:47). Nevertheless, their
testimony was founded on their beholding their Master
Acts 1
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and their Lord caught up from their midst, and received
into the clouds of heaven, which hid Him from their sight.
While looking steadfastly upwards, as this took place, two
messengers from heaven come and announce to them
that He will return in like manner. His manifestation in
this lower world, beneath the heavens, is therefore here
intended. He will return to earth to be seen of the world.
We have not the rapture of the assembly, nor the assembly’s
association with Him while absent. With the knowledge of
Jesus taken up out of the world, and to come again into the
world, as the termini and elements of all their teaching, they
return to Jerusalem, there to wait for the Holy Spirit who
was promised unto them. It is not into Galilee that they go.
ey are to be witnesses in Jerusalem of the heavenly rights
of that Christ who had been rejected on earth by Jerusalem
and the Jews.1
(1. In this sense it is not a continuation of Christ’s
mission on the earth, continued in the Matthew mission
from Galilee.)
Apostolic authority exercised according to
intelligence in the Word: Judas’s place taken by Matthias
All this clearly shows the position in which they were
placed, and the mission committed to them. But before
they receive the Holy Spirit for its fulllment, some other
characteristic <P007>circumstances nd their place in this
chapter. ey act, under the guidance of Peter, according
to intelligence in the Word, before they are endowed with
power from on high. ese two things are therefore distinct
from each other.
It appears that, although Peter was not directly led of
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit put His seal on that which was
done in accordance with the Word in the Old Testament
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understood by the Apostle. We have before seen that
Christ, after His resurrection, opened the understanding
of His disciples that they might understand the Scriptures.
ey now act, not having received the Holy Spirit,
according to a Jewish principle. ey present the lot to the
Lord, that He may decide. Nevertheless the lot was not all,
nor was it drawn without making a distinction. Apostolic
authority owed from the nomination of Christ Himself.
Intelligence of the Scriptures makes them understand that
which ought to be. e object which the Lord had assigned
to their service narrowed the choice to the little circle of
those who could fulll that object. eir history made
them capable, as Jesus had said, of being His witnesses,
because they had been with Him from the beginning, and
could now testify that this same Jesus, whom the Jews had
rejected and crucied, was indeed risen from among the
dead.
Apostolic authority is exercised in Jerusalem on the
Jewish principle, before the gift of the Holy Spirit. In
this there was neither research nor the exercise of the
human mind. “His bishopric let another take” guided their
conduct; the capacity to testify of Jesus in His life on earth,
and now of His resurrection and ascension, decided on the
needed qualications; the lot of Jehovah determined the
individual who was to take Judas’s place. Two are chosen,
according to these needful qualications, and the lot falls
upon Matthias, who is numbered with the eleven apostles.
But they were still without the promised power.
Acts 2
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Acts 2
e descent of the Holy Spirit in power
Chapter 2 relates the fulllment of this promise, in
answer to the spirit of dependence manifested in their
united prayers.
e Spirit comes from above, in His own power, to possess
and ll the dwelling-place prepared for Him.<P008>
is event, important beyond all others with respect to
man’s condition here below, has here a very simple character,
because there is no question of the causes of this marvelous
gift, of the work on which it depends, of the glory with
which it is connected and which it reveals, and of which it
is the earnest: we have here only the fact of its power. e
disciples were “endued with power from on high.”
e form of its appearance, however, is characteristic.
On Jesus the Holy Spirit descended in the shape of a
dove, because He was not to make His voice heard in the
streets, nor break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking
ax. But here it was the power of God in testimony, the
word; which was like consuming re, judging all that
came before it. Nevertheless it was in grace, and was to go
beyond the narrow limits of Jewish ordinances to proclaim
the wonderful works of God to every tongue and nation
under the sun. It was that mighty wind from heaven,
which manifested itself to the disciples, and came upon
them in the form of tongues of re, each one divided into
several. is marvel attracts the multitude; and the reality
of this divine work is proved by the fact that persons from
numerous countries hear these poor Galileans proclaim to
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them the wonderful works of God, each one in the language
of the country whence he came up to Jerusalem.1e Jews,
who did not understand these languages, mock; and Peter
declares to them in their own tongue, and according to
their own prophecies, the true character of that which
had taken place. He takes his stand upon the resurrection
of Christ, foretold by the prophet-king, and upon His
exaltation by the right hand of God. is Jesus, whom they
had crucied, had there received the promise of the Father,
and shed forth that which produced the eects that they
heard and saw. ey were therefore to know assuredly, that
God had made that same Jesus whom they had rejected
both Lord and Christ.<P009>
(1. e rationalistic notion that it was a kind of excited
gibberish, just as the unbelieving Jews thought, is absurd
beyond conception. ink of Paul’s thanking God that
he spoke more kinds of gibberish than they all, and God
giving a gift for interpreting gibberish!)
e character of Peter’s testimony; the promise also
to those afar o
e character of this testimony will be remarked here.
It is essentially that of Peter. It goes no farther than the
armation of the fact, that He who had been rejected
by the Jews is made in heaven Lord and Christ. It begins
with Jesus known of the Jews on earth, and establishes the
truth of His being raised again, and exalted to the position
of Lord. God has done this. e Apostle does not even
proclaim Him as the Son of God. We shall see that, if it is
not done by Peter in the Acts, Paul on the contrary does
it from the rst moment of his conversion. Peter states
the result at that moment in power, and does not speak
of the kingdom. He only reminds them that the Spirit
Acts 2
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was promised in the last days, and alludes to the terrible
day of the coming judgment, which would be preceded
by alarming signs and wonders. Without speaking of the
fulllment of the promise of the kingdom, the time of
which the Father had kept secret, he puts the fact of the
gift of the Holy Spirit in connection with the responsibility
of Israel, to whom God still acted in grace, by preaching to
them a gloried Christ, and by giving them proofs of His
glory in the gift of the Holy Spirit, made sensible to all.
is is the presence of the Holy Spirit according to John
15:26-27. e testimony as a whole, however, is founded
on and carries out the mission of Luke 24. Only in Luke
we have nothing of baptism. See Luke 24:47-49, to which
this fully corresponds. e testimony was addressed to
the Jews; nevertheless it was not conned to them,1 and
it was separative. “Separate yourselves from this untoward
generation.” is separation was founded on a real and
moral work-“repent”: the past was all to be judged, and
publicly demonstrated by their reception among Christians
by baptism, in order to receive the remission of their sins,
and participate in this heavenly gift of the Holy Spirit.
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost.” is work is individual. ere
was judgment on all the past, the admission among them
by baptism, and the consequent<P010> participation in the
Holy Spirit, who dwelt where they came. We see at once
the dierence between the moral change already wrought,
the repentance which their godly sorrow works, and the
reception of the Holy Spirit. is was consequent on the
remission of their sins to which they were brought. is
gift depended in a regular way on their admission among
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Christians, the house where He dwelt, built in the name
of Jesus. Afterwards the promise is declared to belong
to them and to their children- to the house of Israel as
such-to them and to their children after them. But it went
beyond the limits of God’s ancient people. e promise
was also to those that were afar o; for it was fullled, in
connection with faith in Christ, to all who through grace
should come into the new house-all whom the Lord, the
God of Israel, should call. e call of God characterized
the blessing. Israel, with her children, was owned, but a
remnant called out from among them. e Gentiles, being
called, shared the blessing.
(1. e testimony is in terms which, applying to Jews
there and scattered abroad, yet opened the door to the
Gentiles in the sovereignty of God-“all that are afar o, as
many as the Lord our God shall call.” God is still the God
of man; but He calls whom He pleases.)
e result of the gift of the Holy Spirit
e result of this ineable gift is related to us. It was
not merely a moral change, but a power which set aside
all the motives that individualized those who had received
it, by uniting them as one soul and in one mind. ey
continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine; they were in
communion with each other and the apostles; they broke
bread; they spent their time in prayer. e sense of God’s
presence was powerful among them; and many signs and
wonders were wrought by the hands of the apostles. ey
were united in the closest bonds; no man called anything
his own, but all divided their possessions with those that
needed. ey were daily in the temple, the public resort
of Israel for religious exercises, while having their own
apart-breaking bread at home daily. ey ate with joy and
Acts 2
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gladness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all
the people around them.
e formation of the assembly
us the assembly was formed; and the Lord added to
it daily the remnant of Israel, who were to be saved from
the judgments that should fall on a nation which had
rejected the Son of God, their Messiah; and, thank God,
from yet deeper ruin. God brought into the assembly-thus
owned of Him by the presence of the<P011> Holy Spirit-
those whom He spared in Israel.1 A new order of things
had commenced, marked by the presence of the Holy
Spirit.2 Here was found the presence and the house of
God, although the old order of things still existed until the
execution of judgment upon it.
(1. is is the force of ςωζομενοΙ (sozomenoi).)
(2. God never dwelt with man but on the ground of
redemption, not with Adam nor Abraham. Compare
Exodus 29:46.)
e assembly was formed therefore by the power of the
Holy Spirit come down from heaven, on the testimony
that Jesus, who had been rejected, was raised up to heaven,
being made of God both Lord and Christ. It was composed
of the Jewish remnant who were to be spared, with the
reserve of bringing in Gentiles whenever God should call
them. It was as yet formed in connection with Israel in the
patience of God, yet apart in power, God’s dwelling-place.
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Acts 3-4
God’s patience and grace in virtue of Christ’s death
and resurrection answered by opposition and rejection
In chapter 3 the Spirit addresses His testimony to the
people by the mouth of Peter. God still acted in patience
towards His foolish people, and with more than patience.
He acts in grace towards them, as His people, in virtue
of the death and intercession of Christ-alas! in vain. eir
unbelieving leaders silenced the word.1
(1. It is striking to see the counsels of God and their
accomplishment in grace, as far as they were now being
fullled, so clearly distinguished from the responsibility of
those with whom God was dealing. In chapter 2Peter says,
“Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” God was
gathering, according to His own knowledge of what was
coming. In chapter 3 he says, “God hath sent him to bless
you in turning every one of you away from his iniquities.”
So He had, and patience still waited, though God acted in
present grace according to the result known to Himself: so
in Jeremiah often. Had they repented, God would surely
have turned from judgment, as stated also in Jeremiah.)
e lame man healed; Christ preached; the return of
the rejected Lord in blessing dependent on repentance
e attention of the people is attracted by a miracle
that restored strength to a poor lame man, known to all
who frequented<P012> the temple; and, the multitude
crowding to behold him, Peter preaches Christ to them.
e God of their fathers, said he, had gloried His servant
Jesus, whom they had denied, when Pilate would have set
Acts 3-4
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Him free. ey had denied the Holy One and the Just-
desired a murderer-killed the Prince of Life; but God had
raised Him from the dead. And His name, through faith,
had healed the impotent man. Grace could esteem their act
done as through ignorance, and that as to their rulers also.
We here see the Holy Spirit responding to the intercession
of Christ: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do.” Guilty of the ten thousand talents, the great King
remits it them, sending the message of mercy which calls
them to repentance. To this Peter invites them: “Repent
ye, and be converted; so1 that the time of refreshing may
come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send
Jesus, whom the heaven must receive,” he tells them, until
the time ordained of God for the restoration which should
accomplish all that the prophets had foretold. at is to say,
he preaches repentance to the Jews as a nation, declaring
that, on their repentance, Jesus, who had ascended up to
heaven, would return; and the fulllment of all the blessings
spoken of by the prophets should take place on their behalf.
e return of Jesus with this object depended (and still
depends) on the repentance of the Jews. Meanwhile He
remains in heaven.
(1. Not “when.” ere is no pretence for so translating
it.)
Moreover Jesus was the prophet announced by Moses:
and whosoever would not hear Him should be cut o from
the people. His voice still sounded in special grace by the
mouth of His disciples. All the prophets had spoken of
these days. ey were the children of the prophets, the
natural heirs of the blessings which they had announced
for Israel, as well as of the promises made to Abraham of a
seed in whom all nations should be blessed. To them also
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in consequence, God, having raised up His servant Jesus,1
had sent Him to bless them, in turning away every one of
them from his iniquities.<P013>
(1. is refers to the time of His life on the earth, though
on His intercession there was a renewal of the mercy in
testimony to a gloried Christ, who would return on their
repentance.)
e apostles imprisoned
In a word, they are invited to return by repentance, and
enjoy all the promises made to Israel. e Messiah Himself
should return from heaven to establish their blessing.
e whole nation is here addressed as natural heirs of
the promises made to Abraham. But, while they were
speaking, the priests and the captain of the temple and the
Sadducees came to lay hands on them, being grieved that
they preached the resurrection, which their unbelief and
dogmatic system did not receive. ey put them in prison,
for it was evening. e hope of Israel was set aside; the
grace of God had spoken in vain, great and patient as it
was. Many, however, believed their word: ve thousand
persons already confessed the Lord Jesus.
e deliberate answer of the rulers’ inmost heart; the
Stone rejected by the builders
We have seen the address which God, in His grace, sent
to Israel by the mouth of Peter. We shall now see, not only
the reception (already noticed) which it met with from
the rulers of the people, but the deliberate answer of their
inmost heart, as we may call it. On the morrow the rulers,
the elders, and the scribes assemble at Jerusalem, together
with Annas and his kindred; and, setting the apostles in
their midst, they demand by what power or in what name
they have wrought this miracle on the impotent man. Peter,
Acts 3-4
23
full of the Holy Spirit, declares-announcing it to all Israel,
and with the utmost readiness and entire boldness-that it
was by Jesus, whom they had crucied, and whom God
had raised from the dead. us the question between God
and the rulers of Israel was very formally stated, and that
by the Spirit of God. Jesus was the stone rejected by them,
the builders, which had become the head of the corner.
Salvation could nowhere else be found. No carefulness not
to oend, with regard to the adversaries and the rulers; with
the people, as such, ignorant and misled, everything to win
them. e council recognized them as former companions
of Christ: the man who had been healed was there. What
could they say or do in the face of the multitude who had
witnessed the miracle? ey could only exhibit a will in
decided opposition to the Lord and His testimony, and
yield to the public opinion, which was necessary to their
own importance, by which too they were<P014> governed.
With threats they commanded the apostles to teach no
more in the name of Jesus. We may remark here, that Satan
had Sadducean instruments arrayed against the doctrine of
the resurrection, as he had Pharisees as suited instruments
against a living Christ. We must expect the well-ordered
opposition of Satan against the truth.
God’s command or man’s prohibition
Now Peter and John allow of no ambiguity with
respect to their course. God had commanded them to
preach Christ: the prohibition of man had no weight with
them. “We cannot,” say they, “but speak the things which
we have seen and heard.” What a position for the rulers
of the people! Accordingly, a testimony like this plainly
demonstrates that the leaders of Israel were fallen from
the place of interpreters of the will of God. e apostles
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do not drive them away-do not attack them: God would
judge them; but they act immediately on the part of God,
and disregard their authority altogether with respect to
the work that God had committed to themselves. e
testimony of God was with the apostles, and not with the
rulers of the temple; and the presence of God was in the
assembly, and not there.
e Holy Spirit’s power and God’s presence and
guidance in the midst of the disciples
Peter and John return to their own company, for a
separate people who knew each other was formed; and all,
moved by the Holy Spirit (for it was there that God dwelt
by His Spirit, not now in the temple), lift up their voice
to God, the Governor of all things, to acknowledge that
this opposition of the rulers was but the accomplishment
of the word and the counsels and the purposes of God.
ese threatenings were but the occasion of asking God to
manifest His power in connection with the name of Jesus.
In a word, the world (including the Jews, who formed a
part of it in their opposition) had stood up against Jesus,
the Servant of God, and opposed itself to the testimony
rendered to Him. e Holy Spirit is the strength of this
testimony, whether in the courage of those who bore
witness (verse 8), or in His presence in the assembly (verse
31), or in the energy of service (verse 33), or in the fruits
that are again produced among the saints with a power
which<P015> makes it manifest that the Holy Spirit has
dominion in their hearts over all the motives that inuence
man, making them walk by those of which He is the source.
It is the energy of the Spirit in the presence of opposition,
as before it was His natural fruit in those among whom He
dwelt. Fresh persons sell their goods, and lay their price
Acts 3-4
25
at the apostles’ feet; among others, a man whom the Holy
Spirit takes pleasure in distinguishing- Barnabas, from the
island of Cyprus.
To sum up this chapter demonstrates, on one side, the
condition of the Jews, their rejection of the testimony
which was addressed to them in grace; and on the other, the
power of the Holy Spirit and God’s presence and guidance
elsewhere, namely, in the midst of the disciples.
ese three chapters (ch. 2-4) present the rst forming
of the assembly, and its blessed character through the Holy
Spirit dwelling in it. ey present to us its rst beauty as
formed of God, and His habitation.
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73173
Acts 5
Ananias and Sapphira: evil in the assembly
manifesting the Spirit’s power and God’s presence
Alas! evil shows itself there also (ch. 5). If the mighty
Spirit of God is there, the esh also is there. ere are some
who wished to have the credit of devotedness which the
Holy Spirit produces, although devoid of that faith in God,
and that self-renunciation, which, showing itself in the path
of love, constitutes all the value and all the truth of this
devotedness. But it only gives fresh occasion to manifest
the power of the Spirit of God, the presence of God within,
against evil; as the preceding chapter showed His energy
outside, and the precious fruits of His grace. If there be not
the simple fruit and of good already described, there is the
power of good against evil. e present state of the assembly,
as a whole, is the power of evil over good. God cannot
endure evil where He dwells; still less than where He does
not dwell. However great the energy of the testimony which
He sends to those who are outside, He exercises all patience
until there is no remedy within. e more His presence is
realized and manifested (and even in proportion as that
is done), the more He shows <P016>Himself intolerant
of evil. It cannot be otherwise. He judges in the midst of
His saints, where He will have holiness; and that according
to the measure of the manifestation of Himself. Ananias
and Sapphira disregarding the presence of the Holy Spirit,
whose impulse they pretended to follow, fall down dead
before the God whom, in their blindness, they sought to
deceive in forgetting Him. God was in the assembly.
Acts 5
27
Mighty, though painful, testimony to His presence!
Fear pervades every heart, both within and outside. In
fact, the presence of God is a serious thing, however great
its blessing. e eect of this manifestation of the power
of a God present with those whom He acknowledged as
His own was very great. Multitudes joined themselves by
faith to the confession of the name of the Lord-at least
from among the people, for the rest dared not. e more
position we have in the world, the more we fear the world
which gave it us. is miraculous testimony to the power of
God was also displayed in a still more remarkable way, so
that people came from far to prot by it. e apostles were
constantly together in Solomon’s porch.
Opposition and jealousy of the Jewish rulers; the
apostles again imprisoned
But alas! the manifestation of the power of God, in
connection with the despised disciples of Jesus, and working
outside the beaten track in which the self-importance
of the high priest and those that were with him found
its path, together with the progress made by that which
they rejected, and the attention drawn to the apostles by
the miracles that were wrought, excite the opposition and
jealousy of the rulers; and they put the apostles in prison.
In this world good ever works in the presence of the power
of evil.
Set free by the providence of God through angelic
ministry
A power dierent from that of the Holy Spirit in the
assembly now displays itself. e providence of God,
watching over His work, and acting through the ministry
of angels, frustrates all the plans of the unbelieving heads of
Israel. e priests shut up the apostles in prison. An angel
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of the Lord opens the prison doors, and sends the apostles
to pursue their accustomed work in the<P017> temple. e
ocers whom the council send to the prison nd it shut,
and everything in order; but no apostles.
God to be obeyed rather than men
Meanwhile the council are informed that they are in
the temple, teaching the people. Confounded and alarmed,
the council send to fetch them; but the ocers bring
them without violence, fearing the people. For God holds
everything in check, until His testimony be rendered, when
He will have it rendered. e high priest remonstrates
with them on the ground of his former prohibition. Peter’s
reply is more concise than on the former occasion, and is
rather the announcement of a settled purpose, than the
rendering a testimony by reasoning with those who will
not hearken, and who showed themselves to be adversaries.
It is the same in substance as what he had said when
previously brought before the rulers: God is to be obeyed
rather than men. Opposed to God, the heads of Israel were
merely men. In saying this, all was decided: the opposition
between them and God was evident. e God of their
fathers had raised up Jesus, whom the rulers of Israel had
crucied. e apostles were His witnesses, and so was the
Holy Spirit, whom God had given to those who obeyed
Him. All was said; the position clearly announced. Peter,
in the name of the apostles, formally takes it on the part of
God and of Christ, and in agreement with the seal of the
Holy Spirit, who, given to believers, bore witness in the
Saviour’s name. Nevertheless there is no pride, no self-will.
He must obey God. He still takes his place in Israel (“the
God,” he says, “of our fathers”); but the place of testimony
for God in Israel. e advice of Gamaliel prevails to turn
Acts 5
29
aside the purposes of the council, for God has always His
instruments ready, unknown perhaps to us, where we are
doing His will; nevertheless they cause the apostles to
be beaten, and command them not to preach, and send
them away. ey were at a loss what to do-only made the
opposition of their will the more evident, while how simple
the path when sent of God, and consciously doing His will!
We must obey God.
God Himself maintains His testimony
e object of this latter part of the chapter is to show
that the providential care of God, whether miraculously
by means of <P018>angels, or by disposing the hearts of
men to accomplish His purposes, was exercised on behalf
of the assembly, even as the Spirit of God bore testimony
in it and manifested in it His power. e apostles, in no
wise terried, return, full of joy at being counted worthy to
suer for the name of Jesus; and every day, in the temple, or
from house to house, they cease not to teach and to preach
the good news of Jesus the Christ. However weak they
might be, God Himself maintains His testimony.
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73174
Acts 6-7
e esh showing itself; wisdom given by the Spirit
meets the diculty
Other evils, unhappily, assail the church (ch. 6). e
esh begins to show itself, in the midst of the power of
the Holy Spirit, the trouble arising from the dierent
circumstances of the disciples, and in those things in which
grace had been especially manifested, on the side on which
they were connected with the esh. e Hellenists (Jews
born in Grecian or heathen countries) murmur against
the Hebrews (natives of Judea), because the widows of the
latter were favored, as they imagined, in the distribution
of the goods bestowed on the assembly by its wealthier
members. But here the wisdom given by the Spirit meets
the diculty, proting by the occasion to give development
to the work, according to the necessities that were growing
up; and seven persons are named to undertake this business,
for which the apostles would not forsake their own work.
We also nd, in the case of Philip and Stephen, the truth of
what Paul says: “ey that have used the oce of a deacon
well, purchase to themselves a good degree, and great
boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Observe here, that the apostles put prayer before
preaching in their work, their conict with the power
of evil being more especially carried on in it, as well as
their realization of the power of God for the strength
and wisdom they needed; and, in order that they might
act directly on God’s part, it was necessary that grace and
unction should be maintained in their hearts.
Acts 6-7
31
Observe also the grace that discovers itself under the
inuence of the Spirit of God in this matter: all the names,
as far as we can judge, are those of Hellenists.<P019>
Evil bearing witness to the ecacy of the Spirit’s
presence
e inuence of the Word extended, and many priests
were obedient to the faith. us, until now, the opposition
from without, and the evil within, did but minister occasion
to the progress of the work of God, by the manifestation
of His presence in the midst of the church. Take special
notice of this fact. It is not only that the Spirit does good
by His testimony, but, although evil is there without and
within, yet where power displays itself, that evil does but
bear witness to the ecacy of His presence. ere was evil,
but there was power to meet it. Still it showed there was
leaven even in the Pentecostal cake.
Stephen rendering the Spirit’s last testimony to the
nation’s heads; judgment pronounced by the Holy Spirit
e energy of the Spirit manifests itself especially in
Stephen, who is full of grace and power. e Hellenist
Jews oppose him; and, not being able to answer him,
they accuse him before the council, and in particular of
having announced in the name of Jesus the destruction of
the temple and of the city, and the change of the customs
of their law. Here, observe, we see the free power of the
Holy Spirit, without any sending by any other to the work,
as in the apostles appointed by Christ Himself. It is not
authority in the apostles, it is not in the Jews of Palestine.
He distributes to whom He will. It is the godly and devoted
Hellenist who renders the last testimony to the heads of
the nation. If priests believe on the one side, Jews from
without Judea bear testimony on the other, and prepare the
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way for a still more extended testimony; but at the same
time for the denitive rejection, morally, of the Jews as
the basis and center of the testimony, and of the work of
gathering together. For as yet Jerusalem was the center of
testimony and gathering. Peter had testied of a glorious
Christ promising His return on their repentance, and they
had stopped His testimony. Now judgment is pronounced
on them by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Stephen,
in whom they show themselves open adversaries to this
testimony. It is not the apostles who, by ocial authority,
break o with Jerusalem. e free action of the Holy Spirit
anticipates a breach, which did not take place so as to
form a part of the Scripture narrative. e thing is done
by the power of God; and the taking up to heaven of the
<P020>witness raised up by the Spirit to denounce the
Jews as adversaries, and to declare their fallen condition,
placed the center of gathering in heaven according to the
Spirit-that heaven to which the faithful witness, who was
lled with the Spirit, had gone up. Already, while on earth,
he had the appearance of an angel to the eyes of the council
who judged him; but the hardness of their hearts would not
let them stop in the path of hostility towards the testimony
rendered to Christ-a testimony which comes out here in a
special way as the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
Stephen,1 as far as we are told, had not known the Lord
during His life on earth. Certainly he was not appointed,
like the apostles, to be a witness of that life. He was simply
the instrument of the Holy Spirit, distributing to whom
He would.
(1. He is the expression of the power of the Holy
Spirit witnessing to Christ gloried, who had been now
thus presented to Israel, who had already rejected Him in
Acts 6-7
33
humiliation. From the fall to the ood, man, though not
left without witness, was otherwise left to himself. ere
were no special ways and institutions of God. e result
was the ood, to cleanse, so to speak, the earth from its
horrible pollution and violence. In the new world God
began to deal with man. Government was set up in Noah.
But in Abraham one was, by electing grace, called out, and
God’s promises given to him when the world had turned
to demons. is began the history of God’s people; but the
question of righteousness was not raised. is the law did,
claiming it from man. en prophets came in patient grace.
en, the last appeal of God for fruits, and testimony of
grace, the Son was sent. He was now rejected, and on His
intercession the Holy Spirit had witnessed to His glory
by Peter (Acts 3) for their repentance, and now dealt with
them as to it by Stephen.)
e nation’s history and full measure of guilt summed
up
He begins therefore their history from the beginning of
God’s way, that is, from Abraham, called out by the revelation
of the God of glory, slow indeed to obey, but at length led
by the patient grace of God into Canaan. Nevertheless, he
was a stranger in the promised land; and bondage was to
be the portion of his descendants, until God interposed in
grace. e lot, therefore, of the blessed patriarch was not
that of possessing the promises, but of being a stranger;
and that of his descendants was to be captives until
God delivered them with a strong arm. Nothing can be
more striking than the calm superiority to circumstances
displayed by Stephen. He recites to the Jews a history they
could not deny, a history they boasted in, yet it condemned
them utterly. ey were doing as their fathers had done. But
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two persons are specially prominent in Stephen’s account,
in connection with the goodness<P021> of God towards
Israel at this period-Joseph and Moses. Israel had rejected
them both, given up Joseph to the Gentiles, rejected Moses
as judge and leader. It was, in cases which the Jews could
not deny or object to, the history of Christ also, who, too,
at the time appointed of God, will indeed be the Redeemer
of Israel. is is the substance of Stephen’s argument. e
Jews had always rejected those whom God had sent and
in whom the Holy Spirit had acted, and the testimony of
the same Holy Spirit in the prophets who had spoken of
the Christ whom they had now betrayed and slain. Besides
this, according to Moses, they had worshipped false gods,
even from the time of their deliverance out of Egypt1-a
sin which, however great the long-suering of God, would
cause them to be carried away, now that they had lled up
the measure of their iniquity, beyond the Babylon which
had already been their punishment.
(1. Observe, too, here, that however long the patience
of God had lasted, repentance not being its result, the rst
sin, the rst departure from God, bears its penalty at the
end.)
It is a most striking summing up of their whole history-
the history of man with all the means of restoration
supplied. e full measure of guilt is stated. ey had
received the law and had not kept it, rejected the prophets
who had testied of Christ, and betrayed and murdered
Christ Himself-always resisted the Holy Spirit. What
they did trust in, the temple, God rejected. God Himself
has been, as it were, a stranger in the land of Canaan; and
if Solomon built Him a house, it was in order that the
Holy Spirit might declare that He who had heaven for His
Acts 6-7
35
throne, and earth for His footstool, whose dominion was
universal, would not dwell in houses of stone, which were
the creation of His own hand. us we have the complete
summing up of their history, connected with the last days
of their judgment. ey always resisted the Holy Spirit, as
they had always disobeyed the law. Judaism was judged,
after the long patience of God and all His ways of grace with
man as means were exhausted. For Israel was man under
the special dealings and care of God. Man’s guilt now is not
only sin, but sin in spite of all that God has done. It was the
turning point of man’s history. Law, prophets, Christ, the
Holy Spirit, all tried, and man at enmity against God. e
cross had really proved it, but this had added the rejection
of the testimony of the Holy Spirit to a gloried<P022>
Christ. All was over with man, and began anew with the
second Man ever in connection with heaven.
Man’s rejection of a gloried Christ; the heavens
opened to faith; the Son of Man in the glory
eir conscience convicted, and their heart hardened,
their will unchanged, the members of the council were
lled with rage, and gnashed upon him with their teeth.
But if Stephen was to bear this denitive testimony against
Israel, he was not merely to render the testimony, but much
more to place it in its true relative position, by a living
expression of that which a believer was in virtue of the
presence of the Holy Spirit here below dwelling in him. In
their history we have man always resisting the Holy Spirit;
in Stephen, a man full of Him consequent on redemption.
Such are the elements of this touching and striking
scene, which forms an epoch in the history of the assembly.
e heads of Israel gnash their teeth with rage, against the
mighty and convincing testimony of the Holy Spirit, with
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36
which Stephen was lled. ey had rejected a gloried
Christ, as they had slain a humbled one. Let us follow out
the eect as to Stephen himself. He looks steadfastly up
to heaven; now fully opened to faith. It is thither that the
Spirit directs the mind, making it capable of xing itself
there. He reveals to one who is thus lled with Himself the
glory of God on high, and Jesus in that glory at the right
hand of God, in the place of power-Son of Man in the far
higher place than that of Psalm 2, that of Psalm 8, though
all things were not yet put under Him (compare John 1:50-
51). Afterwards He gives the eect of the testimony borne
in the presence of the power of Satan, the murderer.
Stephen as the rst example of the state of the
believer’s soul after death with Christ gloried
“I see,” said Stephen, “the heavens opened.” Such then
is the position of the true believer-heavenly upon the
earth-in presence of the world that rejected Christ, the
murderous world; the believer, alive in death, sees by the
power of the Holy Spirit into heaven, and the Son of Man
at the right hand of God. Stephen does not say “Jesus.”
e Spirit characterizes Him as the Son of Man! Precious
testimony to man! Nor is it to the glory of God that he
testies (this was natural to heaven) but to the Son of Man
in the<P023> glory, heaven being open to him, and then
looks to Him as the Lord Jesus, to receive his spirit, the
rst example and full testimony of the state of the believer’s
soul after death with Christ gloried.
e resemblance of Stephen to his Master
With regard to the progress of the testimony, it is not
now that Jesus is the Messiah, and He will return if you
repent (which, however, does not cease to be true), but it
is the Son of Man in heaven, which is open to the man
Acts 6-7
37
that is lled with the Holy Spirit-that heaven to which
God is about to transport the soul, as it is the hope and the
testimony of those that are His. e patience of God was
doubtless still acting in Israel; but the Holy Spirit opened
new scenes and new hopes to the believer.1 But remark
that Stephen, in consequence of seeing Jesus in heaven,
perfectly resembles Jesus upon earth-a fact precious in
grace to us: only that the glory of His Person is in all cases
carefully guarded. Jesus, though heaven was opened to Him,
was Himself the object to which heaven looked down, and
who was publicly owned and sealed of the Father. He did
not need a vision to present an object<P024> to His faith,
nor did it produce any transformation into the same image
by revelation of the glory. But “Father, into y hands
I commit my spirit” is found in “Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.” And the aection for Israel which expresses itself in
intercession, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do,” is found again in “Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge”; save that here the Holy Spirit does not now arm
that they are ignorant.
(1. e Holy Spirit opens heaven to our view, and enables
us to contemplate that which is found there; and forms
us on earth according to the character of Jesus. As to the
change that took place in the progress of God’s dealings,
it appears to me that it was the realization by the Spirit of
the eect of the veil being rent. Jesus is seen still standing;
because, until the rejection by Israel of the testimony of
the Holy Spirit, He did not denitely sit down, waiting for
the judgment of His enemies. Rather He remained, in the
position of High Priest, standing; the believer with Him
on high by the Spirit, and the soul having thus far joined
Him there in heaven; for now, by the blood of Christ, by
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38
that new and living way, it could enter within the veil.
On the other hand, the Jews having done the same thing
with regard to the testimony of the Holy Spirit that they
did with regard to Jesus, having (so to speak) in Stephen
sent a messenger after Him to say, “We will not have this
man to reign over us,” Christ denitively takes His place,
seated in heaven, until He shall judge the enemies who
would not that He should reign over them. It is in this last
position that He is viewed in the Epistle to the Hebrews;
in which consequently they are exhorted to come out of
the camp of Israel, following after the victim whose blood
had been carried into the sanctuary; thus anticipating the
judgment, which fell upon Jerusalem intermediately by
means of the Romans, in order to set the nation aside, as
it will be nally executed by Jesus Himself. e position of
Stephen therefore resembles that of Jesus, the testimony
being that of the Spirit to Jesus gloried. is makes the
great principle of the Epistle to the Hebrews very plain.
e doctrine of the church, announced by Paul after
the revelation made to him on his way to Damascus, goes
further than this; that is, it declares the union of Christians
with Jesus in heaven, and not merely their entrance into
the holy place through the rent veil, where the priest might
only go in previously, behind the veil which hid God from
the people.)
Stephen’s position and the divine character and
Person of Jesus, the Object of heaven
But it is well to dwell a moment on that which brings
out more clearly the special position of Stephen, the vessel
of the Spirit’s testimony, so denitively rejected by the
Jews; and the divine character and Person of Jesus, even
where His disciple is most like Him. Heaven is open
Acts 6-7
39
to Jesus, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him and He is
acknowledged the Son of God. Heaven opens on Jesus,
and the angels descend upon the Son of Man: but He has
no object presented to Him; He is Himself the object on
which heaven is gazing. Heaven will open at the end of the
age, and Jesus Himself come forth on the white horse (that
is, in judgment and triumph). Here, too, heaven opens, and
the disciple, the Christian, full of the Holy Spirit, sees into
it, and there beholds Jesus at the right hand of God. Jesus
is still the object, before of heaven, now of the believing
man who is lled with the Holy Spirit; so that, as to the
object of faith and the position of the believer, this scene
is denitively characteristic. Jesus has no object, but is the
object of heaven when it opens; the saint has, and it is Jesus
Himself in heaven when it is open. Rejected, and rejected
by the Jews, like Jesus, partaking in His suerings, and
lled with His Spirit of grace, Stephen’s eyes are xed on
high, on the heaven which the Holy Spirit opens to him;
and he sees the Son of Man there ready to receive his spirit.
e rest will come later; but it is not only Jesus, whom
the heavens must receive until the times of restitution, but
also the souls of His believing people until the moment
of resurrection, and the whole church, in spirit, detached
from the world that rejected Him, and from Judaism
that opposed the testimony of the Holy Spirit. e latter,
Judaism, is no longer at all recognized; there is no longer
any room for the long-suering of God towards it. Its place
is taken by heaven, and by the <P025>assembly, which, so
far as it is consistent, follows her Master there in spirit,
while waiting for His return.
Saul was present at Stephen’s death, and consenting to
it.1
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(1. We may remark here, that the sanctuary, so to
speak, is open to all believers. e veil indeed was rent by
the death of Christ, but the grace of God was still acting
towards the Jews, as such, and proposed to them the return
of Jesus to the earth, that is to say, outside the veil, in the
event of their repentance, so that the blessing would then
have been upon the earth-the times of refreshing by the
coming of Christ, which the prophets had announced. But
now it is no longer a Messiah, the Son of David, but a
Son of man in heaven; and, by the Holy Spirit here below,
an opened heaven is seen and known, and the great High
Priest (standing as yet) at the right hand of God is not
hidden behind a veil. All is open to the believer; the glory,
and He who has entered into it for His people. And this,
it appears to me, is the reason why He is seen standing.
He had not denitely taken His place as seated (εΙς το
δΙηνεκες, eis to dienekes) on the heavenly throne, until the
testimony of the Holy Spirit to Israel of His exaltation
had been denitively rejected on earth. e free testimony
of the Spirit which is developed, here and afterwards, is
highly interesting, without touching apostolic authority in
its place, as we shall see. As to the Jews, till the High Priest
comes out, they cannot know that His work is accepted for
the nation; as, in the day of atonement, they had to wait till
he came out that they might know it. But for us the Holy
Spirit is come out while He is within, and we know it.)
e end of the rst phase of the assembly of God
is is the end of the rst phase of the assembly of God-
its history in immediate connection with Jerusalem and
the Jews, as the center to which the work of the apostles
related, “beginning at Jerusalem”; carried on, however, in
a believing remnant, but inviting Israel, as such, to come
Acts 6-7
41
into it, as being nationally the object of the love and care
of God, but they would not. Some accessory events follow,
which enlarge the sphere of labor and maintain the unity
of the whole, previously to the revelation of the call of the
Gentiles, as such, properly speaking, and of the assembly
as one body, independent of Jerusalem, and apart from the
earth. ese events are-the work of Philip in the conversion
of Samaria and of the Ethiopian; that of Cornelius, with
Peter’s vision that took place after the vocation of Saul,
who himself is brought in by a Jew of good report among
the Jews as such; the labors of Peter in all the land of
Canaan; and, nally, the connection established between
the apostles at Jerusalem and the converted Gentiles at
Antioch; the opposition of Herod, the false king of the
Jews, and the care which God still takes of Peter, and the
judgment of God upon the king. Afterwards comes the
direct work among the Gentiles, having Antioch for its
starting point, already<P026> prepared by the conversion
of Paul, through means and with a revelation that were
quite peculiar. Let us follow the details of these chapters.
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73175
Acts 8
Persecution and dispersion accomplishing God’s will
in sovereign judgment on Israel
After the death of Stephen persecution breaks out. e
victory, gained by a hatred the accomplishment of whose
object was allowed by Providence, opens the oodgates to
the violence of the Jewish leaders, enemies to the gospel.
e barrier that restrained them once broken, the waves of
passion overow on all sides. People are often held back
by a little remaining conscience, by habits, by a certain
idea of the rights of others; but when the dikes are broken,
hatred (the spirit of murder in the heart) satiates itself,
if God permit, by actions that show what man is when
left to himself. But all this hatred accomplishes the will of
God, in which man would perhaps otherwise have failed,
and which in some respects he could not or ought not
even to have executed, that is to say, the will of God in
sovereign judgment. e dispersion of the assembly was
Israel’s judgment-a judgment which the disciples would
have found it dicult to declare and to execute by the
communication of greater light to them; for whatever may
be the blessing and energy in the sphere where the grace of
God acts, the ways of God in directing all things are in His
own hand. Our part, too, in His ways as to those without,
is in grace.
e apostles’ concentration at Jerusalem; its
continuance as a center of authority and inuence
e whole assembly then, except the apostles, is
scattered. It is questionable also, that the apostles did
Acts 8
43
right in remaining, and whether a more simple faith
would not have made them go away, and thus have spared
the assembly many a conict and many a diculty in
connection with the fact that Jerusalem continued to be
a center of authority.1e Lord had even said with Israel
in<P027> view, “When they persecute in one city, ee
into another”; and after His resurrection He commands
them to go and disciple all nations. is last mission we
do not nd executed in the history of the Acts and the
work among the Gentiles, and, as we see in Galatians 2,
by a special agreement entered into at Jerusalem, it fell
into the hands of Paul, being placed on an entirely new
footing. e Word tells us nothing of the accomplishment
of this mission of the twelve towards the Gentiles, unless it
be the slight general intimation in the end of Mark. God
is mighty in Peter toward the circumcision and in Paul
towards the Gentiles. It may be said that the twelve were
not persecuted. It is possible, and I say nothing decided
on the point; but it is certain that the passages which I
have quoted have no fulllment in the Bible history, and
that another arrangement, another order of things, took
place in lieu of that which the Lord prescribed, and that
Jewish prejudices had in fact an inuence, resulting from
this concentration at Jerusalem, from which even Peter had
the greatest diculty to free himself.
(1. is in no wise prevents the manifestation of the
sovereign wisdom of God. e development of the doctrine
of the assembly in its oneness, and as the body of Christ,
was but so much the more perfect and unmixed, as we nd
it taught by Paul; who was called outside of Judaism by the
revelation of a heavenly Christ. Neither do these ways of
sovereign wisdom in God make any change at all in the
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44
responsibility of man. e outward unity of the assembly
was also preserved by this means, by the connection kept
up between the other places and Jerusalem, until the
work among the Gentiles outside Judaism made these
connections extremely dicult and precarious. is,
however, rendered the grace and the wisdom of God but so
much the more apparent.)
ose who were scattered abroad preached the Word
everywhere, but only to the Jews, before some of them
arrived at Antioch (ch. 11:19).
Philip’s work in Samaria; apostolic recognition
Philip however went down to Samaria, and preached
Christ to them, and wrought miracles. ey all give heed
to him and are even baptized. A man who until then
had bewitched them with sorcery, so that they had said
he was the great power of God, even he also submits to
the power which eclipsed his false marvels, and convinced
him so much the more of its reality as he was conscious of
the falseness of his own. e apostles make no diculty
with regard to Samaria. e history of Jesus must have
enlightened them in that respect. Moreover, the Samaritans
were not Gentiles. Still it was a Hellenist who preached
the gospel there.<P028>
e Holy Spirit conferred by the apostles through
prayer and laying on of hands; Jerusalem set aside
A new truth comes out here in connection with the
regular process of the assembly-namely, that the apostles
conferred the Holy Spirit by means of prayer and the
laying on of hands: a very important fact in the history of
God’s dealings. Moreover Samaria was a conquest which
all the energy of Judaism had never been able to make. It
was a new and splendid triumph for the gospel. Spiritual
Acts 8
45
energy to subdue the world appertained to the assembly.
Jerusalem was set aside: its day was over in that respect.
Simon the sorcerer: the true condition of his heart
e presence of the power of the Holy Spirit acting
in Peter preserves the assembly as yet from the entrance
of hypocrites, the instruments of Satan. e great and
powerful fact that God was there manifested itself and
made the darkness evident which circumstances had
concealed. Carried along by the strong current, Simon had
yielded, as to his intelligence, to the authority of Christ
whose name was gloried by Philip’s ministry. But the
true condition of his heart, the desire of his own glory, the
complete opposition between his moral condition and all
principle-all light from God-betrays itself in presence of
the fact that a man can impart the Holy Spirit. He desires
to buy this power with money. What a thought! It is thus
that the unbelief which appears quite to pass away, so that
the things of God are outwardly received, betrays itself by
something which, to one who has the Spirit, is so grossly
contrary to God that its true character is manifest even to
a child taught by God Himself.
e free energy of the Spirit outside Jerusalem
Samaria is thus brought into connection with the
center of the work of Jerusalem, where the apostles still
were. Already the Holy Spirit’s being bestowed on the
Samaritans was an immense step in the development
of the assembly. Doubtless they were circumcised, they
acknowledged the law, although the temple had in a certain
degree lost its importance. e body of believers was more
consolidated, and, so far as they still held to Jerusalem, it
was a positive gain; for Samaria, by receiving the gospel,
entered into connection with her ancient rival, as much as
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the apostles<P029> themselves were so, and submitted to
her. Probably the apostles, during that time of persecution,
did not go to the temple. God had opened a wide door
to them outside, and thus made them ample amends in
their work, for the success of the rulers of Israel who had
stopped it in Jerusalem; for the energy of the Spirit was
with them. To sum up: that which is presented here is the
free energy of the Spirit in others than the apostles, and
outside Jerusalem which had rejected it; and the relations
maintained with the apostles and Jerusalem by their central
action, and the authority and power with which they were
invested.
Philip’s ready obedience; the Spirit’s guidance; the
grace of the gospel to the Ethiopian
Having accomplished their work, and themselves
evangelized several villages of the Samaritans, Peter and
John return to Jerusalem. e work outside goes on, and by
other means. Philip, who presents the character of prompt
unquestioning obedience in simplicity of heart, is called
to leave his prosperous work with which all his personal
importance (if he had been seeking it) was connected, and
in which he was surrounded with respect and aection.
“Go,” said the angel of the Lord, “toward the south, unto
the way that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza.” It was a desert.
Philip’s ready obedience does not think of the dierence
between Samaria and Gaza, but of the Lord’s will: and he
goes. e gospel now extends to the proselytes from among
the Gentiles, and makes its way to the center of Abyssinia.
e Queen’s treasurer is admitted among the disciples of
the Lord by baptism, which sealed his faith in the testimony
of the prophet Isaiah; and he goes on his way, rejoicing in
the salvation which he had taken a toilsome journey from
Acts 8
47
a far country to seek in legal duties and ceremonies, but
with faith in God’s Word, in Jerusalem. Beautiful picture
of the grace of the gospel! He carries away with him, and
to his home, that which grace had bestowed on him in the
wilderness-that which his wearisome journey to Jerusalem
had not procured him. e poor Jews, who had driven
away the testimony from Jerusalem, are outside everything.
e Spirit of the Lord carries Philip far away, and he is
found at Azotus; for all the power of the Lord is at the
service of the Son of Man for the accomplishment of the
testimony to His glory. Philip evangelizes all the cities
unto Caesarea.<P030>
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73176
Acts 9:1-31
Saul, the apostle of Jewish hatred, called to be an
apostle of the Lord of glory
A work and a workman of another character begin now
to dawn upon the scene.
We have seen the inveterate opposition of the heads of
Israel to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, their obstinacy
in repelling the patient grace of God. Israel rejected all
the work of the God of grace in their behalf. Saul makes
himself the apostle of their hatred to the disciples of Jesus,
to the servants of God. Not content with searching them
out at Jerusalem, he asks for letters from the high priest,
that he may go and lay hands on them in foreign cities.
When Israel is in full opposition to God, he is the ardent
missionary of their malice-in ignorance, no doubt, but the
willing slave of his Jewish prejudices.
us occupied, he approaches Damascus. ere, in the
full career of an unbroken will, the Lord Jesus stops him. A
light from heaven shines round about him, and envelopes
him in its dazzling brightness. He falls to the earth, and
hears a voice saying unto him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me?” e glory which had thrown him to the ground
left no doubt-accompanied as it was by that voice-that
the authority of God was revealed in it. His will broken,
his pride overthrown, his mind subdued, he asks, “Who
art thou, Lord?” e authority of the One who spoke was
unquestionable; Saul’s heart was subject to that authority:
and it was Jesus. e career of his self-will was ended
forever. But moreover the Lord of glory was not only Jesus;
Acts 9:1-31
49
He also acknowledged the poor disciples, whom Saul
desired to carry prisoners to Jerusalem, as being Himself.
e revelation that the rejected, despised Jesus is
Lord and that His disciples are one with Him
How many things were revealed in those few words!
e Lord of glory declared Himself to be Jesus, whom
Saul persecuted. e disciples were one with Himself.
e Jews were at open war with the Lord Himself. e
whole system which they maintained, all their law, all
their ocial authority, all the ordinances of God, had not
prevented their being at open war with the Lord. Saul
himself,<P031> armed with their authority, found himself
occupied in destroying the name of the Lord and His
people from o the earth: a terrible discovery, completely
overwhelming his soul, all-powerful in its eects, not
leaving one moral element of his soul standing before its
strength. Extenuation of the evil was fruitless; zeal for
Judaism was zeal against the Lord. His own conscience
had only animated that zeal. e authorities constituted
of God, surrounded with the halo of centuries of honor,
enhanced by the present calamities of Israel which had
now nothing but her religion-these authorities had but
sanctioned and favored his eorts against the Lord. e
Jesus whom they rejected was the Lord. e testimony
which they endeavored to suppress was His testimony.
What a change for Saul! What a new position, even for
the minds of the apostles themselves who remained at
Jerusalem, when all were dispersed-faithful indeed in spite
of the opposition of the rulers of Israel, but themselves in
connection with the nation.
e eect of the Lord’s revelation on Saul
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But the work went deeper yet. Misguided no doubt, but
his conscience in itself-for he thought he ought to do many
things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth-left him the
enemy of the Lord. Blameless righteousness according to
law, as man could measure it, more than left him hardened
in open opposition to the Lord. His superiors, and the
authorities of the ancient religion- all his soul was based on
morally as well as religiously-all was smashed within him
forever. He was broken up in the whole man before God.
Nothing remained in him but discovered enmity against
God, save as his own will was also broken in the process,
he who an hour before was the conscientious, blameless,
religious man! Compare, though the revelation of Christ
carried him much farther, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 3,
2Corinthians 1:9, 4:10, and a multitude of passages.
Other important points are brought out here. Saul had
not known Jesus on earth. He had not a testimony because
he had known Him from the beginning, declaring that He
was made Lord and Christ. It is not a Jesus who goes up into
heaven where He is out of sight; but the Lord who appears
to him for the rst time in heaven, and who announces to
him that He is Jesus. A glorious Lord is the only one whom
he knows. His gospel (as he expresses<P032> it himself)
is the gospel of the glory. If he had known Christ after
the esh, he knows Him no more. But there is yet another
important principle found here. e Lord of glory has His
members on earth. “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.” It
was Himself: those poor disciples were bone of His bones
and esh of His esh. He looked upon them and cherished
them as His own esh. e glory and the oneness of the
saints with Jesus, their Head in heaven, are the truths
connected with the conversion of Saul, with the revelation
Acts 9:1-31
51
of Jesus to him, with the creation of faith in his heart, and
that in a way which overthrew Judaism in all its bearings in
his soul; and that in a soul in which this Judaism formed an
integral part of its existence, and gave it its whole character.
United to a gloried Christ
Another point, borrowed from his account of the vision
later in the book, which is remarkable in connection with
his career: “Separating thee,” says the Lord, “from the
people and from the Gentiles, to whom I now send thee.”
is moral end of Saul separated him from both-of course
from the Jews, but did not make a Gentile of him either-
and united him with a gloried Christ. He was neither
a Jew nor a Gentile in his spiritual standing. All his life
and ministry owed from his association with a heavenly
gloried Christ.
e Lord’s conversation with Ananias; Saul’s baptism
Nevertheless he comes into the assembly by the usual
means- like Jesus in Israel-humbly taking his place there
where the truth of God was established by His power.
Blind for three days and fully engrossed-as was natural-
with such a discovery, he neither eats nor drinks; and
afterwards, besides the fact of his blindness, which was
a quiet, continual, and unequivocal proof of the truth of
that which had happened to him, his faith must have been
conrmed by the arrival of Ananias, who can declare to him
from the Lord that which had happened to him, although
he had not been out of the city-a circumstance so much the
more striking because, in a vision, Saul had seen him come
and restore his sight. And this Ananias does: Saul receives
sight, and is baptized. He takes food and is strengthened.
e conversation of Jesus with Ananias is remarkable, as
showing with what distinct evidence<P033> the Lord
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revealed Himself in those days, and the holy liberty and
condence with which the true and faithful disciple
conversed with Him. e Lord speaks as a man to his friend
in details of place and circumstances, and Ananias reasons
in all conding openness with the Lord in regard to Saul;
and Jesus answers him, not in harsh authority, though of
course Ananias had to obey, but with gracious explanation,
as with one admitted to His condence, by declaring that
Saul is a chosen vessel to bear His name before Gentiles
and kings and the children of Israel; and that He will show
him how great things he must suer for His sake.
e subject of Saul’s preaching
Saul makes no delay in confessing and declaring his
faith; and that which he says is eminently worthy of notice.
He preaches in the synagogue that Jesus is the Son of God.
It is the rst time that this is done. at He was exalted to
the right hand of God-that He was Lord and Christ-had
been already preached; the rejected Messiah was exalted on
high. But here it is the simple doctrine as to His personal
glory; Jesus is the Son of God.
In the words of Jesus to Ananias, the children of Israel
come last.
e two great elements of blessing- the fear of
God and the comfort of the Holy Spirit; persecution
accomplishing God’s designs
Saul does not yet begin his public ministry. It is, so to
speak, only the expression of his personal faithfulness, his
zeal, his faith, among those that surrounded him, with
whom he was naturally connected. It was not long before
opposition manifested itself, in the nation that would have
no Christ, at least according to God, and the disciples sent
him away, letting him down by the wall in a basket; and
Acts 9:1-31
53
through the agency of Barnabas (a good man, and full
of the Holy Spirit and of faith, whom grace had taught
to value the truth with regard to the new disciple) the
dreaded Saul found his place among the disciples even
at Jerusalem.1 Wonderful triumph of the Lord! Singular
position for himself there, had he not been absorbed by
the thought of Jesus. At Jerusalem he<P034> reasons with
the Hellenists. He was one of them. e Hebrews were
not his natural sphere. ey seek to put him to death;
the disciples bring him down to the sea, and send him to
Tarsus, the place of his birth. e triumph of grace has,
under God’s hand, silenced the adversary. e assemblies
are left in peace, and edify themselves-walking in the fear
of God and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the two
great elements of blessing; and their numbers increase.
Persecution accomplishes the designs of God. e peace
which He grants gives opportunity for ripening in grace
and in the knowledge of Himself. We learn the ways and
government of God in the midst of the imperfection of
man.
(1. is was, it would appear, later, but is noticed here to
put him, so to speak, in his place among Christians.)
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73177
Acts 9:32-11:18
Peter’s apostolic energy and work existing with the
new light and work, not set aside by it
Peace being established through the goodness of
God-sole resource of those who truly wait upon Him in
submission to His will-Peter passes throughout all parts
of Israel. e Spirit of God relates this circumstance here,
between the conversion of Saul and his apostolic work, to
show us, I doubt not, the apostolic energy in Peter existing
at the very time when the call of the new apostle was
to bring in new light, and a work that was new in many
important respects (thus sanctioning as His own work, and
in its place, that which had been done before, whatever
progress in accomplishment His counsels might make);
and in order to show us the introduction of the Gentiles
into the assembly as it was at rst founded by His grace in
the beginning, preserving thus its unity, and putting His
seal upon this work of heavenly grace.
e assembly existed. e doctrine of her oneness, as
the body of Christ, outside the world, was not yet made
known. e reception of Cornelius did not announce it,
although paving its way.
Cornelius’ entrance into God’s house through Peter’s
ministry; the Holy Spirit given to Gentiles as well as to
Jews
e undiminished power of Peter, his apostolic
authority, in the midst of which the entrance of Cornelius
into the spiritual house of God takes place, in connection
with Peter’s ministry, and that,<P035> after the calling
Acts 9:32-11:18
55
of Saul, which opened a new perspective-all these facts
taken together conrmed that which went before. e
original work was in no wise set aside to bring in another.
Nevertheless, Peter’s vision did not reveal the assembly as
the body of Christ, neither did the admission of Cornelius.
ey only showed that in every nation he who feared God
was acceptable to Him-in a word, that the favor of God
was not limited to the Jews, and that there was no need
of becoming a Jew in order to share the salvation that is
in Christ. e oneness of the body united to its Head in
heaven was not brought out by this event; but it prepared
the way for the promulgation of that truth, since in fact
the Gentile was admitted on earth without becoming a
Jew. e thing was done on earth individually, although
the doctrine itself was not taught. Repentance unto life
eternal was granted to the Gentiles as such. e Holy
Spirit-the seal of Christian blessing among the Jews, the
fruit of redemption accomplished by Jesus-was given to
Gentiles as to Jews. e latter might be astonished at it;
but there was no resisting God. rough grace they could
praise Him for it.
e door open to Gentiles; summary of the Spirit’s
work in chapters 9:32-11:18
In chapters 9:32-11:18, we nd then, the power of the
Spirit of God with Peter in the midst of Israel, and the
admission of Gentiles into the earthly assembly, without
their becoming Jews, or submitting to the ancient order
which was passing away; the seal of the Spirit put upon
them; and the heads of the assembly at Jerusalem, and
the most ardent of the circumcision, accepting the fact as
the will of God, and praising Him while submitting to it,
in spite of their prejudices. e door then is open to the
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Gentile. is was an immense step. e precious doctrine
of the assembly had yet to be announced.
Peter had proclaimed the call of the Gentiles in his rst
discourse; but to realize it, and give form to its conditions, in
connection with that which had already existed historically,
required the intervention, the authority, and the revelation
of God. Progress is evident through the patient grace of
God; for it was not the wisdom of man. Altogether Jewish
at the commencement, the people of Jerusalem were
taught that Jesus would return if they <P036>repented.
is testimony of grace is rejected, and, in the person of
him who maintained it, the rstfruits of the assembly go
up to heaven. e Holy Spirit, in His sovereign liberty,
acts in Samaria and among the proselytes. e assembly
being scattered by the persecution, Saul is brought in by
the revelation of a glorious Christ, and by a testimony from
His mouth which implies the union of saints on earth with
Himself their Head in heaven as only one body. After this
a pious Gentile, converted but still a Gentile, receives faith
in Christ and the Holy Spirit; so that, marked out by this
testimony-this seal from God Himself to his faith- the
Apostle and the disciples who were the most attached
to Judaism receive him; Peter by baptizing him, and the
others by accepting Peter’s act.
e meaning of salvation; the seal of the Spirit
Let us notice here, that salvation is not only the fact
of being quickened and pious, but that of complete
deliverance so as to present us to Himself in righteousness,
which God grants to everyone who has life through the
operation of God. Cornelius was pious and earnestly so;
but he hears words of a work done for him whereby he
may be, and (as we know) was saved. Finally the seal of
Acts 9:32-11:18
57
the Holy Spirit, upon believing in Jesus,1 is the ground on
which those whom God accepts are acknowledged. at is
to say, it is the full evidence for man.
(1. If we examine closely the Scriptures in its statements
and facts, we shall nd, I think, as to detail, that it is faith in
the work of Jesus for the remission of sins which is sealed.)
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73178
Acts 11:19-30
e new order of things distinguishing Paul’s ministry
Chapter 11:19 begins the narration of the new order
of things by which the ministry of Paul is distinguished.
Among those who were scattered abroad on the occasion
of Stephen’s death, and who went as far even as Antioch
preaching the Lord Jesus, there were some who, being men
of Cyprus and Cyrene, were more habitually connected
with Greeks. ey addressed the Greeks therefore in this
ancient capital of the Seleucidae, and many received their
word and turned to the Lord. e assembly at Jerusalem,
<P037>already prepared through the conversion of
Cornelius, by which God had shown them the entering in
of the Gentiles, accept this event also and send Barnabas-
himself a man of Cyprus-to Antioch. A good man and
lled with the Holy Spirit, his heart is full of joy on seeing
this work of the grace of God; and much people is added
unto the Lord.
Barnabas and Saul at Antioch: a local assembly
formed, composed primarily of Gentiles, distinct from
but linked with Jerusalem
As yet all is linked with the work at Jerusalem, although
extending now to the Gentiles. Barnabas, apparently no
longer sucient for the work and at all events led of God,
departs in search of Saul, who had gone to Tarsus, when
they sought to kill him at Jerusalem. And these two meet
with the assembly at Antioch, teaching much people.
Still everything takes place in connection with Jerusalem,
whence some prophets come down and announce a famine.
Acts 11:19-30
59
e links between the ock and Jerusalem as a center are
shown and strengthened, by the sending of relief to that
religious metropolis of Judaism, and of Christianity looked
at as having its commencement in the Jewish remnant who
believed in Jesus as the Christ.
Barnabas and Saul are themselves charged with this
service, and go up to Jerusalem to accomplish it. is
circumstance carries us back to Jerusalem, where the Spirit
has still something to show us of the ways of God.
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73179
Acts 12
Herod’s persecution; God’s answer to prayer
Herod, to please the Jews, begins to persecute the
assembly in that city. We may remark here, that the
company of believers at Antioch are also called the
assembly (church), which is the case nowhere else as yet.
All were accounted as forming a part integrally of the work
at Jerusalem,1 even as all Jews were in connection with that
center of their religious system, however numerous<P038>
their synagogues or great the inuence of their rabbis.
Every Jew, as such, sprang from Jerusalem. Barnabas and
Saul assemble with the church or assembly at Antioch.
A local assembly, conscious of its existence-distinct from,
while connected with, Jerusalem-has been formed; and
assemblies without a metropolis begin to appear.
(1. ere is a question of the reading in chapter 9:31,
which does not however aect the general thought, that a
local assembly, distinct from Jerusalem, composed primarily
of Gentiles, was now formed.)
To return to Jerusalem. Herod, an impious king, and
in certain respects a type of the adversary-king at the end,
begins to persecute the faithful remnant at Jerusalem. It
is not only the Jews who are opposed to them. e king-
whom, as Jews, they de-tested-unites himself to them by
his hatred to the heavenly testimony, thinking to win their
favor by this means. He kills James, and proceeds to take
Peter and put him in prison. But God preserves His servant,
and delivers him by His angel in answer to the prayers of
the saints. He allows some to be slain (happy witnesses to
Acts 12
61
their heavenly portion in Christ), and preserves others to
carry on the testimony on earth, in spite of all the power,
apparently irresistible, of the enemy-a power which the
Lord baes by the manifestation of that which belongs to
Him and to Him alone, and which He employs when He
will and how He will. e poor saints, although praying
fervently (they had prayer meetings in those days), can
hardly believe, when Peter comes to the door, that God
had really granted their prayer. e desire presents itself
sincerely to God; faith can scarcely reckon upon Him.
Herod’s pride and sin contrasted with the power of
the Word of God
Herod, confounded by the power of Him whom he
resisted, condemns the instruments of his hatred to death,
and goes away to the Gentile seat of his authority. ere
displaying his glory, and accepting the adulatory homage
of the people, as though he were a god, God Himself
smites him, and shows that He is the governor of this
world, however great the pride of man. But the Word of
God extends through His grace; and Barnabas and Saul,
having fullled their ministry, return to Antioch, taking
with them John whose surname was Mark.<P039>
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73180
Acts 13
Paul’s mission: sent forth by the Spirit from Antioch,
a Greek city
We come now to the beginning of the direct history of
the work, new in some important respects, that is, connected
with Paul’s mission by the immediate intervention of the
Holy Spirit. It is not now Christ upon earth, who by His
personal authority sends forth the twelve, afterwards
endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit from on high
to announce His exaltation to heaven and His return, and
to gather under the standard of the cross those who should
believe in Him. Paul has seen Christ in glory, and therefore
has united himself to the assembly already gathered. But
here there is no Christ personally present to send him forth
as the witness of His presence on earth, or of His rejection
as One whom Paul had known in earth. e Holy Spirit
Himself sends him, not from Jerusalem, but from a Greek
city, in which in free and sovereign power He had converted
and gathered together some Gentiles, doubtless some Jews
likewise, but forming an assembly whose existence was rst
marked by the fact that the gospel had been preached to
the Greeks.
e independent action of the Spirit: the source of
the ministry of Paul and Barnabas
In chapter 13 we nd ourselves again in the assembly
at Antioch, and in the midst of the independent1 action of
the Spirit of God. Certain prophets are there, Saul among
them. ey fasted and were occupied with the service of
the Lord. e Holy Spirit commands them to separate
Acts 13
63
unto Him Barnabas and Saul for the work to which He
had called them. Such was the source of the ministry of
these two. Assuredly it bore testimony to Him in whom
they had believed, and whom Saul, at least, had seen, and
it was under His authority they acted; but the positive and
obvious source of their mission was the Holy Spirit. It was
the Holy Spirit who called them to the work. ey were
sent forth (verse 4) by Him-an all-important principle
as to the Lord’s ways upon<P040> earth. We come out
from Jerusalem, from Judaism, from the jurisdiction of the
apostles nominated by the Lord while He was on earth.
Christ is no longer known after the esh, as Saul (when
become Paul) expresses it. ey have to strive against
the Judaic spirit-to show consideration for it as far as it
is sincere; but the sources of their work are not now in
connection with the system which that work no longer
knows as a starting point. A glorious Christ in heaven, who
owns the disciples as members of His body as Himself on
high-a mission from the Holy Spirit on earth which only
knows His energy as the source of action and authority
(bearing testimony of course to Christ)-this is the work
which now opens, and which is committed to Barnabas
and Saul.
(1. e acting of the Spirit is always independent; but
here I mean to express that it was outside the authority of
the apostles. is authority is not the source of that which
is done; nor does that which is done refer itself to it.)
Barnabas as the link between Judaism and the work
from Christ in heaven
Barnabas, it is true, forms a link between the two. He
was himself a Hellenist of Cyprus; it was he who presented
Saul to the apostles after his conversion near Damascus.
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64
Barnabas had more largeness of heart-was more open to
the testimonies of divine grace-than even the apostles and
the others who had been nurtured in a strict Judaism; for
God in His grace provides for everything. ere is always
a Barnabas, as well as a Nicodemus, a Joseph, and even
a Gamaliel, whenever needed. e actings of God in this
respect are remarkable in all this history. Would that we
only trusted more entirely, while by the Spirit doing His
will, to Him who disposes all things!
Nevertheless even this link is soon broken. It was still in
connection with the “old cloth,” the “old bottles”; blessed
as the man himself was, to whom the Holy Spirit rendered
so ne a testimony, and in whom we see an exquisite
character. He determined to take his kinsman also (see
Colossians 4:10), Mark. Mark returns to Jerusalem almost
from the beginning of the work of evangelization in the
Gentile regions; and Saul continues his work with such
instruments as God formed under his hand, or a Silas who
chose to remain at Antioch when (the particular service
which had been committed to him at Jerusalem being
ended) he might naturally have returned thither with
Judas.<P041>
Preaching to the Jews rst, and then to the Gentiles
Sent forth thus by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul,
with John Mark as their ministering servant, go away to
Seleucia, then to Cyprus; and being at Salamis, a town in
that island, they preach the Word of God in the synagogues
of the Jews. Whatever therefore might be the energy of the
Holy Spirit, He acts in connection with the counsels and
the promises of God, and that with perfect patience. To
the end of his life, notwithstanding the opposition of the
Jews, vexatious and implacable as it might be, the Apostle
Acts 13
65
continues-as the ways and counsels of God in Christ had
commanded-to the Jews rst, and then to the Gentiles.
Once brought in where truth and grace were fully revealed
in God’s assembly, there was no dierence between Jew and
Gentile. God is one in His character and fully revealed, and
the veil rent; sin is one in its character and is opposed to
God; the foundation of truth changes not, and the oneness
of the assembly is connected with the height of grace in
God and comes down to the deep totality of sin, in respect
of which that grace has displayed itself. But, with regard to
the ways of God upon earth, the Jews had the rst place,
and the Spirit, who is above all, can therefore act in full
liberty in recognizing all the ways of God’s sovereignty;
even as Christ, who made Himself a servant in grace,
submitted to them all, and now, being exalted on high,
unites all these various ways and dispensations in Himself
as head and center of a glory to which the Holy Spirit
bears witness, in order to accomplish it here below, as far as
may be, by grace.
is does not prevent his giving a distinct and positive
judgment as to the condition of the Jews when the occasion
requires it.
Need met wherever found; judgment pronounced
upon what withstands God’s gospel
Even here, at the commencement of his ministry, the
two things are presented together. We have already noticed
that he begins with the Jews. Having traversed the island,
he arrives at the seat of government. ere the proconsul, a
prudent and thoughtful man, asks to hear the gospel. Beset
already by a false prophet (who took advantage of the felt
need of a soul which, while ignorant, was earnestly desirous
of something that could ll up the void it experienced in
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the nothingness of pagan ceremonies, and<P042> in its
disgusting immorality), he sends for Barnabas and Saul.
Elymas withstands them. is was natural. He would lose
his inuence with the governor if the latter received the
truth that Paul preached. Now Elymas was a Jew. Saul
(who is henceforth named Paul) lled with the Holy
Spirit, pronounces on him the sentence, on God’s part,
of temporary blindness, executed at the moment by the
mighty hand of God. e proconsul, struck with the power
that accompanied his word, submits to the gospel of God.
I do not doubt that in this wretched Bar-jesus we see
a picture of the Jews at the present time, smitten with
blindness for a season, because jealous of the inuence of
the gospel. In order to ll up the measure of their iniquity,
they withstood its being preached to the Gentiles. eir
condition is judged: their history given in the mission of
Paul.1 Opposed to grace, and seeking to destroy its eect
upon the Gentiles, they have been smitten with blindness-
nevertheless only for a season.
(1. I do not know if the change of name pointed out
on this occasion-the meaning of which has excited the
curiosity of etymologists-is not simply an alteration by
which its Jewish form was lost, in order to assume a Roman
or Gentile aspect.)
Return to Antioch; Paul’s testimony in the synagogue
Departing from Paphos, they go into Asia Minor; and
now Paul denitively takes his place in the eyes of the
historian of the Spirit. His whole company are only those
who were with Paul, an expression in Greek which makes
Paul everything (οΙ ΠερΙ ΠαΙλον, hoi peri Paulon). When
they reached Perga, John Mark leaves them to return to
Jerusalem-a milder and more moderate form of the Judaic
Acts 13
67
inuence, but showing that, wherever it exercised itself,
if it did not produce opposition, it at least took away the
vigor needful for the work of God as it was now unfolding
among the Gentiles. Barnabas however goes farther, and
still continues with Paul in the work. e latter, when they
were come to Antioch,1 again begins rst with the Jews.
He goes on the sabbath day into the synagogue, and, on
the invitation of the ruler, proclaims Jesus, rejected by
the Jews at Jerusalem and crucied, but by the power of
God raised up again, and through whom they might be
justied from all things, from which they could not be
justied by the law of Moses. Here the testimony of Paul
is very like that of Peter, and<P043> is very particularly
allied to the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews,
with regard to the character of the testimony: verse 33 is
quite Peter’s testimony in Acts 3. In verse 31 he sets the
twelve distinctly in the place of testimony to Israel, as those
who had personally accompanied the Lord, and who had
seen Him after His resurrection. “Who are,” he says, “his
witnesses unto the people.” But Paul’s testimony (which, as
to the fulllment of the promises by the coming of Christ,
and the mercies of David made sure in His resurrection,
returns into the order of Peter’s preaching) departs from
it in an important point. He says nothing of God’s having
made Jesus both Lord and Christ. He announces that the
remission of sins is proclaimed in His name, exhorting his
hearers not to neglect this great salvation.2
(1. In Pisidia.)
(2. Both, as we have seen, follow (in the main) the
commission in Luke 24.)
e gospel of grace rejected by Jews- Paul and
Barnabas turn boldly to the Gentiles
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Many follow Paul1 and Barnabas in consequence of
this announcement, and are exhorted by them to continue
in the grace which had been proclaimed to them. e
mass of the people come together the following sabbath
to hear the Word of God; the Gentiles having besought
that this gospel of grace might be preached to them again.
eir souls had found more truth in the doctrine of the
one only God, acknowledged by the Jews, than in the
senseless worship of the pagans, which, to an awakened
and unsatised mind, no longer presented any food that
could appease it-a mind that was too active to allow the
imagination to amuse itself with ceremonies which had
no charms but for ignorance, which could be captivated
by the pageantry of festivals, to which it was accustomed,
and which gratied the religious element of the esh. Still,
the coldly acknowledged doctrine of one only true God,
although it set the mind free from all that shocked it in
the senseless and immoral mythology of paganism, did
not at all feed the soul as did the powerful testimony of
a God acting in grace, borne by the Holy Spirit through
the mouth of messengers whom He had sent-a testimony
which, while faithful to the promises made to the Jews, yet
addressed itself as a “word of salvation” (verse 26)<P044>
to all those who feared God. But the Jews, jealous of the
eect of the gospel which thus met the soul’s need in a way
that their system could not, withstand Paul and blaspheme
the doctrine of Christ. Paul therefore and Barnabas turn
boldly to the Gentiles.
(1. Here Paul is placed before Barnabas; in the former
chapter, Barnabas has the rst place.)
Old Testament prophetic declarations turned into
light and
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authority for action when the Spirit gives their
application
It was a decisive and important moment. ese two
messengers of the Holy Spirit quote the testimony of the
Old Testament with regard to God’s purpose towards the
Gentiles, of whom Christ was to be the light-a purpose
which they accomplished according to the intelligence in it
that the Spirit gave them, and by His power. e passage is
in Isaiah (ch. 49), where the opposition of Israel, that made
the testimony of Christ useless to themselves, gave God
occasion to declare that this work was but a small thing,
and that Christ should be a light to the Gentiles, and great
even to the ends of the earth.
We shall do well to observe this last circumstance, the
energy in action imparted by spiritual intelligence, and the
way in which prophetic declarations turn into light and
authority for action, when the Spirit of God gives the
true practical meaning-the application. Another might
not perhaps understand it; but the spiritual man has a full
guarantee for his own conscience in the word which he has
understood. He leaves the rest to God.
Gentile belief; the true character of the Jews
shown as enemies of the Lord and His truth
e Gentiles rejoice at the testimony, and the election
believe. e word spreads through all the region. e Jews
now show themselves in their true character of enemies
to the Lord and to His truth. With regard to them Paul
and Barnabas shake o the dust of their feet against them.
e disciples, whatever might be their diculties, are no
hindrance to this. e position here taken by the Jews-
which, moreover, we nd everywhere-makes us understand
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what a source of grief and pain they must have been to the
apostles.<P045>
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71
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Acts 14
In Iconium: unbelieving Jews stir up the Gentiles
against the work; worship oered and refused in Lystra,
followed by stoning and departure
eir missionary labors continue in Iconium with the
same opposition from the Jews who, incapable themselves
of the work, stir up the Gentiles against those who are
performing it. As long as it was only opposition, it was
but a motive for perseverance; but, being warned in time
of an assault that was planned against them, they depart
to Lystra and Derbe. ere, having healed a cripple, they
excite the idolatrous respect of these poor pagans; but, lled
with horror, they turn them from their error by the energy
of the Holy Spirit-faithful to the testimony of their God.
Hither also the Jews follow them. Now, if man will not ally
himself with the idolatry of the heart, and accept exaltation
from men, the power of his testimony, which they began
by admiring as long as they thought they could elevate
man and acquire importance through their atteries being
accepted, ends by exciting the hatred of their hearts. e
Jews bring this hatred into action and stir up the people,
who leave Paul for dead. But he rises up and reenters the
city, remaining tranquilly there another day, and on the
morrow he goes with Barnabas to Derbe.
e close of the rst formal mission to the Gentiles;
its results
Afterwards they revisit the cities through which they
had passed, and at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, they
conrm the disciples in the faith, and teach them that they
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must pass through tribulation to inherit the kingdom. ey
choose elders for them; and passing through some other
cities to the place where they had disembarked, they return
to Antioch, from whence they had been commended to
God for the work, causing great joy to the disciples there
in that the door of faith was opened to the Gentiles. is
is the rst formal mission among the Gentiles where
assemblies are formed, elders appointed by the apostles,
and the hostility of the Jews to the grace of God, outside
their nation and independently of their law, is distinctly
marked. e Word assumes a positive character among the
Gentiles, and the energy of the Holy Spirit<P046> displays
itself to this end, constituting and forming them into
assemblies, establishing local rulers in them, outside and
independently of the action of the apostles and assembly
at Jerusalem, and the obligation of the law which was still
maintained there.
A question concerning this (that is, whether it could
be allowed) is soon raised at Antioch. It is no longer the
opposition of the Jews hostile to the gospel, but the bigotry
of those who had embraced it, desiring to impose the law
on the converted Gentiles. But the grace of God provides
for this diculty also.
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Acts 15
Jewish believers from Jerusalem seeking to impose
the law’s requirements on Gentiles
Chapter 15 contains the account of this. Certain
persons come from Jerusalem, where all was still going
on in connection with the requirements of the law; and
they seek to impose these requirements on the Gentiles in
this new center and starting point of the work which was
formed at Antioch. It was the will of God that this matter
should be settled, not by the apostolic authority of Paul, or
by the action of His Spirit at Antioch only, which might
have divided the church, but by means of conference at
Jerusalem, so as to maintain union, whatever might be the
prejudices of the Jews. e ways of God in this respect are
remarkable, showing the way in which He has maintained
sovereign care in grace over the church. In reading the
Epistle to the Galatians, we see that in reality things were
in question that touched Christianity to the quick, that
aected its very foundations, the deep principles of grace, of
the rights of God, of the sinful condition of man-principles
on which the whole edice of man’s eternal relations with
God is founded. If anyone was circumcised, he was under
the law; he had given up grace, he had fallen away from
Christ. Nevertheless Paul the Apostle, Paul full of faith, of
energy, of burning zeal, is obliged to go up to Jerusalem,
whither he had not desired to go, in order to arrange this
matter. Paul had labored at Antioch; but the work in that
city was not his work. He was not the Apostle at Antioch
as he was that of Iconium, of Lystra, and afterwards of
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Macedonia and of Greece. He went out from Antioch,
from the bosom of the church already formed there. e
question was to be<P047> settled for the church, apart
from the apostolic authority of Paul. e Apostle must
yield before God and His ways.
Paul disputes with the men from Judea, but the end is
not gained. It is determined to send some members of the
church to Jerusalem, but with them Paul and Barnabas, so
deeply interested in this question. Moreover Paul had a
revelation that he should go up. God directed his steps. It is
good however to be obliged to submit sometimes, although
ever so right or so full of spiritual energy.
e wisdom of God in ordering that the matter should
be settled at Jerusalem
e question then is entered upon at Jerusalem. It was
already a great thing that the subjecting of the Gentiles to
the law should be resisted at Jerusalem, and still more that
they should there decide not to do it. We see the wisdom of
God in so ordering it, that such a resolution should have its
origin at Jerusalem. Had there been no bigotry there, the
question would not have been necessary; but alas! good has
to be done in despite of all the weakness and all the traditions
of men. A resolution made at Antioch would have been a
very dierent thing from a resolution made at Jerusalem.
e Jewish church would not have acknowledged the truth,
the apostolic authority of the twelve would not have given
its sanction to it. e course at Antioch and of the Gentiles
would have been a course apart; and a continual struggle
would have commenced, having (at least in appearance)
the authority of the primitive and apostolic church on the
one side, and the energy and liberty of the Spirit with Paul
for its representative on the other. e Judaizing tendency
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75
of human nature is ever ready to abandon the high energy
of the Spirit, and return into the ways and thoughts of
the esh. is tendency, nourished by the traditions of
an ancient faith, had already given sorrow and diculty
enough to him who was specially laboring among the
Gentiles according to the liberty of the Spirit, without the
additional strength of having the course of the apostles and
of the church at Jerusalem to countenance it.<P048>
e apostles’ declarations; James sums up the
judgment of the assembly
After much discussion at Jerusalem, full liberty for
which was given, Peter, taking the lead, relates the case
of Cornelius. Afterwards Paul and Barnabas declare the
wonderful manifestation of God through the power of the
Holy Spirit which had taken place among the Gentiles.
James then sums up the judgment of the assembly, which
is assented to by all, that the Gentiles shall not be obliged
to be circumcised, or to obey the law; but only to abstain
from blood, from things strangled, from fornication, and
from meat oered to idols. We shall do well to consider the
nature and stipulations of this decree.
e principles established in James’ decree
It is a direction which teaches, not that which is
abstractedly good or evil, but that which was suitable to
the case presented. It was “necessary,” not “righteous before
God,” to avoid certain things. e things might be really
evil, but they are not here looked at in that way. ere were
certain things to which the Gentiles were accustomed,
which it was proper they should renounce, in order that
the assembly might walk as it ought before God in peace.
To the other ordinances of the law they were not to be
subjected. Moses had those who preached him. at
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suced, without compelling the Gentiles to submit to his
laws, when they joined themselves, not to the Jews, but to
the Lord.
is decree therefore does not pronounce upon the
nature of the things forbidden, but upon the opportuneness-
the Gentiles having in fact been in the habit of doing all
these things. We must observe that they were not things
forbidden by the law only. It was that which was contrary to
the order established by God as Creator, or to a prohibition
given to Noah when he was told to eat esh. Woman was
only to be connected with man in the sanctity of marriage,
and this is a very great blessing. Life belonged to God.
All fellowship with idols was an outrage against the
authority of the true God. Let Moses teach his own laws;
these things were contrary to the intelligent knowledge of
the true God. It is not therefore a new law imposed by
Christianity, nor an accommodation to the prejudices of
the Jews. It has not the same kind of validity as a moral
ordinance that is obligatory in itself. It is the<P049>
expression to Christian intelligence of the terms of man’s
true relations with God in the things of nature, given by
the goodness of God, through the leaders at Jerusalem, to
ignorant Christians, setting them free from the law, and
enlightening them with regard to the relations between
God and man, and to that which was proper to man-things
of which, as idolatrous Gentiles, they had been ignorant.
I have said, addressed to Christian intelligence: accordingly
there is nothing inconsistent in eating anything that is sold
at the shambles; for I acknowledge God who gave it, and
not an idol. But if the act implies communion with the idol,
even to the conscience of another, it would be provoking
God to jealousy; I sin against Him or against my neighbor.
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I do not know whether an animal is strangled or not, but
if people act so as to imply that it is indierent whether
life belongs to God or not, I sin again; I am not deled by
the thing, but I fail in Christian intelligence with regard to
the rights of God as Creator. With regard to fornication,
this enters into the category of Christian purity, besides
being contrary to the order of the Creator; so that it is a
direct question of good and evil, and not only of the rights
of God revealed to our intelligence. is was important as
a general principle, more than in the detail of the things
themselves.
In sum the principles established are these: purity by
marriage according to God’s original institution; that life
belongs to God; and the unity of God as one only true
God-Godhead, life, and God’s original ordinance for
man. e same thing is true of the foundations laid by the
assembly at the basis of their decree, “It seemed good to
the Holy Ghost and to us.”
Apostolic authority representing that of Christ,
but the whole ock acting in concert with them
e Holy Spirit had manifested Himself in the case of
Cornelius and of the conversion of the Gentiles, of which
Peter and Paul and Barnabas had given the account. On
the other hand the apostles were the depositaries of the
authority of Christ, those to whom the government of the
assembly as founded in connection with the true Jewish
faith had been committed. ey represented the authority
of Christ ascended on high, even as the power and will of
the Holy Spirit had been shown in the cases I have just
mentioned. e authority was exercised in connection with
that<P050> which, in a certain sense, was the continuation
of a Judaism enlarged by fresh revelations, and which
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had its center at Jerusalem, acknowledging as Messiah
the ascended Jesus rejected by the people. Christ had
committed to them the authority necessary to govern the
assembly. ey had also been sealed on the day of Pentecost
in order to perform it.
e spirit of grace and wisdom is truly seen in their way
of acting. ey give their full sanction to Paul and Barnabas,
and they send with them persons of note in the assembly
at Jerusalem, who could not be suspected of bringing an
answer in support of their own pretensions, as might have
been supposed in the case of Paul and Barnabas.
e apostles and elders assemble for deliberation; but
the whole ock acts in concert with them.
e decision at Jerusalem that the law was not binding
on the Gentiles sent by Judas and Silas to Antioch
us Jerusalem has decided that the law was not binding
on the Gentiles. ese, sincere in their desire of walking
with Christ, rejoice greatly at their freedom from this
yoke. Judas and Silas, being prophets, exhort and conrm
them, and afterwards are dismissed in peace. But Silas
thinks it good to remain on his own account, inuenced
by the Spirit. He prefers the work among the Gentiles to
Jerusalem. Judas returns from it to Jerusalem.
e work continues at Antioch by means of Paul and
Barnabas and others. At Antioch we again see the full
liberty of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s second visit to the assemblies in Asia Minor;
contention with and separation from Barnabas
Paul proposes to Barnabas that they should go and
visit the assemblies already formed by their means in Asia
Minor. Barnabas consents, but he determines to take John
who had formerly forsaken them. Paul wishes for someone
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79
who had not drawn back from the work, nor abandoned
for his own home the place of a stranger for the work’s
sake. Barnabas insists; and these two precious servants of
God separate. Barnabas takes Mark and goes to Cyprus.
Now Mark was his kinsman, and Cyprus his own country.
Paul takes Silas, who had preferred the work to Jerusalem
in<P051>stead of Jerusalem to the work and departs. From
his name we may believe that Silas was a Hellenist.
It is happy to nd that, after this, Paul speaks of Barnabas
with entire aection, and desires that Mark should come to
him, having found him protable for the ministry.
e title given to Paul and Barnabas conferred by
their work
Moreover Paul is commended by the brethren to the
grace of God in his work. e title given to Paul and
Barnabas by the apostles shows the dierence between the
apostolic authority, established by Christ in person, and
that which was constituted such by the power of the Holy
Spirit-sent by Christ Himself, no doubt, but in point of
fact going forth by the direction of the Holy Spirit, and
their mission warranted by His power. With the apostles,
Paul and Barnabas have no title except their work-“men
that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ.” ey are that which the Holy Spirit has
made them. e apostles are the twelve.
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Acts 16
Paul characterized by the Spirit’s liberty and power
e liberty and the power of the Spirit characterize
Paul. He is that which the Spirit makes him. If Jesus had
appeared to him, although Ananias can testify it, he must
in reality prove it by the power of his ministry. e eects of
this ministry are related as well as its character in chapters
16-20. e action and the liberty of the Holy Spirit are
there displayed in a remarkable manner.
e circumcision of Timothy
ere is perhaps no example of this more remarkable
than that which Paul does with regard to Timothy. He uses
circumcision in all liberty to set aside Jewish prejudice. It
is very doubtful whether, according to the law, he ought
to have been circumcised. Ezra and Nehemiah show us
the strange wives sent away; but here, the mother being
a Jewess, Paul causes the child of this mixed marriage to
follow the rule of the Jews and submit to that rite. Liberty
fully recognizes the law in its place, although itself exempt
from it, and distinctly states, for the assurance of the
<P052>Gentiles, the absence of all pretension, on the part
of the Judaean Christians, to impose the law upon Gentiles.
Paul circumcises Timothy, and does not give subjection for
an hour to those who would have compelled Titus to be
circumcised. He would become a Jew to the Jews from
love; but the Jews themselves must renounce all pretension
to impose the law on others. e decrees given at Jerusalem
are left with the churches-a plain answer to every Jew who
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81
desired to subject the Gentiles to Judaism. e decrees, we
may remark, were those of the apostles and the elders.
e Holy Spirit’s direction: called into Macedonia
It is the Holy Spirit alone who directs the Apostle. He
forbids him to preach in Asia (the province), and will not
suer him to go into Bithynia. By a vision in the night they
are called to go into Macedonia. Here the historian meets
them. It is the Lord who calls them into Macedonia. It is
well to note here that, while the gospel is sent under Paul’s
ministry to the whole creation under heaven, yet there is
specic direction as to where we are to go.
At Philippi: the work of the Spirit and that of Satan
by an evil spirit
Here the Apostle goes rst to the Jews, even when it was
only a few women who came together by the riverside-a
place, as it appears, usually chosen where there was no
synagogue. A Greek woman, who worshipped the God of
Israel, is converted by grace.
us the door is opened, and others also believe (vs.
40). Here Satan tries to tamper with the work by bearing a
testimony to the ministers of the Word. Not that this spirit
acknowledged Jesus- he would not then have been an evil
spirit, he would not have thus possessed the damsel. He
speaks of the agents, in order to have a share of the glory,
and of the Most High God-compelled perhaps by the
presence of the Spirit to speak, as had been the case with
others by the presence of Jesus, when His power was before
their eyes. e testimony of Satan could not go so far as to
own Him Lord; and if Paul had not been faithful, it would
have mixed up the work of the enemy with that of the
Lord. But it was not a testimony to Paul that Paul sought,
nor a testimony rendered by an evil spirit, whatever might
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be the appearance of its testimony. e proof which the
evil spirit had to give that the power of God was<P053>
present, was to submit to it by being driven away. It could
not be a support to the work of God. We see in this
circumstance the disinterestedness of the Apostle, his
spiritual discernment, the power of God with him, and the
faith which will have no other support than that of God.
It would have been useful to have a testimony rendered to
his ministry: the reasonings of the esh might have said,
“I did not seek it.” Persecution would have been avoided.
But God will have no other testimony than that which He
bears to Himself. No other can be a testimony from Him,
for He reveals Himself where He is not known; faith waits
only on Him to render it. Paul went on without troubling
himself about this malicious attempt of the enemy’s, and
possibly in wisdom avoiding conict where there was no
fruit for the Lord, until by its persistency the Apostle
was forced to attend to it. e Spirit of God does not
tolerate the presence of an evil spirit when it makes itself
actively manifest before Him. He does not lend Himself
to its devices by giving it importance through a voluntary
interposition; for He has His own work, and He does not
turn away from it to occupy Himself about the enemy. He
is occupied, in love, about souls. But if Satan comes in His
way, so as to perplex these souls, the Spirit reveals Himself
in His energy, and the enemy ees before Him.
Satan’s resources; God’s use of apparent evil for the
jailer’s blessing and the gathering out of an assembly
But Satan is not without resources. e power which
he cannot exercise in a direct way, he employs in exciting
the passions and lusts of men in opposition to that
power against which he cannot himself stand, and which
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will neither unite itself to him nor recognize him. Even
as the Gadarenes desired Jesus to depart, when He had
healed Legion, so the Philippians rise up tumultuously
against Paul and his companions at the instigation of the
men who had lost their dishonest gains. But God makes
use of all this to direct the progress of His own work,
and give it the form He pleases. ere is the jailer to be
converted, and the magistrates themselves are to confess
their wrong with respect to the messengers of God. e
assembly is gathered out, a ock (as the epistle addressed
to them bears witness) full of love and aection. e
Apostle goes to labor elsewhere. We see a more active, a
more energetic, testimony here than in the similar case
that happened to<P054> Peter. e intervention of God is
more striking in Peter’s case. It is the old Jerusalem, worn
out in everything except hatred, and God faithful to the
one who trusted in Him. e hatred is disappointed. Paul
and Silas sing, instead of quietly sleeping; the doors burst
suddenly open; and the jailer himself is converted, and his
family. e magistrates are obliged to come as supplicants
to Paul. Such is the result of the tumult. e enemy was
mistaken here. If he stopped their work at Philippi, he sent
the apostles to preach elsewhere according to the will of
God.
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Acts 17
Energetic testimony to the Christian faith; the
enemy’s power and persecution
We must not pass over in silence this energy which
embraced whole houses, and subdued them to the Christian
faith. We only see it, however, when it is a question of
bringing in the Gentiles.1 But Cornelius, Lydia, the jailer
of Philippi, are all witnesses to this power.
(1. We see however, in the case of Lydda and Saron,
what is more analogous to the introduction of a people.
ey heard of the miracle done to Eneas; and the town
and neighborhood turned to the Lord. Saron is a district
along the coast.)
In the last case it was the power exercised by the enemy
over the passions of the Gentiles that caused the persecution
of the apostles: at essalonica we again nd the old and
universal enmity of the Jews. Nevertheless many Jews and
proselytes received the gospel. After a tumult there also, the
apostles go away to Berea. ere the Jews are more noble;
what they hear, they examine by the Word of God. rough
this a great number among them believed. Nevertheless
the Jews of essalonica, jealous of the progress the gospel
made, go over to Berea. Paul leaves the city and passes on
to Athens. Silas and Timothy remain for the moment at
Berea, Paul being the special object of the Jews’ pursuit.
At Athens, although he resorted to the synagogue, yet, his
spirit stirred at the sight of the universal idolatry in that
idle city, he disputes daily in public with their philosophers;
consequent on these interviews, he proclaims the true God
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to the chief men of that intellectual capital. He had sent
word to Silas and Timothy to join him there.<P055>
Universal idolatry at Athens; intellectual cultivation
without God; Paul’s preaching of Jesus and the
resurrection
With a people like the Athenians-such is the eect of
intellectual cultivation without God-he has to come down
to the lowest step in the ladder of truth. He sets forth the
oneness of God, the Creator, and the relationship of man
to Him, declaring also that Jesus will judge the world, of
which God had given proof by raising Him up from the
dead. With the exception of the judgment of this world
being put in place of the promises respecting the return of
Jesus, we might think it was Peter addressing the Jews. We
must not imagine that the historian relates everything that
Paul said. What is given is his defense, not his preaching. e
Holy Spirit gives us that which characterized the manner
in which the Apostle met the circumstances of those he
addressed. at which remained on the minds of his rst
hearers was that he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
It appears even that some took the resurrection, as well as
Jesus, to be a god. It is, indeed, the basis of Christianity,
which is founded on Jesus personally, and the fact of His
resurrection; but it is only the basis.
e appropriateness of the preaching of Peter and
Paul
I have said that we are reminded here of Peter’s
preaching. I mean as to the degree of height in his doctrine
with regard to Christ. We shall observe, at the same time,
the appropriateness of the application of facts in either case
to the persons addressed. Peter set forth the rejected Christ
ascended on high, ready to return on the repentance of the
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Jews, and who would establish at His coming all things of
which the prophets had spoken. Here the judgment of the
world-sanction of the truth to the natural conscience-is
presented to the learned men, and to the inquisitive people;
nothing that could interest their philosophic minds, but a
plain and convincing testimony to the folly of their idolatry,
according even to that which the natural conscience of
their own poets had acknowledged.<P056>
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e power of the gospel
e dishonest gain, to which Satan ministered
opportunity, met the gospel at Philippi; the hardness and
moral indierence of knowledge that attered human
vanity, at Athens; at essalonica, the eorts of Jewish
jealousy. e gospel goes on its way, victorious over the
one, yielding to the eect of another, and, after laying bare
to the learned Athenians all that their condition tolerated,
leaving them, and nding, amid the luxury and the depraved
manners of the wealthy city of Corinth, a numerous people
to bring into the assembly. Such are the ways of God, and
the exercises of His devoted servant led by the Holy Spirit.
We may notice, that this energy, which seeks the
Gentiles, never loses sight of the favor of God towards His
elect people-a favor that sought them until they rejected it.
e Apostle’s support; his bold and decisive course as
led of God; turning to the Gentiles
At essalonica Paul twice received succor from Philippi;
at Corinth, where money and commerce abounded, he does
not take it, but quietly works with two of his countrymen
of the same trade as himself. He again begins with the Jews,
who oppose his doctrine and blaspheme. e Apostle takes
his course with the boldness and decision of a man truly
led of God, calmly and wittingly, so as not to be turned
aside. He shakes his garments in token of being pure of
their blood, and declares that now he turns to the Gentiles
according to Isaiah 49, taking that prophecy as a command
from God.
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Paul’s labors in Corinth; his desire to go to Jerusalem
In Corinth God has “much people.” He therefore
uses the unbelieving indierence of Gallio to defeat
the projects and malice of the Jews, jealous as ever of a
religion that eclipsed their importance, whatever might be
its grace towards them. Paul, after laboring there a long
time, goes away in peace. His Jewish friends, Priscilla and
Aquila, go with him. He was going himself to Jerusalem.
He was also under a vow. e opposition of the Jews does
not take away his attachment to his nation-his faithfulness
in<P057> preaching the gospel to them rst-in recognizing
everything that belonged to them in grace before God.
He even submits to Jewish ordinances. Possibly habit had
some inuence over him, which was not of the Spirit; but
according to the Spirit he had no thought of disallowing that
which the patient grace of God granted to the people. He
addresses himself to the Jews at Ephesus. ey are inclined
to hear him, but he desires to keep the feast at Jerusalem.
Here he is still a Jew with his feasts and vows. e Spirit
has evidently introduced these circumstances to give us a
true and complete picture of the relationship that existed
between the two systems-the degree of freedom from the
inuence of the one, as well as the energy that established
the other. e rst remains often to a certain degree, where
energy to do the other is in a very high degree. e liberty
that condescends to prejudices and habits is not the same
thing as subjection to these prejudices in one’s own person.
In our feebleness the two mingle together; but they are
in fact opposed to each other. To respect that which God
respects, even when the system has lost all real force and
value, if called to act in connection with this system when it
is really nothing more than a superstition and a weakness,
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is a very dierent thing from putting oneself under the
yoke of superstition and weakness. e rst is the eect of
the Spirit; the last, of the esh. In us, alas! the one is often
confounded with the other. Charity becomes weakness,
giving uncertainty to the testimony.
Paul as a Jew
Paul takes his journey; goes up to Jerusalem, and salutes
the assembly; goes down to Antioch, and visits again all the
rst assemblies he had formed, thus binding all his work
together-Antioch and Jerusalem. How far his old habits
inuenced him in his ways of acting, I leave the reader to
judge. He was a Jew. e Holy Spirit would have us see
that he was as far as possible from any contempt for the
ancient people of God, for whom divine favor will never
change. is feeling was surely right. It appears elsewhere
that he went beyond the limits of the Spirit and of
spirituality. Here we have only the facts. He may have had
some private reason that was valid in consequence of the
position in which he stood. One may be in circumstances
which contradict the liberty of the Spirit, and which,
nevertheless, when we are in them, have<P058> a certain
right over us, or exercise an inuence which necessarily
weakens in the soul the energy of that liberty. We may have
done wrong in putting ourselves into those circumstances,
but, being in them, the inuence is exercised, the rights
assert their claim. A man called to serve God, driven out
from his father’s house, walks in the liberty of the Spirit.
Without any change in his father, he goes into the paternal
house: the rights of his father revive-where is his liberty?
Or a man possessed of much clearer spiritual intelligence
places himself in the midst of friends who are spiritually
altogether below him: it is almost impossible for him to
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retain a spiritual judgment. However it may have been here,
the link is now formed voluntarily on the part of him who
stood in the place of liberty and grace, and the Christians
in Jerusalem remain at the level of their former prejudices,
and claim patience and indulgence from him who was the
vessel and the witness of the liberty of the Spirit of God.
is, with the supplement of his work at Ephesus, forms
the circle of the active labors of the Apostle in the gospel,
to show us in him the ways of the Spirit with men.
Apollos enlightened by Aquila and Priscilla
From verse 24 of chapter 18 to verse 7 of chapter 19
we have a kind of summary of the progress made by the
doctrine of Christ, and of the power that accompanied it.
Apollos knew only of the teaching of John; but, upright
in heart, he publicly confessed and preached that which
he knew. It was the faith of a regenerate soul. Aquila and
Priscilla enlighten him fully with regard to the facts of the
gospel, and the doctrine of a dead and gloried Christ.
At Corinth he becomes a powerful teacher of the gospel,
of the Lord among the Jews, thus conrming the faith
of the disciples. e energy of the Holy Spirit manifests
itself in him without any intervention of the Apostle or of
the twelve. He acts independently; that is, the Spirit acts
independently in him. People could say, “I am of Apollos.”
It is interesting to see these dierent manifestations of the
power and liberty of the Spirit, and to remember that the
Lord is above all, and that, if He acts greatly by a Paul, He
acts also in whom He will.<P059>
At Ephesus: John’s baptism and Christianity
In that which follows we nd, on another side, the
progress of the divine revelation in union with Paul’s
apostolic power made very prominent by the capability
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of communicating the Holy Spirit. Twelve persons had
believed, but with no other instruction than that of John:
their baptism had been in reference to it. It was a Christ to
come, and a Holy Spirit whom He would communicate, that
they looked for. Now John’s baptism required repentance,
but in no way came out of the Jewish pale; although it
opened a perspective of something dierent, according
to the sovereignty of God, and as the eect of Christ’s
coming. But it was a baptism unto repentance for man on
the earth, and not Christ’s death and resurrection. Grace
acted in a remnant, but of whom Jesus was a companion
on earth. Now Christianity (for man’s sin has been fully
manifested) is founded on death and resurrection; rst,
that of Christ, thus accomplishing redemption, and then
on our death and resurrection with Him so as to place
us in Him and as Him before God in sinless life, life of
His life, and washed in His blood from all our sins. But
John’s baptism, in fact, only taught repentance here below
in order to receive Christ; Christianity taught the ecacy
of the death and resurrection of a rejected Christ, in virtue
of which the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete come down from
heaven, should be received.
ese twelve men (although John had announced that
the baptism of the Holy Spirit should be the result of
Christ’s intervention) did not know whether there was yet
any Holy Spirit1-a plain proof that they had not come into
the house of God in which He dwelt. Paul explains this
to them, and they are baptized in the name of Jesus. Paul,
in his apostolic capacity, lays his hands on them; and they
receive the Holy Spirit. ey speak with tongues, and they
prophesy.<P060>
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(1. Literally whether the Holy Spirit was. e expression,
which is the same as in John 7, is a very striking testimony
to the distinctness and importance of the Holy Spirit’s
presence down here on earth. It is called “the Holy Spirit,”
though we all know He had ever been. But what is called
the Holy Spirit, that is, His presence down here- this had
never been.)
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In Asia: Paul as the founder of what was according to
God; the disciples separated; God’s presence and power
is power, and he who was its instrument, were now to
be brought out into distinct relief. e capital city of Asia
(that is, of the Roman province so named) is the theater
on which this was to be eected. We shall see a power
displayed in this locality, which acts independently of all
traditional forms, and which governs all that surrounds
it, whether man, conscience, or the enemy-an organizing
power, which forms of itself and for itself the institutions
and the body that suit it, and which governs the whole
position. e power of active grace has been displayed in
the work of Paul, beginning with Antioch; and had shown
itself in dierent ways. Here we have some details of its
formal establishment in a great center.
During three months of patience he preaches Christ
in the synagogue, and reasons with the Jews, conscious of
divine strength and of the truth. He grants precedence,
as the sphere of testimony, to that which had been the
instrument and the people of God: “To the Jew rst.” It is
no longer said, “Salvation is of the Jews,” but it is preached
to them rst.
But this work having had its development, and many
taking the place of adversaries, Paul acts as the founder of
that which was according to God and on the part of God.
He separates the disciples, and discourses upon Christianity
in the hall of a Greek who had a public class. is went on
for two years: so that the doctrine was spread through all
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the country among both the Jews and the Greeks. God did
not fail to bear testimony to the word of His grace, and His
power was displayed in a remarkable manner in connection
with the person of the Apostle who bore the testimony.
e manifestations of the enemy’s power disappear before
the action of this liberative power of the Lord, and the
name of Jesus was gloried. Now the reality of this action
was demonstrated in a striking way, that is, its source in
the personal, positive, and real action of the Lord on the
one side, and on the other, the mission of Paul, and faith as
the instrument by which this supernatural power wrought.
Certain Jews desired to avail themselves of it for their own
self-interest; and devoid of faith, they use the name of
“Jesus<P061> whom Paul preached” as though it had been
a kind of charm. But the evil spirit, whose power was as
true and real in its way as that of the Lord which he was
forced to acknowledge when it was in exercise, knew very
well that here it was not so, that there was neither faith nor
power. “Jesus I know,” said he, “and who Paul is I know;
but who are ye?” And the man who was possessed attacked
and wounded them. Striking testimony to the action of the
enemy, but at the same time to that superior force, to the
reality of that intervention of God, which was carried into
eect by means of Paul. Now, when God shows Himself,
conscience always shows itself; and the power of the enemy
over it is manifested and ceases. e Jews and Greeks are
lled with fear, and many who became Christians brought
the proofs of their sorceries.
e mighty action of the Spirit showed itself by the
decision it produced, by the immediate and unhesitating
acting out of the thoughts and resolutions produced in the
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heart. ere were no long inward arguments; the presence
and the power of God produced their natural eects.
e power of the enemy among the Gentiles used by
the Jews; Demetrius and “Diana of the Ephesians”
e enemy’s resources were, however, not exhausted. e
work of God was done, in the sense of the establishment of
the testimony through apostolic labor; and God was sending
His servant elsewhere. e enemy, as usual, excites a tumult,
stirring up the passions of men against the instruments of
the testimony of God. Paul had already intended to go away,
but a little later; he had therefore sent Timothy and Erastus
before him into Macedonia, purposing to visit Macedonia,
Achaia, and Jerusalem, and afterwards to go to Rome; and
he still remains some time in Asia. But after the departure
of these two brethren, Demetrius excites the people against
the Christians. Inveterate against the gospel, which shook
the whole system in connection with which he made his
fortune, and which was linked with all that gave him
importance, this agent of the enemy knew how to act on
the passions of the workmen who had the same occupation
as himself; for he made little portable shrines to Diana in
silver. His employment was connected with that which
all the world admired, with that which had possession of
men’s minds-a great comfort to man<P062> who feels the
need of something sure-with that which had long given its
hue to their religious habits. A great part of the inuence
exercised was, not “Great is Diana!” but “Great is Diana of
the Ephesians!” It was, in short, the power of the enemy
among the Gentiles. e Jews apparently sought to avail
themselves of this by putting one Alexander forward-the
same possibly who had withstood Paul, and who they
supposed would therefore be listened to by the people. But
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it was the evil spirit of idolatry that agitated them; and the
Jews were foiled in their hope. Paul was prevented, both by
the brethren and by some of the Asiarchs,1 from showing
himself in the theater. e assembly was dissolved by the
town authorities; and Paul, when he had seen the disciples,
went away in peace.2
(1. Honorary magistrates from among the notables,
who presided over the celebration of religious festivals.)
(2. It may perhaps interest the reader and help him
to understand this part of the New Testament history,
if I point out the time at which Paul wrote some of his
epistles. He wrote the rst letter to the Corinthians from
Ephesus, and sent it by Titus. Timothy he sent by way of
Macedonia. e latter might perhaps go into Greece; “if
he come,” the Apostle says to the Corinthians. en came
the tumult, and just at this moment, or about the same
time, his life was endangered; he did not even suppose
that he should save it. He had purposed going by Greece
into Macedonia, and then returning to Greece; but the
state Corinth was in prevented it, and he went rst into
Macedonia. On his way he goes to Troas, but does not stay
there; in Macedonia he is much exercised in mind, and
has no rest, because Titus had not brought him tidings of
the Corinthians. ere, however, Titus found him, and the
Apostle was comforted in his trouble by the good news of
the return of the Corinthians to a right mind. Upon this he
writes the second letter to them, and, after having visited
the assemblies, he pursues his journey to Corinth, whence
he wrote his Epistle to the Romans. I only speak here of
that which relates to this part of the Apostle’s history, and
throws light upon his labors.)
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97
His work there was nished, and the gospel planted in
the capital of the province of Asia, and even in the whole
province: Greece and Macedonia had already received it.
e gospel in Rome as the Apostle’s desire; Paul’s free
and active life ended
ere was yet Rome. In what manner should he go
thither? is is now the remaining question. His free and
active life ended with the events which now occupy us, as
far as it is given us by the Holy Spirit. A life blessed with
an almost unequalled faith, with an energy that surpassed
anything that has been seen in men, and which, through the
divine power that wrought in it, produced its eects in spite
of obstacles apparently insurmountable, in spite of<P063>
every kind of opposition, in contempt and destitution, and
which stamped its character on the assembly by giving it,
instrumentally, its existence; and that, not only in spite of
two hostile religions which divided the civilized world
between them, but in spite of a religious system which
possessed the truth, but which ever sought to conne it
within the boundary of traditions that granted some place
to the esh-a system that had the plea of priority, and
was sanctioned by the habits of those apostles who were
nominated by the Lord Himself.
e path of traditions and forms is never power
e assembly indeed, as Paul foresaw, soon returned to
its Judaic ways, when the energy of the Apostle was absent.
It requires the power of the Holy Spirit to rise above the
religiousness of the esh. Piety does not necessarily do
this; and power is never a tradition-it is itself, and thereby
independent of men and of their traditions, even when
bearing with them in love. e esh therefore always returns
to the path of traditions and forms; because it is never power
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in the things of God, although it can recognize duty. It does
not therefore rise to heaven; it does not understand grace;
it can see what man ought to be for God (without however
perceiving the consequences of this, if God is revealed), but
it cannot see what God in His sovereign grace is for man.
It will perhaps retain it as orthodoxy, where the Spirit has
wrought; but it will never bring the soul into it. is it was,
more than the violence of the pagans or the hatred of the
Jews, which wrung the heart and caused the anguish of the
faithful and blessed Apostle, who by grace had a character,
or rather a position, more like that of Christ than any other
on earth.
Paul’s remarkable position as used by the Holy Spirit
ese conicts will be unfolded to us in the epistles,
as well as that ardent heart which-while embracing in its
thoughts all the revealed counsels of God, and putting
each part in its place, and embracing in its aections the
whole of the work and of the assembly of God-could
equally concentrate its whole energy of thought on a single
important point, and of aection on a poor slave whom
grace had given to him in his chains. e vessel of the Spirit,
Paul shines with a heavenly light throughout the whole
work of the <P064>gospel. He condescends at Jerusalem,
thunders in Galatia when souls were being perverted, leads
the apostles to decide for the liberty of the Gentiles, and
uses all liberty himself to be as a Jew to the Jews, and as
without law to those that had no law, as not under law, but
always subject to Christ. Yet how dicult to maintain the
height of life and of spiritual revelation, in the midst of so
many opposing tendencies! He was also “void of oense.”
Nothing within hindered his communion with God,
whence he drew his strength to be faithful among men. He
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could say, and none but he, “Be ye imitators of me, as I am
of Christ.” us also he could say, “I endure all things for
the elect’s sake, that they may obtain the salvation which
is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory,” words which would
not be improper in the Lord’s mouth- in a more exalted
sense doubtless, because He endured for Paul himself the
wrath that would have been his eternal condemnation-
yet words which bring out the remarkable position of this
man of God, as the vessel of the Holy Spirit by whom
he was used. “I ll up,” said he, “that which is lacking1 of
the suerings of Christ for his body’s sake, which is the
assembly; whereof I am made a minister to complete the
word of God.”
(1. e reader must distinguish between the Lord’s
suerings for sin from God in righteousness, and those
which He endured from sinful men for righteousness’ sake.
We partake in the latter, while Christ has saved us from the
former, in which there is no question at all of participation,
but of His substitution for us when we have deserved the
condemnation due to sin.)
Paul’s part in what John maintained
John (through his intimate knowledge of the Person of
Christ, born on earth and Son of God) was able to maintain
this essential and individually vital truth, in the same eld
in which Paul labored; but it was Paul’s part to be the active
instrument for propagating the truth which saves the soul,
and brings ruined man into connection with God by faith,
by communicating all His counsels of grace.
e intrinsic power of Judaism if a man takes his place
below grace
Still Paul was a man, although a man wonderfully
blest. e intrinsic power of Judaism in connection with
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its relationship to the<P065> esh is marvelous. As to the
result indeed, if man takes his place below grace, that is,
below God, it is better in a certain sense that he should
be man under law than man without law. He will be the
one or the other; but in taking up the exclusive idea of
duty he forgets God as He is-for He is love; and too often
forgets also man as he is-for he is sin. If he unites the idea
of duty and of sin, it is continual bondage, and this is what
Christianity in general is reduced to; with the addition of
ordinances to ease the burdened conscience, of forms to
create piety where communion is absent; clothing it all
with the name of Christ, and with the authority of the
church, so named, the very existence of which in its reality
is identied with the principle of sovereign grace, and
characterized by subjection.1
(1. See Ephesians 5:24.)
But let us return to the history of Paul.
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In Macedonia and Greece; Paul’s long address at
Troas; Eutychus’ death and revival
After the uproar has ceased he sends for the disciples,
embraces them, and departs for Macedonia; he visits that
whole country, and comes into Greece. e beginning of
the Second Epistle to the Corinthians gives the details of
this part of his history. In Greece he remains three months;
and when the Jews lay wait for him, he goes round by
Macedonia, instead of sailing straight to Syria. At Troas
(where a door had been opened to him on his way into
Greece, but where his aection for the Corinthians had
not allowed him to remain) he spends his Sunday, and even
the whole week, in order to see the brethren. We perceive
the usual object of their assembly: they “came together to
break bread”; and the ordinary occasion of holding it-“the
rst day of the week.” Paul avails himself of this to speak
to them all night; but it was an extraordinary occasion.
e presence and the exhortations of an apostle failed in
keeping them all awake. It was not however an assembly
held in secret or in the dark. ere were many lamps to
light the upper chamber in which they met. By the place
in which they came together we see that the assemblies
were not composed<P066> of very many persons. e
upper room in Jerusalem received, perhaps, 120. It appears
by dierent salutations, that they met in private houses-
probably in several, if the number of believers required it;
but there was only one assembly.
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Eutychus pays the penalty of his inattention; but God
bears testimony to His own goodness, and to the power
with which He had endued the Apostle, by raising him
from a state of death. Paul says that his soul was yet in
him: he had only to renew the connection between it and
his physical organization. In other cases the soul had been
recalled.
Paul the center of energy in his labors only as lled
with the Spirit
Paul chose to go alone from Troas to Assos. We see all
through the history, that he arranged, by the power that
the Spirit gave him over them, the willing services of
his companions-not, doubtless, as their master, yet more
absolutely than if he had been so. He is (under Christ)
the center of the system in which he labors, the center of
energy. Christ alone can be by right the center of salvation
and of faith. It was only as lled with the Spirit of God
that Paul was the center even of that energy; and it was,
as we have seen, by not grieving Him, and by exercising
himself to have a conscience void of oense both towards
God and towards men.
Paul does not stop at Ephesus, because in so central
a place he must have stayed some time. It is necessary to
avoid that which has a certain moral claim upon us, if we
would not and ought not to be detained by the obligation
it imposes upon us.
Paul’s address to the Ephesian elders: how and what
he had preached; this ministry ended; their responsibility
It was no want of aection for the beloved Ephesians,
nor any thought of neglecting them. He sends for the elders,
and addresses a discourse to them, which we must examine
a little, as setting before us the position of the assembly at
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that time, and the work of the gospel among the nations.
e assemblies were consolidated over a pretty large extent
of country, and in divers places at least had taken the form
of a regularly ordered institution. Elders were established
and recognized. e Apostle could send for them to come
to him. His authority also was <P067>acknowledged on
their part. He speaks of his ministry as a past thing-solemn
thought! but he takes them to witness not only that he had
preached the truth to them, but a truth that spoke to their
conscience; setting them before God on the one hand, and
on the other presenting to them Him in whom God made
Himself known, and in whom He communicated all the
fullness of grace on their behalf-Jesus, the object of their
faith, the Saviour of their souls. He had done this through
trouble and through diculty, in face of the unprincipled
opposition of the Jews who had rejected the Anointed One,
but in accordance with the grace that rose above all this
evil and declared salvation to the Jews, and going beyond
these limits (because it was grace) addressed itself to the
Gentiles, to all men, as sinners and responsible to God.
Paul had done this, not with the pride of a teacher, but with
the humility and the perseverance of love. He desired also
to nish his ministry, and to fail in nothing that Jesus had
committed to him. And now he was going to Jerusalem,
feeling bound in spirit to do so, not knowing what would
befall him, but warned by the Holy Spirit that bonds and
aictions awaited him. With regard to themselves, he
knew his ministry was ended, and that he should see their
face no more. Henceforth responsibility would specially
rest upon them.
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Apostolic labors having ended, the assembly was
responsible to stand fast; dangers and diculties would
complicate the work of the elders
us what the Holy Spirit here sets before us is, that
now, when the detail of his work among the Gentiles to
plant the gospel is related as one entire scene among Jews
and Gentiles, he bids adieu to the work; in order to leave
those whom he had gathered together in a new position,
and in a certain sense to themselves.1 It is a discourse
which marks the cessation of one phase of the assembly
- that of apostolic labors - and the entrance into another-
its responsibility to stand fast now that those labors had
ceased, the service of the elders whom “the Holy Ghost
had made overseers,” and at the same time the dangers
and diculties that<P068> would attend the cessation
of apostolic labor, and complicate the work of the elders
on whom the responsibility would now more especially
devolve.
(1. If Paul was ever set free and returned to these parts
(not necessarily to Ephesus) as Philippians and Philemon
and perhaps 2Timothy would lead us to suppose, we have
no scriptural account of it.)
Apostolic succession entirely denied
e rst remark that ows from the consideration
of this discourse is, that apostolic succession is entirely
denied by it. Owing to the absence of the Apostle various
diculties would arise, and there would be no one in his
place to meet or to prevent these diculties. Successor
therefore he had none. In the second place the fact appears
that, this energy which bridled the spirit of evil, once away,
devouring wolves from without, and teachers of perverse
things from within, would lift up their heads and attack the
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simplicity and the happiness of the assembly, which would
be harassed by the eorts of Satan without possessing
apostolic energy to withstand them.
e elders’ duty to care for, shepherd, and watch over
the ock and themselves; their commendation to God
and the Word of His grace
is testimony of Paul’s is of the highest importance
with regard to the whole ecclesiastical system. e attention
of the elders who are left in charge is directed elsewhere
than to present apostolical care (as having no longer this
resource, or anything that ocially replaced it), in order
that the assembly might be kept in peace and sheltered
from evil. It was their part to care for the assembly in
these circumstances. In the next place, that which was
principally to be done for the hindrance of evil was to
shepherd the ock, and to watch, whether over themselves
or over the ock, for that purpose. He reminds them how
he had himself exhorted them night and day with tears.
Let them therefore watch. He then commends them,
neither to Timothy nor to a bishop, but-in a way that sets
aside all ocial resource-to God, and to the Word of His
grace which was able to build them up and assure them
of the inheritance. is was where he left the assembly;
that which it did afterwards is not my subject here. If John
came later to work in these parts, it was a great favor from
God, but it changed nothing in the position ocially. His
labors (with the exception of the warnings to the seven
assemblies in the Apocalypse, where<P069> judgment is
in question) regarded the individual life, its character, and
that which sustained it.
Paul’s aection shown by his parting from the
Ephesian assembly
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With deep and touching aection Paul parts from the
assembly at Ephesus. Who lled the gap? At the same time
he appealed to their consciences for the uprightness of his
walk. e free labors of the Apostle of the Gentiles were
ended. Solemn and aecting thought! He had been the
instrument chosen of God to communicate to the world
His counsels respecting the assembly, and to establish in
the midst of the world this precious object of His aections
united to Christ at His right hand. What would become
of it down here?
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Acts 21
e Apostle’s personal testimony in suering
After this time the Apostle has to give account of
himself, and to accomplish in a striking manner the
predictions of the Lord. Brought before tribunals by the
malice of the Jews, given up through their hatred into the
hands of the Gentiles, it was all to turn to a testimony.
Kings and rulers shall hear the gospel, but the love of many
will grow cold. is in general is his position; but there
were details personal to himself.
e development in the Acts of the Jews’ enmity and
antagonism
We may remark here a leading feature in this book
which has been little noticed; that is, the development of
the enmity of the Jews, bringing on their nal rejection,
such as they were. e Acts ends with the last case
presented; the work in the midst of that people is left in
oblivion, and that of Paul occupies the whole scene in the
historical narrative given by the Spirit. e antagonism of
the Jews to the manifestation of the assembly, which took
their place and blotted out the distinction between them
and the Gentiles, by bringing in heaven and full sovereign
grace in contrast with law, which while universal in its
direction was given to a distinct people (grace of which the
sinner availed himself by<P070> faith)-this antagonism,
presenting itself at every step in the career of the Apostle,
although he acted with all possible circumspection, is
aroused in its full intensity at Jerusalem, its natural center,
and manifests itself by violence and by eorts made with
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the Gentiles for the purpose of cutting o Paul from the
earth. is rendered the Apostle’s position very serious
with regard to the Gentiles at Jerusalem-a city the more
jealous of its religious importance from having in fact
under Roman bondage lost the reality of it, through its
being transformed into a spirit of rebellion against the
authority which crippled it.
Paul in three dierent positions
After the history of Christianity, viewed as connected
with Judaism (in reference to the promises and their
fulllment in the Messiah), we nd Paul in three dierent
positions. First, condescending, for the purpose of
conciliation, to take account of that which still existed at
Jerusalem, and even addressing the Jews everywhere in
their synagogues, as having administratively the rst right
to hear the gospel (“to the Jew rst and then to the Greek”)
for Jesus was the minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God, to fulll the promises made to the fathers. In this
respect he never failed, and he establishes these principles
clearly and dogmatically in the Epistle to the Romans. We
next nd him, in all the liberty of the full truth of grace
and of the purposes of God, in his own special work from
which he condescended in grace. is is recorded in the
Epistle to the Ephesians. In both these cases he acts under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, fullling the Lord’s will.
Afterwards, in the third place, we see him in conict with
the hostility of legal Judaism, the emissaries of which he
met continually, and into the very focus of which he at
length threw himself by going to Jerusalem, in that part
of his history which we are now considering. How much
was of God-how much was the consequence of his own
steps-is matter for consideration in this narrative. at the
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hand of God was in it for the good of the assembly, and
in conducting His beloved servant for his own good in the
end, is beyond all doubt. We have only to search out how
far the will and the mind of Paul came in, as means which
God used to bring about the result He intended, whether
for the assembly or for His servant, or for the Jews. ese
thoughts are<P071> of the deepest interest, and require
humble examination of that which God has set before us
to instruct us on this point in the history which the Spirit
Himself has given us of these things.
Paul forbidden by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem;
something impelled him thither
e rst thing which strikes us at the beginning of
this history is that the Holy Spirit tells him not to go to
Jerusalem (ch. 21:4). is word has evident importance.
Paul felt himself bound: there was something in his own
mind which impelled him thither, a feeling that forced
him in that direction; but the Spirit, in His positive and
outward testimony, forbade his going.
Paul’s intention to go to Rome; his love for his own
nation
e Apostle’s intention had been to go to Rome. e
Apostle of the Gentiles sent forth to preach the gospel to
every creature, there was nothing of self in this project that
was not according to grace (Rom. 1:13-15). Nevertheless
God had not allowed him to go thither. He was obliged to
write his epistle to them without seeing them. Heaven is
the metropolis of Christianity. Rome and Jerusalem must
have no place with Paul, except as to bearing with the one
in aection, and being ready, when he might, to evangelize
the other. Acts 19:21, which is translated “in the spirit,”
only means the spirit of Paul. He purposed, in his own
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mind, saying, “When I have been there, I must also see
Rome.” Afterwards he charged himself with the oerings
of the saints in Achaia and Macedonia. He wished to prove
his aection for the poor of his own people (Gal. 2:10).
is was all well. I do not know if it was a function suited
to an apostle. It was an evidently Jewish feeling, which
set peculiar value on the poor of Jerusalem, and so far on
Jerusalem itself. A Jew would rather be poor at Jerusalem
than rich among the Gentiles. Poor Christians were there
no doubt from the time of their conversion, but that
was the origin of this system. (Compare Nehemiah 11:2
and Acts 24:17.) All this belonged to relationship with
Judaism (Rom. 15:25-28). Paul loved the nation to which
he belonged after the esh, and which had been the people
beloved of God and was still His people although rejected
for a time, the remnant having now to enter the kingdom
of God through Christianity. is attachment of Paul to
them (which had its right and<P072> deeply aecting side,
but which on another side had to do with the esh) led
him into the center of Judaism. He was the messenger of
the heavenly glory, which brought out the doctrine of the
assembly composed of Jews and Gentiles, united without
distinction in the one body of Christ, thus blotting out
Judaism; but his love for his nation carried him, I repeat,
into the very center of hostile Judaism-Judaism enraged
against this spiritual equality. His testimony, the Lord had
told him, they would not receive.
Paul as a beloved and faithful servant, but still a man
Nevertheless the hand of God was doubtless in it. Paul
individually found his level.
As the instrument of God’s revelation, he proclaims in
all its extent and all its force the purpose of the sovereign
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grace of God. e wine is not adulterated; it ows out as
pure as he had received it. And he walked in a remarkable
way at the height of the revelation committed to him.
Still Paul individually is a man; he must be exercised
and manifested, and in those exercises to which God has
subjected us. Where the esh has found its pleasure, the
sphere in which it has gratied itself, it is there that, when
God acts, it nds its sorrow. Yet, if God saw t to prove
His servant and manifest him to himself, He stood by
him, and blessed him even through the trial itself-turned it
into testimony, and refreshed the heart of His beloved and
faithful servant. e manifestation of that in him which is
not according to the Spirit, or to the height of his calling,
was in love for his blessing and for that of the assembly.
Blessed is he who can walk as faithfully and maintain his
standing to the same degree through grace in the path of
grace! Nevertheless Christ is the only model. I see no one
who (in another career) so much resembled Him in His
public life as Paul.
e more we search into the Apostle’s walk the more
we shall see this resemblance. Only that Christ was the
model of perfection in obedience; in His precious servant
there was the esh. Paul would have been the rst to
acknowledge that perfection may be ascribed to Jesus only.
e overruling hand of God
I believe then that the hand of God was in this journey
of Paul’s; that in His sovereign wisdom He willed that His
servant should<P073> undertake it, and also have blessing
in it; but that the means employed to lead him into it
according to that sovereign wisdom, was the Apostle’s
human aection for the people who were his kinsmen
after the esh; and that he was not led into it by the Holy
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Spirit acting on the part of Christ in the assembly. is
attachment to his people, this human aection, met with
that among the people which put it in its place. Humanly
speaking, it was an amiable feeling; but it was not the power
of the Holy Spirit founded on the death and resurrection
of Christ. Here there was no longer Jew nor Gentile. In the
living Christ it was right. Christ went on in it to the end in
order that He might die; for this purpose He came.
Paul’s aection was good in itself, but as a spring of action
it did not come up to the height of the work of the Spirit,
who on Christ’s part had sent him afar from Jerusalem to
the Gentiles in order to reveal the assembly as His body
united to Him in heaven. us the Jews hearkened to him
till it came to that word, and then they cried out and raised
the tumult which caused Paul to be made prisoner.1 He
suered for the truth, but where that truth had no access
according to Christ’s own testimony: “ey will not receive
thy testimony concerning me.” It was necessary however
that the Jews should manifest their hatred to the gospel,
and give this nal proof of their inveterate opposition to
the ways of God in grace.
(1. And this circumstance is worthy of note, that it was
Christ’s declaration that he should go to the Gentiles; to
which we may add that this at the time was accompanied
by the declaration, “Get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for
they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.” So that
what declared his testimony was of no avail in Jerusalem
was the occasion of his being seized. On Christ’s word and
his own showing, his apostolic service was not there but
elsewhere.)
e apostolic mission to the Gentiles as to the
foundation of the assembly concluded
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At the same time, whatever may have been the
subsequent labors of the Apostle (if there were any the Holy
Spirit does not make mention of them: Paul sees the Jews
in his own house, and receives all who come to him; but)
the page of the Spirit’s history closes here. is history is
ended. e apostolic mission to the Gentiles in connection
with the founding of the assembly is concluded. Rome is
but the prison of the Apostle of the truth, to whom the
truth had been committed. Jerusalem rejects him, Rome
<P074>imprisons him and puts him to death, as it had
done to Jesus, whom the blessed Apostle had to resemble
in this also according to his desire in Philippians 3; for
Christ and conformity to Him was his only object. It was
given him to nd this conformity in his service, as it was so
strongly in his heart and soul, with the necessary dierence
between a ministry which was not to break the bruised
reed nor lift up its voice in the street, and one which in
testimony was to bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Man’s universal failure; the assembly remaining the
object
of faith until manifested in glory as the heavenly
Jerusalem
e mission of the twelve to the Gentiles, going out from
Jerusalem (Matt. 28), never took place, so far as any record
of it by the Holy Spirit goes.1 Jerusalem detained them.
ey did not even go over the cities of Israel. e ministry
of the circumcision was given to Peter, that of the Gentiles
to Paul in connection with the doctrine of the assembly and
of a glorious Christ-a Christ whom he no longer knew after
the esh. Jerusalem, to which the Apostle was drawn by his
aection, rejected both him and his mission. His ministry
to the Gentiles, so far as the free eect of the power of the
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Spirit, ended likewise. Ecclesiastical history may perhaps
tell us more; nevertheless God has taken care to bury it
in profound darkness. Nothing farther is owned by the
Spirit. We hear no more of the apostles at Jerusalem; and
Rome, as we have seen, had none, so far as the Holy Spirit
informs us, excepting that the Apostle of the Gentiles was
a prisoner there and nally put to death. Man has failed
everywhere on earth. e religious and political centers of
the world-centers, according to God, as to the earth-have
rejected the testimony, and put the testier to death; but
the result has been that heaven has maintained its rights
inviolate and in their absolute purity. e assembly, the true
heavenly and eternal metropolis of glory and of the ways
of God-the assembly which had its place in the counsels
of God before the world was-the assembly which answers
to His heart in grace as united to Christ in glory-remains
the object of faith. It is revealed according to the mind of
God, and perfectly such as it is in<P075> His mind, until,
as the heavenly Jerusalem, it shall be manifested in glory, in
connection with the accomplishment of the ways of God
on the earth, in the reestablishment of Jerusalem as the
center of His earthly dealings in grace, His throne, His
metropolis in the midst even of the Gentiles, and in the
disappearance even of Gentile power, the seat and center
of which was Rome.
(1. Mark 16:20 is the only passage which may be
supposed to allude to what would fulll it; and even not so
as such, for that and Colossians 1:6 refer to all the world,
and are founded on ascension, not a mission to the Gentiles
only founded on resurrection. )
Christianity in Rome before any apostle planted it
there
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Let us now examine the thoughts of the Apostle, and
that which took place historically. Paul wrote from Corinth
to Rome, when he had this journey in view. Christianity
had owed towards that center of the world, without any
apostle whatsoever having planted it there. Paul follows it.
Rome is, as it were, a part of his apostolic domain which
escapes him (Rom. 1:13-15). He returns to the subject in
chapter 15. If he might not come (for God will not begin
with the capital of the world-compare the destruction of
Hazor in Canaan, Joshua 11:11), he will at least write to
them on the ground of his universal apostleship to the
Gentiles. Some Christians were already established there:
so God would have it. But they were in some sort, of his
province. Many of them had been personally in connection
with him. See the number and character of the salutations
at the end of the epistle, which have a peculiar stamp,
making the Roman Christians in great part the children
of Paul.
Jerusalem or Rome and Spain
In Romans 15:14-29 he develops his apostolic position
with respect to the Romans and others. He desired also to
go into Spain when he had seen the brethren at Rome a
little. He wishes to impart spiritual gifts to them, but to be
comforted by their mutual faith, to enjoy a little of their
company. ey are in connection with him; but they have
their place as Christians at Rome without his ever having
been there. When therefore he had seen them a little, he
would go into Spain. But he was disappointed with regard
to these projects. All that we are told by the Holy Spirit
is that he was a prisoner at Rome. Profound silence as to
Spain. Instead of going farther when he had seen them and
imparted gifts, he remains two years a prisoner at Rome. It
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is not known whether he was set free or not. Some say yes,
others no; the Word says nothing.<P076>
It is here, when he had laid open his intentions and the
character of his relationships in the Spirit with Rome, and
when a large eld opens before him in the west, that his old
aection for his people and for Jerusalem intervenes-“But
now I go unto Jerusalem to carry help to the saints” (Rom.
15:25-28). Why not go to Rome according to the energy
of the Spirit, his work being nished in Greece (vs. 23)?
God, no doubt, ordained that those things should happen
at Jerusalem, and that Rome and the Romans should have
this sad place with respect to the testimony of a gloried
Christ and of the assembly, which the Apostle rendered
before the world. But as to Paul, why put rebellious
Jerusalem between his evangelical desire and his work?
e aection was good, and the service good-for a deacon,
or a messenger of the churches: but for Paul, who had the
whole west open before his evangelizing thought!
For the moment Jerusalem intercepted his view.
Accordingly, as we have seen, the Holy Spirit warned
him on his way. He foresaw himself also the danger he
was running into (Rom. 15:30-32). He was sure (vs. 29)
of coming in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of
Christ; but he was not sure that he should come with joy.
e thing for which he asked their prayers turned out
quite otherwise than he desired. He was delivered, but as
a prisoner. He took courage when he saw the brethren at
Appii Forum and the ree Taverns. ere was no journey
into Spain either.
e Lord standing by His servant in trial but giving
needful discipline
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All this to me is very solemn. e Lord, full of grace and
tenderness, was with His poor but beloved servant. In the
case of such an one as Paul, it is a most aecting history,
and the Lord’s ways adorable and perfect in goodness. e
reality of faith is there in full; the ways of grace perfect, and
perfect in tenderness also, in the Lord. He stands by His
servant in the trial in which he nds himself, to encourage
and strengthen him. At the same time, with regard to the
desire of going to Jerusalem, he is warned by the Spirit, and
its consequences are set before him; and, not turning back,
he undergoes the needful discipline, which brings his soul
into its place, and a full place of blessing before God. His
walk nds its level as to spiritual power. He feels the power
outwardly<P077> of that whereof he had felt the moral
power seeking to hinder his ministry; and a chain upon
his esh answers to the liberty he had allowed it. ere
was justice in God’s dealings. His servant was too precious
for it to be otherwise. At the same time, as to result and
testimony, God ordered everything for His own glory,
and with perfect wisdom as to the future welfare of the
assembly. Jerusalem, as we have seen, rejects the testimony
to the Gentiles, in a word the ways of God in the assembly
(compare 1essalonians 2:14-16); and Rome becomes
the prison of that testimony; while according to the Lord’s
promise the testimony is carried before rulers and kings,
and before Caesar himself.
Paul put in Christ’s position as given up to the
Gentiles by Jewish hatred
I have said that grace put Paul into the position of
Christ given up to the Gentiles by the hatred of the Jews.
It was a great favor. e dierence-besides the innite love
of the Lord who gave Himself up-was that Jesus was there
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in His true place before God. He had come to the Jews:
that He should be delivered up was the crowning act of
His devotedness and His service. It was in fact the oering
Himself by the eternal Spirit. It was the sphere of His
service as sent of God. Paul reentered it: the energy of the
Holy Spirit had placed him outside-“Delivering thee,” said
the Lord, “from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom
I now send thee to open their eyes” (Acts 26:17). Jesus had
taken him out from them both, to exercise a ministry that
united the two in one body in Christ in heaven who had
thus sent him. In his service Paul knew no one after the
esh; in Christ Jesus there was neither Jew nor Greek.
Warned by the Holy Spirit, but unpersuaded
Let us resume his history. He is warned by the Holy
Spirit not to go up (ch. 21:4). Nevertheless he continues
his journey to Caesarea. A prophet named Agabus comes
down from Judea, and announces that Paul shall be bound
and given up to the Gentiles. It might be said that this
did not forbid his going. It is true; yet, coming after the
other, it strengthened the warning already given. When he
walked in the liberty of the Spirit, warned of danger, he ed
from it, while braving every peril if the testimony<P078>
required it. At Ephesus he allowed himself to be persuaded
not to go into the theater.
e Holy Spirit does not usually warn of danger. He
leads in the path of the Lord, and if persecution comes,
He gives strength to endure it. Here Paul was continually
warned. His friends entreat him not to go up. He will not
be persuaded. ey hold their peace, little satised, saying,
“e will of the Lord be done.” And, I doubt not, it was
His will, but for the accomplishment of purposes that Paul
knew not by the intelligence given of the Holy Spirit. Only
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he felt pressed in spirit to go, and ready to suer all things
for the Lord.
Seeking to please the believing Jews, Paul nds
himself in the hands of the adversaries to the gospel
He departs therefore to Jerusalem; and when there, he
goes to the house of James, and all the elders assemble. Paul
relates to them the work of God among the Gentiles. ey
turn to their Judaism, of which the multitude were full, and,
while rejoicing in the good that was wrought of God by
the Spirit, they wish Paul to show himself obedient to the
law. e believers in Jerusalem must needs come together
on the arrival of Paul, and their prejudices with regard to
the law must be satised. Paul has brought himself into
the presence of man’s exigencies: to refuse compliance with
them would be to say that their thoughts about him were
true; to act according to their desire was to make a rule, not
of the guidance of the Spirit in all liberty of love, but of the
ignorant and prejudiced condition of these Jewish believers.
It is that Paul was there, not according to the Spirit as an
apostle, but according to his attachment to these former
things. One must be above the prejudices of others, and
free from their inuence, to be able to condescend to them
in love.
Being there, Paul can hardly do other than satisfy their
demands. But the hand of God is in it. is act throws
him into the power of his enemies. Seeking to please the
believing Jews, he nds himself in the lion’s mouth, in the
hands of the Jews who were adversaries to the gospel. It
may be added that we hear nothing more of the Christians
of Jerusalem. ey had done their work. I have no doubt
that they accepted the alms of the Gentiles.<P079>
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73189
Acts 22
Rescued by Roman soldiers; permitted to speak to the
people
e whole city being moved and the temple shut, the
commander of the band comes to rescue Paul from the Jews
who wished to kill him, taking him however into custody
himself, for the Romans were used to these tumults, and
heartily despised this nation beloved of God, but proud
and degraded in their own condition. Nevertheless Paul
commands the respect of the captain of the band by his
manner of addressing him, and he permits him to speak to
the people. To the chief captain Paul had spoken in Greek;
but, always ready to win by the attentions of love, and
especially when the loved though rebellious people were
in question, he speaks to them in Hebrew (that is, in their
ordinary language called Hebrew). He does not enlarge
upon what the Lord said revealing Himself to him, but he
gives them a particular account of his subsequent interview
with Ananias, a faithful Jew and esteemed of all. He then
enters on the point which necessarily characterized his
position and his defense. Christ had appeared to him,
saying, “ey will not receive thy testimony at Jerusalem.
I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.” Blessed be
God! It is the truth; but why tell it to those very persons
who, according to his own words, would not receive his
testimony? e only thing which gave authority to such a
mission was the Person of Jesus, and they did not believe
in it.
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e eect of his discourse: brought before the
Sanhedrim
In his testimony to the people the Apostle laid stress in
vain upon the Jewish piety of Ananias: genuine as it might
be, it was but a broken reed. Nevertheless it was all, except
his own. His discourse had but one eect-to bring out the
violent and incorrigible hatred of this unhappy nation to
every thought of grace in God, and the unbounded pride
which indeed went before the fall that crushed them.
e chief captain, seeing the violence of the people, and
not at all understanding what was going on, with the
haughty contempt of a Roman, orders Paul to be bound
and scourged to make him confess what it meant. Now
Paul was himself a Roman citizen, and born such, while
the chief captain had<P080> purchased that freedom. Paul
quietly makes this fact known, and they who were about to
scourge him withdraw. e chief captain was afraid because
he had bound him; but, as his authority was concerned in
it, he leaves him bound. e next day he looses him and
brings him before the council, or Sanhedrim, of the Jews.
e people, not merely their rulers, had rejected grace.
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73190
Acts 23
Paul’s address to the council; its result: sent as a
prisoner to Caesarea
Paul addresses the council with the gravity and dignity
of an upright man accustomed to walk with God. It is not
a testimony borne to them for their good; but the appeal of
a good conscience to their consciences, if they had any. e
immediate answer is an outrage on the part of the judge
or chief of the council. Paul, roused by this procedure,
denounces judgment on him from God; but, warned that
he was the high priest (who was not so clothed as to be
recognized), he excuses himself by his ignorance of the fact,
quoting the formal prohibition of the law to speak evil of
the ruler of the people. All this was right and in place with
regard to men; but the Holy Spirit could not say, “I wist
not.” It is not the activity of the Spirit performing the work
of grace and of testimony. But it is the means of the nal
judgment of God upon the people. It is in this character, as
regards the Jews, that Paul appears here. Paul makes a much
better appearance than his judges, who thoroughly disgrace
themselves and manifest their dreadful condition; but he
does not appear for God before them. Afterwards he avails
himself of the dierent parties of which the council were
composed to throw complete disorder into it, by declaring
himself to be a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, and called in
question for a dogma of that sect. is was true; but it was
below the height of his own word, “at which was gain
I counted loss for Christ’s sake.” e Jews however fully
manifest themselves. at which Paul said raises a tumult,
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and the chief captain takes him from among them. God
has all things at His disposal. A nephew of Paul’s, never
mentioned elsewhere, hears of an ambush laid for him and
warns him of it. Paul sends him to the chief captain, who
expedites the departure of Paul under a guard<P081> to
Caesarea. God watched over him, but all is on the level
of human and providential ways. ere is not the angel as
in Peter’s case, nor the earthquake as at Philippi. We are
sensibly on dierent ground.
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73191
Acts 24-25
Before the governors
Paul appears before the governors in succession-the
Sanhedrim, Felix, Festus, Agrippa, and afterwards Caesar.
And here, when occasion oers, we have striking appeals to
conscience; when his defense is in question, the manly and
honest declarations of a good conscience, that rose above
the passions and interests that surrounded him. I pass
over in silence the worldly egotism which betrays itself
in Lysias and Festus, by their assumption of all sorts of
good qualities and good conduct; the mixture of awakened
conscience and absence of principle in the governors; the
desire to please the Jews for their own importance or to
facilitate their government of a rebellious people; and the
contempt felt by those who were not as responsible as
Lysias for the public tranquillity. e position of Agrippa
and all the details of the history have a remarkable stamp
of truth, and present the various characters in so living a
style that we seem to be in the scenes described. We see the
persons moving in it. is moreover strikingly characterizes
the writings of Luke.
Paul’s appeal to Caesar
Other circumstances claim our attention. Festus,
in order to please the Jews, proposed to take Paul to
Jerusalem. But Rome was to have its share in the rejection
of the gospel of grace, of the testimony to the assembly;
and Paul appeals to Caesar. Festus must therefore send him
thither, although embarrassed to know what crime he is
to charge him with in sending him. Sad picture of man’s
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injustice! But everything accomplishes the purposes of
God. In the use of the means Paul succeeds no better than
in his attempt to satisfy the Jews. It was perhaps to the eye
of man his only resource under the circumstances; but the
Holy Spirit is careful to inform us that he might have been
set at liberty if he had not appealed to Caesar.<P082>
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73192
Acts 26
King Agrippa’s conscience aroused
In Agrippa there was, I believe, more curiosity than
conscience, though there may have been some desire to
prot by the occasion to know what the doctrine was
which had so stirred up people’s minds, a disposition to
inquire which was more than curiosity. In general his
words are taken as if he was not far from being convinced
that Christianity was true: perhaps he would have been
so if his passions had not stood in the way. But it may
be questioned whether this is the force of the Greek, as
generally supposed, and not, rather, “in a little you are
going to make a Christian of me,” covering his uneasiness
at the appeal to his professed Judaism before Festus, by an
aected and slighting remark. And such I believe to be the
case. e notion of an “almost Christian” is quite a mistake,
though a man’s mind may be under inuences which ought
to lead him to it, and yet reject it. He would have been glad
for Paul to be set free. He expresses his conviction that it
might have been done if he had not appealed to Caesar. He
gives his opinion to Festus as a wise and reasonable man;
but his words were in reality dictated by his conscience-
words that he could venture to utter when Festus and all
the rest were agreed that Paul had done nothing worthy of
death or of bonds.
God would have the innocence of his beloved servant
proved in the face of the world. His discourse tends to this.
He goes farther, but his object is to give account of his
conduct. His miraculous conversion is related in order to
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justify his subsequent career; but it is so related as to act
upon the conscience of Agrippa, who was acquainted with
Jewish things, and evidently desired to hear something
of Christianity, which he suspected to be the truth.
Accordingly he lays hold with eagerness of the opportunity
that presents itself to hear the Apostle explain it. But he
remains much where he was. His condition of soul opens
however the mouth of Paul, and he addresses himself
directly and particularly to the king; who moreover,
evidently engrossed by the subject, had called on him to
speak. To Festus it was all a rhapsody.
A missionary from God before the Gentiles
e dignity of Paul’s manner before all these governors
is <P083>perfect. He addresses himself to the conscience
with a forgetfulness of self that showed a man in whom
communion with God, and the sense of his relationship
with God, carried the mind above all eect of circumstances.
He was acting for God; and, with a perfect deference for
the position of those he addressed, we see that which was
morally altogether superior to them. e more humiliating
his circumstances, the more beauty there is in this superiority.
Before the Gentiles he is a missionary from God. He is
again (blessed be God!) in his right place. All that he said
to the Jews was right and deserved; but why was he, who
had been delivered from the people, subjected to their total
want of conscience and their blind passions which gave no
place for testimony? Nevertheless, as we have seen, it was
to be so in order that the Jews might in every way ll up
the measure of their iniquity, and indeed that the blessed
Apostle might follow the steps of his Master.
Paul’s address to Agrippa; his personal history; the
conduct of the Jews put in the clearest light
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Paul’s address to King Agrippa furnishes us with the
most complete picture of the entire position of the Apostle,
as he himself looked at it when his long service and the
light of the Holy Spirit illuminated his backward glance.
He does not speak of the assembly-that was a doctrine
for instruction, and not a part of his history. But everything
that related to his personal history, in connection with his
ministry, he gives in detail. He had been a strict Pharisee;
and here he connects the doctrine of Christ with the hopes
of the Jews. He was in bonds “for the hope of the promise
made unto the fathers.” No doubt resurrection entered into
it. Why should the king think resurrection impossible, that
God was not able to raise the dead? is brings him to
another point. He had verily thought with himself that he
ought to do many things against Jesus of Nazareth, and had
carried them out with all the energy of his character, and
with the bigotry of a devout Jew. His present condition,
as a witness among the Gentiles, depended on the change
wrought in him by the revelation of the Lord when he was
engaged in seeking to destroy His name. Near Damascus
a light brighter than the sun struck them all to the earth,
and he alone heard the voice of<P084> the Righteous One,
so that he knew from His own mouth that it was Jesus,
and that He looked upon those who believed in Him as
Himself. He could not resist such a testimony. But as this
was the great grievance to the Jews, he shows that his own
position was formally marked out by the Lord Himself. He
was called to give ocular evidence of the glory which he had
seen, that is, of Jesus in that glory; and of other things also,
for the manifestation of which Jesus would again appear to
him. A glorious Christ known (personally) only in heaven
was the subject of the testimony committed to him. For
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this purpose He had set Paul apart from the Jews as much
as from the Gentiles, his mission belonging immediately to
heaven, having its origin there; and he was sent formally by
the Lord of glory to the Gentiles, to change their position
with respect to God through faith in this glorious Jesus,
opening their eyes, bringing them out of darkness into
light, from the power of Satan to God, and giving them an
inheritance among the sanctied. is was a denite work.
e Apostle was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
and he had taught the Gentiles to turn to God, and to act
as those who had done so. For this cause the Jews sought
to kill him.
Nothing more simple, more truthful, than this history.
It put the case of Paul and the conduct of the Jews in the
clearest light.
When called to order by Festus, who naturally thought
it nothing more than irrational enthusiasm, he appeals
with perfect dignity and quick discernment to Agrippa’s
knowledge of the facts upon which all this was based: for
the thing had not been done in a corner.
e king and the poor prisoner, rich in God
Agrippa was not far from being convinced; but his
heart was unchanged. e wish that Paul expresses
brings the matter back to its moral reality. e meeting
is dissolved. e king resumes his kingly place in courtesy
and condescension, and the disciple that of a prisoner;
but, whatever might be the Apostle’s position, we see in
him a heart thoroughly happy and lled with the Spirit
and love of God. Two years of prison had brought him
no depression of heart or faith, but had only set him free
from his harassing connection with the Jews, to give him
moments spent with God.
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Agrippa, surprised and carried away by Paul’s clear
and<P085> straightforward narrative,1 relieves himself
from the pressure of Paul’s personal address by saying, “In
a little you are going to make a Christian of me.” Charity
might have said, “Would to God that thou wert!” But there
is a spring in the heart of Paul that does not stop there.
“Would to God,” says he, “that not only thou, but all those
that hear me, were . . . altogether such as I am, except these
bonds!” What happiness and what love (and in God these
two things go together) are expressed in these words! A
poor prisoner, aged and rejected, at the end of his career he
is rich in God. Blessed years that he had spent in prison!
He could give himself as a model of happiness; for it lled
his heart. ere are conditions of soul which unmistakably
declare themselves. And why should he not be happy?
His fatigues ended, his work in a certain sense nished,
he possessed Christ and in Him all things. e glorious
Jesus, who had brought him into the pains and labor of the
testimony, was now his possession and his crown. Such is
ever the case. e cross in service-by virtue of what Christ
is-is the enjoyment of all that He is, when the service is
ended; and in some sort is the measure of that enjoyment.
(1. It is hardly to be read “almost.” Relieving himself,
Agrippa says, “You’ll soon be making a Christian of me,”
covering his feelings, as I have said, by a slighting speech.
But I have no doubt his mind was greatly wrought upon.)
is was the case with Christ Himself, in all its fullness;
it is ours, in our measure, according to the sovereign grace
of God. Only Paul’s expression supposes the Holy Spirit
acting fully in the heart in order that it may be free to enjoy,
and that the Spirit is not grieved.
e glorious Object of Paul’s heart and faith
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A glorious Jesus-a Jesus who loved him, a Jesus who put
the seal of His approbation and love upon his service, a Jesus
who would take him to Himself in glory, and with whom he
was one (and that known according to the abundant power
of the Holy Spirit, according to divine righteousness), a
Jesus who revealed the Father, and through whom he
had the place of adoption-was the innite source of joy
to Paul, the glorious object of his heart and of his faith;
and, being known in love, lled his heart with that love
overowing towards all men. What could he wish them
better than to be as he was except his bonds? How, lled
with this<P086> love, could he not wish it, or not be full of
this large aection? Jesus was its measure.
e servant eclipsed before Christ
His innocence fully established and acknowledged by
his judges, the purposes of God must still be accomplished.
His appeal to Caesar must carry him to Rome, that he may
bear testimony there also. In his position here he again
resembles Jesus. But at the same time, if we compare them,
the servant, blessed as he is, grows dim, and is eclipsed
before Christ, so that we could no longer think of him. Jesus
oered Himself up in grace; He appealed to God only; He
answered but to bear testimony to the truth-that truth was
the glory of His Person, His own rights, humbled as He
was. His Person shines out through all the dark clouds of
human violence, which could have had no power over Him
had it not been the moment for thus fullling the will of
God. For that purpose He yields to power given them from
above. Paul appeals to Caesar. He is a Roman-a human
dignity conferred by man, and available before men; he
uses it for himself, God thus accomplishing His purposes.
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e one is blessed, and his services; the other is perfect, the
perfect subject of the testimony itself.
e prisoner lled with liberty and joy; the Lord’s
gracious encouragement
Nevertheless, if there is no longer the free service of
the Holy Spirit for Paul, and if he is a prisoner in the
hands of the Romans, his soul at least is lled with the
Spirit. Between him and God all is liberty and joy. All this
shall turn to his salvation, that is, to his denitive victory
in his contest with Satan. How blessed! rough the
communications of the Spirit of Jesus Christ the Word of
God shall not be bound. Others shall gain strength and
liberty in view of his bonds, even although, in the low state
of the church, some take advantage of them. But Christ will
be preached and magnied, and with that Paul is content.
Oh how true this is, and the perfect joy of the heart, come
what may! We are the subjects of grace (God be praised!),
as well as instruments of grace in service. Christ alone is its
object, and God secures His glory-nothing more is needed:
this itself is our portion and our perfect joy.
It will be remarked in this interesting history, that at
the <P087>moment when Paul might have been the most
troubled, when his course was perhaps the least evidently
according to the power of the Spirit, when he brought
disorder into the council by using arguments which
afterwards he hesitates himself entirely to justify-it is then
that the Lord, full of grace, appears to him to encourage
and strengthen him. e Lord, who formerly had told him
at Jerusalem to go away because they would not receive his
testimony, who had sent him warnings not to go thither,
but who accomplished His own purposes of grace in the
inrmity and through the human aections of His servant,
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by their means even, exercising at the same time His
wholesome discipline in His divine wisdom by these same
means-Jesus appears to him to tell him that, as he had
testied of Him at Jerusalem, so should he bear witness at
Rome also. is is the way that the Lord interprets in grace
the whole history, at the moment when His servant might
have felt all that was painful in his position, perhaps have
been overwhelmed by it, remembering that the Spirit had
forbidden him to go up; for, when in trial, a doubt is torment.
e faithful and gracious Saviour intervenes therefore to
encourage Paul, and to put His own interpretation on the
position of His poor servant, and to mark the character of
His love for him. If it was necessary to exercise discipline
for his good on account of his condition and to perfect
him, Jesus was with him in the discipline. Nothing more
touching than the tenderness, the opportuneness, of this
grace. Moreover, as we have said, it all accomplished the
purposes of God with regard to the Jews, to the Gentiles,
to the world. For God can unite in one dispensation the
most various ends.
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73193
Acts 27
Paul as master of the position on the voyage to Rome
And now, restored, reanimated by grace, Paul shows
himself in his journey to be master of the position. It is
he who counsels, according to the communication he
receives from God, he who encourages, he who acts, in
every way, on God’s part, in the midst of the scene around
him. e description, full of life and reality, which Luke
his companion, gives of this voyage, needs no comment.
It is admirable as a living picture of the whole scene.
Our<P088> concern is to see what Paul was amid the false
condence or the distress of the whole company.
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73194
Acts 28
Shipwrecked at Melita; God with him
At Melita we nd him again exercising his accustomed
power among that barbarous people. One sees that God is
with him. Evangelization does not, however, appear in the
account of his sojourn there or of his journey.
In Rome as a prisoner; the Jews sent for; Esaias’
judgment solemnly declared upon their rejection of
Jesus and the testimony of the Holy Spirit
Landed in Italy, we see him depressed: the love of the
brethren encourages and reanimates him; and he goes on to
Rome, where he dwells two years in a house that he hires,
a soldier being with him as a guard. Probably those who
carried him to Rome had been given to understand that
it was only a matter of Jewish jealousy, for all through the
journey they treated him with all possible respect. Besides
he was a Roman.
Arrived at Rome, he sends for the Jews; and here, for the
last time, their condition is set before us, and the judgment
which had been hanging over their heads ever since the
utterance of the prophecy (which was especially connected
with the house of David and with Judah)-the judgment
pronounced by Esaias, which the Lord Jesus declared
should come upon them because of His rejection, the
execution of which was suspended by the long-suering
of God, until the testimony of the Holy Spirit was also
rejected- this judgment is here brought to mind by Paul at
the end of the historical part of the New Testament.
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It is their denitive condition solemnly declared by the
minister of sovereign grace, and which should continue
until God interposed in power to give them repentance,
and to deliver them, and to glorify Himself in them by
grace.<P089>
e setting aside of the Jews a characteristic of the
Acts; the assembly, the one body, put in their place by
God as His house
We have already marked this characteristic of the Acts,
which comes out here in a clear and striking manner-the
setting aside of the Jews. at is to say, they set themselves
aside by the rejection of the testimony of God, of the work
of God. ey put themselves outside that which God was
setting up. ey will not follow Him in His progress of
grace. And thus they are altogether left behind, without
God and without present communication with Him.
His word abides forever, and His mercy; but others take
the place of positive and present relationship with Him.
Individuals from among them enter into another sphere on
other grounds; but Israel disappears and is blotted out for
a time from the sight of God.
It is this which is presented in the Book of Acts. e
patience of God is exercised towards the Jews themselves
in the preaching of the gospel and the apostolic mission at
the beginning. eir hostility develops itself by degrees and
reaches its height in the case of Stephen. Paul is raised up,
a witness of grace towards them as an elect remnant, for he
was himself of Israel; but introducing, in connection with
a heavenly Christ, something entirely new as doctrine-the
assembly, the body of Christ in heaven; and the setting
aside of all distinction between Jew and Gentile as sinners,
and in the oneness of that body. is is linked historically
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with that which had been established at Jerusalem, in order
to maintain unity and the connection of the promises; but
in itself, as a doctrine, it was a thing hidden in God in
all the ages, having been in His purposes of grace before
the world was. e enmity of the Jews to this truth never
abated. ey used every means to excite the Gentiles
against those who taught the doctrine, and to prevent the
formation of the assembly itself. God, having acted with
perfect patience and grace unto the end, puts the assembly
into the place of the Jews, as His house, and the vessel of
His promises on earth, by making it His habitation by the
Spirit. e Jews were set aside (alas! their spirit soon took
possession of the assembly itself); and the assembly, and
the clear and positive doctrine of no dierence between
Jew and Gentile (by nature alike the children of wrath),
and of their common and equal privileges as members of
one only body, has been fully declared and made the basis
of all<P090> relationship between God and every soul
possessed of faith. is is the doctrine of the Apostle in
the epistles to the Romans and Ephesians.1 At the same
time the gift of eternal life, as promised before the world
was, has been made manifest by being born again2 (the
commencement of a new existence with a divine character),
and partaking of divine righteousness; these two things
being united in our resurrection with Christ, by which, our
sins being forgiven, we are placed before God as Christ,
who is at once our life and our righteousness. is life
manifests itself by conformity to the life of Christ on earth,
who left us an example that we should follow His steps. It
is the divine life manifested in man-in Christ as the object,
in us as testimony.
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(1. In Romans in their personal position, in Ephesians
in the corporate.)
(2. e word “regeneration” is not applied in Scripture
to our being born again; it is a change of position in us
connected with our having died with Him and resurrection.
It is found twice; once in Matthew 19 it is Christ’s coming
kingdom; and in Titus it is the washing of baptism, as
typically bringing out of the old Adam state and into the
Christian, but distinguished from the renewing of the
Holy Spirit.)
e cross of Christ the basis of all relationship with
God
e cross of Christ is the basis, the fundamental center,
of all these truths-the relations between God and man
as he was, his responsibility; grace; expiation; the end of
life, as to sin, the law, and the world; the putting away
of sin through the death of Christ, and its consequences
in us. Everything is established there, and gives place to
the power of life that was in Christ, who there perfectly
gloried God-to that new existence into which He entered
as man into the presence of the Father; by whose glory, as
well as by His own divine power, and by the energy of the
Holy Spirit, He was raised from the dead.
God’s ways in government with the Jews on earth,
with Gentiles and the world in judgment, and warnings
for the assembly
is does not prevent God’s resuming His ways in
government with the Jews on earth, when the church is
complete and manifested on high; and which He will
do according to His promises and the declarations of
prophecy. e Apostle explains this also in the Epistle to
the Romans; but it belongs to the study of that epistle.
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e ways of God in judgment with regard to the Gentiles
also<P091> at the same period will be shown us in the
Apocalypse, as well as in prophetic passages of the epistles,
in connection with the coming of Christ, and even with
His government of the world in general from the beginning
to the end; together with the warnings necessary for the
assembly, when the days of deception begin to dawn and
to be developed morally in the ruin of the assembly, viewed
as God’s witness in the world.
Paul’s history ended; Rome’s history in connection
with the gospel begun
Our Apostle, when brought to Rome, declares (upon
the manifestation of unbelief among the Jews, which we
have pointed out) that the salvation of God is sent to the
Gentiles; and he dwells two whole years in the house he
had hired, receiving those who came to him (for he had
not liberty to go to them) preaching the kingdom of God
and those things which concerned the Lord Jesus with all
boldness, no man forbidding him. And here the history is
ended of this precious servant of God, beloved and honored
by his Master, a prisoner in that Rome which, as head of
the fourth empire, was to be the seat of opposition among
the Gentiles, as Jerusalem of opposition among the Jews,
to the kingdom and to the glory of Christ. e time for
the full manifestation of that opposition was not yet come;
but the minister of the assembly and of the gospel of glory
is a prisoner there. It is thus that Rome begins its history
in connection with the gospel that the Apostle preached.
Nevertheless God was with him.<P092>
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73195
e Epistles: Introduction
e epistles as the exposition of the result of Christ’s
work; His death, resurrection and exaltation the center
of their teaching
In the epistles, we nd the exposition of the result of
that glorious work of grace, by which man is placed on
entirely new ground with God, in reconciliation with
Him; as well as the development of the counsels of God
in Christ, according to which this new world is established
and ordered. In giving this exposition of the ways of God in
connection with the work which is their basis, the perfect
ecacy of the work itself, and the order of our relations
with God, are plainly set forth; so that the whole system,
the whole plan of God, and the way in which it was put
in execution, are presented. And in doing this, that which
man is, that which God is, that which eternal life is, are
clearly put before us.
e death and resurrection of Christ, as well as His
exaltation to the right hand of God, form the center of all
this instruction.
e three great divisions of the epistles and their
character
ere are three great divisions in this instruction, which
are connected in general with the instrument used of God
in the communication of each part. First: e counsels of
God, which are developed by Paul in connection with the
revelation of true righteousness before God, the ground
on which a man can be truly righteous before God-
God’s righteousness, man being a sinner. Second: e
e Epistles: Introduction
141
life of God, eternal life manifested and imparted. is is
in John’s epistle.1ird: Christian life on the earth, in
<P093>following a risen Christ. is we nd in the Epistle
of Peter, in connection with God’s government of the world
as such: the Christian is a pilgrim. ere are also James
and Jude. e rst presents moral life-the life of faith on
earth-as the true demonstration to men of our faith, and,
in particular, of practical faith in Christ as well as in God,
who answers our requests and our wants. On this account,
while clearly and distinctly recognizing faith in Christ, and
our being begotten by the mighty grace of God through
His Word, this epistle scarcely rises in fact above such life
as could have manifested and developed itself at any period
whatsoever in a believer; only that it was the Christian,
born of God, who now exemplied it, and that thus it was
the law of liberty, because the new nature and the will of
God ran together, and both were fully revealed in Christ.
us the Epistle of James is linked with the synagogue,
and with Christians still in connection with Judaism, as
we have seen them historically at Jerusalem with James at
their head. e epistle does not go beyond that position.
It is the last testimony rendered to Israel looked at as the
people of God, while at the same time distinguishing the
quickened remnant who had faith in Christ, although
they were not yet separated from the nation. Our habits of
thought, founded not on imposed law without reason, but
upon a much more complete development of Christianity
(a development which was the manifestation of counsels
much more ancient than the Jewish nation, for they were
the eternal counsels of God), make it dicult for us to
apprehend this form of the truth-a form in which it is
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connected with that which, because of the promises made
to Israel, was historically its cradle here below.
(1. Paul’s writings present man to God in and through
Christ. John’s Gospel presents God to man in Christ;
the epistles unfold divine life in Christ communicated
to the believer; though Paul of course speaks of life, and
John of man as in Christ before God. We must add for
John’s Gospel the coming of the Comforter. e reader
will remark also that John’s Gospel presents to us the new
thing taking the place of Judaism, especially from chapter
4. Election runs all through it, very strongly expressed. e
synoptical Gospels present Christ to the Jews, to man,
to be received; but the world and the Jews are judged in
John 1:10-11. From that, our grace and the elect remnant,
the sheep alone, are recognized, and the Jews treated as
reprobate.)
If we have rightly understood the history of the Acts,
it will make the position of believers, as we nd it in the
Epistle of James, much more intelligible to us. e epistle
is a correction of profession without life, and most valuable
in this respect.
Jude has a very dierent character. It is not the cradle
of Christianity or of the assembly on earth: it is its decay
and its death here below. It does not keep its rst estate.
is epistle resembles a part of the second by Peter; but
the latter speaks of the <P094>judgment brought in by the
general government of God; Jude, of the fall of that which
has had its existence since Pentecost under the eye of God,
as responsible for the maintenance of the glory of His grace
on the earth-a fall which, with regard to the present state of
things, brings on the judgment of which Peter speaks, and
which he carries on even to the dissolution of the earth and
e Epistles: Introduction
143
its elements. e evil that had already begun in its earliest
germs gave rise to this development in Jude, and to the
distinction of the true assembly, or at least of its members,
who would be presented in glory before the presence of the
Lord in heaven. e Epistle to the Hebrews views the saint
on earth, perfected as to acceptance by the work of Christ,
and as having thus boldness to enter into the holiest, but as
walking in weakness here on the earth, not united to Christ
in heaven; hence it sets forth the priesthood of Christ as
obtaining grace to help in time of need, while He appears
always in the presence of God for us. It is not intercession
in respect of sins (we have no more conscience of sins), but
grace and help for us, such as we are. Christ’s Person as
God and man also is very fully brought out.
A more complete and more precise development will be
found in studying the epistles themselves.
Paul’s epistles as throwing light on that of the others
We will begin with the epistles of Paul. In the historical
character of their doctrine James and Peter should precede
them; this is to say, in the progress of the manifestations of
God’s counsels in their whole extent. But as developing the
foundations of truth, and laying open its range as a whole,
the epistles of Paul have evidently the rst place and throw
light on that of the others. e Epistle to the Romans
especially establishes the grand foundations of divine truth,
and individual relationship with God, in the most plain and
complete manner, so that we have no motive for deviating
from the order in which we nd them habitually placed.
ere is nothing in that order which, as to its details, is
connected with any moral or chronological reason: it diers
also in dierent countries and in dierent versions; but it
is most convenient to take that order which the reader will
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nd in his ordinary Bible. We may notice that which will
be interesting in this respect as we study each epistle. It is
probable that among the epistles of Paul<P095> that to
the essalonians was the rst. e date of the Epistle to
the Galatians is less certain, but it was written after several
years of labor; the two to the Corinthians, and that to the
Romans, at Ephesus, Macedonia, and Corinth, respectively,
during his journey around the Archipelago after his long
sojourn at Ephesus; those to the Ephesians, Philippians,
and Colossians, during his captivity. I reserve the others,
Hebrews included, for the study of those epistles, pointing
out only that which it may be useful to know in those of
which the date is pretty certain.
John’s rst epistle and the catholic epistles
e First Epistle of John, we may add, hardly belongs
to any particular period, save that (in setting forth the
nature and character of the life of God, the touchstone of
all profession, and safeguard against all error, against all
that does not bear its stamp, and against all the pretensions
which, being devoid of it, betray themselves by that very
fact) this epistle supposes the entrance of these errors, and
thus the latter days of the apostolic age. And this indeed is
more or less the case with the epistles called catholic, from
not being addressed to any particular assembly, as Paul’s,
the master builder’s, were. In these we nd prophecies of
the evil from the very rst, and the fact that the mystery of
iniquity was at work already. But the catholic epistles take
that ground. Jude speaks of corruption entering in, John of
apostates going out.
e diversied character of Paul’s epistles
Let us now consider a little the epistles of Paul himself.
ey have more than one character, while all displaying
e Epistles: Introduction
145
that spirit gifted from on high, which expatiates on the
wide range of the thoughts of God, and in its wonderful
energy can enter at the same time into every detail, even
into those of individual life; that knows how to place itself
exactly in the relations of a fugitive slave with his master, in
view of grace, and to set forth with divine clearness all the
counsels by which the Father glories His Son, by making
Him the center of all His purposes, of the system which
results from the exercises of all His power.
e care of the assemblies, the development of the
counsels of God, the exercise of brotherly aection, have
each their place in<P096> his thoughts and his labors;
while he is often forced to develop the truth in striving
against errors which rend his heart, whether he thinks
of the Christ whom they dishonor, and of the truth-the
instrument of salvation-which they undermine; or whether
he remembers the dear redeemed ones of Christ who are
troubled by these errors, perhaps turned aside from the
true path by them.<P097>
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Romans
e special place and scope of the epistle
e Epistle to the Romans is well placed at the head
of all the others, as laying the foundations, in a systematic
way, of the relations of man with God; reconciling at the
same time this universal truth of man’s position, rst in
responsibility, and secondly in grace, with the special
promises made to the Jews. It also establishes the great
principles of Christian practice, the morality, not of man,
but that which is the fruit of the light and revelation given
by Christianity. It is important to see that it always views
the Christian as in this world. He is justied and has life
in Christ, but is here, and not viewed as risen with Him.
e arrangement, divisions and contents of the book
e following is, I believe, the arrangement of the
epistle. After some introductory verses, which open his
subject, several of which are of the deepest importance and
furnish the key to the whole teaching of the epistle and
man’s real state with God (ch. 1:1-17), the Apostle (to the
end of chapter 3:201) shows man to be utterly corrupt and
lost, in all the circumstances in which he stands. Without
law, it was unbridled sin; with philosophy, it was judging
evil and committing it; under law, it was breaking the law,
while boasting of its possession, and dishonoring the name
of Him with whose glory those who possessed it were (so
to say) identied, by having received from Him that law
as His people. From chapter 3:21 to<P098> the end of
chapter 8 we nd the remedy plainly set forth in two parts.
In chapter 3:21 to the end of the chapter, in a general way,
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through faith the blood of Christ is the answer to all the
sin which the Apostle has just been describing; afterwards,
in chapter 4, resurrection, the seal of Christ’s work, and
the witness of its ecacy for our justication. All this
meets the responsibility of the child of Adam, which the
law only aggravated, according to the full grace unfolded
in chapter 5:1-11. But in chapter 8 they are assumed to
be in Christ who is on high, placing him who had part in
it (that is, every believer) in a new position before God in
Christ, who thus gave him liberty and life-the liberty in
which Christ Himself was, and the life which He Himself
lived. It is this last which inseparably unites justication
and holiness in life.
(1. After the introduction till the end of chapter 3 we
nd the evil, and the remedy which God has granted in
the blood of Jesus Christ: and afterwards, in chapter 4,
the resurrection of Christ (after being delivered for our
oenses) for our justication, and thus peace with God,
our present standing in favor, and hope of glory, with all
its blessed consequences in the love of God. Abraham and
David, the great roots of promise, conrmed this principle
of grace and justication without works. is part closes
with chapter 5:11, which divides the epistle into two
distinct parts, as to its main doctrine of justication, and
our standing before God. Of this farther on.)
But there is connected with this another point, which
gives occasion to notice a division yet more important of
the subjects of the epistle. From chapter 3:21 to the end
of verse 11 of chapter 5, the Apostle treats the subject of
our sins-individual guilt is met by the blood of Christ who
(in chapter 4), delivered for our oenses, is raised for our
justication. But from chapter 5:12 the question of sin is
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treated-not a future judgment met, but deliverance from a
present state.1 One ends in the blessing of chapter 5:1-11,
the other in that of chapter 8.
(1. is, while the subject is sin in the esh and death to
it, involves the question of law-the means of discovering it
when its spirituality is known.)
In chapters 9-11 the Apostle reconciles these truths
of the same salvation, common to every believing man
without distinction, with the promise made to the Jews,
bringing out the marvelous wisdom of God, and the way
in which these things were foreseen, and revealed in the
Word.
He afterwards sets forth (in chapter 12 and the following
chapters) the practical Christian spirit. In this last part, he
alludes to the assembly as a body. Otherwise, it is in general
man, the individual, before a God of righteousness; and
the work of Christ, which places him there individually in
peace. For the same reason, save in one passage in chapter
8 to bring in intercession, the ascension is not spoken of in
Romans. It treats of death, and Christ’s resurrection as the
ground of a new status for man before God.1<P099>
(1. See what has just been said on the division at chapter
5:11, and the fuller development of the division of the
epistle farther on.)
e epistle as the revelation of God in the Person of
Christ; awakening man’s need and bringing what meets
it
Let us now examine the line of thought given by the
Holy Spirit in this epistle. We nd in it the answer to the
solemn question of Job, angry at nding himself without
resource in the presence of the judgment of God: “I know
it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with God?”
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149
Nevertheless that is not the rst thought which presents
itself to the Apostle. at is man’s necessity; but the gospel
comes rst revealing and bringing Christ. It is grace and
Jesus which it brings in its hands; it speaks of God in
love. is awakens the sense of need,1 while bringing that
which meets it; and gives its measure in the grace that sets
before us all the fullness of the love of God in Christ. It is
a revelation of God in the Person of Christ. It puts man
in his place before God, in the presence of Him who is
revealed-both in himself, and in grace in Christ. All the
promises are also accomplished in the Person of Him who
is revealed. But it is important to note that it begins with
the Person of Christ, not forgiveness or righteousness,
though this is fully developed afterwards from verse 17.
(1. e heart and the conscience are both brought in.
Law can show man’s guilt, and even, when spiritually
known, man’s ruined state, to the conscience; a sense of
need proves that the heart also is brought into action.)
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73197
Romans 1:1-17
Paul’s apostleship as called and set apart
ere is no epistle in which the Apostle places his
apostleship on more positive and formal ground than in
this; for at Rome he had no claim in virtue of his labors.
He had never seen the Romans. He was none the less their
apostle; for he was that of the Gentiles. He was a debtor to
the Gentiles. He writes to them because he had received a
mission from the Lord Himself towards all the Gentiles.
ey were in his allotted sphere of service as being Gentiles.
It was his oce to present them as an oering sanctied
by the Holy Spirit (ch. 15:16). is was his commission.
God was mighty in Peter towards the Jews; the mission
of Paul was to the Gentiles. It was to him this mission
was entrusted. e twelve moreover acknowledged it. If
God had ordained that Paul should<P100> accomplish his
mission in direct connection with heaven and outside the
secular inuence of the capital, and if Rome was to be a
persecutor of the gospel, that city was not the less Gentile
on this account. It belonged to Paul with reference to the
gospel. According to the Holy Spirit Peter addresses the
Jews in the exercise of his apostleship; Paul, the Gentiles.
is was the administrative order according to God; let
us now come to the substance of his position. Paul was the
servant of Christ-that was his character, his life. But others
were, more or less, that. He was more than that. He was an
apostle by the call of the Lord, a “called apostle”; and not
only that, and laborious as occasion presented itself, he was
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nothing but that in life here below. He was set apart for the
glad tidings of God.
ese two last characters are very denitely warranted by
the revelation of the Lord to Paul on the way to Damascus-
his call, and his mission to the Gentiles on that occasion;
and by setting apart by the Holy Spirit at Antioch, when
he went forth to fulll his mission.
e source-the Author-of the gospel
He calls the gospel to which he was set apart, the gospel
or glad tidings “of God”: the Holy Spirit presents it in its
source. It is not that which man ought to be for God, nor
yet the means merely by which man can approach Him
on His throne. It is the thoughts of God, and His acts,
we may add, towards man-His thoughts in goodness, the
revelation of Him in Christ His Son. He approaches man
according to that which He is and that which He wills in
grace. God comes to him; it is the gospel of God. is is the
true aspect: the gospel is never rightly understood until it
is to us the gospel of God, the activity and revelation of His
nature, and of His will in grace towards man.
e connection of the Old Testament with the gospel
Having pointed out the source, the Author of the
gospel, the One whom it thus reveals in His grace, the
Apostle presents the connection between this gospel
and the dealings of God which historically preceded it-
its promulgation here below, and at the same time its
own proper object; that is to say, its subject properly so
called, and the place held with regard to it by that which
<P101>preceded it (the order of things which those to
whom they belonged sought to maintain as a substantive
and independent system by rejecting the gospel). He
here introduces that which preceded, not as a subject
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of controversy, but in its true character, to enforce the
testimony of the gospel (anticipating objections, which are
thus solved beforehand).
To the Gentile it was the revelation of the truth, and
of God, in grace; to the Jew it was indeed that, while also
putting everything that regarded him in its right place. e
connection of the Old Testament with the gospel is this:
the gospel of God had been announced beforehand by His
prophets in holy writings. Observe here, that in these holy
scriptures the gospel of God was not come, nor was it then
addressed to men: but promised or announced beforehand,
as to be sent. e assembly was not even announced: the
gospel was announced, but as being yet to come.
Its primary subject-the One presented as Son of
David and the Son of God in power over death and evil
Moreover, the subject of this gospel is, rst of all, the
Son of God. He has accomplished a work: but it is Himself
who is the true subject of the gospel. Now He is presented
in a twofold aspect: rst, the object of the promises, Son
of David according to the esh; second, the Son of God in
power, who, in the midst of sin, walked by the Spirit in divine
and absolute holiness (resurrection being the illustrious and
victorious proof of who He was, walking in this character).
at is to say, resurrection is a public manifestation of that
power by which He walked in absolute holiness during His
life-a manifestation that He is the Son of God in power.
He is clearly shown forth as Son of God in power by this
means. Here it was no question of promise, but of power,
of Him who could enter into conict with the death in
which man lay, and overcome it completely; and that, in
connection with the holiness which bore testimony during
His life to the power of that Spirit by which He walked,
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and in which He guarded Himself from being touched by
sin. It was in the same power by which He was holy in life
absolutely that He was raised from the dead.
In the ways of God on the earth He was the object
and the fulllment of the promises. With regard to the
condition of man under sin and death, He was completely
conqueror of all that stood<P102> in His way, whether
living or in resurrection. It was the Son of God who was
there, made known by resurrection according to the power
that was in Him, a power that displayed itself according to
the Spirit by the holiness in which He lived.1
(1. is puts us, since it is for us, in connection with
a holiness (as does the revelation of righteousness farther
on, but there more openly) which implies connection with
God as He is in Himself fully revealed-not like the Jews
outside the veil.)
What marvelous grace to see the whole power of evil-
that dreadful door of death which closed upon the sinful
life of man, leaving him to the inevitable judgment that
he deserved-broken, destroyed, by Him, who was willing
to enter into the gloomy chamber it shut in, and take
upon Himself all the weakness of man in death, and thus
completely and absolutely deliver him whose penalty He
had borne in submitting to death! is victory over death,
this deliverance of man from its dominion, by the power of
the Son of God become man, when He had undergone it,
and that as a sacrice for sin, is the only ground of hope
for mortal and sinful man. It sets aside all that sin and
death have to say. It destroys, for him who has a portion in
Christ, the seal of judgment upon sin, which is in death;
and a new man, a new life, begins for him who had been
held under it outside the whole scene, the whole eect of
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his former misery-a life founded on all the value of that
which the Son of God had there accomplished.
e source, object and extent of the Apostle’s mission
In ne, we have, as the subject of the gospel, the Son
of God, made of the seed of David after the esh; and, in
the bosom of humanity and of death, declared to be the
Son of God in power by resurrection,1 Jesus Christ our
Lord. e gospel was the gospel of God Himself; but it
is by Jesus Christ the Lord that the Apostle received his
mission. He was the head of the work, and sent forth the
laborers into the harvest which they were to reap in the
world. e object of his mission, and its extent, was the
obedience of faith (not obedience to the law) among all
nations, establishing the authority and the value of the
name of Christ. It was this name which should prevail and
be acknowledged.<P103>
(1. It is not said, “By His resurrection,” but, “By
resurrection” abstractly. His own was the great proof; but
that of every man is a proof likewise.)
e message of grace to all men carried by grace and
as grace
e Apostle’s mission was not only his service; the
being trusted with it was at the same time the personal
grace and favor of Him whose testimony he bore. I am
not speaking of salvation, although in Paul’s case the two
things were identied-a fact that gave a remarkable color
and energy to his mission; but there was grace and favor in
the commission itself, and it is important to remember it. It
gives character to the mission and to its execution. An angel
performs a providential mission; a Moses details a law in
the spirit of the law; a Jonah, a John the Baptist, preaches
repentance, withdraws from the grace that appeared to
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falsify his threatenings against the wicked Gentiles, or in
the wilderness lays the axe to the root of the unfruitful
trees in God’s garden. But by Jesus, Paul, the bearer of the
glad tidings of God, receives grace and apostleship. He
carries, by grace and as grace, the message of grace to men
wherever they may be, the grace which comes in all the
largeness of the rights of God over men, and in Himself
as sovereign, and in which He exercises His rights. Among
these Gentiles, the believing Romans also were the called
of Jesus Christ.
“Grace and peace” to assemblies; the addition of
“mercy” to individuals
Paul therefore addresses all the believers in that great
city. ey were beloved of God, and saints by calling.1 He
wishes them (as in all his epistles) grace and peace from
God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, on whose
part he delivered his message. e perfect grace of God
by Christ, the perfect peace of man, and that with God; it
was this which he brought in the gospel and in his heart.
ese are the true conditions of God’s relationship with
man, and that of man with God, by the gospel-the ground
on which Christianity places man. When an individual is
addressed, another consideration comes in, namely, that of
his own weaknesses and inrmities: therefore “mercy” is
added to the<P104> wish of the sacred writers in the case
of individuals. (See the epistles to Timothy and Titus, and
the Second Epistle of John.)1
(1. e reader must take notice that, in verses 1 and 7, it
is not “called to be an apostle,” nor “called to be saints,” but
apostle by call, saints by call. ey were the thing declared,
and they were so by the call of God. A Jew was not holy by
call; he was born holy, relatively to the Gentiles. ese were
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the called of Jesus Christ; but they were not simply called
to be holy, they were so by call.)
(1. e Epistle to Philemon might appear at rst sight
to be an exception; but it conrms this remark, for it will be
seen that the assembly in his house is included in the wish.
is makes the address of Jude the more remarkable. ere
is however a question of a various reading in Titus 1:4.)
e objects of grace and the work in them
If the love of God is in the heart, if He has His place
there, it is before God that one is occupied with the objects
of grace; and then, the work of God in them, the grace
that has been displayed is the rst thing that comes into
the mind, whether in love or in thankfulness. e faith of
the Romans ascends in thanksgivings from the heart of the
Apostle, whom the report of it had reached.
e Apostle as the servant of the Gentiles
He then expresses his desire to see them, a desire that
often occupied his mind. Here he brings out his apostolic
relationship towards them, with all the tenderness and all
the delicacy that belong to the grace and the love which
had formed this relationship and which constituted its
strength. He is apostle by right to all the Gentiles, even
although he may not have seen them; but in heart he is
their servant; and with the most true and ardent brotherly
love, owing from the grace that had made him apostle, he
desires to see them, that he might impart to them some
spiritual gift, which his apostleship put him in a position
to communicate. What he had in his heart in this was, that
he might enjoy the faith which was common to him and
to them-faith strengthened by these gifts-for their mutual
comfort. Often he had purposed coming, that he might
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have some fruit in this part also of the eld which God had
committed to him; but he had been hindered until now.
He then declares himself a debtor to all the Gentiles,
and ready, as far as in him lay, to preach the gospel to those
of Rome also. e way in which the Apostle claims the
whole eld of the Gentiles as his own, and in which he was
prevented by God from going to Rome until he arrived
there at the end of his career (and then only as a prisoner),
is worthy of all attention.<P105>
e value and character of the gospel of God
However it might be, he was ready, and that because of
the value of the gospel-a point which leads him to state
both the value and the character of this gospel. For, he
says, he was not ashamed of it. It was the power of God
to salvation. Observe here the way in which the Apostle
presents everything as coming from God. It is the gospel of
God, the power of God to salvation, the righteousness of
God, and even the wrath of God, and that from heaven-a
dierent thing from earthly chastisement. is is the key
to everything. e Apostle lays stress upon it, putting it
forward from the commencement of the epistle; for man
ever inclines to have condence in himself, to boast of
himself, to seek for some merit-some righteousness, in
himself, to Judaize, to be occupied with himself, as though
he could do something. It was the Apostle’s joy to put his
God forward.
e salvation of God entirely His own work
us, in the gospel, God intervened, accomplishing a
salvation which was entirely His own work-a salvation of
which He was the source and power, and which He Himself
had wrought. Man came into it by faith: it was the believer
who shared it, but to have part in it by faith was exactly the
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way to share it without adding anything whatsoever to it,
and to leave it wholly the salvation of God. God be praised
that it is so, whether for righteousness or for power, or for
the whole result; for thus it is perfect, divine. God has come
in, in His almighty power and in His love, to deliver the
wretched, according to His own might. e gospel is the
expression of this: one believes it and one shares it.
e power of God in salvation; a righteousness of
God-not of man-revealed
But there is a special reason why it is the power of
God in salvation. Man had departed from God by sin.
Righteousness alone could bring him back into the presence
of God, and make him such that he could be there in peace.
A sinner, he had no righteousness, but quite the contrary;
and if man were to come before God as a sinner, judgment
necessarily awaits him: righteousness would be displayed in
this way. But, in the gospel, God reveals a<P106> positive
righteousness on His part. If man has none, God has a
righteousness which belongs to Him, which is His own,
perfect like Himself, according to His own heart. Such
a righteousness as this is revealed in the gospel. Human
righteousness there was none: a righteousness of God is
revealed. It is all-perfect in itself, divine and complete. To
be revealed, it must be so. e gospel proclaims it to us.
e righteousness of God on the principle of faith- to
every believer
e principle on which it is announced is faith, because
it exists, and it is divine. If man wrought at it, or performed
a part of it, or if his heart had any share in carrying it out, it
would not be the righteousness of God; but it is entirely and
absolutely His. We believe in the gospel that reveals it. But
if it is the believer who participates in it, everyone who has
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faith has part in it. is righteousness is on the principle
of faith. It is revealed, and consequently to faith, wherever
that faith exists.
is is the force of the expression which is translated
“from faith to faith”-on the principle of faith unto faith.
Now the importance of this principle is evident here. It
admits every believing Gentile on the same footing as
the Jew, who has no other right of entrance than he. ey
both have faith: the gospel recognizes no other means of
participating in it. e righteousness is that of God; the
Jew is nothing more in it than the Gentile. As it is written,
“e just shall live by faith.” e scriptures of the Jews
testied to the truth of the Apostle’s principle.
e grand theme of what follows the revelation of the
Person of Christ
is is what the gospel announced on God’s part to
man. e primary subject was the Person of Christ, Son
of David according to esh (accomplishment of promise);
and the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of
holiness. But the righteousness of God (not of man) was
revealed in it. is is the grand theme of all that follows.
e Apostle had indeed reason not to be ashamed of it,
despised as it was by men.<P107>
God’s wrath from heaven against ungodliness
But this doctrine was conrmed by another consideration,
and was based on the great truth contained in it. God, in
presenting Himself, could not look at things according
to the partial communications adapted to the ignorance
of men, and to the temporary dispensations by which He
governed them. Wrath was not merely His intervention
in government, as by the Assyrian or Babylonish captivity.
It was “wrath from heaven.” e essential opposition of
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His nature to evil, and penal rejection of it wherever it was
found, was manifested. Now God manifested Himself in
the gospel. us divine wrath does not break forth indeed
(for grace proclaimed the righteousness of God in salvation
for sinners who should believe), but it is revealed (not
exactly in the gospel-that is the revelation of righteousness;
but it is revealed) from heaven against ungodliness-all that
does not respect the presence of God-against all that does
not comport with the presence of God, and against all
unrighteousness or iniquity in those who possessed the
truth but still dishonored God; that is to say, against all
men, Gentile or otherwise, and particularly the Jews who
had the knowledge of God according to the law; and, again
(for the principle is universal, and ows from that which
God is, when He reveals Himself), against everyone who
professes Christianity, when he walks in the evil that God
hates.
e gospel’s opportuneness and necessity
demonstrated by man’s sin and God’s righteousness
is wrath, divine wrath, according to God’s nature as in
heaven, against man as a sinner, made God’s righteousness
necessary. Man was now to meet God fully revealed as He
is. is showed him wholly a sinner, but paved the way
in grace for a far more excellent place and standing-one
based on the righteousness of God. e gospel reveals
the righteousness: its opportuneness and necessity are
demonstrated by the state of sin in which all men are, and
by occasion of which wrath was revealed from heaven.
Man was not merely to be governed by God, and nd
governmental wrath, but to appear before God. How
could we stand there? e answer is the revelation of God’s
righteousness by the gospel. Hence, too, even in speaking
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of resurrection Christ is declared to be the Son of God
according to the Spirit of holiness.
God<P108> has to be met such as He is. e revelation
of God Himself in His holy nature went necessarily farther
than mere Jews. It was against the thing sin, wherever
it was, wherever it met sin, to make good what God is.
It is a glorious truth; and how blessed that thus divine
righteousness in sovereign grace should be revealed! And,
God being love, we can say that it could not be otherwise;
but how glorious to have God thus revealed!
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Romans 1:18-3:20
e epistle’s thesis; what proved its need- the
condition of all men; God’s answer in grace
e thesis of the epistle then is in verse 17, that which
proved its need in verse 18. From verse 19 to the end of verse
20 in chapter 3, the condition of men, Jews and Gentiles, to
whom this truth applies, is given in detail, in order to show
in what way this wrath was deserved, and all were shut up
in sin (verses 19 and 21 of this chapter giving the leading
principles of the evil as regards the Gentiles). In verses 21-
31 of chapter 3, the answer in grace by the righteousness of
God, through the blood of Christ, is briey but powerfully
declared. For we rst get the answer by Christ’s blood to
the old state, and then the introduction, by death and life
through Christ, into the new.
e Apostle begins with the Gentiles-“all ungodliness”
of men. I say the Gentiles (it is evident that if a Jew falls into
it, this guilt attaches to him; but the condition described, as
far as chapter 2:17, is that of Gentiles); afterwards that of
the Jews, to chapter 3:20.
e ground of God’s wrath; the Gentiles without
excuse through the witness of creation and conscience
Chapter 1:18 is the thesis of the whole argument from
verse 19 to chapter 3:20, this part of the epistle showing
the ground of that wrath.
e Gentiles are without excuse on two accounts. First,
that which may be known of God has been manifested
by creation- His power and His Godhead. is proof
has existed since the creation of the world. Secondly,
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163
that, having the knowledge of God as Noah had it, they
had not gloried Him as God, but in the vanity of their
imaginations, reasoning upon their own thoughts on
this<P109> subject and the ideas it produced in their own
minds, they became fools while professing themselves to
be wise, and fell into idolatry, and that of the grossest kind.
Now God has judged this. If they would not retain a just
thought of the glory of God, they should not even retain a
just idea of the natural honor of man. ey should dishonor
themselves as they had dishonored God. It is the exact
description, in a few strong and energetic words, of the
whole pagan mythology. ey had not discernment, moral
taste, to retain God in their knowledge: God gave them
up to a spirit void of discernment, to boast themselves in
depraved tastes, in things unbecoming nature itself. e
natural conscience knew that God judged such things to
be worthy of death according to the just exigencies of His
nature. Nevertheless they not only did them, but they took
pleasure in those who did them, when their own lusts did
not carry them away. And this left no excuse for those who
judged the evil (and there were such), for they committed it
while judging it. Man then by judging condemned himself
doubly: for by judging he showed that he knew it to be evil,
and yet he did it. But the judgment of God is according
to truth against those who commit such things: they who
acquired credit by judging them should not escape it.
God’s sure judgment of evil and His mercy to the
evildoer
Two things are presented here with respect to God; His
judgment against evil-the evildoer shall not escape (the
real dierence of right and wrong would be maintained
by judgment); and His mercy, patience, and long-suering
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with regard to the evil-doer-His goodness inviting him to
repentance. He who continued in evil deceived himself by
trying to forget the sure judgment of God and by despising
His goodness. e consequences, both of a life opposed to
God and to His truth on the one hand, and of the search
after that which is pleasing to Him, and thereby for eternal
life on the other, were sure-tribulation and anguish in the
one case, in the other glory and honor; and that without
more respect to the Jews than to the Gentiles.
e character of God’s omniscient judgment of the
individual
God judged things according to their true moral
character, and<P110> according to the advantages which
the guilty one had enjoyed.1ose who had sinned without
law should perish without law, and those who had sinned
under the law should be judged according to the law, in
the day when God should judge the secrets of the heart
according to the gospel which Paul preached. is character
of the judgment is very important. It is not the government
of the world by an earthly and outward judgment, as the
Jew understood it, but that of the individual according to
God’s knowledge of the heart.
(1. How strikingly this also brings out what so breaks
everywhere through the doctrine of this epistle-that
everything is according to its reality before God, God being
revealed through Christ and the cross. All must take its
true character and result according to what He was. Note
moreover that the terms suppose gospel knowledge- “seek
for glory, honor, and incorruptibility.” ese are known by
Christianity.)
Reality before God required
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165
Also God would have realities. e Gentile who
fullled the law was better than a Jew who broke it. If
he called himself a Jew and acted ill (ch. 2:17), he only
dishonored God, and caused His name to be blasphemed
among the Gentiles while boasting in his privileges. He
then enlarges on the point that God requires moral reality,
and that a Gentile who did that which the law demanded
was better worth than a Jew who disobeyed it, and that
the real Jew was he who had the law in his heart, being
circumcised also in the spirit, and not he who had only
outward circumcision. is was a condition which God
could praise, and not man only.
e position of the Jews; their possession of the law;
its judgment of them and all men as sinners
Chapter 3. Having established the great truth that God
required real moral goodness, he considers the position of
the Jews. Could they not plead special divine favor? Was
there no advantage in Judaism? Surely there was, especially
in that they possessed the oracles of God. e ways of God
were full of blessing in themselves, although that did not
change the immutable truths of His nature. And if many
among them had been unbelieving, this did not alter the
faithfulness of God; and the fact that the unbelief of many
did but the more demonstrate the faithfulness of God, who
remained the same whatever they might be, took nothing
from<P111> the claims of righteousness. Unbelievers
should be punished according to what they were; it would
but magnify the unfailing faithfulness of God, which never
failed, however unavailing it might be for the mass of the
nation. Otherwise He could judge no one, not even the
world (which the Jew was willing to see judged); for the
condition of the world also enhanced and put in evidence
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the faithfulness of God towards His people. If then the
Jew had advantages, was he therefore better? In no wise:
all were shut up under sin, whether Jew or Gentile, as God
had already declared.1
(1. Note here a very important principle, that there are
positive advantages of position, where there is no intrinsic
change. Compare chapter 11:17 and 1Corinthians 10.)
e Apostle now cites the Old Testament to prove this
with regard to the Jews, who did not deny it with regard
to the Gentiles which he had already also shown. e law,
says he, belongs to you. You boast that it refers to you
exclusively. Be it so: hear then what it says of the people, of
yourselves. It speaks to you, as you acknowledge. ere is
not then one righteous man among you on whom God can
look down from heaven. He quotes Psalm 14:2-3; Isaiah
59:7-8, to set forth the judgment pronounced on them by
those oracles of which they boasted. us every mouth was
shut, and all the world guilty before God. erefore it is
that no esh can be justied before God by the law; for
if the world in the midst of darkness wallowed in sin, by
means of the law sin was known.
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167
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Romans 3:21-31
A righteousness of God manifested
But now, without law, apart from all law, a righteousness
that is of God has been manifested, the law and the
prophets bearing witness to it.
e whole question between man and God with
regard to sin and righteousness settled
Hence then we nd not only the condition of the
Gentiles and of the Jews set forth, together with the great
immutable principles of good and evil, whatever might be
the dealings of God, but the eect of the law itself, and
that which was introduced by Christianity as regarded
righteousness, altogether outside the law, al<P112>though
the law and the prophets bore witness to it. In a word, the
eternal truth as to sin and as to the responsibility of man, the
eect of the law, the connection of the Old Testament with
Christianity, the true character of the latter in that which
relates to righteousness (namely, that it is a thing entirely
new and independent), the righteousness of God Himself-
the whole question between man and God, with regard
to sin and righteousness, is settled, as to its foundation, in
these few words. e manner of its accomplishment is now
to be treated of.1
(1. Chapter 3:21 reverts in fact to chapter 1:17; what
comes between is the demonstration of the ground of
chapter 1:18, which made the righteousness of verse 17
imperatively necessary.)
How the question is settled: justied by faith
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
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the range of God’s righteousness “unto all”
It is the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ.
Man has not accomplished it, man has not procured it.
It is of God, it is His righteousness; by believing in Jesus
Christ participation in it is obtained. Had it been a human
righteousness, it would have been by the law which is the
rule of that righteousness-a law given to the Jews only. But
being the righteousness of God Himself, it had reference
to all; its range embraced not the one more than the other.
It was the righteousness of God “unto all.” A Jew was
not more in relation with the righteousness of God than
a Gentile. It was in fact universal in its aspect and in its
applicability. A righteousness of God for man, because no
man had any for God, it was applied to all those who believe
in Jesus. Wherever there was faith, there it was applied.
e believer possessed it. It was towards all, and upon all
those who believed in Jesus. For there was no dierence:
all had sinned, and outside the glory of God,1 deprived
of that glory, were justied freely by His grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whether a Jew or a
Gentile, it<P113> was a sinful man: the righteousness was
the righteousness of God; the goodness of God was that
which bestowed it, redemption in Christ Jesus the divine
means of having part in it.2
(1. Remark here how, God being revealed, sin is
measured by the glory of God. We are so used to read this
that we overlook its force. How strange to say, “And come
short of the glory of God”! Man might say, Why, of course
we have; but, morally speaking, this has been revealed, and
if one cannot stand before it, according to it, we cannot
subsist before God at all. Of course it is not of His essential
glory-all creatures are short of that, of course-but of that
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169
which was tting for, according to, could stand in, His
presence. If we cannot stand there, tly “walk in the light
as God is in the light,” we cannot be with God at all. ere
is no veil now.)
(2. To show how complete is this instruction of Paul’s,
I give here a summary of its elements. In itself it is the
righteousness of God, without law, the law and the prophets
bearing witness to it; as to its application, the righteousness
of God by faith in Christ Jesus unto all, and upon all them
that believe. Christ is proposed as the propitiatory by
faith in His blood, to show forth this righteousness by the
remission of past sins (of the Abrahams, etc.) according to
the forbearance of God; but to show it forth in the present
time, in order that He may be just, and justify those who
believe in Jesus.)
Christ the propitiatory: redemption by His blood
Before the accomplishment of this redemption, God, in
view of it, had in patience borne with the faithful, and His
righteousness in forgiving them was now clearly manifested.
But, further, the righteousness itself was manifested: we
come to Christ as a propitiatory that God has set forth
before men, and we nd on it the blood which gives us
free access to God in righteousness-God whose glory is
satised in the work that Christ Jesus has accomplished,
His blood upon the mercy-seat bearing witness thereof.
It is no longer “forbearance”-righteousness is manifested,
so that God is seen to be righteous and just in justifying
him who is of faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? For
the Jews boasted much in reference to the Gentiles-self-
righteousness always boasts: it is not a law of works that
can shut it out. Man justifying himself by his works would
have something to boast in. It is this law of faith, this divine
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principle on which we are placed, which shuts it out: for it
is by the work of another, without works of law, that we
through grace have part in divine righteousness, having
none of our own.
Men justied by faith, whether Jew or Gentile
And is God a limited God1-the God of the Jews only?
No, He is also the God of the Gentiles. And how? In
grace: in that it is one God who justies the Jews (who
seek after righteousness) on the principle of faith, and-
since justication is on the principle of faith-the believing
Gentiles also by faith. Men are justied by faith; the
believing Gentile then is justied. With regard to the
Jew, it is the principle which is established (for they were
seeking<P114> the righteousness). With regard to the
Gentile, since faith existed in the case supposed, he was
justied, for justication was on that principle.
(1. See here again how God is brought out in Himself.
Compare Matthew 15:19-28.)
e law’s demands; faith’s full establishment of its
authority
Is it then that faith overturned the authority of law?
By no means. It established completely the authority of
law; but it made man participate in divine righteousness,
while acknowledging his just and total condemnation
by the law when under it-a condemnation which made
another righteousness necessary, since according to the law
man had none-had none of his own. e law demanded
righteousness, but it showed sin was there. If righteousness
which it demanded had not been necessary, when it failed to
produce it in man, there was no need of another. Now faith
armed this need and the validity of man’s condemnation
under law, by making the believer participate in this other
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171
righteousness, which is that of God. at which the law
demanded it did not give; and even, because it demanded
it, man failed to produce it. To have given it would have
eaced the obligation. God acts in grace, when the
obligation of the law is fully maintained in condemnation.
He gives righteousness, because it must be had. He does
not eace the obligation of the law, according to which
man is totally condemned;1 but, while recognizing and
arming the justice of that condemnation, He glories
Himself in grace by granting a divine righteousness to
man, when he had no human righteousness to present
before God in connection with the obligations imposed
on him by the law. Nothing ever put divine sanction on
the law like the death of Christ, who bore its curse, but
did not leave us under it. Faith does not then annul law;
it fully establishes its authority. It shows man righteously
condemned under it, and maintains the authority of the
law in that condemnation, for it holds all who are under it
to be under the curse.2<P115>
(1. e law is the perfect rule of right and wrong for
every child of Adam in itself, though only given to the Jews.
But it was not arbitrary. It took up all the relationships in
which men stood, gave a perfect rule as to them, and the
sanction of God’s authority to them, with a penal sanction.
But now we have something much higher, not what man
ought to be, but God Himself gloried.)
(2.Hence those who put Christians under law do not
maintain its authority; for they hold them exempt from its
curse, though they break it.)
e blood of Christ making forgiveness of sins a
righteous thing
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e reader will remark that what is distinctly set forth
to the end of this third chapter is the blood of Christ as
applying itself to the sins of the old man, hence making
forgiving a righteous thing, and the believer clear from
sins, because cleared by Christ’s blood. is met all the
guilt of the old man.
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Romans 4
Abraham justied by faith, not by works
We now enter on another aspect of that which justies,
but still proves sins; not yet, however, putting us in a
new place-that of resurrection, in connection with, and
consequent on, this.
In dealing with the Jew, and even in dealing with the
question of righteousness, there was, besides the law,
another consideration of great weight both with the Jews
themselves and in the dealings of God. What of Abraham,
called of God to be the parent-stock, the father of the
faithful? e Apostle, therefore, after having set forth
the relation in which faith stood towards the law by the
introduction of the righteousness of God, takes up the
question of the ground on which Abraham was placed as
well-pleasing to God in righteousness. For the Jew might
have admitted his personal failure under the law, and
pleaded the enjoyment of privilege under Abraham. If we
consider him then thus according to the esh (that is, in
connection with the privileges that descended from him as
inheritance for his children) and take our place under him
in the line of succession to enjoy those privileges, on what
principle does this set us? On the same principle of faith.
He would have had something to boast of if he was justied
by works; but before God it was not so. For the Scriptures
say, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward
not counted of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him who justieth the ungodly, his
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faith is counted for righteousness.” For thereby, in fact, he
glories God in the way that God desires to be gloried,
and according to the revelation He has made of Himself in
Christ.<P116>
David’s testimony that unrighteous sinners are
pardoned
us the testimony borne by Abraham’s case is to
justication by faith. David also supports this testimony
and speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom
righteousness is imputed without works. He whose
iniquities are pardoned, whose sins are covered, to whom
the Lord does not impute sin-he is the man whom David
calls blessed. But this supposed man to be a sinner and not
righteous in himself. It was a question of what God was
in grace to such a one, and not of what he was to God, or
rather when he was a sinner. His blessedness was that God
did not impute to him the sins he had committed, not that
he was righteous in himself before God. Righteousness for
man was found in the grace of God. Here it is identied
with non-imputation of sins to man, guilty through
committing them. No sin is imputed.
Abraham counted righteous and received promises
through faith
Was then this righteousness for the circumcision only?
Now our thesis is, that God counted Abraham to be righteous
by faith. But was he circumcised when this took place? Not
so; he was uncircumcised. Righteousness then is by faith,
and for the uncircumcised through faith-a testimony that
was overwhelming to a Jew, because Abraham was the beau
idéal to which all his ideas of excellence and of privilege
referred. Circumcision was only a seal to the righteousness
by faith which Abraham possessed in uncircumcision, that
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175
he might be the father of all believers who were in the
same state of uncircumcision, that righteousness might be
imputed to them also; and the father of circumcision- that
is, the rst model of a people truly set apart for God-not
only with regard to the circumcised, but to all those who
should walk in the steps of his faith when uncircumcised.
For, after all, the promise that he should be heir of the world
was not made to Abraham nor to his seed in connection
with the law, but with righteousness by faith. For if they
who are on the principle of law are heirs, the faith by which
Abraham received it is vain, and the promise made of
none eect;1 for, on the contrary, the law <P117>produces
wrath-and that is a very dierent thing from bringing into
the enjoyment of a promise-for where there is no law there
is no transgression. Observe, he does not say there is no
sin; but where there is no commandment, there is none
to violate. Now, the law being given to a sinner, wrath is
necessarily the consequence of its imposition.
(1. e careful reader of St. Paul’s epistles must attend
to the use of this word “for.” In very many cases it does not
express an inference, but turns to some collateral subject
which, in the Apostle’s mind, would lead to the same
conclusion, or some deeper general principle, which lay at
the groundwork of the argument, enlarging the sphere of
vision in things connected with it. )
is is the negative side of the subject. e Apostle
shows that with regard to the Jews themselves, the
inheritance could not be on the principle of law without
setting Abraham aside, for to him the inheritance had been
given by promise, and this implied that it was by faith: for
we believe in a promise, we do not ourselves fulll a promise
that has been made to us. Accordingly the righteousness of
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Abraham was - according to Scripture - through this same
faith. It was imputed to him for righteousness.
e principle of righteousness by faith admitting
Gentiles as well as Jews
is principle admitted the Gentiles; but here it is
established with regard to the Jews themselves or rather
with regard to the ways of God, in such a manner as to
exclude the law as a means of obtaining the inheritance of
God. e consequence with regard to Gentiles believing
the gospel is stated in verse 16, “erefore it is of faith, that
it might be by grace, to the end that the promise might be
sure to all the seed” of Abraham to whom the promise was
made; not to that only which was under the law, but to all
that had the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
before God, as it is written, “I have made thee a father of
many nations.”
e great principle established: righteousness by
faith, justication by faith
us we have the great principle established. It is by
faith, before and without law;1 and the promise is made
to a man in uncircumcision, and he is justied by believing
it.<P118>
(1. ΧωρΙς νομου (choris nomou), “apart from law,” which
had nothing to do with it.)
Faith in God who raised up Jesus from among the
dead embraces the whole extent of His work for our sakes
Another element is now introduced. Humanly speaking,
the fulllment of the promise was impossible, for in that
respect both Abraham and Sarah were as dead, and the
promise must be believed in against all hope, resting on
the almighty power of Him who raises the dead, and calls
things that are not as though they were. is was Abraham’s
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faith. He believed the promise that he should be the father
of many nations, because God had spoken, counting on
the power of God, thus glorifying Him, without calling
in question anything that He had said by looking at
circumstances; therefore this also was counted to him for
righteousness. He gloried God according to what God
was. Now, this was not written for his sake alone: the same
faith shall be imputed to us also for righteousness-faith
in God as having raised up Jesus from the dead. It is not
here faith in Jesus, but in Him who came in power into the
domain of death, where Jesus lay because of our sins, and
brought Him forth by His power, the mighty activity of
the love of God who brought Him-who had already borne
all the punishment of our sins-out from under all their
consequences; so that, by believing God who has done this,
we embrace the whole extent of His work, the grace and the
power displayed in it; and we thus know God. Our God is
the God who has done this. He has Himself raised up Jesus
from among the dead, who was delivered for our oenses
and raised again for our justication. Our sins were already
upon Him. e active intervention of God delivered Him
who lay in death because He had borne them. It is not only
a resurrection of the dead, but from among the dead-the
intervention of God to bring forth in righteousness the
One who had gloried Him. By believing in such a God
we understand that it is Himself who, in raising Christ
from among the dead, has delivered us Himself from all
that our sins had subjected us to; because He has brought
back in delivering power Him who underwent it for our
sakes.<P119>
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Romans 5:1-11
Peace with God; the dierence between Abraham’s
faith and ours; what God has done
us, being justied by faith, we have peace with God.
Remark here also the dierence of Abraham’s faith and
ours. He believed God could perform what He promised.
We are called to believe He has performed. Faith in God’s
Word, believing God, and this faith laying hold on His
power in resurrection, is faith that this has lifted us out1
of the whole eect of our sins. It reposes in God’s power
as having wrought this deliverance for us, and justied us
therein. Christ has been delivered for our oenses and
raised again for our justication.2
(1. Not that the body of course is yet renewed.)
(2. I reject entirely the interpretation “because we have
been justied.” It is not the force of the Greek, and by
excluding faith from our being justied contradicts the
beginning of chapter 5.)
e eect of these glorious truths received by faith;
the enjoyment of God’s present favor
e Apostle had established the great principles. He
comes now to the source and application of all (that is to
say, their application to the condition of the soul in its own
feelings). He sets before us the eect of these truths when
received by faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. e
work is done; the believer has part in it, and is justied.
Having been justied, we have peace with God, we stand
in divine favor, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We
believe in a God who has intervened in power to raise Him
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from the dead who had borne our oenses, and who, being
raised, is the eternal witness that our sins are put away, and
that the only true God is He who has done it in love. I have
then peace with Him; all my sins are blotted out-annulled-
by the work of Christ; my unburdened heart knows the
Saviour God. I stand as a present thing in that grace or
favor, God’s blessed present favor resting on me, which is
better than life. rough Christ, entered into His presence,
I am even now in the enjoyment of His favor, in present
grace. All the fruits of the old man are cancelled before
God by the death of Christ. ere cannot be a question as
to my sins between me and God. He has<P120> nothing
to impute to me-that has been all settled in Christ’s death
and resurrection. As to the present time, I am brought
into His presence in the enjoyment of His favor. Grace
characterizes my present relationship with God. Further,
all my sins having been put away according to the
requirements of God’s glory, and Christ being risen from
the dead, having met all that glory, I rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God. It is a full well-grounded hope of being
in it, not a coming short of it. All is connected with God
Himself, with, and according to, His perfections, the favor
of God, and His glory for our hope. All is connected with
His power in resurrection-peace with God already settled,
the present favor of God, and the hope of glory.
Justication as distinct from peace; the ecacy of
God’s grace
Remark here that justication is distinct from peace.
“Having been justied, we have peace.” Justication is my
true state before God, by virtue of the work of Christ, of
His death, and of resurrection. Faith, thus knowing God,
is at peace with God; but this is a result, like the present
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enjoyment of the grace wherein we stand. Faith believes in
the God who has done this, and who-exercising His power
in love and in righteousness-has raised from the dead the
One who bore my sins, having entirely abolished them, and
having perfectly gloried God in so doing. On this ground,
too, “by Him” we have found access into the full favor of
God in which we stand. And what is the result? It is glory;
we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. It is God who
is the root and the accomplisher of all. It is the gospel of
God, the power of God in salvation, the righteousness of
God, and it is into the glory of God that we are introduced
in hope. Such is the ecacy of this grace with regard to us;
it is peace, grace or favor, glory. One would say, is is all
we can have: the past, present, and future are provided for.
Joy and glory in tribulation; practical experience
working hope because we have the key to all in God’s love
Nevertheless there is more. First, practical experience.
We pass in fact through tribulations; but we rejoice in this,
because it exercises the heart, detaches us from the world,
subdues the will, the natural working of the heart, puries
it from those things<P121> which dim our hope by lling
it with present things, in order that we may refer more to
God in all things, which, after all, are entirely directed by
Him whose faithful grace ministered all this to us. We
learn better that the scene in which we move passes away
and changes, and is but a place of exercise, and not the
proper sphere of life. us hope, founded on the work of
Christ, becomes more clear, more disentangled from the
mixture of that which is of man here below; we discern
more clearly that which is unseen and eternal, and the links
of the soul are more complete and entire with that which
is on before us. Experience, which might have discouraged
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nature, works hope, because, come what may, we have the
key to all, because the love of God who has given us this
hope, made clearer by these exercises, is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us, who is the
God of love dwelling in us.
What God has done outside us; His love peculiar to
Himself; the proof and time of display of it
Nevertheless, while giving this inward foundation of
joy, the Spirit is careful to refer it to God, and to what
He has done outside us, as regards the proof we have of
it, in order that the soul may be built upon that which is
in Him, and not on that which is in ourselves. is love is
indeed in us; it sweetly explains all; but the love which is
there through the presence of the Holy Spirit is the love of
God, proved, namely, in that when we were destitute of all
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. e due
time was when man had been demonstrated to be ungodly,
and without strength to come out of this condition,
although God, under the law, showed him the way. Man
can devote himself when he has an adequate motive; God
has displayed the love that was peculiar1 to Himself, in that,
when there was no motive for Him in us, when we were
nothing but sinners, Christ died for us! e source was in
Himself, or rather was Himself. What a joy to know that it
is in Him and of Him that we have all these things!
(1. e word is emphatic in the original, εαυτου
(heautou).)
e love of God with regard to our past, present and
future
God, then, having reconciled us to Himself according
to the prompting of His own heart, when we were enemies,
will much<P122> more, now that we are justied, go on to
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the end; and we shall be saved from wrath through Christ.
Accordingly he adds, speaking of the means, “If we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son,” by that which
was, so to speak, His weakness, “much more shall we be
saved by his life,” the mighty energy in which He lives
eternally. us the love of God makes peace with regard
to that which we were, and gives us security with regard to
our future, making us happy withal in the present. And it is
that which God is that secures to us all these blessings. He
is love-full of consideration for us, full of wisdom.
e second “not only”: joy and glory in God
But there is a second “not only,” after our state-peace,
grace, and glory-what seemed complete and is complete
salvation, had been established. “Not only” do we joy in
tribulation, but we joy in God. We glory in Himself. is
is the second part of the Christian’s blessed experience of
the joy which results from our knowledge of God’s love in
Christ, and our reconciliation by Him. e rst was that
he gloried in tribulation because of its eect, divine love
being known. e second is the love of God Himself in
man. is known, we glory, not only in our salvation, and
even in tribulation, but, knowing such a Saviour God (a
God who has raised up Jesus from the dead, and has saved
us in His love), we glory in Him. Higher joy than this we
cannot have.
Romans 5:12-21
183
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Romans 5:12-21
Christ’s glorious work; the question of sin settled; the
present state of man
is closes this section of the epistle, in which, through
the propitiation made by Christ, the putting away of our
sins, and the love of God Himself, has been fully made
good and revealed: peace, grace possessed, and glory in
hope; and that by the pure love of God Himself known
in Christ’s dying for sinners. It is purely of God and thus
divinely perfect. It was no matter of experience, whatever
joy owed from it, but God’s own acting from Himself,
and so revealing Himself in what He is. Up to this, sins and
personal guilt are treated of; now, sin and the state of the
race. e pure favor of God towards us, beginning with us
as <P123>sinners, is wonderfully brought out, going on to
our rejoicing in Himself who has been, and is, such to us.
Having given the foundation and the source of salvation,
and the condence and enjoyment that ow from it,
having based all on God, who had to do with those who
were nothing but sinners devoid of all strength, and that by
the death of Christ, the question of our sins was settled-
that for which each man would have had to be judged
according to what each had respectively done. Lawless, or
under law, all were guilty; a propitiatory, or mercy-seat, was
set forth in the precious blood of Christ, peace made for
the guilty, and God revealed in love. But this has carried us
up higher. We have to do with God, and man as he is as a
present thing. It is a question of sinful man; the Jew had no
privilege here, he had nothing to boast of. He could not say,
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sin came in by us and by the law. It is man, sin, and grace
that are in question. e Apostle takes up this fundamental
and essential question-not sins and guilt to be judged of
hereafter if not repented of, but the present state of man.
e condition of the race, not merely the acts of the
individual
Man had nothing to boast of either. e God of grace
is before our eyes, acting with regard to sin, when there
was nothing else, save that law had aggravated the case
by transgressions. Now sin came in by one man, and by
sin death. is brings us to the condition of the race, not
merely the acts of the individuals. at condition was
exclusion from God, and an evil nature. All were alike in
it, though surely each had added his own personal sins and
guilt. Sin had come in by one, and death by sin. And thus
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For
sin was in the world before the law. Nor did the law add
much to the advantage of man’s condition; it denitively
imputed1 his sin to him by giving him knowledge of it
and forbidding it. Nevertheless, although there had been
no imputation according to the government of God in
virtue of an imposed and known rule, yet death reigned-a
constant proof of sin (moreover, the history of Genesis
made all this<P124> incontestable, even to the Jew)-over
those who had not broken a covenant founded on a known
commandment, as Adam2 had done; and the Jews also, after
the law was given. Men, between Adam and Moses, when
there was no question of a law, as there was both before and
after that interval, died just the same-sin reigned.
(1. e word “imputed” in this passage (ch. 5:13) is not
the same as righteousness imputed, or faith imputed for
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185
righteousness. It means an act (or sum) put to the account
of another, not esteeming the person to be such or such.)
(1. is is a quotation from Hosea 6:7 according to its
true sense, which accuses Israel of having done the same
thing as Adam. “But they, like Adam, have transgressed
the covenant.”)
e two heads: Adam’s one sin and the abundance of
grace by Jesus Christ
We must observe here that from the end of verse 12 to
that of verse 17 is a parenthesis: only the idea is developed,
as in similar cases. In the parenthesis the Apostle, after
having presented Adam as the gure of Him who was to
come-of Christ, argues that the character of the gift cannot
be inferior to that of the evil. If the sin of the one rst man
was not conned in its eects to him who committed it,
but extended to all those who as a race were connected
with him, with much greater reason shall the grace which
is by one, Christ Jesus, not end in Him, but embrace the
many under Him also. And with regard to the thing, as
well as to the person-and here the law is in view-one single
oense brought in death, but grace remits a multitude of
oenses. us it could suce for that which the law had
made necessary. And, as to the eect, death has reigned;
but by grace, not only shall life reign, but we shall reign in
life by One according to the abundance of grace-by Jesus
Christ.
e act of the individual aecting many others
In verse 18 the general argument is resumed in a very
abstract way. “By one oense,” he says, “towards all for
condemnation, even so by one accomplished righteousness
(or act of righteousness) towards all men, for justication of
life.” One oense bore- in its bearing, so to speak, referred
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to all, and so it was with the one act of righteousness. is
is the scope of the action in itself. Now for the application:
for as by the disobedience of one man (only) many are
constituted sinners, so by the obedience of one (only) many
are constituted righteous. It is still the thought that the act
of the individual is not conned, as to its eects, within
the<P125> limits of his own person. It aects many others,
bringing them under the consequences of that act. It is
said “all,” when the scope of the action1 is spoken of; “the
many,” when it is the denitive eect with regard to men;
that is, the “many” who were in connection with him who
accomplished the act.
(1. e same distinction, with the same dierence in the
preposition, is found in connection with the righteousness
of God, when the Apostle speaks of the ecacy of the
blood: only he points out who the many are, because the
object of faith is presented rather than the ecacy of the
work, although this is supposed, chapter 3:22, δΙκαΙοςυνη
δε Θεου δΙα ΠΙςτεως Ιηςου ΧρΙςτου εΙς Παντας, καΙ εΠΙ
Παντας τους ΠΙςτευοντας (dikaiosune de eou dia pisteos
Jesou Christou eis pantas, kai epi pantas tous pisteuontas), the
righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and
upon all believers. So here it was by one oense εΙς Παντας
(eis pantas), and then the many connected with Christ are
constituted righteousness by His obedience. )
Adam’s disobedience; sins distinguished from sin;
sin’s reign and that of grace through righteousness by
Jesus Christ
is then was outside the law, though the law might
aggravate the evil. It was a question of the eect of the
acts of Adam and of Christ, and not of the conduct of
individuals, to which evidently the law related. It is by one
Romans 5:12-21
187
man’s disobedience the many (all men) were made sinners,
not by their own sins. Of sins each has his own: here it is a
state of sin common to all. Of what use then was the law? It
came in, as it were, exceptionally, and accessory to the chief
fact, “that the oense1 might abound.” But not only where
the oense, but where sin abounded-for under the law and
without the law it has abounded-grace has superabounded;
in order that, as sin has reigned in death, grace should reign
through righteousness in eternal life by Jesus Christ our
Lord. If where sin reigns righteousness had reigned, it
would have been to condemn the whole world. It is grace
that reigns-the sovereign love of God. Righteousness is on
a level with the evil, when it deals with evil, by the fact that
it is righteousness; but God is above it, and acts, and can
act-has a right to act-according to His own nature; and He
is love. Is it that He sanctions unrighteousness and sin?
No, in His love He brings about the accomplishment of
divine righteousness by Jesus Christ. He has accomplished
in Him that divine righteousness in raising Him to His
right hand. But this is in virtue of a work wrought for us,
in which He has gloried God.<P126> us He is our
righteousness, we the righteousness of God in Him. It is
the righteousness of faith, for we have it by believing in
Him. It is love which-taking the character of grace when
sin is in question-reigns, and gives eternal life above and
beyond death-life that comes from above and ascends
thither again; and that in divine righteousness, and in
connection with that righteousness, magnifying it and
manifesting it through the work of Jesus Christ, in whom
we have this life, when He had wrought what brought
out divine righteousness, in order that we might possess
eternal life and glory according to it. If grace reigns, it is
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God who reigns. at righteousness should be maintained
is that which His nature required. But it is more than
maintained according to the measure of the claim God had
on man as such. Christ was perfect surely as man; but He
has gloried what God is Himself, and, He being raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, God has gloried
His righteousness by setting Him at His right hand, as
He did His love in giving Him. It is now righteousness
in salvation given by grace to those who possessed none-
given in Jesus, who by His work laid the full ground for
it in glorifying God with regard even to sin, in the place
where in this respect all that God is has been displayed.
(1. Not sin. Sin was already there; the law made each of
its motions a positive oense.)
God gloried; grace accounting the sinner righteous
and introducing him into Christ’s glory
e fulllment of the law would have been man’s
righteousness: man might have gloried in it. Christ has
gloried God-a most weighty point in connection with
righteousness, connecting it withal with glory. And grace
imparts this to the sinner by imputation, accounting him
righteous according to it, introducing him into the glory
which Christ merited by His work-the glory in which He
was as Son before the world began.
Romans 6
189
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Romans 6
Dead to sin, and buried with Christ by baptism
But alas! in this glorious redemption accomplished by
grace, which substitutes the righteousness of God and the
person of the second Adam for the sin and the person
of the rst, the perversity of the esh can nd occasion
for the sin which it loves, or at least<P127> to charge the
doctrine with it. If it is by the obedience of One that I am
constituted righteous, and because grace super-abounds,
let us sin that it may abound: that does not touch this
righteousness, and only glories this superabundance
of grace. Is this the Apostle’s doctrine? or a legitimate
consequence of his doctrine? In no wise. e doctrine is,
that we are brought into God’s presence through death,
in virtue of the work which Christ therein accomplished,
and by having a part in that death. Can we live in the sin
to which we are dead? It is to contradict oneself in one’s
own words. But, being baptized unto Christ (in His name,
to have part with Him, according to the truth contained
in the revelation we have of Him), I am baptized to have
part in His death for through this it is that I have this
righteousness in which He appears before God, and I in
Him. But it is to sin that He has died. He has done with
it forever. When He died, He who knew no sin came out
of that condition of life in esh and blood, to which in
us sin attached, in which we were sinners; and in which
He the sinless One, in the likeness of sinful esh and a
sacrice for sin, was made sin for us.1 We have then been
buried with Him by baptism for death (verse 4), having
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part in it, entering into it by baptism which represents it,
in order that, as Christ was raised up from among the dead
by the glory of the Father, we also should walk in newness
of life. In a word I am brought into the participation of this
divine and perfect righteousness by having part in death
unto sin; it is impossible therefore that it should be to live
in it. Here it is not duty that is spoken of, but the nature of
the thing. I cannot die to a thing in order to live in it. e
doctrine itself refutes as absolute nonsense the argument
of the esh, which under the pretence of righteousness will
not recognize our need of grace.2<P128>
(1. is does not refer simply to bearing our sins: that
is the subject of the rst part of the epistle. e condition
in which we were, as a whole race, was that of fallen sinful
Adam. Christ the sinless One came and stood for us and
God’s glory substitutively; that is, as a sacrice in that
place, He was made sin, underwent the forsaking of God,
and, glorifying God, died in and to the place, to the whole
condition of being, in which we were, and in which, as made
sin, He stood for us before God. is work, though done as
and for man, I doubt not, goes farther than our salvation.
He appeared to put away sin by the sacrice of Himself.
He takes away, as God’s Lamb, the sin of the world. His
sacrice is the basis of the condition of that new heavens
and new earth wherein dwells righteousness.)
(2. Note, we are not here viewed as risen with Christ;
the believer being always viewed here, as I have said, as
being on the earth, though alive in Christ and justied, it
is used as a ground for practice and walk here.)
e resurrection of Christ: the character of the new
life through Christ
Romans 6
191
e character of this new life, into which the resurrection
of Christ has brought us, is presented here in a striking
way. Christ had perfectly gloried God in dying; also
even in dying was He the Son of the living God. It is not
all, therefore, that He could not be holden of it, true as
that is because of His Person; His resurrection was also a
necessity of the glory of God the Father. All that was in
God was compelled to do it by His glory itself (even as
Christ had gloried all), His justice, His love, His truth,
His power; His glory, in that He could not allow death
to have the victory over the One who was faithful; His
relationship as Father, who ought not, could not, leave
His Son in bondage to the fruit of sin and to the power
of the enemy. It was due to Christ on the part of God,
due to His own glory as God and Father, necessary also,
in order to show the reex of His own glory, to manifest
it according to His counsels, and that in man. Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. All that the
Father is came into it, engaged to give Jesus the triumph of
resurrection, of victory over death, and to give resurrection
the brightness of His own glory. Having entered, as the
fruit of the operation of His glory, into this new position,
this is the model-the character-of that life in which we live
before God.1
(1. Indeed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all engaged
in the resurrection of Christ. He raised the temple of His
body in three days, was quickened by the Spirit, and raised
by the glory of the Father.)
Without this manifestation in Christ, God, although
acting and giving testimonies of His power and of His
goodness, remained veiled and hidden. In Christ gloried,
the center of all the counsels of God, we see the glory of
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the Lord with unveiled face, and every mouth confesses
Him Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Our life ought to be the practical reection of this
glory of the Lord in heaven. e power that brings us into
association with Him in this place, and still works in us, is
shown at the end of the rst chapter of the Ephesians.2
But there it is to introduce our resurrection with Christ.
Here it is Christ’s own resurrection, the doctrine, or the
thing in itself, and its consequences and moral import
with regard to the individual living here below, in view of
his<P129> relationship with God as a responsible man. It
is an altogether new life. We are alive unto God through
Him.
(1. To which we may add in full eect the end of the
third. Details are found elsewhere.)
e consequence of death with Christ is resurrection
Identied thus with Him in the likeness of His death,
we shall also enter into that of His resurrection. We see
here that resurrection is a consequence which he deduces
as a fact, not a mystical participation in the thing; knowing
this rst (as the great foundation of everything), that our
old man-that in us which pleads for sin as the fruit of the
perfect grace of God-is crucied with Christ, in order
that the whole body of sin should be destroyed so that we
should no more serve sin. He takes the totality and the
system of sin in a man, as a body which is nullied by death;
its will is judged and no longer masters us. For he who is
dead is justied1 from sin. Sin can no longer be laid to
his charge as a thing that exists in a living and responsible
man. erefore, being thus dead with Christ-professedly
by baptism, really by having Him for our life who died-
we believe that we shall live with Him; we belong to that
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193
other world where He lives in resurrection. e energy of
the life in which He lives is our portion: we believe this,
knowing that Christ, being raised from among the dead,
dies no more. His victory over death is complete and nal;
death has no more dominion over Him. erefore it is
that we are sure of resurrection, namely, on account of this
complete victory over death, into which He entered for us
in grace. By faith we have entered into it with Him, having
our part in it according to His therein. It is the power of
the life of love that brought Him there. Dying, He died
unto sin. He went down even to death rather than fail in
maintaining the glory of God. Until death, and even in
death, He had to do with sin, though there were none in
Him, and with temptation; but there He has done with it
all forever. We die unto sin by participating in His death.
e consequence-by the glory of the Father-is resurrection.
Now, therefore, “in that he died, he died unto sin once for
all; in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.”<P130>
(1. e word is “justied.” And here we see distinctly
the important dierence between sin and sins: you cannot
charge a dead man with sin. He has no perverse will, no
evil lusts. He may have committed many sins while alive,
he may or may not be justied from them. But you cannot
accuse him of sin. And, as we have seen, from chapter 5:12,
we are treating of sin-of man’s state-not of sins.)
Alive unto God through Him who is risen
us He has nothing more to do with sin. He lives,
only perfectly, without reference in His life to anything
else, unto God. In that He lives, His life is in relationship
to God only.1 We also then ought to reckon-for it is by
faith-that we are dead to sin and alive to God, having no
other object of life than God, in Christ Jesus. I ought to
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consider myself dead, I have a right to do so, because Christ
has died for me; and being alive now forever unto God, I
ought to consider myself as come out, by the life which I
live through Him, from the sin to which I died. For this
is the Christ I know; not a Christ living on the earth in
connection with me according to the nature in which I live
here below. In that nature I am proved to be a sinner, and
incapable of true relationship with Him. He has died for
me as living of that life, and entered, through resurrection,
into a new state of life outside the former. It is there that
as a believer I know Him. I have part in death, and in life
through Him who is risen. I have righteousness by faith,
but righteousness as having part with Christ dead and
raised again, as being therefore by faith dead unto sin.
(1. is is a wonderful expression. As to faithfulness His
life was spent for God, He lived to God. But now His life
knows nothing but God.)
Reckoning oneself dead and its consequences
And this is the essential dierence of this part of the
epistle. It is not that Christ has shed His blood for our sins,
but that we have died with Him. ere is an end for faith to
our state and standing in esh. e Christ who is become
our life did die, and, as alive through Him, what He has
done is mine; and I have to say I died. I reckon myself
dead.2e Apostle deduces the evident consequence: “Let
not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body.” Do not yield
your members as instruments to the sin to which you are
dead by Christ; but as alive, as awakened up from among
the<P131> dead, yield your members as instruments of
righteousness to God unto whom you live. e body is now
the mere instrument of divine life; and we are free to use
it for God as such. For in fact sin shall not have dominion
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195
over us, because we are not under the law but under grace.
Here it is not the principle but the power that is spoken
of. In principle we are dead to sin, according to faith; in
practice it has no power over us. Observe that the source
of practical power to conquer sin is not in the law, but in
grace.
(2. Note here, the Epistle to the Romans does not go on
to say we are risen with Christ. at leads on necessarily to
union, and is Ephesian ground. Only we must remark that
death and resurrection never go on to the heavenly state;
they are the subjective experimental state. In Ephesians,
when dead in sins, we are taken, quickened, and put into
Christ, as Christ was raised and put into glory above the
heavens: simply God’s work. Here it is individual: we
are alive in Him. We shall have part in His resurrection,
walking in newness of life. It is personal and practical: man,
as we have seen, alive on earth.)
Practical righteousness; set free from sin and become
servants to God in the liberty of grace
Now it is true that, not being under the law, the rule
under which we are placed is not that of imputation but
of non-imputation. Is this a reason why we should sin?
No! there is a reality in these things. We are slaves to that
which we obey. Sin leads to death; obedience to practical
righteousness. We are upon the wider principle of a new
nature and grace; not the application of an external rule
to a nature which was not, and could not be subject to it.
And, in truth, having been in the former case, the disciples
in Rome had given proof of the justice of the Apostle’s
argument by walking in the truth. Set free from the slavery
of sin, they had become (to use human language) the slaves
of righteousness, and this did not end in itself; practical
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righteousness developed itself by the setting apart of the
whole being for God with ever-growing intelligence.
ey were obedient in such-and-such things; but the fruit
was sanctication, a spiritual capacity, in that they were
separated from evil, unto a deeper knowledge of God.1
Sin produced no fruit, it ended in death; but set free from
sin and become servants to God-the true righteousness of
obedience, like that of Christ Himself-they had their fruit
already in holiness, and the end should be eternal life. For
the wages of sin was death, the gift of God was eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now this life was living
unto God, and this is not sin; nevertheless it is grace. Here
the Apostle, whose subject is judicial righteousness before
God, approximates to John, and connects his doctrine
with that of the First Epistle of John, who there, on the
other hand, enters upon the doctrine of propitiation and
acceptance when speaking of the impartation of life. e
appeal is very<P132> beautiful to a man in true liberty-the
liberty of grace, being dead to sin. He is set wholly free
by death. To whom is he now going to yield himself ? For
now he is free; is he going to give himself up to sin? It is a
noble appeal.2
(1. Compare Exodus 33:13.)
(2. It is not, note, an appeal to sinners as sometimes
used, but to those already set free.)
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197
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Romans 7
e position of the believer with regard to the law
We have considered the eect of the death and
resurrection of Christ with reference to justication and
to practical life. In the early part of the epistle (to chapter
5:11) He has died for our sins. From chapter 5:12, He
having died, we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive
to God through Him. Our state as under the two heads,
Adam and Christ, has been discussed. Another point
remained to be treated of by the Apostle-the eect of this
last doctrine upon the question of the law. e Christian,
or, to say better, the believer, has part in Christ as a Christ
who has died, and lives to God, Christ being raised from
the dead through Him. What is the force of this truth with
regard to the law (for the law has only power over a man
so long as he lives)? Being then dead, it has no longer any
hold upon him. is is our position with regard to the law.
Does that weaken its authority? No. For we say that Christ
has died, and so have we therefore; but the law no longer
applies to one that is dead.
e law of marriage used as an example: the two
husbands
In bringing out the eect of this truth, the Apostle uses
the example of the law of marriage. e woman would
be an adulteress if she were to be to another while her
husband was alive; but when her husband is dead she is
free. e application of this rule changes the form of the
truth. It is certain that one cannot be under the authority
of two husbands at once. One excludes the other. e law,
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and Christ risen, cannot be associated in their authority
over the soul. But in our case the law does not lose its force
(that is, its rights over us) by its dying, but by our dying. It
reigns over us only while we live. It is with this destruction
of the bond by death the Apostle began. e husband died,
but in application<P133> it is annulled by our dying. We
are then dead to the law by the body of Christ (for we have
to do with a Christ risen after His death), that we should
be to Him who is raised from the dead, in order that we
should bear fruit for God; but we cannot belong to the two
at once.
ose dead in Christ are dead to the law: belonging to
the new husband, Christ risen
When we were in the esh-when, as man, anyone was
held to be walking in the responsibility of a man living in
the life of nature, as a child of Adam, the law to him was
the rule and perfect measure of that responsibility, and the
representative of the authority of God. e passions which
impelled to sin acted in that nature, and, meeting with this
barrier of the law, found in it that which, by resisting it,
excited the will, and suggested, even by the prohibition
itself, the evil which the esh loved and which the law
forbade; and thus these passions acted in the members
to produce fruit which brought in death. But now he was
outside its authority, he had disappeared from its pursuit,1
being dead in that law to the authority of which we had
been subjected. Now to have died under the law would
have been also condemnation; but it is Christ who went
through this and took the condemnation, while we have
the deliverance from the old man which is in death. Our
old man is crucied with Him, so that it is our deliverance
to die to the law.
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(1. It is thus, I doubt not, that this passage should be
read. My reader may perhaps nd “the law being dead.” e
expression, “dead to that wherein we were held,” alludes to
verse 4, where it is said, “Ye died to the law.” Christ under
the law died under its curse. To be in the esh is to live
under the responsibility of a man in his natural life-a child
of fallen Adam. In that life (unless it is lawless) the law is
the rule of human righteousness. We must not confound
the esh being in the Christian with a man being in the
esh. e principle of the old life is still there, but it is in
no way the principle of his relationship to God. When I
am in the esh, it is the principle of my relationship with
God; but, its will being sinful, it is impossible that I should
please God. I may seek for righteousness in it-it will be on
the ground of law. But the Christian is dead by Christ to
all that state of things-does not live of that life; his life is in
Christ, and he has received the Holy Spirit. e esh is no
longer the principle of his relationship with God; on that
ground he has owned himself lost. Elsewhere we learn that
he is in Christ on the ground upon which Christ is before
God. e Holy Spirit, as we shall see, places him there in
power by faith, Christ being his life.)
It did but condemn us, but its authority ends with the
life of him who was under that authority. And being dead
in Christ, the law can no longer reach those who had been
under it: we belong to the<P134> new husband, to Christ
risen, in order that we should serve in newness of spirit, the
goodwill of grace in our new life, and-as the Apostle will
afterwards explain, by the Holy Spirit1-not in the bondage
of the letter.
(1. He does not say here by the Spirit, because he has
not yet spoken of the gift of the Holy Spirit in virtue of
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the work of Christ. He only speaks of the manner, the
character, of the service rendered.)
Sin, the law, and conscience
is is the doctrine. Now for the conclusions that
may be deduced from it. Is the law, then, sin, that we are
withdrawn from its authority? By no means. But it gave
the knowledge of sin, and imputed it. For the Apostle says,
that he would not have understood that the mere impulse
of his nature was sin, if the law had not said, ou shalt not
covet. But the commandment gave sin occasion to attack
the soul. Sin, that evil principle of our nature,2 making use
of the commandment to provoke the soul to the sin that
is forbidden (but which it took occasion to suggest by the
interdiction itself, acting also on the will which resisted the
interdiction), produced all manner of concupiscence. For,
without the law, sin could not plunge the soul into this
conict, and give the sentence of death in it, by making it
responsible in conscience for the sin which, without this
law, it would not have known. Under the law lust acted,
with the conscience of sin in the heart; and the result was
death in the conscience, without any deliverance for the
heart from the power of concupiscence.
(1. It will be remembered that all through this part of
the epistle (that is, from chapter 5:12) we have to do with
sin, not with sins.)
Man’s will awakened by the barrier of the law
Without the law, sin did not thus agitate a will which
refused submission to that which checked it. For a barrier
to the will awakens and excites the will: and the conscience
of sin, in the presence of God’s prohibition, is a conscience
under sentence of death. us the commandment, which in
itself was unto life, became in fact unto death. “Do this and
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live” became death, by showing the exigencies of God to a
sinful nature whose will rejected them, and to a conscience
which could not but accept the just condemnation.<P135>
e eect of the good and holy law
A man walks in quiet indierence, doing his own will,
without knowledge of God, or consequently any sense of
sin or rebellion. e law comes, and he dies under its just
judgment, which forbids everything that he desires. Lust
was an evil thing, but it did not reveal the judgment of
God; on the contrary, it forgot it. But when the law was
come, sin (it is looked at here as an enemy that attacks
some person or place), knowing that the will would persist
and the conscience condemn, seized the opportunity of
the law, impelled the man in the direction contrary to the
law, and slew him, in the conscience of sin which the law
forbade on the part of God. Death to the man, on God’s
part in judgment, was the result. e law then was good
and holy, since it forbade the sin, but in condemning the
sinner.
Sin personied as someone who seeks to kill the soul
Was death then brought in by that which was good?1
No. But sin, in order that it might be seen in its true light,
employed that which was good to bring death upon the
soul; and thus, by the commandment, became exceedingly
sinful. In all this, sin is personied as someone who seeks
to kill the soul.
(1. Sin and death are correlative. e law is introduced
in order to make manifest through the oense what they
both are. e Apostle rst asks, “Is the law sin?” since
its result was death to man. God forbid! but it gave the
knowledge of sin and wrote death upon the soul through
judgment, man being a sinner. e second question is, “e
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law being thus good in itself, has it become death to me?”
No. It is sin which (in order that it might appear in all
its enormity) has slain me, using the law as a means, in
my conscience. It found in man’s condition the means of
perverting this good thing, and making it death to him.)
Such then was the eect of the law, that rst husband,
seeing sin existed in man. To bring this out more plainly,
the Apostle communicates his spiritual apprehension of
the experience of a soul under the law.
Power to do what is good lacking
We must remark here, that the subject treated of is not
the fact of the conict between the two natures, but the
eect of the law, supposing the will to be renewed, and
the law to have obtained the surage of the conscience
and to be the object of the heart’s aections-a heart which
recognizes the spirituality of the law.<P136> is is neither
the knowledge of grace, nor of the Saviour Christ, nor of
the Spirit.1 e chief point here is not condemnation
(although the law does indeed leave the soul under
judgment), but the entire want of strength to fulll it, that
it may not condemn us. e law is spiritual; but I, as man,
am carnal, the slave of sin, whatever the judgment of my
inward man may be: for I allow not that which I do. at
which I would I do not; and that which I hate I practice.
us loving and thus hating, I consent to the law that it is
good. It is not that I do the evil as to moral intent of the
will, for I would not the evil which I do; on the contrary I
hate it. It is the sin then that dwells in me, for in fact in me
(that is, in my esh-the whole natural man as he is) there
exists no good, for even where there is the will, I do not
nd the way to perform any good. Power is totally wanting.
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(1. ere is also conict, when the Holy Spirit dwells
in us. Galatians 5 speaks of this. “e esh lusteth against
the Spirit.” But then we are not under the law, as the
Apostle goes on to say, “If ye are led by the Spirit, ye are
not under the law.” Here the person spoken of is under
the law: everything is in connection with the law. e
law is spiritual; we consent to the law, we delight in the
law. Neither Christ nor the Spirit is mentioned until the
question of deliverance comes in.)
e two warring principles: the present working of
sin and the want of power to get rid of it
In verse 20 the Apostle, having this explanation, lays
stress upon the I and me. “If that which I myself would”
(we should read), and, “It is no longer myself that does it,
but the sin that dwelleth in me.” I nd then evil present
with the myself which would do good; for, as to the inward
man, I delight in the law of God. But there is in me
another constant principle which wars against the law of
my mind, which brings me into captivity to this law of
sin in my members. So that, whatever my desires may be,
the better even that they are, I am myself a miserable man.
Being man, and such a man, I cannot but be miserable. But,
having come to this, an immense step has been taken.
e evil here spoken of is the evil that is in our nature,
and the want of power to get rid of it. e forgiveness of sins
had been fully taught. What distresses here is the present
working of sin which we cannot get rid of. e sense of
this is often a more painful thing than past sins, which the
believer can understand as put away by the blood of Christ.
But here we have the conscience of sin still in<P137> us,
though we may hate it, and the question of deliverance is
mixed up with our experience, at least till we have learned
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what is taught us in this part of the epistle, to judge the
old man as sin in us, not ourselves, and reckon ourselves
dead. Christ, through whom we now live, having died, and
being a sacrice for sin, our condemnation is impossible,
while sin is condemned and we free through “the law of the
Spirit of life in him.” It is not forgiveness, but deliverance,
sin in the esh being condemned in the cross.
Deliverance in Christ: want of strength discovered,
grace is our only resource
Under divine grace the renewed man learned three
things. First, he has come to the discovery that in him, that
is, in his esh, there is no good thing; but, secondly, he has
learned to distinguish between himself, who wills good,
and sin which dwells in him; but, further, that when he
wills good, sin is too strong for him. Having thus acquired
knowledge of himself, he does not seek to be better in the
esh, but deliverance, and he has it in Christ. Power comes
after. He is come to the discovery and to the confession
that he has no power. He throws himself upon another.
He does not say, How can I? or, How shall I? but, Who
shall deliver me? Now it was when we were devoid of all
strength that Christ died for the ungodly. is want of
strength is discovered; and we nd grace at the end, when
with regard to what we are, and to all hope of amelioration
in ourselves, grace is our only resource.
e question answered: deliverance already
accomplished
But happily, when we cast ourselves upon grace, there is
nothing but grace before us. Deliverance is accomplished
by our not being alive in the esh at all: we have died away
from it, and from under the law, which held us in bondage
and condemnation, and we are married to another, Christ
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raised from the dead; and as soon as the distressed soul has
said, “Who shall deliver me?” the answer is ready, “I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
e answer is not, He will deliver. Deliverance is already
accomplished: he gives thanks.
e man was wretched in conict under law, without
knowledge of redemption. But he has died in the death
of Christ out of the nature which made him so; he has
quite done with himself. e<P138> deliverance of God
is complete. e two natures are still opposed to each
other, but the deliverance is not imperfect. is deliverance
wrought of God, and the progress of its manifestation, are
developed in the next chapter.
e esh under law: the soul taken up with self
We may here remark that the Apostle does not say, “We
know that the law is spiritual, and we are carnal.” Had he
done so, it would have been to speak of Christians, as such,
in their proper and normal condition. It is the personal
experience of what the esh is under law, when the man is
quickened, and not the state of a Christian as such before
God. Observe, also, that the law is looked at from the point
of view of Christian knowledge-“we know”-when we are
no longer under it, and when we are capable of judging
concerning its whole import, according to the spirituality
of him who judges: and who sees also, being spiritual, what
the esh is; because he is now not in the esh, but in the
Spirit.1
(1. is gives the key to this-alas! because souls are
not free-much spoken-of passage. It is not the present
experience of anyone, but a delivered person describing the
state of an undelivered one. An undelivered person could
not speak exactly thus, because he is uneasy as to the result
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for himself. A man in a morass does not quietly describe
how a man sinks into it, because he fears to sink and stay
there; when he is out, he describes how a man sinks there.
e end of Romans 7 is a man out of the morass showing
in peace the principle and manner in which one sinks in
it. All this part of the epistle is more complicated than
what precedes chapter 5:12, because our own experience
is in conict with what faith teaches us to say. If through
grace I am forgiven and justied, there is no contradiction
in my experience. It is what God has done for me outside
myself. My debt is paid. But if I am to say, I am dead to
sin, my experience contradicts it. Hence we have no rest in
this respect, till we give up self or esh as wholly bad and
irremediable, and learn that, consequent on redemption,
we are not in the esh at all. Compare chapters 7 and 8.)
Literally, this passage is not the condition of anyone at
all; but principles opposed to each other, the result of which
is laid open by supposing a man under the law: the will
always right, but good never done, evil always. Nevertheless
to the conscience this is the practical condition of every
renewed man under the law. We may remark one other
important principle. Man in this condition is entirely taken
up with himself; he desires good, he does not perform it, he
does that which he would not. Neither Christ nor the Holy
Spirit is named. In the normal condition of a Christian,
he is occupied with Christ. But what is expressed in this
seventh chapter is the natural and necessary result of the
law, when the <P139>conscience is awakened and the will
renewed. For to will is present with him. But he is under
law, sees its spirituality, consents to it, delights in it after
the inner man, and cannot perform what is good. Sin has
dominion over him. e sense of unanswered responsibility,
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and the absence of peace, cause the soul necessarily to turn
in upon itself. It is taken up entirely with self, which is
spoken of nearly forty times from verse 14. It is well to be
so, rather than to be insensible. It is not peace.
is peace is found elsewhere, and it is in this; when
reduced to the consciousness of one’s own inability to do
good towards God, one nds that God has done for us
the good which we need. We are not only forgiven but
delivered, and are in Christ, not in the esh at all.
Full deliverance found only when there is conviction
of powerlessness and of sin in the nature
e conict goes on, the opposition between the two
natures continues, but we give thanks to God through our
Lord Jesus Christ.1 Remark here that deliverance is only
found when there is the full conviction of our incapacity
and want of power, as well as of our sins. It is much
more dicult to arrive at this conviction of incapacity
than at that of having sinned. But the sin of our nature-
its irremediable perversity, its resistance to good, the law
of sin in our members-is only known in its legal gravity
by experience of the uselessness of our eorts to do well.
Under the law the uselessness of these eorts leaves the
conscience in distress and bondage, and produces the sense
of its being impossible to be with God. Under grace the
eorts are not useless, and the evil nature shows itself to
us (either in communion with God, or by downfalls if we
neglect communion) in all its deformity in presence of
that grace. But in this chapter the experience of sin in the
nature is presented as acquired under the law, in order that
man may know himself in this position-may know what
he is as regards his esh, and that in fact he cannot succeed
in this way in coming before God with a good conscience.
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He is under the<P140> rst husband; death had not yet
severed the bond as to the state of the soul.
(1. e last verse of chapter 7 speaks of the abstract
mind and character of the opposed natures; one the mind,
however, and purpose of heart in the renewed man; the
other, the fact of esh being there; one “I myself,” the other
“my esh.” So the “I” is right; only it is not considered under
the law or the contrary.)
Why chapter 7 is introduced parenthetically
We must now remember that this experience of the soul
under the law is introduced parenthetically, to show the
sinful condition to which grace applies and the eect of the
law. Our subject is that the believer has part in the death of
Christ and has died, and is alive through Him who is risen;
that Christ, having by grace gone under death, having been
made sin, has forever done with that state in which He
had to do with sin and death in the likeness of sinful esh;
and having forever done with all that was connected with
it, has entered by resurrection into a new order of things-a
new condition before God, totally beyond the reach of all
that to which He had subjected Himself for us, which in
us was connected with our natural life, and beyond reach
of the law which bound sin upon the conscience on God’s
part. In Christ we are in this new order of things.
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73205
Romans 8
“No condemnation”: a new position in Christ Jesus;
the power of a new life
“ere is therefore now no condemnation to those
which are in Christ Jesus” (ch. 8). He does not here speak of
the ecacy of the blood in putting away sins (all essential
as that blood is, and the basis of all the rest), but of the
new position entirely beyond the reach of everything to
which the judgment of God applied. Christ had indeed
been under the eect of the condemnation in our stead;
but when risen He appears before God. Could there be
a question there of sin, or of wrath, or of condemnation,
or of imputation? Impossible! It was all settled before
He ascended thither. He was there because it was settled.
And that is the position of the Christian in Christ. Still,
inasmuch as it is by resurrection, it is a real deliverance. It is
the power of a new life, in which Christ is raised from the
dead, and of which we live in Him. It is-as to this life of the
saint-the power, ecacious and continued, and therefore
called a law, by which Christ was raised from the dead-the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus; and it has delivered
me<P141> from the law of sin and death which previously
reigned in my members, producing fruit unto death. It is
our connection with Christ in resurrection, witness of the
power of life which is in Him, and that by the Holy Spirit,
which links the “no condemnation” of our position with
the energy of a new life, in which we are no longer subject
to the law of sin, having died to it in His death, or to the
law, whose claims have ceased also necessarily for him who
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has died, for it has power over a man as long as he lives.
Christ, in bearing its curse, has fully magnied it withal.
We see, at the end of Ephesians 1, that it is the power of
God Himself which delivers; and assuredly it had need be
so-that power which wrought the glorious change-to us
this new creation.
Deliverance a divine operation known by faith;
experience clashing with the truth that I am dead with
Christ
is deliverance from the law of sin and death is not a
mere experience (it will produce precious experiences); it is
a divine operation, known by faith in His operation who
raised up Christ from the dead, known in all its power by
its accomplishment in Jesus, in the ecacy of which we
participate by faith. e diculty of receiving it is that we
nd our experience clashing with it. at Christ has put
away my sins, and that God has loved me, is a matter of
simple faith through grace. at I am dead is apt to nd
itself contradicted in my heart. e process of chapter 7
must be gone through, and the condemnation of sin in
the esh seen in Christ’s sacrice for sin, and I alive by
Him judging sin as a distinct thing (an enemy I have to
deal with, not I), in order to have solid peace. It is not all
that Christ has put away our sins. I live by Him risen, and
am linked with this husband, and He being my life-the
true “I” in me, I can say that I have died because He has.
“I am crucied with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me.” If so, I have died, for He has; as
one taken into partnership has the advantages belonging
to that acquired, before he was taken into it. at this is so
is evident according to verse 3. God has done it in Christ,
the Apostle says; he does not say “in us.” e result in us
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is found in verse 4. e ecacious operation, by which we
reckon ourselves dead, was in Christ a sacrice for sin. ere
sin in the esh was condemned. God has done it, for it is
always God, and God who has wrought,<P142> whom he
brings forward in order to develop the gospel of God. e
thing to condemn is indeed in us; the work which put an
end to it for our true conscious state before God, has been
accomplished in Christ, who has been pleased in grace, as
we shall see, to put Himself into the position necessary for
its accomplishment. Nevertheless, through participation in
the life that is in Him, it becomes a practical reality to us:
only this realization has to contend with the opposition of
the esh; but not so as that we should walk in it.
e new life setting free; the old nature condemned
One other point remains to be noticed here. In verse 2,
we have the new life in its power in Christ, which sets us
free from the law of sin and death. In verse 3, we have the
old nature, sin in the esh, dealt with, condemned, but in
the sacrice for sin in which Christ suered and died, so
that it is done with for faith. is completes the deliverance
and the knowledge of it.
e new position of being alive in Christ the key to
the doctrine; holy practice united with absolute grace
and eternal deliverance from condemnation
e key to all this doctrine of the Apostle’s, and that
which unites holy practice, the Christian life, with absolute
grace and eternal deliverance from condemnation, is the
new position entirely apart from sin, which death gives to
us, being alive in Christ now before God. e power of
God, the glory of the Father, the operation of the Spirit,
are found acting in the resurrection of Christ, and placing
Him, who had borne our sins and been made sin for us, in
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a new position beyond sin and death before God. And by
faith I have part in His death, I participate in this life.
It is not only satisfaction made by Christ for sins
committed, and glorifying God in His work-the basis,
indeed, of all-but the deliverance of the person who was
in sin, even as when Israel was brought out of Egypt. e
blood had stayed the hand of God in judgment; the hand
of God in power delivered them forever at the Red Sea.
Whatever they may have been, they were for that time with
God who had guided them to His holy habitation.<P143>
e summing up of the result of God’s work
Moreover, the rst verses of this chapter sum up the
result of God’s work with regard to this subject in chapter
5:12 to the end, chapter 6 and chapter 7: no condemnation
for those who are in Christ; the law of the Spirit of life in
Him delivering from this law of sin and death; and that
which the law could not do God has done.
Absolute and complete deliverance from the law of
sin and death; the secret of it-Christ’s coming down
among us
It will be remarked that the deliverance is from the law
of sin and death: in this respect the deliverance is absolute
and complete. Sin is no longer at all a law. is deliverance,
to one who loves holiness, who loves God, is a profound
and immense subject of joy. e passage does not say that
the esh is changed-quite the contrary; one would not
speak of the law of a thing which no longer existed. We
have to contend with it, but it is no more a law; neither can
it bring us under death in our conscience.
e law could not work this deliverance. It could
condemn the sinner, but not the sin while delivering the
sinner. But that which the law could not do-inasmuch as it
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required strength in man, while on the contrary he had only
strength for sin-God has done. Now it is here that Christ’s
coming down among us, and even unto death, is set before
us in all its importance-His coming down without sin unto
us and unto death. is is the secret of our deliverance. God,
the God of all grace and of glory, has sent Him who was
the eternal object of His delight, His own Son, in whom
was all the energy and divine power of the Son of God
Himself, to partake of esh and blood in the midst of men,
in the position in which we all are; ever in Himself without
sin, but-to go down to the depth of the position in which
we were, even to death-emptying Himself of His glory to
be a man, “in the likeness of sinful esh,” and being a man
humbling Himself unto death, in order that the whole
question of sin with God should be decided in the person
of Christ, He being considered as in our position;1 when
in<P144> the likeness of sinful esh He was made sin for
us-“for sin,” as it is expressed (that is, a sacrice for sin). He
undertook to glorify God by suering for that which man
was. He accomplished it, making Himself a sacrice for
sin; and thus, not only our sins have been put away, but sin
in the esh (it was the state of man, the state of his being;
and Christ was treated on the cross as though He were in
it) has been condemned in that which was a sacrice of
propitiation for the sinner.
(1. e reader will understand that Jesus could take
this position and be made sin, precisely because He was
Himself absolutely exempt in every way from it. e power
of resurrection in Christ dead was the power of holiness in
Christ living. It was also the power of that love which He
displayed while living, and which we know in perfection in
His death. He was the just object of divine delight.)
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e sinless One made sin for us; sins put away and sin
in the esh totally condemned
e Son of God-sent of God in love-has come, and
not only has He borne our sins, but (He having oered
Himself up freely to accomplish His will, whose will He
was come to do, a spotless victim) God made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us. He has placed Himself, ever
without sin (in Him it was grace and obedience), in the
place in which our failure in our responsibility here below
had set man, and, made in the likeness of men, died to
glorify God in respect of sin, so that we are discharged by
the cross from the burden on the conscience of the sin that
dwells in us. He takes on Himself before God the whole
charge of sin (but according to the power of eternal life
and the Holy Spirit that was in Him)-oers Himself as
a victim for it. us placed, He is made sin; and in His
death, which He undergoes in grace, sin in the esh is
totally condemned by the just judgment of God, and the
condemnation itself is the abolition of that sin by His act
of sacrice-an act which is valid for everyone that believes
in Jesus who accomplished it. We have died with Him and
are alive through Him. We have put o the body of the
esh, the old man; we have become dead to the law by the
body of Christ, our old man crucied with Him, that the
body of sin might be annulled. I have no doubt that the
full result will be the putting of sin out of the whole scene
of heaven and earth, in that new heavens and new earth,
wherein dwells righteousness. But here I speak of the state
of conscience in respect of the glory of God.
e moral perfection of the cross
What a marvelous deliverance! What a work for the
glory of God! e moral import of the cross for the glory
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215
of God is a subject<P145> which, as we study it, becomes
ever more and more magnicent-a never-ending study.
It is, by its moral perfection, a motive for the love of the
Father Himself with regard to Jesus. “erefore doth my
Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take
it again.”
e distinct subjects of chapters 3 and 7
What a perfect work for putting away sin from the
sight of God (setting before Him in its stead that perfect
work itself which removed the sin) and for delivering the
sinner, placing him before God according to the perfect
abolition of the sin and the value of that work in His sight!
It is possible we may have known the forgiveness of sins
before we go through Romans 7, and some have said that
chapter 3 comes before chapter 7. But the subjects are quite
distinct. In the rst part we have God dealing in grace with
the sinner as guilty for his justication, and that part is
complete in itself: “we joy in God.” e second part takes
up what we are, and experiences connected with it; but the
work of chapter 7 is always essentially legal, the judgment
of what we are, only hence in respect of what is in us, not
of what we have done-struggle, not guilt. e form of
experience will be modied. e soul will say, I hope I have
not deceived myself, and the like. But it is always law, and
so the Apostle gives it its proper character in itself.
e fulllment of the law
e practical result is stated in verse 4: “In order that
the righteousness of the law,” its just requirement, “might
be fullled in us who walk not after the esh but after the
Spirit.” We are perfect before God in Christ without any
righteousness by the law; but, walking according to the
Spirit, the law is fullled in us, although we are not subject
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to it. He who loves has fullled the law. e Apostle does
not go farther in fruits of righteousness here, because
the question was that of subjection to the law and man’s
fullling it. Grace produces more than this as in Ephesians,
Colossians, and elsewhere, reproduces the character of
God, not merely what man should be for God, but what
Christ was. But here he meets the question of law, and
shows that in walking by the Spirit we so fulll it.<P146>
e new nature; the acknowledged fact of the Spirit’s
presence and the development of His energy in the
life
In this new nature, in the life of resurrection and of faith,
that which the law demands is accomplished in us because
we are not under it, for we walk according to the Spirit, and
not according to the esh. e things now in opposition
are the esh and the Spirit. In fact the rule, from the yoke
of which as a system we are set free, is accomplished in us.
Under the law sin had the mastery; being set free from the
law, that law is fullled in us.1 But it is the Spirit working
in us and leading us which characterizes our position. Now
this character (for it is thus the Apostle presents it) is the
result of the presence, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
in us. e Apostle supposes this great truth here. at is
to say, writing to Christians, the fact (for it was a fact that
is in question here) of the presence of the Holy Spirit,
the Comforter, is treated as a well-known fact. It publicly
distinguished the Christian as the seal and mark of his
profession. e individual knew it for himself; he knew it
with regard to the assembly. But in the latter aspect, we leave
it aside here, for Christians individually are the subject.
ey had the Spirit; the Apostle everywhere appeals to
their consciousness of this fact. “After that ye believed ye
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were sealed.” “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the
law or by the hearing of faith?” It is the individual moral
eect, extending, however, to the resurrection of the body,
which is here spoken of. e two things are connected: the
acknowledged fact of the presence of the Holy Spirit; and
the development of His energy in the life, and afterwards
in the resurrection of the believer. is had been seen in
Christ; resurrection itself was according to the Spirit of
holiness.
(1. Abstracting the esh, the life by which we live is
in fact Christ. He is our life, and, as to life, what we are
before God is that by which we live here. Our life is hid
with Christ in God, and Christ is our life down here.
And therefore it is that John-who had displayed Christ
as being this life-can say, “He that is born of God cannot
sin, because he is born of God.” It is the same Christ in
us and in heaven. Practically this life is developed in the
midst of the opposition of the esh. Our weakness-guilty
weakness-comes in, and it is quite another thing.)
e practical eect of the realization of the Holy
Spirit’s indwelling
We come then now into the practical eect, in the
Christian on earth, of the doctrine of death with, and life
through, Christ, <P147>realized by the dwelling in us of
the Holy Spirit who has been given us. He is distinct, for
He is the Spirit, the Spirit of God; nevertheless He acts in
the life, so that it is practically ourselves in that which is of
the life of Christ in us.
In the esh, and walking after the esh
We will examine the Apostle’s teaching briey on this
subject.
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He introduces it abruptly, as characterizing the
Christian-“us, who walk not after the esh, but after the
Spirit.” ose who are after the esh desire the things of
the esh; those after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
It is not a question here of duty, but of the sure action
of the nature according to which a person subsists; and
this tendency, this aection of the nature, has its unfailing
result-that of the esh is death, that of the Spirit is life and
peace. Because the aection of the esh is enmity against
God. It has its own will, its own lusts; and the fact that it
has them makes it not subject to the law of God-which, on
the contrary, has its own authority-and the esh cannot,
indeed, be subject; it would cease to exist if it could be so,
for it has a will of its own which seeks independency, not
the authority of God over it-a will which does not delight
either in what the law requires. erefore those who are
in the esh, and who have their relationship with God as
living of this nature, of this natural life, cannot please God.
Such is the verdict on man, living his natural life, according
to the very nature of that life. e law did not bring him
out thence: he was still in the esh as before. It had a rule
for man, such as he is as man before God, which gave the
measure of his responsibility in that position, but which
evidently did not bring him out of the position to which it
applied. So that man being in the esh, the workings of sin
were, by means of the law itself, acting to produce death.
e Holy Spirit constituting the believer’s link with
God but distinct from the person indwelt
But the principle of the believer’s relationship with God
is not the esh but the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells
in us. It is that which characterizes our position before
God. In His sight, and before Him, we are not in the esh.
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is, indeed, supposes the existence of the esh, but having
received the Holy Spirit, and having life of the Holy Spirit,
it is He who constitutes our link with God.<P148> Our
moral existence before God is in the Spirit, not in the esh
or natural man.
Observe here, that the Apostle is not speaking of gifts
or manifestations of power, acting outside us upon others,
but of the vital energy of the Spirit, as it was manifested
in the resurrection of Jesus and even in His life in holiness.
Our old man is reckoned dead; we live unto God by the
Spirit. Accordingly this presence of the Spirit-all real as it
is-is spoken of in a manner which has the force rather of
character than of distinct and personal presence, although
that character could not exist unless He were personally
there. “Ye are in Spirit, if so be that Spirit God dwell in
you.”1e emphasis is on the word “God,” and in the
Greek there is no article before “Spirit.” Nevertheless it
plainly refers to the Spirit personally, for it is said, “Dwell
in you,” so that He is distinct from the person He dwells in.
e Spirit of God and His work in man; the Christian’s
standing before God
But the force of the thing is this: there is nothing in
man that can resist the esh or bring man out of it; it is
himself. e law cannot go beyond this boundary (namely,
that of man to whom it is addressed), nor ought it, for
it deals with his responsibility. ere must be something
which is not man, and yet which acts in man, that he may
be delivered. No creature could do anything in this: he is
responsible in his own place.
It must be God. e Spirit of God coming into man
does not cease to be God, and does not make the man
cease to be man; but He produces divinely in the man, a
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life, a character, a moral condition of being, a new man; in
this sense, a new being, and in virtue of the cleansing by
Christ’s blood. He dwells-Christ having
1. Note here, we are said to be in Christ in the beginning
of the chapter, and in the Spirit here: so to have
the Spirit of Christ, and then, “If Christ be in you”;
because it is by the Spirit we are in Christ. He that is
joined to the Lord is one spirit. (Compare John 14.)
And this gives its true character to our life and place
before God. In Christ and Christ in us constitutes,
in many places in Scripture, the Christian position,
known too by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
(Compare John 14.)
accomplished the work of deliverance, of which this is
the power in us-in the man, and the man is in Christ and
Christ in the man. But having thus really a new life, which
has its own moral character, the man is, as such, before
God; and in His sight, what<P149> he is in this new
nature inseparably from its source, as the stream from the
fountain; the believer is in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit being
in consequence of Christ’s work active in, and the power
of, the life He has given. is is the Christian’s standing
before God. We are no longer in the esh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in us. ere is no
other means. And it is indeed the Spirit of Christ-He in
the power of whom Christ acted, lived, oered Himself;
by whom also He was raised from the dead. His whole
life was the expression of the operation of the Spirit-of
the Spirit in man. “Now, if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of his.” It is the true and only link, the
eternal reality, of the new life in which we live in God.
e new life
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We have to do with reality. Christianity has its
realization in us in a conformity of nature to God, with
which God cannot dispense, and without which we cannot
enjoy or be in communion with Him. He Himself gives it.
How indeed can we be born of God, unless God acts to
communicate life to us? We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. But it is the Spirit who
is its source and its strength. If anyone has not the Spirit
of Christ, if the energy of this spiritual life which was
manifested in Him, which is by the power of the Spirit,
is not in us, we are not of Him, we have no part in Christ,
for it is thus that one participates in Him. But if Christ
is in us, the energy of this spiritual life is in Him who is
our life, and the body is reckoned dead; for if it have a will
as being alive, it is nothing but sin. e Spirit is life, the
Spirit by whom Christ actively lived; Christ in Spirit in us
is life- the source of thought, action, judgment, everything
that constitutes the man, speaking morally, in order that
there may be righteousness; for that is the only practical
righteousness possible, the esh cannot produce any. We
live only as having Christ as our life; for righteousness is
in Him, and in Him only, before God. Elsewhere there
is nothing but sin. erefore to live is Christ. ere is no
other life; everything else is death.
Our mortal bodies to be raised
But the Spirit has yet another character. He is the Spirit
of Him who raised up Jesus from among the dead. is God
did with <P150>regard to the Christ. If the Spirit dwells in
us, God will accomplish in us that which He accomplished
in the Christ,1 because of this same Spirit. He will raise
up our mortal bodies. is is the nal deliverance, the full
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answer to the question, “Who shall deliver me from this
body of death?”
(1. Observe here, that Jesus is the personal name of
Christ. Christ though it became so, is properly a name of
position and oce-the Anointed. He who raised up the
Christ will quicken the bodies of those connected with
Him.)
e threefold designation of the Spirit
Observe here, that the Spirit is designated in three
ways: the Spirit of God, in contrast with sinful esh, with
the natural man; the Spirit of Christ, the formal character
of the life which is the expression of His power (this is
the Spirit acting in man according to the perfection of the
divine thoughts); the Spirit of Him that raised up the man
Christ from among the dead. Here it is the perfect and
nal deliverance of the body itself by the power of God
acting through His Spirit. us then we have got the full
answer to the question, “Who shall deliver me?” We see
that Christian life in its true character-that of the Spirit,
depends on redemption. It is by virtue of redemption that
the Spirit is present with us.
e Christian’s life as dependent and imparted
In verses 10-11, we have present death to esh and sin,
and actual resurrection; only, since there is nothing but sin
if we live of our own natural life, Christ being in us, our life,
we reckon even now, while still living, our body to be dead.
is being the case, we have that which was seen in Christ
(ch. 1:4)-the Spirit of holiness and resurrection from the
dead. We should observe how (thus far according to the
force of the expression, “e Spirit is life”) the Person of
the Spirit is linked with the state of the soul here, with
the real life of the Christian. A little lower down we nd
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Him distinct from it. We understand this: for the Spirit is
truly the divine Person, but He acts in us in the life which
He has imparted. “at which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.” us it is indeed the Spirit who produces practical
righteousness, good thoughts; but He produces them
in me so that they are mine. Nevertheless I am entirely
dependent, and indebted to God for these things. e life
is of the same nature as its source according to John 3, but
it is <P151>dependent; the whole power is in the Spirit.
rough Him we are dependent on God. Christ Himself
lived thus. Only the life was in Him, and no sin in the esh
to resist it: whereas, if God has given us life, it remains
always true that this life is in His Son. “He that hath the
Son hath life.” And we know the esh lusts against the
Spirit, even when we have it.
e Christian’s strength to live after the Spirit
But to proceed with our chapter. e Apostle concludes
this exposition of the spiritual life, which gives liberty to
the soul, by presenting the Christian as being thus a debtor,
not to the esh, which has now no longer any right over
us. Yet he will not say directly that we are debtors to the
Spirit. It is indeed our duty to live after the Spirit; but if
we said that we are debtors, it would be putting man under
a higher law, the fulllment of which would thereby be yet
more impossible to him. e Spirit was the strength to live,
and that through the aections which He imparts-not the
obligation to have them. If we live after the esh, we are
going to die; but if by the Spirit we mortify the deeds of
the body, we shall live. e evil is there, but strength is there
to overcome it. is is the eect according to the nature
of God and of the esh. But there is another side of the
subject-the relationship which this presence and operation
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of the Spirit gives us towards God. Instead then of saying,
“Legal debtors to the Spirit,” the Spirit Himself is our
power, by which we mortify the esh and thus are sure of
living with God; and we are the sons of God, being led of
the Spirit. For we have not received a spirit of bondage
to be again in fear (that was the condition of the faithful
under the law), but a Spirit that answers to our adoption to
be sons of God, and this is its power-a Spirit by which we
cry, “Abba, Father.”
e Spirit of adoption; the relationship of believers as
sons known by the Spirit
e Apostle again connects the Spirit of God in the
closest union with the character, the spirit, which He
produces in us, according to the relationship in which we
are placed by His grace in Christ, and of which we are
conscious, and which in fact we realize by the presence of
the Holy Spirit in us: He is in us a Spirit of adoption.<P152>
For He sets us in the truth, according to the mind of God.
Now as to the power for this, as to its moral reality in us,
it is by the presence of the Holy Spirit alone that it takes
place. We are only delivered from the law and the spirit
of bondage in that the Spirit dwells in us, although the
work and the position of Christ are the cause. is position
is neither known nor realized except by the Spirit, whom
Jesus sent down when He had Himself entered into it in
glory on high as man.1 But this Spirit dwells in us, acts in
us, and brings us in eect into this relationship which has
been acquired for us by Christ, through that work which
He accomplished for us, entering into it Himself (that is,
as man risen).
(1. ough ever walking as Son down here of course, and
that not merely when publicly entering on His ministry
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and proclaimed such, as we know from what happened in
the temple when He was about twelve years old. Indeed
we are sons before we receive the Spirit of adoption. It is
because we are sons the Spirit of the Son is sent into our
hearts (Gal. 4). But Christ, entering into the full place of
glory as man, according to the purpose of God through
His work, received (Acts 2) the Spirit so as to confer it on
us and associate us with Him there.)
e Apostle, we have seen, speaks of the Spirit in us as
of a certain character, a condition in which we are, because
He instills Himself into our whole moral being-our
thoughts, aections, object, action; or, rather, He creates
them; He is their source; He acts by producing them. us
He is practically a Spirit of adoption, because He produces
in our souls all that appertains to this relationship. If He
acts, our thoughts, our aections, act also; we are in the
enjoyment of this relationship by virtue of this action.
But having thus identied (and it could not be otherwise)
the Holy Spirit with all that He produces in us, for it is
thus that the Christian knows Him (the world does not
receive Him because it does not see Him, nor know Him;
but ye know Him because He is with you, and dwells in
you: precious state!)-when the Holy Spirit Himself is the
source of our being and of our thoughts, according to the
counsels of God in Christ and the position which Christ
has acquired for us-the Apostle, I repeat, having spoken of
the Spirit as characterizing our moral existence, is careful
to distinguish Him as a person, a really distinct existence.
e Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are
the children of God. e two things are equally precious:1
participation in the Spirit, as the power of life by which we
are capable of enjoying God, and the<P153> relationship
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of children to Him; and the presence and authority of the
Spirit to assure us of it.
Position as sons; relationship as children; the position
and condition of the child; the Holy Spirit’s work of
grace and sympathy
Our position is that of sons, our proper relationship that
of children. e word son is in contrast with the position
under the law, which was that of servants; it is the state of
privilege in its widest extent. To say the child of such an
one, implies the intimacy and the reality of the relationship.
Now there are two things which the Apostle lays open-the
position of child and its consequences, and the condition
of the creature in connection with which the child is found.
is gives occasion for two operations of the Spirit-the
communication of the assurance of being children with
all its glorious consequences; and His work of sympathy
and grace in connection with the sorrows and inrmities
in which the child is found here below.
e certainty, power and blessing of God’s grace; God
for us
Having thus completed the exposition of the child’s
condition, he ends this account of his position in Christ
with a statement of the certainty of the grace-outside
himself-in God, which secures him in this position, and
guards him, by the power of God in grace, from everything
that could rob him of his blessing-his happiness. It is God
who gives it him, and who is its Author. It is God who will
bring to a good end the one whom He has placed in it. is
last point is treated in verses 31-33. us in verses 1-11, we
have the Spirit in life; in verses 12-30, the Spirit as a power
acting in the saint; in verses 31-33, God acting for, not in,
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us to ensure our blessing. Hence, in the last part, he does
not speak of sanctication.
1. We shall see, farther on, that the Epistle to the
Colossians speaks only of life: the Ephesians, of the
Holy Spirit.
e Holy Spirit’s witness that we are children of God
e rst point then we have to touch on in this second
part is, that the Spirit Himself bears witness with our
spirit that we are the children of the family of God. at
is to say, that as the Holy Spirit (acting in us in life, as we
have seen) has produced the aections of a child, and, by
these aections, the consciousness of<P154> being a child
of God, so He does not separate Himself from this, but,
by His powerful presence, He bears witness Himself that
we are children. We have this testimony in our hearts in
our relationship with God; but the Holy Spirit Himself,
as distinct from us, bears this testimony to us in whom
He dwells. e true freed Christian knows that his heart
recognizes God as Father, but he knows also that the Holy
Spirit Himself bears His testimony to him. at which is
founded on the Word is realized and veried in the heart.
e consequences of being children of God and
possessing a moral nature totally opposed to the world
And, if we are children, we are heirs-heirs of God and
joint-heirs with Christ. Glorious position in which we are
placed with Christ! And the witness of this is the rst part
of the Spirit’s personal oce; but this has its consequences
here, it has its character here. If the Spirit of Christ is in
us, He will be the source in us of the sentiments of Christ.
Now in this world of sin and of misery Christ necessarily
suered-suered also because of righteousness, and
because of His love. Morally this feeling of sorrow is the
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necessary consequence of possessing a moral nature totally
opposed to everything that is in the world. Love, holiness,
veneration for God, love for man, everything is essential
suering here below; an active testimony leads to outward
suering. Co-heirs, co-suerers, co-gloried-this is the
order of Christian life and hope; and, observe, inasmuch as
possessors of the whole inheritance of God, this suering
is by virtue of the glorious position into which we are
brought, and of our participation in the life of Christ
Himself. And the suerings are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us.
Creation’s groans while waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God
For the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons
of God. en shall its deliverance come. For, if we suer, it is
in love, because all is suering around us. e Apostle then
explains it. It is our connection with the creature which
brings us into this suering, for the creature is subjected
to misery and vanity. We know it, we who have the Spirit,
that all creation groans in its <P155>estrangement from
God, as in travail, yet in hope. When the glory shall set the
children free, the creature will share their liberty: it cannot
participate in the grace; this is a thing which concerns the
soul. But glory being the fruit of God’s power in outward
things, even the creature shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption and partake in the liberty of the
glory. For it is not the will of the creature which made it
subject (it has none in that respect); but it was on account
of him who subjected it, on account of man.
Waiting for the redemption of the body
Now the Spirit, who makes us know that we are
children and heirs of glory, teaches us by the same means
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to understand all the misery of the creature; and through
our bodies we are in connection with it, so that there is
sympathy. us we also wait for the adoption, that is, the
redemption of the body. For as to possession of the full
result, it is in hope that we are saved; so that meanwhile
we groan, as well as understand, according to the Spirit
and our new nature, that all creation groans. ere are the
intelligence of the Spirit, and the aections of the divine
nature on the one side; and the link with fallen creation by
the body, on the other.1 Here then also the operation of
the Holy Spirit has its place, as well as bearing witness that
we are children and heirs of God with Christ.
(1. In this how much more perfect (all in Him was
absolute) was the sympathy of Christ! For though capable
of sympathy as truly a man, He was not linked in His own
state with the fallen creation, as we are. He felt for it, a true
man, but as man born of the Holy Spirit; we, as above the
esh and by faith not in it, still in fact are linked with it in
the earthen vessel we are in.)
e Holy Spirit taking part in the sorrow and sense
of the misery brought in by sin expressed in us by groans
It is not therefore creation only which groans, being in
bondage to corruption in consequence of the sin of man; but
we ourselves, who have the rstfruits of the Spirit-which
God has given in anticipation of the accomplishment of
His promises in the last days, and which connects us with
heaven-we also groan, while waiting for the redemption of
our body to take possession of the glory prepared for us.
But it is because the Holy Spirit who is in us takes part in
our sorrow and helps us in our inrmities; dwelling<P156>
in us, He pleads in the midst of this misery by groans,
which do not express themselves in words. e sense of the
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evil that oppresses us and all around us is there; and the
more conscious we are of the blessing and of the liberty
of the glory, the more sensible are we of the weight of the
misery brought in by sin. We do not know what to ask for
as a remedy; but the heart expresses its sorrow as Jesus did
at the grave of Lazarus-at least in our little measure. Now
this is not the selshness of the esh which does not like
to suer; it is the aection of the Spirit.
We have here a striking proof of the way in which the
Spirit and the life in us are identied in practice: God
searches the hearts- ours; He nds the aection of the
Spirit, for He, the Spirit, intercedes. So that it is my heart-
it is a spiritual aection, but it is the Spirit Himself who
intercedes. United to the creature by the body, to heaven by
the Spirit, the sense which I have of the aiction is not the
selshness of the esh, but the sympathy of the Spirit, who
feels it according to1 God.
(1. “e will of ” should not be inserted here.)
e attentive ear of God to groans that are divine as
well as human in character; their value
What a sweet and strengthening thought, that when
God searches the heart, even if we are burdened with a
sense of the misery in the midst of which the heart is
working, He nds there, not the esh, but the aection of
the Spirit; and that the Spirit Himself is occupied in us, in
grace, with all our inrmities. What an attentive ear must
God lend to such groans!
e Spirit, then, is the witness in us that we are children,
and thereby heirs; and He takes part in the sorrowful
experience that we are linked with creation by our bodies,
and becomes the source of aections in us, which express
themselves in groans that are divine in their character
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as well as human, and which have the value of His own
intercession. And this grace shows itself in connection
with our ignorance and weakness. Moreover, if after all we
know not what to ask for, we know that everything works
together under God’s own hand for our greatest good1 (vs.
28).<P157>
(1. Here read in the text, “But we know.” “We know
not what to ask for as we ought, but we do know that
everything works together for our good.”)
God’s counsels, purposes, acts, and operations to
bless and secure us
is brings in, thirdly, another side of the truth-that
which God does, and that which God is for us, outside
ourselves, to assure us of all blessing. e Holy Spirit is life
in us; He bears witness to our glorious position; He acts in
divine sympathy in us, according to our actual position of
inrmity in this poor body and this suering creation; He
becomes, and makes us, the voice of this suering before
God. All this takes place in us; but God maintains all our
privileges by that which He is in Himself. is is the last
part of the chapter, from verse 28 or verse 31 to the end.
God orders all things in favor of those who are called
according to His purpose. For that is the source of all good
and of all happiness in us and for us.
erefore it is, that in this beautiful and precious climax,
sanctication and the life in us are omitted. e Spirit had
instructed our souls on these points at the beginning of
the chapter. e Spirit is life, the body dead, if Christ be
in us; and now He presents the counsels, the purposes,
the acts, the operation of God Himself, which bless and
secure us, but are not the life in us. e inward reality has
been developed in the previous part; here, the certainty, the
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security, in virtue of what God is and of His counsels. He
has foreknown His children, He has predestinated them to
a certain glory, a certain marvelous blessing, namely, to be
conformed to the image of His Son. He has called them,
He has justied them, He has gloried them. God has
done all this. It is perfect and stable, as He is who willed
it, and who has done it. No link in the chain is wanting of
all that was needful in order to bind their souls to glory
according to the counsels of God.
Conformed to the image of His Son; blessed with
Jesus as well as by Him
And what a glory! what a position-poor creatures as
the saved are-to be conformed to the image of the Son of
God Himself! is, in fact, is the thought of grace, not to
bless us only by Jesus, but to bless us with Him. He came
down even to us, sinless, in love and in righteousness, to
associate us with Himself in the fruit of His glorious work.
It was this which His love purposed, that we should have
one and the same portion with <P158>Himself; and this
the counsels of the Father (blessed be His name for it!) had
determined also.
God is for us
e result of all for the soul is, that God is for us.
Sweet and glorious conclusion, which gives the heart a
peace that is ineable, and rest that depends on the power
and stability of God-a rest that shuts out all anxiety as to
anything that could trouble it; for if God be for us who
can be against us? And the way of it shuts out all thought
as to any limit to the liberality of God. He who had given
His Son, how should He not with Him give us all things?
Moreover, with regard to our righteousness before God,
or to charges which might be brought against the saints,
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as well as with regard to all the diculties of the way,
God Himself has justied: who shall condemn? Christ has
died, He has risen, and is at the right hand of God, and
intercedes for us: who shall separate us from His love? e
enemies? He has already conquered them. Height? He is
there for us. Depth? He has been there; it is the proof of
His love. Diculties? We are more than conquerors: they
are the immediate occasion of the display of His love and
faithfulness, making us feel where our portion is, what our
strength is. Trial does but assure the heart, which knows
His love, that nothing can separate us from the love of
God which is in Jesus. Everything else is the creature, and
cannot separate us from the love of God-a love of God,
which has entered also into this misery of the creature, and
gained the victory for us over all. us the deliverance, and
liberty, and security of the saints by grace and power are
fully brought out.
God for us in giving, justifying and no possible
separation
We have thus in three ways God’s being for us unfolded:
in giving, justifying, and no possible separation. Two
triumphant questions settle the last two points, on which
the heart might easily raise questions. But the two questions
are put: Who shall condemn? Who shall separate? Who
shall condemn when God Himself justies? It is not said
justied before God. God is for us. e second is answered
by the precious fact that in all that might seem to do so,
we have seen, on the contrary, His love proved. Besides it is
the creature which might tend to separate,<P159> and the
love is the love of God. e beginning of verse 34 should
be read with verse 33.
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e Christian’s place in Christ before God shown in
chapter 8
We have advanced here to a fuller experimental state
than in chapter 5, following on what unfolds the exercises
of a soul learning what it is in itself, and the operation of
the law, and what it is to be dead with Christ, and to be
alive through and associated with Him, and coming out,
as in Him before God, with the consciousness of God for
it. But there is in chapter 5 more of the simple grace of
God, what He is in His own blessed nature and thoughts,
as above sin, towards the sinner. We have the Christian’s
place more fully with God here, but what God is simply in
grace more fully in chapter 5. Chapter 5 is more what God
is thus known through the work of Christ; chapter 8 more
our place in Christ before Him. Blessed to have both!
Romans 9
235
73206
Romans 9
How the common salvation is to be reconciled with
God’s special promises to the Jews
ere remained one important question to be considered,
namely, how this salvation, common to Jew and Gentile,
both alienated from God-this doctrine that there was no
dierence- was to be reconciled with the special promises
made to the Jews. e proof of their guilt and ruin under the
law did not touch the promises of a faithful God. Was the
Apostle going to do away with these to place the Gentiles
on the same footing? ey did not fail also to accuse the
Apostle of having despised his nation and its privileges.
Chapters 9-11 reply to this question; and, with rare and
admirable perfection, set forth the position of Israel with
respect to God and to the gospel. is reply opens, in itself,
a wide door to intelligence in the ways of God.
God’s sovereignty proved in Abraham’s family
e Apostle begins by arming his deep interest in the
blessing of Israel. eir condition was a source of constant
grief to him. Far from despising them, he loved them as
much as Moses had done.<P160> He had wished to be
anathema from Christ for them.1 He acknowledged that
all the privileges granted by God until then, belonged to
them. But he does not allow that the Word of God had
failed; and he develops proof of the free sovereignty of
God, conformably to which, without trenching upon the
promises made to the Jews, He could admit the Gentiles
according to His election.
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(1. Read, “I have wished.” Moses, in his anguish, had
said, “Blot me out of thy book.” Paul had not been behind
him in his love.)
In the rst place, this truth displayed itself in the bosom
of Abraham’s own family. e Jews alleged their exclusive
right to the promises in virtue of their descent from him,
and to have their promises by right, and exclusively, because
they were descended from him. But they are not all Israel
which are of Israel. Neither because they were of the seed
of Abraham were they therefore all children. For in that
case Ishmael must have been received; and the Jews would
by no means hear of that. God then was sovereign. But it
might be alleged that Hagar was a slave. But Esau’s case
excluded even this saving thought. e same mother bore
both sons of one father, and God had chosen Jacob and
rejected Esau. It was thus on the principle of sovereignty
and election, that God had decided that the seed should be
called in the family of Isaac. And before Esau and Jacob
were born, God declared that the elder should serve the
younger. e Jews must then admit God’s sovereignty on
this point.
Sovereignty exercised in mercy toward Israel and in
judgment on Pharaoh
Was God then unrighteous? He plainly declared His
sovereignty for good to Moses as a principle. It is the rst
of all rights. But in what case had He exercised this right?
In a case that concerned that right of Israel to blessing, of
which the Jews sought to avail themselves. All Israel would
have been cut o, if God had dealt in righteousness; there
was nothing but the sovereignty of God which could be a
door of escape. God retreated into His sovereignty in order
to spare whom He would, and so had spared Israel (justice
Romans 9
237
would have condemned them all alike, gathered around
the golden calf which they set up to worship)-this, on the
side of mercy; on that of judgment, Pharaoh served for an
example. e enemy of God, and of His people, he had
treated the claims of God<P161> with contempt, exalting
himself proudly against Him-“Who is Jehovah, that I
should obey him? I will not let his people go.” Pharaoh
being in this state, Jehovah uses him to give an example of
His wrath and judgment. So that He shows mercy to whom
He will, and hardens whom He will. Man complains of it,
as he does of the grace that justies freely.
God’s rights established-the power to do all things,
His endurance with and wrath against the wicked; His
glory displayed in vessels of mercy
As to rights, compare those of God and those of the
creature who has sinned against Him. How can man, who
is made of clay, dare to reply against God? e potter has
power to do as he will with the lump. No one can say to
God, What doest ou? God’s sovereignty is the rst of
all rights, the foundation of all rights, the foundation of
all morality. If God is not God, what will He be? e root
of the question is this; is God to judge man, or man God?
God can do whatsoever He pleases. He is not the object for
judgment. Such is His title: but when in fact the Apostle
presents the two cases, wrath and grace, He puts the case
of God showing long-suering towards one already tted
for wrath, in order to give at last an example to men of
His wrath in the execution of His justice; and then of
God displaying His glory in vessels of mercy whom He
has prepared for glory. ere are then these three points
established with marvelous exactitude; the power to do all
things, no one having the right to say a word; wonderful
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endurance with the wicked, in whom at length His wrath
is manifested; demonstration of His glory in vessels, whom
He has Himself prepared by mercy for glory, and whom
He has called, whether from among the Jews or Gentiles,
according to the declaration of Hosea.
God’s sovereignty in derogation of the Jews’
pretensions of exclusive enjoyment of all His promises
e doctrine established, then, is the sovereignty of
God in derogation of the pretensions of the Jews to the
exclusive enjoyment of all the promises, as being descended
from Abraham; for, among his descendants, more than one
had been excluded by the exercise of this sovereignty; and
it was nothing less than its exercise which, on the occasion
of the golden calf, had spared those who<P162> pretended
to the right of descent. It was necessary therefore that
the Jew should recognize it, or else that he should admit
the Idumeans in full right, as well as the Ishmaelites, and
renounce it himself, the families of Moses and Joshua alone
perhaps excepted. But if such was the sovereignty of God,
He would now exercise it in favor of the Gentiles, as well
as Jews. He called whom He would.
Peter’s and Paul’s quotations from the prophets
If we look closely into these quotations from Hosea, we
shall nd that Peter, who writes to converted Jews alone,
takes only the passage at the end of chapter 2, where Lo-
ammi and Lo-ruhamah become Ammi and Ruhamah. Paul
quotes that also, which is at the end of chapter 1, where it
is written, “In the place where it was said unto them, Ye are
not my people, there shall they be called- not ‘my people,’
but-‘the children of the living God.’” It is this last passage
which he applies to the Gentiles called by grace.
Romans 9
239
But further passages from the prophets amply conrm
the judgment which the Apostle pronounces by the Spirit
on the Jews. Isaiah declared formally that, if God had
not left them a little remnant, they would have been as
Sodom and Gomorrah; numerous as the people were, a
little remnant only should be saved; for God was cutting
the work short in judgment on the earth. And here was
the state of things morally: the Gentiles had obtained the
righteousness which they had not sought, had obtained it
by faith; and Israel, seeking to obtain it by the fulllment
of a law, had not attained to righteousness. Why? Because
they sought it not by faith, but by works of law. For they
had stumbled at the stumblingstone (that is, at Christ),
as it is written, “I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock
of oense: and whosoever believeth in him shall not be
ashamed.”
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73207
Romans 10
e Apostle’s love for his nation; their own
righteousness opposed to that of God
Having touched on this subject, the Apostle, who deeply
loved his nation as the people of God, pours out his heart
with respect of the doctrine which was a stumblingstone
to them. His desire,<P163> the aim of his heart’s aection,
was their salvation. e object of his aections, they were
clothed in his eyes with their zeal for God, ignorant as it
was; ignorant, alas! on the side of that which God taught.
Being ignorant of God’s righteousness, they sought in
their zeal to establish their own righteousness, and did not
submit themselves to that of God. For Christ is the end of
law for righteousness to every believer. ere was found the
righteousness of God, there the stumblingstone to Israel.
e remarkable signicance of Paul’s quotation of
Deuteronomy 30
Nevertheless the Apostle establishes his argument
clearly and rmly. He establishes it on his own part; but
Deuteronomy supplies him with an unexpected proof
of the great principle. He quotes a passage from that
book which speaks on the subject of Israel’s condition,
when they should have broken the law and be suering
its consequences. “Secret things,” the lawgiver had said,
“belong to our God; but those that are revealed” are for the
people. at is to say, the law was given as a condition to
the enjoyment of the blessing, plainly and positively; what
God might do in grace, when Israel should be under the
consequences of the broken law, remained in the secrecy
Romans 10
241
of His supreme will. Upon this, however, another principle
is distinctly revealed, namely, that when the fulllment of
the law was impossible, and when Israel had been driven
out of their land for having broken it, if then their heart
turned to God in that far country, He would accept them.
It was all over with the law as a condition of relationship
with God. Israel was driven out according to the chapter
we are looking at (Deut. 30)-was Lo-ammi, no longer the
people of God. e testimony of God was nevertheless
addressed to them: they might turn to Him in spirit, and
by faith. It was no longer the law, it was faith. But, says the
Apostle, if so, it is Christ who is its object. No Jew would
have denied that the testimony of God was the hope of
every true Israelite when all was ruined.
is passage then in Deuteronomy-when Moses has
done with the law, and has supposed other counsels of
God, and on them founds the principle of turning in heart
to God when all is over with regard to the law, and Israel
is in a place where it would be impossible to keep it, being
in captivity among the Gentiles- this<P164> passage has
remarkable signicance in the argument of the Apostle;
and its being quoted is an extraordinary proof, that in his
reasonings it is the Holy Spirit who acts. It is the Apostle
who introduces Christ; but the combination of the truths
of the dierent positions of Israel, of the law, and of
the return in heart when they were lost under the law-a
combination of which Christ was the keystone and alone
could be-exhibits a comprehensive view of the oneness of
all God’s ways, morally and in His dispensations, of which
the Spirit of God alone is capable, and which evidently
expresses His thoughts. See Deuteronomy 29 (at the end)
and 30.
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e word of faith believed in the heart
e word of faith then set forth as being the hope of
Israel, was that which the Apostle announced-that if anyone
confessed with his mouth the Lord Jesus, and believed
in his heart that God had raised Him from the dead, he
should be saved. Precious, simple, and positive assertion!
and borne out, if that were needed, by the testimony of the
Old Testament: “Whosoever believeth in him shall not be
ashamed.” e words heart and mouth are in contrast with
the law. In the case Deuteronomy supposes, Israel could
not fulll the law; the word of their God, Moses told them,
could be in their heart and in their mouth. us now for
the Jew (as for everyone) it was the belief of the heart.
Observe, it does not say, If you love in your heart, or,
If your heart is what it ought to be towards God; but, If
you believe in your heart. A man believes with his heart,
when he really believes with a heart interested in the thing.
His aections being engaged in the truth, he desires, when
grace is spoken of, that that which is told him should be the
truth. He desires the thing, and at the same time he does
not doubt it. It is not in his having part in it that he believes,
but in the truth of the thing itself, being concerned in it as
important to himself. It is not the state of his aections
(a very serious consideration, however, in its place) that
is the subject here, but the importance and the truth of
that which is presented by the Word-its importance to
himself, as needing it for his salvation, a salvation that he
is conscious of needing, that he cannot do without-a truth
of which he is assured, as a testimony from God Himself.
God arms to such a one that salvation belongs to him,
but it is not that which he has to believe in<P165> as the
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243
object of faith; it is that of which God assures everyone
who does believe.
e faith of the heart manifested by the confession of
the mouth
Moreover this faith is manifested by the proof it gives
of its sincerity-by confession of the name of Christ. If
someone were convinced that Jesus is the Christ, and
refused to confess Him, his conviction would evidently be
his greater condemnation. e faith of the heart produces
the confession of the mouth; the confession of the mouth
is the counterproof of the sincerity of the faith, and of
honesty, in the sense of the claim which the Lord has
upon us in grace. It is the testimony which God requires
at the outset. It is to sound the trumpet on earth in face
of the enemy. It is to say that Christ has conquered, and
that everything belongs in right to Him. It is a confession
which brings in God in answer to the name of Jesus. It is
not that which brings in righteousness, but it is the public
acknowledgment of Christ, and thus gives expression to the
faith by which there is participation in the righteousness of
God, so that it may be said, “He believes in Christ unto
salvation; he has the faith that justies.”
“He rst loved us”: God’s favor not dependent on the
soul’s aections; the perfection of Christ’s work
I have entered here a little more into detail, because this
is a point on which the human heart perplexes itself; and
perplexes itself so much the more because it is sincere, as
long as there is any unbelief and self-righteousness remaining.
It is impossible that an awakened soul should not feel the
necessity of having the heart set right and turned to God;
and hence, not submitting to the righteousness of God,
he thinks to make the favor of God depend on the state
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of his own aections, whereas God loves us while we are
yet sinners. e state of our aections is of all importance;
but it supposes a relationship already existing, according to
which we love. We love too because we are loved of God.
Now His love has done something-has done something
according to our necessities, and according to the divine
glory. It has given Jesus; and Jesus has accomplished what
was required, in order that we may participate in divine
righteousness; and thus He has placed <P166>everyone
who (acknowledging that he is a lost sinner) believes in
Him, in the secure relationship of a child and of a justied
soul before God, according to the perfection of the work
of Christ. Salvation belongs to this soul according to the
declaration of God Himself. Loved with such love, saved
by such grace, enjoying such favor, let it cultivate aections
suitable to the gift of Jesus, and to the knowledge it has of
Him and of His goodness.
“No dierence” in the ruin of sinners and “no
dierence” in the richness of mercy
It is evident that, if it is “whosoever” believes in Jesus,
the Gentile comes in as well as the Jew. ere is no
dierence; the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon
Him. It is beautiful to see this form of expression, “ere
is no dierence,” repeated here. e Apostle had used it
before with the addition, “For all have sinned.” Sin puts
all men on a level in ruin before God. But there is also no
dierence, “for the same Lord over all is rich unto all,” for
everyone who calls upon His name shall be saved.
e true and living God proclaimed to the Gentiles;
the Gentiles received; Israel, perverse and disobedient,
at enmity
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245
On this declaration, the Apostle founds another
argument; and by it he justies the ways of God that
were accomplished in his ministry. e Jewish scriptures
declared that everyone who called upon the name of the
Lord should be saved. Now, the Jews acknowledged that
the Gentiles did not know the name of the true and living
God. It was needful therefore to proclaim Him, in order
that they might call upon Him, and the whole ministry
of the Apostle was justied. Accordingly it was written,
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel
of peace.” For, in dealing with these questions among
the Jews, he naturally rests on the authority of their own
scriptures.
But he applies this principle for evangelization to
the Jews as well as to the Gentiles (for the law was not
the announcement of good news). He quotes Isaiah to
the same purpose. It was in a proclamation-a truth thus
publicly preached-that Israel had not believed; so that
there ought to be faith in a truth thus preached, in the
word proclaimed. Verse 18 presents some <P167>diculty.
It is certain that the Apostle intends to explain that a
proclamation of the truth on God’s part had taken place.
Israel was without excuse, for the report had even gone
out everywhere, the words which announced God unto the
ends of the earth. e testimony then was not conned to
the Jews. e Gentiles had heard it everywhere. is is plain.
But does the Apostle merely borrow the words (which in
the passage quoted apply to the testimony of creation), or
does he mean to speak of the testimony of nature itself ?
I believe that he uses the passage to show that God had
the Gentiles in view in His testimonies; that he wishes
quietly to suggest this to the Jews by a quotation from their
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own scriptures, that not only have they, the Jews, heard,
but that the testimony has gone everywhere, and that this
was in the mind of God. Paul does not quote the passage
as a prophecy of that which was taking place; he borrows
the words, without that form of speech, to show that this
universal testimony was in the mind of God, whatever
might be the means employed. And then, stating the thing
with more precision for the Jew, he adds, Did not Israel
know? Was not the nation apprised of this extension to the
Gentiles, of the testimony of this proclamation of grace to
them, of the reception of the testimony by the Gentiles, so
as to bring them into relationship with God? Yes; Moses
had already said, that God would provoke Israel to jealousy
by a people without knowledge. And Isaiah had spoken
boldly, formally declaring that God should be found by
a nation that sought Him not; and to Israel, that all day
long He had stretched forth His hands to a rebellious and
gainsaying people; in a word, that the Gentiles should nd
Him, and Israel be perverse and disobedient. us, the
testimony borne to their relative positions-although the
Apostle approaches it gradually and quietly-is distinct and
formal: the Gentiles received; Israel at enmity.
Romans 11
247
73208
Romans 11
ree proofs that God has not rejected His people
Hereupon the question is immediately raised, Has God
then rejected His people? To this chapter 11 is the answer.
e Apostle gives three proofs that it is by no means the
case. Firstly, he is himself an Israelite; there is a remnant
whom God has reserved,<P168> as in the days of Elias-a
proof of the constant favor of the Lord, of the interest He
takes in His people, even when they are unfaithful; so that
when the prophet, the most faithful and energetic among
them, knew not where to nd one who was true to God
besides himself, God had His eyes upon the remnant who
had not bowed the knee to Baal. Secondly, the call of the
Gentiles, and their substitution for Israel, was not the
denitive rejection of the latter in the counsels of God;
for God had done it to provoke Israel to jealousy. It was
not, then, for their rejection. irdly, the Lord would come
forth out of Sion, and turn away the iniquities of Jacob.
at which the Apostle, or rather which the Holy Spirit,
says on this point requires to be looked at in more detail.
e election of sovereign grace in Elias’ time
e Apostle, in quoting the case of Elias, shows that
when Israel was in such a state that even Elias pleaded
against them, yet God had not rejected them, He had
reserved for Himself seven thousand men. is was the
election of sovereign grace. It was the same thing now. But
it was by grace, and not by works. e election then, has
obtained the blessing, and the rest was blinded. Even as it
was written, “God hath given them the spirit of slumber.”
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Israel provoked to jealousy by God’s favor to Gentiles
in grafting them into the olive tree
Had they then stumbled that they should fall? No!
But through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles to
provoke Israel to jealousy-a second proof that it was not
for their rejection. But if their diminishing and fall was a
blessing to the Gentiles, what should not the fruit be of
their restoration? If the rstfruits are holy, so is the lump;
if the root, the tree also. Now, as to the continued chain of
those who enjoy the promises in this world, Abraham was
the root, and not the Gentiles; Israel, the natural stock and
branches. And here is that which happened in the good
olive tree of promise in this world, of which Abraham
was the root (God Himself the source of leaf and fruit),
and Israel the stem and the tree. ere had been some bad
branches, and they had been cut o; and others from the
Gentiles grafted in, in their place, who<P169> thus enjoyed
the richness natural to the tree of promise. But it was on
the principle of faith that they, being of the wild olive tree,
had been grafted in. Many of the Israelite branches, the
natural heirs of the promises, had been cut o because of
their unbelief; for when the fulllment of the promises was
oered them, they rejected it. ey rested on their own
righteousness, and despised the goodness of God. us
the Gentiles, made partakers of the promises, stood on
the principle of faith. But if they abandoned this principle,
they should lose their place in the tree of promise, even
as the unbelieving Jews had lost theirs. Goodness was to
be their portion in this dispensation of God’s government,
with regard to those who had part in the enjoyment of
His promises, if they continued in this goodness; if not,
cutting o. is had happened to the Jews; it should be
Romans 11
249
the same with the Gentiles if they did not continue in that
goodness. Such is the government of God, with regard to
that which stood as His tree on the earth. But there was a
positive counsel of God accomplished in that which took
place, namely, the partial blinding of Israel (for they were
not rejected) until all the Gentiles who were to have part
in the blessing of these days should have come in. After
this Israel should be saved as a whole; it should not be
individuals spared and added to the assembly, in which
Israel had no longer any place as a nation; they should be
saved as a whole, as Israel. Christ shall come forth from
Sion as the seat of His power, and shall turn away iniquity
from Jacob, God pardoning them all transgressions.
God’s unchangeable counsels and promises fullled
in mercy to the Jews; the tree of promise on the earth
is is the third proof that Israel was not rejected. For
while enemies, as concerning the gospel at the present
time, they are still beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For that
which God has once chosen and called He never casts
o. He does not repent of His counsels, nor of the call
which gives them eect. But if the counsel of God remains
unchangeable, the way in which it is accomplished brings
out the marvelous wisdom of God. e Gentiles had long
continued in the disobedience of unbelief. God comes in in
grace. e Jews opposed themselves to the actings of grace.
ey lose all right to the promises through this unbelief,
so that they must receive the eect of the promise on the
footing of pure mercy and the<P170> sovereign grace of
God,1 in the same way as the poor Gentile. For He had
shut them all up in unbelief, that it might be pure mercy
to all. erefore it is that the Apostle exclaims, Oh depth
of wisdom and knowledge! e promises are fullled,
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and the pretension to human righteousness annihilated;
the Jews who have lost everything receive all on the true
ground of the goodness of God. eir apparent loss of all
is but the means of their receiving all from sovereign grace,
instead of having it by virtue of human righteousness, or an
unforfeited promise. All is grace: yet God is ever faithful,
and that in spite of man’s unfaithfulness. Man is blessed;
the Jew receives the eect of the promise; but both the one
and the other have to attribute it to the pure mercy of God.
ere is nothing about the assembly here: it is the tree of
promise, and those who in virtue of their position have part
successively in the enjoyment of the promises of earth. e
unbelieving Jews were never cut o from the church, they
were never in it. ey had been in the position of natural
heirs of the right to the promises. e assembly is not the
Jews’ own olive tree according to nature, so that they should
be grafted into it again. Nothing can be plainer: the chain
of those who had a right to the promises from Abraham
was Israel; some of the branches were then cut o. e tree
of promise remains on the earth: the Gentiles are grafted
into it in place of the Jews, they also become unfaithful
(that is to say, the case is supposed), and they would in their
turn be cut o, and the Jews be reinstated in the old olive
tree, according to the promises and in order to enjoy them;
but it is in pure mercy. It is clearly not by the gospel they get
the blessing; for, as touching the gospel, they are enemies
for the Gentiles’ sake; as touching election, beloved for the
fathers’ sake.
(1. Verse 31 should be translated, “Even so these [the
Jews] have now been unbelieving with regard to your
mercy, in order that they should receive mercy” (or that
they should be the objects of mercy)-“your mercy,” that is
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251
to say, the grace in Christ which extended to the Gentiles.
us the Jews were the objects of mercy, having forfeited
all right to enjoy the eect of the promise. God would not
fail to fulll it. He bestows it on them in mercy at the end,
when He has brought in the fullness of the Gentiles.)
e privileges and responsibility of the place of
blessing
Remark further here an important principle: the
enjoyment of privileges by position makes us responsible
for them, without saying the individual was born again.
e Jewish branch was in the<P171> tree of promise and
broken o: so the Gentiles. ere was nothing vital or real;
but they were in the place of blessing, “partakers of the root
and fatness of the olive tree,” by being grafted in.
ese communications of the mind of God end this
portion of the book, namely, that in which the Apostle
reconciles sovereign grace shown to sinners (putting all on
a level in the common ruin of sin) with the special privileges
of the people of Israel, founded on the faithfulness of God.
ey had lost everything as to right. God would fulll His
promises in grace and by mercy.
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73209
Romans 12-13
e ground of all Christian morality laid on God’s
mercy and saving grace
e Apostle resumes the thread of his instructions,
by taking up-as he does in all his epistles-the moral
consequences of his doctrine. He places the believer at the
outset on the ground of God’s mercy, which he had fully
developed already. e principle of grace that saves had
been established as the basis of salvation. e ground of all
Christian morality is now laid in this fundamental principle:
to present our bodies as a sacrice, living, holy, acceptable
to God-an intelligent service, not that of the hands, not
consisting in ceremonies which the body could perform-a
simple but deep-reaching and all-ecacious principle. is
was for man personally. As to his outward relationships, he
was not to be conformed to the world. Neither was this
to be an outside mechanical nonconformity, but the result
of being renewed in mind, so as to seek for and discern
the will of God, good and acceptable and perfect (the life
being thus transformed).
is connects itself with the end of chapter 6. It is not
those sitting in heavenly places, imitators of God as dear
children, but men on earth set free by the delivering power
of redemption and grace, yielding themselves up to God to
do His will. e exhortation follows the character we have
seen to be that of the epistle.
e Christian’s walk and life characterized by
devotedness, obedience, humility and dependence
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253
us the Christian walk was characterized by
devotedness and obedience. It was a life subjected to the
will of another, namely, to<P172> the will of God; and
therefore stamped with humility and dependence. But
there was absolute devotedness of heart in self-sacrice.
For there was a danger, owing from the power that acted
in it, of the esh coming in and availing itself of it. With
regard to this, everyone was to have a spirit of wisdom
and moderation, and to act within the limits of the gift
which God had dispensed to him, occupying himself with
it according to the will of God; even as each member
has its own place in the body, and should accomplish the
function which God has ascribed to it. e Apostle passes
on insensibly to all the forms which duty assumes in the
Christian, according to the various positions in which he
stands, and to the spirit in which he ought to walk in every
relationship.
e Christian’s relationship with the authorities
under which he is placed
It is in chapter 12 only that the idea of the assembly as
a body is thus found in this epistle; and that, in connection
with the duties of the members individually-duties that
owed from their positions as such. Otherwise it is the
position of man in his individual responsibility before
God, and this met by grace, and then the delivered man,
that is set before us in the Epistle to the Romans. e
directions given by the Apostle extend to the Christian’s
relationship with the authorities under which he is placed.
He recognizes them as accomplishing the service of God,
and as armed with authority from Him, so that resisting
them would be resisting that which God had established.
Conscience therefore, and not merely force, constrained
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the Christian to obey. In ne he was to render to every
man that which was due to him in virtue of his position; to
leave nothing owing to anyone, be it of whatever character
it might - excepting love - a debt which never can be
liquidated.
Christians among themselves as to those of high or
low degree
Among themselves Christians are exhorted not to
seek the high things of this world, but to walk as brethren
with those of low degree: a precept too much forgotten in
the assembly of God-to her loss. If the Christian of high
degree requires that honor according to the esh should
be paid him, let it be done with good will.<P173> Happy
he who, according to the example of the King of kings
and to the precept of our Apostle, knows how to walk in
company with those of low degree in their journey through
the wilderness. Now love is the fullling of the law; for love
works no ill to his neighbor, and so fullls the law.
Admonition to walk as children of the day, which is
at hand
Another principle acts also on the spirit of the Christian.
It is time to awake. e deliverance from this present evil
age, which the Lord will accomplish for us, draws nigh.
e night is far spent, the day is at hand-God knows the
moment. e characteristics which marked its approach in
the days of the Apostle have ripened in a very dierent way
since then, although God, with a view to those whom He
is gathering in, is still even now restraining them. Let us
then walk as children of the day, casting o the works of
darkness. We belong to the day, of which Christ Himself
will be the light. Let our walk be in accordance with that
day, putting on Christ Himself, and not being studious of
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that which is in accordance with the will and the lusts of
the esh.
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Romans 14:1-15:7
Conscientious weakness of others as to days and meats
and being conscientious ourselves: three directions
given in this respect
From the beginning of chapter 14 to the end of verse
7 in chapter 15 another point is taken up, to which the
dierent positions of the Jew and Gentile gave rise. It was
dicult for a Jew to rid himself of the sense of dierence
between days and between meats. A Gentile, having
abandoned his whole religious system as idolatrous, held
to nothing. Human nature is liable in this respect to sin on
both sides-a want of conscience, an unbridled will; and a
ceremonial conscience. Christianity recognizes neither of
these things. It delivers from the question of days and meats
by making us heavenly with Christ. But it teaches us to
bear with conscientious weakness, and to be conscientious
ourselves. Conscience cannot-has not a right to-prescribe
a new thing to us as a duty, but it may, through ignorance,
hold to a traditional thing as obligatory. In reality we have
entire liberty, but we ought to bear with<P174> weakness
of faith in another, and not put a stumbling block in his way.
e Apostle gives three directions in this respect: First, to
receive the weak, but not for the discussion of questions that
have to be settled; second, not to judge our brother, since
he is Christ’s servant, not ours; and everyone must give
account of himself to God; third, to bear the inrmities of
the weak, and not to please ourselves; to walk in the spirit of
love, and, if we are in a higher state, to show it by receiving
one another, as Christ has received us, to the glory of God,
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which eclipses man and his petty superiorities, and which
kindles charity and makes it ardent, earnest in seeking the
good of others-taking us so out of self, and beyond little
things, that we are able to adapt ourselves to others, where
the will of God and His glory are not in question.
Individual responsibility to the Lord in regard to
ourselves and our brethren
Many important principles are brought forward in these
exhortations. Everyone shall give account of himself to
God. Everyone, in these cases, should be fully persuaded in
his own mind, and should not judge another. If anyone has
faith that delivers him from traditional observances, and he
sees them to be absolutely nothing-as indeed they are-let
him have his faith for God, and not cause his brother to
stumble.
No one lives to himself, and no one dies to himself; we
are the Lord’s. e weak then regard the day for the Lord’s
sake; the others do not regard it because of the Lord. is
is the reason therefore for not judging. He whom I judge
is the Lord’s. erefore also I should seek to please my
brother for his edication-he is the Lord’s; and I should
receive him, as I have been received, to share in the glory
of God which has been conferred on him. We serve Christ
in these things by thinking of the good of our brother.
As to the energy of a man’s faith, let him have it between
himself and God. Love is the rule for the use of his liberty,
if it is liberty, and not the bondage of disregarding. For
the converse of this principle, when these observances are
used to destroy liberty in Christ, see Galatians 4, where
the Apostle shows that, if the observance is taught as a
principle, it is really turning back to paganism.<P175>
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Romans 15:8-16:27
ese instructions close the epistle. From chapter
15:8, it is the exordium, the personal circumstances of the
Apostle, and salutations.
Paul’s thought of God’s dealings with Jew and Gentile
in the advent of Jesus
In verses 8-12, he sums up his thoughts respecting
God’s dealings with the Jew and the Gentile in the advent
of Jesus. He was a minister of the circumcision for the
truth of God, to accomplish the promises made to the
fathers. For to the Jews God had made promises; but none
to the Gentiles. To the latter it was not truth that was in
question: but by grace they might through Jesus glorify
God for His mercy. For them the Apostle quotes passages
from Deuteronomy (that is to say, from the Law), from the
Psalms, and from the Prophets.
Paul’s desires for the Roman Christians and his
present service for Jews
In verse 13, he turns aectionately to the Romans to
express his desires for them, and his condence in the
blessing they had received from God, which enabled them
mutually to exhort one another, while expressing at the
same time his boldness in some sort, because of the grace
God had given him, to be the minister of Jesus Christ to
the Gentiles by fullling a public function with regard to
them; being, as it were, a priest to oer up the Gentiles as
an oering acceptable to God, because sanctied by the
Holy Spirit (see Numbers 8:11). is was his glory before
God. is sanctication by the Holy Spirit was that which
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took the place of sanctication by birth, and it was well
worth it.
Moreover he had accomplished his task from Jerusalem
round about Illyricum; not where Christ had been preached
before, but where they had not yet heard of Him. is had
prevented his coming to Rome. But now that there was no
more place for him, according to the Holy Spirit-nothing
more in those parts for him to do, and having long desired to
see them, he thought to visit them on his way to Spain. For
the moment he was going to Jerusalem with the collection
made in Macedonia and Achaia for the saints.<P176>
We see that his heart turns to the Jews; they occupied
his thoughts; and while desiring to put the seal of
performance on the grace which this collection betokened,
he was preoccupied with them as Jews, as those who had a
claim: a mingled feeling perhaps of one who was anxious to
show that he did not forget them; for, in fact, he loved his
nation. We have to learn whether, in executing this service
(properly that of a deacon), pleasing as it might be, he was
at the height of his mission as apostle. However that might
be, the hand of God was in it to make all things work for
the good of His beloved servant and child, as well as for
His own glory. Paul had a presentiment that it would not
perhaps turn out well, and he asks the prayers of the saints
at Rome, that he might be delivered from the hands of the
wicked, and see their face with joy. We know how it ended:
the subject was spoken of when we were considering the
Acts. He saw them indeed at Rome; he was delivered, but
as a prisoner; and we do not know if he ever went to Spain.
e ways of God are according to His eternal counsels,
and according to His grace, and according to His perfect
wisdom.
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Personal salutations and loving remembrance of
service for the Lord
Never having known the Roman Christians as an
assembly, Paul sends many personal salutations. is was
the link which subsisted. We see how touchingly his heart
dwells upon all the details of service which attached him to
those who had rendered it. He who by grace had searched
into all the counsels of God, who had been admitted to
see that which could not be made known to man here
below, remembered all that these humble Christians- these
devoted women-had done for him and for the Lord. is is
love; it is the real proof of the power of the Spirit of God;
it is the bond of charity.
A precious and perfect rule for the Christian walk
We have also here a precious and most perfect rule for
our walk, namely, to be simple concerning evil, and wise
unto that which is good. Christianity alone could have
given such a rule; for it provides a walk that is positively
good, and wisdom to walk in it. As Christians we may be
simple concerning evil. What a deliverance! While the man
of the world must needs acquaint himself with<P177> evil,
in order to avoid it in this world of snares and of artice, he
must corrupt his mind, accustom himself to think of evil,
in order not to be entrapped by it. But soon there should
be entire deliverance-soon should Satan be trodden under
their feet.
e Apostle’s letters, the prophetic writings
We see also that the Apostle did not write his letters
himself, but employed a brother to do it. Here it was one
named Tertius (vs. 22). Deeply concerned at the condition
of the Galatians, he wrote himself the letter addressed
to them; but the salutation at the end of this, as of other
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261
epistles, was in his own hand in order to verify the contents
of the epistle (1Corinthians 16:21; 2essalonians 3:17,
in which the feigned epistle alluded to in 2essalonians
2 gave occasion to state this proof, which he always gave,
that an epistle was truly his). We see likewise, by this little
circumstance, that he attached a solemn and authoritative
character to his epistles, that they were not merely the
eusions of a spiritual heart, but that in writing them
he knew and would have others understand, that they
were worthy of consideration and of being preserved as
authorities, as the expression and exercise of his apostolic
mission, and were to be received as such; that is to say,
as possessing the Lord’s authority, with which he was
furnished by the power of the Holy Spirit. ey were
letters from the Lord by his means, even as his words had
also been (1ess. 2:13; 1Cor. 14:37).
e doxology of the last verses suggesting truths
linking this epistle with Paul’s writings in general
We have yet to observe, with regard to the three verses
at the end of the epistle, that they are, as it were, detached
from all the rest, introducing, in the form of a doxology,
the suggestion of a truth, the communication of which
distinguished the Apostle’s teaching. He does not develop
it here. e task which the Holy Spirit accomplished in
this epistle, was the presentation of the soul individually
before God according to the divine thoughts. Nevertheless
this connects itself immediately with the position of the
body; and the doctrine respecting the body, the assembly,
cannot be separated from it. Now the Apostle informs us
distinctly, that the mystery, the assembly, and the gathering
<P178>together in one of all things under Christ, had been
entirely unknown: God had been silent on that subject in
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the times which were dened by the word ages, the assembly
not forming a part of that course of events, and of the ways
of God on earth. But the mystery was now revealed and
communicated to the Gentiles by prophetic writings-not
“the writings of the prophets.” e epistles addressed to
the Gentiles possessed this character; they were prophetic
writings-a fresh proof of the character of the epistles in the
New Testament.
e signicance of the postscript; the scope of the
epistle
He who has understood the doctrine of this epistle, and
of the writings of Paul in general, will readily apprehend
the signicance of this postscript. e epistle itself
develops with divine perfection and fullness how a soul
can stand before God in this world, and the grace and
righteousness of God, maintaining withal His counsels as
to Israel.<P179>
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1Corinthians
e occasion for and circumstances surrounding the
epistle
e Epistle to the Corinthians presents very dierent
subjects from those which occupied us in the one addressed
to the Romans. We nd in it moral details, and the interior
order of an assembly, with regard to which the Spirit of
God here displays His wisdom in a direct way. ere is no
mention of elders or of other functionaries of the assembly.
rough the labors of the Apostle a numerous assembly
had been formed (for God had much people in that city)
in the midst of a very corrupt population, where riches and
luxury were united with a moral disorder which had made
the city a proverb. At the same time, here as elsewhere,
false teachers (in general, Jews) sought to undermine the
inuence of the Apostle. e spirit of philosophy did not
fail also to exercise its baneful inuence, although Corinth
was not, like Athens, its principal seat. Morality and the
authority of the Apostle were compromised together; and
the state of things was most critical. e epistle was written
from Ephesus, where the tidings of the sad state of the
ock at Corinth had reached the Apostle, almost at the
moment when he had determined to visit them on his way
into Macedonia (instead of passing along the coast of Asia
Minor as he did), then returning to pay them a second
visit on his way back. ese tidings prevented his doing so,
and, instead of visiting them to pour out his heart among
them, he wrote this letter. e second epistle was written
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in Macedonia, when Titus had brought him word of the
happy eect of the rst.
e subjects and divisions of the epistle
e subjects of this rst epistle are very easily divided
into their natural order. In the rst place, before he blames
the Christians at Corinth to whom he writes, the Apostle
<P180>acknowledges all the grace which God had already
bestowed on them, and would still impart (ch. 1:1-9).
From verse 10 to chapter 4:21 the subject of divisions,
schools of doctrine and human wisdom, is spoken of in
contrast with revelation and divine wisdom. Chapter 5, the
corruption of morals, and discipline, whether by power, or
in the responsibility of the assembly. Chapter 6, temporal
aairs, lawsuits; and again the subject of fornication, which
was of primary importance for the Christians of this city.
Chapter 7, marriage is considered. Ought people to marry?
e obligation of those who had already married; and
the case of a converted husband or of a converted wife,
whose wife or whose husband was not converted. Chapter
8, should they eat things oered to idols? Chapter 9, his
apostleship. Chapter 10, their condition in general, their
danger of being seduced, whether by fornication, or by
idolatry, and idolatrous feasts, with the principles relating
thereto, which introduces the Lord’s supper. Chapter 11,
questions connected with their behavior in religious matters
individually or (vs. 17) in the assembly. Afterwards, chapter
12, the exercise of gifts, and their true value, and the object
of their use, magnifying (ch. 13) the comparative value
of charity; to the end of chapter 14, ordering the exercise
of gifts also, with which it is compared. Chapter 15, the
resurrection, which some denied, and specially that of the
saints; and chapter 16, the collections for the poor in Judea,
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265
with some salutations, and the principles of subordination
to those whom God has raised up for service, even where
there were no elders. It is of great value to have these
directions immediately from the Lord, independent of a
formal organization, so that individual conscience and that
of the body as a whole should be engaged.
But there are some other considerations as to the
character and structure of the epistle which I must not pass
by.
e character of the epistle as addressed to the
professing
church and recognizing a local assembly as
representing it
e reader may remark a dierence in the address in
the Corinthians and Ephesians. In the Corinthians, “To
the church of God, . . . with all that in every place call on
the name of the Lord Jesus.” It is the professing church,
the members being assumed to be faithful, at any rate in
character such till put out, and with<P181> that, everyone
that owned Jesus as Lord-the house; hence chapter 10:1-
5. In Ephesians it is, “Holy and faithful brethren,” and we
have the proper privileges of the body. is character of the
epistle, as embracing the professing church, and recognizing
a local assembly as representing it in the locality, gives the
epistle great importance. Further, I think it will be found
that the outward professing assembly is dealt with to the
middle of chapter 10 (and there the nature of the Lord’s
supper introduces the one body of Christ, which is treated
of as to the gifts of the Spirit in chapter 12); comeliness
in woman’s activities in the rst verses of chapter 11; and
afterwards from verse 17 what bets the coming together in
the assembly, and the Lord’s supper, with the government
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of God. Verses 1-16 do not apply to the assembly. Still,
order in the local assembly is everywhere the subject; only,
from chapter 1 to chapter 10:14, the professing multitude
is in view, supposed however sincere, but possibly not so.
From chapter 10:15 to the end of chapter 12 the body is
in view.
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Paul’s apostolic authority as called by God; Christians
called to holiness by relationship which reposes on God’s
faithfulness
I will now turn back to take up the thread of the
contents of this epistle from the beginning. Paul was an
apostle by the will of God. at was his authority, however
it might be with others. Moreover the same call that made
those of Corinth Christians had made him an apostle.
He addresses the assembly of God at Corinth, adding a
character (the application of which is evident when we
consider the contents of the epistle)-“sanctied in Christ
Jesus.” Afterwards the universality of the application of the
doctrine and instructions of the epistle, and of its authority
over all Christians, wherever they might be, is brought
forward in this address. Happily, whatever sorrow he felt
at the state of the Corinthians, the Apostle could fall back
upon the grace of God, and thus recognize all the grace
which He had bestowed on them. But the placing them
thus in relationship to God brought all the eects of His
holiness to bear upon their consciences, while giving the
Apostle’s heart the encouragement of the perfect<P182>
grace of God towards them. And this grace itself became a
powerful lever for the Word in the hearts of the Corinthians.
In the presence of such grace they ought to be ashamed
of sin. Nor can there be a more remarkable testimony
than is here found of reckoning on the faithfulness of
God towards His people. e relationship does claim
holiness: in holiness alone it is enjoyed; but it reposes on
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the faithfulness of God. e Corinthians were walking, as
we know, badly. e Apostle lets none of the evil pass; but
still he declares that God was faithful and would conrm
them to the end that they might be-not safe, but-blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then proceeds to
blame them. What a wonderful testimony!
God’s grace a powerful lever for the Word in the heart
Paul (the Spirit Himself) thus linked the Corinthians
with God; and that which He was in this connection with
them had all its force upon their hearts and consciences. At
the same time the use of this weapon opened their heart to
all that the Apostle had to say. One must be very near the
Lord to be able in practice thus to look at Christians who
are walking badly. It is not to spare their sins-the Apostle
is very far from doing that; but it is grace which brings
their own consciences to be occupied with it, as having a
relationship with God that was too precious to allow them
to continue in sin or to permit it.
e Epistle to the Galatians supplies us with a
remarkable instance of the condence thus inspired;
compare chapter 4:20 and chapter 5:10.
God’s testimony conrmed by His gifts
e Corinthians were enriched by God with His gifts,
and His testimony was thus conrmed among them, so
that they came behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation
of the Lord, the fulllment of all things. Solemn day! for
which God, who had called them, conrmed them in His
faithfulness, that they might be without reproach in that
day, called as they were to the fellowship and communion
of His Son Jesus Christ. Short but precious exposition of
the grace and faithfulness of God, serving as a basis (if their
condition did not allow the Apostle to develop it as he did
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269
to the Ephesians) to all the exhortations and instructions
which he<P183> addressed to the Corinthians in order to
strengthen them and direct their wavering steps.
Man’s wisdom and strength set aside; the preaching of
the cross the power of God
e Apostle rst takes up the folly of the Corinthians in
making the chief Christian ministers and Christ Himself
heads of schools. Christ was not divided. ey had not
been baptized unto the name of Paul. He had indeed, on
occasion, baptized a few; but his mission was to preach, not
to baptize.1 It was in virtue of, and according to, Acts 26:17,
and chapter 13:2-4, and not Matthew 28:19. Moreover,
all this human wisdom was but foolishness, which God
brought to nothing: the preaching of the cross was the
power of God; and God had chosen the weak things, the
things of nought, foolish things according to the world, to
annihilate the wisdom and strength of the world, in order
that the gospel should be evidently the power of God. e
Jews asked for a sign, the Greeks sought for wisdom; but
God caused Christ crucied to be preached, a scandal to
the Jews, foolishness to the Greeks, but to them which
are called the power of God. By things that are not He
brought to nought things that are, because His weakness
is stronger than the strength of the world; His foolishness
wiser than the wisdom of the age. e esh shall not
glory in His presence. God dealt with conscience, though
in grace, according to the true position of responsible
man, and did not subject Himself to the judgment and
reasonings of man’s mind, wholly incompetent thereto,
and which put him out of his place as if he could judge of
God. But, besides this, the Christian was more even than
the object of God’s instruction; he was himself of God in
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Christ Jesus; of God he had his life, his being, his position
as a Christian. And Christ was unto him, from God,
wisdom, righteousness, sanctication, and redemption-all
in contrast with the pretensions of the human mind, with
the false righteousness of the Jew under the law, with the
means and the measure of the sanctication it supplied,
and with the weakness of man, the last trace of which God
will remove<P184> in the deliverance He will accomplish
by His power in Christ when He shall complete the work
of His grace. us we are of God, and Christ is everything
for us on God’s part, in order that he who glories may
glory in the Lord: a brief but mighty testimony to what
Christianity is in its elements.
(1. is statement is the more remarkable, as he had
a special revelation as to the Lord’s supper. But that
ordinance has reference to the unity of the body, which
was specially the testimony of the Apostle. e twelve were
sent to baptize the nations (Matt. 28).)
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e power of God the solid foundation for faith
It was in this spirit that Paul had come among them
at rst; he would know nothing but Christ,1 and Christ
in His humiliation and abasement, object of contempt
to senseless men. His speech was not attractive with the
carnal persuasiveness of a factitious eloquence: but it was
the expression of the presence and action of the Spirit,
and of the power which accompanied that presence. us
their faith rested, not on the fair words of man, which
another more eloquent or more subtle might upset, but on
the power of God-a solid foundation for our feeble souls-
blessed be His name for it!
(1. Take notice here, that Paul does not say he would
know nothing but the cross, as some persons-and even
Christians-wrongly apply it. He would know nothing but
Christ in contrast with philosophy among the pagans, and
Christ in the most humbled form, in order to overturn the
pride of man. He goes on to inform us, that among those
who were initiated into Christianity he taught wisdom, but
it was the wisdom of God, revealed by Him who searches
the deep things of God Himself. It is a very grievous abuse
that is often made of this passage (incorrectly quoted
besides).)
e wisdom of God: the way in which it is
communicated and its reception
Nevertheless, when once the soul was taught and
established in the doctrine of salvation in Christ, there was
a wisdom of which the Apostle spoke; not the wisdom of
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this present age, nor of the princes of this age, which perish,
wisdom and all; but the wisdom of God in a mystery, a secret
counsel of God (revealed now by the Spirit), ordained in
His settled purpose unto our glory before the world was-a
counsel which, with all their wisdom, none of the princes
of this world knew. Had they known it, they would not
have crucied the One in whose Person it was all to be
accomplished.
e Apostle does not touch the subject of the mystery,
because he had to feed them as babes, and only in order to
put it in <P185>contrast with the false wisdom of the world;
but the way in which this wisdom was communicated is
important. at which had never entered into the heart
of man1 God had revealed by His Spirit, for the Spirit
searches all things, even the deep things of God. It is
only the spirit of a man which is in him that knows the
things which he has not communicated. So no one knows
the things of God save the Spirit of God. Now it is the
Spirit of God which the Apostle and the other vessels of
revelation had received, that they might know the things
which are freely given of God. is is the knowledge of the
things themselves in the vessels of revelation. Afterwards
this instrument of God was to communicate them. He did
so, not in words which the art of man taught, but which the
Spirit-which God-taught, communicating spiritual things
by a spiritual medium.2e communication was by the
Spirit as well as the thing communicated. ere was yet
one thing wanting that this revelation might be possessed
by others - the reception of these communications. is
also required the action of the Spirit. e natural man did
not receive them; and they are spiritually discerned.
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(1. e passage is often quoted to show the things are
so great one cannot know them. Whereas it is a quotation
from Isaiah to show that what could not then be known
(when the evil was there, and man was dealt with according
to what he was) is now revealed, now that man is in glory
in the Person of Christ, and the Holy Spirit come down to
show us what is there. Christianity is not Judaism.)
(2. I have no doubt that this is the meaning of the
passage. e means were of the same nature as the thing
for which they were employed (vs. 13).)
A good remedy for philosophic pride
e source, the medium of communication, the
reception, all was of the Spirit. us the spiritual man
judges all things; he is judged of no man. e power of the
Spirit in him makes his judgment true and just, but gives
him motives and a walk that are unintelligible to one who
has not the Spirit. Very simple as to that which is said-
nothing can be more important than that which is here
taught. Alas! the Corinthians, whether when the Apostle
was at Corinth, or at the time of writing this letter, were
not in a condition to have the mystery communicated to
them-a grievous humiliation to their philosophic pride,
but therefore a good remedy for it.<P186>
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1Corinthians 3
e assembly viewed as God’s building; its sure
foundation; man’s building on it and his responsibility
ey were not natural men; but they were carnal (not
spiritual) men, so that the Apostle had to feed them with
milk and not with meat which was only t for those that
were of full age. at with which they nourished their
pride was a proof of this- their divisions into schools of
doctrine. Paul, no doubt, had planted; Apollos watered.
It was well. But it was God alone who gave the increase.
Moreover the Apostle had laid the foundation of this
building of God, the assembly at Corinth; others had built
since-had carried on the work of the edication of souls.
Let everyone take heed. ere was but one foundation; it
was laid. But in connection with it, they might teach things
solid or worthless and form souls by one or the other-
perhaps even introduce souls won by such vain doctrines
among the saints. e work would be proved, sooner or
later, by some day of trial. If they had wrought in the work
of God, with solid materials, the work would stand; if not,
it would come to nothing. e eect, the fruit of labor,
would be destroyed-the man who had wrought be saved,
because he had built on the foundation-had true faith in
Christ. Yet the shaking, caused by the failure of all that he
had thought genuine,1 would be apt, for himself, to shake
the consciousness of his connection with, and condence
in, the foundation. He should be saved as through the re.
He who had wrought according to God should receive the
fruit of his labor. If anyone corrupted the temple of God-
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introduced that<P187> which destroyed fundamental
truths, he should be destroyed himself.
(1. Remark here, the very important instruction as to
the assembly viewed as God’s building. In Matthew 16 we
have Christ’s building, and Satan’s power cannot prevail
against it. is building will go on till complete at the end.
Hence in 1Peter 2 and Ephesians 2 we have no workman,
and the stones come, and the building grows. It is Christ’s
own work: He builds, and the building is not yet complete.
Here it is God’s building; but there is a builder, and man’s
responsibility comes in. ere is a wise master-builder, or
it may be those who build with wood, hay, and stubble-
yea, even those who corrupt. In Ephesians 2 there is also
a present building, but it is the fact viewed abstractly.
Here the responsibility is formally stated. e confusion
of Christ’s building (not yet nished) and man’s building,
the applying the promise made to one to the other which
rests on man’s responsibility and is a present building on
earth, is one grand source of Popish and Puseyite errors.
Against Christ’s work nothing can prevail. Man may build
with wood and hay and stubble, and his work be destroyed,
as it will.)
e workmen and their work
e subject then is ministerial labor, carried on by means
of certain doctrines, either good, worthless, or subversive of
the truth; and the fruits which this labor would produce.
And there are three cases; the work good as well as the
workman; the work vain, but the workman saved; the
corrupter of God’s temple-here the workman would be
destroyed.
True wisdom
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Finally, if anyone desired to be wise in this world, let him
become unintelligent in order to be wise. God counted the
wisdom of the wise as foolishness, and would take them
in their own craftiness. But in this the saints were below
their privileges. All things were theirs, since they were the
children of God. “All things are yours”- Paul, Apollos, all
things-you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
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1Corinthians 4
Stewards employed by the Lord, furnished and judged
by Him
As for the Apostle and the laborers, they were to
consider them as stewards employed by the Lord. And
it was to Him that Paul committed the judgment of his
conduct. He cared little for the judgment man might form
respecting him. He was not conscious of anything wrong,
but that did not justify him. He who judged (examined)
him was the Lord. And, after all, who was it that gave to
the one or to the other that which he could use in service?
e suerings of Paul and his companions as God’s
witnesses
Paul had thought well, in treating this subject, to use
names that they were using in their carnal divisions, and
those, especially himself and Apollos, which could not
be used to pretend he was getting rid of others to set up
himself; but what was the real state of the case? ey had
despised the Apostle. Yes, he says, we<P188> have been
put to shame, despised, persecuted, in distress; you have
been at ease, like kings-a reproach in accordance with
their own pretensions, their own reproaches-a reproach
that touched them to the quick, if they had any feeling
left. Paul and his companions had been as the oscouring
of the earth for Christ’s sake, while the Corinthians were
reposing in the lap of luxury and ease. Even while writing
to them, this was still his position. “Would to God,” he
says, “ye did reign” (that the day of Christ were come) “in
order that we might reign with you.” He felt his suerings,
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although he bore them joyfully. ey, the apostles, were set
forth on God’s part as though to be the last great spectacle
in those marvelous games of which this world was the
amphitheater; and as His witnesses they were exposed to
the fury of a brutal world. Patience and meekness were
their only weapons.
e Holy Spirit’s work of aection in the assembly to
bind all together
Nevertheless he did not say these things to put them
to shame, he warned them as his beloved sons; for his sons
they were. ough they might have ten thousand teachers,
he had begotten them all by the gospel. Let them then
follow him. In all this there is the deep working of the
aection of a noble heart, wounded to the utmost, but
wounded in order to bring out an aection that rose above
his grief. It is this which so strikingly distinguishes the work
of the Spirit in the New Testament, as in Christ Himself.
e Spirit has come into the bosom of the assembly, takes
part in her aictions-her diculties. He lls the soul of
one who cares for the assembly,1 making him feel that
which is going on-feel it according to God, but with a
really human heart. Who could cause all this to be felt for
strangers, except the Spirit of God? Who would enter into
these things with all the perfection of the wisdom of God,
in order to act upon the heart, to deliver the conscience,
to form the understanding, and to set it free, except the
Spirit of God? Still the apostolic individual bond was to be
formed, to be strengthened. It was the essence of the work
of the Holy Spirit in the assembly to bind all together in
this way. We see the man: otherwise it would not have been
Paul and his dear brethren. We see the Holy Spirit, whom
the latter had grieved, no doubt, and who<P189> acts in the
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former with divine wisdom, to guide them in the right way
with all the aection of their father in Christ. Timothy, his
son in the faith and in heart, might meet the case. Paul had
sent him; Paul himself would soon be there. Some said, No,
he would not, and took occasion to magnify themselves in
the absence of the Apostle; but he would come himself and
put everything to the test; for the kingdom of God was not
in word, but in power. Did they wish him to come with a
rod or in love?
(1. ςυναντΙλαμβανεΙ ταΙς αςΘενεΙαΙς ημων
(sunantilambanei tais astheneiais hemon).)
Here this part of the epistle ends. Admirable specimen
of tenderness and of authority-of authority sure enough
of itself on the part of God, to be able to act with perfect
tenderness towards those who were thoroughly dear to
him, in the hope of not being forced to exercise itself in
another way. e most powerful truths are unfolded in so
doing.
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1Corinthians 5
Unreserved condemnation of evil; the purpose of
needed discipline
He begins to treat the details of conduct and of
discipline; and, rst of all, the carnal delement carried on
in their midst to the last degree of hardness of conscience.
ose who sought their own personal inuence as teachers
allowed them to go on in it. He condemns it without
reservation. Discipline follows; for Christ had been oered
up as the Paschal Lamb, and they were to keep the feast
without leaven, keeping themselves from the old leaven;
in order that they might be in fact, what they were before
God-an unleavened lump. As to discipline, it was this:
before they knew that it was their duty to cut o the wicked
person, and that God had given them the power and
imposed on them the obligation to do so, a moral sense of
evil ought, at least, to have led them to humble themselves
before God, and to pray that He would take him away. On
the contrary, they were pued up with pride. But now the
Apostle teaches them what must be done, and enforces it
with all his apostolic authority. He was among them in
spirit if not in body, and with the power of the Lord Jesus
Christ, they being gathered together, to deliver such a one
to Satan; but as a brother for the destruction of the esh,
that his spirit might be saved in the day of Christ.<P190>
e adversary’s enmity used for the saint’s spiritual
blessing; the assembly’s duty in discipline
Here all the power of the assembly in its normal
condition, united to and led by the apostolic energy, is
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displayed. Its members; the Apostle, vessel and channel of
the power of the Spirit; and the power of the Lord Jesus
Himself, the Head of the body. Now the world is the
theater of Satan’s power; the assembly, delivered from his
power, is the habitation of God by the Spirit. If the enemy
had succeeded in drawing aside by the esh a member of
Christ, so that he dishonors the Lord by walking after the
esh as men of the world do, he is put outside, and by
the power of the Spirit, as then exercised in their midst
by the Apostle, delivered up to the enemy, who is in spite
of himself the servant of the purposes of God (as in the
case of Job), in order that the esh of the Christian (which,
from his not being able to reckon it dead, had brought him
morally under the power of Satan) should be physically
destroyed and broken down. us would he be set free
from the illusions in which the esh held him captive. His
mind would learn how to discern the dierence between
good and evil, to know what sin was. e judgment of God
would be realized within him, and would not be executed
upon him at that day when it would be denitive for the
condemnation of those who should undergo it. is was a
great blessing, although its form was terrible. Marvelous
example of the government of God, which uses the
adversary’s enmity against the saints as an instrument for
their spiritual blessing! We have such a case fully set before
us in the history of Job. Only we have here, in addition,
the proof that in its normal state, apostolic power1 being
there, the assembly exercised this judgment herself, having
discernment by the Spirit and the authority of Christ to
do it. Moreover, whatever may be the spiritual capacity of
the assembly to wield this sword of the Lord (for this is
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power), her positive and ordinary duty is stated at the end
of the chapter.<P191>
(1. e Apostle (1Tim. 1:20) exercises this power alone
as to certain blasphemers. It is power, not mere duty, and
it is important clearly to distinguish the two: though the
Apostle here did it in and with the gathered assembly,
yet he says, “I have judged already to deliver such an one
to Satan.” In verse 13 we have the positive duty of the
assembly without the question of special power.)
e assembly viewed collectively as an unleavened
lump; its consequent responsibility to judge those within
e assembly was an unleavened lump, looked at in
the Spirit as an assembly, and not individually. It is thus
that we must view it, for it is only in the Spirit that it is
so. e assembly is seen of God as being before Him in
the new nature in Christ. Such she ought to be in practice
by the power of the Spirit, in spite of the existence of
the esh, which by faith she ought to count as dead, and
allow nothing in her walk that is contrary to this state. e
assembly ought to be a “new lump,” and was not if evil was
allowed, and, consequently, ought to purge herself from the
old leaven, because she is unleavened in God’s thoughts.
Such is her position before God. For Christ our Passover
has been sacriced for us: therefore we ought to keep the
feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ey
did wrong therefore in boasting while this evil was in their
midst, however great their gifts might be. A little leaven
leavens the whole lump. e evil did not attach to that man
alone who was personally guilty of it. e assembly was not
clear till the evil was put out (2Cor. 7:11). ey could not
dissociate themselves in the aairs of ordinary life from all
those who, in the world, walked corruptly, for in that case
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they would have to go out of the world. But if anyone called
himself a brother and walked in this corruption, with such
an one they ought not even to eat. God judges those who
are outside. e assembly must herself judge those that are
within, and put out whatever must be called “wicked.”
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73218
1Corinthians 6
Wrongs: an unchangeable morality and ecclesiastical
order and discipline
Chapter 6:1-11 treats the subject of wrongs. It was
shameful that those who were to judge the world and the
angels should be incapable of judging the paltry aairs
of this world. Let the least esteemed in the assembly be
employed in this service. Rather should they bear the wrong,
whereas they did wrong themselves. But the wicked and
the unrighteous would assuredly not inherit the kingdom.
What a wonderful mixture we have here of astonishing
revelations, of a morality that is unchangeable whatever
may<P192> be the divine supremacy of grace, and of
ecclesiastical order and discipline! e assembly is united
to Christ. When He shall judge the world and pronounce
the doom of the angels, she will be associated with Him
and take part in His judgment, for she has His Spirit and
His mind. Nothing however that is unrighteous shall enter
into that kingdom, for in eect how could evil be judged
by any that took pleasure in it? Christians should not go
to a worldly tribunal for justice, but have recourse to the
arbitration of the brethren-a service which, as entering so
little into Christian spirituality, was suited to the weakest
among them. Moreover the proper thing was rather to
suer the wrong. Be it as it might, the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom.
e two threatening dangers at Corinth; true liberty
as to meats
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285
Judaism, which took pleasure in a carnal sanctity
of outward regulations, and the spirit of the world with
conformity to its ways, were the two dangers that threatened
the assembly at Corinth-dangers, indeed, which exist
for the heart of man at all times and in all places. With
regard to meats the rule is simple: perfect liberty, since all
is allowed-true liberty, in that we are in bondage to none of
these things. Meats and the belly, as in relationship to each
other, should both perish; the body has a higher destiny-
it is for the Lord, and the Lord for it. God has raised up
Christ from the dead, and He will raise us up again by His
power. e body belongs to this and not to meats.
e Christian’s body for Christ; the two mighty
motives for holiness
But the doctrine that the body is for Christ decided
another question, to which the depraved habits of the
Corinthians gave rise. All fornication is forbidden. To us,
with our present Christian habits of mind, it is a thing
of course-to pagans, new; but the doctrine exalts every
subject. Our bodies are the members of Christ. Another
truth connected with this is of great importance: if (by
union according to the esh) two were one body, he who is
united to the Lord is one spirit. e Spirit whose fullness
is in Christ is the same Spirit who dwells in me and unites
me to Him. Our bodies are His temples. What a mighty
truth when we think of it!<P193>
Moreover we are not our own, but were bought with a
price- the blood of Christ oered for us. erefore we ought
to glorify God in our bodies, which are His-powerful and
universal motive, governing the whole conduct without
exception. Our true liberty is to belong to God. All that
is for oneself is stolen from the rights of Him who has
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bought us for His own. All that a slave was or gained
was the property of his master; he was not the owner of
himself. us it was with the Christian. Outside that, he is
the wretched slave of sin and of Satan-selshness his rule,
and eternal banishment from the source of love his end.
Horrible thought! In Christ we are the special objects and
the vessels of that love. We have here two mighty motives
for holiness: the value of Christ’s blood, at which we are
purchased; also the fact that we are the temples of the Holy
Spirit.
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1Corinthians 7
Christian marriage: the counsel of experience and the
commandment of the Lord
e Apostle proceeds by answering a question in
connection with the subject he had been treating-the will
of God with regard to the relationship between man and
woman. ey do well who remain outside this relationship
in order to walk with the Lord according to the Spirit, and
not to yield in anything to their nature. God had instituted
marriage-woe to him who should speak ill of it! but sin
has come in, and all that is of nature, of the creature, is
marred. God has introduced a power altogether above and
outside nature-that of the Spirit. To walk according to that
power is the best thing; it is to walk outside the sphere in
which sin acts. But it is rare; and positive sins are for the
most part the eect of standing apart from that which God
has ordained according to nature. In general then for this
reason, every man should have his own wife: and the union
once formed, he had no longer power over himself. As to
the body, the husband belonged to his wife, the wife to her
husband. If, by mutual consent, they separated for a while
that they might give themselves to prayer and to spiritual
exercises, the bond was to be immediately acknowledged
again, lest the heart, not governing itself, should give Satan
occasion to come in and distress the soul, and destroy its
condence in<P194> God and in His love-lest he should
tempt by distressing doubts (it is for, not by incontinency)
a heart that aimed at too much, and failed in it.
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is permission, however, and this direction which
recommended Christians to marry, was not a commandment
from the Lord, given by inspiration, but the fruit of the
Apostle’s experience-an experience to which the presence
of the Holy Spirit was not wanting.1 He would rather that
everyone were like himself; but everyone had, in this respect,
his gift from God. To the unmarried and the widows, it
is good, he says, to abide as he himself was; but if they
could not subdue their nature and remain in calm purity,
it was better to marry. Unsubduedness of desire was more
hurtful than the bond of marriage. But as to marriage itself,
there was no longer room for the counsel of experience,
the commandment of the Lord was positive. e woman
was not to separate from the man, nor the man from the
woman; and if they separated, the bond was not broken;
they must remain unmarried or else be reconciled.
(1. Note here, we have formally distinguished, what
indels of the modern school have sought to confound,
spiritual thoughts as a man, and inspiration. e Apostle
gives his thoughts and judgment as a spiritual man, his
mind animated and guided by the Spirit, and contrasts it
with inspiration and what the Lord said. How wonderfully
the Lord has provided in Scripture for everything!
Compare verse 25.)
e unbelieving husband or wife
But there was a case more complicated, when the man
was converted and the wife unconverted, or vice versa.
According to the law a man who had married a woman of
the Gentiles (and was consequently profane or unclean)
deled himself, and was compelled to send her away; and
their children had no right to Jewish privileges; they were
rejected as unclean (see Ezra 10:3). But under grace it
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was quite the contrary. e converted husband sanctied
the wife, and vice versa, and their children were reckoned
clean before God; they had part in the ecclesiastical rights
of their parent. is is the sense of the word “holy,” in
connection with the question of order and of outward
relationship towards God, which was suggested by the
obligation under the law to send away wife and children
in a similar case. us the believer was not to send away
his wife, nor to forsake an unbelieving husband. If the
unbeliever forsook the believer denitively, the latter (man
or<P195> woman) was free-“let him depart.” e brother
was no longer bound to consider the one who had forsaken
him as his wife, nor the sister the man who had forsook
her as her husband. But they were called to peace, and not
to seek this separation, for how did the believer know if he
should not be the means of the unbeliever’s conversion?
For we are under grace. Moreover everyone was to walk as
God had distributed to him.
e Christian’s occupation and position in this world
As regarded occupations and positions in this world,
the general rule was that everyone should continue in the
state wherein he was called; but it must be “with God”-
doing nothing that would not be to His glory. If the state
was in itself of a nature contrary to His will, it was sin;
clearly he could not remain in it with God. But the general
rule was to remain and glorify God in it.
e Apostle’s judgment as to those unmarried
e Apostle had spoken of marriage, of the unmarried
and of widows; he had been questioned also with respect
to those who had never entered into any relationship with
woman. On this point he had no commandment from the
Lord. He could only give his judgment as one who had
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received mercy of the Lord to be faithful. It was good to
remain in that condition, seeing what the world was and
the diculties of a Christian life. If they were bound to a
wife, let them not seek to be loosed. If free, they would do
well to remain so. us if they married, they did well; not
marrying, they did better. He who had not known a woman
did not sin if he married, but he should have trouble after
the esh in his life here below. (It will be observed, that
it is not the daughter of a Christian that is here spoken
of, but his own personal condition.) If he stood rm, and
had power over his own will, it was the better way; if he
married, he still did well; if he did not marry, it was better.
It was the same with a woman; and if the Apostle said that
according to his judgment it was better, he had the Spirit
of God. His experience-if he had no commandment-had
not been gained without the Spirit, but it was that of a man
who could say (if anyone had a right to say it) that he had
the Spirit of God.<P196>
Serving the Lord without distraction
Moreover the time was short: the married were to be
as having no wives; buyers, as having no possession; they
who used the world, not using it as though it were theirs.
Only the Apostle would have them without carefulness or
distraction, that they might serve the Lord. If by reckoning
themselves dead to nature this eect was not produced,
they gained nothing, they lost by it. When married they
were preoccupied with things below, in order to please
their wives and to provide for their children. But they
enjoyed a repose of mind, in which nature did not claim
her rights with a will that they had failed to silence, and
holiness of walk and of heart was maintained. If the will of
nature was subjugated and silenced, they served the Lord
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without distraction, they lived according to the Spirit and
not according to nature, even in those things which God
had ordained as good with respect to nature.
Directions to slaves: exceptions to the general rule to
continue in the state wherein we are called
As to the slave, he might console himself as being the
Lord’s freeman; but (seeing the diculty of reconciling the
will of a pagan or even an unspiritual master with the will
of God) if he could be made free, he should embrace the
opportunity.
A new energy above nature; inspiration and
the Apostle’s own spiritual experience accurately
distinguished
Two things strike us here in passing: the holiness which
all these directions breathe with regard to that which
touches so closely the desires of the esh. e institutions
of God, formed for man when innocent, are maintained
in all their integrity, in all their authority, a safeguard now
against the sin to which man is incited by his esh. e
Spirit introduces a new energy above nature, which in no
wise weakens the authority of the institution. If anyone can
live above nature in order to serve the Lord in freedom, it
is a gift of God-a grace which he does well to prot by. A
second very important principle ows from this chapter.
e Apostle distinguishes accurately between that which
he has by inspiration, and his own spiritual experience-
that which the Spirit gave him in connection with the
exercises of his individual life-spiritual wisdom, however
exalted it might be. On certain<P197> points he had no
commandment from the Lord. He gave the conclusion
at which he had arrived, through the help of the Spirit
of God, in a life of remarkable faithfulness, and aided by
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the Spirit whom he but little grieved. But it was not a
commandment of the Lord. On other points that which
he did not except in this manner was to be received as the
commandment of the Lord (compare chapter 14:37). at
is to say, he arms the inspiration, properly so called, of his
writings-they were to be received as emanating from the
Lord Himself-distinguishing this inspiration from his own
spiritual competency, a principle of all importance.
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73220
1Corinthians 8
Meats oered to idols; the value of true Christian
knowledge
After this the Apostle answers the question respecting
meats oered to idols, which gives occasion to a few words
on the value of knowledge. Simply as knowledge, it is
worth nothing. If we look at it as knowledge that we possess,
it does but pu us up; it is something in me, my knowledge.
True Christian knowledge unfolded something in God.
By means of that which is revealed, God, better known,
became greater to the soul. It was in Him the thing known,
and not a knowledge in me by which I made myself greater.
He who loves God is known of Him. As to the question
itself, love decided it. Since such a question had arisen,
it was evident that all consciences were not brought into
full light by spiritual intelligence. Now undoubtedly the
idol was nothing: there was but one God, the Father; and
one Lord, Jesus Christ. But if he who was strong sat at
meat in the idol’s temple, another who had not full light
would be encouraged to do the same, and his conscience
would be unfaithful and deled. us I lead into sin, and,
as far as depends on me, I ruin a brother for whom Christ
died. I sin against Christ Himself in so doing. us, if meat
causes a brother to stumble, let me altogether abstain from
it rather than be a snare to him. Here the Apostle treats the
question as arising among the brethren, so as that which
regards the conscience of each, choosing to maintain in
all its force that in fact an idol was nothing but a piece of
wood or stone. It was important to set the question on this
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ground. e prophets had done so before. But this was not
all that there was to say. ere was<P198> the working of
Satan and of wicked spirits to explain, and this he does
further on.
e supreme position of God and our Lord contrasted
with the many heathen gods; considering the weak in
eating meats oered to idols
We may remark in passing the expression, “To us there
is but one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.”
e Apostle does not here treat the abstract question of
the Lord’s divinity, but the connection of men with that
which was above them in certain relationships. Pagans
had many gods, and many lords, intermediate beings.
Not so Christians. For them is the Father abiding in the
absoluteness of the divinity, and Christ who, become man,
has taken the place and the relationship of Lord towards
us. e position, and not the nature, is the subject. It is the
same thing in chapter 12:2-6, where the contrast is with
the multitude of spirits whom the pagans knew, and the
number of gods and lords. Nevertheless everyone was not,
in fact, thus delivered from the inuence of false gods on
his imagination. ey were still perhaps, in spite of himself,
something to him. He had conscience of the idol, and if
he ate that which had been oered to it, it was not to him
simply that which God had given for food. e idea of
the existence of a real and powerful being had a place in
his heart, and thus his conscience was deled. Now they
were not better in God’s sight for having eaten, and by
eating they had put a stumbling block in their brother’s
way, and, so far as the act of those who had full light was
concerned, had ruined him by deling his conscience and
estranging him from God in unfaithfulness. is was
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sinning against Christ, who had died for that precious
soul. If God intervened to shield him from the result of
this unfaithfulness, that in nowise diminished the sin of
him who led the weak one to act against his conscience.
In itself that which separates us from God ruins us in that
which regards our responsibility. us he who has the love
of Christ in his heart would rather never eat meat than do
that which would make a brother unfaithful, and tend to
ruin a soul which Christ has redeemed.<P199>
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73221
1Corinthians 9
Paul’s ministry and liberty: servant of all for the
gospel’s sake
e Apostle was exposed to the accusations of false
teachers, who asserted that he carried on his evangelization
and his labors from interested motives, and that he took the
property of Christians, availing himself of their devotedness.
He speaks therefore of his ministry. He declares openly
that he is an apostle, an eyewitness of the glory of Christ,
having seen the Lord. Moreover, if he was not an apostle
to others, doubtless he was to the Corinthians, for he had
been the means of their conversion. Now the will of the
Lord was that they who preached the gospel should live
of the gospel. He had a right to take with him a sister as
his wife, even as Peter did, and the brethren of the Lord.
Nevertheless he had not used this right. Obliged by the
call of the Lord to preach the gospel, woe unto him if he
failed to do it! His glory was to do it gratuitously, so as
to take away all occasion from those who sought it. For,
being free from all, he had made himself the servant of all,
that he might win as many as he could. Observe that this
was in his service; it was not accommodating himself to
the world, in order to escape the oense of the cross. He
put this plainly forward (ch. 2:2); but in preaching it, he
adapted himself to the religious capacity and to the modes
of thought belonging to the one and to the other, in order
to gain access for the truth into their minds; and he did
the same in his manner of conduct among them. It was
the power of charity which denied itself in all things, in
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order to be the servant of all, and not the selshness which
indulged itself under the pretence of gaining others. He
did so in every respect for the sake of the gospel, desiring,
as he said, to be a partaker with it, for he personies it as
doing the work of God’s love in the world.
e Apostle’s course as a Christian rst of all, then a
preacher; warning and distinction between participation
in Christian ordinances and salvation
It was thus they should run; and, in order to run thus,
one must deny oneself. In this way the Apostle acted. He
did not run with uncertain steps, as one who did not see
the true end, or who did<P200> not pursue it seriously
as a known thing. He knew well what he was pursuing,
and he pursued it really, evidently, according to its nature.
Everyone could judge by his walk. He did not trie as a
man who beats the air-easy prowess. In seeking that which
was holy and glorious, he knew the diculties he resisted
in the personal conict with the evil that sought to obstruct
his victory. As a vigorous wrestler, he kept under his body,
which would have hindered him. ere was reality in his
pursuit of heaven: he would tolerate nothing that opposed
it. Preaching to others was not all. He might do that, and
it might be, as regards himself, labor in vain; he might lose
everything-be rejected afterwards himself, if not personally
a Christian. He was a Christian rst of all, then a preacher,
and a good preacher, because he was a Christian rst. us,
also (for the beginning of chapter 10 connects itself with
the close of chapter 9), others might make a profession,
partake of the initiatory and other ordinances, as he might
be a preacher, and after all not be owned of God. is
warning is a testimony to the condition to which, in part at
least, the assembly of God was already reduced: a warning
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always useful, but which supposes that those who bear the
name of Christian, and have partaken of the ordinances
of the church, no longer inspire that condence which
would receive them without question as the true sheep of
Christ. e passage distinguishes between participation
in Christian ordinances and the possession of salvation:
a distinction always true, but which it is not necessary to
make when Christian life is bright in those who have part
in the outward privileges of the assembly.
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God’s ways with Israel given for our instruction
e Apostle then gives the Corinthians the ways of God
with Israel in the wilderness, as instruction with regard to
His ways with us, declaring that the things which happened
to them were types or gures which serve as patterns for us:
an important principle, and one which ought to be clearly
apprehended, in order to prot by it. It is not Israel who is
the gure, but that which happened to Israel-the ways of
God with Israel. e things themselves happened to Israel;
they were written for our instruction who nd<P201>
ourselves at the close of God’s dispensations. at which
shall follow will be the judgment of God, when these
examples will no longer serve for the life of faith.
Christian responsibility; God’s faithfulness
Two principles are next established which also have
great practical importance: “Let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall.” is is our responsibility.
On the other side we have the faithfulness of God. He
does not permit us to be tempted beyond our strength, but
provides a way of escape in order that we may not stumble.
Idolatry; association and communion; the Lord’s
supper and the table of demons
He enjoins, with regard to idolatry, that holy fear
which avoids the occasion of doing evil, the occasion of
falling. ere is association and communion through the
table of which we partake with that which is on it; and we
Christians, being many, are but one bread and one body,1
inasmuch as we share the same bread at the Lord’s supper.
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ose in Israel who ate of the sacrices were partakers of
the altar-were identied with it. So those who ate of idol’s
meat as such were identied with the idol it was oered
to. Was this to say that the idol was anything? No. But as
it is written (Deut. 32), “e things which the Gentiles
oered, they oered to demons and not to God.” Should a
Christian then, partake of the table of demons? e table
was the table of demons, the cup the cup of demons-an
important principle for the assembly of God. Would one
provoke the Lord by putting Him on a level with demons?
Allusion is again made to Deuteronomy 32:21. e Apostle
repeats his principle already established, that he had liberty
in every respect, but that on the one hand he would not put
himself under the power of anything; on the other, being
free, he would use his liberty for the spiritual good of all. To
follow out this rule, these are his instructions: Whatsoever
was sold in the market they should eat without question of
conscience. If any man said, “is was sacriced to idols,” it
was a<P202> proof that he had conscience of an idol. ey
should then not eat of it, because of his conscience. For as
to him who was free, his liberty could not be judged by
the conscience of the other; for, as to doctrine, and where
there was knowledge, the Apostle recognizes it as a truth
that the idol was nothing. e creature was simply the
creature of God. Communion with that which was false I
ought to avoid for myself, especially in that which relates
to communion with God Himself. I should deny myself
the liberty which the truth gave me, rather than wound the
weak conscience of others.
(1. It is here the Apostle comes to the inner circle
of the body of Christ, the true assembly of God united
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301
together by the Holy Spirit, of which the Lord’s supper is
the expression.)
Doing all to the glory of God
Moreover in all things, even in eating or drinking, we
ought to see the glory of God, and do all to His glory;
giving no oense by using our liberty, either to Jew or
Gentile, or the assembly of God; following the Apostle’s
example, who, denying himself, sought to please all for
their edication.
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1Corinthians 11
e Holy Spirit’s presence and action; proper conduct
in the assemblies
Having given these rules in answer to questions of
detail, he turns to that which regarded the presence and
action of the Holy Spirit; which also introduces the subject
of the conduct proper for them in their assemblies.
Observe here the way in which the Apostle grounded
his replies with regard to details on the highest and
fundamental principles. is is the manner of Christianity.
(Compare Titus 2:10-14.) He introduces God and charity,
putting man in connection with God Himself. In that
which follows we have also a striking example of this. e
subject is a direction for women.
Direction for women: the woman’s covered head in
prayer; the order of creation
ey were not to pray without having their heads
covered. To decide this question, simply of what was decent
and becoming, the Apostle lays open the relationship
and the order of the relationship subsisting between the
depositaries of God’s glory and Him<P203>self,1 and
brings in the angels, to whom Christians, as a spectacle set
before them, should present that of order according to the
mind of God. e head of the woman is the man; that of
man is Christ; of Christ, God. is is the order of power,
ascending to Him who is supreme. And then, with respect
to their relationship to each other, he adds, the man was
not created for the woman, but the woman for the man.
And as to their relations with other creatures, intelligent
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and conscious of the order of the ways of God, they were to
be covered because of the angels, who are spectators of the
ways of God in the dispensation of redemption, and of the
eect which this marvelous intervention was to produce.
Elsewhere (see note below) it is added, in reference to
the history of that which took place, the man was not
deceived; but the woman, being deceived, transgressed
rst. Let us add-from the passage we are considering-that,
as to creation, the man was not taken from the woman,
but the woman from the man. Nevertheless the man is not
without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in
the Lord; but all things are of God; and all this to regulate
a question of modesty as to women, when in praying they
were before the eyes of others.2e result-in that which
concerns the details-is that the man was to have his head
uncovered, because he represented authority, and in this
respect was invested (as to his position) with the glory of
God, of whom he was the image. e woman was to have
her head covered, as a token that she was subject to the
man (her covering being a token of the power to which she
was subject). Man however could not do without woman,
nor woman without man. Finally the Apostle appeals to
the order of creation, according to which a woman’s hair,
her glory and ornament, showed, in contrast with the hair
of man, that she was not made to present herself with the
boldness of man before all. Given as a veil, her hair showed
that modesty, submission-a covered head that hid itself, as
it were, in that submission and in that modesty-was her
true position, her distinctive glory. Moreover, if anyone
contested the point, it was a custom which neither the
Apostle nor the assemblies allowed.<P204>
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(1. In 1 Timothy 2:11-15 the moral eect of the
circumstances of the fall is introduced, as giving the woman
her true place in the assembly with regard to man.)
(2. We are not as yet come to the order in the assembly.
at commences with verse 17.)
Divine order in creation the expression of God’s
mind; men a spectacle to angels
Observe also here that, however man may have
fallen, divine order in creation never loses its value as the
expression of the mind of God. us also in James, man
is said to be created in the image of God. As to his moral
condition, he needs (now that he has knowledge of good
and of evil) to be born again, created in righteousness and
in true holiness, that he may be the image of God as now
revealed through Christ; but his position in the world, as
the head and center of all things-which no angel has been-
is the idea of God Himself, as well as the position of the
woman, the companion of his glory but subject to him;
an idea which will be gloriously accomplished in Christ,
and with respect to the woman in the assembly; but which
is true in itself, being the constituted order of God, and
always right as such: for the ordinance of God creates
order, although, no doubt, His wisdom and His perfection
are displayed in it.
e reader will remark, that this order in creation, as
well as that which is established in the counsels of God in
respect of the woman, of the man, of Christ, and of God
Himself, and the fact that men-at least Christians under
redemption-are a spectacle to angels (compare chapter
4:9), subjects which here I can only indicate, have the
highest interest.1
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(1. e rst chapter of Genesis gives us man in his place
in creation as from God the Creator; the second, his own
relationship with Jehovah God, where he was placed in
connection with Him, and the woman’s with himself.)
A spirit of division in the assemblies
e Apostle afterwards touches upon the subject of
their assemblies. In verse 2 he had praised them; but on
this point he could not do so (vs. 17). eir assemblies
manifested a spirit of division. is division concerned
the distinction between the rich and the poor, but, as it
seems, gave rise to others: at least others were necessary
to make manifest those who were really approved of God.
Now these divisions had the character of sects; that is to
say, particular opinions divided Christians of the same
assembly, of the assembly of God, into schools; they were
hostile to each other, although they took the Lord’s supper
together-if indeed it could be said that they took it together.
Jealousies that had arisen between<P205> the rich and the
poor tended to foster the sectarian division. If, I observed,
it could be said that they broke bread together; for each
one took care to eat his own supper before the others did
so, and some were hungry while others took their ll. is
was not really eating the Lord’s supper.
e nature and import of the Lord’s supper; its special
revelation to Paul
e Apostle, guided by the Holy Spirit, seizes the
opportunity to declare to them the nature and the import
of this ordinance. We may notice here, that the Lord had
taught it him by a special revelation-proof of the interest
that belongs to it,1 and that it is a part of the Lord’s
mind in the entire Christian walk, to which He attaches
importance in view of our moral condition, and of the
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state of our spiritual aections individually, as well as those
of the assembly. In the joy of Christian liberty, amid the
powerful eects of the presence of the Holy Spirit-of the
gifts by which He manifested Himself in the assembly,
the Lord’s death, His broken body, was brought to mind,
and, as it were, made present to faith as the basis and
foundation of everything. is act of love, this simple and
solemn deed, weak and empty in appearance, preserved all
its importance. e Lord’s body had been oered for us-to
which the Holy Spirit Himself was to bear witness, and
which was to maintain all its importance in the Christian’s
heart, and to be the foundation and center of the edice
of the assembly. Whatever might be the power that shone
forth in the assembly, the heart was brought back to this.
e body of the Lord Himself had been oered,2 the
lips of Jesus had claimed our remembrance. is moral
equilibrium is very important to saints. Power, and the
exercise of gifts do not necessarily act upon the conscience
and the heart of those to whom they are committed, nor
of those always who enjoy their display. And, although
God is present (and when we are in a good state, that is
felt), still it is a man who speaks and who acts upon others;
he is prominent. In the Lord’s<P206> supper the heart is
brought back to a point in which it is entirely dependent,
in which man is nothing, in which Christ and His love
are everything, in which the heart is exercised, and the
conscience remembers that it has needed cleansing, and
that it has been cleansed by the work of Christ-that we
depend absolutely on this grace. e aections also are in
the fullest exercise. It is important to remember this. e
consequences that followed forgetfulness of the import of
this ordinance conrmed its importance and the Lord’s
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earnest desire that they should take heed to it. e Apostle
is going to speak of the power of the Holy Spirit manifested
in His gifts, and of the regulations necessary to maintain
order and provide for edication where they were exercised
in the assembly; but, before doing so, he places the Lord’s
supper as the moral center, the object of the assembly. Let
us remark some of the thoughts of the Spirit in connection
with this ordinance.
(1. is connects itself too with the fact that it is
the expression of the unity of the body-truth specially
committed to the Apostle. On the other hand, he was
not sent to baptize. at was mere admission to the
house already formed, and to which the Apostle had been
admitted like others.)
(2. I do not say “broken,” the best MSS omitting it; but
it is the memorial of Christ slain, and His precious blood
poured out.)
e aections linked with what Christ did; a
remembrance of Him in what He was on the cross
First, He links the aections with it in the strongest way.
It was the same night on which Jesus was betrayed that He
left this memorial of His suerings and of His love. As the
paschal lamb brought to mind the deliverance which the
sacrice oered in Egypt had procured for Israel, thus the
Lord’s supper called to mind the sacrice of Christ. He is
in the glory, the Spirit is given; but they were to remember
Him. His oered body was the object before their hearts
in this memorial. Take notice of this word, “Remember.”
It is not a Christ as He now exists, it is not the realization
of what He is: that is not a remembrance-His body is now
gloried. It is a remembrance of what He was on the cross.
It is a body slain, and blood shed, not a gloried body. It
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is remembered, though, by those who are now united to
Him in the glory into which He is entered. As risen and
associated with Him in glory, they look back to that blessed
work of love, and His love in it which gave them a place
there. ey drink also of the cup in remembrance of Him.
In a word, it is Christ looked at as dead: there is not such a
Christ now.<P207>
Remembrance of Christ Himself, the Lord; His death
to be celebrated till He come
It is the remembrance of Christ Himself. It is that which
attaches to Himself, it is not only the value of His sacrice,
but attachment to Himself, the remembrance of Himself.
e Apostle then shows us, if it is a dead Christ, who it
is that died. Impossible to nd two words, the bringing
together of which has so important a meaning: e death of
the Lord. How many things are comprised in that He who
is called the Lord had died! What love! what purposes!
what ecacy! what results! e Lord Himself gave Himself
up for us. We celebrate His death. At the same time, it is
the end of God’s relations with the world on the ground
of man’s responsibility, except the judgment. is death has
broken every link-has proved the impossibility of any. We
show forth this death until the rejected Lord shall return,
to establish new bonds of association by receiving us to
Himself to have part in them. It is this which we proclaim
in the ordinance when we keep it. Besides this, it is in itself
a declaration that the blood on which the new covenant is
founded has been already shed; it was established in this
blood. I do not go beyond that which the passage presents;
the object of the Spirit of God here, is to set before us,
not the ecacy of the death of Christ, but that which
attaches the heart to Him in remembering His death, and
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the meaning of the ordinance itself. It is a dead, betrayed
Christ whom we remember. e oered body was, as it
were, before their eyes at this supper. e shed blood of the
Saviour claimed the aections of their heart for Him. ey
were guilty of despising these precious things, if they took
part in the supper unworthily. e Lord Himself xed our
thoughts there in this ordinance, and in the most aecting
way, at the very moment of His betrayal.
Discipline solemnly exercised in connection with the
ordinance; the Lord judges His own house; the purpose
of chastisement
But if Christ attracted the heart thus to x its attention
there, discipline was also solemnly exercised in connection
with this ordinance. If they despised the broken body
and the blood of the Lord by taking part in it lightly,
chastisement was inicted. Many had become sick and
weak, and many had fallen asleep, that is,<P208> had died.
It is not the being worthy to partake that is spoken of, but
the partaking in an unworthy manner. Every Christian,
unless some sin had excluded him, was worthy to partake
because he was a Christian. But a Christian might come to
it without judging himself, or appreciating as he ought that
which the supper brought to his mind, and which Christ had
connected with it. He did not discern the Lord’s body; and
he did not discern, did not judge, the evil in himself. God
cannot leave us thus careless. If the believer judges himself,
the Lord will not judge him; if we do not judge ourselves,
the Lord judges; but when the Christian is judged, he is
chastened of the Lord that he may not be condemned with
the world. It is the government of God in the hands of
the Lord who judges His own house: an important and
too much forgotten truth. No doubt the result of all is
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according to the counsels of God, who displays in it all His
wisdom, His patience, and the righteousness of His ways;
but this government is real. He desires the good of His
people in the end; but He will have holiness, a heart whose
condition answers to that which He has revealed (and He
has revealed Himself), a walk which is its expression. e
normal state of a Christian is communion, according to the
power of that which has been revealed. Is there failure in
this- communion is lost, and with it the power to glorify
God, a power found nowhere else. But if one judges oneself,
there is restoration: the heart being cleansed from the evil
by judging it, communion is restored. If one does not judge
oneself, God must interpose and correct and cleanse us by
discipline-discipline which may even be unto death (see
Job 33; 36; 1John 5:16; James 5:14-15).
Discerning our own condition; judging the state of
heart, not only the action
ere are yet one or two remarks to be made. To “judge”
oneself, is not the same word as to be “judged” of the Lord.
It is the same that is used in chapter 11:29, “Discerning
the Lord’s body.” us, what we have to do is not only to
judge an evil committed, it is to discern one’s condition,
as it is manifested in the light-even as God Himself is in
the light-by walking in it. is prevents our falling into
evil either in act or thought. But if we have fallen, it is not
enough to judge the action; it is ourselves we must judge,
and the state of heart, the tendency, the neglect, which
occasioned<P209> our falling into the evil-in a word, that
which is not communion with God or that which hinders it.
It was thus the Lord dealt with Peter. He did not reproach
him for his fault, He judged its root.
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Moreover the assembly ought to have power to discern
these things. God acts in this way, as we have seen in Job;
but the saints have the mind of Christ by the Spirit of
Christ, and ought to discern their own condition.
e Christian’s position towards Christ in the Lord’s
supper; His death the divine negation of sin
e foundation and center of all this, is the position
in which we stand towards Christ in the Lord’s supper,
as the visible center of communion and the expression of
His death; in which sin, all sin, is judged. Now we are in
connection with this holy judgment of sin as our portion.
We cannot mingle the death of Christ with sin. It is, as to
its nature and ecacy, of which the full result will in the
end be manifested, the total putting away of sin. It is the
divine negation of sin. He died to sin, and that in love to
us. It is the absolute holiness of God made sensible and
expressed to us in that which took place with regard to
sin. It is absolute devotedness to God for His glory in this
respect. To bring sin or carelessness into it, is to profane the
death of Christ, who died rather than allow sin to subsist
before God. We cannot be condemned with the world,
because He has died and has put away sin for us; but to
bring sin to that which represents this very death in which
He suered for sin is a thing which cannot be borne. God
vindicates that which is due to the holiness and the love of
a Christ who gave up His life to put away sin. One cannot
say, I will not go to the table; that is, I will accept the sin
and give up the confession of the value of that death. We
examine ourselves, and we go; we reestablish the rights
of His death in our conscience-for all is pardoned and
expiated as to guilt, and we go to acknowledge these rights
as the proof of innite grace.
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e condemnation of the world; why there is “no
condemnation” for the believer
e world is condemned. Sin in the Christian is judged, it
escapes neither the eye nor the judgment of God. He never
permits it; He cleanses the believer from it by chastening
him, although<P210> He does not condemn, because
Christ has borne his sins, and been made sin for him. e
death of Christ forms then the center of communion in
the assembly, and the touchstone of conscience, and that,
with respect to the assembly, in the Lord’s supper.
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1Corinthians 12
e distinctive marks of the Spirit; the enemy’s power
and imitative means of deception
e other branch of the truth, in reference to the
assembly of God in general and to the assemblies, is the
presence and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. ese, as well
as the Lord’s supper, are in connection with unity1 (the
individual being responsible in each). It is the subject of
spiritual manifestations which the Apostle takes up in
chapter 12. e rst point was to establish the distinctive
marks of the Spirit of God. ere were evil spirits, who
sought to creep in among the Christians, and to speak
or act pretending to be the Spirit of God, and thus to
confound everything. Christians of the present day hardly
believe in such eorts of the enemy as these. Spiritual
manifestations are, no doubt, less striking now than at the
time of which the Apostle speaks; but the enemy adapts
his means of deception to the circumstances in which man
and the work of God are found. As Peter says in a similar
case, “As there were false prophets among the people, so
shall there be false teachers among you.” e enemy does
not cease to act. “Forbidding to marry” was the doctrine
of devils. In the last days his power will be manifested still
more. God can restrain him by the energy of His Spirit,
and by the power of the truth; but if he is not bridled, he
still acts, deceiving men, and that by such things as one
would suppose it impossible (if not deceived oneself) that
a man of sober sense could believe. But it is surprising what
a man can believe when he is left to himself, without being
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kept by God, when the power of the enemy is there. We
talk of common sense, of reason (very precious they are);
but history tells us that God alone gives them or preserves
them to us.
(1. We have seen this with regard to the supper, in
chapter 10:17. Here, chapter 12:13, we see it with regard
to the Holy Spirit.)
Here the Spirit of God manifested Himself by the
eects of His power, which broke forth in the midst of
the assembly, attracting<P211> the attention even of
the world. e enemy imitated them. e greater part
of the Christians at Corinth having been poor Gentiles,
without discernment, and stupidly led by the delusions of
the enemy, they were the more in danger of being again
deceived by this means. When a man is not lled with the
Spirit of God, who gives force to the truth in his heart, and
clearness to his moral vision, the seductive power of the
enemy dazzles his imagination. He loves the marvelous,
unbelieving as he may be with regard to the truth. He lacks
holy discernment, because he is ignorant of the holiness
and character of God, and has not the stability of a soul
that possesses the knowledge of God (God Himself, we
may say) as his treasure-of a soul which knows that it has
all in Him, so that it needs no other marvels. If a man is
not thus established by the knowledge of God, the power
of the enemy strikes him-preoccupies him; he cannot
shake it o, he cannot account for it. He is a victim to
the inuence which this power exercises over his mind; the
esh is pleased with it, for in one shape or another the
result is always liberty to the esh.
Long led blindly by the power of evil spirits, the
converted Gentiles were hardly in a state to discern and
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judge them. Strange to say, this demonic power exercised
such an inuence that they forgot the importance even of
the name of Jesus, or at least forgot that His name was not
acknowledged by it. e enemy transforms himself into
an angel of light, but he never really owns Jesus Christ as
Lord. He will speak of Paul and Silvanus, and would have
his part with Christians, but Christ is not acknowledged;
and at last it is the breaking up and ruin of those who
follow him. An unclean spirit would not say Lord Jesus,
and the Spirit of God could not say Anathema to Jesus.
But it is a question here of spirits, and not of conversion,
nor of the necessity of grace working in the heart for the
true confession of the name of Jesus-a very true thing, as
we know, but not the subject here.
e Holy Spirit here as the link between the assembly
and Christ, as well as between the Christian and Christ,
to maintain communion
We come now to positive instructions. Nothing more
important, more distinctive, more marvelous, than the
presence of the Holy Spirit here below in the midst of
Christians; the fruit to us, of the<P212> perfect work of
Christ, but in itself the manifestation of the presence of God
among men on the earth. e providence of God manifests
His power in the works of creation, and His government
which directs all things; but the Holy Spirit is His presence
in this world, the testimony that He bears of Himself, of
His character.1 He is among men to display Himself, not
yet in glory, but in power and in testimony of what He
is. Christ having accomplished redemption, and having
presented the ecacy of His work to God, Sovereign and
Judge, the assembly, being ransomed and cleansed by His
blood, and united to Him as His body, became also the
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vessel of this power which acts in His members. us she
ought to display this power in holiness-she is responsible
to do so. But in this way, as to its exercise, man becomes
in fact individually the vessel of this spiritual energy. It is
a treasure committed to him. Now the Spirit is, in the rst
place, the link between the assembly and Christ, as well as
between the Christian and Christ. It is by the Spirit that
communion is realized and maintained, it is the primary
function of the Spirit; and man must be in communion in
order to realize the character and discern the will of God,
and that, according to the testimony intended to be borne
by the Spirit come down to earth.
(1. It is a very striking truth that God’s dwelling with
men is the fruit of redemption. He did not dwell with
Adam innocent; He could walk in the garden, but did not
dwell there. He did not dwell with Abraham.)
e assembly responsible to maintain communion
with God, or strength, joy, and spiritual intelligence are
lost
But if the assembly does not maintain this communion,
she loses her strength as the responsible witness of God
on earth, and in fact her joy and her spiritual intelligence
also. God is ever sovereign to act as He chooses, and
Christ cannot fail in His faithfulness to His body; but
the testimony committed to the assembly is no longer so
rendered as to make it felt that God is present on the earth.
e assembly is not, perhaps, aware of the estrangement,
because she retains for a time much of that which God has
given, which is far beyond all that was according to nature;
and in losing strength she has also lost the discernment of
what she ought to be.
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But God is never mistaken as to the assembly’s
condition-“thou hast left thy rst love.” “Except thou
repent,” says He, “and do the<P213> rst works, I will
take away thy candlestick”-a solemn consideration for
the assembly, as to her responsibility, when we reect on
the grace that has been shown her, on the fruits that have
been-and those that ought to have been-manifested, and
on the power given her to produce them.
e purposes and ways of God
e purposes of God for the assembly have their end
and aim in heaven. ey will be accomplished without the
possibility of the least thing failing. All that is needful to
bring her members there according to His counsels, Christ
will do. ey are redeemed by His blood to be His.
e ways of God are accomplished and unfolded on
the earth for our instruction, both in the assembly and in
individuals.
e distinct presence of the Spirit known and realized
as dwelling here below
It is not only in His gifts that the presence of the Spirit
of God is manifested. ere were prophecies and miracles,
men moved by the Holy Spirit, before the day of Pentecost.
at which is attributed to faith in Hebrews 11 is often
ascribed to the Spirit in the Old Testament. But the Spirit
was promised in a special way in the Old Testament. He was
never at that period the presence of God in the midst of the
people, as He dwelt in the assembly. e glory came to take
possession of the tabernacle or temple. His Spirit acted in
sovereignty outside the order of His house, and could be
with them when that glory was gone. But the Holy Spirit
sent down from heaven to dwell in the disciples and in the
assembly on earth, was the manifestation of the presence
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of God in His house, of God who was there by the Spirit.
And this presence of the Spirit is so distinct, and so plainly
noted as a thing known and realized by the rst Christians,
which demonstrated instead of being demonstrated, that it
is spoken of in the Word as being the Holy Spirit Himself.
In John 7 it is said, “e Holy Ghost was not yet.” In Acts
19 the twelve men say to Paul, “We have not so much as
heard whether the Holy Ghost is.” It was not a question
whether there was a Holy Spirit (every orthodox Jew
believed it), but whether this presence of the Holy Spirit
Himself dwelling here below, the new Comforter and
Guide of the disciples, of which<P214> John the Baptist
had spoken, had yet taken place. When come down, it was
the presence of God in His spiritual temple on earth. e
place in which the disciples were gathered together was
shaken to show that God was there. Ananias and Sapphira
fell down dead before the apostles for having lied to God.
Philip is caught away by His power from the presence of
the man who had received the knowledge of Jesus by his
means.
Manifestations of the Spirit’s presence; one Spirit but
diversity of gifts
Such was the presence of the Holy Spirit. In our chapter,
the Apostle speaks of the manifestations of His presence
in the gifts which were exercised by the instrumentality
of members of the body, whether for the calling out and
edication of the assembly, or in testimony to those outside.
Before entering on this subject, he gives the Corinthians-
whom the enemy would have deeply deceived-that
which would enable them to distinguish between the
manifestation of the Holy Spirit and the actings of an evil
spirit. He then speaks of gifts.
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Now there were not divers spirits, as in the case of
demons; there was only one and the same Spirit, but
diversity of gifts. is gives occasion to bring in the dierent
relationship (for he speaks of the order of the relations of
man with God-the practical energy of which is in the Holy
Spirit) in which men, moved by the Holy Spirit, are placed
with regard to God and to Christ. e Spirit, one and
the same Spirit, acts in them by various manifestations.
But in the exercise of these dierent gifts they were
administrators, and there was one Lord, that is, Christ. It
was not therefore in them an independent and voluntary
power: whatever might be the energy of the Spirit in them,
they did not cease to be servants and stewards of Christ,
and they were to act in this character, acknowledging in
their service the lordship of Christ. Nevertheless, although
it was power in a man, and that it was man who acted, so
that he was a servant (and a Man who was Head and who
was served, although He was Son of God and Lord of all),
yet it was God who wrought, one and the same God who
wrought all in all. It is not the Trinity, properly speaking,
that is presented here in its own character, but one only
Spirit acting in Christians, Jesus Lord, and God acting in
the gifts.<P215>
Gifts, as manifestations of the Spirit’s energy,
committed to men under Christ the Lord; the Spirit’s
distribution according to His will
e gifts are manifestations of the energy of the Spirit
thus committed to men, under Christ who is Head and
Lord; men were to use them as serving the Lord. Now
Christ thought of what was protable to His people, to
those that were His; and the manifestation of the Spirit
was given for the prot of souls, of the assembly in general.
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e Apostle notices several of these gifts; but he reminds
us again that it is the same Spirit who works in each case,
distributing to everyone according to His own will. Let
the reader remark this passage. e Apostle had said that
God wrought all these things, and had spoken of the
gifts as being manifestations of the Spirit. It might have
been supposed that the Spirit was some vague inuence,
and that one must attribute everything to God without
recognizing a personal Spirit. But these operations, which
were attributed to God in verse 6, are here attributed to
the Spirit; and it is added, that He, the Spirit, distributes to
each as He will. It is not therefore an inferior Spirit. Where
He works, it is God who works; but these operations in
men are gifts distributed according to the will of the Spirit,
the Spirit being thus presented as acting personally in this
distribution and according to His will.
Wisdom, knowledge, faith, and discerning of spirits
among the gifts of the Spirit
Some of the gifts may require a short observation.
Wisdom is the application of divine light to right and
wrong, and to all the circumstances through which we
pass-an expression which has a wide extent, because it
applies to everything with regard to which we have to
form a judgment. e Holy Spirit furnishes some in a
peculiar way with this wisdom, with a wisdom according
to God- a perception of the true nature of things, and of
their relationship to each other, and of conduct with regard
to both, which, coming from God, guides us through the
diculties of the way, and enables us to avoid that which
would place us in a false position towards God and man.
Knowledge is intelligence in the mind of God as it is
revealed to us. Faith is not here simple faith in the gospel;
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that is not a <P216>distinctive gift which one believer may
possess and another not. is is evident. It is the faith, the
energy, given by God, which overcomes diculties, which
rises above dangers, which confronts them without being
alarmed by them. e discerning of spirits is not that of a
man’s condition of soul-it has nothing to do with it. It is
the knowing how to discern, by the mighty energy of the
Spirit of God, the actings of evil spirits, and to bring them
to light if necessary, in contrast with the action of the Spirit
of God.
e Spirit as the center and living power of unity of
the body
e other gifts require no comment. We must now
return to the unity of the Spirit, with which is connected
that which the Apostle says after having spoken of the
gifts. e Spirit was one, he had said, working diversely
in the members according to His will. e importance of
His personality, and the immense import of His divinity
(if we reect that it is He who works in and by man) is
very evident when we observe that He is the center and
the living power of the unity of the whole body, so that
the individuals, in the exercise of their gifts, are but the
members of the one and the same body divinely formed
by the power and the presence of the Spirit. is point the
Apostle develops largely, in connection with the oneness of
the body, the mutual dependence of the members, and the
relationship of each one to the body as a whole.
e oneness of the body; its Producer; its expression
e practical instructions are easily understood, but
there are some important points in the general principles.
e oneness of the body is produced by the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, and the connection of the members depends
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upon it. By one Spirit we have all been baptized to be one
body. e Lord’s supper is the expression of this oneness;
the Spirit is He who produces it, and who is its strength.
e distinctive character of Jew and Gentile-and all other
distinctions-was lost in the power of one Spirit common to
all, who united them all as redeemed ones in one only body.
e Apostle in this verse (vs. 13) speaks of the baptism
of the Holy Spirit; but the word suggests to him the
supper, the second ordinance of the Lord, and he speaks
of drinking into one spirit, alluding, I doubt not, to the
Lord’s supper. He does not speak of the Holy Spirit: one
spirit was the state of the believers, the word <P217>being
used in contrast with one body, associated in one heart and
mind by the Spirit-participating in Christ.
e baptism of the Holy Spirit forming Christians
into one body
It is not faith which is union, nor even life, though
both are the portion of those united, but the Holy Spirit.
e baptism of the Holy Spirit, then, is that which forms
Christians into one only body, and they are all made
partakers of, are animated individually by, one and the
same Spirit. us there are many members, but one only
body, and a body composed of these members, which are
dependent the one on the other, and have need of each
other. And even those gifts which were the most shining
were comparatively of the least value, even as a man clothes
and ornaments the least honorable parts of his body, and
leaves the more beautiful parts uncovered.
Members of the one body: their common interest
Another point which the Apostle marks, is the common
interest that exists among them in that they are members
of the one and the same body. If one suers, all suer, since
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there is but one body animated by one Spirit. If one is
honored, all rejoice. is also depends on the one selfsame
Spirit who unites and animates them. Moreover this body
is the body of Christ. “Ye are,” says the Apostle, “the body
of Christ, and members in particular.”
e Christians in one place representing the whole
assembly, because inseparably united to the other
members of the one body
Observe, also, here that, although that assembly
at Corinth was only a part of the body of Christ, the
Apostle speaks of the whole body; for the assembly there
was, according to the principle of its gathering, the body
of Christ as assembled at Corinth. It is true that at the
beginning he speaks of all those who call on the name of
the Lord Jesus; but in fact he addresses the Corinthian
assembly. And the general expression shows that, in the
walk of the assembly, and in its general interests, a local
assembly cannot be separated from the whole body of
Christians on earth; and the language employed here
shows that, as to their position before<P218> God, the
Christians of one town were considered as representing
the whole assembly, as far as regarded that locality; not as
independent of the rest, but, on the contrary, as inseparably
united to the others, living and acting, with respect to that
locality as members of the body of Christ, and looked upon
as such in it, because every Christian formed a part of that
body, and they formed a part of it likewise. From the verses
that follow we see that the Apostle, while looking upon
the Christians there as the body of Christ, the members
of which they were, has in his mind the whole assembly
as the assembly of God. In the New Testament there is
no other membership than that of Christ, except that they
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are members of each other, as forming the entire body, but
never members of a church; the idea is dierent. e word
speaks of the members of a body, like that of man as a gure,
never of the members of an assembly in the modern sense
of the word. We are members of Christ, and consequently
of the body of Christ; so were the Corinthians, as far as
that body was manifested at Corinth.
e body of Christ, the assembly, looked upon as on
the earth
Moreover the body of Christ, the assembly, is looked at
here as a whole upon the earth. God has set in the assembly
apostles, prophets, miracles, healings, tongues. It is very
plain that this is on the earth, as were the Corinthians, and
that it is the assembly as a whole. Healings and tongues
were not in heaven, and the apostles were not those of an
individual assembly. In a word it was the Holy Spirit, come
down from heaven, who had formed the unity of the body
on earth, and who acted in it by the special gifts which
distinguished the members.
e gifts distinguished from sign gifts; their character,
purpose and promise of continuance
e Apostle then points out these gifts, not to give a
formal and complete list of them, but to mark the order
and importance of those he mentions. Tongues, of which
the Corinthians were so proud, are the last gifts named in
the list. Some gifts then, were more excellent than others;
they were to be estimated according to the measure in
which they served for the edication of the assembly. ose
which served this end were to be desired.<P219>
It is interesting to remark here the dierence of this
chapter and Ephesians 4. Here it is simply power, and
men are told in certain cases to be silent, when the power
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325
was there; it was the Holy Spirit working as power. In
Ephesians 4 it is Christ’s care as Head of the body. No gifts
which are signs of power to others are mentioned; only
what founds the assembly, edies the saints, and builds the
assembly up; and then there is promise of continuance till
we all come. For Christ cannot cease to care for His body;
but sign gifts may disappear, and they have. Apostles and
prophets were the foundation, and in that sense they were,
when the foundation was laid, no longer in exercise.
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1Corinthians 13
Something more excellent than gifts-love, as
conformity to the nature of God, acting and feeling
according to His likeness
Nevertheless there was something more excellent than
all gifts. ey were the manifestations of the power of
God and of the mysteries of His wisdom; love, that of His
nature itself.
ey might speak with all tongues; they might have
prophecy, the knowledge of mysteries, the faith which can
remove mountains; they might give all their possessions
to feed the poor, and their bodies to be tortured: if they
had not love, it was nothing. Love was conformity to the
nature of God, the living expression of what He was, the
manifestation of having been made partakers of His nature:
it was the acting and feeling according to His likeness. is
love is developed in reference to others; but others are not
the motive, although they are the object. It has its source
within; its strength is independent of the objects with
which it is occupied. us it can act where circumstances
might produce irritation or jealousy in the human heart.
It acts according to its own nature in the circumstances;
and by judging them according to that nature, they do not
act upon the man who is full of love, except so far as they
supply occasion for its activity and direct its form. Love
is its own motive. In us participation in the divine nature
is its only source. Communion with God Himself alone
sustains it through all the diculties it has to surmount
in its path. is love is the opposite of selshness and of
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self-seeking, and shuts it out, <P220>seeking the good of
others, even (as to its principle) as God has sought us in
grace (see Ephesians 4:32; 5:1-2). What a power to avoid
evil in oneself, to forget all in order to do good!
e qualities of divine love; the time and place of its
exercise
It is worthy of note that the qualities of divine love are
almost entirely of a passive character.
e rst eight qualities pointed out by the Spirit are
the expression of this renunciation of self. e three that
follow, mark that joy in good which sets the heart free also
from that readiness to suppose evil, which is so natural to
human nature, on account of its own depth of evil, and that
which it also experiences in the world. e last four show
its positive energy, which-the source of every kind thought-
by the powerful spring of its divine nature, presumes good
when it does not see it, and bears with evil when it sees
it, covering it by long-suering and patience; not bringing
it to light, but burying it in its own depth-a depth which
is unfathomable, because love never changes. One nds
nothing but love where it is real; for circumstances are but
an occasion for it to act and show itself. Love is always
itself, and it is love which is exercised and displayed. It is
that which lls the mind: everything else is but a means of
awakening the soul that dwells in love to its exercise. is
is the divine character. No doubt the time of judgment will
come; but our relationships with God are in grace. Love is
His nature. It is now the time of its exercise. We represent
Him on earth in testimony.
e unchangeable and everlasting character of divine
love
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In that which is said of love in this chapter we nd
the reproduction of the divine nature, except that what is
said is but the negative of the selshness of the esh in
us. Now the divine nature changes not and never ceases;
love therefore abides ever. Communications from God;
the means by which they are made; knowledge, as attained
here below, according to which we apprehend the truth in
part only, although the whole truth is revealed to us (for we
apprehend it in detail, so that we have never the whole at
once, the character of our knowledge being to lay hold of
dierent truths singly); all that is characterized by being in
part-passes away. Love will not pass away. A child learns;
he <P221>rejoices too in things that amuse him; when he
becomes a man, he requires things in accordance with his
intelligence as a man. It was thus with tongues and the
edication of the assembly. e time however was coming
when they should know even as they were known, not by
communications of truths to a capacity that apprehended
the truth in its dierent parts, but they should understand
it as a whole in its unity.
Now love subsists already; there are faith and hope also.
Not only shall these pass away, but even now, here below,
that which is of the nature of God is more excellent than
that which is connected with the capacity of human nature,
even though enlightened by God, and having for its object
the revealed glory of God.
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329
73226
1Corinthians 14
e edication of the assembly; prophecy and
speaking with tongues
Believers therefore were to follow after and seek
for love, while desiring gifts, especially that they might
prophesy, because thus they would edify the assembly, and
that was the thing to aim at; it was that which love desired
and sought, it was that which intelligence required, the two
marks of a man in Christ, of one to whom Christ is all.
Two verses in this chapter 14 demand a little attention-
the third and the sixth. Verse 3 is the eect, or rather the
quality, of that which a prophet says, and not a denition.
He edies, he encourages, he comforts, by speaking.
Nevertheless these words show the character of what he
said. Prophecy is in no wise simply the revelation of future
events, although prophets as such have revealed them. A
prophet is one who is so in communication with God as
to be able to communicate His mind. A teacher instructs
according to that which is already written, and so explains
its import. But, in communicating the mind of God to
souls under grace, the prophet encouraged and edied
them. With regard to verse 6, it is plain that coming with
tongues (by the use of which the Corinthians, like children,
loved to shine in the assembly) he that so spoke edied
no one, for he was not understood. Perhaps he did not
understand himself, but was the unintelligent instrument
of the Spirit, while having the powerful impression of the
fact that<P222> God spoke by his means, so that in the
Spirit he felt that he was in communication with God,
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although his understanding was unfruitful. In any case no
one could speak for the edication of the assembly unless
he communicated the mind of God.
Revelation and knowledge; prophecy and doctrine
Of such communication the Apostle distinguishes two
kinds- revelation and knowledge. e latter supposes a
revelation already given, of which someone availed himself
by the Holy Spirit for the good of the ock. He then
points out the gifts which were respectively the means of
edifying in these two ways. It is not that the two latter
terms (vs. 6) are the equivalents of the two former; but
the two things here spoken of as edifying the church were
accomplished by means of these two gifts. ere might be
“prophecy” without its being absolutely a new revelation,
although there was more in it than knowledge. It might
contain an application of the thoughts of God, an address
on the part of God to the soul, to the conscience, which
would be more than knowledge, but which would not be a
new revelation. God acts therein without revealing a new
truth or a new fact. “Knowledge,” or “doctrine,” teaches
truths, or explains the Word, a thing very useful to the
assembly; but in it there is not the direct action of the
Spirit in application, and thus not the direct manifestation
of the presence of God to men in their own conscience and
heart. When anyone teaches, he who is spiritual prots by
it; when one prophesies, even he who is not spiritual may
feel it, he is reached and judged; and it is the same thing
with the Christian’s conscience. Revelation, or knowledge,
is a perfect division and embraces everything. Prophecy,
and doctrine, are in intimate connection with the two; but
prophecy embraces other ideas, so that this division does
not exactly answer to the rst two terms.
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e necessity of making oneself understood
in speaking with tongues; gifts only to be used as
instruments for good
e Apostle insists largely on the necessity for making
oneself understood, whether one speaks, or sings, or prays.
He desires- and the remark is of all importance in judging
men’s pretensions to the Spirit-that the understanding be
in exercise. He does not deny that they might speak with
tongues without the <P223>understanding being at all
in it-a thing of evident power and utility when persons
were present who understood no other language, or whose
natural language it was. But, in general, it was an inferior
thing when the Spirit did not act upon, and therefore
by means of, the understanding in him who spoke.
Communion between souls in a common subject, through
the unity of the Spirit, did not exist when he who spoke did
not understand what he said. e individual speaking did
not himself enjoy, as from God, what he communicated to
others. If others did not understand it either, it was child’s
play to utter words without meaning to the hearers. But
the Apostle desired to understand himself that which he
said, although he spoke in many tongues; so that it was not
jealousy on his part. He spoke more foreign tongues, by
the gift of the Holy Spirit, than they all. But his soul loved
the things of God-loved to receive truth intelligently from
Him-loved to hold intelligent communion with others;
and he would rather say ve words with his understanding
than ten thousand without it in an unknown tongue.
What a marvelous power, what a manifestation of the
presence of God - a thing worthy of the deepest attention -
and, at the same time, what superiority to all carnal vanity,
to the luster reected upon the individual by means of
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gifts-what moral power of the Spirit of God, where love
saw nothing in these manifestations of power in gift but
instruments to be used for the good of the assembly and of
souls! It was the practical force of that love, to the exercise
of which, as being superior to gifts, he exhorted the
faithful. It was the love and the wisdom of God directing
the exercise of His power for the good of those whom
He loved. What a position for a man! What simplicity is
imparted by the grace of God to one who forgets self in
humility and love, and what power in that humility! e
Apostle conrms his argument by the eect that would be
produced on strangers who might come into the assembly,
or on unenlightened Christians, if they heard languages
spoken which no one understood: they would think them
mad. Prophecy, reaching their conscience, would make
them feel that God was there-was present in the assembly
of God.
e exercise of gifts regulated
Gifts were abundant in Corinth. Having regulated
that which concerned moral questions, the Apostle in the
second place <P224>regulates the exercise of those gifts.
Everyone came with some manifestation of the power of
the Holy Spirit, of which they evidently thought more
than of conformity to Christ. Nevertheless the Apostle
acknowledges in it the power of the Spirit of God, and
gives rules for its exercise. Two or three might speak with
tongues, provided there was an interpreter, so that the
assembly might be edied. And this was to be done one
at a time, for it appears they even spoke several at once.
In the same way as to the prophets: two or three might
speak, the others would judge if it really came from God.
For, if it were given to them of God, all might prophesy;
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but only one at a time, that all might learn-a dependence
always good for the most gifted prophets-and that all
might be comforted. e spirits of the prophets (that is
to say, the impulse of the power in the exercise of gifts)
were subject to the guidance of the moral intelligence
which the Spirit bestowed on the prophets. ey were, on
God’s part, masters of themselves in the use of these gifts,
in the exercise of this marvelous power which wrought in
them. It was not a divine fury, as the pagans said of their
diabolical inspiration, which carried them away; for God
could not be the author of confusion in the assembly, but
of peace. In a word we see that this power was committed
to man in his moral responsibility; an important principle,
which is invariable in the ways of God. God saved man by
grace, when he had failed in his responsibility; but all that
He has committed to man, whatever may be the divine
energy of the gift, man holds as responsible to use it for the
glory of God, and consequently for the good of others and
especially for the assembly.
Directions as to women’s silence in the assembly or in
public
Women were to be silent in the assembly: it was not
permitted to them to speak. ey were to remain in
obedience and not to direct others. e law moreover held
the same language. It would be a shame to hear them speak
in public. If they had had questions to ask, they might
inquire of their husbands at home.
e proof of being lled by the Spirit-the
acknowledgment that what the Apostle wrote came from
God
With all their gifts, the word did not come out from the
Corinthians, nor had it come unto them only; they ought
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to submit to<P225> the universal order of the Spirit in the
assembly. If they pretended to be led by the Spirit, let them
acknowledge (and this would prove it) that the things
which the Apostle wrote to them were the commandments
of the Lord: a very important assertion; a responsible and
serious position of this wonderful servant of God.
What a mixture of tenderness, of patience, and of
authority! e Apostle desires that the faithful should
come to the truth and to order, conducted by their own
aections; not fearing, if necessary for their good, to
avail himself of an authority without appeal, as speaking
directly from God-an authority which God would justify
if the Apostle was forced unwillingly to use it. If any were
ignorant that he wrote by the Spirit with the authority of
God, it was ignorance indeed; let such be given up to their
ignorance. Spiritual and simple men would be delivered
from such pretensions. ose who were really lled with
the Spirit would acknowledge that what the Apostle wrote
came immediately from God, and was the expression of
His wisdom, of that which became Him: for often there
may be the recognition of divine or even human wisdom
when it is found, where there was not the ability to nd it,
nor, if it were perceived in part, the power to set it forth
with authority. Meanwhile the man of pretension, reduced
to this place, would nd the place protable, and that
which he needed.
e Apostle’s assertion as to the inspiration of the
epistles
We shall also observe here the importance of this
assertion of the Apostle’s with regard to the inspiration of
the epistles. at which he taught for the details even of
the order of the assembly, was so really given of God, came
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so entirely from God, that they were the commandments
of the Lord. For doctrine we have, at the end of the Epistle
to the Romans, the same declaration that it was by means
of prophetic writings that the gospel was disseminated
among the nations.
Encouragement of the exercise of gifts in due order
e Apostle resumes his instructions by saying, that
they should desire to prophesy, not forbid to speak with
tongues, and that all should be done with order and
propriety.<P226>
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1Corinthians 15
e denial of the resurrection of the dead
But other evils had found means to introduce themselves
into the midst of the shining gifts which were exercised in
the bosom of the ock at Corinth. e resurrection of the
dead was denied. Satan is wily in his dealings. Apparently
it was only the body that was in question; nevertheless the
whole gospel was at stake, for if the dead rose not, then
Christ was not risen. And if Christ was not risen, the sins
of the faithful were not put away, and the gospel was not
true. e Apostle therefore reserved this question for the
end of his epistle, and he enters into it thoroughly.
Salvation dependent on the fact of the resurrection;
complete and positive testimony as to it
First, he reminds them of that which he had preached
among them as the gospel, that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and was raised again according
to the Scriptures. is then was the means of their salvation,
if they continued in it, unless they had believed in vain.
Here at least was a very solid foundation for his argument:
their salvation (unless all that they had believed was but a
protless fable) depended on the fact of the resurrection,
and was bound up with it. But if the dead rose not, Christ
was not risen, for He had died. e Apostle begins therefore
by establishing this fact through the most complete and
positive testimonies, including his own testimony, since he
had himself seen the Lord. Five hundred persons had seen
Him at once, the greater part of whom were still alive to
bear witness of it.
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Christ is risen; if not, the preaching and faith of
Christians are vain
Observe, in passing, that the Apostle can speak of
nothing without a moral eect being produced in his heart,
because he thinks of it with God. us, verses 8-10, he
calls to mind the state of things with regard to himself and
to the other apostles, and that which grace had done; and
then, his heart unburdened, he returns to his subject. e
testimony of every divine witness was the same. Everything
declared that Christ was risen; everything depended on the
fact that He was so. is was his starting point.<P227>
If, said he, that which was preached among you is that
Christ was raised from the dead, how happens it that some
among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there
is none, Christ is not risen; if He is not risen, the preaching
of His witnesses is vain, the faith of Christians vain. Nor
that only; but these witnesses are false witnesses, for they
had declared, with respect to God, that He had raised up
Christ from the dead. But God had not raised Him up
if the dead do not rise. And in that case their faith was
vain: they were yet in their sins; and those who had already
fallen asleep in Christ had perished. Now, if it be in this life
only that the believer has hope in Christ, he is of all men
the most miserable; he does but suer as to this world. But
it is not so, for Christ is risen.
Christ risen from among all the other dead
Here, however, it is not only a general doctrine that
the dead are raised. Christ, in rising, came up from among
the dead. It is the favor and the power of God come in,1
to bring back from among the dead the One who had in
His grace gone down into death to accomplish and to
display the deliverance of man in Christ from the power
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of Satan and of death; and to put a public seal on the
work of redemption, to exhibit openly in man the victory
over all the power of the enemy. us Christ arose from
among all the other dead (for death could not hold Him),
and established the glorious principle of this divine and
complete deliverance, and He became the rstfruits of
them that slept, who, having His life, await the exercise of
His power, which will awaken them by virtue of the Spirit
that dwells in them.
(1. Christ could say, “Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up,” for He who dwells in the temple
is God. It is also said that He was raised up by the Spirit,
and at the same time by the glory of the Father. But here
He is viewed as man who has undergone death; and God
intervenes, that He may not remain in it, because here the
object is, not to show forth the glory of the Lord’s Person,
but to prove our resurrection, since He, a dead man, has
been raised. By man came death; by man, resurrection.
While demonstrating that He was the Lord from heaven,
the Apostle always speaks here of the Man Christ.)
e peculiar character of resurrection and the peculiar
place of Christ; Christ and His people inseparably
identied
is evidently gives a very peculiar character to the
<P228>resurrection. It is not only that the dead rise, but
that God, by His power, brings back certain persons from
among the dead, on account of the favor which He has
for them, and in connection with the life and the Spirit
which are in them. Christ has a quite peculiar place. Life
was in Him, and He is our life. He gained this victory by
which we prot. He is of right the rstfruits. It was due
to His glory. Had He not gained the victory, we should
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always have remained in prison. He had power Himself
to resume life, but the great principle is the same, it is not
only a resurrection of the dead, but those who are alive
according to God arise as the objects of His favor, and by
the exercise of that power which wills to have them for
Himself and with Himself-Christ, the rstfruits; those
who are Christ’s, at His coming. We are associated with
Christ in resurrection. We come out like Him, not only
from death, but from the dead. We mark, too, here how
Christ and His people are inseparably identied. If they do
not rise, He is not risen. He was as really dead as we can
be, has taken in grace our place under death, was a man as
we are men (save sin) so truly that, if you deny this result
for us, you deny the fact as to Him; and the object and
foundation of faith itself fails. is identication of Christ
with men, so as to be able to draw a conclusion from us to
Him, is full of power and blessing. If the dead do not rise,
He is not risen; He was as truly dead as we can be.
Victory over death and him who had the power of it
by One who became Man
It needed to be by man. No doubt the power of God
can call men back from the tomb. He will do so, acting
in the Person of His Son, to whom all judgment is given.
But that will not be a victory gained in human nature over
death which held men captive. is it is which Christ has
done. He was willing to be given up to death for us, in
order (as man) to gain the victory for us over death and
over him who had the power of death. By man came death;
by man, resurrection. Glorious victory! complete triumph!
We come out of the state where sin and its consequences
fully reached us. Evil cannot enter the place into which
we are brought out. We have crossed the frontiers forever.
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Sin, the power of the enemy, remains outside this new
creation, which is the fruit of the power of God after evil
had come in, and which the responsibility of man<P229>
shall not mar. It is God who maintains it in connection
with Himself: it depends on Him.
Adam and Christ as heads of two families
characterized by death and life
ere are two great principles established here: by
man, death; by man, the resurrection of the dead; Adam
and Christ as heads of two families. In Adam all die; in
Christ all shall be made alive. But here there is an all-
important development in connection with the position of
Christ in the counsels of God. One side of this truth is
the dependence of the family, so to call it, upon its head.
Adam brought death into the midst of his descendants-
those who are in relation with himself. is is the principle
which characterizes the history of the rst Adam. Christ,
in whom is life, brings life into the midst of those who are
His-communicates it to them. is principle characterizes
the second Adam, and those who are His in Him. But it
is life in the power of resurrection, without which it could
not have been communicated to them. e grain of wheat
would have been perfect in itself, but would have remained
alone. But He died for their sins, and now He imparts life
to them, all their sins being forgiven them.
God’s order in the resurrection; its three steps; the
resurrection of judgment-of those who are not Christ’s
Now, in the resurrection, there is an order according
to the wisdom of God for the accomplishment of His
counsels-Christ, the rstfruits; those who are Christ’s,
at His coming again. us those who are in Christ are
quickened according to the power of the life which is in
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Christ; it is the resurrection of life. But this is not the
whole extent of resurrection as acquired by Christ, in
gaining the victory over death according to the Spirit of
holiness. e Father has given Him power over all esh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father
had given Him. e latter are those of whom this chapter
treats essentially, because its subject is resurrection among
Christians; and the Apostle, the Spirit Himself, loves to
speak on the subject of the power of eternal life in Christ.
Yet he cannot entirely omit the other part of the truth. e
resurrection of the dead, he tells us, is come by man. But
he is not here speaking of the communication of life in
Christ.<P230> In connection with this last and nearer part
of his subject, he does not touch upon the resurrection of
the wicked; but after the coming of Christ he introduces
the end, when He shall have given up the kingdom to
the Father. With the kingdom is introduced the power of
Christ exercised over all things-a dierent thought entirely
from the communication of life to His own.
ere are three steps therefore in these events: rst,
the resurrection of Christ; then, the resurrection of those
who are His, at His coming; afterwards, the end, when He
shall have given up the kingdom to the Father. e rst
and the second are the accomplishment in resurrection of
the power of life in Christ and in His people. When He
comes, He takes the kingdom; He takes His great power
and acts as king. From His coming then to the end is the
development of His power, in order to subdue all things
to Himself; during which all power and all authority shall
be abolished. For He must reign till all His enemies are
under His feet; the last subdued will be death. Here then,
as the eect of His power only, and not in connection
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with the communication of life, we nd the resurrection
of those who are not His; for the destruction of death is
their resurrection. ey are passed over in silence: only
that death, such as we see it, has no longer dominion over
them. Christ has the right and the power, in virtue of
His resurrection and of His having gloried the Father,
to destroy the dominion of death over them, and to raise
them up again. is will be the resurrection of judgment.
Its eect is declared elsewhere.
e Son Himself subject as Man that God may be all
in all
When He has put all His enemies under His feet, and
has given back the kingdom to His Father (for it is never
taken from Him, nor given to another, as happens with
human kingdoms), then the Son Himself is subject to Him
who has put all things under Him, in order that God may
be all in all. e reader should observe, that it is the counsels
of God with regard to the government of all things which
is here spoken of, and not His nature; and moreover it is
the Son, as man, of whom these things are said. is is not
an arbitrary explanation: the passage is from Psalm 8, the
subject of which is the exaltation of man to the position of
head of all things, God putting all things under His feet.
Nothing, says the Apostle, is excepted (Heb. 2:8) save, as
he adds here, that He is necessarily<P231> excepted who
put all things under Him. When the man Christ, the Son
of God, has in fact accomplished this subjugation, He
gives back to God the universal power which had been
committed to Him, and the mediatorial kingdom, which
He held as man, ceases. He is again subject, as He was on
earth. He does not cease to be one with the Father, even as
He was so while living in humiliation on the earth, although
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saying at the same time, “Before Abraham was, I am.” But
the mediatorial government of man has disappeared-is
absorbed in the supremacy of God, to which there is no
longer any opposition. Christ will take His eternal place,
a Man, the Head of the whole redeemed family, being at
the same time God blessed forever, one with the Father.
In Psalm 2 we see the Son of God, as born on earth, King
in Zion, rejected when He presented Himself on earth; in
Psalm 8 the result of His rejection, exalted as Son of Man
at the head of all that the hand of God has made. en we
nd Him here laying down this conferred authority, and
resuming the normal position of humanity, namely, that
of subjection to Him who has put all things under Him;
but through it all, never changing His divine nature, nor-
save so far as exchanging humiliation for glory-His human
nature either. But God is now all in all, and the special
government of man in the Person of Jesus-a government
with which the assembly is associated (see Ephesians 1:20-
23, which is a quotation from the same psalm)-is merged
in the immutable supremacy of God, the nal and normal
relationship of God with His creature. We shall nd the
Lamb omitted in that which is said in Revelation 21:1-8,
speaking of this same period.
Resurrection by the Man Christ Jesus: a revelation to
Paul of all the ways of God with regard to resurrection
us we nd in this passage resurrection by man-death
having entered by man; the relationship of the saints with
Jesus, the source and the power of life, the consequence
being His resurrection, and theirs at His coming; power
over all things committed to Christ, the risen Man;
afterwards the kingdom given back to God the Father,
the tabernacle of God with men, and the Man Christ, the
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second Adam, eternally a man subject to the Supreme-
this last a truth of innite value to us (the resurrection of
the wicked, though supposed in the resurrection brought
in by Christ, not <P232>being the direct subject of the
chapter). e reader must now remark that this passage
is a revelation, in which the Spirit of God, having xed
the Apostle’s thoughts upon Jesus and the resurrection,
suddenly interrupts the line of his argument, announcing-
with that impulse which the thought of Christ always gave
to the mind and heart of the Apostle-all the ways of God
in Christ with regard to the resurrection, to the connection
of those that are His with Him in that resurrection, and
the government and dominion which belong to Him as
risen, as well as the eternal nature of His relationship, as
man, to God. Having communicated these thoughts of
God, which were revealed to him, he resumes the thread
of his argument in verse 29. is part ends with verse 34,
after which he treats the question, which they had brought
forward as a diculty-in what manner should the dead be
raised?
Baptized for the dead
By taking the verses 20-28 (which contain so important
a revelation in a passage that is complete in itself) as a
parenthesis, the verses 29-34 become much more
intelligible, and some expressions, which have greatly
harassed interpreters, have a tolerably determined sense.
e Apostle had said, in verse 16, “If the dead rise not,” and
then, that if such were the case, those who had fallen asleep
in Jesus had perished, and that the living were of all men
most miserable. At verse 29 he returns to these points, and
speaks of those who are baptized for the dead, in connection
with the assertion, that if there were no resurrection those
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who had fallen asleep in Christ had perished; “if,” he says,
repeating more forcibly the expression in verse 16, “the
dead rise not at all”; and then shows how entirely he is
himself in the second case he had spoken of, “of all men
most miserable,” and almost in the case of perishing also,
being every moment in danger, striving as with wild beasts,
dying daily. Baptized, then, for the dead is to become a
Christian with the view xed on those who have fallen
asleep in Christ, and particularly as being slain for Him,
taking one’s portion with the dead, yea, with the dead
Christ; it is the very meaning of baptism (Rom. 6). How
senseless if they do not rise! As in 1essalonians 4, the
subject, while speaking of all Christians, is looked at in the
same way. e word translated “for” is frequently used in
these epistles for “in view of,” “with reference to.”<P233>
Resurrection proving that death does not touch the
soul though dissolving its intimate union with the body
We have seen that verses 20-28 form a parenthesis. Verse
29 then is connected with verse 18. Verses 30-32 relate to
verse 19. e historical explanation of these last verses is
found in the second epistle (see chapter 1:8-9; 4:8-12). I do
not think that verse 32 should be taken literally. e word
translated “I have fought with beasts” is usually employed
in a gurative sense, to be in conict with erce and
implacable enemies. In consequence of the violence of the
Ephesians he had nearly lost his life, and even despaired of
saving it; but God had delivered him. But to what purpose
all these suerings, if the dead rise not? And observe here,
that although the resurrection proves that death does not
touch the soul (compare Luke 20:38), yet the Apostle does
not think of immortality,1 apart from resurrection. God
has to do so, with man, and man is composed of body and
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of soul. He gives account in the judgment of the things
done in the body. It is when raised from the dead that
he will do so. e intimate union between the two, quite
distinct as they are, forms the spring of life, the seat of
responsibility, the means of God’s government with regard
to His creatures, and the sphere in which His dealings are
displayed. Death dissolves this union; and although the
soul survives, and is happy or miserable, the existence of
the complete man is suspended, the judgment of God is
not applied, the believer is not yet clothed with glory. us
to deny the resurrection, was to deny the true relationship
of God with man, and to make death the end of man,
destroying man as God contemplates him, and making
him perish like a beast. Compare the Lord’s argument in
that passage in Luke of which I have already quoted one
verse.
(1. But, remark, mortality in the New Testament is
never applied to anything but the body, and that exclusively
and emphatically, “this mortal” and the like. e separate
existence of the soul, as not dying with the body, is taught
plainly enough in Scripture, and not merely for the
Christian (as to whom it is evident, for we are with Christ)
but for all, as in Luke 20:38, chapter 12:4-5, and the end
of chapter 16.)
e desire with which the denial of the resurrection is
linked; the reason for it
Alas! the denial of the resurrection was linked with the
desire to unbridle the senses. Satan introduced it into the
heart of <P234>Christians through their communication
with persons with whom the Spirit of Christ would have
had no communion.
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ey needed to have their conscience exercised, to be
awakened, in order that righteousness might have its place
there. It is the lack of that which is commonly the true
source of heresies. ey failed in the knowledge of God.
It was to the shame of these Christians. God grant us to
take heed to it! It is the great matter even in questions of
doctrine.
e physical mode of the resurrection; the glorious
abode of the soul-a body suited to the creature that
possessed it
But further, the inquisitive spirit of man would fain
be satised with respect to the physical mode of the
resurrection. e Apostle did not gratify it, while rebuking
the stupid folly of those who had occasion every day to
see analogous things in the creation that surrounded them.
Fruit of the power of God, the raised body would be,
according to the good pleasure of Him who gave it anew
for the glorious abode of the soul, a body of honor, which,
having passed through death, would assume that glorious
condition which God had prepared for it-a body suited to
the creature that possessed it, but according to the supreme
will of Him who clothed the creature with it. ere were
dierent kinds of bodies; and as wheat was not the bare
grain that had been sown, although a plant of its nature and
not another, so should it be with the raised man. Dierent
also were the glories of heavenly and earthly bodies: star
diered from star in glory. I do not think that this passage
refers to degrees of glory in heaven, but to the fact that
God distributes glory as He pleases. Heavenly glory and
earthly glory are however plainly put in contrast, for there
will be an earthly glory.
e character of the resurrection
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And observe here, that it is not merely the fact of the
resurrection which is set forth in this passage, but also
its character. For the saints it will be a resurrection to
heavenly glory. eir portion will be bodies incorruptible,
glorious, vessels of power, spiritual. is body, sown as
the grain of wheat for corruption, shall put on glory
and incorruptibility.1 It is only the saints that are here
<P235>spoken of-“they also that are heavenly,” and in
connection with Christ, the second Adam. e Apostle
had said that the rst body was “natural.” Its life was that
of the living soul; as to the body it partook of that kind of
life which the other animals possessed-whatever might be
its superiority as to its relationship with God, in that God
Himself had breathed into his nostrils the spirit of life, so
that man was thus in a special way in relationship with
God (of His race, as the Apostle said at Athens). “Adam,
the son of God,” said the Holy Spirit in Luke-made in
the image of God. His conduct should have answered to
it, and God had revealed Himself to him in order to place
him morally in the position that was suitable to this breath
of life which he had received. He had become-free as he
was from death by the power of God who sustained him,
or mortal by the sentence of Him who had formed him-a
living soul. ere was not the quickening power in himself.
e rst Adam was simply a man-“the rst man Adam.”
(1. It is a striking collateral proof of the completeness
of our redemption, and the impossibility of our coming
into judgment, that we are raised in glory. We are gloried
before we arrive before the judgment seat. Christ will have
come and changed our vile body and fashioned it like His
glorious body.)
e last Adam giving life to whom He would
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e Word of God does not express itself thus with regard
to Christ, when speaking of Him in this passage as the last
Adam. He could not be the last Adam without being a
man; but it does not say, “e last man was a quickening
Spirit,” but the “last Adam”; and when it speaks of Him as
the second Man, adds that He was “from heaven.” Christ
had not only life as a living soul, He had the power of life,
which could impart life to others. Although
He was a man on earth, He had life in Himself;
accordingly He quickened whom He would. Nevertheless
it is as the last Adam, the second Man, the Christ, that the
Word here speaks of Him. It is not only that God quickens
whom He will, but the last Adam, Christ, the Head,
spiritually, of the new race, has this power in Himself: and
therefore it is said-for it is always Jesus on earth who is in
question-“He hath given to the Son to have life in himself.”
Of us it is said, “God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son: he who hath the Son hath life, and he
that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Howbeit that
which is of the Spirit is not that which was rst, but that
which is natural, that is, that which has the natural life of
the soul. at which is <P236>spiritual, which has its life
from the power of the Spirit, comes after. e rst man
is of the earth-has his origin, such as he is (God having
breathed into his nostrils a spirit or breath of life), from the
earth. erefore he is of the dust, even as God said, “Dust
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” e last Adam,
though He was as truly man as the rst, is from heaven.
United to the Head of a spiritual race and bearing His
image
As belonging to the rst Adam, we inherit his condition,
we are as he is: as participating in the life of the second, we
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have part in the glory which He possesses as Man, we are
as He is, we exist according to His mode of being, His life
being ours. Now the consequence here is that, as we have
borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly. Observe here, that the rst Adam and the
last, or second Man, respectively, are looked at as in that
condition into which they entered when their respective
trials under responsibility had ended; and those who are
connected with the one and the other inherit the condition
and the consequences of the work of the one and the other,
as thus tested. It is the fallen Adam who is the father of
a race born after his image-a fallen and guilty race, sinful
and mortal. He had failed, and committed sin, and lost his
position before God, was far from Him, when he became
the father of the human race. If the corn of wheat falling
into the ground does not die, it bears no fruit; if it die, it
bears much fruit. Christ had gloried God, made expiation
for sin, and was raised in righteousness; had overcome death
and destroyed the power of Satan, before He became, as a
quickening Spirit, the Head of a spiritual race,1 to whom-
united to Himself-He communicates all the privileges that
belong to the position before God which He has acquired,
according to the power of that life by which He quickens
them. It is a risen and gloried Christ whose image we shall
bear, as we now bear the image of a fallen Adam.<P237>
(1. It is not that as Son of God He could not quicken at
all times, as indeed He did. But in order to our partaking
with Him, all this was needed and accomplished, and here
He is looked at as Himself risen from the dead, the heavenly
man. us also it is founded in divine righteousness.)
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A positive revelation as to the enjoyment of
incorruptibility by all the saints; immortality of the
mortal body
Flesh and blood, not merely sin, cannot enter the
kingdom of heaven. Corruption (for such we are) cannot
inherit that which is incorruptible. is leads the Apostle
to a positive revelation of that which will take place with
regard to the enjoyment of incorruptibility by all the
saints. Death is conquered. It is not necessary that death
should come upon all, still less that all should undergo
actual corruption; but it is not possible for esh and
blood to inherit the kingdom of glory. But we shall not
all sleep; there are some who will be changed without
dying. e dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (for
redemption being accomplished and Christ ready to judge
the quick and the dead, the Apostle always looked at it as
a thing immediately before his eyes, ready to take place
any moment) shall be changed (a change equivalent to
resurrection); for that which is corruptible, if not already
in dust and corruption, shall put on incorruptibility; that
which is mortal, immortality. We see that this relates to the
body; it is in his body that man is mortal, even when he has
eternal life, and shall live by Christ and with Christ. e
power of God will form the saints whether living or dead
for the inheritance of glory.
Death entirely conquered for the Christian; the dead
are raised and the living changed at the coming of Christ
Take special notice of what has just been said. Death is
entirely conquered-annulled in its power-for the Christian.
He possesses a life (Christ risen), which sets him above
death, not perhaps physically, but morally. It has lost all its
power over his soul,
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as the fruit of sin and judgment. It is so entirely
conquered, that there are some who will not die at all. All
Christians have Christ for their life. If He is absent, and if
He does not return-as will be the case as long as He sits on
His Father’s throne, and our life is hid with Him in God-we
undergo death physically according to the sentence of God;
that is to say, the soul is separated from the mortal body.
When He shall return and exercise His power, having risen
up from the Father’s throne to take His people to Himself
before He exercises judgment, death has no power at all
over them: they do not pass through it. at the others are
raised from the dead is a proof of power altogether divine,
and more glorious even<P238> than that which created
man from the dust. at the living are changed proves
a perfection of accomplished redemption, and a power
of life in Christ which had left no trace, no remains, of
the judgment of God as to them, nor of the power of the
enemy, nor of the thraldom of man to the consequences of
his sin. In place of all that, is an exercise of divine power,
which manifests itself in the absolute, complete, and eternal
deliverance of the poor guilty creature who before was
under it-a deliverance that has its perfect manifestation in
the glory of Christ, for He had subjected Himself in grace
to the condition of man under death for sin; so that to faith
it is always certain, and accomplished in His Person. But
the resurrection of the dead and the change of the living
will be its actual accomplishment for all who are His, at
His coming. What a glorious deliverance is that which is
wrought by the resurrection of Christ, who-sin entirely
blotted out, righteousness divinely gloried and made
good, Satan’s power destroyed- transports us by virtue of
an eternal redemption, and by the power of a life which
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has abolished death, into an entirely new sphere, where evil
cannot come, nor any of its consequences, and where the
favor of God in glory shines upon us perfectly and forever!
It is that which Christ has won for us, according to the
eternal love of God our Father, who gave Him to us to be
our Saviour.
e instantaneous accomplishment of this change at
an unexpected moment, by the power of God
At an unexpected moment we shall enter into this
scene, ordained by the Father, prepared by Jesus. e power
of God will accomplish this change in an instant: the dead
shall rise; we shall be changed. e last trumpet is but a
military allusion, as it appears to me, when the whole troop
wait for the last signal to set out all together.
Death’s character completely changed by what its
Victor has done; fear gives place to thanks
In the quotation from Isaiah 25:8 we have a remarkable
application of Scripture. Here it is only the fact that death
is thus swallowed up in victory, for which the passage is
quoted; but the comparison with Isaiah shows us that it
will be, not at the end of the world, but at a period when, by
the establishment of the <P239>kingdom of God in Zion,
the veil, under which the heathen have dwelt in ignorance
and darkness, shall be taken o their face. e whole earth
shall be enlightened, I do not say at the moment, but at
the period. But this certainty of the destruction of death
procures us a present condence, although death still exists.
Death has lost its sting, the grave its victory. All is changed
by the grace which, at the end, will bring in this triumph.
But meantime, by revealing to us the favor of God who
bestows it, and the accomplishment of the redemption
which is its basis, it has completely changed the character
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of death. Death, to the believer who must pass through it,
is only leaving that which is mortal; it no longer bears the
terror of God’s judgment, nor that of the power of Satan.
Christ has gone into it and borne it and taken it away totally
and forever. Nor that only-He has taken its source away.
It was sin which sharpened and envenomed that sting.
It was the law which, presenting to the conscience exact
righteousness, and the judgment of God which required
the accomplishment of that law, and pronounced a curse
on those who failed in it-it was the law which gave sin its
force to the conscience, and made death doubly formidable.
But Christ was made sin, and bore the curse of the law,
being made a curse for His own who were under the law;
and thus, while glorifying God perfectly with regard to sin,
and to the law in its most absolute requirements, He has
completely delivered us from the one and the other, and, at
the same time, from the power of death, out of which He
came victorious. All that death can do to us is to take us
out of the scene in which it exercises its power, to bring us
into that in which it has none. God, the Author of these
counsels of grace, in whom is the power that accomplishes
them, has given us this deliverance by Jesus Christ our
Lord. Instead of fearing death, we render thanks to Him
who has given us the victory by Jesus. e great result is
to be with Jesus and like Jesus, and to see Him as He is.
Meanwhile we labor in the scene where death exercises its
power-where Satan uses it, if God allows him, to stop us in
our way. We labor although there are diculties, with entire
condence, knowing what will be the infallible result. e
path may be beset by the enemy; the end will be the fruit
of the counsels and the power of our God, exercised on our
behalf according to that which we have seen in Jesus, who
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is the Head and the manifestation of the glory which His
own shall enjoy.<P240>
Christ’s power over all things; His association of His
own with Himself
To sum up what has been said, we see the two things
in Christ: rstly, power over all things, death included; He
raises up even the wicked: and secondly, the association
of His own with Himself. With reference therefore to the
latter, the Apostle directs our eyes to the resurrection of
Christ Himself. He not only raises up others, but He has
been raised up Himself from the dead. He is the rst-fruits
of them that sleep. But before His resurrection He died
for our sins. All that separated us from God is entirely put
away- death, the wrath of God, the power of Satan, sin,
disappear, as far as we are concerned, in virtue of the work
of Christ; and He is made to us that righteousness which
is our title to heavenly glory. Nothing remains of that
which appertained to His former human estate, except the
everlasting favor of God who brought Him there. us it is
a resurrection from among the dead by the power of God
in virtue of that favor, because He was the delight of God,
and in His exaltation His righteousness is accomplished.
e foundation of resurrection
For us it is a resurrection founded on redemption, and
which we enjoy even now in the power of a life, which
brings the eect and the strength of both into our hearts,
enlightened by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. At the
coming of Christ the accomplishment will take place in
fact for our bodies.
e Corinthians exhorted and encouraged as to
practice
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With regard to practice, the assembly at Corinth was in
a very poor condition; and being asleep as to righteousness,
the enemy sought to lead them astray as to faith also.
Nevertheless, as a body, they kept the foundation; and as
to external spiritual power, it shone very brightly.<P241>
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Paul’s plans; the collection for the poor saints at
Jerusalem; the open door and many adversaries his
motive for remaining at Ephesus
e Apostle, in his letter, had treated of the disorder
that reigned among these believers, and his spirit was to
a certain degree relieved by fullling this duty towards
them; for, after all, they were Christians and an assembly
of God. In the last chapter he speaks to them in the sense
of this, although he could not make up his mind to go
to Corinth, for he had intended to visit them in going to
Macedonia, and a second time in returning thence. He
does not say here why he did not go thither on his way
to Macedonia, and he speaks with uncertainty as to his
sojourn at Corinth when he should arrive there on his
return from Macedonia; if the Lord permitted, he would
tarry awhile with them. e second epistle will explain all
this. In their existing state his heart would not allow him
to visit them. But he treats them tenderly, nevertheless,
as still beloved Christians, giving them directions suited
to the circumstances of the moment. ey were to make
a collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, as had been
arranged with the apostles when Paul left Jerusalem as
the recognized Apostle of the Gentiles. is was not to be
done in haste when he came, but by laying up every week
in proportion to their prosperity. He would send persons
chosen by the Corinthians, or take them with him if he
went himself to Jerusalem. He thought of remaining till
Pentecost at Ephesus, where a great door was opened to
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him and there were many adversaries. If these two things
go together, it is a motive for remaining; the open door
is an inducement on the part of God, the activity of
adversaries makes it necessary with regard to the enemy. A
closed door is a dierent thing from opposition. People do
not hearken if the door is shut; God does not act to draw
attention. If God is acting, the assiduity of the enemy is
but a reason for not abandoning the work. It appears (ch.
15:32) that Paul had already suered much at Ephesus, but
he still continued his work there. He could not pour out
his heart on the subject to the Corinthians, seeing the state
they were in. He does it in the second epistle, when the
rst had produced the eect he desired. ere was a tumult
afterwards at Ephesus, stirred up by the<P242> craftsmen,
in consequence of which Paul left the city (Acts 19). Verses
21-22, of this chapter in Acts show us the period at which
he wrote this letter. e danger to his life had preceded it,
but he remained at Ephesus after that. e tumult closed
the door and sent him away.
Apollos as sharing Paul’s feeling and one with him
In Acts 19:22 we see that he had sent Timothy into
Macedonia. In our epistle he supposes that he might go
on as far as Corinth. If he came, the Corinthians were
to receive him as they would have received Paul. He had
begged Apollos to go to them; he had already been made a
blessing to them; and Paul thought he might be so again.
He did not fear that Apollos would displace him in the
heart of the Corinthians. But Apollos shared the Apostle’s
feeling; he was not inclined to recognize, or by his presence
to have the appearance of upholding, that which prevented
Paul going thither; and the more so because there were
some in the assembly at Corinth who wished to use his
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359
name as the standard of a party. Free in his movements,
he would act according to the judgment which the Lord
would enable him to form.
Paul’s ardent desire for their blessing; his joyful
recognition of the active charity of three brethren
After speaking of Apollos, the Apostle’s mind turns
again to his children in the faith, dear to him, whatever
their faults might be. Verses 13-14, are the eusion of a
heart which forgot these faults in the ardent desire of a
charity that only thought of their blessing according to the
Spirit. ree Corinthians had brought him supplies; it does
not appear to have been on the part of the assembly, nor
that it was any testimony of its love which had refreshed the
Apostle’s heart. He would have the Corinthians to rejoice
at it. He does not doubt that they loved him enough to be
refreshed because it was so. eir charity had not thought
of it beforehand; but he expresses his conviction that they
took pleasure in the thought of his heart being refreshed.
It is touching to see here, that the Apostle’s charity
suggests that which grace would produce on the heart of
the Corinthians, communicating that which they probably
would not otherwise have known of-the active charity of
three brethren of the assembly; and, in love uniting them
to his joy, if<P243> they had not been united to that which
occasioned it. e ame of charity communicates itself by
rising above coldness, and reaching the depths of divine
life in the heart; and, once communicated, the soul, before
unkindled, glows now with the same re.
Four channels of ministry
We nd in this chapter four channels, so to speak, of
ministry. Firstly, the Apostle, sent direct from the Lord and
by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, persons associated with the
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Apostle in his work, and acting at his desire, and (in the
case of Timothy) one pointed out by prophecy. irdly, an
entirely independent laborer, partly instructed by others
(see Acts 17:26), but acting where he saw t, according to
the Lord and to the gift he had received. Fourthly, one who
gives himself to the service of the saints, as well as others
who helped the Apostle and labored. Paul exhorts the
faithful to submit themselves to such, and to all those who
helped in the work and labored. He would also have them
acknowledge those who refreshed his heart by their service
of devotedness. us we nd the simple and important
principle according to which all the best aections of
the heart are developed, namely, the acknowledgment of
everyone according to the manifestation of grace and of
the power of the Holy Spirit in him. e Christian man
submits to those who addict themselves to the service of
the saints; he acknowledges those who manifest grace in a
special way. ey are not persons ocially nominated and
consecrated who are spoken of here. It is the conscience and
the spiritual aection of Christians which acknowledges
them according to their work-a principle valid at all times,
which does not permit this respect to be demanded, but
which requires it to be paid.
Elders who serve and are acknowledged without
ocial appointment; all the members of the assembly
recognized as real Christians
We may remark, here, that this epistle, although
entering into all the details of the interior conduct of
an assembly, does not speak of elders or of any formally
established ocers at all. It is certain, that in general
there were such; but God has provided in the Word
for the walk of an assembly at all times, and, as we see,
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361
principles which oblige us to acknowledge those who serve
in it<P244> through personal devotedness without being
ocially appointed. General unfaithfulness, or the absence
of such established ocers, will not prevent those who
obey the Word from following it in all that is needful for
Christian order. We see moreover that, whatever might be
the disorder, the Apostle recognizes the members of the
assembly as being all real Christians; he desires them to
acknowledge one another by the kiss of love, the universal
expression of brotherly aection. is is so entirely the
case that he pronounces a solemn anathema on everyone
who loved not the Lord Jesus. ere might be such, but
he would in no way recognize them. If there were any, let
them be anathema. Is this an allowed mixture? He will
not believe it, and he embraces them all in the bonds of
Christian love (vs. 24).
Even when God’s discipline is exercised or that of man
is required, the guilty are looked upon as Christians, but
unreality of love for the Lord calls for the most terrible
anathema
e last point is important. e state of the assembly
at Corinth might give room for some uncertainty as
to the Christianity of certain members or persons in
connection with them, although not dwelling at Corinth.
He admonishes them; but in fact, in cases of the most
grievous sin where the discipline of God was exercised or
that of man was required, the guilty are looked upon as
Christians. (See chapter 10 for the warning; chapter 11:32
for the Lord’s discipline; for that of man, chapter 5:5 in
this epistle; for the principle, 2Corinthians 2:8.) Besides,
he denounces with an anathema those who do not love the
Lord Jesus. Discipline is exercised towards the wicked man
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who is called a brother. He who calls himself a Christian,
yet does not really love the Lord-for there may be such-is
the subject of the most terrible anathema.
Christ the sole spring of the Apostle’s love
It is sweet to see that, after faithfully (although with
anguish of heart) correcting every abuse, the spirit of the
Apostle returns by grace into the enjoyments of charity in
his relationship with the Corinthians. e terrible verse 22
was not felt to be inconsistent with the love that dictated
the other verses. It was the same spirit, for Christ was the
sole spring of his charity.<P245>
e importance of the closing salutation written with
the Apostle’s own hand
We may notice (vs. 21) that the Apostle, as other passages
testify, employed someone to write for him. e Epistle to
the Galatians is an exception. He veried his epistles to
the assemblies by writing the salutation at the end with
his own hand, marking the importance he attached to
the exactitude of the verbal contents, and conrming the
principle of an exact inspiration. His heart ows out (vs.
24), and he comforts himself in being able to acknowledge
them all in love.<P246>
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e circumstances occasioning the writing of the
epistle
e Apostle writes the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians under the inuence of the consolations of
Christ-consolations experienced when the troubles which
came upon him in Asia were at their height; and renewed
at the moment when he wrote his letter, by the good news
which Titus had brought him from Corinth-consolations
which (now that he is happy about them) he imparts to
the Corinthians; who, by grace, had been their source in
the last instance.
e rst letter had awakened their conscience, and had
reestablished the fear of God in their heart, and integrity in
their walk. e sorrowing heart of the Apostle was revived
by hearing this good news. e state of the Corinthians
had cast him down and a little removed from his heart
the feelings produced by the consolations with which Jesus
lled it during his trials at Ephesus. How various and
complicated are the exercises of him who serves Christ and
cares for souls! e spiritual restoration of the Corinthians,
by dissipating Paul’s anguish, had renewed the joy of these
consolations, which the tidings of their misconduct had
interrupted. He afterwards returns to this subject of his
suerings at Ephesus; and develops, in a remarkable way,
the power of the life by which he lived in Christ.
He addresses all the saints of that country, as well as
those in the city of Corinth, which was its capital; and,
being led by the Holy Spirit to write according to the
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real sentiments which that Spirit produced in him, he at
once places himself in the midst of the consolations which
owed into his heart, in order to acknowledge in them
the God who poured them into his tried and exercised
spirit.<P247>
e Spirit’s work in a human heart
Nothing more touching than the work of the Spirit in
the Apostle’s heart. e mixture of gratitude and worship
towards God, of joy in the consolations of Christ, and
of aection for those on whose account he now rejoiced,
has a beauty entirely inimitable by the mind of man. Its
simplicity and its truth do but enhance the excellence and
exalted character of this divine work in a human heart.
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who
comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able
to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the
suerings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also
aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be aicted, it is for
your consolation and salvation, which is eectual in the
enduring of the same suerings which we also suer; or
whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and
salvation.” Blessing God for the consolations which he
had received, content to suer, because his participation
in suering encouraged the faith of the Corinthians who
suered, by showing them the path ordained of God for the
most excellent, he pours into their hearts the consolation
of his own, as soon as comfort comes to him from God.
His rst thought (and it is always so with one who realizes
his dependence on God, and who abides in His presence-
see Genesis 24) is to bless God, and to acknowledge Him
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as the source of all consolation. e Christ, whom he has
found both in the suerings and in the consolation, turns
his heart immediately to the beloved members of His body.
Man’s perversity and God’s patience; grace concludes
that evil will be corrected
Mark at once the perversity of man’s heart and the
patience of God. In the midst of suerings for the sake
of Christ, they could take part in the sin that dishonored
His name-a sin unknown among the Gentiles. In spite
of this sin God would not deprive them of the testimony,
which those suerings gave them, of the truth of their
Christianity-suerings which assured the Apostle that
the Corinthians would enjoy the consolations of Christ,
which accompanied suerings for His sake. It is beautiful
to see how grace lays hold of the good, in order to conclude
that the evil<P248> will surely be corrected, instead of
discrediting the good because of the evil. Paul was near
Christ-the source of strength.
e power of life in Christ
He continues by presenting, experimentally, the doctrine
of the power of life in Christ,1 which had its development
and its strength in death to all that is temporal, to all that
links us with the old creation, to mortal life itself. He then
touches upon almost every subject that had occupied him
in the rst epistle, but with an unburdened heart, although
with a rmness that desired their good, and the glory of
God, let it cost himself what sorrow it might.
(1. e beginning of this epistle presents the
experimental power of that which is doctrinally taught in
Romans 5:12 to chapter 8, and is extremely instructive in
this respect. It is not so much Colossians and Ephesians;
the practical fruit of the doctrine there is the display of
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God’s own character. However we have in a measure what
is taught in Colossians carried out.)
e eect of the Spirit’s work when the conscience is
touched
Observe here the admirable connection between the
personal circumstances of God’s laborers, and the work to
which they are called, and even the circumstances of that
work. e rst epistle had produced that salutary eect on
the Corinthians to which the Apostle, under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, had destined it. eir conscience had
been awakened, and they had become zealous against the
evil in proportion to the depth of their fall. is is always
the eect of the work of the Spirit, when the conscience
of the Christian who has fallen is really touched. e
Apostle’s heart can open with joy to their complete and
sincere obedience. Meanwhile he had himself passed
through terrible trials, so that he had despaired of life; and
he had been able through grace to realize the power of
that life in Christ which gained the victory over death, and
could pour abundantly into the hearts of the Corinthians
the consolations of that life, which were to raise them up
again. ere is a God who conducts all things in the service
of His saints-the sorrow through which they pass, as all the
rest.<P249>
anksgiving for God’s comfort in suering, a token
of His favor, to be shared with others
Observe, also, that he does not need to begin by
reminding the Corinthians, as he had done in the rst
epistle, of their calling and their privileges as sanctied
in Christ. He breaks out in thanksgiving to the God of
all consolation. Holiness is brought forward when it is
practically wanting among the saints. If they are walking
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in holiness, they enjoy God, and they speak of Him. e
way in which the various parts of the work of God are
linked together, in and by means of the Apostle, is seen
in the expressions that ow from his grateful heart. God
comforts him in his suerings; and the consolation is such
that it is suited to comfort others, in whatsoever aiction
it may be; for it is God Himself who is the consolation, by
pouring into the heart His love and His communion, as it
is enjoyed in Christ.
If aicted, it was for the comfort of others by the
sight of similar aictions in those who were honored of
God, and the consciousness of unison in the same blessed
cause, and relationship with God (the heart being touched
and brought back to these aections by this means). If
comforted, it was to comfort others with the consolations
that he himself enjoyed in aiction. And the aictions
of the Corinthians were a testimony to him that, however
great their moral weakness had been, they had part in those
consolations which he enjoyed himself, and which he knew
to be so deep, so real, which he knew to be of God, and
a token of His favor. Precious bonds of grace! And how
true it is in our little measure, that the suerings of those
who labor reanimate on the one hand love towards them,
and on the other reassure the laborer as to the sincerity of
the objects of his Christian aection, by presenting them
anew to him in the love of Christ. e aiction of the
Apostle had helped him in writing to the Corinthians with
the grief that was suitable to their condition; but what faith
was that which occupied itself with such energy and such
entire forgetfulness of self about the sad state of others,
amid such circumstances as then surrounded the Apostle!
His strength was in Christ.<P250>
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Paul explains the motives of his movements to
demonstrate his love for the Corinthians
His heart expands toward the Corinthians. We see
that his aections ow freely-a thing of great value. He
reckons on the interest they will take in the account of his
suerings; he is sure that they will rejoice in what God
has given him, even as he rejoices in them as the fruit of
his labors, and that they will acknowledge what he is; and
he is content to be a debtor to their prayers with regard
to the gifts displayed in himself, so that his success in the
gospel was to them as a personal interest of their own.
He could truly demand their prayers, for his course had
been run in unmingled sincerity, and especially among
them. is leads him to explain to them the motives of his
movements, of which he had not spoken to them before,
referring these movements to his own plans and motives,
subject to the Lord. He is always master (under Christ) of
his movements; but he can now speak freely of that which
had decided him, which the Corinthians were not before
in a state to know. He wishes to satisfy them, to explain
things to them, so as to demonstrate his perfect love for
them; and, at the same time, to maintain his entire liberty
in Christ, and not make himself responsible to them for
what he did. He was their servant in aiction, but free to
be so, because he was amenable only to Christ, although
he satised their conscience (because he served Christ) if
their conscience was upright.
His own conscience however was clear; and he only
wrote to them that which they knew and acknowledged,
and, as he trusted, would acknowledge to the end; so that
they should rejoice in him, as he in them.
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e reason Paul had not visited them; their laxity and
the groundwork of Christianity
But had there been any lightness in his decisions,
since, as he now informed them, he had intended to visit
them on his way to Macedonia (where he was at the
moment of writing this letter), and then a second time on
his return from that country? In no wise; they were not
intentions lightly formed, according to the esh, and then
abandoned. It was his aection, it was to spare them. He
could not bear the idea of going with a rod to those whom
he loved. Observe in what manner, although showing
his aection<P251> and tenderness, he maintains his
authority; and they needed the exercise of this authority.
And while reminding them of his authority, he displays all
his tenderness. ey were not Cretans, perhaps, whom it
was necessary to rebuke sharply; but there was a laxity of
morals which required delicacy and care lest they should
become restive, but also authority and a bridle, lest, in
giving them liberty, they should fall into all sorts of bad
ways. But he turns immediately to the certainty which was
in Christ, the basis of all his own. He would not press too
much upon the chord he had touched at the beginning.
He lets his authority be known as that which might have
been exercised, and he does not employ it. e groundwork
of Christianity was needed, in order to put their souls
into a condition to judge themselves healthily. ey were
quite disposed, through the intrigues of false teachers and
their habit of schools of philosophy, to separate from the
Apostle, and, in spirit, from Christ. He brings them back
to the foundation, to the sure doctrine that was common
to all those that had labored among them at the beginning.
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He would give Satan no occasion to detach them from him
(see chapter 2:11).
e great principles of Christian joy and assurance
established; simple certainty in Christ
He establishes therefore the great principles of Christian
joy and assurance. I do not speak of the blood, the only
source of peace of conscience before God as a judge, but of
the manner in which we are placed by the power of God
in His presence, in the position and state into which that
power introduces us according to the counsels of His grace.
Simple certainty was in Christ, according to that which
had been said. It was not rst Yea, and then Nay: the Yea
remained always Yea-a principle of immense importance,
but for the establishment of which there was needed the
power and the rmness and even perfection, and the
wisdom, of God; for to assure and make steadfast that
which was not wise and perfect would certainly not have
been worthy of Him.
It will be seen that the question was, whether Paul had
lightly changed his purpose. He says that he had not; but he
leaves the thought of that which concerned him personally
to speak of that which preoccupied his thoughts-of Christ;
and to him, in fact, to live was Christ. But there was a
diculty to solve, when the <P252>immutability of God’s
promises was the question. It is that we are not in a state
to prot by that which was immutable on account of our
weakness and inconstancy. He solves this diculty by
setting forth the mighty operations of God in grace.
e immutability of God’s promises; their fulllment
in Christ alone
ere are two points therefore: the establishment of all
the promises in Christ, and the enjoyment, by us, of the
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eect of these promises. e thing is, as we have seen, not
merely to say, to promise, something; but not to change
one’s intentions, not to depart from what was said, but to
keep one’s word. Now there had been promises. God had
made promises, whether to Abraham unconditionally, or
to Israel at Sinai under the condition of obedience. But
in Christ there was, not promises, but the Amen to God’s
promises, the verity and realization of them. Whatever
promises there had been on God’s part, the Yea was in Him,
and the Amen in Him. God has established-deposited, so
to speak- the fulllment of all His promises in the Person
of Christ. Life, glory, righteousness, pardon, the gift of
the Spirit, all is in Him; it is in Him that all is true-Yea
and Amen. We cannot have the eect of any promise
whatsoever out of Him. But this is not all: we, believers,
are the objects of these counsels of God. ey are to the
glory of God by us.
But, in the rst place, the glory of God is that of Him
whoever glories Himself in His ways of sovereign grace
towards us; for it is in these ways that He unfolds and
displays what He is. e Yea and Amen therefore of the
promises of God, the accomplishment and the realization
of the promises of God, for His glory by us, are in Christ.
e enjoyment of the promises: in Christ
But how can we participate in it, if all is Christ and in
Christ? It is here that the Holy Spirit presents the second
part of the ways of grace. We are in Christ, and we are in
Him not according to the instability of the will of man,
and the weakness that characterizes him in his transitory
and changeable works. He who has rmly established us
in Christ is God Himself. e accomplishment of all the
promises is in Him. Under the law, and under conditions
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the<P253> fulllment of which depended on the stability of
man, the eect of the promise was never attained; the thing
promised eluded the pursuit of man, because man needed
to be in a state capable of attaining it by righteousness,
and he was not in that state; the accomplishment of the
promise therefore was always suspended; it would have its
eect if-but the “if” was not accomplished, and the Yea and
Amen did not come. But all that God has promised is in
Christ. e second part is the “by us,” and how far we enjoy
it. We are rmly established by God in Christ, in whom all
the promises subsist, so that we securely possess in Him all
that is promised us. But we do not enjoy it as that which
subsists in our own hands.
Anointed, sealed, and given the earnest of the Spirit
for the enjoyment of what is in Christ
But, further, God Himself has anointed us. We have by
Jesus received the Holy Spirit. God has taken care that we
should understand by the Spirit that which is freely given
us in Christ. But the Spirit is given to us, according to
the counsels of God, for other things than understanding
merely His gifts in Christ. He who has received Him is
sealed. God has marked him with His seal, even as He
marked Christ with His seal when He anointed Him
after His baptism by John. Moreover the Spirit becomes
the earnest, in our own hearts, of that which we shall fully
possess hereafter in Christ. We understand the things that
are given us in the glory; we are marked by the seal of God
to enjoy them; we have the earnest of them in our hearts-
our aections are engaged by them. Established in Christ,
we have the Holy Spirit, who seals us when we believe, to
bring us into the enjoyment, even while here below, of that
which is in Christ.
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e guilty sinner and the eect of discipline; Satan’s
aim
Having again spoken of the care which manifested
his aection for them, he expresses his conviction that
that which had pained him had pained them also; and
this was demonstrated by the way in which they had
treated the transgressor. He exhorts them to receive again
and comfort the poor guilty one, who was in danger of
being entirely overwhelmed by the discipline that had
been <P254>exercised towards him by the mass of the
Christians; adding, that if the Christians forgave him his
fault, he forgave it likewise. He would not that Satan should
get any advantage through this case to bring in dissension
between himself and the Corinthians; for Paul well knew
what the enemy aimed at, the object with which he made
use of this aair.
Led by God in His way; the perfume of the gospel
is gives him occasion to show how much he had them
always in his heart. Coming to Troas for the gospel, and a
wide door being opened to him, nevertheless he could not
remain there, because he had not found Titus; and he left
Troas and continued his journey into Macedonia. It will be
remembered that, instead of passing by the western shores
of the Archipelago, in order to visit Macedonia, taking
Corinth on his way, and then returning by the same route,
the Apostle had sent Titus with his rst letter, and had
gone by way of Asia Minor, or the eastern coast of the sea,
which led him to Troas, where Titus was to meet him. But
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not nding him at Troas, and being uneasy with regard
to the Corinthians, he could not be satised with there
being a work to be done at Troas, but journeyed on to meet
Titus and repaired to Macedonia. ere he found him, as
we shall see presently. But this thought of having left Troas
aected him, for in fact it is a serious thing, and painful
to the heart, to miss an opportunity of preaching Christ,
and the more so when people are disposed to receive
Him, or at least to hear of Him. To have left Troas was
indeed a proof of his aection for the Corinthians; and the
Apostle recalls the circumstance as a strong demonstration
of that aection. He comforts himself for having missed
this work of evangelization by the thought that after all
God led him as in triumph (not “caused him to triumph”).
e gospel which he carried with him, the testimony of
Christ, was like the perfume caused by burning aromatic
drugs in triumphal processions-a token of death to some
of the captives, of life to others. And this perfume of the
gospel was pure in his hands. e Apostle was not like
some who adulterated the wine they furnished; he labored
in Christian integrity before God.<P255>
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e Apostle’s letters of commendation of his ministry
ese words give rise to an exposition of the gospel in
contrast with the law, which the false teachers mixed up
with the gospel. He gives this exposition with the most
touching appeal to the heart of the Corinthians, who had
been converted through his means. Did he begin speaking
of his ministry to commend himself anew, or did he need,
as others, letters of commendation to them or from them?
ey were his letters of commendation, the striking proof of
the power of his ministry, a proof which he carried always
in his heart, ready to bring it forward on every occasion.
He can say this now, being happy in their obedience. And
why did they serve as a letter in his favor? Because in their
faith they were the living expression of his doctrine. ey
were Christ’s letter of commendation, which, by means of
his ministry, had been written on the eshy tables of the
heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the law had been
graven on tables of stone by God Himself.
e ministry of the new covenant of life and that of
death and condemnation
is was Paul’s condence with regard to his ministry;
his competency came from God for the ministry of the
new covenant, not of the letter (not even the letter of this
covenant, any more than the letter of anything else) but
of the Spirit, the true force of the purpose of God, as the
Spirit gave it. For the letter kills, as a rule imposed on
man; the Spirit quickens, as the power of God in grace-
the purpose of God communicated to the heart of man by
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the power of God, who imparted it to him that he might
enjoy it. Now the subject of this ministry brought out the
dierence between it and the ministry of the law yet more
strongly. e law, graven on stones, had been introduced
with glory, although it was a thing that was to pass away
as a means of relation between God and men. It was a
ministry of death, for they were only to live by keeping it.
Nor could it be otherwise ordered than on this principle.
A law was to be kept; but man being already a sinner by
nature and by will, having desires which the law forbade,
that law could only be death to him-it was a ministry of
death. It was a ministry of condemnation because the
authority of God came in to<P256> give to the law the
sanction of condemnation against every soul that should
break it. It was a ministry of death and of condemnation
because man was a sinner.
Grace mingled with the law aggravates guilt; the
glory of the ordinances
And observe, here, that to mingle grace with the law
changes nothing in its eect, except to aggravate the
penalty that results from it by aggravating the guilt of him
who violated the law, inasmuch as he violated it in spite
of the goodness and the grace. For it was still the law, and
man was called to satisfy the responsibility under which
the law placed him. “e soul that sinneth,” said Jehovah to
Moses, “will I blot out of my book.” e gure used by the
Apostle shows that he is speaking of the second descent
of Moses from Mount Sinai, when he had heard the name
of Jehovah proclaimed, merciful and gracious. e face of
Moses did not shine the rst time that he came down: he
broke the tables before he went into the camp. e second
time God made all His goodness pass before him, and
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the face of Moses reected the glory which he had seen,
partial as it may have been. But Israel could not bear this
reection; for how can it be borne, when it must judge the
secrets of the heart after all? For, though grace had been
shown in sparing on Moses’ intercession, the exigency of
the law was still maintained, and everyone was to suer the
consequences of his own disobedience. us the character
of the law prevented Israel from understanding even the
glory which was in the ordinances, as a gure of that which
was better and permanent; and the whole system ordained
by the hand of Moses was veiled to their eyes, and the
people fell under the letter, even in that part of the law
which was a testimony of things to be spoken afterwards.
It was according to the wisdom of God that it should be
so; for in this way all the eect of the law, as brought to
bear on the heart and conscience of man, has been fully
developed.
Making a law of Christ Himself, an obligation to love
Him
ere are many Christians who make a law of Christ
Himself, and in thinking of His love as a fresh motive to
oblige them to love Him, think of it only as an obligation, a
very great increase to the measure of the obligation which
lies upon them, an obligation<P257> which they feel
bound to satisfy. at is to say, they are still under the law,
and consequently under condemnation.
e Apostle’s ministry revealing righteousness, not
as requiring it
But the ministry which the Apostle fullled was not
this; it was the ministry of righteousness and of the Spirit,
not as requiring righteousness in order to stand before
God, but as revealing it. Christ was this righteousness,
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made such on God’s part for us; and we are made the
righteousness of God in Him. e gospel proclaimed
righteousness on God’s part, instead of requiring it from
man according to the law. Now the Holy Spirit could
be the seal of that righteousness. He could come down
upon the man Christ, because He was perfectly approved
of God; He was righteous-the righteous One. He came
down upon us, because we are made the righteousness of
God in Christ. us it was the ministry of the Spirit; His
power wrought in it. He was bestowed when that which
it announced was received by faith; and with the Spirit
they also received understanding of the mind and purposes
of God, as they were revealed in the Person of a gloried
Christ, in whom the righteousness of God was revealed
and subsisted eternally before Him.
Christ’s glory, hidden in the letter, revealed by the
Holy Spirit
us the Apostle unites, in the selfsame thought, the
mind of God in the Word according to the Spirit, the
glory of Christ who had been hidden in it under the letter,
and the Holy Spirit Himself, who gave its force, revealed
that glory, and, by dwelling and working in the believer,
enables him to enjoy it. us, where the Spirit was, there
was liberty; they were no longer under the yoke of the
law, of the fear of death, and of condemnation. ey were
in Christ before God, in peace before Him, according to
perfect love and that favor which is better than life, even
as it shone upon Christ, without a veil, according to the
grace which reigns by righteousness. When it is said,
“Now the Lord is that spirit,” allusion is made to verse 6;
verses 7-16 are a parenthesis. Christ gloried is the true
thought of the Spirit which God had previously hidden
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under gures. And here is the practical result: they beheld
the Lord with open (that is, with unveiled) face; they were
able to do<P258> it. e glory of the face of Moses judged
the thoughts and intents of the hearts, causing terror by
threatening the disobedient and the sinner with death and
condemnation. Who could stand in the presence of God?
But the glory of the face of Jesus, a man on high, is the
proof that all the sins of those who behold it are blotted
out; for He who is there bore them all before He ascended,
and He needed to put them all away in order to enter into
that glory. We contemplate that glory by the Spirit, who
has been given us in virtue of Christ’s having ascended
into it. He did not say, “I will go up; peradventure I shall
make atonement.” He made the atonement and went up.
erefore we gaze upon it with joy, we love to behold it:
each ray that we see is the proof that in the eyes of God our
sins are no more. Christ has been made sin for us; He is in
the glory. Now, in thus beholding the glory with aection,
with intelligence, taking delight in it, we are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the power
of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to realize and to enjoy
these things; and in this is Christian progress. us the
assembly too becomes the epistle of Christ.
e veil taken away in Christ, but on the hearts of
Jews till Israel turns to the Lord
e allusion made at the same time to the Jews at
the end of the parenthesis, where the Apostle makes a
comparison between the two systems, is most touching.
e veil, he says, is taken away in Christ. Nothing is now
veiled. e glorious substance is accomplished. e veil is
on the heart of the Jews, when they read the Old Testament.
Now every time that Moses entered into the tabernacle to
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speak to God, or to hear Him, he took o his veil. us,
says the Apostle, when Israel shall turn to the Lord, the
veil shall be taken away.
e glorious things of which the gospel treats
ere is but one more remark to be made. “e things
that remain” are the subject the gospel treats of, not the
ministry which announces it-the glory of the Person
of Jesus Christ, the substance of that which the Jewish
ordinances represented only in gure.<P259>
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Christ victorious over death makes us victorious over
its fear and over suering
e Apostle returns to the subject of his ministry in
connection with his suerings, showing that this doctrine
of a Christ victorious over death, truly received into the
heart, makes us victorious over all fear of death, and over
all the suerings that are linked with the earthen vessel in
which this treasure is carried.
Paul proclaiming the glorious Person of Christ to the
world, making men responsible for submission to this
glorious Christ
Having received this ministry of righteousness and of
the Spirit, the foundation of which was Christ gloried
beheld with open face, he not only used great boldness of
speech, but his zeal was not abated, nor his faith enfeebled
by diculties. Moreover, with the courage which through
grace was imparted to him by this doctrine, he held back
nothing, weakened nothing of this glory; he did not
corrupt the doctrine; he manifested it in all the purity and
brightness in which he had received it. It was the Word
of God; such as he had received it, so they received it
from him, the unaltered Word of God; the Apostle thus
approving himself, commending himself to every man’s
conscience in the sight of God. All could not say this. e
glory of the Lord Jesus was set forth by Paul’s preaching in
all the clearness and brightness of its revelation to himself.
If, therefore, the good news which he proclaimed was
hidden, it was not as in the case of Moses; not only was the
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glory of the Lord fully revealed with open face in Christ, it
was also manifested without a veil in the pure preaching of
the Apostle. is is the link established between the glory
accomplished in the Person of Christ, as the result of the
work of redemption, and the ministry which, by the power
of the Holy Spirit acting in the instrument chosen of the
Lord, proclaimed this glory to the world, and made men
responsible for the reception of the truth-responsible for
submission to this glorious Christ, who announced Himself
in grace from heaven, as having established righteousness
for the sinner, and as inviting him to come freely and enjoy
the love and the blessing of God.<P260>
e only means of coming to God; the light of the
glory of Christ shining in the heart or blindness
Now there was no other means of coming to God. To set
up any other would be to put aside and declare imperfect
and insucient that which Christ had done, and that
which Christ was, and to produce something better than
He. But this was not possible: for that which he announced
was the manifestation of the glory of God in the Person of
the Son, in connection with the revelation of perfect love,
and of the making good, perfect and divine righteousness;
so that the pure light was the happy abode of those who
by this means entered into it. ere could not be anything
more, unless there was something more than God in the
fullness of His grace and of His perfection. If then this
revelation was hidden, it was in the case of those who were
lost, whose minds were blinded by the god of this world,
lest the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who
is the image of God, should shine into their hearts.
is is translated “glorious gospel.” But we have seen that
the fact of Christ’s being in glory, the glory of God being
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383
seen in His face, was the special subject of the preceding
chapter. To that the Apostle here alludes as characterizing
the gospel which he preached. It was the proof of the sin
Christ had borne being utterly put away, of victory over
death, of the introduction of man into the presence of
God in glory according to God’s eternal counsels of love.
It was withal the full display of the divine glory in man
according to grace, which the Holy Spirit takes to show to
us in order to form us after the same likeness. It was the
glorious ministration of righteousness, and of the Spirit,
which opened the free way for man to God, even into the
holiest in entire liberty.
e shining forth of the gospel of the glory of Christ;
the work of God’s power in the heart; the treasure in
earthen vessels
When Christ was thus proclaimed, there was either the
joyful acceptance of the good news, submission of heart to
the gospel, or else the blinding of Satan. For Paul did not
preach himself (which others did not fail to do) but Jesus
Christ the Lord, and himself their servant for Jesus’ sake.
Because in fact (and this is another important principle)
the shining forth of this gospel of the glory of Christ is the
work of God’s power-of the same God who, by His<P261>
word alone, caused the light instantaneously to shine out
of the midst of darkness. He had shone into the Apostle’s
heart to give forth the light of the knowledge of His own
glory in the face of Jesus Christ. e gospel shone forth by a
divine operation similar to that which had, in the beginning,
caused the light to shine out of darkness by a single word.
e heart of the Apostle was the vessel, the lamp, in which
this light had been kindled to shine in the midst of the
world before the eyes of men. It was the revelation of the
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glory which shone in the Person of Christ by the power
of the Spirit of God in the heart of the Apostle, in order
that this glory should shine out in the gospel before the
world. It was the power of God which wrought in it, in the
same manner as when light was caused by the word, “Let
there be light! and there was light.” But the treasure of this
revelation of the glory was deposited in earthen vessels, in
order that power which wrought in it should be of God
alone, and not that of the instruments. In all, the weakness
of the instrument showed itself in the trying circumstances
which God, for this very purpose (among others), made
the testimony pass through. Nevertheless the power of
God was manifested in it so much the more evidently,
from the vessel’s showing its weakness in the diculties
that beset its path. e testimony was rendered, the work
was done, the result was produced, even when man broke
down and found himself without resource in presence of
the opposition raised up against truth.
e earthen vessel and God; death realized; the life of
Jesus manifested
Aicted by the tribulation, this was the vessel’s part; not
straitened, for God was with the vessel. Without means of
escape, that was the vessel; yet not without resource, for God
was with it. Persecuted, that was the vessel; not forsaken,
for God was with it. Cast down, that was the vessel; but
not destroyed, for God was with it. Always bearing about
in his body the dying1 of the Lord Jesus (made like Him,
in that the man as such was reduced to nothing), in order
that the life of Jesus, which death could not touch, which
has triumphed over death, should be manifested in his
body, mortal as it was. e more the natural man was
annihilated, the more was it evident that a power was there
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which was<P262> not of man. is was the principle, but
it was morally realized in the heart by faith. As the Lord’s
servant, Paul realized in his heart the death of all that was
human life, in order that the power might be purely of
God through Jesus risen. But besides this, God made him
realize these things by the circumstances through which
he had to pass; for, as living in this world, he was always
delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, in order that the life of
Jesus might be manifested in his mortal esh. us death
wrought in the Apostle; what was merely of man, of nature
and natural life, disappeared, in order that life in Christ,
developing itself in him on the part of God and by His
power, should work in the Corinthians by his means. What
a ministry! A thorough trial of the human heart, a glorious
calling, for a man to be thus assimilated to Christ, to be
the vessel of the power of His pure life, and by means of
an entire self-renunciation, even that of life itself, to be
morally like unto Jesus. What a position by grace! What a
conformity to Christ! And yet in a way in which it passed
through man’s heart to reach man’s heart (which indeed is
of the essence of Christianity itself), not surely by man’s
strength, but God’s made good in man’s weakness.
(1. Or rather, “Putting to death.”)
Bearing testimony for Christ and suering with Him
erefore it was that the Apostle could use the language
of the Spirit of Christ in the Psalms, “I believed, and
therefore have I spoken.” at is to say, “At whatever cost,
in spite of everything, of all the danger, all the opposition,
I have spoken for God, I have borne my testimony. I have
had condence enough in God to bear testimony to Him
and to His truth, whatever the consequences might be,
even if I had died in doing it.” at is, the Apostle said,
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“I have acted as Christ Himself did, because I know that
He who raised up Jesus would do the same for me, and
would present me, together with you, before His face in
that same glory in which Christ is now in heaven, and
for my testimony to which, I have suered death like
Him.” We must clearly distinguish here between Christ’s
suerings for righteousness and for His work of love, and
His suerings for sin. e former it is our privilege to share
with Him; in the latter He is alone.<P263>
Light aiction for a moment and an eternal weight
of glory
e Apostle said, “Will present me with you,” for, he
adds, according to the heart and mind of Christ towards
His own, “All things are for your sakes, that the abundant
grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound
to the glory of God.” And therefore it was that he did not
allow himself to be discouraged; but on the contrary, if the
outward man perished, the inward man was renewed day
by day. For the light aiction, which was but for a moment
(for such he esteemed it in view of the glory-it was but the
temporary aiction of this poor dying body), worked out
for him an eternal weight of glory which was beyond all
the most exalted expression of human thought or language.
And this renewing took place; and he was not disheartened
come what might, in that he looked not at the things that
are seen, which are temporal, but at the things that are
not seen, which are eternal. us the power of the divine
life, with all its consequences, was developed in his soul by
faith. He knew the result of everything on God’s part.
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e Christian’s body; the certainty of a building of
God eternal in the heavens as a real and practical hope
while groaning in this tabernacle
It was not only that there were things invisible and
glorious. Christians had their part in them. We know, the
Apostle says in their name, that if this earthly house (passing
away as it is) were destroyed-and it had very nearly been the
case with himself- we have a building of God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Precious certainty!
He knew it. Christians know it as a part of their faith. We
know1-a certainty which caused this glory, which he knew
to be his, to be a real and practical hope in the heart by the
power of the Holy Spirit-a reality present by faith. He saw
this glory as that which belonged to him, with which he
was to be invested. And therefore also he groaned in his
tabernacle, not (as so many do) because the desires of his
esh could<P264> not be fullled; and because satisfaction
of heart cannot be found for man, even when those desires
are fullled; nor because he was uncertain whether he was
accepted, and the glory his or not; but because the body
was a hindrance, tending to depress the divine life, to
deprive him of the full enjoyment of that glory which the
new life saw and desired, and which Paul saw and admired
as his own. It was a burden, this earthly human nature; it
was no distress to him that he could not satisfy its desires;
his distress was to nd himself still in this mortal nature,
because he saw something better.
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(1. is “we know” is in fact a technical expression for
the portion of Christians, known to them as such. “We
know that the law is spiritual,” “we know that the Son of
God is come,” and so on.)
e Apostle’s desire to be “clothed upon”: mortality
disappearing before the power of life in Jesus
Not however that he desired to be unclothed, for he saw
in Christ gloried a power of life capable of swallowing up
and annihilating every trace of mortality; for the fact that
Christ was on high in the glory was the result of this power,
and at the same time the manifestation of the heavenly
portion that belonged to them that were His. erefore
the Apostle desired, not to be unclothed but clothed
upon, and that that which was mortal in him should be
absorbed by life, that the mortality that characterized his
earthly human nature should disappear before the power
of life which he saw in Jesus, and which was his life. at
power was such that there was no need to die. And this
was not a hope which had no other foundation than the
desire awakened by a view of the glory might produce:
God had formed Christians for this very thing. He who
was a Christian was formed for this, and not for anything
else. It was God Himself who had formed him for this-
this glory, in which Christ, the last Adam, was at the right
hand of God. Precious assurance! Happy condence in the
grace and the mighty work of God! Ineable joy to be able
to attribute all to God Himself, to be thus certied of His
love, to glorify Him as the God of love-our Benefactor,
to know that it was His work, and that we rest upon a
nished work-the work of God. It is not here resting upon
a work done for us; but the blessed consciousness that God
has wrought us for this: we are His workmanship.<P265>
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e glory before us; the earnest of the Spirit given;
the transforming power of Christ at His coming
Nevertheless something else was necessary to our
enjoying this, since we are not yet gloried in fact; and
God has given it-the earnest of the Spirit.
us, we have the glory before us, we are wrought for
it by God Himself, and we have the earnest of the Spirit
till we are there, and know that Christ has so entirely
overcome death that, if the time were come, we should
be transformed into glory without dying at all. Mortality
would be swallowed up of life. is is our portion through
grace in the last Adam, through the power of life in which
Christ was raised.
e present eect of the possession of life in Christ as
to death and judgment: in the light
But next the Apostle will treat of the eect as to the
natural portion of the rst fallen man, death and judgment;
for the testimony here is very complete.
What then is the eect of the possession of life in
Christ as applied to death and judgment, the two natural
objects of men’s fears, the fruit of sin? If our bodies are
not yet transformed; and if that which is mortal is not yet
swallowed up, we are equally full of condence, because,
being formed for glory, and Christ (who has manifested
the victorious power that opened the path of heaven to
Him) being our life, if we should leave this tabernacle and
be absent from the body before we are clothed upon with
the glory, this life remains untouched; it has already in Jesus
triumphed over all these eects of the power of death. We
should be present with the Lord; for we walk by faith, not
by the sight of these excellent things. erefore we prefer
to be absent from the body, and to be present with the
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Lord. For this reason we seek to be well-pleasing to Him,
whether we are found absent from this body, or present in
this body, when Christ shall come to take us to Himself
and make us share His glory.
And this leads on to the second point-judgment. For
we must all be manifested before the tribunal of Christ,
in order that each may receive according to that which he
shall have done in the body, be it good or evil. A happy
and precious thought, after all, solemn as it may be; for, if
we have really understood grace, if we<P266> are standing
in grace, if we know what God is, all love for us, all light
for us, we shall like to be in the full light. It is a blessed
deliverance to be in it. It is a burden, an encumbrance,
to have anything concealed, and although we have had
much sin in us that no one knows (perhaps even some that
we have committed, and which it would be no prot for
anyone to know), it is a comfort-if we know the perfect
love of God-that all should be in perfect light since He is
there. is is the case by faith and for faith, wherever there
is solid peace: we are before God as He is, and as we are-all
sin in ourselves alas! except so far as He has wrought in us
by quickening us; and He is all love in this light in which
we are placed; for God is light, and He reveals Himself.
Without the knowledge of grace, we fear the light: it
cannot be otherwise. But knowing grace, knowing that sin
has been put away as regards the glory of God, and that the
oense is no longer before His eyes, we like to be in the
light, it is joy to us, it is that which the heart needs, without
which it cannot be satised, when there is the life of the
new man. Its nature is to love the light, to love purity in all
that perfection which does not admit the evil of darkness,
which shuts out all that is not itself. Now to be thus in the
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light, and to be manifested, is the same thing, for the light
makes everything manifest.
We are in the light by faith when the conscience
is in the presence of God. We shall be according to the
perfection of that light when we appear before the tribunal
of Christ. I have said that it is a solemn thing-and so it is,
for everything is judged according to that light; but it is
that which the heart loves, because-thanks to our God!-we
are light in Christ.
Looking back, after the tribunal of Christ
But there is more than this. When the Christian is
thus manifested, he is already gloried, and, perfectly like
Christ, has then no remains of the evil nature in which he
sinned. And he now can look back at all the way God has
led him in grace, helped, lifted up, kept from falling, not
withdrawn His eyes from the righteous. He knows as he
is known. What a tale of grace and mercy! If I look back
now, my sins do not rest on my conscience; though I have
horror of them, they are put away behind God’s back. I am
the righteousness of God in Christ, but what a sense of
love and <P267>patience, and goodness and grace! How
much more perfect then, when all is before me! Surely
there is great gain as to light and love, in giving an account
of ourselves to God; and not a trace remains of the evil
in us. We are like Christ. If a person fears to have all out
thus before God, I do not believe he is free in soul as to
righteousness-being the righteousness of God in Christ,
not fully in the light. And we have not to be judged for
anything: Christ has put it all away.
Retribution; loss or gain, and the cause seen in the
light
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But there is another idea in the passage-retribution. e
Apostle does not speak of judgment on persons, because
the saints are included, and Christ has stood in their place
for all that regards the judgment of their persons: “ere
is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.” ey
do not come into judgment. But they shall be manifested
before His tribunal, and receive that which they have done
in the body. e good deserves nothing: they received that
by which they have wrought what is good- grace produced
it in them; nevertheless they shall receive its reward. What
they have done is counted as their own act. If, by neglecting
grace and the witness of the Spirit in them, the fruits which
He would have produced have been turned aside, they will
bear the consequences. It is not that, in this case, God will
have forsaken them; it is not that the Holy Spirit will not
act in them with regard to the condition they are in; but it
will be in their conscience that He acts, judging the esh
which has prevented the man’s bearing the natural fruit of
His presence and operation in the new man. So that the
Holy Spirit will have done all that is necessary with respect
to their state of heart; and the perfect counsel of God with
regard to the person will have been accomplished, His
patience manifested, His wisdom, His ways in governing,
the care which He deigns to take of each one individually in
His most condescending love. Each one will have his place,
as it was prepared for him of the Father. But the natural
fruit of the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit in
a soul which has (or, according to the advantages it has
enjoyed, ought to have had) a certain measure of light, will
not have been produced. It will be seen what it was that
prevented. It will judge, according to the judgment of God,
all that was good and evil in itself, with a <P268>solemn
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reverence for that which God is, and a fervent adoration on
account of what He has been for us. e perfect light will
be appreciated; the ways of God known and understood in
all their perfection, by the application of the perfect light
to the whole course of our life and of His dealings with us,
in which we shall thoroughly recognize that love-perfect,
sovereign above all things-has reigned, with ineable grace.
God’s majesty maintained; the perfection and
tenderness of His dealings known and understood
us the majesty of God will have been maintained by
His judgment, at the same time that the perfection and
tenderness of His dealings will be the eternal recollection
of our souls. Light without cloud or darkness will be
understood in its own perfection. To understand it is to
be in it and to enjoy it. And light is God Himself. How
wonderful to be thus manifested! What love is that which
in its perfect wisdom, in its marvelous ways overruling
all evil, could bring such beings as we are to enjoy this
unclouded light-beings knowing good and evil (the
natural prerogative of those only of whom God can say
“one of us”), under the yoke of the evil which they knew,
and driven out by a bad conscience from the presence of
God, to whom that knowledge belonged, having testimony
enough in their conscience as to the judgment of God, to
make them avoid Him and be miserable, but nothing to
draw them to Him who alone could nd a remedy! What
love and holy wisdom which could bring such to the source
of good, of pure happiness, in whom the power of good
repels absolutely the evil which it judges!
e personal responsibility of the unrighteous
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With regard to the unrighteous, at the judgment day
they will have to answer personally for their sins, under a
responsibility which rests entirely on themselves.
God’s grace and government leading the believer to
please the Lord
However great the happiness of being in the perfect
light (and this happiness is complete and divine in its
character), it is on the side of conscience that the subject
is here presented. God maintains His majesty by the
judgment which He executes, as it is <P269>written, “e
Lord is known by the judgment that he executeth”: there,
in His government of the world; here, nal, eternal, and
personal judgment. And, for my part, I believe that it is
very protable for the soul to have the judgment of God
present to our minds, and the sense of the unchangeable
majesty of God maintained in the conscience by this
means. If we were not under grace, it would be-it ought to
be-insupportable; but the maintenance of this sentiment
does not contradict grace. It is indeed only under grace that
it can be maintained in its truth; for who otherwise could
bear the thought, for an instant, of receiving that which
he had done in the body? None but he who is completely
blinded.
But the authority, the holy authority of God, which
asserts itself in judgment, forms a part of our relationship
with Him; the maintenance of this sentiment, associated
with the full enjoyment of grace, a part of our holy spiritual
aections. It is the fear of the Lord. It is in this sense,
that “happy is he who feareth always.” If this weakens
the conviction that the love of God rests fully, eternally,
upon us, then we get o the only possible ground of any
relation whatever with God, unless perdition could be so
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called. But, in the sweet and peaceful atmosphere of grace,
conscience maintains its rights and its authority against
the subtle encroachments of the esh, through the sense
of God’s judgment, in virtue of a holiness which cannot
be separated from the character of God without denying
that there is a God: for if there is a God, He is holy. is
sentiment engages the heart of the accepted believer, to
endeavor to please the Lord in every way; and, in the sense
of how solemn a thing it is for a sinner to appear before God,
the love that necessarily accompanies it in a believer’s heart
urges him to persuade men with a view to their salvation,
while maintaining his own conscience in the light. And he
who is now walking in the light, whose conscience reects
that light, will not fear it in the day when it shall appear in
its glory. We must be manifested; but, walking in the light
in the sense of the fear of God, realizing His judgment of
evil, we are already manifested to God: nothing hinders the
sweet and assured ow of His love. Accordingly the walk
of such a one justies itself in the end to the consciences
of others; one is manifested as walking in the light.<P270>
Walking in the light and seeking those in danger of
judgment, constrained by Christ’s love
ese are therefore the two great practical principles of
the ministry: to walk in the light, in the sense of God’s
solemn judgment for everyone; and, the conscience being
thus pure in the light, the sense of the judgment (which
in this case cannot trouble the soul for itself, or obscure its
view of the love of God) impels the heart to seek in love
those who are in danger of this judgment. is connects
itself with the doctrine of Christ, the Saviour, through His
death upon the cross; and the love of Christ constrains us,
because we see that, if one died for all, it is that all were
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dead. is was the universal condition of souls. e Apostle
seeks them in order that they may live unto God by Christ.
But this goes farther. First, as regards fallen man’s lot, death
is gain. e saint, if absent from the body, is present with
the Lord. As to judgment, he owns the solemnity of it,
but it does not make him tremble. He is in Christ-will be
like Christ; and Christ, before whom he is to appear, has
put away all the sins he had to be judged for. e eect is
the sanctifying one of bringing him fully manifested into
the presence of God now. But it stimulates his love as to
others, nor is it only by fear of judgment to come for them;
Christ’s love constrains him-love manifested in death. But
this proves more than the acts of sin which bring judgment:
Christ died because all were dead. e Spirit of God goes
to the source and spring of their whole condition, their
state, not merely the fruits of an evil nature-all were dead.
We nd the same important instruction in John 5:24, “He
that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment
[that which applies to sins], but is passed from death unto
life”; he has come out of the whole state and condition,
as an already lost one, into another and dierent one in
Christ. is is a very important aspect of the truth. And
the distinction, largely developed in Romans, is found in
many passages.
e sight of sin and failures before and since
conversion awakening humility and adoration of God’s
grace
e work of manifestation before God in the light
is already true, insofar as we have realized the light.
Cannot I, being now in peace, look back at what I was
before conversion, and at all my<P271> failures since my
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conversion, humbled but adoring the grace of God in all
He has done for me, but without a thought of fear, or
imputation of sin? Does not this awaken a very deep sense
of all that God is in holy grace and love, in unbounded
patience towards me, both keeping and helping and
restoring? Such will be the case perfectly when we are
manifested, when we shall know as we are known.
All judged by the soul as God judges it, communion
is enjoyed
at this point may be still more clear, for it is an
important one, let me add some further observations here.
What we nd in this passage is the perfect manifestation
of all that a person is and has been before a throne
characterized by judgment, without judgment as to the
person in question being guilty. No doubt when the wicked
receives the things done in the body, he is condemned.
But it is not said “judged” here, because all then must be
condemned. But this manifestation is exactly what brings
all morally before the heart, when it is capable of judging
evil for itself: were it under judgment, it could not. Freed
from all fear, and in the perfect light and with the comfort
of perfect love (for where we have the conscience of sin,
and of its not being imputed, we have the sense, though
in a humbling way, of perfect love), and at the same time
the sense of authority and divine government fully made
good in the soul, all is judged by the soul itself as God
judges it, and communion with Himself entered into. is
is exceedingly precious.
e believer already gloried before his appearance
before Christ’s judgment seat
We have to remember that, at our appearing before the
judgment seat of Christ, we are already gloried. Christ has
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come Himself in perfect love to fetch us; and has changed
our vile body according to the resemblance of His glorious
body. We are gloried and like Christ before the judgment
takes place. And mark the eect on Paul. Does the thought
of being manifested awaken anxiety or dread? Not the least.
He realizes all the solemnity of such a process. He knows
the terror of the Lord; he has it before his eyes; and what
is the consequence? He sets about to persuade others who
are in need of it.<P272>
God’s righteousness and perfect love for the believer
in Christ; manifested now to God
ere are, so to speak, two parts in God’s nature and
character: His righteousness, which judges everything; and
His perfect love. ese are one for us in Christ, ours in
Christ. If indeed we realize what God is, both will have
their place: but the believer in Christ is the righteousness
which God, from His very nature, must have before Him
on His throne, if we are to be with Him and enjoy Him.
But the Christ, in the judgment seat, before whom we are,
is our righteousness. He judges by the righteousness which
He is; but we are that righteousness, the righteousness of
God in Him. Hence this point can raise no question in
the soul, will make us adore such grace, but can raise no
question, only enhance the sense we have of grace ourselves,
make us understand it, as suited to man as he is, and feel
the solemn and awful consequences of not having part in
it, since there is such a judgment. Hence that other and
indeed essential part of the divine nature, love, will work
in us towards others; and, knowing the terror of the Lord,
we shall persuade men. us Paul (it is conscience in view
of that most solemn moment) possessed the righteousness
which he saw in the Judge, for that which judged was
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His righteousness; but then he consequently seeks others
earnestly, according to the work which had thus brought
him near to God, to which he then turns (vss. 13-14). But
this view of judgment and our complete manifestation in
that day, has a present eect on the saint according to its
own nature. He realizes it by faith. He is manifested. He
does not fear being manifested. It will unfold all God’s past
ways towards him when he is in glory; but he is manifested
now to God, his conscience exercised in the light. It has
thus a present sanctifying power.
ree apparently contradictory principles united to
give complete character to the Christian ministry
Observe here the assemblage of powerful motives,
of preeminently important principles; contradictory in
appearance, but which, to a soul which walks in light,
instead of clashing and destroying each other, unite to give
its complete and thoroughly furnished character to the
Christian minister and ministry.
First of all, the glory, in such a power of life, that he
who realizes<P273> it does not desire death, because he
sees in the power of life in Christ that which can absorb
whatever in him is mortal, and he sees it with the certainty
of enjoying it-such a consciousness of possessing this life
(God having formed him for it, and given him the earnest
of the Spirit), that death if it arrive to him is but a happy
absence from the body in order to be present with the Lord.
Now the thought of ascending to Christ gives the desire
of being acceptable to Him, and presents Him (the second
motive or principle that gives a form to this ministry) as
the Judge who will render to everyone that which he has
done. e solemn thought of how much this judgment is
to be feared takes possession of the Apostle’s heart. What a
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dierence between this thought and the “building of God,”
for which he was waiting with certainty! Nevertheless this
thought does not alarm him; but, in the solemn sense of the
reality of that judgment, it impels him to persuade others.
But here a third principle comes in, the love of Christ
with reference to the condition of those whom Paul sought
to persuade. Since this love of Christ’s shows itself in His
death, there is in it the witness that all were already dead
and lost.
us we have here set before us glory, with the personal
certainty of enjoying it, and death become the means of
being present with the Lord; the tribunal of Christ, and
the necessity of being manifested before it; and the love of
Christ in His death, all being already dead. How are such
diverse principles as these to be reconciled and arranged in
the heart? It is that the Apostle was manifested to God.
Hence the thought of being manifested before the tribunal
produced, along with the present sanctication, no other
eect on him than that of solemnity, for he was not to
come into judgment; but it became an urgent motive for
preaching to others, according to the love which Christ
had manifested in His death. e idea of the tribunal did
not in the least weaken his certainty of glory.1 His soul,
in the full light of God, reected what was in that light,
namely, the glory of Christ ascended on high as man. And
the love of this same Jesus was strengthened in its active
operation in him by the sense of the tribunal which awaits
all men.<P274>
(1. e truth is, the judgment seat is what most brings
out our assurance before God; for as He is, so are we in
this world; and it is when Christ shall appear we shall be
like Him.)
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A pure conscience
What a marvelous combination of motives we nd
in this passage, to form a ministry characterized by the
development of all that in which God reveals Himself, and
by which He acts on the heart and conscience of man! And
it is in a pure conscience that these things can have their
force together. If the conscience were not pure, the tribunal
would obscure the glory, at least as belonging to oneself,
and weaken the sense of His love. At any rate one would
be occupied with self in connection with these things, and
ought to be so. But when pure before God, it only sees
a tribunal which excites no sense of personal uneasiness,
and therefore has all its true moral eect, as an additional
motive for seriousness in our walk, and a solemn energy
in the appeal which the known love of Jesus impels it to
address to man.
e result of Christ’s death and resurrection:
new creatures with a new nature in a new creation;
reconciliation proclaimed
As to how far our own relations with God enter into
the service which we have to render to others, the Apostle
adds another thing that characterized his walk, and that
was the result of the death and resurrection of Christ. He
lived in an entirely new sphere, in a new creation, which
had left behind, as in another world, all that belonged to
a natural existence in the esh here below. e proof that
Christ had died for all proved that all were dead; and that
He died for all in order that those who live should live
no longer to themselves but to Him who died for them
and rose again. ey are in connection with this new
order of things in which Christ exists as risen. Death is
on everything else. Everything is shut up under death. If
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I live, I live in a new order of things, in a new creation, of
which Christ is the type and the head. Christ, so far as in
connection with this world below, is dead. He might have
been known as the Messiah, living on the earth, and in
connection with promises made to men living on the earth
in the esh. e Apostle no longer knew Him thus. In fact
Christ, as bearing that character, was dead; and now, being
risen, He has taken a new and a heavenly character.
erefore if anyone is in Christ, he belongs to this new
creation, he is of the new creation. He belongs no more at
all to the<P275> former; the old things have passed away;
all things are become new. e system is not the fruit of
human nature and of sin, like all that surrounds us here
below, according to the esh. Already, looked at as a system
existing morally before God, in this new creation, all things
are of God. All that is found in it is of God, of Him who has
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. We live in an order
of things, a world, a new creation, entirely of God. We are
there in peace, because God, who is its center and its source,
has reconciled us to Himself. We enjoy it, because we are
new creatures in Christ; and everything in this new world
is of Him, and corresponds with that new nature. He had
also committed to the Apostle a ministry of reconciliation,
according to the order of things into which he had been
himself introduced. Being reconciled, and knowing it by
the revelation of God who had accomplished it for him,
he proclaimed a reconciliation, the eect of which he was
enjoying.
God was in Christ; the Apostle as an ambassador for
the absent Christ; Christ made sin by God to make us
His righteousness
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All this owed from an immense and all-powerful truth.
God was in Christ. But then, in order that others might
have a part with him, and the Apostle be the minister of
this, it was also necessary that Christ should be made sin
for us. One of these truths presents the character in which
God has drawn nigh to us; the other, the ecacy of that
which has been wrought for the believer.
Here is the rst of these truths, in connection with
the Apostle’s ministry, which form the subject of these
chapters. God was in Christ (that is to say, when Christ was
on earth). e day of judgment had not been waited for.
God had come down in love into the world alienated from
Him. Such was Christ. ree things were connected with
and characterized this great and essential truth: reconciling
the world, not imputing transgression, and putting the
word of reconciliation into the Apostle. As the result of
this third consequence of the incarnation, the Apostle
assumes the character of ambassador for Christ; as though
God exhorted by his means, he besought men, in the name
of Christ, to be reconciled to God. But such an embassy
supposed the absence of Christ; His ambassador acted in
His stead. It was, in fact, based upon an<P276>other truth
of immeasurable importance, namely, that God had made
Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, in order that we
should be made the righteousness of God in Him. is
was the true way to reconcile us, and that entirely, to God,
according to the perfection of God fully revealed. For
He had set His love upon us where we were, giving His
Son, who was without spot or motion or principle of sin;
and making Him (for He oered Himself to accomplish
the will of God) sin for us, in order to make us in Him-
who in that condition had perfectly gloried Him-the
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expression of His divine righteousness, before the heavenly
principalities through all eternity; to make us His delight, as
regards righteousness; “that we should be the righteousness
of God in him.” Man has no righteousness for God: God
has made the saints, in Jesus, His righteousness. It is in
us that this divine righteousness is seen fully veried-of
course in Christ rst, in setting Him at His right hand, and
in us as in Him. Marvelous truth! which, if its results in us
cause thanksgiving and praise to resound when looking at
Jesus, silences the heart, and bows it down in adoration,
astonished at the sight of His wonderful acts in grace.1
(1. It should be observed that, in verse 20, the word
“you” ought to be omitted. It was the way in which the
Apostle fullled his ministry to the world.)
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73234
2Corinthians 6
Paul approving himself as God’s witness; God’s power
in a vessel of weakness
Paul had said that God exhorted by his means. In
chapter 6 the aection of the Apostle carries on by the
Spirit this divine work, beseeching the Corinthians that
it might not be in vain in their case that this grace had
been brought to them. For it was the acceptable time, the
day of salvation.1e Apostle had spoken of the great
principles of his ministry, and of its origin. He reminds
the Corinthians of the way in which he had exercised it
in the varied circumstances through which he had been
led. e cardinal point of his service is that he was the
minister of God, that he represented Him in his service.
is rendered two things needful:<P277> rst, that he
should be in all things without reproach; and then that he
should maintain this character of God’s minister, and the
exercise of his ministry, through all the opposition, and in
all the circumstances through which the enmity of man’s
heart, and the cunning even of Satan, could make him pass.
Everywhere and in all things he avoided, by his conduct,
all real occasion of being reproached, in order that no one
should have room to blame the ministry. He approved
himself in all things as a minister of God, worthily
representing Him in whose name he spoke to men; and
that with a patience, and in the midst of persecution and
contradiction of sinners, which showed an inward energy,
a sense of obligation to God, and a dependence on Him,
which the realization of His presence and of our duty to
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Him can alone maintain. It was a quality which reigned
through all the circumstances of which the Apostle speaks,
and had dominion over them.
(1. e passage is a quotation from Isaiah 49:8, which
speaks of the blessing that should be brought to the Gentiles
when Christ was rejected by the Jews, but through Christ’s
work and by the resurrection.)
us he showed himself to be the minister of God in
everything which could test him; in pureness, in kindness, in
love; as a vessel of power; whether disgraced or applauded;
unknown to the world, and known and eminent; outwardly
trodden under foot of man and chastened, inwardly
victorious and joyful, enriching others, and in possession
of all things. Here ends his description of the sources, the
character, the victory over circumstances, of a ministry
which displayed the power of God in a vessel of weakness,
whose best portion was death.
e Corinthians exhorted to maintain their God-
given place of new creatures
e restoration of the Corinthians to a moral state
betting the gospel, associated with the circumstances
through which he had just been passing, had allowed him
to open his heart to them. Preoccupied till now with his
subject of the glorious Christ, who, having accomplished
redemption, sent him as the messenger of the grace to
which that redemption had given free course, and having
spoken with a free heart of all that was comprised in
his ministry, he returns with aection to his beloved
Corinthians, showing that it was with them that he had
all this openness, this enlargement of heart. “My mouth
is open unto you, O Corinthians,” he says, “my heart is
enlarged; ye are not straitened in me, but in your own
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aections.” As a recompense for the aections that over-
owed<P278> from his heart towards them, he only asks
for the enlargement of their own hearts.
He spoke as to his children. But he avails himself of this
tender relationship to exhort the Corinthians to maintain
the place in which God had set them: “Be not in the same
yoke with unbelievers.” Having a hold upon their aections,
and rejoicing deeply before God in the grace which had
restored them to right sentiments, his heart is free to give
way, as though beside himself, to the joy that belonged to
him in Christ gloried: and, with a sober mind after all
when his dear children in the faith were in question,1 he
seeks to detach them from all that recognized the esh,
or implied that a relationship which recognized it were
possible for a Christian-from everything that denied the
position of a man who has his life and his interests in the
new creation, of which Christ is the Head in glory. An angel
can serve God in this world: little would it concern him in
what way, provided that way was God’s; but to associate
himself with its interests, as forming a part of it, to ally
himself with those who are governed by the motives that
inuence the men of this world, so that a common conduct
would show that the one and the other acted according to
the principles that form its character, would be, to those
heavenly beings, to lose their position and their character.
e Christian, whose portion is the glory of Christ-who
has his world, his life, his true associations, there where
Christ has entered in-should not either; nor can he, as a
Christian, put himself under the same yoke with those
who can have only worldly motives, to draw the chariot of
life in a path common to both.
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(1. What a blessed state is that of a man, who, when
he is taken out of himself and a state of calm reection, is
entirely absorbed with, or turned towards, God, and, when
he does think soberly and calculates, is occupied in love in
seeking the good of his brethren, the members of Christ:
who is either rapt up into the contemplation of God and
communion with Him, or lled with Him, so as to think
only of others in love!)
Separation: coming out from among the worldly to
enter into the relationship of sons and daughters to God
as a Father and be so owned of Him
What communion is there between Christ and Belial;
between light and darkness; faith and unbelief; the temple
of God and idols? Christians are the temple of the living
God who dwells and walks among them. He is a God to
them; they are a people to Him.<P279> erefore must
they come out from all fellowship with the worldly, and be
separate from them. As Christians, they must stand apart,
for they are the temple of God. God dwells among them
and walks there, and He is their God. ey are therefore
to come out from the world and be separate, and God will
own them, and will be to them in relationship of a Father
with sons and daughters who are dear to Him.
is, observe, is the special relationship which God
assumes with us. e two preceding revelations of God
with men are named here, and He takes a third. To
Abraham He revealed Himself as Almighty; to Israel as
Jehovah or Lord. Here the Lord Almighty declares that
He will be a Father to His own, to His sons and daughters.
We come out from among the worldly, for it is just that
(not physically out of the world, but while in it), in order
to enter into the relationship of sons and daughters to the
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Almighty God: otherwise we cannot practically realize this
relationship. God will not have worldlings in relation with
Himself as sons and daughters; they have not entered into
this position with regard to Him. Nor will He recognize
those who remain identied with the world, as having
this position; for the world has rejected His Son, and the
friendship of the world is enmity against God: and he who
is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. It is not
being His child in a practical sense. God says therefore,
“Come out from among them, and be separate, and ye shall
be to me for sons and daughters.” Remember that it is not
a question of coming out of the world-it is while we are
in it-but of coming out from among the worldly, to enter
into the relationship of sons and daughters, in order to be to
Him for sons and daughters, to be owned of Him in this
relationship.1<P280>
(1. e reader may remark that the passage sets two
things before us: that God is present in the assembly of
those who are separated from the world, and walks among
them, as He did in the case of Israel in the wilderness when
they had come out of Egypt; and that the individuals who
compose the assembly enter into the relationship of sons
and daughters.)
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2Corinthians 7
e legitimate consequences of God’s promises:
holiness of walk and purity of thought
But it is not only that from which we are separated
to be in this position of sons and daughters that engages
the Apostle’s attention, but the legitimate consequences
of such promises. Sons and daughters of the Lord God
Almighty, holiness becomes us. It is not only that we are
to be separate from the world; but, in relationship with
God, to cleanse ourselves from all lthiness of the esh and
spirit: holiness in the outward walk, and that which is quite
as important with regard to our relationship to God, purity
of thought. For, although man does not see the thoughts,
the ow of the Spirit is stopped in the heart. ere is not
enlargement of heart in communion with God. It is much
if His presence is felt, His relationship to us realized; grace
is known, but God scarcely at all, in the way in which He
makes Himself gradually known in communion.
e heart of Christ’s minister revealed
e Apostle returns to his own relationships with the
Corinthians-relations formed by the word of his ministry.
And now, having laid open what this ministry really was,
he seeks to prevent the bonds being broken, which had
been formed by this ministry between the Corinthians and
himself through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Receive us: we have wronged no one”-he is anxious not
to wound the feelings of these restored ones, who found
themselves again in their old aection for the Apostle,
and thus in their true relation with God. “I do not say this
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to condemn you,” he adds; “for I have said before that ye
are in my heart to die and live with you. My boldness is
great towards you, great is my glorying of you. I am lled
with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all my tribulation.”
He is not now unfolding the principles of the ministry,
but the heart of a minister, all that he had felt with regard
to the state of the Corinthians. When he had arrived in
Macedonia (whither, it will be remembered, he had gone
without visiting Corinth), after he had left Troas, because he
did not nd Titus there, who was to bring him the answer
to his rst letter to the Corinthians<P281>-when he was
come into Macedonia, his esh had no rest there either; he
was troubled on every side: without were ghtings, within
were fears. ere however God, who comforts those who
are cast down, comforted him by the arrival of Titus, for
whom he had waited with so much anxiety; and not only
by his coming, but by the good news he brought from
Corinth. His joy went beyond all his sorrow, for his heart
was to live and die with them. He saw the moral fruits of
the operation of the Spirit, their desire, their tears, their
zeal with regard to the Apostle; and his heart turns again to
them in order to bind up, by the expression of his aection,
all the wounds (needful as they were) which his rst letter
might have made in their hearts.
Nothing more touching than the conict in his heart
between the necessity he had felt, on account of their
previous state, to write to them with severity, and in some
sort with a cold authority, and the aections which, now
that the eect had been produced, dictated almost an
apology for the grief he might have caused them. If, he says,
I made you sorry by the letter, I do not repent: even though
he might have repented and had done so for a moment.
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For he saw that the letter had grieved them, were it but
for a season. But now he rejoiced, not that they had been
made sorry, but that they had sorrowed unto repentance.
What solicitude! What a heart for the good of the saints!
If they had a fervent mind towards him, assuredly he had
given them the occasion and the motive. No rest till he
had tidings: nothing, not open doors, nor distress, could
remove his anxiety. He regrets perhaps having written
the letter, fearing that he had alienated the hearts of the
Corinthians; and now, still pained at the thought of having
grieved them, he rejoices, not at having grieved them, but
because their godly sorrow had wrought repentance.
Paul’s two letters; the dierence between Paul the
individual and Paul the inspired writer
He writes a letter according to the energy of the Holy
Spirit. Left to the aections of his heart, we see him, in
this respect, below the level of the energy of inspiration
which had dictated that letter which the spiritual were
to acknowledge as the commandments of the Lord;
his heart trembles at the thought of its consequences,
when he receives no tidings. It is very interesting to see
the <P282>dierence between the individuality of the
Apostle and inspiration. In the rst letter we remarked the
distinction which he makes between that which he said
as the result of his experience, and the commandments of
the Lord communicated through him. Here we nd the
dierence in the experience itself. He forgets the character
of his epistle for a moment, and, given up to his aections,
he fears to have lost the Corinthians by the eort he had
made to reclaim them. e form of the expression he uses
shows that it was but for a moment that this sentiment
took possession of his heart. But the fact that he had it
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413
plainly shows the dierence between Paul the individual
and Paul the inspired writer.
Paul’s greatness of heart in speaking of his strong
aection
Now he is satised. e expression of this deep interest
which he feels for them is a part of his ministry, and
valuable instruction for us, to show the way in which the
heart enters into the exercise of this ministry, the exibility
of this mighty energy of love, in order to win and bend
hearts by the opportune expression of that which is passing
in our own: an expression which will assuredly take place
when the occasion makes it right and natural, if the heart
is lled with aection; for a strong aection likes to make
itself known to its object, if possible, according to the truth
of that aection. ere is a grief of heart which consumes
it, but a heart that feels godly sorrow is on the way to
repentance.1
(1. Greatness of heart does not readily talk about
feelings, because it thinks of others, not of itself. But it is
not afraid, when occasion arises, to do so; because it thinks
of others, and has a depth of purpose in its aections, which
is behind all this movement of them. And Christianity
gives greatness of heart. And besides, from its nature, it is
conding, and this wins, and gives unsought, inuence this
greatness of heart does not seek, for it is unselsh. His true
relationship for their good the Apostle did maintain.)
e fruits of godly sorrow
e Apostle then sets forth the fruits of this godly
sorrow, the zeal against sin it had produced, the heart’s
holy rejection of all association with sin. Now also that
they had morally separated themselves, he separates those
who were not guilty from those who were so. He will no
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longer confound them together. ey had confounded
themselves together morally by walking at ease with those
who were in sin. By putting away the sin they were now
outside the evil: and the Apostle shows that it was with
a view to<P283> their good, because he was devoted to
them, that he had written to testify the loving occupation
of his thoughts about them, and to put to the test their love
for him before God. Sad as their walk had been, he had
assured Titus, when encouraging him to go to Corinth,
that he would certainly nd hearts there that would
respond to this appeal of apostolic aection. He had not
been disappointed, and as he had declared the truth among
them, that which he had said of them to Titus was found
true also, and the aections of Titus himself were strongly
awakened when he saw it.
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415
73236
2Corinthians 8-9
Exhortation to help Israel’s poor; the money
collection; honesty before men as well as before God
In the next chapter the Apostle (being on his way to
Judea) exhorts the Corinthians to prepare relief for the
poor of Israel; sending Titus that all might be ready as
of a willing mind-a disposition of which he had spoken
on his journey as existing among these Christians, so that
others had been stirred up to give likewise. And now, while
reckoning upon their goodwill, and knowing that they
had begun a year before he would run no risk of nding
that facts gave the lie to what he had said of them. Not
that he would burden the Corinthians and ease those of
Judea, but that the rich should provide for the need of
the poor brethren, in order that none should be in want.
Everyone, if his will were in it, should be accepted of God
according to his ability. He loved a cheerful giver. Only
they should reap according as they sowed. Titus, happy at
the result of his rst visit, and attached to the Corinthians,
was ready to go again and gather this fruit also for their
own blessing. With him went the messengers of the other
churches, charged with the collection made among them
for the same purpose-a brother known to all the churches,
and another of approved diligence, stimulated by Paul’s
condence in the Corinthians. e Apostle would not take
charge of the money without having companions whose
charge it should also be, avoiding all possibility of reproach
in aairs of this kind, taking care that everything should be
honest before men as well as before God. Nevertheless he
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did not speak by commandment in all this, but on account
of the zeal of other churches, and to prove the sincerity of
their love.<P284>
It will be remembered that it was this collection which
occasioned all that happened to Paul at Jerusalem-that
which put an end to his ministry, stopped him on his
way into Spain, and perhaps other places; and which, on
the other hand, gave occasion to write the epistles to the
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and, it may
be, to the Hebrews. How little we know the bearing of
the circumstances we enter upon, happy that we are led
by Him who knows the end from the beginning, and who
makes all things work for good to those who love Him!
e happy and manifold eects of practical charity
In closing those exhortations to give according to their
ability, he commends them to the rich goodness of God,
who was able to make them abound in all things, so that
they should be in circumstances to multiply their good
works, enriched to all bountifulness, so as to produce in
others (by means of the Apostle’s services in this respect)
thanksgiving unto God. For, he adds, the happy eect of
your practical charity, exercised in the name of Christ,
would not only supply the want of the saints (through
his administration of the collection made at Corinth) but
abound also in thanksgiving to God; for, those who received
it blessed God that their benefactors had been brought to
confess the name of Christ, and to act with this practical
liberality to them and to all. And this thought stirred them
up to pray with fervent desire for those who provided
in this way for their need, because of the grace of God
manifested in them. us the bonds of eternal charity were
strengthened on both sides, and glory redounded to God.
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417
anks be to God, says the Apostle, for His unspeakable
gift; for whatsoever may be the fruits of grace, we have the
proof and the power in that which God has given. Here
ends the matter of the epistle properly so called.
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73237
2Corinthians 10
Paul’s connections with the Corinthians; the truth
and authority of his apostleship; the principle on which
he acted
e Apostle returns to the subject which preoccupied
him-his connections with the Corinthians, and the truth
of his apostleship, which was questioned by those who
seduced them, throwing <P285>contempt on his person.
He was weak, they said, when present, and his speech
contemptible, though bold when absent (his letters
being boastful, but his bodily presence contemptible).
“I beseech you,” says the Apostle, “by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ [showing thus the true character of
his own meekness and humility when among them], not
to compel me to be bold among you, as I think of being
with regard to some who pretend that I walk after the
esh.” e strength of the war that he waged against evil
was founded on spiritual weapons, with which he brought
down all that exalted itself against the knowledge of God.
is is the principle on which he acted, to seek to bring
to obedience all who hearkened to God, and then severity
to all disobedience, when once obedience should be fully
established, and those who would hearken were restored to
order. Precious principle! the power and the guidance of the
Spirit acting in full, and with all patience, to restore to order,
and to a walk worthy of God; carrying the remonstrances
of grace to the utmost, until all those who would hearken
to them and willingly obey God were restored; and then
to assert divine authority in judgment and discipline, with
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419
the weight which was added to the apostolic action by the
conscience and common action of all those who had been
brought back to obedience.
Observe, that the Apostle refers to his personal authority
as an Apostle; but that he uses it in patience (for he possessed
it for the purpose of edication and not for destruction) in
order to bring back to obedience and uprightness all those
who would hearken; and thus, preserving Christian unity
in holiness, he clothes the apostolic authority with the
power of the universal conscience of the assembly, guided
by the Spirit, so far as there was a conscience at work.
He then declares that such as he is in his letters, such
shall they nd him when he is present; and he contrasts
the conduct of those who took advantage of his labors,
beguiling a people who had already become Christians, in
order to stir them up against him, with his own conduct
in going where Christ had not yet been known, seeking to
bring souls to the knowledge of a Saviour of whom they
were ignorant. Also he hoped that, when he visited the
Corinthians, his ministry would be enlarged among them
by their increase of faith, in order that he might go on
beyond them to evangelize regions that still lay in darkness.
But he who gloried, let him glory in the Lord.<P286>
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73238
2Corinthians 11
False teachers and the absolute devotedness
manifested in the Apostle’s life; the living source
In chapter 11, jealous with regard to his beloved
Corinthians with a godly jealousy, he carries yet further
his arguments relating to false teachers. He asks the
faithful in Corinth to bear with him a little, while he
acts like a fool in speaking of himself. He had espoused
them as a chaste virgin to Christ, and he feared lest any
should corrupt their minds, leading them away from the
simplicity that is in Him. If the Corinthians had received
another Christ from the teachers lately come among them,
or another Spirit, or another gospel, they might well bear
with what these teachers did. But certainly the Apostle had
not been a whit behind in his instructions, even if they
compared him with the most renowned of the apostles.
Had he wronged them by receiving nothing at their hands
(as these new teachers boasted of doing), and in taking
money from other assemblies, and never being a burden
to them (a subject for boasting, of which no one should
deprive him in the regions of Achaia)? Had he refused to
take anything from them because he loved them not? God
knew-no; it was to deprive the false teachers of a means of
commending themselves to them by laboring gratuitously
among them, while the Apostle received money. He would
deprive them of this boast, for they were false apostles. As
Satan transformed himself into an angel of light, so his
instruments made themselves ministers of righteousness.
But again let them bear with him while he spoke as a
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421
fool in speaking of himself. If these ministers of Satan
accredited themselves as Jews, as of the ancient religion
of God, consecrated by its antiquity and its traditions,
he could do as much, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and
possessing all the titles to glory of which they boasted. And
if it was a question of Christian service-to speak as a fool-
certainly the comparison would not fail to show where the
devotedness had been. Here in fact God has allowed this
invasion of the Apostle’s work by these wretched Judaizing
men (calling themselves Christians) to be the means of
acquainting us with something of the indefatigable labors
of the Apostle, carried on in a thousand circumstances of
which we have no account. In the Acts, God has given us
the history of the establishment of the assembly<P287>
in the great principles on which it was founded, and the
phases through which it passed on coming out of Judaism.
e Apostle will have his own reward in the kingdom
of glory, not by speaking of it among men. Nevertheless
it is protable for our faith to have some knowledge of
Christian devotedness, as it was manifested in the life of
the Apostle. e folly of the Corinthians has been the
means of furnishing us with a little glimpse of it.
Troubles and dangers without, incessant anxieties
within, a courage that quailed before no peril, a love for
poor sinners and for the assembly that nothing chilled-
these few lines sketch the picture of a life of such absolute
devotedness that it touches the coldest heart; it makes us
feel all our selshness, and bend the knee before Him who
was the living source of the blessed Apostle’s devotedness,
before Him whose glory inspired it.
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73239
2Corinthians 12
Glorying in inrmities; glorying in the sovereign
power of God in a wonderful revelation
Nevertheless, though forced to speak of himself, the
Apostle would glory only in his inrmities. But he is, as
it were, outside his natural work. His past life unfolds
before his eyes. e Corinthians obliged him to think of
things which he had left behind. After having ended his
account, and declared that he would glory in his inrmities
alone, there was one circumstance that recurred to him.
Nothing can be more natural, more simple, than all these
communications. Must he glory? It is but unprotable. He
would come to that of which a man-as in the esh-could
not glory. It was the sovereign power of God, in which
the man had no part. It was a man in Christ of whom he
spoke-such a one had been caught up to the third heaven,
to paradise; in the body, or out of the body, he knew not.
e body had no part in it. Of such a one he would glory.
at which exalted him on the earth he would put
aside. at which took him up to heaven-that which gave
him a portion there-that which he was “in Christ”-was his
glory, the joy of his heart, the portion in which he readily
would glory. Happy being! whose portion in Christ was
such that, in thinking of it, he is content to forget all that
could exalt him as man; as he says else<P288>where as
to his hope, “at I may win Christ.” e man, the body,
had no share in a power, to taste of which he had to be
caught up into heaven; but of such a one he would glory.
ere, where God and His glory are everything, separated
2Corinthians 12
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from his body as to any consciousness of being in it, he
heard things which men in the body were not capable of
entering into, and which it was not tting that a mortal
man should declare, which the mode of being of a man
in the body could not admit. ese things had made the
deepest impression on the Apostle; they strengthened him
for the ministry; but he could not introduce them into
the manner of understanding and communicating which
belongs to man’s condition here below.
Caught up to the third heaven: its lessons
But many practical lessons are connected with this
marvelous favor shown to the Apostle. I say, marvelous;
for in truth one feels what a ministry must his have been,
whose strength, and whose way of seeing and judging,
were drawn from such a position. What an extraordinary
mission was that of this apostle! But he had it in an earthen
vessel. Nothing amends the esh. Once come back into
the consciousness of his human existence on earth, the
Apostle’s esh would have taken advantage of the favor
he had enjoyed to exalt him in his own eyes, to say, “None
have been in the third heaven but thou, Paul.” To be near
God in the glory, as out of the body, does not pu up. All
is Christ, and Christ is all: self is forgotten. To have been
there is another thing. e presence of God makes us feel
our nothingness. e esh can avail itself of our having
been in it, when we are no longer there. Alas! what is man?
But God is watchful; in His grace He provided for the
danger of His poor servant. To have taken him up to a
fourth heaven-so to speak-would only have increased the
danger. ere is no way of amending the esh; the presence
of God silences it. It will boast of it as soon as it is no
longer there. To walk safely, it must be held in check, such
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as it is. We have to reckon it dead; but it often requires to
be bridled, that the heart be not drawn away from God
by its means, and that it may neither impede our walk
nor spoil our testimony. Paul received a thorn in the esh,
lest he should be pued up on account of the abundant
revelations which he had received. We know, by the Epistle
to the Galatians, that it was <P289>something which
tended to make him contemptible in his preaching: a very
intelligible counterpoise to these remarkable revelations.
Paul’s thorn in the esh: Satan as God’s servant
God left this task to Satan, as He used him for the
humiliation of Job. Whatever graces may be bestowed on
us, we must go through the ordinary exercises of personal
faith, in which the heart only walks safely when the esh
is bridled, and so practically nullied, that we are not
conscious of it as active in us when we wish to be wholly
given to God, and to think of Him and with Him according
to our measure.
e way of prevention: the lesson of humility to
escape humiliation
ree times (like the Lord with reference to the cup He
was to drink) the Apostle asks Him that the thorn may be
taken away; but the divine life is fashioned in the putting
o of self, and-imperfect as we are-this putting o as to
practice that which, as to truth, if we look at our standing
in Christ, we have put o, is wrought by our being made
conscious of the humiliating unsuitableness of this esh,
which we like to gratify, to the presence of God and the
service to which we are called. Happy for us when it is by
way of prevention, and not by the humiliation of a fall, as
was the case with Peter! e dierence is plain. ere it was
self-condence mingled with self-will in spite of the Lord’s
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warnings. Here, though still the esh, the occasion was the
revelations which had been made to Paul. If we learn the
tendency of the esh in the presence of God, we come out
of it humble, and we escape humiliation. But in general
(and we may say in some respects with all) we have to
experience the revelations that lift us up to God, whatever
their measure may be, and we have to experience what the
vessel is in which it is contained, by the pain it gives us
through the sense of what it is-I do not say through falls.
Man is nothing and Christ everything, in practical
experience here
God, in His government, knows how to unite suering
for Christ, and the discipline in the esh, in the same
circumstance; and this explains Hebrews 12:1-11. e
Apostle preached: if he<P290> was despised in his preaching
it was truly for the Lord that he suered; nevertheless
the same thing disciplined the esh, and prevented the
Apostle priding himself on the revelations he enjoyed, and
the consequent power with which he unfolded the truth.
In the presence of God, in the third heaven, he truly felt
that man was nothing, and Christ everything. He must
acquire the practical experience of the same thing below.
e esh must be annulled, where it is not a nullity, by the
experimental sense of the evil which is in it, and must thus
become consciously a nullity in the personal experience of
that which it is. For what was the esh of Paul-which only
hindered him morally in his work, by drawing him away
from God-except a troublesome companion in his work?
e suppression of the esh felt and judged was a most
protable exercise of the heart.
Self lost sight of in the enjoyment of unutterable
heavenly things
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Observe here the blessed position of the Apostle, as
caught up into the third heaven. He could glory in such a
one, because self was entirely lost in the things with which
he was in relation. He did not merely glory in the things,
neither does he say “in myself.” Self was completely lost
sight of in the enjoyment of things that were unutterable
by the man when he returned into the consciousness of
self. He would glory in such a one; but in himself, looked
at in esh, he would not glory, save in his inrmities. On
the other hand, is it not humiliating to think that he who
had enjoyed such exaltation should have to go through the
painful experience of what the esh is, wicked, despicable,
and selsh?
e dierence between Christ and any man
Observe also the dierence between Christ and any
man whatsoever. Christ could be on the mount in glory
with Moses, and be owned as His Son by the Father
Himself; and He can be on the plain in the presence of
Satan and of the multitude; but, although the scenes are
dierent, He is alike perfect in each. We nd admirable
aections in the apostles, and especially in Paul; we nd
works, as Jesus said, greater than His own; we nd exercises
of heart, and astonishing heights by grace; in a word we see
a marvelous power developed by the Holy Spirit in this
extraordinary<P291> servant of the Lord; but we do not
nd the evenness that was in Christ. He was the Son of
Man who was in heaven. Such as Paul are chords on which
God strikes and on which He produces a wondrous music;
but Christ is all the music itself.
Needed humiliation used by Christ to display His
power; dependence learned
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Finally, observe that the humiliation needed to reduce
the rebellious esh to its nothingness is used by Christ
to display His power in it. us humbled, we learn our
dependence. All that is of us, all that constitutes self, is a
hindrance; the inrmity is that in which it is put down, laid
low, in which weakness is realized. e power of Christ is
perfected in it. It is a general principle; humanly speaking,
the cross was weakness. Death is the opposite of the
strength of man. Nevertheless it is in it that the strength of
Christ revealed itself. In it He accomplished His glorious
work of salvation.
Inrmity here is utter weakness; Christ’s strength
made perfect and manifested in man’s inrmity
It is not sin in the esh that is the subject here when
inrmity is spoken of, but what is contrary to the strength
of man. Christ never leaned on human strength for a
moment; He lived by the Father, who had sent Him. e
power of the Holy Spirit alone was displayed in Him. Paul
needed to have the esh reduced to weakness, in order that
there might not be in it the motion of sin which was natural
to it. When the esh was reduced to its true nothingness
as far as good is concerned, and in a manifest way, then
Christ could display His strength in it. at strength
had its true character. Remark it well: that is always its
character-strength made perfect in inrmity. e blessed
Apostle could glory in a man in Christ above, enjoying all
this beatitude, these marvelous things which shut out self,
so much were they above all we are. While enjoying them,
he was not conscious of the existence of his body. When
he was again conscious of it, that which he had heard
could not be translated into those communications which
had the body for their instrument, and human ears as the
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means of intelligence. He gloried in that man in Christ
above. Here below he only gloried in Christ Himself, and
in that inrmity which gave<P292> occasion for the power
of Christ to rest on him, and which was the demonstration
that this power was that of Christ, that Christ made him
the vessel of its manifestation. But this nevertheless was
realized by painful experiences. e rst was the man in
Christ, the second the power of Christ resting on the man.
For the rst the man as to esh is nothing; as to the second
it is judged and put down-turned to weakness, that we may
learn, and Christ’s power may be manifested. ere is an
impulse, an ineable source of ministry on high. Strength
comes in, on the humiliation of man as he is in this world,
when the man is reduced to nothingness-his true value
in divine things-and Christ unfolds in him that strength
which could not associate itself with the strength of man,
nor depend on it in any way whatsoever. If the instrument
was weak, as they alleged, the power which had wrought
must have been-not its power, but that of Christ.
e practical strength and source of Paul’s ministry
us, as at the beginning of the epistle we had the true
characteristics of the ministry in connection with the objects
that gave it that character, so we have here its practical
strength, and the source of that strength, in connection
with the vessel in which the testimony was deposited,
the way in which this ministry was exercised by bringing
a mortal man into connection with the ineable sources
from which it owed, and with the living, present, active
energy of Christ, so that the man should be capable of it,
and yet that he should not accomplish it in his own carnal
strength-a thing moreover impossible in itself.1<P293>
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429
(1. is chapter is altogether a striking one. We have
Christians in the highest and lowest condition; in the third
heaven, and in actual low sin. In the rst, a man in Christ
(true in position, if not in vision, of us all), the Apostle
glories, and we are right to glory-that is a man in Christ.
As to what he is in himself he has to be brought to utter
nothingness. But neither the glorying in the man in Christ,
nor his being made nothing of in esh, is power: the latter
is the path to it; but then, being nothing, Christ’s power is
with him, rests on him, and here he has power in service,
the man in Christ his own place-Christ in, or His power on,
the man, his strength to serve. So that we have the highest
apprehension of the Spirit, the lowest failure in esh, and
the way of power in making nothing of the latter, Christ’s
power being thereon with us, practical power while in the
body. But there will be the sense of weakness, the want of
proportion between what we are as to the earthen vessel,
and what is ministered and enjoyed. It is not merely what is
evil but the earthen vessel in which the treasure is.)
e Apostle giving the most striking proofs of his
ministry and showing the love that “beareth all things”
us the Apostle gloried in his suerings and his
inrmities. He had been obliged to speak as a fool; they
who ought themselves to have proclaimed the excellence
of his ministry had forced him to do it. It was among them
that all the most striking proofs of an apostolic ministry
had been given. If in anything they had been behind other
churches with regard to proofs of his apostleship, it was in
their not having contributed anything to his maintenance.
He was coming again. is proof would still be wanting.
He would spend himself for them, as a kind father; even
although the more he loved, the less he should be loved.
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Would they say that he had kept up appearances by taking
nothing himself, but that he knew how to indemnify himself
by using Titus in order to receive from them? It was no
such thing. ey well knew that Titus had walked among
them in the same spirit as the Apostle. Sad work, when one
who is above these wretched motives and ways of judging
and estimating things, and full of these divine and glorious
motives of Christ, is obliged to come down to those which
occupy the selsh hearts of the people with whom he has
to do-hearts that are on a level with the motives which
animate and govern the world that surrounds them! But
love must bear all things and must think for others, if one
cannot think with them, not they with oneself.
Paul’s fear of what he might nd and have to do
Is it then that the Apostle took the Corinthians for
judges of his conduct? He spoke before God in Christ;
and only feared lest, when he came, he should nd many
of those who professed the name of Christ like the world
of iniquity that surrounded them; and that he should be
humbled among them, and have to bewail many who had
already sinned and had not repented of their misdeeds.
2Corinthians 13
431
73240
2Corinthians 13
Paul’s delayed visit; his justice
For the third time he was coming. Everything should
be proved by the testimony of two or three witnesses; and
this time he would<P294> not spare. e Apostle says,
“is is the third time I am coming”; yet he adds, “As if I
were present the second time, and being absent now.” is
is, because he had been there once, was to have gone there
on his way to Macedonia, was coming a second time, but
did not on account of the state the Corinthians were in;
but this third time he was coming, and he had told them
beforehand; and he said beforehand, as if he had gone the
second time, although now absent, that if he came again he
would not spare.
e Corinthians’ dilemma: If Paul’s apostleship were
questioned, their own Christianity was overturned
He then puts an end to the question about his ministry
by presenting an idea which ought to confound them
utterly. If Christ had not spoken by him, Christ did not
dwell in them. If Christ was in them, He must have
spoken by the Apostle, for he had been the means of their
conversion. “Since,” he says, “ye seek a proof that Christ
speaketh in me, examine yourselves, whether ye be in the
faith. Do ye not know yourselves, that Christ dwelleth in
you, unless ye be reprobates?” and that they did not at all
think. is was quite upsetting them, and turning their
foolish and stupid opposition, their unbecoming contempt
of the Apostle, to their own confusion. What folly to allow
themselves to be led away by a thought which, no doubt,
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exalted them in their own eyes; but which, by calling in
question the apostleship of Paul, necessarily overturned, at
the same time, their own Christianity!
e Apostle’s self-eacing desire for their blessing
and perfection lest he should have to exercise his God-
given authority
From “which to you-ward is not weak” to the end of
verse 4 is a parenthesis, referring to the character of his
ministry, according to the principles brought forward in
the previous chapter: weakness, and that which tended to
contempt, on the side of man; power on God’s part: even
as Christ was crucied in weakness and was raised again
by divine power. If the Apostle himself was weak, it was in
Christ; and he lived in Him, by the power of God, towards
the Corinthians. Whatever might be the case with them,
he trusted they should know that he was not reprobate;
and he only prayed to God that they should do no evil,
not in order that he<P295> should not be reprobate (that
is, worthless in his ministry, for here he is speaking of
ministry), but that they might do good even if he were
reprobate. For he could do nothing against the truth, but
for the truth. He was not master of the Corinthians for
his own interest, but was content to be weak that they
might be strong; for what he desired was their perfection.
But he wrote, being absent, as he had said, in order that
when present he might not be obliged to act with severity,
according to the authority which the Lord had given him
for edication, and not for destruction.
e touching and loving conclusion
He had written what his heart, lled and guided by the
Holy Spirit, impelled him to say; he had poured it all out;
and now, wearied, so to speak, with the eort, he closes the
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433
epistle with a few brief sentences: “Rejoice, be perfect, be of
good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace.” Happen what
might, it was this which he desired for them; and that the
God of love and of peace should be with them. He rests
in this wish, exhorting them to salute one another with
aection, as all the saints, including himself, saluted them;
praying that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, might
be with them all.<P296>
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73241
Galatians
e subject of the epistle: justication by grace; the
impossibility of uniting the law and the gospel
e Epistle to the Galatians sets before us the great
source of the aictions and conicts of the Apostle in
the regions where he had preached the glad tidings; that
which was at the same time the principal means employed
by the enemy to corrupt the gospel. God, it is true, in
His love, has suited the gospel to the wants of man. e
enemy brings down that which still bears its name to
the level of the haughty will of man and the corruption
of the natural heart, turning Christianity into a religion
that suits that heart, in place of one that is the expression
of the heart of God-an all-holy God-and the revelation
of that which He has done in His love to bring us into
communion with His holiness. We see, at the same time,
the connection between the Judaizing doctrine-which is
the denial of full redemption, and looking for good in esh
and man’s will, power in man to work out righteousness
in himself for God-in those who hindered the Apostle’s
work, and the attacks that were constantly aimed against
his ministry; because that ministry appealed directly to the
power of the Holy Spirit and to the immediate authority
of a gloried Christ, and set man as ruined, and Judaism
which dealt with man, wholly aside. In withstanding the
eorts of the Judaizers, the Apostle necessarily establishes
the elementary principles of justication by grace. Traces
both of this combat with the spirit of Judaism, by which
Satan endeavored to destroy true Christianity, and of
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435
the maintenance by the Apostle of this liberty, and of
the authority of his ministry, are found in a multitude of
passages in Corinthians, in Philippians, in Colossians, in
Timothy, and historically in the Acts. In Galatians the
two subjects are treated in a direct and formal way. But the
gospel is consequently reduced to its most simple elements,
grace to<P297> its most simple expression. But, with regard
to the error, the question is but the more decisively settled;
the irreconcilable dierence between the two principles,
Judaism and the gospel, is the more strongly marked.
God allowed this invasion of His assembly in the
earliest days of its existence, in order that we might have
the answer of divine inspiration to these very principles,
when they should be developed in an established system
which would claim submission from the children of God
as being the church that He had established and the only
ministry that He acknowledged. e immediate source of
true ministry, according to the gospel that Paul preached to
the Gentiles, the impossibility of uniting the law and that
gospel-of binding up together subjection to its ordinances
and distinction of days-with the holy and heavenly
liberty into which we are brought by a risen Christ, the
impossibility, I repeat, of uniting the religion of the esh
with that of the Spirit, are plainly set forth in this epistle.
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73242
Galatians 1-2
A dierent gospel, not the gospel of Christ
e Apostle begins, at the very outset, with the
independence, as to all other men, of the ministry which
he exercised, pointing out its true source, from which he
received it without the intervention of any intermediate
instrument whatsoever: adding, in order to show that the
Galatians were forsaking the common faith of the saints,
“all the brethren which are with me.” Also, in opening the
subject of his epistle, the Apostle declares at once, that the
doctrine introduced by the Judaizers among the Galatians
was a dierent gospel (but which was not really another),
not the gospel of Christ.
e origin and authority of Paul’s commission
He begins then by declaring that he is not an apostle
either of men or by man. He does not come on the part
of men as though sent by them, and it is not by means of
any man that he had received his commission, but by Jesus
Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.
It was by Jesus Christ, on the way to Damascus; and by the
Father, it appears to me, when the Holy<P298> Spirit said,
“Separate to me Barnabas and Paul.” But he speaks thus, in
order to carry up the origin of his ministry to the primary
source of all real good, and of all legitimate authority.1
(1. Not “of men” what calls itself the clergy would freely
admit, but not “by man” they cannot. It strikes at the root
of their existence as such. ey boast its descent from man,
but (it is remarkable enough) none from St. Paul, the true
minister of the assembly, and, where most insisted on, from
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437
Peter, the Apostle of the circumcision. Peter was not the
Apostle to the Gentiles at all, and, as far as we know, never
went to them.)
Deliverance from this present evil age
He wishes, as usual, to the assembly, grace and peace
from God in His character of Father, and from Jesus in His
character of Lord. But he adds here to the name of Jesus,
that which belongs to that character of the gospel which
the Galatians had lost sight of, namely, that Christ had
given Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from
this present evil age. e natural man, in his sins, belongs
to this age. e Galatians desired to return to it under the
pretext of a righteousness according to the law. Christ had
given Himself for our sins in order to take us out of it: for
the world is judged. Looked at as in the esh, we are of it.
Now the righteousness of the law has to do with men in
the esh. It is man as in the esh who is to fulll it, and the
esh has its sphere in this world; the righteousness which
man would accomplish in the esh is directed according
to the elements of this world. Legal righteousness, man in
the esh, and the world, go together. Whereas Christ has
viewed us as sinners, having no righteousness, and has given
Himself for our sins and to deliver us from this condemned
world, in which men seek to establish righteousness by
putting themselves on the ground of the esh which can
never accomplish it. is deliverance is also according to
the will of our God and Father. He will have a heavenly
people, redeemed according to that love which has given
us a place on high with Himself, and a life in which the
Holy Spirit works, to make us enjoy it and cause us to walk
in the liberty and in the holiness which He gives us in this
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new creation, of which Jesus Himself, risen and gloried, is
the head and the glory.<P299>
e true gospel perverted: any addition can only alter
and corrupt it
e Apostle opens his subject without preamble: he was
full of it, and the state of the Galatians who were giving up
the gospel in its foundations forced it out from an oppressed,
and I may say, an indignant heart. How was it possible that
the Galatians had so quickly forsaken him, who had called
them according to the power of the grace of Christ, for a
dierent gospel? It was by this call of God that they had
part in the glorious liberty, and in the salvation that has its
realization in heaven. It was by the redemption that Christ
had accomplished and the grace that belongs to us in Him,
that they enjoyed heavenly and Christian happiness. And
now they were turning to an entirely dierent testimony;
a testimony which was not another gospel, another true
glad tidings. It did but trouble their minds by perverting
the true gospel. “But,” says the Apostle, reiterating his
words on the subject, “if an angel from heaven, or he [Paul
himself ], preached anything besides the gospel that he had
already preached to them, let him be accursed.” Observe
here, that he will allow nothing in addition to that which
he had preached.
ey did not formally deny Christ; they wished to
add circumcision. But the gospel which the Apostle had
preached was the complete and whole gospel. Nothing could
be added to it without altering it, without saying that it was
not the perfect gospel, without really adding something
that was of another nature, that is to say, corrupting it. For
the entirely heavenly revelation of God was what Paul had
taught them. In his teaching he had completed the circle
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439
of the doctrine of God. To add anything to it was to deny
its perfection; and to alter its character, to corrupt it. e
Apostle is not speaking of a doctrine openly opposed to
it, but of that which is outside the gospel which he had
preached. us, he says, there cannot be another gospel; it
is a dierent gospel, but there are no glad tidings except
that which he had preached. It is but a corruption of the
true, a corruption by which they troubled souls. us, in
love to souls, he could anathematize those who turned
them away from the perfect truth that he had preached.
It was the gospel of God Himself. Everything else was
of Satan. If Paul himself brought it, let him be anathema.
e pure and entire gospel was already proclaimed, and it
asserted its claims in the name of God<P300> against all
that pretended to associate itself with it. Did Paul seek to
satisfy the minds of men in his gospel, or to please men? In
no wise; he would not thus be the servant of Christ.
Paul’s gospel not according to nor received from man
He then speaks historically of his ministry, and of the
question whether man had anything to do with it. His
gospel was not according to man, for he had not received
it from any man; he had not been taught it. at which he
possessed was his by the immediate revelation made to him
by Jesus Christ. And when God, who, from his mother’s
womb, set him apart, and had called him by His grace, was
pleased to reveal His Son in him, the revelation had at once
all its own power as such. He did not consult anyone. He
did not put himself into communication with the other
apostles, but at once acted independently of them, as being
directly taught of God. It was not till three years after that he
went to make acquaintance with Peter, and also saw James.
e churches of Judea did not know him by sight; only
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they gloried God for the grace he had received. Moreover
he was only fteen days in Jerusalem. He then went into
Syria and Cilicia. Fourteen years afterwards he went up to
Jerusalem (we have the account in Acts 15) with Barnabas,
and took Titus with him. But Titus, Gentile as he was, had
not been circumcised; an evident proof of the liberty in
which the Apostle publicly stood. It was a bold step on his
part to take Titus with him, and thus decide the question
between himself and the Judaizing Christians. He went up
because of false brethren, who sought to spy out the liberty
into which Paul (enjoying it in the Spirit) introduced
believers; and he went up by virtue of a revelation.
God’s overruling guidance; the proofs of Paul’s
special and independent ministry
We may observe here, how the communications of
God may be inwardly the guides of our conduct, although
we yield to motives presented by others. In Acts 15 we
nd the outward history; here, that which governed the
Apostle’s heart. God (in order that the thing might be
decided at Jerusalem, to shut every mouth and to maintain
unity) did not allow the Apostle to have the upper hand
at Antioch, or to arrange on the spot the walk of the
assembly<P301> formed in that place. Neither did He
allow him to isolate himself in his own convictions, but
made him go up to Jerusalem and communicate to the
chief apostles that which he taught, so that there should
be community of testimony on this important point; and
that they also should acknowledge Paul as taught of God
independently of them, and at the same time recognize his
ministry as sent of God, and that he was acting on the part
of God as much as themselves. For, although God would
have him communicate to them that which he had taught
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441
others, he received nothing from them. e eect of his
communication was, that they owned the grace which God
had granted him and the ministry he had received for the
Gentiles, and they gave to him and to Barnabas the right
hands of fellowship.
Had he gone up earlier, whatever his knowledge might
have been, the proofs of his special and independent ministry
would not have existed. But he had labored fruitfully for
many years without receiving any mission from the other
apostles, and they had to recognize his apostleship as the
immediate gift of God, as well as the truths which God
had imparted to him: the proofs were there; and God had
owned this apostleship, as He had given it. e twelve had
nothing to do but to acknowledge it, if they acknowledged
God as the source of all these excellent gifts. Paul was an
apostle from God without their intervention. ey could
acknowledge his ministry, and in it the God who had given
them that which they themselves exercised.
Paul’s rmness, ardor and clear-sightedness
Moreover Paul had always acted independently in the
fulllment of his mission. When Peter came to Antioch,
he withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
He was not, as to Paul, as a superior before whom his
subordinates must maintain a respectful silence. Although
God had wrought mightily in Peter, yet his companion in
apostleship (faithful to Him who had called him) could not
allow the gospel to be falsied which had been committed
to his own care by the Lord Himself. Ardent as he was,
poor Peter always cared too much about the opinion of
others. Now the opinion that prevails in the world is always
that which inuences the heart of man; and this opinion
is always one which gives a certain glory to man after the
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esh. Paul, taught from above and full<P302> of the power
of the Spirit, who by revealing heavenly glory had made
him feel that all which exalted the esh obscured that glory
and falsied the gospel that declared it-Paul, who lived and
moved morally in the new creation, of which a gloried
Christ is the center; and as rm as he was ardent, because
he realized the things that are not seen; as clear-sighted
as rm, because he lived in the realization of spiritual and
heavenly things in Christ-Paul, for whom to win Christ
thus gloried was everything, clearly sees the carnal walk
of the Apostle of the circumcision. He is not deterred by
man; he is occupied with Christ who was his all, and with
the truth. He does not spare one who overturned this truth,
be his position in the assembly what it might.
Peter’s dissimulation: its cause and eects
It was dissimulation in Peter. While alone, where the
inuence of heavenly truth prevailed, he ate with the
Gentiles, surrounding himself with the reputation of
walking in the same liberty as others. But when certain
persons came from James, from Jerusalem, where he
himself habitually lived, the center where religious esh
and its customs still had (under the patient goodness of
God) so much power, he no longer dared to use a liberty
which was condemned by those Christians who were still
Jewish in their sentiments; he withdrew himself. What
a poor thing is man! And we are weak in proportion to
our importance before men; when we are nothing, we can
do all things, as far as human opinion is concerned. We
exercise, at the same time, an unfavorable inuence over
others in the degree in which they inuence us-in which
we yield to the inuence which the desire of maintaining
our reputation among them exercises over our hearts: and
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443
all the esteem in which we are held, even justly, becomes
a means of evil.1Peter, who fears those that came from
Jerusalem, draws away all the Jews and even Barnabas with
him in his dissimulation.
(1. It is practically important to remark that worldliness
or any allowance of what is not of God, by a godly man,
gives the weight of his godliness to the evil he allows.)
Paul’s faithful and open rebuke
Paul, energetic and faithful, through grace, alone remains
upright: and he rebukes Peter before them all. Why compel
Gentiles to live as Jews in order to enjoy full Christian
communion, when<P303> he, being a Jew, had felt himself
free to live as the Gentiles? emselves Jews by nature, and
not poor sinners of the Gentiles, they had given up the law
as a means of securing the favor of God, and had taken
refuge in Christ. But if they sought to rebuild the edice
of legal obligations, in order to acquire righteousness, why
had they overturned it? us acting, they made themselves
transgressors in having overturned it. And more than that;
since it was in order to come to Christ-in exchange for the
ecacy which they had formerly supposed to exist in the
law as a means of justication-that they had ceased to seek
righteousness by the law, Christ was a minister of sin. His
doctrine had made them transgressors! For in rebuilding
the edice of the law, they made it evident that they ought
not to have overthrown it; and it was Christ who made
them do so.
e purpose of ordinances: their use and misuse
What a result from the weakness which, in order to please
men, had returned to those things that were gratifying to
the esh! How little did Peter think of this! How little do
many Christians suspect it! To rest upon ordinances is to
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rest upon the esh; there are none in heaven. When Christ,
who is there, is everything, it cannot be done. Christ has
indeed established ordinances to distinguish His people
from the world, by that which signied, on the one hand,
that they were not of it, but dead with Him to it, and, on
the other hand, to gather them on the ground of that which
alone can unite them all-on the ground of the cross and of
accomplished redemption, in the unity of His body. But if,
instead of using them with thanksgiving according to His
will, we rest upon them, we have forsaken the fullness, the
suciency, of Christ, to build upon the esh, which can
thus occupy itself with these ordinances, and nd in them
its fatal sustenance and a veil to hide the perfect Saviour,
of whose death, as in connection with this world and with
man living in the esh, these ordinances so plainly speak to
us. To rest upon Christian ordinances is exactly to deny the
precious and solemn truth which they present to us, that
there is no longer righteousness after the esh, since Christ
is dead and risen.<P304>
Condemned to death under the law; dead with Christ
and dead to the law
is the Apostle deeply felt; this he had been called to
set before the eyes and consciences of men by the power of
the Holy Spirit. How many aictions, how many conicts,
his task cost him! e esh of man likes to have some credit;
it cannot bear to be treated as vile and incapable of good, to
be excluded and condemned to annihilation, not by eorts
to annul itself, which would restore it all its importance,
but by a work that leaves it in its true nothingness, and
that has pronounced the absolute judgment of death upon
it, so that, convicted of being nothing but sin, it has only
to be silent. If it acts, it is only to do evil. Its place is to
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445
be dead, and not better. We have both right and power
to hold it as such, because Christ has died, and we live
in His risen life. He has Himself become our life. Alive
in Him, I treat the esh as dead; I am not a debtor to it.
God has condemned sin in the esh, in that His Son came
in the likeness of sinful esh and for sin. It is this great
principle of our being dead with Christ which the Apostle
sets forth at the end of the chapter (only rst recognizing
the force of the law to bring death into the conscience). He
had discovered that to be under a law was to nd himself
condemned to death. He had undergone in spirit the whole
force of this principle; his soul had realized death in all its
power. He was dead; but, if so, he was dead to the law. e
power of a law does not reach beyond life; and, its victim
once dead, it has no more power over him. Now Paul had
acknowledged this truth; and, attributing to the principle
of law its whole force, he confessed himself to be dead by
law- dead then to law. But how? Was it by undergoing the
eternal consequences of its violation; for if the law killed, it
condemned too (see 2Corinthians 3)? By no means. It is
quite another thing here. He did not deny the authority of
the law, he acknowledged its force in his soul, but in death,
in order that he might live to God.
Law reaching Saul the sinner in the Person of Christ
who died; life since Christ lived in him; the disappearance
of the law’s dominion
But where could he nd this life, since the law only
slew him? is he explains. It was not himself in his own
responsibility, exposed as he was to the nal consequences
of the violation of the<P305> law-who could nd life in it?
Christ had been crucied-He who could suer the curse
of the law of God, and death, and yet live in the mighty
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and holy life which nothing could take away; which made
it impossible for death to hold Him, although in grace
He tasted it. But the Apostle (whom this same grace had
reached) owning it according to the truth as a poor sinner
in subjection to death, and blessing the God who granted
him the grace of life and of free acceptance in Christ,
had been associated with Christ in God’s counsels in His
death (now realized by faith, and become true practically
by Christ, who had died and risen again, being his life).
He was crucied with Him, so that the condemnation of
it was gone for Paul. It is Christ whom death under the
law had reached. e law had reached Saul the sinner, in
the Person of Him who had given Himself for him, in
fact, and now Saul himself in conscience, and brought
death there-but the death of the old man (see Romans
7:9-10)-and it had now no more right over him; for the
life to which the dominion of the law was attached had
come to its end upon the cross.1 Nevertheless he lived: yet
not he, but Christ, in that life in which Christ rose from
among the dead-Christ lived in him. us the dominion
of the law over him disappeared (while ascribing to the
law all its force), because that dominion was connected
with the life in regard to which he reckoned himself to be
dead in Christ, who had really undergone death for this
purpose. And Paul lived in that mighty and holy life, in
the perfection and energy of which Christ was risen from
among the dead, after having borne the curse of the law.
He lived to God, and held the corrupt life of his esh as
dead. His life drew all its character, all its mode of being,
from the source whence it owed.
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447
(1. Christ had also borne his sins; but this is not the
subject here spoken of; it is the dominion of the law over
him while living on earth.)
Christ the source and object of our life; individual,
intimate faith in the Son of God
But the creature must have an object to live for, and so
it was as to Paul’s soul, it was by the faith of Jesus Christ.
By faith in Jesus Christ Paul lived indeed. e Christ who
was the source of his life, who was his life, was its object
also. It is this which always characterizes the life of Christ
in us: He Himself is its object-He alone. e fact, that it
is by dying for us in love that He-who was<P306> capable
of it, the Son of God-has given us thus freed from sin this
life as our own, being ever before the mind, in our eyes He
is clothed with the love He has thus shown us. We live
by faith of the Son of God, who has loved us, and given
Himself for us. And here it is personal life, the individual
faith that attaches us to Christ, and makes Him precious to
us as the object of the soul’s intimate faith. us the grace of
God is not frustrated: for, if righteousness were established
on the principle of law, Christ died in vain, since it would
be by keeping the law ourselves that we should, in our own
persons, acquire righteousness.
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73243
Galatians 3
Saved by works or by grace through faith? Believing
God’s testimony
What a loss, dreadful and irreparable, to lose such
a Christ, as we, under grace, have known Him; such a
righteousness; such a love; the Son of God our portion, our
life; the Son of God devoted for us, and to us! It is indeed
this which awakens the strong feelings of the Apostle: “O
foolish Galatians,” he continues, “who hath bewitched
you?” Christ had been portrayed as crucied before their
eyes. us their folly appeared still more surprising, in
thinking of what they had received, of what in fact they
were enjoying under the gospel, and of their suerings
for the sake of that gospel. Had they received the Spirit
through works done on the principle of law, or through a
testimony received by faith? Having begun by the power
of the Spirit, would they carry the thing on to perfection
by the wretched esh? ey had suered for the gospel,
for the pure gospel, unadulterated with Judaism and the
law: was it then all in vain? Again, he who ministered to
them the Spirit, and worked miracles among them, was it
through works on the principle of law, or in connection with
a testimony received by faith? Even as Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. It was
the principle established by God in the case of the father
of the faithful. erefore they who placed themselves by
grace on the principle of faith-they were the “children of
Abraham.” And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the Gentiles through faith, preached this gospel
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beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In thee shall all nations
be blessed.”<P307>
Abraham’s standing before God and the blessing of
believing Gentiles
e epistle is necessarily elementary, for the Galatians
were forsaking the foundation, and the Apostle insists
on that. e great principles of the epistle are, connected
with the known presence of the Spirit, promise according
to grace in contrast with and before law, Christ the
accomplishment of the promise, the law coming in by
the by meanwhile. e Gentiles were thus heirs in Christ,
true and sole Heir of promise, and the Jews acquiring the
position of sons.
e law’s true character; its curse borne that blessing
might reach Jew and Gentile; the Holy Spirit the subject
of God’s promises
We have then the principle on which Abraham stood
before God, and the declaration that it was in him the
Gentiles should be blessed. us they who are on the
principle of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer;
while the law pronounced an express curse on those who
did not keep it in every point. is use of Deuteronomy
27 has been considered elsewhere. I would call to mind
only that (the twelve tribes having been divided into two
companies of six each, the one to announce the blessing
and the other the curse) the curses alone are recited, the
blessings entirely omitted-a striking circumstance, used by
the Apostle to show the true character of the law. At the
same time the Scripture plainly set forth that it was not
the works of the law that justied; for it said, “e just
shall live on the principle of faith.” Now the law was not
on the principle of faith, but he who has done these things
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shall live by them. But was not this authority of the law
to be maintained, as being that of God? Assuredly. But
Christ had borne its curse (having redeemed and thus
delivered those who- subject before to the sentence of the
law-had now believed in Him), in order that the blessing
of Abraham might reach the Gentiles through Him, so
that all believers, both Jew and Gentile, should receive the
Spirit who had been promised.
Christ had exhausted for the believer-who before was
subject to the law and guilty of having broken it-all the
curse that it pronounced on the guilty: and the law which
distinguished Israel had lost its power over the Jew who
believed in Jesus, through the very<P308> act that bore
the most striking testimony to its authority. e barrier
therefore no longer existed, and the former promise of
blessing could ow freely (according to the terms in which
it was made to Abraham) upon the Gentiles through the
channel of Christ, who had put away the curse that the
law brought upon the Jews; and both Jew and Gentile,
believing in Him, could receive the Holy Spirit, the subject
of God’s promises, in the time of blessing.
e unconditional promises conrmed to Christ and
given long before the law; the reason the law was given
Having thus touched on this point, the Apostle now
treats, not the eect of the law upon the conscience, but
the mutual relationship that existed between the law and
the promise. Now the promise had been given rst, and
not only given, but it had been conrmed; and, had it
been but a human covenant solemnly conrmed, it could
neither be added to nor annulled. But God had engaged
Himself to Abraham by promise 430 years before the law,
having deposited, so to say, the blessing of the Gentiles in
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451
his person (Gen. 12). is promise was conrmed to his
seed1 (Isaac; Gen. 22), and to only one; he does not say
to the seeds, but “to the Seed,” and it is Christ who is this
Seed. A Jew would not deny this last point. Now the law,
coming so long after, could not annul the promise that was
made before and solemnly conrmed by God, so<P309>
as to render it of no eect. For if the inheritance were on
the principle of law, it was no more on that of promise:
but God gave it to Abraham by promise. “Wherefore then
the law?” since the unchangeable promise was already
given, and the inheritance must come to the object of that
promise, the law having no power to change it in any way.
It is because there is another question between the soul and
God, or, if you will, between God and man, namely, that
of righteousness. Grace, which chooses to bestow blessing,
and which promises it beforehand, is not the only source
of blessing for us. e question of righteousness must be
settled with God, the question of sin and of the guilt of
man.
(1. We must read, “It is to Abraham that the promise
was made, and to his seed”: not, “To Abraham and to his
seed.” e promises relating to the temporal blessings of
Israel were made to Abraham and to his seed, with the
addition that this seed should be as the stars in multitude.
But here Paul is not speaking of the promises made to
the Jews, but of the blessing granted to the Gentiles. And
the promise of blessing for the Gentiles was made to
Abraham alone, without mentioning his seed (Gen. 12),
and, as the Apostle says here, it was conrmed to his seed-
without naming Abraham (ch. 22)-in the alone person
of Isaac, the type of the Lord Jesus oered up in sacrice
and raised from the dead, as Isaac was in a gure. us the
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promise was conrmed, not in Christ, but to Christ the
true seed of Abraham. It is on this fact, that the promises
were conrmed to Christ, that the whole argument of the
Apostle depends. e importance of the typical fact, that
it is after the gurative sacrice and resurrection of Isaac
that the promise was conrmed to the latter, is evident.
Doubtless that which realized this gure secured thus
the promise to David; but at the same time the middle
wall of partition was broken down, the blessing can ow
to the Gentiles-and, let us add, to the Jews also-by virtue
of the expiation made by Christ; the believer, made the
righteousness of God in Him, can be sealed with the Holy
Spirit who had been promised. When once the import
of Genesis 12 and Genesis 22 has been apprehended, in
that which relates to the promises of blessing made to the
Gentiles, one sees most clearly the foundation on which
the Apostle’s argument rests.)
e question of man’s sin, guilt and unrighteousness
Now the promise which was unconditional and made to
Christ, did not raise the question of righteousness. It was
necessary that it should be raised, and in the rst place by
requiring righteousness from man, who was responsible to
produce it and to walk in it before God. Man ought to have
been righteous before God. But sin had already come in,
and it was in reality to make sin manifest that the law was
brought in. Sin was indeed present, the will of man was in
rebellion against God; but the law drew out the strength
of that evil will, and it manifested its thorough contempt
of God by overleaping the barrier which the prohibition of
God raised between it and its desires.
Man’s moral condition manifested; God’s majesty
and glory at Sinai
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e law was added that there might be transgressions, not
(as we have seen already, when meditating on the Romans,
where this same subject is treated) that there might be sin,
but that there might be transgressions, through which the
consciences of men might be reached, and the sentence of
death and condemnation made to be sensibly felt in their
light and careless hearts. e law was therefore introduced
between the promise and its fulllment, in order that the
real moral condition of man should be made manifest.
Now the circumstances under which it was given rendered
it very obvious that the law was in no wise the means of
the fulllment of the promise, but that on the contrary it
placed man upon an altogether dierent ground, which
made him know <P310>himself, and at the same time made
him understand the impossibility of his standing before
God on the ground of his own responsibility. God had
made an unconditional promise to the seed of Abraham.
He will infallibly perform it, for He is God. But in the
communication of the law there is nothing immediate and
direct from God simply. It is ordained by the hand of angels.
It is not God who, in speaking, engages Himself simply by
His own word to the person in whose favor the promise
is to be fullled. e angels of glory, who had no part in
the promises (for it was angels who shone in the glory
of Sinai; see Psalm 68) invested, by the will of God, the
proclamation of the law with the splendor of their dignity.
But the God of the angels and of Israel stood apart, hidden
in His sanctuary of clouds and re and thick darkness. He
was encompassed with glory; He made Himself terrible
in His magnicence; but He did not display Himself. He
had given the promise in person; a mediator brought the
law. And the existence of a mediator necessarily supposes
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two parties. But God was one (and it was the foundation
of the whole Jewish religion). ere was therefore another
on whom the steadfastness of the covenant made at Sinai
depended. And in fact Moses went up and down, and
carried the words of Jehovah to Israel, and the answer
of Israel who engaged themselves to perform that which
Jehovah imposed on them as a condition of the enjoyment
of the eect of His promise.
e conditions of blessing under the law; man’s utter
failure; the reason why the Scripture shuts up all under
sin
“If ye will indeed obey my voice,” said Jehovah.
“All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do,” replied
Israel intermediately through Moses. What were the
consequences? e Apostle, with touching tenderness, as
it appears to me, does not answer this question-does not
deduce the necessary consequences of his argument. His
object was to show the dierence between the promise and
the law, without needlessly wounding the heart of a people
whom he loved. On the contrary, he endeavors at once to
prevent any oense that might arise from what he had said
(further developing at the same time his thesis). Was the
law against the promises of God? By no means. If a law had
been given that was to impart life, then righteousness (for
that is our subject in this passage) should have been by the
law. Man, possessing divine life,<P311> would have been
righteous in the righteousness that he had accomplished.
e law promised the blessing of God on the terms of
man’s obedience: if it could have given life at the same
time, this obedience would have taken place, righteousness
would have been accomplished on the ground of law; they
to whom the promise had been made would have enjoyed
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455
its fulllment by virtue of their own righteousness. But
it was the contrary which happened, for after all man,
whether Jew or Gentile, is a sinner by nature; without law,
he is the slave of his unbridled passions; under law, he
shows their strength by breaking the law. e Scripture has
shut up all under sin, in order that this promise, by faith in
Jesus Christ, should be accomplished in favor of those who
believe.
e law as a child’s tutor to the Jews until faith came
Now before faith came (that is, Christian faith, as the
principle of relationship with God, before the existence
of the positive objects of faith in the Person, the work,
and the glory of Christ as man, had become the means
of establishing the faith of the gospel), the Jews were kept
under the law, shut up with a view to the enjoyment of this
privilege which was to come. us the law had been to the
Jews as a child’s conductor up to Christ, in order that they
might be justied on the principle of faith. Meanwhile
they were not without restraint; they were kept apart from
the nations not less guilty than they, but kept separate for a
justication, the necessity of which was made more evident
by the law which they did not fulll, but which demanded
righteousness from man; thus showing that God required
this righteousness. But when once faith had come, those
until then subject to the law were no longer under the
tutelage of this law, which only bound them until faith
was come. For this faith, placing man immediately in the
presence of God, and making the believer a son of the
Father of glory, left no more place for the guidance of the
tutor employed during the nonage of one who was now set
free and in direct relationship with the Father.
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Set free, in direct relationship with the Father as sons;
in Christ and heirs of the promise
e believer then is a son in immediate connection with
his Father, with God (God Himself being manifested). He
is a son, <P312>because all who have been baptized to
have part in the privileges that are in Christ have put on
Christ. ey are not before God as Jews or Gentiles, bond
or free, male or female; they are before God according to
their position in Christ, all one thing in Him, Christ being
for all the common and only measure of their relationship
with God. But this Christ was, as we have seen, the one
Seed of Abraham: and if the Gentiles were in Christ, they
entered consequently into this privileged position; they
were, in Christ, the seed of Abraham, and heirs according
to the promise made to that seed.
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73244
Galatians 4
e relative positions of the Jew before Christ’s
coming and of the believing Jew or Gentile after His
manifestation
e relative position therefore of the Jew (even though
he were godly) before the coming of Christ, and of the
believing Jew or Gentile when Christ had been revealed,
is clearly set forth; and in the commencement of chapter 4
the Apostle sums up that which he had said. He compares
the believer before the coming of Christ to a child under
age, who has no direct relation with his father as to his
thoughts, but who receives his father’s orders, without his
accounting for them to him, as a servant would receive them.
He is under tutors and governors until the time appointed
of the father. us the Jews, although they were heirs of the
promises, were not in connection with the Father and His
counsels in Jesus, but were in tutelage to principles that
appertained to the system of the present world, which is
but a corrupt and fallen creation. eir walk was ordained
of God in this system, but did not go beyond it. We speak
of the system by which they were guided, whatever divine
light they might receive from time to time to reveal heaven
to them, to encourage them in hope, while making the
system under the rule of which they were placed yet darker.
Under the law then, heirs as they were, they were still in
bondage. But when the time was fullled and ripe for it,
God sent forth His Son-an act owing from His sovereign
goodness for the accomplishment of His eternal counsels,
and for the manifestation of all His character. It was God
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who did it. It was He who acted. e law required man
to act, and it manifested man to be just the contrary of
that which he ought to have been according to the law.
But the<P313> Son of God comes from God. He requires
nothing. He is manifested in the world in relation with
men under the double aspect of a man born of woman and
a man under law.
Christ manifested in the world as born of a woman;
a Man
under law; His redemption and its ecacy; sons and
heirs
If sin and death came in by the woman, Christ came
into this world by the woman also. If through law man is
under condemnation, Christ puts Himself under law also.
Under this double aspect He takes the place in which man
was found; He takes it in grace without sin, but with the
responsibility that belonged to it-a responsibility which
He alone has met. But still the object of His mission
went much farther than the manifestation in His Person
of man without sin, in the midst of evil, and having the
knowledge of good and evil. He came to redeem those
that were under the law, in order that believers (be they
who they may) should receive the adoption. Now that the
Gentile believers had been admitted to share the adoption
was proved by the sending of the Spirit who made them
cry, “Abba, Father.” For it is because they are sons, that
God sent the Spirit of His Son into their heart, as well as
into that of the Jews without distinction. e Gentile, a
stranger to the house, and the Jew, who under age diered
in nothing from a servant, had each taken the position
of a son in direct relation with the Father-a relation of
which the Holy Spirit was the power and the witness-in
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459
consequence of the redemption wrought in their behalf
by the Son (the Jew under the law needing it as much as
the Gentile in his sins). But its ecacy was such that the
believer was not a bondman but a son, and if a son, an heir
also of God by Christ. Previously the Gentiles had been
in bondage, not indeed to the law, but to that which, in its
nature, was not God. ey knew not God, and were the
slaves of everything that boasted of the name of God, in
order to blind the heart of man alienated from Him who is
the true God and from His knowledge.
Desiring to go back again into bondage
But what were these Gentiles, become Christians,
now doing? ey desired to be again in bondage to these
wretched elements, worldly and carnal, to which they had
formerly been in subjection;<P314> these things of which
the carnal man could form his religion, without one moral
or spiritual thought, and which placed the glory due to
God, in outward observances which an unbeliever and a
heathen ignorant of God could call his religion and glory
in it.
e true value of the gures of the realities in Christ;
leaving the substance of the shadows
As gures, which God used to bear testimony
beforehand to the realities that are in Christ, they had their
true value. God knew how to reconcile the employment
of these gures, which are protable to faith, with a
religious system that tested man in the esh, and that
served to answer the question, whether, with every kind
of help, man was able to stand before God and to serve
Him. But to go back to these ordinances made for man in
the esh, now that God had shown man’s incapability of
becoming righteous before Him-now that the substance
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of these shadows was come, was to go back to the position
of men in the esh, and to take that standing without any
command of God that sanctioned it. It was to go back to
the ground of idolatry, that is to say, to a carnal religion,
arranged by man without any authority from God, and
which in no way brought man into connection with Him.
For things done in the esh had not certainly that eect.
“Ye observe days and months and seasons and years.” is
the heathen did in their human religion. Judaism was a
human religion ordained of God, but, by going back to it
when the ordinance of God was no longer in force, they
did but go back to the paganism out of which they had
been called to have part with Christ in heavenly things.
Ritualism after the cross; the Apostle’s love and
concern for those to whom he had brought the gospel
Nothing can be more striking than this statement of
what ritualism is after the cross. It is simply heathenism,
going back to man’s religion, when God is fully revealed: “I
fear concerning you,” said the Apostle, “that I have labored
in vain.” But they reproached the Apostle with not being a
faithful Jew according to the law, with freeing himself from
its authority. “Be ye then,” says he, “as I am; for I am as ye
are” (namely, free from the law). Ye have done me no wrong
in saying so. Would to God ye were as much so! He then
reminds them of his thorn in the esh. It was<P315> some
circumstance adapted to make him contemptible in his
ministry. Nevertheless they had received him as an angel of
God, as Jesus Christ. What was become of that blessedness?
Had he become their enemy because he had told them the
truth? Zeal was good; but if it had a right thing for its
object, they should have persevered in their zeal, and not
merely have maintained it while he was with them. ese
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new teachers were very zealous to have the Galatians for
their partisans, and to exclude them from the Apostle, that
they might be attached to themselves. He labored again, as
though travailing in birth, in order that Christ should be
formed as if anew in their hearts-a touching testimony of
the strength of his Christian love. is love was divine in
its character; it was not weakened by the disappointment
of ingratitude, because its source was outside the attraction
of its objects. Moses said, “Have I conceived all this people,
that I should carry them in my bosom?” Paul is ready to
travail in birth with them a second time.
e two systems, law and grace: Hagar and Sarah,
bondage and liberty, Jerusalem above and Jerusalem on
earth
He does not know what to say. He would like to be
present with them, that he might, on seeing them, adapt
his words to their condition, for they had really forsaken
Christian ground. Would they then, since they desired to
be under the law, hear the law? In it they might see the
two systems, in the type of Hagar and Sarah: that of law,
gendering to bondage; and that of grace, to liberty; not
that only, but the positive exclusion of the child of bondage
from the inheritance. e two could not be united; the one
shut out the other. e bond child was born according to
the esh, the free child according to promise. For the law
and the covenant of Sinai were in connection with man
in the esh. e principle of man’s relationship with God,
according to the law (if such relations had been possible),
was that of a relationship formed between man in the
esh and the righteous God. As to man, the law and the
ordinances were only bondage. ey aimed at bridling
the will without its being changed. It is all-important to
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understand, that man under the law is man in the esh.
When born again, dead and risen again, he is no longer
under law, which has only dominion over man in that he
is alive here below. Read “Jerusalem which is<P316> above
is our mother”-not “the mother of us all.” It is in contrast
with Jerusalem on earth, which in its principle answered to
Sinai. And observe that the Apostle is not here speaking of
the violation of the law, but of its principle. e law itself
puts man in a state of bondage. It is imposed on man in
the esh, who is opposed to it. By the very fact that he has
self-will, the law and that will are in conict. Self-will is
not obedience.
e children of Jerusalem now: the children of
promise
Verse 27 presents some diculty to many minds,
because it is generally confounded with Hagar and Sarah.
But it is a separate consideration, suggested by the idea of
Jerusalem above. e verse is a quotation from Isaiah 54,
which celebrates the joy and glory of the earthly Jerusalem
at the beginning of the millennium. e Apostle quotes it
to show that Jerusalem had more children during the time
of her desolation than when she had a husband. In the
millennium Jehovah, the Lord, will be her husband. He
had been so before. At present she is desolate, she bears
not. Nevertheless there are more children than previously
when she was married. Such were the marvelous ways of
God. All Christians are reckoned, when earth takes its
course again, as the children of Jerusalem, but of Jerusalem
with no husband and desolate, so that the Galatians were
not to own it as if God did still. Sarah was not without a
husband. Here is a dierent order of thought. Without a
husband and desolate (so that, properly speaking, she has
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463
none) Jerusalem has more children now than in the best
days of her career, when Jehovah was a husband to her. For,
as regards the promise, the gospel came forth from her. e
assembly is not of promise. It was a counsel hid in God,
of which the promises had never spoken. Its position is a
yet higher one; but in this place the Apostle’s instruction
does not rise to that height. But we are also the children of
promise, and not of the esh. Israel after the esh had no
other pretension than to be the children of Abraham after
the esh; we are so only by promise. Now the word of God
cast out the child of the bondwoman, born after the esh,
that he might not be heir with the child of promise. As to
us, we are the children of promise.<P317>
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73245
Galatians 5
e liberty of Christ and the yoke of the law
It is in this liberty, the liberty of Christ, alluding to the
free woman and Jerusalem above, that they were to stand
fast, and not put themselves again under the yoke of the law.
If they took that ground they made themselves responsible
to keep it personally and wholly, and Christ was of no
eect to them. ey could not rest upon the work of Christ
for righteousness, and then hold themselves responsible to
fulll righteousness themselves according to the law. e
two things contradict each other. Hence too it would be no
longer grace on which they stood. ey forsook grace, in
order to satisfy the requirements of the law. is is not the
Christian’s position.
e Christian’s position
Here is the Christian’s position. He does not seek for
righteousness before God as a man who does not possess
it; he is the righteousness of God in Christ, and Christ
Himself is the measure of that righteousness. e Holy
Spirit dwells in him. Faith rests in this righteousness,
even as God rests in it, and this faith is sustained by the
Holy Spirit, who turns the heart that is established in that
righteousness towards the glory that is its recompense-a
recompense which Christ enjoys already, so that we know
what that righteousness deserves. Christ is in the glory due
to righteousness, to the work which He accomplished. We
know this righteousness in virtue of that which He has
wrought, because God has owned His work and set Him
at His right hand on high. e glory in which He is is
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His just reward, and the proof of that righteousness. e
Spirit reveals the glory, and seals to us that righteousness
on which faith builds. It is thus that the Apostle expresses
it: “We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope [the hoped
for glory] of righteousness by faith.” To us it is faith, for
we have not yet the thing hoped for-the glory due to that
righteousness which is ours. Christ possesses it, so that we
know what we hope for. It is by the Spirit that we know it,
and that we have the assurance of the righteousness which
gives us the title to possess it. It is not righteousness we
wait for, but, by the Spirit in faith, the hope that belongs to
it. It is by faith; for in Christ neither <P318>circumcision
nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working by
love. ere must be a moral reality.
e Apostle’s distress at the Galatian error; the glory
of Christ at stake; his condence in Christ’s grace for
His own regained
e Apostle’s heart is oppressed at the thought of
what they were rejecting, and the mischief this doctrine
was doing. It overows. In the midst of his argument he
interrupts himself. “Ye did run well: who has hindered you
from obeying the truth?” To be so easily persuaded of this
Judaizing doctrine, which was but a fatal error, was not the
work of Him who had called them. It was not thus that
through grace they had become Christians. A little leaven
corrupted the whole.
Nevertheless the Apostle regains his condence by
looking higher. By resting on the grace which is in Christ
towards His own, he can reassure himself with regard to the
Galatians. He stood in doubt when he thought of them; he
had condence when he thought of Christ, that they would
surely not be otherwise minded. us delivered from the
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evil by grace, as in the moral case of the Corinthians, he was
ready to punish all disobedience, when all that knew how
to obey had been brought fully back to obedience; so here
also, every heart that was susceptible of the inuence of the
truth would be brought back to the power of the truth of
Christ; and those who, active in evil, troubled them by false
doctrine, those whose will was engaged in propagating
error, should bear their burden. It is very beautiful to see
the Apostle’s uneasiness, when he thinks of men-the fruit
moreover of his love for them-and the condence which
he regains as soon as he lifts up his heart to the Lord. But
his abrupt style, his broken and unconnected words, show
how deeply his heart was engaged. e error that separated
the soul from Christ was to him more terrible than the
sad fruits of practical separation. We do not nd the same
marks of agitation in the Epistle to the Corinthians; here
the foundation of everything was in question. In the case of
the Galatians the glory of Christ the Saviour was at stake,
the only thing that could bring a soul into connection with
God; and on the other hand it was a systematic work of
Satan to overthrow the gospel of Christ as needed for the
salvation of men.<P319>
e spirit of Judaism as Satan’s great instrument in
opposing the gospel
Here, interrupting himself, he adds, “And I, if I preach
circumcision, why am I persecuted?” It will in fact be
seen that the Jews were habitually the instigators of the
persecution which the Apostle suered from the Gentiles.
e spirit of Judaism, as has been the case in all ages, the
religious spirit of the natural man, has been Satan’s great
instrument in his opposition to the gospel. If Christ would
put His sanction on the esh, the world would come to
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terms and be as religious as you please, and would value
itself upon its devotion. But in that case it would not be the
true Christ. Christ came, a witness that the natural man
is lost, wicked, and without hope, dead in his trespasses
and sins; that redemption is necessary, and a new man. He
came in grace, but it was because man was incapable of
being restored; and consequently all must be pure grace
and emanate from God. If Christ would have to do with
the old man, all would be well; but, I repeat, He would no
longer be Christ. e world then, the old man, does not
endure Him. But there is a conscience, there is a felt need
of religion, there is the prestige of an ancient religion held
from one’s fathers; true perhaps in its original foundations,
although perverted. us the prince of the world will use
carnal religion to excite the esh, the ready enemy, when
once awakened, of the spiritual religion which pronounces
sentence upon it.
Adding something to Christ or a needed and
accomplished redemption
It is only to add something to Christ. But what? If it is
not Christ and the new man, it is the old man, it is sinful
man; and, instead of a needed and accomplished redemption,
and an entirely new life from above, you have a testimony
that agreement between the two is possible; that grace is
not necessary, except at most as a little help; that man is
not already lost and dead in his trespasses and sins, that
the esh is not essentially and absolutely evil. us the
name of Christ is made subservient to the esh, which
willingly adorns itself with the credit of His name, in
order to destroy the gospel from its very foundations. Only
preach circumcision, accept the religion of the esh, and
all diculty will cease; the world will accept your gospel,
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but it will not be the gospel of<P320> Christ. e cross
in itself (that is, the total ruin of man-man proved to be
the enemy of God), and perfect nished redemption by
grace, will always be a stumbling block to one who desires
to maintain some credit for the esh. “Would to God,” says
the Apostle-for he sees the whole gospel falling into ruin
before this device, and souls destroyed-“would to God that
they who trouble you were cut o!” What have we seen
since then? Where is the holy indignation of the Apostle?
e practical consequences of the religion of the esh
contrasted with God’s perfect grace and a worthy walk
He then touches on the point of the practical
consequences of this doctrine, and explains how the
doctrine of perfect grace was connected, without the law,
with a walk worthy of the people of God. Ye have then
been called, he says, unto liberty: only use not your liberty
for an occasion to the esh-which the esh would readily
do. God gave the law to convince of sin; the esh would
use it to work out righteousness. He acts in grace, that
we may be above sin and outside its dominion: the esh
would use grace as an occasion to sin without restraint. e
Christian, truly free from the yoke of sin, as well as from
its condemnation (for Christ risen is his life as well as his
righteousness, and the Spirit is the power and guide of his
walk towards glory, and according to Christ), instead of
serving his lusts, seeks to serve others, as free to do it in
love. us the law itself is fullled, without our being under
its yoke; for the whole practical law is summed up in this
word: “ou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Walking in the Spirit who is the Christian’s strength;
the works of the esh and the fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5
469
If, yielding to the esh, and attacking those who were
not circumcised, they devoured one another, they were to
take heed that they were not consumed one of another.
But the Apostle would give something more positive.
“is I say then,” he continues, after the interruption of
his subject, “walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulll the
lust of the esh.” It is not by putting oneself under the
law that one has power against sin. It is the Spirit (given
in virtue of the ascension of Christ, our righteousness, to
the right hand of God) who is the Christian’s strength.
Now the two <P321>powers, the esh and the Spirit, are
antagonistic. e esh strives to hinder us when we would
walk according to the Spirit, and the Spirit resists the
working of the esh to prevent it from accomplishing its
will.1 But if we are led of the Spirit, we are not under the
law. Holiness, true holiness, is accomplished without the
law, even as righteousness is not founded on it. Nor is there
any diculty in judging between what is of the esh and
what is of the Spirit; the Apostle enumerates the sad fruits
of the former, adding the sure testimony that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. e
fruits of the Spirit are equally evident in their character,
and assuredly against such things there was no law. If we
walk according to the Spirit, the law will nd nothing to
condemn in us. And they that are Christ’s have crucied
the esh and its lusts. is is what they are, inasmuch as
they are Christians; it is that which distinguishes them. If
these Galatians really lived, it was in the Spirit: let them
then walk in the Spirit.
(1. It is not “so that ye cannot,” but “in order that ye
might not.”)
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73246
Galatians 6
e strength and rule for holiness: the law of Christ
Here is the answer to those who then sought, and now
seek, to bring in law for sanctication and as a guide: the
strength and the rule for holiness are in the Spirit. e law
does not give the Spirit. Moreover (for it is evident that
these pretensions of observing the law had given liberty to
the pride of the esh) the Christian was not to be desirous
of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.
If anyone, through carelessness, committed some fault, the
Christian’s part was to restore this member of Christ, dear to
Christ and to the Christian, according to the love of Christ,
in a spirit of meekness, remembering that he himself might
fall. If they wished for a law, here was one: to bear each
other’s burdens, and so fulll the law of Christ (that is, the
rule of all His own life here below). It is not by boasting,
when one is nothing, that true glory was acquired. It is but
deceiving oneself, says the Apostle, in language which, by
its simplicity, pours unspeakable contempt on those who
did so. ese legalists boasted much of <P322>themselves,
imposed burdens on others; and investing themselves with
their Judaic glory-that which was a burden to others, and
one which they did not help them to bear, was vainglory
to themselves-they gloried in their Judaism, and in making
others subject to it. But what was their work? Had they
labored really for the Lord? In no wise. Let them prove
their own work; then they would have reason to glory in
what they had done themselves, if there was any Christian
work of which they had been the instruments. It certainly
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471
would not be in what they were doing then, for it was
another who had done the work of Christ in Galatia. And
after all, everyone should bear his own burden.
Practical words; eects and cause; sowing and reaping
e Apostle adds a few practical words. He who was
taught should, in temporal things, succor those who
taught him. Furthermore, although grace was perfect and
redemption complete, so that the believer received the
Holy Spirit as a seal thereof, God had attached infallible
consequences to a man’s walk, be it after the esh or after
the Spirit. e eects followed the cause; and they could not
mock God by making a profession of grace or Christianity,
if they did not walk according to its spirit, as led, in a word,
by the Holy Spirit, who is its practical power. Of the esh
they would reap corruption; of the Spirit, life everlasting.
But, as Christians, they must have patience in order to
reap, and not grow weary of well-doing: the harvest was
sure. Let believers, then, do good to all, especially to those
of the house of God.
e Apostle’s letters carefully invested with apostolic
authority; the reason this one was written with his own
hand
Paul had written this letter with his own hand-an
unusual thing for him. He generally employed others (as
Tertius for the Epistle to the Romans), dictating to them
that which he wished to say, adding the benediction with
his own hand, as certifying the correctness of that which
was written (1Cor. 16:21; 2ess. 3:17): a remarkable
proof of the importance that the Apostle attached to his
writings, and that he did not send them forth as ordinary
letters from man to man, but as being furnished with an
authority that required the use of such precautions. ey
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were carefully invested with the apostolic authority. In this
case, full<P323> of sorrow, and feeling that the foundations
had been overthrown, he wrote the whole with his own
hand. Accordingly, in saying this, he returns immediately
to the subject which had caused him to do so.
e reproach of the cross; its sentence of death on
nature and its wisdom and glory
ose who desired to make a fair show after the esh
constrained the Gentiles to be circumcised, in order to
avoid the persecution that attached to the doctrine of the
cross-to free salvation by Christ. e circumcised were
Jews, of a religion known and received even in this world;
but to become the disciples of a crucied man, a man who
had been hung as a malefactor, and to confess Him as the
only Saviour-how could the world be expected to receive
it? But the reproach of the cross was the life of Christianity;
the world was judged, it was dead in its sin; the prince of
the world was judged, he had only the empire of death, he
was (with his followers) the impotent enemy of God. In
the presence of such a judgment, Judaism was honorable
wisdom in the eyes of the world. Satan would make himself
a partisan of the doctrine of one only God; and those who
believed in it join themselves to their former adversaries,
the worshippers of devils, in order to withstand this new
enemy who cast reproach on the whole of fallen humanity,
denouncing them as rebels against God, and as devoid of
the life which was manifested in Jesus only. e cross was
the sentence of death upon nature; and the Jew in the esh
was oended at it, even more than the Gentile, because
he lost the glory with which he had been invested before
others on account of his knowledge of the only true God.
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A eshly religion accepted by self or God’s grace
doing all and condemning the esh as incapable
e carnal heart did not like to suer, and to lose the
good opinion of the world, in which a certain measure of
light was accepted or tolerated by people of sense (and by
sincere persons when there was no greater light to be had),
provided they did not set up pretensions that condemned
everybody, and judged everything which the esh desired
and relied on for its importance. A compromise which
more or less accepts the esh-which does not judge it
as<P324> dead and lost, which, in however small a degree,
will acknowledge that the world and the esh are its basis-
the world will accept. It cannot hope to strive against the
truth that judges the whole conscience, and it will accept a
religion that tolerates its spirit and adapts itself to the esh,
which it desires to spare even when painful sacrices must
be made; provided only that the esh itself be not entirely
set aside. Man will make himself a fakir-sacrice his life-
provided that it is self that does it, and that God shall not
have done the whole in grace, condemning the esh as
incapable of well doing, having nothing good in itself.
What the world is; the cross telling what man was,
and what
God and His holiness and love were; glorying in that
cross
e circumcised did not observe the law-that would have
been too wearisome, but they desired to glory in proselytes
to their religion. In the world the Apostle has seen nothing
but vanity and sin and death; the spirit of the world, of
the carnal man, was morally degraded, corrupt, and guilty,
boasting in self, because ignorant of God. Elsewhere he
had seen grace, love, purity, obedience, devotedness to the
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Father’s glory and to the happiness of poor sinners. e
cross declared the two things: it told what man was; it told
what God was, and what holiness and love were. But it was
the utmost degradation in the eyes of the world, and put
down all its pride. It was another who had accomplished it
at the cost of His own life, bearing all possible suerings; so
that the Apostle could give free course to all the aections
of his heart without boasting himself of anything; on the
contrary, forgetting himself. It is not self that we glory in
when we look at the cross of Christ: one is stripped of self.
It was He who hung upon that cross who was great in
Paul’s eyes. e world which had crucied Him was thus
seen by the Apostle in its true character; the Christ who
had suered on the cross in His likewise. In that cross
would the Apostle glory, happy, by this means, to be dead
to the world, and to have the world ended, crucied, put
to shame, as it deserved to be, for his heart. Faith in the
crucied Son of God overcomes the world.
New creatures, the Israel of God
To the believer the world has its true character;
for, in fact, in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision has any<P325> value (all that has passed
away with a dead Christ), but a new creature, according
to which we estimate everything as God estimates it. It is
to such, the true children of God, that the Apostle wishes
peace. It was not Israel circumcised after the esh that was
the Israel of God. If there were any of that people who were
circumcised in heart, who gloried in the cross according to
the sentiments of the new creature, those were the Israel of
God. Moreover every true Christian was of them according
to the spirit of his walk.
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e Apostle’s Master shown by Satan’s marks- the
beautiful initials of Jesus
Finally, let no one trouble him with regard to his
ministry. He bore the stigmata of the Lord. It is known that
marks were printed on a slave with a hot iron to indicate
the person to whom he belonged. e wounds which the
Apostle had received, fully showed who was his Master.
Let his right then to call himself the servant of Christ be
no more questioned. Touching appeal from one whose
heart was wounded at nding his service to the Master
whom he had loved called in question! Moreover, Satan,
who imprinted those marks, ought indeed to recognize
them-those beautiful initials of Jesus.
e duty of love; the heart turned to the dishonored
Christ
e Apostle desires that grace be with them (according
to the divine love that animated him) as souls dear to Christ,
whatever their state might be. But there is no outpouring
of heart in greetings aectionately addressed to Christians.
It was a duty- a duty of love-which he fullled; but for the
rest, what bonds of aection could he have with persons
who sought their glory in the esh, and who accepted that
which dishonored Jesus and which weakened and even
annulled the glory of His cross? Without any wish of his,
the current of aection was checked. e heart turned to
the dishonored Christ, although loving those that were
His in Him. is is the real feeling contained in the last
verses of this epistle.<P326>
e whole epistle a judgment of all return to Judaism
as identical with heathen idolatry
In Galatians we have indeed Christ living in us, in
contrast with the esh or I still living in esh. But, as
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systematic truth, we have neither the believer in Christ nor
Christ in the believer. We have the Christian’s practical state
at the end of chapter 2. Otherwise the whole epistle is a
judgment of all return to Judaism, as identical with heathen
idolatry. e law and man in the esh were correlative; law
came in between the promise and Christ, the Seed; was a
most useful testing of man, but when really known putting
him to death, and condemning him. Now this was fully
met in grace in the cross, the end in death of man in esh,
of sin, in Christ made sin. All return to law was giving up
both promise and the work of grace in Christ, and going
back again to esh proved to be sin and lost, as if there could
be relationship with God in it, denying grace, and denying
even the true eect of law, and denying man’s estate proved
in the cross. It was heathenism. And days and years took
man up as alive in esh, was not the end of the old man in
the cross in grace. We have Christ as our life thereupon, or
death would leave us of course hopeless. But we have not
the Christian condition, we in Christ and Christ in us. It is
the discussion of the work that brings us there, and where
man is, and of vital importance in this respect. Man in the
esh is wholly gone from all relationship with God, and
none can be formed: there must be a new creation.<P327>
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477
73247
Ephesians
e rich and blessed scope of the Ephesian epistle
e Epistle to the Ephesians gives us the richest
exposition of the blessings of the saints individually, and
of the assembly, setting forth at the same time the counsels
of God with regard to the glory of Christ. Christ Himself
is viewed as the One who is to hold all things united in
one under His hand, as Head of the assembly. We see
the assembly placed in the most intimate relationship
with Him, as those who compose it are with the Father
Himself, and in the heavenly position dispensed to her by
the sovereign grace of God. Now these ways of grace to
her reveal God Himself, and in two distinct characters; as
well in connection with Christ as with Christians. He is
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
God of Christ, when Christ is looked at as man; the Father
of Christ when Christ is looked at as the Son of His love.
In the rst character the nature of God is revealed; in the
second, we see the intimate relationship which we enjoy to
Him who bears this character of Father, and that according
to the excellence of Christ’s own relationship to Him. It
is this relationship to the Father, as well as that in which
we stand to Christ as His body and His bride, that is the
source of blessing to the saints and to the assembly of God,
of which grace has made us members as a whole.
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73248
Ephesians 1
e blessings of the assembly and of the saints
individually
e form even of the epistle shows how much the
Apostle’s mind was lled with the sense of the blessing
that belongs to the assembly. After having wished grace
and peace to the saints and the faithful1 at Ephesus from
God, the Father of true Christians, and<P328> from Jesus
Christ their Lord, he begins at once to speak of the blessings
in which all the members of Christ participate. His heart
was full of the immensity of grace; and nothing in the state
of the Ephesian Christians required any particular remarks
adapted to that state. It is nearness of heart to God that
produces simplicity, and that enables us in simplicity to
enjoy the blessings of God as God Himself bestows them,
as they ow from His heart, in all their own excellence-to
enjoy them in connection with Him who imparts them,
and not merely in a mode adapted to the state of those
to whom they are imparted; or through a communication
that only reveals a part of these blessings, because the soul
would not be able to receive more. Yes, when near to God,
we are in simplicity, and the whole extent of His grace and
of our blessings unfolds itself as it is found in Him.
(1. e word translated “faithful” might be rendered
“believers.” It is used as a term of superscription both here
and in the Epistle to the Colossians. We must remember
that the Apostle was now in prison, and that Christianity
had been established for some years, and was exposed to
all kinds of attack. To say that one was a believer as at the
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beginning, was to say that he was faithful. e word then
does not merely express that they believed, nor that each
individual walked faithfully, but that the Apostle addressed
himself to those who by grace faithfully maintained the
faith they had received.)
Moral nearness to God and conduct suited to it;
the believer not forsaken because of faults, but grace is
adapted to our wants and need
It is important to remark two things here in passing: rst,
that moral nearness to God, and communion with Him, is
the only means of any true enlargement in the knowledge
of His ways and of the blessings which He imparts to His
children, because it is the only position in which we can
perceive them, or be morally capable of so doing; and, also,
that all conduct which is not suitable to this nearness to
God, all levity of thought, which His presence does not
admit of, makes us lose these communications from Him
and renders us incapable of receiving them. (Compare John
14:21-23.) Secondly, it is not that the Lord forsakes us on
account of these faults or this carelessness; He intercedes
for us, and we experience His grace, but it is no longer
communion or intelligent progress in the riches of the
revelation of Himself, of the fullness which is in Christ.
It is grace adapted to our wants, an answer to our misery.
Jesus stretches out His hand to us according to the need
that we feel-need produced in our hearts by the operation
of the Holy Spirit. is is innitely precious grace, a sweet
<P329>experience of His faithfulness and love: we learn
by this means to discern good and evil by judging self; but
the grace had to be adapted to our wants, and to receive a
character according to those wants, as an answer made to
them; we have had to think of ourselves.
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Restoring grace is not communion; the positive
source of everlasting joy
In a case like this the Holy Spirit occupies us with
ourselves (in grace, no doubt), and when we have lost
communion with God, we cannot neglect this turning back
upon ourselves without deceiving and hardening ourselves.
Alas! the dealings of many souls with Christ hardly go
beyond this character. It is with all too often the case. In a
word, when this happens, the thought of sin having been
admitted into the heart, our dealings with the Lord to
be true must be on the ground of this sad admission of
sin (in thought, at least). It is grace alone which allows us
again to have to do with God. e fact that He restores us
enhances His grace in our eyes; but this is not communion.
When we walk with God, when we walk after the Spirit
without grieving Him, He maintains us in communion,
in the enjoyment of God, the positive source of joy-of an
everlasting joy. is is a position in which He can occupy
us-as being ourselves interested in all that interests Him-
with all the development of His counsels, His glory, and
His goodness, in the Person of Jesus the Christ, Jesus the
Son of His love; and the heart is enlarged in the measure
of the objects that occupy it. is is our normal condition.
is, in the main, was the case with the Ephesians.
Paul’s special gift; the secret of the assembly’s
blessing: in Christ and in His relationship with God, in
the heavenly places
We have already remarked, that Paul was specially
gifted of God to communicate His counsels and His ways
in Christ; as John was gifted to reveal His character and life
as it was manifested in Jesus. e result of this particular
gift in our Apostle is naturally found in the epistle we are
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481
considering. Nevertheless we, as being ourselves in Christ,
nd in it a remarkable development of our relationships
with God, of the intimacy of those relationships, and of the
eect of that intimacy. Christ is the foundation on which
our<P330> blessings are built. It is as being in Him that we
enjoy them. We thus become the actual and present object
of the favor of God the Father, even as Christ Himself
is its object. e Father has given us to Him; Christ has
died for us, has redeemed, washed, and quickened us, and
presents us, according to the ecacy of His work, and
according to the acceptance of His Person, before God His
Father. e secret of all the assembly’s blessing is, that it
is blessed with Jesus Himself; and thus-like Him, viewed
as a man-is accepted before God; for the assembly is His
body, and enjoys in Him and by Him all that His Father
has bestowed on Him. Individually the Christian is loved
as Christ on earth was loved; he will hereafter share in the
glory of Christ before the eyes of the world, as a proof that
he was so loved, in connection with the name of Father,
which God maintains in regard to this (see John 17:23-
26). Hence in general we have in this epistle the believer
in Christ, not Christ in the believer, though that of course
be true. It leads up to the privileges of the believer and of
the assembly, more than to the fullness of Christ Himself,
and we nd more the contrast of this new position with
what we were as of the world than development of the
life of Christ: this is more largely found in Colossians,
which looks more at Christ in us. But this epistle, setting
us in Christ’s relationship with God and the Father and
sitting in heavenly places, gives the highest character of our
testimony here.
Christ’s two relationships with God, His Father
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Now Christ stands in two relationships with God, His
Father. He is a perfect man before His God; He is a Son
with His Father. We are to share both these relationships.
is He announced to His disciples ere He went back to
heaven: it is unfolded in all its extent by the words He
spoke, “I go to my Father and your Father, to my God
and your God.” is precious-this inappreciable truth is
the foundation of the Apostle’s teaching in this place. He
considered God in this double aspect, as the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and as the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ; and our blessings are in connection with these two
titles.
God’s ways, thoughts and counsels rst considered
here
But before attempting to set forth in detail the
Apostle’s<P331> thought, let us remark that he begins
here entirely with God, His thoughts and His counsels,
not with what man is. We may lay hold of the truth, so
to speak, by one or the other of two ends-by that of the
sinner’s condition in connection with man’s responsibility,
or by that of the thoughts and eternal counsels of God in
view of His own glory. e latter is that side of the truth on
which the Spirit here makes us look. Even redemption, all
glorious as it is in itself, is consigned to the second place, as
the means by which we enjoy the eect of God’s counsels.
It was necessary that the ways of God should be
considered on this side, that is, His own thoughts, not
merely the means of bringing man into the enjoyment
of the fruit of them. It is the Epistle to the Ephesians
which thus presents them to us; as that to the Romans,
after saying it is God’s goodness, begins with man’s end,
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483
demonstrating the evil and presenting grace as meeting
and delivering from it.
Summary of chapter 1
e God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
in Christ, having chosen us in Him. Chapter 1 unfolds
(vss. 4-7) these blessings, and the means of sharing them;
verses 8-10, the settled purpose of God for the glory of
Christ, in whom we possess them. Next, verses 11-14 set
before us the inheritance, and the Holy Spirit given as a
seal to our persons, and as the earnest of our inheritance.
en follows a prayer, in which the Apostle asks that his
dear children in the faith-let us say that we-may know our
privileges and the power that has brought us into them,
the same as that by which Christ was raised from the dead
and set at the right hand of God to possess them, as the
Head of the assembly, which is His body, which, with Him,
shall be established over all things that were created by its
Head as God and that He inherits as man, lling all things
with His divine and redeeming glory. In a word, we have
rst the calling of God, what the saints are before Him in
Christ; then, having stated the full purpose of God as to
Christ, God’s inheritance in the saints; then the prayer that
we may know these two things, and the power by which we
are brought into them, and the enjoyment of them.<P332>
“All spiritual blessings”: their character, extent, origin
and measure
But we must examine these things more closely. We
have seen the establishment of the two relationships
between man and God-relationships in which Christ
Himself stands. He ascended to His God and our God,
to His Father and our Father. We share all the blessings
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that ow from these two relationships. He has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings; not one is lacking. And they
are of the highest order; they are not temporal, as was the
case with the Jews. It is in the most exalted capacity of the
renewed man that we enjoy these blessings: and they are
adapted to that capacity, they are spiritual. ey are also
in the highest sphere: it is not in Canaan or Emmanuel’s
land. ese blessings are granted us in the heavenly places;
they are granted us in the most excellent way-one which
leaves room for no comparison-it is in Christ. e God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. But this ows
from the heart of God Himself, from a thought outside the
circumstances in which He nds us in time. Before the
world was, this was our place in His heart. He purposed to
give us a place in Christ. He chose us in Him.
What blessing, what a source of joy, what grace, to be
thus the objects of God’s favor, according to His sovereign
love! If we would measure it, it is by Christ we must
attempt to do so; or, at least, it is thus that we must feel
what this love is. Take special notice here of the way in
which the Holy Spirit keeps it continually before our eyes,
that all is in Christ-in the heavenly places in Christ-He had
chosen us in Him-unto the adoption by Jesus Christ-made
acceptable in the Beloved. is is one of the fundamental
principles of the Spirit’s instruction in this place. e other
is that the blessing has its origin in God Himself. He is
its source and author. His own heart, if we may so express
it, His own mind, are its origin and its measure. erefore
it is in Christ alone that we can have any measure of that
which cannot be measured. For He is, completely and
adequately, the delight of God. e heart of God nds in
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485
Him a sucient object on which to pour itself out entirely,
towards which His innite love can all be exercised.
e blessing then is of God; but moreover it is with
Himself and before Him, to gratify Himself, to satisfy
His love. It is He who has<P333> chosen us, He who has
predestined us, He who has blessed us; but it is that we
should be before Him, and adopted as sons unto Himself.
Such is grace in these great foundations. is consequently
is what grace was pleased to do for us.
Chosen in Christ, in the counsels of God, before the
world existed; man’s responsibility from Adam’s creation
up to the cross
But there is another thing we have to note here. We are
chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Now
this expression is not simply that of the sovereignty of God.
If God chose some out of men now, it would be as sovereign
as if before the world: but this shows that we belong in the
counsels of God to a system set up by Him in Christ before
the world existed, which is not of the world when it does
exist, and exists after the fashion of this world has passed
away. is is a very important aspect of the Christian
system. Responsibility came in (for man of course) with
the creation of Adam in this world. Our place was given
us in Christ before the world existed. e development
of all the characters of this responsibility went on up to
the cross and there closed; innocent, a sinner without law,
under law, and, when every way guilty, grace-God Himself
comes into the world of sinners in goodness and nds
hatred for His love. e world stood judged and men lost,
and this the individual now learns as to himself. But then
redemption was accomplished, and the full purpose and
counsel of God in the new creation in Christ risen, the last
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Adam, was brought out, “the mystery hidden from ages
and generations,” while the rst man’s responsibility was
being tested. Compare 2Timothy 1:9-11 and Titus 1:2,
where this truth is very distinctly brought out.
Responsibility and grace reconciled only in Christ
is responsibility and grace cannot be reconciled really
but in Christ. e two principles were in the two trees of
the garden; then promise to Abraham unconditionally,
that we might understand blessing was free grace; then the
law again brought both forward, but put life consequent
on responsibility. Christ came, is life, took on Himself for
all who believe in Him the consequence of responsibility,
and became, as the divine Son and withal as risen<P334>
Head, the source of life, our sin being put away; and here,
as risen with Him, we not only have received life, but are in
a new position quickened out of death with Him, and have
a portion according to the counsels which established all in
Him before the world existed, and are established according
to righteousness and redemption, as a new creation, of
which the Second Man is the head. e following chapter
will explain our being brought into this place.
Our blessings connected with the two characters in
which God has revealed Himself
We have said that God reveals Himself in two characters,
even in His relationship to Christ; He is God, and He is
Father. And our blessings are connected with this (that is,
with His perfect nature as God, and with the intimacy of
a positive relationship with Him as Father). e Apostle
does not yet touch on the inheritance, nor on the counsels
of God, with regard to the glory of which Christ is to be
the center as a whole; but he speaks of our relationship
with God, of that which we are with God and before Him,
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and not of our inheritance-of that which He has made us
to be, and not of that which He has given us. In verses 4-6
our own portion in Christ before God is developed. Verse
4 depends on the name of God; verse 5, on that of Father.
God’s character depicted in what is ascribed to the
saints:
like God in His nature and capable of enjoying it in
Christ
e character of God Himself is depicted in that which
is ascribed to the saints (vs. 4). God could nd His moral
delight only in Himself and in that which morally resembles
Him. Indeed this is a universal principle. An honest man
can nd no satisfaction in a man who does not resemble
him in this respect. With still greater reason God could not
endure that which is in opposition to His holiness, since, in
the activity of His nature, He must surround Himself with
that which He loves and delights in. But, before all, Christ
is this in Himself. He is personally the image of the invisible
God. Love, holiness, blameless perfection in all His ways,
are united in Him. And God has chosen us in Him. In
verse 4 we nd our position in this respect. First, we are
before Him: He brings us into His presence. e love of
God must do this in order to satisfy itself. e love which
is in us also must be found in this<P335> position to have
its perfect object. It is there only that perfect happiness can
be found. But this being so, it is needful that we should be
like God. He could not bring us into His presence in order
to take delight in us, and yet admit us there such as He
could not nd pleasure in. He has therefore chosen us in
Christ, that we should be holy, without blame before Him
in love. He Himself is holy in His character, unblamable in
all His ways, love in His nature. It is a position of perfect
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happiness-in the presence of God, like God; and that, in
Christ, the object and the measure of divine aection. So
God takes delight in us; and we, possessing a nature like
His own as to its moral qualities, are capable of enjoying
this nature fully and without hindrance, and of enjoying it
in its perfection in Him. It is also His own choice, His own
aection, which has placed us there, and which has placed
us there in Him, who, being His eternal delight, is worthy
of it; so that the heart nds its rest in this position, for
there is agreement in our nature with that of God, and we
were also chosen to it, which shows the personal aection
that God has for us. ere is also a perfect and supreme
object with which we are occupied.
e unalterable joy of God’s nature
Remark here that, in the relationship of which we here
speak, the blessing is in connection with the nature of
God; therefore it is not said that we are predestined to this
according to the good pleasure of His will. We are chosen in
Christ to be blessed in His presence; it is His innite grace;
but the joy of His nature could not (nor could ours in Him)
be other than it is, because such is His nature. Happiness
could not be found elsewhere or with another.
Predestined to particular privileges as sons
But in verse 5 we come to particular privileges, and we
are predestined to those privileges. “He has predestined us
unto the adoption, according to the good pleasure of his
will.” is verse sets before us, not the nature of God, but
the intimacy, as we have said, of a positive relationship.
Hence it is according to the good pleasure of His will. He
may have angels before Him as servants; it was His will to
have sons.<P336>
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e form and character of the believer’s relationship
to God dependent on His sovereign will
Perhaps it might be said that, if admitted to take delight
in the nature of God, one could hardly not be in an intimate
relationship; but the form, the character of this relationship
depends certainly on the sovereign will of God. Moreover,
since we possess these things in Christ, the reection of
this divine nature and the relationship of son go together,
for the two are united in us. Still, we must remember that
our participation in these things depends on the sovereign
will of God our Father; even as the means of sharing them,
and the manner in which we share them, is that we are
in Christ. God our Father, in His sovereign goodness,
according to His counsels of love, chooses to have us near
Himself. is purpose, which links us to Christ in grace,
is strongly expressed in this verse, as well as that which
precedes it. It is not only our position which it characterizes,
but the Father introduces Himself in a peculiar way with
regard to this relationship. e Holy Spirit is not satised
with saying, “He has predestined us unto the adoption,”
but He adds, “Unto himself.” One might say this is implied
in the word “adoption.” But the Spirit would particularize
this thought to our hearts, that the Father chooses to have
us in an intimate relationship with Himself as sons. We
are sons to Himself by Jesus Christ, according to the good
pleasure of His will. If Christ is the image of the invisible
God, we bear that image, being chosen in Him. If Christ is
a Son, we enter into that relationship.
e glory of God’s grace: in the Beloved
ese then are our relationships, so precious, so
marvelous, with God our Father in Christ. ese are the
counsels of God. We nd nothing yet of the previous
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condition of those who were to be called into this blessing.
It is a heavenly people, a heavenly family, according to the
purposes and counsels of God, the fruit of His eternal
thoughts, and of His nature of love-that which is here called
the “glory of his grace.” We cannot glorify God by adding
anything to Him. He glories Himself when He reveals
Himself. All this is therefore to the praise of the glory of
His grace, according to which He has acted towards us in
grace in Christ; according to which Christ is the measure
of this grace, its form towards us, He in whom we share it.
All the fullness of this grace reveals itself<P337> in His
ways towards us-the original thoughts, so to speak, of God,
which have no other source than Himself, and in and by
which He reveals Himself, and by the accomplishment
of which He glories Himself. And observe here, that
the Spirit does not say “the Christ,” at the end of verse
6. When He speaks of Him, He would put emphasis on
the thoughts of God. He has acted towards us in grace
in the Beloved-in Him who is peculiarly the object of His
aections. He brings this characteristic of Christ out into
relief when He speaks of the grace bestowed upon us in
Him. Was there a special object of the love, of the aection
of God? He has blessed us in that object.
Who are chosen to be blessed, and where
And where is it that He found us when He would bring
us into this glorious position? Who is it that He chooses to
bless in this way? Poor sinners, dead in their trespasses and
sins, the slaves of Satan and of the esh.
Redemption: God’s eternal counsels revealing
Himself as glorious in grace
If it is in Christ that we see our position according to
the counsels of God, it is in Him also that we nd the
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redemption that set us in it. We have redemption through
His blood, the remission of our sins. ose whom He
would bless were poor and miserable through sin. He has
acted towards them according to the riches of His grace.
We have already observed, that the Spirit brings out in
this passage the eternal counsels of God with regard to
the saints in Christ, before He enters on the subject of the
state from which He drew them, when He found them
in their condition of sinners here below. Now the whole
mind of God respecting them is revealed in His counsels,
in which He glories Himself. erefore it is said, that that
which He saw good to do with the saints was according
to the glory of His grace. He makes Himself known in it.
at which He has done for poor sinners is according to
the riches of His grace. In His counsels He has revealed
Himself; He is glorious in grace. In His work He thinks
of our misery, of our wants, according to the riches of His
grace; we share in them, as being their object in our poverty,
in our need. He is rich in grace. us our position is ordered
and established according to the counsels<P338> of God,
and by the ecacy of His work in Christ-our position,
that is, in reference to Him. If we are to think here, where
God’s thoughts and counsels are revealed, if remission and
redemption come of this, we are to think not according
to our need as its measure, but according to the riches of
God’s grace.
e purposed glory of Christ: our inheritance in Him
But there is more: God having placed us in this intimacy,
reveals to us His thoughts respecting the glory of Christ
Himself. is same grace has made us the depositaries
of the settled purpose of His counsels, with regard to the
universal glory of Christ, for the administration of the
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fullness of times. is is an immense favor granted us. We
are interested in the glory of Christ as well as blessed in
Him. Our nearness to God and our perfectness before
Him enable us to be interested in the counsels of God as
to the purposed glory of His Son. And this leads to the
inheritance (compare John 14:28). us Abraham, though
on lower ground, was the friend of God. God our Father has
given us to enjoy all blessings in heavenly places ourselves;
but He would unite all things in heaven and on the earth
under Christ as Head, and our relationship with all that is
put under Him, as well as our relationship with God His
Father, depends on our position in Him; it is in Him that
we have our inheritance.
e position in virtue of which the inheritance falls
to us;
the praise of His glory and praise of the glory of His
grace
e good pleasure of God was to unite all that is created
under the hand of Christ. is is His purpose for the
administration of the times in which the result of all His
ways shall be manifested.1
(1. It will be a grand spectacle, as the result of the ways
of God, to see all things united in perfect peace and union
under the authority of man, of the second Adam, the Son
of God; ourselves associated with Him in the same glory
with Himself, His companions in the heavenly glory,
as the objects of the eternal counsels of God. I do not
enlarge here upon this scene, because the chapter we are
considering directs our attention to the communications
of the counsels of God respecting it, and not to the scene
itself. e eternal state, in which God is all in all, is again
another thing. e administration of the fullness of times
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is the result of the ways of God in government; the eternal
state, that of the perfection of His nature. We, even in the
government, are brought in according to His nature as
sons. Wonderful privilege!)
In Christ we inherit our part, heirs of God, as it is said
elsewhere, joint-heirs of Christ. Here however the Spirit
sets before us the<P339> position, in virtue of which the
inheritance has fallen to us, rather than the inheritance
itself. He ascribes it also to the sovereign will of God, as
He did before with regard to the special relationship of
sons unto God. Remark also here, that in the inheritance
we shall be to the praise of His glory; as in our relationship
to Him we are to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Manifested in possession of the inheritance, we shall be
the display of His glory made visible and seen in us; but
our relationships with Him are the fruit, for our own souls,
with Him and before Him, of the innite grace that has
placed us in these relationships and made us capable of
them.
e glory bestowed on Christ as Man; Jewish believers
in Christ before He returns, and the Jewish remnant in
the last days
Such then, with regard to the glory bestowed on Him
as man, are the counsels of God our Father with respect to
Christ. He shall gather together in one all things in Him
as their Head. And as it is in Him that we have our true
position as to our relationship with God the Father, so also
is it with regard to the inheritance bestowed upon us. We
are united to Christ in connection with that which is above
us; we are so likewise with regard to that which is below.
e Apostle is speaking here rst of Jewish Christians,
who have believed in Christ before He is manifested; this
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is the force of “we who have rst trusted in Christ.” If I
may venture to use a new word, “Who have pretrusted in
Christ”-trusted in Him before He appears. e remnant
of the Jews in the last days will believe (like omas) when
they shall see Him. Blessed is he who shall have believed
without seeing. e Apostle speaks of those among the
Jews who had already believed in Him.
Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise
In verse 13 he extends the same blessing to the Gentiles,
which gives occasion for another precious truth with regard
to us-a thing that is true of every believer, but that had
special force with regard to those from among the Gentles.
God had put His seal on them by the gift of the Holy
Spirit. ey were not, according to the esh, heirs of the
promises; but, when they believed, God sealed them with
the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of<P340>
the inheritance, both of the one and the other, Jews and
Gentiles, until the possession acquired by Christ should be
delivered to Him, until He should in fact take possession
of it by His power-a power which will allow no adversary
to subsist. Remark here, that the subject is not being born
again, but a seal put on believers, a demonstration and
earnest of their future full participation in the heritage
that belongs to Christ-an inheritance to which He has a
right through redemption, whereby He has purchased all
things to Himself, but which He will only appropriate by
His power when He shall have gathered together all the
coheirs to enjoy it with Him.
e Holy Spirit as the earnest of the inheritance not
yet possessed
e Holy Spirit is not the earnest of love. e love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who
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is given unto us. God loves us as He will love us in heaven.
Of the inheritance the Holy Spirit is but an earnest. We
do not yet possess anything of the inheritance. en we
shall be to the praise of His glory. e glory of His grace is
already revealed.
us we have here the grace which ordered the position
of the children of God-the counsels of God respecting the
glory of Christ as Head over all-the part which we have in
Him as Heir-and the gift of the Holy Spirit to believers, as
the earnest and seal (until they are put in possession with
Christ) of the inheritance that He has won.
e Apostle’s prayer based on God’s power in Christ’s
resurrection; its two parts
From verse 15 to the end, we have the Apostle’s prayer
for the saints, owing from this revelation-a prayer
founded on the way in which the children of God have
been brought into their blessings in Christ, and leading
thus to the whole truth respecting the union of Christ
and the assembly, and the place which Christ takes in the
universe that He created as Son, and which He reassumes
as man; and on the power displayed in placing us, as well as
Christ Himself, at the height of this position which God
has given us in His counsels. is prayer is founded on the
title of “God of our Lord Jesus Christ”; that of chapter 3
on the title of<P341> “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
ere it is more communion than counsels. God is called
the Father of glory here, as being its source and author. But
not only is it said, “e God of our Lord Jesus Christ,” but
we shall see also that Christ is viewed as man. God has
wrought in Christ (vs. 20), He has raised Him from among
the dead-has made Him sit at His right hand. In a word,
all that happened to Christ is considered as the eect of
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the power of God who has accomplished it. Christ could
say, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up again in
three days,” for He was God; but here He is viewed as man;
it is God who raises Him up again.
ere are two parts in this prayer: rst, that they may
understand what the calling and the inheritance of God
are; and secondly, what the power is that puts them in
possession of that which this calling confers upon them-
the same power which sets Christ at the right hand of
God, having raised Him from among the dead.
e understanding of two things given us: our calling
of God and the inheritance
First, the understanding of the things given us. We nd,
it appears to me, the two things which, in the previous part of
the chapter, we have seen to be the saints’ portion-the hope
of the calling of God, and the glory of His inheritance in
the saints. e rst is connected with verses 3-5, that is, our
calling; the second, with verse 11, that is, the inheritance.
In the former we have found grace (that is, God acting
towards us because He is love); in the latter, the glory-man
manifested as enjoying in His Person and inheritance the
fruits of the power and the counsels of God. God calls us
to be before Him, holy and unblamable in love, and at the
same time to be His sons. e glory of His inheritance is
ours. Take notice that the Apostle does not say “our calling,”
although we are the called. He characterizes this calling by
connecting it with Him who calls in order that we may
understand it according to its excellence, according to its
true character. e calling is according to God Himself. All
the blessedness and character of this calling are according
to the fullness of His grace-are worthy of Himself. It is this
which we hope for. It is also His inheritance, as the land
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of Canaan was His, as He had said in the law, and which
nevertheless He inherited in Israel. Even so the<P342>
inheritance of the whole universe, when it shall be lled
with glory, belongs to Him, but He inherits it in the saints.
It is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
He will ll all things with His glory, and it is in the saints
that He will inherit them. ese are the two parts of the
rst thing to which the eyes of the saints were to be opened.
By the calling of God we are called to enjoy the blessedness
of His presence, near to Himself, to enjoy that which is
above us. e inheritance of God applies to that which is
below us, to created things, which are all made subject to
Christ, with whom and in whom we enjoy the light of the
presence of God near to Him. e Apostle’s desire is, that
the Ephesians may understand these two things.
Paul’s prayer that we may know God’s power already
manifested; the rightful and glorious place given to
Christ as Man; the Head of the Body; union with Christ
the saints’ marvelous portion
e second thing that the Apostle asks for them is,
that they may know the power already manifested, which
had already wrought to give them part in this blessed and
glorious position. For, even as they were introduced by the
sovereign grace of God into the position of Christ before
God His Father; so also the work which has been wrought
in Christ, and the display of the power of God, which
took place in raising Him from the grave to the right hand
of God the Father above every name that is named, are
the expression and the model of the action of the same
power which works in us who believe, which has raised us
from our state of death in sin to have part in the glory of
this same Christ. is power is the basis of the assembly’s
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position in her union with Him and of the development of
the mystery according to the purposes of God. In person
Christ raised up from among the dead is set at the right
hand of God, far above all power and authority, and above
every name that is named among the hierarchies by which
God administers the government of the world that now is,
or among those of the world to come. And this superiority
exists, not only with regard to His divinity, the glory of
which changes not, but with regard to the place given Him
as man; for we speak here-as we have seen-of the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who has raised Him from
the dead, and who has given Him<P343> glory and a place
above all; a place of which no doubt He was personally
worthy, but which He receives, and ought to receive, as
man from the hand of God, who has established Him as
Head over all things, uniting the assembly to Him as His
body, and raising up the members from their death in sins
by the same power as that which raised up and exalted the
Head-quickening them together with Christ, and seating
them in the heavenly places in Him, by the same power
that exalted Him. us the assembly, His body, is His
fullness. It is indeed He who lls all in all, but the body
forms the complement of the Head. It is He, because He is
God as well as man, who lls all things-and that, inasmuch
as He is man, according to the power of redemption, and
of the glory which He has acquired; so that the universe
which He lls with His glory enjoys it according to the
stability of that redemption from the power and eect of
which nothing can withdraw it.1 It is He, I repeat, who lls
the universe with His glory; but the Head is not isolated,
left, so to speak, incomplete as such, without its body. It is
the body that completes it in that glory, as a natural body
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completes the head; but not to be the head or to direct,
but to be the body of the head, and that the head should
be the head of its body. Christ is the Head of the body
over all things. He lls all in all, and the assembly is His
fullness. is is the mystery in all its parts. Accordingly we
may observe that it is when Christ (having accomplished
redemption) was exalted to the right hand of God, that He
takes the place in which He can be the Head of the body.
(1. Compare chapter 4:9-10: and this introduction of
redemption, and the place Christ has taken as Redeemer,
as lling all in all, is full of interest.)
Marvelous portion of the saints, in virtue of their
redemption, and of the divine power that wrought in
the resurrection of Christ, when He had died under our
trespasses and sins, and set Him at the right hand of God:
a portion which, save His personal session at the right
hand of the Father, is ours also through our union with
Him!<P344>
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73249
Ephesians 2
God’s power bringing dead souls into enjoyment of
heavenly privileges
In chapter 21 the operation of the power of God on
earth, for the purpose of bringing souls into the enjoyment
of their heavenly privileges, and thus of forming the
assembly here below, is presented, rather than the unfolding
of the privileges themselves, and consequently that of the
counsels of God. It is not even these counsels; it is the
grace and the power which work for their fulllment, by
leading souls to the result which this power will produce
according to those counsels. Christ is rst seen, not as
God come down here and presented to sinners, but as
dead, that is, where we were by sin, but raised from it by
power. He for sin had died; God had raised Him from the
dead, and set Him at His own right hand. We were dead
in our trespasses and sins: He has quickened us together
with Him. But as it is the earth that is in question, and
the operation of power and grace on the earth, the Spirit
naturally speaks of the condition of those in whom this
grace works, in fact of the condition of all. At the same
time, in the earthly forms of religion, in the system that
existed on earth, there were those who were nigh and those
who were far o. Now we have seen that in the full blessing
of which the Apostle speaks the nature of God Himself is
concerned; in view of which, and to glorify which, all His
counsels were settled. erefore outward forms, although
some of them had been established provisionally on the
earth by God’s own authority, could now have no value.
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ey had served for the manifestation of the ways of God
as shadows of things to come, and had been connected
with the display of God’s authority on earth among men,
maintaining some knowledge of God-important things
in their place; but these gures could do nothing as to
bringing souls into <P345>relationship with God, in order
to enjoy the eternal manifestation of His nature, in hearts
made capable of it by grace, through their participation in
that nature and reecting it. For this, these gures were
utterly worthless; they were not the manifestation of these
eternal principles. But the two classes of man, Jews and
Gentiles, were there; and the Apostle speaks of them both.
Grace takes up persons from both to form one body, one
new man, by a new creation in Christ.
(1. It is this power which, raising the saints with Christ
from the death of sin, and uniting them to Him the head,
forms their relationship to Him as His body. e rst part
of the chapter gave our individual relationship to the Father,
in that Christ is the rstborn among many brethren. Here
we come to corporate relationship to Christ, the last and
risen man. Up to the second part of the prayer we have
the counsels of God. From the latter part we have the
operations of power to accomplish them. And it is here
our union with Christ rst comes in, which, though God’s
counsels as to it are revealed, yet spiritually is wrought now,
as seen in chapter 2.)
Man’s distance from God under the power of darkness
In the rst two verses of this chapter he speaks of those
who were brought out from among the nations that knew
not God- Gentiles, as they are usually called. In verse 3
he speaks of the Jews-“we all also,” he says. He does not
enter here into the dreadful details contained in Romans
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3,1 because his object is not to convince the individual, in
order to show him the means of justication, but to set
forth the counsels of God in grace. Here then he speaks
of the distance from God in which man is found under
the power of darkness. With regard to the nations, he
speaks of the universal condition of the world. e whole
course of the world, the entire system, was according to
the prince of the power of the air; the world itself was
under the government of him who worked in the hearts of
the children of disobedience, who in self-will evaded the
government of God, although they could not evade His
judgment.
(1. Take special notice here, that, in the Ephesians, the
Spirit does not describe the life of the old man in sin. God
and His own work are everything. Man is viewed as dead
in his sins; that which is produced is therefore entirely of
God, a new creation on His part. A man who lives in sin
must die, must judge himself, must repent, by grace be
cleansed; that is, he is dealt with as a living man. Here
man is without any movement of spiritual life: God does
everything; He quickens and raises up. It is a new creation.)
Jews and Gentiles all children of wrath by nature
If the Jews had external privileges; if they were not in
a direct way under the government of the prince of this
world (as was the case with the nations that were plunged
in idolatry, and sunk in all the degradation of that system
in which man wallowed, in the licentiousness into which
demons delighted to plunge him in derision of his wisdom);
if the Jews were not, like the Gentiles, <P346>under the
government of demons, nevertheless in their nature they
were led by the same desires as those by which demons
inuenced the poor heathen. e Jews led the same life as
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to the desires of the esh; they were children of wrath, even
as others, for that is the condition of men; they are in their
nature the children of wrath. In their outward privileges the
Israelites were the people of God; by nature they were men
as others. And remark here these words, “By nature.” e
Spirit is not speaking here of a judgment pronounced on
the part of God, nor of sins committed, nor of Israel having
failed in their relationship to God through falling into
idolatry and rebellion, nor even of their having rejected the
Messiah and so deprived themselves of all resource-all of
which Israel had done. Neither does He speak of a positive
judgment from God pronounced on the manifestation of
sin. ey were, even as all men, in their nature the children
of wrath. is wrath was the natural consequence of the
state in which they were.1
(1. Faith, when taught by the Word, always goes back
to this: judgment refers to deeds done in the body. But we
were dead in sins-no living movement of the heart towards
God. We do not (John 5) come into judgment, but are
passed from death unto life.)
God’s mercy, love and power to those dead in
trespasses and sins; passed out of death into life as a new
creation, all distinctions ended
Man as he was, Jew or Gentile, and wrath, naturally
went together, even as there is a natural link between
good and righteousness. Now God, though in judgment
taking cognizance of all that is contrary to His will and
glory, in His own nature is above all that. To those who
are worthy of wrath He can be rich in mercy, for He is so
in Himself. e Apostle therefore presents Him here as
acting according to His own nature towards the objects
of His grace. We were dead, says the Apostle-dead in our
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trespasses and sins. God comes, in His love, to deliver us
by His power-“God, who is rich in mercy, according to
his great love wherewith he loved us.” ere was no good
working in us: we were dead in our trespasses and sins.
e movement came from Him, praised be His name!
He has quickened us; not only that-He has quickened us
together with Christ. He had not said in a direct<P347>
way, that Christ had been quickened, although it may be
said, where the power of the Spirit in Himself is spoken of.
He was however raised from the dead; and, when we are in
question, we are told that all the energy by which He came
forth from death is employed also for our quickening; and
not only that; even in being quickened we are associated
with Him. He comes forth from death-we come forth with
Him. God has imparted this life to us. It is His pure grace,
and a grace that has saved us, that found us dead in sins,
and brought us out of death even as Christ came out of it,
and by the same power, and brought us out with Him by
the power of life in resurrection-with Christ,1 to set us in
the light and in the favor of God, as a new creation, even
as Christ Himself is there. Jews and Gentiles are found
together in the same new position in Christ. Resurrection
has put an end to all those distinctions; they have no place
in a risen Christ. God has quickened the one and the other
with Christ.
(1. Here it is a wholly new creation, and the new estate
is looked at simply in itself. We were dead towards God in
our old one. Man is not looked at here as alive in sins and
responsible, but as entirely dead in them, and created again:
hence in this part of the epistle we have no forgiveness,
no justication. e man is not looked at as a living
responsible man. In Colossians we are risen with Christ,
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but “having forgiven you all trespasses” which Christ had
borne in coming down into death. Here, too, we have not
the old man, and death brought in to it, though both walk
and the old man are recognized as facts, though not in
connection with resurrection. In Colossians we have; even
when “dead in your sins” is spoken of, it is added, “And the
uncircumcision of your esh,” for it is dead towards God.
e Epistle to the Romans looks at responsible man in the
world; hence you have fully justication, death to sin, and
no resurrection with Christ. e man is a living man here,
though justied, and alive in Christ.)
In Christ in a new condition: all the gift of God’s
grace and not of works
Now, Christ having done this, Jews and Gentiles,
without the dierences which death had abolished, are
found together in the risen and ascended Christ, sitting
together in Him in a new condition common to both-a
condition described by that of Christ Himself.2 Poor
sinners from among the Gentiles, and from among the
disobedient and gainsaying Jews, are brought into the
position where Christ is by the power which raised Him
from the dead<P348> and set Him at God’s right hand,2
to show forth in the ages to come the immense riches of
the grace which had accomplished it. A Mary Magdalene,
a crucied thief, companions in glory with the Son of God,
all we who believe, will bear witness to it. It is by grace we
are saved. Now we are not yet in the glory: it is by faith.
Would anyone say that at least the faith is of man? No;3
it is not of ourselves in this respect either; all is the gift of
God; not of works, in order that no one may boast. For we
are His workmanship.
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(1. It is not merely life communicated (that we had in
Romans), but a totally new place and standing which we
have taken, life having the character of resurrection out of
a state of death in sins. And here we are not viewed as
quickened by Christ, but quickened with Him. He is the
raised and gloried man. )
(2. In Colossians the saints are only seen risen with
Christ, with a hope laid up for them in heaven, and are
called to set their aections on things above, where Christ
and their life with Him are hid. Moreover their resurrection
with Christ is only an administrative one for this world
in baptism, in connection with faith in the power which
raised Christ. We have no union of Jews and Gentiles in
Him as risen and in heavenly places. Indeed in Colossians,
Gentiles only are before the mind of the Apostle.)
(3. I am quite aware of what critics have to say here as
to gender; but it is equally true as to grace, and to say, “By
grace … and that not of yourselves,” is simply nonsense;
but by faith might be supposed to be of ourselves, though
grace cannot. erefore the Spirit of God adds, “And that
[not it] not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” at is,
the believing is God’s gift, not of ourselves. And this is
conrmed by what follows, “Not of works.” But the object
of the Apostle is to show that the whole thing was of grace
and of God-God’s workmanship-a new creation. So far,
grace and faith and all go together.)
Created anew for good works in accordance with the
new creation
In how powerful a way the Spirit puts God Himself
forward, as the source and operator of the whole, and the
sole one! It is a creation, but, as His work, of a result which
is in accordance with His own character. Now it is in us
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that this is done. He takes up poor sinners to display His
glory in them. If it is the operation of God, assuredly it
will be for good works: He has created us in Christ for
them. And observe here that if God has created us for
good works, these must in their nature be characterized
by Him who has wrought in us, creating us according to
His own thoughts. It is not man who seeks to draw nigh to
God, or to satisfy Him by doing works that are pleasing to
Him according to the law-the measure of that which man
ought to be; it is God who takes us up in our sins, when
there is not one moral movement in our hearts (“none that
understandeth, none that seeketh after God”), and creates
us anew for works in accordance with this new creation. It
is an entirely new position that we are placed in, according
to this new creation of God-a new character that we are
invested with<P349> according to the predetermination
of God. e works are predetermined also according to
the character which we put on by this new creation. All
is absolutely according to the mind of God Himself.
It is not duty according to the old creation.1 All is the
fruit of God’s own thoughts in the new creation. e law
disappears with regard to us even as to its works, together
with the nature to which it applied. Man obedient to the
law was man as he ought to be according to the rst Adam;
the man in Christ must walk according to the heavenly life
of the second Adam, and walk worthy of Him as the Head
of a new creation, being raised up with Him, and being the
fruit of the new creation-worthy of Him who has formed
him for this very thing (2Cor. 5:5).
(1. Not that God does not recognize the relationships
He had originally formed-He does fully when we are
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in them; but the measure of the new creation is another
thing.)
Jew and Gentile one new man: enmity destroyed and
peace made and proclaimed
e Gentiles therefore enjoying this ineable privilege-
although the Apostle does not recognize Judaism as a true
circumcision-were to remember from whence they had
been taken; without God and without hope as they were
in the world, strangers to all the promises. But however far
o they had been, now in Christ they were brought nigh by
His blood. He had broken down the middle wall, having
annulled the law of commandments by which the Jew,
who was distinguished by these ordinances, was separated
from the Gentiles. ese ordinances had their sphere of
action in the esh. But Christ (as living in connection with
all that), being dead, has abolished the enmity to form in
Himself of the two-Jew and Gentile-one new man; the
Gentiles brought nigh by the blood of Christ, and the
middle wall of partition broken down, to reconcile both
to God in one body; having by the cross not only made
peace, but destroyed-by grace that was common to both,
and to which one could make no more claim than the
other, since it was for sin-the enmity that existed, till then,
between the privileged Jew and the idolatrous Gentile far
from God, abolishing in His esh the enmity, the law of
commandments contained in ordinances.<P350>
Access to God as our Father and part of His family;
the true house of God viewed both as a progressive work
and as His house on earth at the moment
Having made peace, He proclaimed it with this object
to the one and the other, whether far o or nigh. For by
Christ we all- whether Jews or Gentiles-have access by
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one Spirit to the Father. It is not the Jehovah of the Jews
(whose name was not called upon the Gentiles); it is the
Father of Christians, of the redeemed by Jesus Christ, who
are adopted to form part of the family of God. us, albeit
a Gentile, one is no longer a stranger or foreigner; one is of
the Christian and heavenly citizenship; of the true house
of God Himself. Such is grace. As to this world, being
thus incorporated in Christ, this is our position. All, Jew
or Gentile, thus gathered together in one body, constitute
the assembly on earth. e apostles and prophets (of the
New Testament) form the foundation of the building,
Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. In Him the
whole building rises to be a temple, the Gentiles having
their place, and forming with the others the dwelling-place
on earth of God, who is present by His Spirit. Firstly, he
looks at the progressive work which was being built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the whole
assembly according to the mind of God; and, secondly, he
looks at the union which existed between the Ephesians
and other believing Gentiles and the Jews, as forming
God’s house on the earth at that moment. God dwells in it
by the Holy Spirit.1<P351>
(1. It is exceedingly important in these days to see
the dierence between this progressive building, never
complete till all believers who are to form Christ’s body
are gathered in, and the present temple of God on earth.
In the former Christ is the builder. He carries it on without
fail, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. is is
not yet complete nor viewed as a whole till built. Hence in
the epistles we never nd a builder in this case: in Peter,
“Unto whom coming as to a living stone, ye also as living
stones are built up”; so here, in Ephesians, it grows to a
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holy temple in the Lord. But, besides this, the present
manifested professing body is looked at as a whole on
earth; and man is looked at as building. “Ye are God’s
building” (1Cor. 3). “I, as a wise masterbuilder, have laid
the foundation: let every man take heed how he buildeth
thereon.” Man’s responsibility comes in, and the work is
the subject of judgment. It is the attributing to this the
privileges of the body, and of that which Christ builds, that
has produced popery and all that is akin to it. e corrupt
thing which is to come under judgment is falsely clothed
with the security of Christ’s work. Here in Ephesians 2 we
nd not only the progressive and surely constructed work,
but the present building together as a fact in the blessing of
it, without reference to human responsibility in building.)
e subjects of chapters 1-2
Chapter 1 had set before us the counsels and purposes
of God; beginning with the relationship of the sons and
the Father, and, when the operation of God is spoken of,
the assembly as the body of Christ united to Him who is
Head over all things. Chapter 2, treating of the work which
calls out the assembly, which creates it here below by grace,
sets before us this assembly on the one hand, growing up
to a holy temple, and then as the present habitation of God
here below by the Spirit.1
(1. Chapter 2 speaks indeed of the body (vs. 16); but the
introduction of the house is a new element and requires some
development. Although the work which is accomplished in
the creation of the members who are to compose the body
is all of God, it is accomplished on earth. e counsels
of God have in view, rst individuals, to place them near
Himself, such as He would have them; then, having exalted
Christ above every name now or hereafter, gives Him to be
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head of the body, formed of individuals united to Christ
in heaven over all things. ey will be perfect according to
their Head. But the work on earth, if it gathers together
the newborn, gathers them together on the earth. Now
that which answers here below to the presence of Christ
in heaven is the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth. e
individual believer is indeed the temple of God, but in this
chapter it is the whole body of Christians formed on earth
that is spoken of; they become the house, the dwelling-
place, of God on the earth. Wonderful and solemn truth.
Immense privilege and source of blessing; but equally great
responsibility.
It will be observed that, in speaking of the body of
Christ, we speak of the fruit of God’s eternal purpose and
own operation; and, although the Spirit may apply this
name to the assembly of God on earth, as accounted to
be composed of real members of Christ, nevertheless the
body of Christ, as formed by the quickening power of God
according to His eternal purpose, is composed of persons
united to the Head as real members. e house of God,
as now set up on earth, is the fruit of a work of God, here
entrusted to men, not the proper object of His counsels
(though the city in Revelation in a measure answers to it).
Insofar as it is the work of God, it is evident that this house
is composed of those who are truly called of God, and so
God set it up, and as it is spoken of here. (Compare Acts
2:47.) But we must not confound the practical result of this
work, accomplished in the hands of men, and under their
responsibility (1Cor. 3), with the object of the counsels
of God. A true member of Christ can no one be without
being really united to the Head, neither a true stone in the
house; but the house can be the dwelling-place of God,
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although that which is not a true stone may enter into
its construction. But it is impossible that one not born of
God should be a member of the body of Christ. See the
preceding note.)
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73250
Ephesians 3
e connection of chapter 3 with what precedes it
e whole of chapter 3 is a parenthesis unfolding the
mystery; and presenting at the same time, in the prayer
that concludes it,<P352> the second character of God set
before us at the beginning of the epistle, namely, that of
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this is the way in
which it is here introduced. Chapter 1 gives the counsels
of God as they are in themselves, adding His raising Christ
and setting Him above all on high at the end. Chapter
2, His work in quickening others with Him and forming
the whole assembly of those who are risen in Christ, taken
by grace from among Jews and Gentiles; these are God’s
thoughts and work. Chapter 3 is Paul’s administration of
it; it speaks especially of the bringing in of the Gentiles on
the same footing as the Jews. is was the entirely new part
of the ways of God.
Paul’s particular ministry: a special revelation of the
mystery, once necessarily hidden, made known by the
Spirit
Paul was a prisoner for having preached the gospel to
the Gentiles-a circumstance that brought out his particular
ministry very clearly. is ministry in the main is presented
as in Colossians 1. Only in the latter epistle the whole
subject is treated more briey, and the essential principle
and character of the mystery according to its place in
the counsels of God is less explained, is viewed only on a
special side of it, suited to the purpose of the epistle, that
is, Christ and the Gentiles. Here the Apostle assures us
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that he had received it by a special revelation, as he had
already taught them in words which, though few, were
suited to give a clear understanding of his knowledge of
the mystery of Christ-a mystery never made known in the
past ages, but now revealed by the Spirit to the apostles
and prophets. Here it will be observed that the prophets
are most evidently those of the New Testament, since the
communications made to them are put in contrast with
the degree of light granted in the previous ages. Now the
mystery had been hidden in all former times; and in fact
it needed so to be; for to have put the Gentiles on the
same footing as the Jews would have been to demolish
Judaism, such as God had Himself established it. In it He
had carefully raised a middle wall of partition. e duty
of the Jew was to respect this separation; he sinned, if he
did not strictly observe it. e mystery set it aside. e
Old Testament prophets, and Moses himself, had indeed
shown that the Gentiles should one day rejoice with the
people: but the people remained a separate people. at
they should be co-heirs, and of<P353> the same body, all
distinction being lost, had indeed been entirely hid in God
(part of His eternal purpose before the world was), but
formed no part of the history of the world, nor of the ways
of God respecting it, nor of the revealed promises of God.
e place of the redeemed, now and in the future, in
the mind of God
It is a marvelous purpose of God which, uniting
redeemed ones to Christ in heaven as a body to its head,
gave them a place in heaven. For, although we are journeying
on the earth, and although we are the habitation of God by
the Spirit on the earth, yet in the mind of God our place
is in heaven.
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e Gentile and Israel in the age to come; no earthly
distinction in the assembly, as one in Christ and having
a place in heaven
In the age to come the Gentiles will be blessed; but
Israel will be a special and separate people.
In the assembly all earthly distinction is lost; we are all
one in Christ, as risen with Him.
A Christ whose riches are unsearchable proclaimed
to the Gentiles; the two parts of Paul’s ministry
us the gospel of the Apostle was addressed to the
Gentiles, to announce this good news to them according
to the gift of God, which had been granted to Paul by the
operation of His power, to proclaim to them not merely a
Messiah according to the promises made to the fathers, a
Jewish Christ, but a Christ whose riches were unsearchable.
No one could trace to the end, and in all its development in
Him, the accomplishment of the counsels, and the revelation
of the nature of God. ey are the incomprehensible riches
of a Christ in whom God reveals Himself, and in whom
all God’s thoughts are accomplished and displayed. ese
purposes of God with regard to a Christ, the Head of His
body the assembly, Head over all things in heaven and
earth, Christ, God manifest in the esh, were now made
known and being accomplished, so far as gathering the
joint-heirs in one body went. Saul, the inveterate enemy
of Jesus proclaimed as Messiah, even if by the Holy Spirit
from heaven-the worst therefore of all men-becomes by
grace<P354> Paul, the instrument and witness of that
grace to announce these incomprehensible riches to the
Gentiles is was his apostolic function with regard to the
Gentiles. ere was another-to enlighten all with regard
to this mystery, which, from the beginning of the world,
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had been hidden in God. is answers to the two parts of
the Apostle’s ministry pointed out in Colossians 1:23-25:
as verse 27 in that chapter corresponds with verse 17 here.
God, who created all things, had this thought, this purpose
before creation, in order that, when He should subject all
creation to His Son become a man and gloried, that Son
should have companions in His glory, who should be like
Himself, members of His body spiritual, living of His life.
e administration of the mystery, the secret of God’s
counsels revealed by the establishment of the assembly
on earth
He made known to the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ, which gave them a portion in the counsels
of God in grace. He enlightened all with regard, not
precisely, to the mystery, but to the administration1 of the
mystery; that is to say, not only the counsel of God, but
the accomplishment in time of that counsel by bringing
the assembly together under Christ its head. He who had
created all things, as the sphere of the development of His
glory, had kept this secret in His own possession, in order
that the administration of the mystery, now revealed by the
establishment of the assembly on earth, should be in its
time the means of making known to the most exalted of
created beings the manifold and various wisdom of God.
ey had seen creation arise and expand before their eyes;
they had seen the government of God, His providence,
His judgment; His intervention in loving-kindness on the
earth in Christ. Here was a kind of wisdom altogether new;
a thing outside the world, hitherto shut up in the mind
of God, hid in Himself so that there was no promise or
prophecy of it, but the special object of His eternal purpose;
connected in a peculiar way with the One who is the center
Ephesians 3
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and the fullness of the mystery of godliness; which had
its own place in union with Him; which, although it was
manifested on earth and set with Christ at the head of
creation, formed properly no part of it. It was a new part
of it.<P355> It was a new creation, a distinct manifestation
of the wisdom of God; a part of His thoughts which until
then had been reserved in the secret of His counsels; the
actual administration of which, on the earth in time by the
Apostle’s work, made known the wisdom of God according
to His settled purpose, according to His eternal purpose in
Christ Jesus. “In whom,” the Apostle adds, “we draw nigh
with all boldness by faith in him”: and it is according to this
relationship that we do so.
(1. is appears to me to be the true word, and not “the
fellowship.”)
e Gentile believers encouraged
erefore these Gentile believers were not to be
discouraged on account of the imprisonment of him who
had proclaimed to them this mystery; for it was the proof
and the fruit of the glorious position which God had
granted them, and of which the Jews were jealous.
Christ as the Center of all God’s ways; every family
ranging itself under the name of His Father
is revelation of the ways of God does not, as the rst
chapter, present Christ to us as man raised up by God from
the dead, in order that we should be raised up also to have
part with Him, and that the administration of the counsels
of God should thus be accomplished. It presents Him as
the center of all the ways of God, the Son of the Father,
the Heir of all things as the Creator Son, and the center
of the counsels of God. It is to the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ that the Apostle now addresses himself; as
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in chapter 1 it was to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every family (not “the whole family”) ranges itself under
this name of Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Under the
name of Jehovah there were only the Jews. “You only have
I known of all the families of the earth,” had Jehovah said
to the Jews in Amos, “therefore will I punish you for your
iniquities”; but under the name of Father of Jesus Christ
all families-the assembly, angels, Jews, Gentiles, all-range
themselves. All the ways of God in that which He had
arranged for His glory were co-ordained under this name,
and were in relation with it; and that which the Apostle
asked for the saints to whom he addressed himself was, that
they should be enabled to apprehend the whole import of
those counsels, and the love of Christ which formed the
assured center for their hearts.<P356>
Strengthened by the Spirit; Christ dwelling in and
lling the heart
For this purpose he desires that they should be
strengthened with all might by the Spirit of the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Christ, who is the
center of all these things in the counsels of God the Father,
should dwell also in their hearts, and thus be the intelligent
center of aection to all their knowledge-a center which
found no circle to limit the view that lost itself in innitude
which God alone lled-length, breadth, height, depth.1
But this center gave them at the same time a sure place, a
support immovable and well-known, in a love which was
as innite as the unknown extent of the glory of God in
its display around Himself. “at Christ,” says the Apostle,
“may dwell in your hearts.” us He, who lls all things
with His glory, lls the heart Himself, with a love more
powerful than all the glory of which He is the center. He
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is to us the strength which enables us in peace and love to
contemplate all that He has done, the wisdom of His ways,
and the universal glory of which He is the center.
(1. Christ is the center of all the display of divine glory,
but He thus dwells in our hearts so as to set them, so to
speak, in this center, and make them look out thence on
all the glory displayed. Here we might lose ourselves; but
he brings them back to the well-known love of Christ,
yet not as anything narrower, for He is God, and it passes
knowledge, so that we are lled up to all the fullness of
God.)
Christ lling our hearts; ourselves the center of His
aections; the fullness of God
I repeat it-He who lls all things lls above all our hearts.
God strengthens us according to the riches of that glory
which He displays before our wondering eyes as rightly
belonging to Christ. He does it, in that Christ dwells in us,
with tenderest aection, and He is the strength of our heart.
It is as rooted and grounded in love; and thus embracing
as the rst circle of our aections and thoughts, those who
are so to Christ-all the saints the objects of His love: it is
as being lled with Him, and ourselves as the center of all
His aections, and thinking His thoughts, that we throw
ourselves into the whole extent of God’s glory; for it is the
glory of Him whom we love. And what is its limit? It has
none; it is the fullness of God. We nd it in this revelation
of Himself. In Christ<P357> He reveals Himself in all His
glory. He is God over all things, blessed forever.
e realization of Paul’s desire for us
But dwelling in love we dwell in God and God in us:
and that in connection with the display of His glory, as
He develops it in all that He has formed around Himself,
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to exhibit Himself in it, in order that Christ, and Christ
in the assembly, His body, should be the center of it, and
the whole the manifestation of Himself in His entire glory.
We are lled unto all the fullness of God; and it is in the
assembly that He dwells for this purpose. He works in
us by His Spirit with this object. erefore Paul’s desire
and prayer is that glory may be unto God in the assembly
throughout all ages by Jesus Christ: Amen. And note, it
is here realization of what is spoken of that is desired. It
is not, as chapter 1, objective, that they may know what is
certainly true, but that it may be true for them, they being
strengthened with might by His Spirit. It is very beautiful
to see how, after launching us into the innitude of God’s
glory, he brings us back to a known center in Christ-to
know the love of Christ, but not to narrow us. It is more
properly divine, though familiar to us, than the glory. It
passes knowledge.
Divine love working in us
Observe too here, that the Apostle does not now ask
that God should act by a power, as it is often expressed,
which works for us, but by a power that works in us.1 He
is able to do above all that we can ask or think according to
His power that works in us. What a portion for us! What
a place is this which is given us in Christ! But he returns
thus to the thesis proposed at the end of chapter 2, God
dwelling in the assembly by the Spirit, and Christians,
whether Jews or Gentiles, united in one. He desires that
the Ephesian Christians (and all of us) should walk worthy
of this vocation. eir vocation was to be one, the body
of Christ; but this body in fact manifested on earth in its
true unity by the presence of the<P358> Holy Spirit. We
have seen (ch. 1) the Christian brought into the presence
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of God Himself; but the fact that these Christians formed
the body of Christ, and that they were the dwelling-place
of God here below, the house of God on the earth- in a
word, their whole position-is comprised in the expression,
“eir vocation.” Chapter 1, note, gives the saints before
God; the prayer of chapter 3, Christ in them.
(1. is fully distinguishes the prayer of chapter 1 and
this. ere the calling and inheritance were in the sure
purpose of God, and his prayer is that they may know
them, and the power that brought them there. Here it is
what is in us, and he prays that it may exist, and that as
present power in the church.)
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73251
Ephesians 4-5
e individual state Paul desired to be realized among
the Ephesians
Now the Apostle was in prison for the testimony
which he had borne to this truth, for having maintained
and preached the privileges that God had granted to the
Gentiles, and in particular that of forming by faith, together
with the believing Jews, one body united to Christ. In his
exhortation he makes use of this fact as a touching motive.
Now the rst thing that he looked for on the part of his
beloved children in the faith, as betting this unity and
as a means of maintaining it in practice, was the spirit
of humility and meekness, forbearance with one another
in love. is is the individual state which he desired to
be realized among the Ephesians. It is the true fruit of
nearness to God, and of the possession of privileges; if they
are enjoyed in His presence.
e result of Christ’s work; the Christian’s “vocation”;
its development and application
At the end of chapter 2 the Apostle had unfolded the
result of the work of Christ in uniting the Jew and the
Gentile, in making peace, and in thus forming the dwelling-
place of God on the earth (Jew and Gentile having access
to God by one Spirit through the mediation of Christ,
both being reconciled to God in one body). To have access
to God; to be the dwelling-place of God through His
presence by the Holy Spirit; to be one body reconciled to
God- such is the vocation of Christians. Chapter 3 had
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developed this in its whole extent. e Apostle applies it in
chapter 4.<P359>
e triple exhortation; the unity of the Spirit
maintained in the bond of peace
e faithful were to seek-in the dispositions mentioned
above-to maintain this unity of the Spirit by the bond of
peace. ere are three things in this exhortation: rst, to
walk worthy of their calling; second, the spirit in which they
were to do so; third, diligence in maintaining the unity of
the Spirit by the bond of peace. It is important to observe,
that this unity of the Spirit is not similarity of sentiment,
but the oneness of the members of the body of Christ
established by the Holy Spirit, maintained practically by a
walk according to the Spirit of grace. It is evident that the
diligence required for the maintenance of the unity of the
Spirit relates to the earth and to the manifestation of this
unity on the earth.
e three spheres of unity
e Apostle now founds his exhortation on the dierent
points of view under which this unity may be considered-
in connection with the Holy Spirit, with the Lord, and
with God.
ere is one body and one Spirit; not merely an eect
produced in the heart of individuals, in order that they
might mutually understand each other, but one body. e
hope was one, of which this Spirit was the source and the
power. is is the essential, real, and abiding unity.
ere is also one Lord. With Him was connected “one
faith” and “one baptism.” is is the public profession and
recognition of Christ as Lord. Compare the address in
1Corinthians.
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Finally there is one God and Father of all, who is above
all, and through all, and in us all.
What mighty bonds of unity! e Spirit of God, the
lordship of Christ, the universal ubiquity of God, even the
Father, all tend to bring into unity those connected with
each as a divine center. All the religious relationships of the
soul, all the points by which we are in contact with God,
agree to form all believers into one in this world, in such a
manner that no man can be a Christian without being one
with all those who are so. We cannot exercise faith, nor
enjoy hope, nor express Christian life in any form whatever,
without having the same faith and the same hope as the
rest, without<P360> giving expression to that which exists
in the rest. Only we are called on to maintain it practically.
e enlarged extent of each circle of unity; essential
and real unity and outward profession, with the Father’s
universal claims and rights
We may remark, that the three spheres of unity
presented in these three verses have not the same extent.
e circle of unity enlarges each time. With the Spirit we
nd linked the unity of the body, the essential and real unity
produced by the power of the Spirit uniting to Christ all
His members: with the Lord, that of faith and of baptism.
Here each individual has the same faith, the same baptism:
it is the outward profession, true and real perhaps, but a
profession, in reference to Him who has rights over those
that call themselves by His name. With regard to the third
character of unity, it relates to claims that extend to all
things, although to the believer it is a closer bond, because
He who has a right over all things dwells in believers.1
(1. To recapitulate, there is, rst, one body and one
Spirit, one hope of our calling; second, one Lord, with
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525
whom are connected one faith and one baptism; third, one
God and Father of all, who is above all things, everywhere,
and in all Christians. Moreover, while insisting upon these
three great relationships in which all Christians are placed,
as being in their nature the foundations of unity, and the
motives of its maintenance, these relationships extend
successively in breadth. e direct relationship applies
properly to the same persons; but the character of Him who
is the basis of the relationship enlarges the idea connected
with it. With regard to the Spirit, His presence unites the
body-is the bond between all the members of the body:
none but the members of the body-and they, as such-are
seen here. e Lord has wider claims. In this relationship
it is not the members of the body that are spoken of;
there is one faith and one baptism, one profession in the
world: there could not be two. But although the persons
who are in this outward relationship may stand also in the
other relationships and be members of the body, yet the
relationship here is one of individual profession. It is not
a thing which cannot exist at all except in reality (one is a
member of Christ’s body, or one is not). God is the Father
of these same members, as being His children, but He
who maintains this relationship is necessarily and always
above all things-personally above all things, but divinely
everywhere.)
Realization and manifestation of the unity of the one
body
Observe here, that it is not only a unity of sentiment,
of desire, and of heart. at unity is pressed upon them;
but it is in order to maintain the realization, and the
manifestation here below, of a unity that belongs to the
existence and to the eternal position of the assembly in
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Christ. ere is one Spirit, but there is one body.<P361>
e union of hearts in the bond of peace, which the Apostle
desires, is for the public maintenance of this unity; not that
there might be patience with one another when that has
disappeared, Christians contenting themselves with its
absence. One does not accept that which is contrary to the
Word, although in certain cases those who are in it ought
to be borne with. e consideration of the community
of position and of privilege, enjoyed by all the children
of God in the relationships of which we have now been
speaking, served to unite them with each other in the sweet
enjoyment of this most precious position, leading them
also, each one, to rejoice in love at the part which every
other member of the body had in this happiness.
Christ the Head over all things; the necessity of
redemption if men were to be united to Christ; Satan
overcome and led captive
But, on the other hand, the fact that Christ was exalted
to be in heaven the Head over all things, brought in a
dierence which appertained to this supremacy of Christ-a
supremacy exercised with divine sovereignty and wisdom.
“Unto every one of us is given grace [gift] according to the
measure of the gift of Christ” (that is to say, as Christ sees t
to bestow). With regard to our position of joy and blessing
in Christ, we are one. With regard to our service, we have
each an individual place according to His divine wisdom,
and according to His sovereign rights in the work. e
foundation of this title, whatever may be the divine power
that is exercised in it, is this: man was under the power of
Satan-miserable condition, the fruit of his sin, a condition
to which his self-will had reduced him, but in which
(according to the judgment of God who had pronounced
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on him the sentence of death) he was a slave in body and
mind to the enemy who had the power of death-with
reservation of the sovereign rights and sovereign grace of
God (see chapter 2:2). Now Christ has made Himself man,
and began by going as man, led by the Spirit, to meet Satan.
He overcame him. As to His personal power, He was able
to drive him out everywhere, and to deliver man. But man
would not have God with him; nor was it possible for men,
in their sinful condition, to be united to Christ without
redemption. e Lord however, carrying on His perfect
work of love, suered death, and<P362> overcame Satan in
that his last stronghold, which God’s righteous judgment
maintained in force against sinful man-a judgment which
Christ therefore underwent, accomplishing a redemption
that was complete, nal, and eternal in its value; so that
neither Satan, the prince of death and accuser of the
children of God on earth, nor even the judgment of God,
had anything more to say to the redeemed. e kingdom
of Satan was taken from him; the just judgment of God
was undergone and completely satised. All judgment is
committed to the Son, and power over all men, because He
is the Son of Man. ese two results are not yet manifested,
although the Lord possesses all power in heaven and in
earth. e thing here spoken of is another result which is
accomplished meanwhile. e victory is complete. He has
led the adversary captive. In ascending to heaven He has
placed victorious man above all things, and has led captive
all the power that previously had dominion over man.
e Lord’s power over Satan exhibited in His body,
the assembly
Now before manifesting in person the power He had
gained as man by binding Satan, before displaying it in the
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blessing of man on earth, He exhibits it in the assembly, His
body, by imparting, as He had promised, to men delivered
from the enemy’s dominion gifts which are the proof of
that power.
e contents and connection of chapters 1-4
Chapter 1 had laid open to us the thoughts of God;
chapter 2 the fulllment, in power, of His thoughts with
regard to the redeemed-Jews or Gentiles, all dead in
their sins-to form them into the assembly. Chapter 3 is
the special development of the mystery in that which
concerned the Gentiles in Paul’s administration of it on
earth. Here (ch. 4) the assembly is presented in its unity as
a body, and in the varied functions of its members; that is
to say, the positive eect of those counsels in the assembly
here below. But this is founded on the exaltation of Christ,
who, the conqueror of the enemy, has ascended to heaven
as man.
Gifts for men from the Head of the body, the ascended
Man
us exalted, He has received gifts in man, that is, in
His <P363>human character (compare Acts 2:33). It
is thus “in man,” that it is expressed in Psalm 68, from
whence the quotation is taken. Here, having received these
gifts as the Head of the body, Christ is the channel of their
communication to others. ey are gifts for men.
ree things here characterize Him-a man ascended
on high-a man who has led captive him who held man in
captivity-a man who has received for men, delivered from
that enemy, the gifts of God, which bear witness to this
exaltation of man in Christ, and serve as a means for the
deliverance of others. For this chapter does not speak of
the more direct signs of the Spirit’s power, such as tongues,
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529
miracles-such as are usually termed miraculous gifts. But
what the Lord as Head confers on individuals, they are the
gifts, as His servants for forming the saints to be with Him,
and for the edication of the body-the fruit of His care
over them. Hence, as already remarked, their continuance
(till we all, one after another, grow up to the head) is stated
as to power, by the Spirit; in 1Corinthians 12 it is not.
e Lord’s complete and glorious work; Satan’s
captives made Christ’s servants, the vessels of His power
But let us pause here for a moment, to contemplate the
import of that which we have been considering.
What a complete and glorious work is that which
the Lord has accomplished for us, and of which the
communication of these gifts is the precious testimony!
When we were the slaves of Satan and consequently of
death, as well as the slaves of sin, we have seen that He was
pleased to undergo for the glory of God that which hung
over us. He went down into death of which Satan had the
power. And so complete was the victory of man in Him,
so entire our deliverance, that (exalted Himself as man to
the right hand of God’s throne-He who had been under
death) He has rescued us from the enemy’s yoke, and uses
the privilege which His position and His glory give Him
to make those who were captives before, the vessels of His
power for the deliverance of others also. He gives us the
right, as under His jurisdiction, of acting in His holy war,
moved by the same principles of love as Himself. Such is
our deliverance that we are the instruments of His power
against the enemy-His fellow-laborers in love through
His power. Hence the connection between practical
<P364>godliness, the complete subjugation of the esh,
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and the capacity to serve Christ as instruments in the hand
of the Holy Spirit, and the vessels of His power.
e signicance of the Lord’s ascension in connection
with His Person and work
Now the Lord’s ascension has immense signicancy
in connection with His Person and work. He ascended
indeed as man, but He rst descended as man even into
the darkness of the grave and of death; and from thence-
victorious over the power of the enemy who had the power
of death, and having blotted out the sins of His redeemed
ones, and accomplished the glory of God in obedience- He
takes His place as man above the heavens in order that He
may ll all things; not only as being God, but according to
the glory and the power of a position in which He was placed
by the accomplishment of the work of redemption-a work
which led Him into the depths of the power of the enemy,
and placed Him on the throne of God-a position that He
holds, not only by the title of Creator, which was already
His, but by that of Redeemer, which shelters from evil all
that is found within the sphere of the mighty ecacy of
His work-a sphere lled with blessing, with grace, and with
Himself. Glorious truth, which belongs at the same time to
the union of the divine and human natures in the Person
of Christ, and to the work of redemption accomplished by
suering on the cross!
e Lord’s descent and ascent
Love brought Him down from the throne of God, and,
being found as a man,1 through the same grace, into the
darkness of death. Having died, bearing our sins, He has
gone up again to that throne as man, lling all things. He
went below the creature into death, and is gone above it.
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531
(1. e descent into the lower parts of the earth is viewed
as from His place as man on earth; not His coming down
from heaven to be a man. It is Christ who descended.)
e object of Christ’s work; His body, His bride; gifts
communicated to gather together the members of His
body
But while lling all things by virtue of His glorious
Person, and in connection with the work which He
accomplished, He is also in immediate relation with that
which in the counsels of God is<P365> closely united
to Him who thus lls all things, with that which has
been especially the object of His work of redemption. It
is His body, His assembly, united to Him by the bond
of the Holy Spirit to complete this mystical man, to be
the bride of this second Man, who lls all in all-a body
which, as manifested here below, is set in the midst of a
creation that is not yet delivered, and in the presence of
enemies that are in the heavenly places, until Christ shall
exercise, on the part of God His Father, the power that has
been committed to Him as man. When Christ shall thus
exercise His power, He will take vengeance on those who
have deled His creation by seducing man, who had been
its head down here, and the image of Him who was to
be its Head everywhere. He will also deliver creation from
its subjection to evil. Meanwhile, personally exalted as the
glorious man, and seated at God’s right hand until God
shall make His enemies His footstool, He communicates
the gifts necessary for the gathering together of those
who are to be the companions of His glory, who are the
members of His body, and who shall be manifested with
Him when His glory shines forth in the midst of this
world of darkness.
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e work of the Spirit in the assembly; its spiritual
power
e Apostle shows us here an assembly already
delivered, and exercising the power of the Spirit; which on
the one side delivers souls, and on the other builds them
up in Christ, that they may grow up to the measure of their
Head in spite of all the power of Satan which still subsists.
But an important truth is connected with this fact. is
spiritual power is not exercised in a manner simply divine.
It is Christ ascended (He however who had previously
descended into the lower parts of the earth) who, as man,
has received these gifts of power. It is thus that Psalm 68
speaks as well as Acts 2:33. e latter passage speaks also
of the gifts bestowed on His members. In our chapter it
is only in the latter way that they are mentioned. He has
given gifts unto men.
e purpose and character of the gifts of the Head of
the body
I would also remark, that these gifts are not here
presented as gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit come down
to earth, and <P366>distributing to everyone according to
His will: nor are those gifts spoken of which are tokens of
spiritual power suited to act as signs upon those that are
outside: but they are ministrations for gathering together
and for edication established by Christ as Head of the
body by means of gifts with which He endows persons as
His choice. Ascended on high, and having taken His place
as man at the right hand of God, and lling all things,
whatever may be the extent of His glory, Christ has rst for
His object to fulll the ways of God in love in gathering
souls, and in particular towards the saints and the assembly;
to establish the manifestation of the divine nature, and
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to communicate to the assembly the riches of that grace
which the ways of God display, and of which the divine
nature is the source. It is in the assembly that the nature
of God, the counsels of grace, and the ecacious work of
Christ are concentrated in their object; and these gifts are
the means of ministering, in the communication of these,
in blessing to man.
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers:
apostles and prophets laying, or rather being laid, as the
foundations of the heavenly building, and acting as coming
directly from the Lord in an extraordinary manner; the
two other classes (the last being subdivided into two gifts,
connected in their nature) belonging to ordinary ministry
in all ages. It is important to remark also, that the Apostle
sees nothing existing before the exaltation of Christ save
man the child of wrath, the power of Satan, the power
which raised us up (dead in sins as we were) with Christ,
and the ecacy of the cross, which had reconciled us to
God, and abolished the distinction between Jew and
Gentile in the assembly, to unite them in one body before
God-the cross in which Christ drank the cup and bore the
curse, so that wrath has passed away for the believer, and
in which a God of love, a Saviour God, is fully manifested.
e New Testament apostles and prophets exclusive
of the twelve apostles
So the existence of the apostles dates here only from
the gifts that followed the exaltation of Jesus. e twelve as
sent out by Jesus on earth have no place in the instruction
of this epistle, which treats of the body of Christ, of the
unity and the members of this body; and the body could
not exist before the Head existed and had taken His place
as such. us also we have seen that,<P367> when the
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Apostle speaks of the apostles and prophets, the latter are
to him those exclusively of the New Testament, and those
who have been made such by Christ after His ascension.
It is the new heavenly man who, being the exalted Head
in heaven, forms His body on the earth. He does it for
heaven, putting the individuals who compose it spiritually
and intelligently in connection with the Head by the power
of the Holy Spirit acting in this body on the earth; the
gifts, of which the Apostle here speaks, being the channels
by which His graces are communicated according to the
bonds which the Holy Spirit forms with the Head.
e eect of the gifts as channels to the body
e proper and immediate eect is the perfecting of
individuals according to the grace that dwells in the Head.
e shape which this divine action takes, further, is the work
of the ministry, and the formation of the body of Christ,
until all the members are grown up into the measure of
the stature of Christ their Head. Christ has been revealed
in all His fullness: it is according to this revelation that
the members of the body are to be formed in the likeness
of Christ, known as lling all things, and as the Head of
His body, the revelation of the perfect love of God, of the
excellency of man before Him according to His counsels,
of man the vessel of all His grace, all His power, and all
His gifts. us the assembly, and each one of the members
of Christ, should be lled with the thoughts and the riches
of a well-known Christ, instead of being tossed to and fro
by all sort of doctrines brought forward by the enemy to
deceive souls.
Love and truth: Christ the perfect expression of them
e Christian was to grow up according to all that was
revealed in Christ, and to be ever increasing in likeness to his
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535
Head; using love and truth for his own soul-the two things
of which Christ is the perfect expression. Truth displays
the real relation of all things with each other in connection
with the center of all things, which is God revealed now in
Christ. Love is that which God is in the midst of all this.
Now Christ, as the light, put everything precisely in its
place-man, Satan, sin, righteousness, holiness, all things,
and that in every detail, and in connection with God. And
Christ was love, the expression of the love of God in the
midst of<P368> all this. And this is our pattern; and our
pattern as having overcome, and, as having ascended into
heaven, our Head, to which we are united as the members
of His body.
e members of the body channels of Christ’s grace
to each member that all may be nourished and grow
ere ows from this Head, by means of its members,
the grace needed to accomplish the work of assimilation
to Himself. His body, compacted together, increases by the
working of His grace in each member, and edies itself
in love.1is is the position of the assembly according to
God, until all the members of the body attain to the stature
of Christ. e manifestation alas! of this unity is marred;
but the grace, and the operation of the grace of its Head to
nourish and cause its members to grow, is never impaired,
any more than the love in the Lord’s heart from which
this grace springs. We do not glorify Him, we have not
the joy of being ministers of joy to each other as we might
be; but the Head does not cease to work for the good of
His body. e wolf indeed comes and scatters the sheep,
but he cannot pluck them out of the Shepherd’s hands.
His faithfulness is gloried in our unfaithfulness without
excusing it.
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(1. Verse 11 gives special and permanent gifts; verse 16,
what every joint supplies in its place. Both have their place
in the forming and growth of the body.)
e union of Christ and the assembly in its double
character
With this precious object of the ministration of grace
(namely, for the growth of each member individually
unto the measure of the stature of the Head Himself),
with the ministration of each member in its place to
the edifying itself in love, ends this development of the
counsels of God in the union of Christ and the assembly,
in its double character of the body of Christ in heaven, and
the habitation of the Holy Spirit on earth-truths which
cannot be separated, but each of which has its distinctive
importance, and which reconcile the certain immutable
operations of grace in the Head with the failures of the
assembly responsible on the earth.<P369>
Exhortations to a suited walk; putting o the old
man, putting on Christ
Exhortations to a walk betting such a position follow,
in order that the glory of God in us and by us, and His
grace towards us, may be identied in our full blessing. We
will notice the great principles of these exhortations.
e rst is the contrast1 between the ignorance of a
heart that is blind, and a stranger to the life of God, and
consequently walking in the vanity of its own understanding,
that is, according to the desires of a heart given up to the
impulses of the esh without God-the contrast, I say,
between this state, and that of having learned Christ, as the
truth is in Jesus (which is the expression of the life of God
in man, God Himself manifested in the esh), the having
put o this old man, which is corrupt itself according to its
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deceitful lusts, and put on this new man, Christ. It is not
an amelioration of the old man; it is a putting it o, and a
putting on of Christ.
(1. I have already noticed, that contrast of the new
state and the old characterizes the Ephesians more than
Colossians, where we nd more development of life.)
Even here the Apostle does not lose sight of the
oneness of the body; we are to speak the truth, because
we are members one of another. “Truth,” the expression of
simplicity and integrity of heart, is in connection with “the
truth as it is in Jesus,” whose life is transparent as the light,
as falsehood is in connection with deceitful lusts.
New creation; Adam’s fall and its result
Moreover, the old man is without God, alienated
from the life of God. e new man is created, it is a new
creation, and a creation1 after the model of that which is
the character of God, righteousness and holiness of truth.
e rst Adam was not in that manner created after the
image of God. By the fall the knowledge of good and evil
entered into man. He can no longer be innocent. When
innocent, he was ignorant of evil in itself. Now, fallen, he
is a stranger to the life of God in his ignorance: but the
knowledge of good and evil which he has acquired, the
moral distinction between good and evil in itself, is a divine
principle. “e man,” said<P370> God, “is become as one
of us, to know good and evil.” But in order to possess this
knowledge, and subsist in what is good before God, there
must be divine energy, divine life.
(1. In Colossians we have, “Renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created us.”)
God as the Center of all true relationship and moral
obligation
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Everything has its true nature, its true character, in the
eyes of God. at is the truth. It is not that He is the truth.
e truth is the right and perfect expression of that which
a thing is (and, in an absolute way, of that which all things
are), and of the relations in which it stands to other things,
or in which all things stand towards each other. us God
could not be the truth. He is not the expression of some
other thing. Everything relates to Him. He is the center of
all true relationship, and of all moral obligation. Neither is
God the measure of all things, for He is above all things;
and nothing else can be so above them, or He would not be
so.1 It is God become man; it is Christ, who is the truth,
and the measure of all things. But all things have their true
character in the eyes of God: and He judges righteously of
all, whether morally or in power. He acts according to that
judgment. He is just. He also knows evil perfectly, being
Himself goodness, that it may be perfectly an abomination
to Him, that He may repel it by His own nature. He is
holy. Now the new man, created after the divine nature, is
so in righteousness and holiness of truth. What a privilege!
What a blessing! It is, as another apostle has said, to be
“partakers of the divine nature.” Adam had nothing of this.
(1. ere is a sense in which God is, morally, the
measure of other beings-a consideration that brings out
the immense privilege of the child of God. It is the eect
of grace, in that, being born of Him and partaking of His
nature, the child of God is called to be the imitator of
God, to be perfect as His Father is perfect. He who loves is
born of God, and knows God, for God is love. He makes
us partakers of His holiness, consequently we are called
to be imitators of God, as His dear children. is shows
the immense privileges of grace. It is the love of God in
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539
the midst of evil, and which, superior to all evil, walks in
holiness, and rejoices also together, in a divine way, in the
unity of the same joys and the same sentiments. erefore
Christ says (John 17), “As we are,” and, “In us.”)
Adam’s responsibility for obedience, not for
knowledge
Adam was perfect as an innocent man. e breath of
life in his nostrils was breathed into him by God, and he
was responsible for obedience to God in a thing wherein
neither good nor evil was to<P371> be known, but simply
a commandment. e trial was that of obedience only,
not the knowledge of good or evil in itself. At present, in
Christ, the portion of the believer is a participation in the
divine nature itself, in a being who knows good and evil,
and who vitally participates in the sovereign good, morally
in the nature of God Himself, although always thereby
dependent on Him. It is our evil nature which is not so, or
at least which refuses to be dependent on Him.
Partakers of the divine nature and indwelt by the
Holy Spirit to be imitators of God
Now there is a prince of this world, a stranger to God;
and, besides participation in the divine nature, there is the
Spirit Himself who has been given to us. ese solemn
truths enter also as principles into these exhortations.
“Give no place to the devil,” on the one hand-give him no
room to come in and act on the esh; and, on the other
hand, “grieve not the Holy Spirit” who dwells in you. e
redemption of the creature has not yet taken place, but ye
have been sealed unto that day: respect and cherish this
mighty and holy guest who graciously dwells in you. Let
all bitterness and malice therefore cease, even in word, and
let meekness and kindness reign in you according to the
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pattern you have in the ways of God in Christ towards you.
Be imitators of God: beautiful and magnicent privilege!
but which ows naturally from the truth that we are made
partakers of His nature, and that His Spirit dwells in us.
e Christian pattern of life founded on new creation;
subjectively, putting o the old and putting on the
new
ese are the two great subjective principles of the
Christian- the having put o the old man and put on
the new, and the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in him. Nor can
anything be more blessed than the pattern of life here given
to the Christian, founded on our being a new creation. It is
perfect subjectively and objectively. First, subjectively, the
truth in Jesus is the having put o the old man and put on
the new, which has God for its pattern. It is created after
God in the perfection of His moral character. But this is
not all. e Holy Spirit of God by which we are sealed to
the day of redemption dwells in us: we are not to grieve
Him. ese are the<P372> two elements of our state, the
new man created after God, and the presence of the Holy
Spirit of God; and He is emphatically here called the Spirit
of God, as in connection with God’s character.
Objectively, God the pattern as love and light
And next objectively: created after God, and God
dwelling in us, God is the pattern of our walk, and thus in
respect of the two words which alone give God’s essence-
love and light. We are to walk in love, as Christ loved us
and gave Himself for us a sacrice to God. “For us” was
divine love; “to God” is perfection of object and motive.
Law takes up the love of self as the measure of love to
others. Christ gives up self wholly and for us, but to God.
Our worthlessness enhances the love; but, on the other
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hand, an aection and a motive have their worth from
the object (and with Christ that was God Himself), self
wholly given up. For, so to speak, we may love up and love
down. When we look upward in our aections, the nobler
the object the nobler the aection; when it is downwards,
the more unworthy the object, the more pure and absolute
the love. Christ was perfect in both, and absolutely so. He
gave Himself for us, and to God. Afterwards we are light in
the Lord. We cannot say we are love, for love is sovereign
goodness in God; we walk in it, like Christ. But we are
light in the Lord. is is the second essential name of God,
and as partakers of the divine nature we are light in the
Lord. Here again Christ is the pattern. “Christ shall give
thee light.” We are called on, then, as His dear children to
imitate God.
Life perfectly and fully presented to us in Christ
is life, in which we participate and of which we live
as partakers of the divine nature, has been objectively
presented to us in Christ in all its perfection and in all its
fullness; in man, and in man now brought to perfection on
high, according to the counsels of God respecting Him.
It is Christ, this eternal life, who was with the Father
and has been manifested unto us-He who, having then
rst descended, has ascended now into heaven to carry
humanity thither, and display it in the glory-the glory of
God-according to His eternal counsels. We have seen this
life here in its earthly development: God manifest in esh;
man, perfectly heavenly, and obedient in all things to His
Father, moved, in His <P373>conduct to others, by the
motives that characterize God Himself in grace. Hereafter
He will be manifested in judgment; and already, here
below, He has gone through all the experiences of a man,
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understanding thus how grace adapts itself to our wants,
and displaying it now, according to that knowledge, even
as hereafter He will exercise judgment with a knowledge
of man, not only divine, but which, having gone through
this world in holiness, will leave the hearts of men without
excuse and without escape.
e image of God
But it is the image of God in Him, of which we are now
speaking. It is in Him that the nature which we have to
imitate is presented to us, and presented in man as it ought
to be developed in us here below, in the circumstances
through which we are passing. We see in Him the
manifestation of God, and that in contrast with the old
man. ere we see “the truth as it is in Jesus,” save that in
us it involves the putting o of the old man and putting
on the new, answering to Christ’s death and resurrection
(compare particularly as to His death, 1Peter 3:18; 4:1).
us, in order to attract and to lead on our hearts, to give
us the model on which they are to be formed, the aim to
which they should tend, God has given us an object in
which He manifests Himself, and which is the object of all
His own delight.
God’s object in the new man and that of the new man
himself
e reproduction of God in man is the object that God
proposed to Himself in the new man; and that the new man
proposes to himself, as he is himself the reproduction of the
nature and the character of God. ere are two principles
for the Christian path, according to the light in which he
views himself. Running his race as man towards the object
of his heavenly calling, in which he follows after Christ
ascended on high: he is running the heavenward race; the
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excellency of Christ to be won there, his motive-that is
not the Ephesian aspect. In the Ephesians he is sitting in
heavenly places in Christ, and he has to come out as from
heaven, as Christ really did, and manifest God’s character
upon earth, of which, as we have seen, Christ is the pattern.
We are called, as in the position of dear children, to show
our Father’s ways.
We are not created anew according to that which the
rst Adam<P374> was, but according to that which God
is: Christ is its manifestation. And He is the second Man,
the last Adam.1
(1. It is useful to note here the dierence of Romans
(ch. 12:1-2) and this epistle. e Romans, we have seen,
contemplates a living man on earth; hence he is to give his
body up as a living sacrice-alive in Christ, he is to yield
his members up wholly to God. Here the saints are seen
as sitting in heavenly places already, and they are to come
out in testimony of God’s character before men, walking as
Christ did in love, and light.)
Characteristic features of the new man; the picture of
the life of Christ
In detail we shall nd these characteristic features:
truthfulness, the absence of all anger that has the nature
of hatred (lying and hatred are the two characteristics of
the enemy); practical righteousness connected with labor
according to the will of God (man’s true position); and the
absence of corruption. It is man under the rule of God since
the fall, delivered from the eect of the deceitful lusts. But
it is more than this. A divine principle brings in the desire
of doing good to others, to their body and their soul. I need
not say how truly we nd here the picture of the life of
Christ, as in the preceding remarks it was the putting o
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of the spirit of the enemy and of the old man. e spirit of
peace and love (and that, in spite of evil in others and the
wrongs they may do us) completes the picture, adding that
which will be easily understood after what has been said,
that, in “forgiving one another,” we are to be imitators of
God, and to walk in love as Christ has loved us, and has
given Himself for us. Beautiful picture, precious privilege!
May God grant us so to look at Jesus as to have His image
stamped upon us, and in some sort to walk like Him.
God’s grace and love acting in man
go up again to God in devotedness
Moreover, let us remark here, and it is an important
feature in this picture of the fruits of grace and of the new
man, that when the grace and love, which come down
from God, act in man, they always go up again to God in
devotedness. Walk, he says, in love, even as Christ loved us
and gave Himself up for us, an oering and a sacrice to
God for a sweet-smelling savor. We see it in Christ. He is
this love which comes down in grace, but this grace, acting
in man, makes Him devote Himself to God, although
it is<P375> on behalf of others. So it is in us; it is the
touchstone of the Christian heart’s activity.
Plain speaking as to sin and the neglect of ordinary
morality; the most profound truths connected with daily
practice
e Apostle then speaks plainly as to sin, in order that
no one may deceive himself; nor be occupied with deep
truths, using them intellectually, to the neglect of ordinary
morality-one of the signs of heresy, properly so called. He
has connected the profoundest doctrines in his teaching
with daily practice. If Christ be gloried, the Head of
the assembly, He is the model of the new man, the last
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Adam; the assembly being one with Him on high, and
the habitation of God on earth by the Spirit, with whom
every Christian is sealed. Every Christian, if indeed he
has learned the truth as it is in Jesus, has learned that it
consists in having put o the old man, and having put
on the new man, created after God in righteousness and
holiness (of which Christ is the model, according to the
counsels of God in glory); and he is to grow up unto the
measure of the stature of Christ, who is the Head, and not
grieve the Holy Spirit wherewith he is sealed. e fullest
revelation of grace does not weaken the immutable truth
that God had a character proper to Himself; it unfolds that
character to us by means of the most precious revelations
of the gospel, and of the closest relationships with God,
which were formed by these revelations: but this character
could not alter, nor could the kingdom of God allow of,
any characters contrary to it. e wrath of God therefore
against evil, and against those who commit it, is plainly set
forth.
e fruit of the light and the unfruitful works of
darkness
Now we were that which is contrary to His character,
we were darkness; not only in the dark, but darkness in
our nature, the opposite of God who is light. Not one ray
of that which He is was found in our will, our desires, our
understanding. We were morally destitute of it. ere was
the corruptness of the rst Adam, but no share in any feature
of the divine character. We are now partakers of the divine
nature, we have the same desires, we know what it is that
He loves, and we love what He loves, we enjoy that which
He enjoys, we are light (poor and weak indeed, yet<P376>
such by nature) in the Lord-looked at as in Christ. ey
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are the fruits of light1 that are developed in the Christian;
he is to avoid all association with the unfruitful works of
darkness.
(1. We should read “fruit of the light,” not “fruit of the
Spirit.”)
Called to awake from sleep; Christ Himself the light
of the soul; the Spirit the source of joy and thanksgiving
But, in speaking of motives, the Apostle returns to
the great subjects that preoccupied him, and he returns
to them, not only that we should put on the character set
forth by that of which he speaks, but that we should realize
all its extent, that we should experience all its force. He
had told us that the truth in Christ was the having put on
the new man, in contrast with the old man, and that we
are not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Now he exhorts those
that sleep to awake, and Christ should be their light. Light
makes all things manifest; but he who sleeps, although
not dead, does not prot by it. For hearing, seeing, and all
mental reception and communication, he is in the state of
a dead man. Alas, how apt this sleep is to overtake us! But
in awaking, it was not that they should see the light dimly,
but Christ Himself should be the light of the soul; they
should have all the full revelation of that which is well-
pleasing to God, that which He loves; they should have
divine wisdom in Christ; they should be able to prot by
opportunities, should nd them, being thus enlightened,
in the diculties of a world governed by the enemy, and
should act according to spiritual understanding in every
case that presented itself. Further, if they were not to
lose their senses through means of excitement used in
the world, they were to be lled with the Spirit, that is,
that He should take such possession of our aections, our
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thoughts, our understanding, that He should be their only
source according to His proper and mighty energy to the
exclusion of all else. us, full of joy, we should praise, we
should sing for joy; and we should give thanks for all that
might happen, because a God of love is the true source of
all. We should be full of joy in the spiritual realization of
the objects of faith, and the heart continuing to be lled
with the Spirit and sustained by this grace, the experience
of the hand of God in everything here below will give rise
only to thanksgiving. It comes from His hand whom we
trust and whose love we know. But giving thanks in all
things is a test of the<P377> state of the soul; because the
consciousness that all things are from God’s hand, full trust
in His love, and deadness as to any will of our own, must
exist in order to give thanks in everything-a single eye
which delights in His will.
e fruit of grace in our relationships and duties
In entering into the details of relationships and
particular duties, the Apostle cannot give up the subject
that is so dear to him. e command which he addresses to
wives, that they are to submit themselves to their husbands,
immediately suggests the relationship between Christ and
the assembly, not now as a subject for knowledge, but to
unfold His aection and tender care. We have seen that the
Apostle, having established the great principles displayed in
the revelation of our relationship with God-our vocation-
then deduces their practical consequences with regard to
the life and conduct of Christians: they were to walk as
having put on the new man, to have Christ for their light,
not to grieve the Spirit, to be lled with the Spirit. Now
all this, while the fruit of grace, was either knowledge or
practical responsibility.
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Christ’s grace; three steps in the work of His love to
the assembly
But here the subject is viewed in another aspect. It is
the grace that acts in Christ Himself, His aections, His
guardian care, His devotedness to the assembly. Nothing
can be more precious, more tender, more intimate. He
loved the assembly-that is the source of all. And there are
three steps in the work of this love. He gave Himself for it,
He washes it, He presents it all glorious to Himself. is
is not precisely the sovereign election of the individual by
God; but the aection that displays itself in the relationship
which Christ maintains with the assembly.1 See also the
extent of<P378> the gift, and how marvelous the ground
of condence that it contains. He gives Himself; it is not
only His life, true as that is, but Himself.2 All that Christ
was has been given, and given by Himself; it is the entire
devotedness and giving of Himself. And now all that is
in Him-His grace, His righteousness, His acceptance
with the Father, the excellent glory of His Person, His
wisdom, the energy of divine love that can give itself-all
is consecrated to the welfare of the assembly. ere are no
qualities, no excellencies in Christ, which are not ours in
their exercise consequent on the gift of Himself. He has
already given them, and consecrated them to the blessing
of the assembly which He has given Himself to have. Not
only are they given, but He has given them; His love has
accomplished it.
(1. It is well to notice here this character of love-love
in an established relationship. e Word of God is more
exact than is generally thought in its expressions; because
the expression has its origin in the thing itself. It is not said
that Christ loved the world-He has no relationship with
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the world as it is. It is said that God so loved the world; this
is what He is towards it in His own goodness. It is not said
that God loved the assembly. e proper relationship of the
assembly as such is with Christ, her heavenly Bridegroom.
e Father loves us, we are His dear children. God, in this
character, loves us. us Jehovah loves Israel. On the other
hand, all the tenderness and faithfulness that belong to
the relationship in which Christ stands are our portion in
Him, as well as all that the name of Father means on its
side also.)
(2. It is specially the devotedness of His love; He gives
and gives Himself.)
Christ’s love to the assembly-unutterable,
inexhaustible and unchangeable
We know well that it is on the cross that this giving of
Himself was accomplished, it is there that the consecration
of Himself to the good of the assembly was complete.
But here that glorious work is not exactly viewed on the
side of its atoning and redeeming ecacy, but on that of
the devotedness and love to the assembly which Christ
manifested in it. Now we can always reckon upon this
love which was perfectly displayed in it. It is not altered.
Jesus-blessed and praised be His name for it!-is for me
according to the energy of His love in all that He is, in
all circumstances and forever, and in the activity of that
love according to which He gave Himself. He loved the
assembly and gave Himself for it. is is the source of all
our blessings, as members of the assembly.
But this love of Christ is inexhaustible and unchangeable.
It eects the blessing of its cherished object, by preparing it
for a happiness of which His heart is alike the measure and
the source,1 to happiness of perfect purity, the excellence
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of which He knows in heaven-purity suited to the presence
of God, and to her who should be in that presence forever,
the bride of the Lamb-purity which renders it capable of
enjoying perfect love and glory; even<P379> as that love
tends to purify the soul by making itself known to it, and
attracting it, divesting it of self, and lling it with God as
the center of blessing and joy.
(1. When I say (here and above) that the love of
Christ is its source, it is not as if the love of the Father
and the counsels of God had not their place in it. I speak
of the blessing applied and carried out in the relationship
presented in this passage; and this relationship exists with
Christ. Nevertheless it is the same divine love.)
e church made Christ’s own to sanctify it; the
means He uses
It is important to remark that Christ does not here
sanctify the assembly to make it His own, but makes it
His own to sanctify it. It is rst His, then He suits it to
Himself. Christ, who loves the church as being His own,
and who has already made it His own by giving Himself
for it, and who chooses to have it such as His heart desires,
occupies Himself with it, when He has won it, to render it
such. He gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it by
the washing of water by the Word. Here we nd the moral
eect produced by the care of Christ, the object which He
proposes to Himself in His work accomplished in time,
and the means He uses to attain it. He appropriates the
assembly morally, sets it morally apart for Himself, when
He has made it His; for He can only desire holy things-holy
according to the knowledge He has of purity- by virtue of
His eternal and natural abode in heaven. He then puts the
assembly in connection with heaven, from whence He is,
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and into which He will introduce it. He gave Himself in
order to sanctify it. For this purpose He uses the Word,
which is the divine expression of the mind of God, of
heavenly order and holiness, of truth itself (that is to say, of
the true relation of all things with God; and that according
to His love in Christ), and which consequently judges all
that deviates from it as to purity or love.
e assembly as the bride of Christ
He forms the assembly for His bride, a helpmeet for
Him, in which all is according to the glory and the love of
God, by the revelation (through the Word, which comes
from thence) of these things as they exist in heaven. Now
Christ Himself is the full expression of these things,
the image of the invisible God. us, in communicating
them to the assembly, He prepares it for Himself. When
speaking therefore in this sense of His own testimony, He
says, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have
seen.”<P380>
e Word: its cleansing eect
But it is this which the Word is, as we have received
it from Jesus; and more especially as speaking from
heaven, with the character of the new commandment, the
darkness passing away, and the true light now shining;
and consequently, the thing being true, not only in Him,
but in us. (e ministry of chapter 1 is occupied with this,
forming the hearts of the saints on earth in fellowship with
the Head from which the grace and the light descended.)
In this manner then Christ sancties the assembly for
which He gave Himself. He has formed it for heavenly
things by the communication of heavenly things, of which
He is Himself the fullness and the glory. But this Word
nds the assembly mixed up with things that are contrary
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to this heavenly purity and love. Alas! its aections-as to
the old man at least-mixed up with these earthly things,
which are contrary to the will of God and to His nature.
us in sanctifying the assembly He must needs cleanse it.
is is therefore the work of the love of Christ during the
present time, but for the eternal and essential happiness of
the assembly.
e use of the Word in grace and love by Christ
Himself
He sancties the assembly, but He does it by the Word,
communicating heavenly things-all that belongs to the
nature, to the majesty, and to the glory of God-in love, but
at the same time applying them to judge everything in her
present aections, which is at variance with that which He
communicates. Precious work of love, which not only loves
us but labors to make us t to enjoy that love; t to be with
Christ Himself in the Father’s house!
How deeply is He interested in us! He not only
accomplished the glorious work of our redemption by
giving Himself for us, but He acts continually with perfect
love and patience to make us such as He would have us
to be in His own presence-t for the heavenly places and
heavenly things.
What a character this shows to belong also to the Word,
and what grace in His use of it! It is the communication of
divine things according to their own perfection, and now
as God Himself is in the light. It is the revelation of God
Himself, as we know Him in a gloried Christ, in a perfect
love to form us also according to that perfection for the
enjoyment of Him; and yet it is addressed<P381> to us,
yea is suited in its very nature to us down here (compare
John 1:4) to impart these things to us by bringing in light
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amid the darkness, thus necessarily judging all that is in the
darkness, but in order to purify us in love.
e order in which Christ’s work for His church is
presented; the source of all; its result and proof
Observe, also, the order in which this work of Christ
is presented to us, beginning with love. He loved the
assembly; this, as we have already said, is the source of all.
All that follows is the result of that love and cannot gainsay
it. e perfect proof of it is then stated: He gave Himself for
the assembly. He could not give more. It was to the glory
of the Father, no doubt, but it was for the assembly. Had
he reserved anything, the love in giving Himself would not
have been perfect, not absolute; it would not have been a
devotedness that left nothing for the awakened heart to
desire. It would not have been Christ, for He could not
but be perfect. We know love and perfection in knowing
Him. But He has won the heart of the assembly by giving
Himself for it. He has won her thus. She is His according
to that love. Yea; it is there that we have learned what love
is. Hereby know we love in that He gave Himself for us. All
was for the glory of the Father: without that it would not
have been perfection; and the revelation of the heavenly
things would not have taken place, for that depended on
the Father’s being perfectly gloried. In this the things to
be revealed were manifested and veried, so to speak, in
spite of evil; but all is entirely for us. If we have learned to
know love, we have learned to know Jesus, such as He is for
us; and He is wholly for us.
e result of perfect love
us the entire work of cleansing and of sanctication
is the result of perfect love. It is not the means of obtaining
the love, or of being its object. It is indeed the means of
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enabling us to enjoy it; but it is the love itself which, in its
exercise, works this sanctication. Christ wins the assembly
rst. He then in His perfect love makes it such as He would
have it to be-a truth that is precious to us in every way, and
rst, in order to free the soul from all servile fear, to give
sanctication its true character of grace and its<P382> true
extent here. It is joy of heart to know that Christ Himself
will make us all He desires us to be.
ree eects of Christ’s love for His church
We have considered two eects of the love of Christ for
the assembly. e rst was the gift of Himself, which in a
certain sense comprises the whole; it is love perfect in itself.
He gave Himself. e second is the moral formation of
the object of His love, that it may be with Him; according,
we may add, to the perfections of God Himself, for that
indeed is what the Word is-the expression of the nature,
the ways, and the thoughts of God.
Presented to Himself glorious, without spot or
wrinkle; Eve presented to Adam by God
ere is yet a third eect of this love of Christ’s
which completes it. He presents it to Himself a glorious
assembly without spot or wrinkle. If He gave Himself
for the assembly, it was in order to have it with Him; but
if He would have it with Him, He must render it t to
be in His glorious presence; and He has sanctied it by
cleansing it according to the revelation of God Himself,
and the heavenly things of which He is in Himself the
center in glory. e Holy Spirit has taken the things of
Christ, and has revealed them to the assembly; and all that
the Father has is Christ’s. us perfected according to the
perfection of heaven, He presents it to Himself a glorious
assembly. Morally the work was done; the elements of
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heavenly glory had been communicated to her who was
to stand in that glory, had entered into her moral being,
and thus formed her to participate in it. e power of
the Lord is needed to make her participate in it in fact,
to make her glorious, to destroy every trace of her earthly
abode, save the excellent fruit that results from it. He
presents her glorious to Himself-this is the result of all.
He took her for Himself, He presents her to Himself, the
fruit and the proof of His perfect love; and for her it is
the perfect enjoyment of that same love. But there is yet
more. at sentence discloses to us all the import of this
admirable display of grace. e Spirit carries us back to
the case of Adam and Eve, in which God, having formed
Eve, presents her to Adam all complete according to His
own divine thoughts and at the same time suited to be
the delight of Adam, as a helpmeet adapted to his nature
and<P383> condition. Now Christ is God. He has formed
the assembly, but with this additional right over her heart
that He has given Himself for her; but He is also the last
Adam in glory; and He presents her gloried to Himself,
such as He had formed her for Himself. What a sphere for
the development of spiritual aections is this revelation!
What innite grace is that which has given place for such
an exercise of these aections!
e connection between the cleansing and the glory
We cannot fail to notice the connection between
the cleansing and the glory, that is, that the cleansing is
according to the glory and by it; and that the glory is the
completeness of, and completely answers to, the cleansing.
For the cleansing is by the Word, which reveals the whole
glory and mind of God. Presented in glory she has neither
spot not wrinkle; she is holy and unblamable. is is a
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most important truth, and recurs elsewhere. Compare
2Corinthians 3:18 and Philippians 3:11 to the end. So
in 1essalonians 3:13. What is complete in glory there,
is wrought into the soul now by the Spirit operating with
the Word.
is then is the purpose, the mind of the Lord, with
regard to the assembly, and this the sanctifying work which
prepares her for Himself and for heaven. But these are not
all the eects of His love. He watches tenderly over her
during all the time of her sojourn here below.
Human love and care called forth by wants and
weaknesses, the gure of Christ’s aections
e Apostle, who did not lose sight of the thesis which
gave rise to this digression that is so instructive to us, says
that the husband ought to love his wife as his own body-
that it was loving himself. He was naturally led to this by
the allusion to Genesis; but he immediately returns to the
subject that occupies him. No one, he says, ever hated his
own esh; he nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord
the assembly. is is the precious aspect, during time, of
Christ’s love, which the Apostle here presents. Not only
has Christ a heavenly aim, but His love performs the work
which, so to speak, is natural to it. He tenderly cares for the
assembly here below; He nourishes it, He cherishes it. e
wants, the weaknesses, the diculties, the anxieties of the
assembly are<P384> only opportunities to Christ for the
exercise of His love. e assembly needs to be nourished,
as do our bodies; and He nourishes her. She is the object
of His tender aections; He cherishes her. If the end is
heaven, the assembly is not left desolate here. She learns
His love where her heart needs it. She will enjoy it fully
when need has passed away forever. Moreover it is precious
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557
to know that Christ cares for the assembly, as a man cares
for his own esh. For we are members of His own body. We
are of His esh, and of His bones. Eve is here alluded to.
We are, as it were, a part of Himself, having our existence
and our being from Him, as Eve from Adam. He can say, “I
am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” Our position is, on the
one hand, to be members of His body; on the other hand,
we have our existence as Christians from Him. erefore
it is that a man is to leave his natural relations, in order to
be united to his wife. It is a great mystery. Now it was just
this that Christ did as man, in a certain sense, divinely.
Nevertheless everyone ought thus to love his own wife, and
the wife to reverence her husband.
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Ephesians 6
Relationships of life; the children of Christians
ere remain yet certain relationships in life, with
which the doctrine of the Spirit of God is connected:
those of children and parents, of fathers and children, and
of servants and masters. It is interesting to see the children
of believers introduced as objects of the Holy Spirit’s
care, and even slaves (for servants were such), raised by
Christianity to a position which the circumstances of their
social degradation could not aect.
All the children of Christians are viewed as subjects of
the exhortations in the Lord, which belong to those who
are within, who are no longer in this world, of which Satan
is the prince. Sweet and precious comfort to the parent,
that he may look upon them as having a right to this
position, and a part in those tender cares which the Holy
Spirit lavishes on all who are in the house of God! e
Apostle marks the importance which God attached, under
the law, to this duty. It is the rst command with which
He linked a promise. Verse 3 is only the quotation of that
which he alludes to in verse 2.<P385>
Exhortation to Christian fathers
e exhortation to fathers is also remarkable-that
they should not provoke their children; that their hearts
should be turned towards them; that they should not repel
them, nor destroy that inuence which is the strongest
guard against the evil of the world. God forms the heart
of children around this happy center: the father should
watch over this. But there is more. e Christian father
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(for it is always those within to whom he speaks) ought
to recognize the position in which, as we have seen, the
children are placed, and to bring them up under the yoke
of Christ in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.
Christian position is to be the measure and the form of the
inuences which the father exercises, and of the education
which he gives his children. He treats them as brought up
for the Lord, and as the Lord would bring them up.
Submission and obedience the healing principle of
humanity, the starting point of the Christian’s life
It will be remarked, that in the two relationships we are
considering, as well as in that of wives with their husbands,
it is on the side from which submission is due that the
exhortations begin. is is the genius of Christianity in our
evil world, in which man’s will is the source of all the evil,
expressing his departure from God to whom all submission
is due. e principle of submission and of obedience is the
healing principle of humanity: only God must be brought
into it, in order that the will of man be not the guide after
all. But the principle that governs the heart of man in good,
is always and everywhere obedience. I may have to say
that God must be obeyed rather than man; but to depart
from obedience is to enter into sin. A man may have, as
a father, to command and direct; but he does it ill if he
do it not in obedience to God and to His Word. is was
the essence of the life of Christ: “I come to do thy will, O
my God.” Accordingly the Apostle begins his exhortations
with regard to relationships by giving the general precept:
“Submit yourselves one to another.” is renders order easy,
even when the order of institutions and of authority may
fail. Submission, moral obedience, can never in principle be
wanting to the true Christian. It is the starting point of his
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whole life. He is sanctied unto the obedience of Christ
(1Peter 1:2).<P386>
e slave in the happy service of Christ to be rewarded
by this Lord; the master reminded he has the same
Master in heaven
In the case which has led to these remarks, it is striking
to see how this principle elevates the slave in his condition:
he obeys by an inward divine principle, as though it were
Christ Himself whom he obeyed. However wicked his
master may be, he obeys as if he obeyed Christ Himself.
ree times the Apostle repeats this principle of obedience
to Christ or the service of Christ, adding, “Doing the will
of God from the heart.” What a dierence this made in
the poor slave’s condition! Moreover, whether bond or
free, each should receive his reward from the Lord. e
master himself had the same Master in heaven, with whom
there is no respect of persons. Still it is to masters that he
says this, not to the slave; for Christianity is delicate in
its propriety, and never falsies its principles. e master
was also to treat the slave with perfect equity-even as he
expected it from the slave-and was not to threaten.
e fragrance of the perfection of divine doctrine in
every duty and relationship
It is beautiful to see the way in which divine doctrine
enters into the details of life, and throws the fragrance of
its perfection into every duty and every relationship; how it
acknowledges existing things, as far as they can be owned
and directed by its principles, but exalts and enhances the
value of everything according to the perfection of those
principles; by touching not the relationships but the man’s
heart who walks in them; taking the moral side, and that of
submission, in love and in the exercise of authority which
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the divine doctrine can regulate, bringing in the grace
which governs the use of the authority of God.
Conict; the Christian’s enemies
But it is not only that there is a line of conduct to follow,
a model to imitate, a Spirit with whom one may be lled;
it is not only relationships between oneself and God, and
those in which we stand here below; this is not all that must
occupy the Christian. He has enemies to ght. e people
of Israel under Joshua in the land of Canaan were indeed in
the promised land, but they were in <P387>conict there
with enemies who were in it before them, although not
according to the rights by which Israel possessed the land
through the gift of God. God had set it apart for Israel (see
Deuteronomy 32:8); Ham had taken possession of it.
Spiritual blessings and spiritual wickednesses in the
heavenlies
Now, with regard to us, it is not with esh and blood
that we have to ght, as was the case with Israel. Our
blessings are spiritual in the heavenly places. We are
sitting in Christ in the heavenlies. We are a testimony to
principalities and powers in the heavenlies; we have to
wrestle with spiritual wickednesses in the heavenlies. Israel
had passed through the wilderness-had crossed the Jordan;
the manna had ceased; they ate the corn of the land. ey
were settled in the land of Canaan as though it were all
their own without striking a blow. ey ate the produce of
this good land in the plains of Jericho. So it is with regard
to the Christian. Although we are in the wilderness, we are
also in the heavenly places in Christ. We have crossed the
Jordan, we have died and are risen again with Him. We are
sitting in the heavenly places in Him, that we may enjoy
the things of heaven as the fruit of our own country. But
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conict is before us, if we desire to enjoy them practically.
e promise is of every blessing, of all the promised land,
but wheresoever we shall set our foot on it (Josh. 1). For
this we need the Lord’s strength, and of this the Apostle
now speaks. “Be strong,” he says, “in the Lord.” e enemy
is subtle. We have to withstand his stratagems even more
than his power. Neither the strength nor even the wisdom
of man can do anything here. We must be armed with the
panoply, that is, the whole armor, of God.
God Himself as strength; the whole armor of God
supplied
But observe rst, that the Spirit turns our thoughts
upon God Himself before speaking of that which has to
be overcome. “Be strong in the Lord.” It is not, rst of all, a
refuge from the face of the enemy; we are in it for ourselves
before we use it against the wiles of the enemy. It is in
the intimacy of the counsels and the grace of God that
man forties himself for the warfare from which he cannot
escape, if he would enjoy his Christian <P388>privileges.
And he must have the whole armor. To be wanting in one
piece exposes us to Satan on that side. e armor must be
that of God-divine in its nature. Human armor will not
ward o the attacks of Satan; condence in that armor will
engage us in the battle only to make us fall in combat with
a spirit who is more mighty and more crafty than we are.
e Christian’s enemies characterized; their will and
energy independent of God
ese enemies are thus characterized; they are
principalities and powers-beings possessing an energy of
evil which has its source in a will that has mastery over
those who do not know how to resist it; they have also
strength to carry it out. eir energy they have from God,
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563
the will that uses it comes from themselves; they have
forsaken God; the spring of their actions is in their own
will. In this respect it is a source of action independent
of God, and the energy and the qualities which they have
from God are the instruments of that will-a will which has
no bridle except from outside itself. ey are principalities
and powers. ere are good ones; but in them the will is
only to do that which God wills, and to employ in His
service the strength they have received from Him.
Evil principalities ruling in the darkness; their power
in the world; their religious and delusive ascendancy in
the heavens; the sphere of their power in man
ese rebellious principalities and powers rule over the
darkness of this world. Light is the atmosphere in which
God dwells, which He diuses all around Himself. Wicked
spirits deceive and reign in darkness. Now this world, not
having the light of God, is entirely in darkness, and demons
reign in it; for God is not there- except in supreme power
after all, turning everything to His glory, and, in the end,
to the good of His children. But if these principalities rule
in the darkness of this world, they do not possess merely an
outward force; they are in the heavenlies, and are occupied
with spiritual wickedness there. ey exercise a spiritual
inuence, as having the place of gods. ere is then, rst,
their intrinsic character, their mode of being, and the state
in which they are found; second, their power in the world
as governing it; and third, their religious and delusive
ascendancy, as lodging in the <P389>heavens. ey have
also, as a sphere for the exercise of their power, the lusts of
man, and even the terrors of his conscience.
Where, when and why the armor of God is needed
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To resist enemies like these we need the armor of God.
e manifestations of this power, when God permits it,
constitute the evil days. All this present period of Christ’s
absence is, in a certain sense, the evil day. Christ has been
rejected by the world, of which, while in it, He was the
light, and is hidden in God. is power, which the enemy
displayed when he led the world to reject Christ, he still
exercises over it: we oppose it by the action and the power
of the Holy Spirit, who is here during the Lord’s absence.
But there are moments when this power is allowed to show
itself in a more special manner, when the enemy uses the
world against the saints, darkening the light which shines
in it from God, troubling and leading astray the minds of
professors and even of believers-days, in a word, in which
his power makes itself felt. We have to wrestle with this
power, to resist it all, to stand against everything in the
confession of Christ, of the light; we have to do all that
the confession of His name requires in spite of all and at
whatever cost, and to be found standing when the storm
and the evil day are past.
us we have not only to enjoy God and the counsels of
God and their eect in peace; but, since these very counsels
introduce us into heavenly places and make us the light
of God on earth, we have also to encounter the spiritual
wickednesses which are in the heavenly places, and which
seek to make us falsify our high position, to mislead us, and
to darken the light of Christ in us on the earth. We have
to escape the snares of heavenly spiritual wickedness for
ourselves, and to maintain the testimony here below in-
corrupt and pure.1
(1. Still what we have to overcome are the wiles of
the devil. His power over us is broken. He may rouse the
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world in persecution and be a roaring lion; but as regards
personal temptations, if we resist the devil he ees from us;
he knows he has met Christ, and Christ has overcome. But
his wiles are ever there.)
e order of the armor and its practical use
Now by the power of the Holy Spirit, who has been given
to us for this purpose, we shall nd that the armor of God
relates rst<P390> to that which, by setting the esh aside,
and by maintaining the existence of a good conscience,
takes all hold from the enemy; then, to the preservation
of complete objective trust in God; and next, to the active
energy which stands with condence in the presence of the
enemy, and using the weapons of the Holy Spirit against
him. e defensive armor, our own state, comes rst. e
whole ends with the expression of the entire and continual
dependence on God in which the Christian warrior stands.
We will examine this armor of God, that we may
know it. It is all practical-founded on that which has been
accomplished, but in itself practical. For it is not a question
here of appearing before the bar of God, but of resisting
the enemy, and of maintaining our ground against him.
e loins girt about with truth: the heart having truth
for its rule
Before God our righteousness is perfect, it is Christ
Himself, and we are the righteousness of God in Him: but
we do not need armor there, we are sitting in the heavenly
places: all is peace, all is perfect. But here we need armor, real
practical armor, and rst of all to have the loins girt about
with truth. e loins are the place of strength when duly
girt, but represent the intimate aections and movements
of the heart. If we allow our hearts to wander where they
will, instead of abiding in communion with God, Satan
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has easy hold upon us. is piece of armor is then the
application of the truth to the most intimate movements,
the rst movements of the heart. We gird up the loins.
is is done, not when Satan is present; it is a work with
God, which is done by applying the truth to our souls in
His presence, judging everything in us by this means, and
putting a bridle on the heart that it may only move under
His eye. is is true liberty and true joy, because the new
man enjoys God in uninterrupted communion; but here
the Spirit speaks of it with respect to the safeguard which
it will be to us against the attacks of the enemy. At the
same time it is not merely the repression of evil thoughts-
that is its consequence: it is the action of the truth, of the
power of God, acting by the revelation of everything as it
is-of all that He Himself teaches, bringing the conscience
into His presence, keeping it thus in His thoughts; all that
God has said in His Word, and the<P391> unseen realities
having their true force and their application to the heart
that stirs in us, so that its movements should have their
character from God’s own Word and not from its own
desires, everything going on in the presence of God.1
(1. It is a common gure of Scripture for a mind and
heart kept in godly order as in God’s presence by the Word
of God.)
e Lord’s perfect application of the Word to Himself
Satan has no hold on a heart thus kept in the truth, as
revealed by God: there is nothing in its desires that answers
to the suggestions of Satan. Take Jesus as an example. His
safeguard was not in judging all that Satan said. In the
wilderness at the beginning of His public service, except
in the last temptation, it was in the perfect application
of the Word for Himself, for that which concerned His
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own conduct, to the circumstances around Him. e truth
governed His heart, so that it only moved according to that
truth in the circumstance that presented itself. “Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.” No word has come forth-He
does nothing. ere was no motive for acting. It would
have been to act of His own accord, of His own will.
at truth kept His heart in connection with God in the
circumstance that met Him. When the circumstance arose,
His heart was already in communion with God, so that it
had no other impulse than that which the Word of truth
suggested. His conduct was purely negative, but it owed
from the light which truth threw upon the circumstance,
because His heart was under the absolute government of
the truth. e suggestion of Satan would have brought
Him out of this position. at was enough. He will have
nothing to do with it. He does not yet drive away Satan: it
was only a matter of conduct, not of agrant opposition to
the glory of God. In the latter case He drives him away; in
the former He acts according to God without concerning
Himself with anything further. Satan’s device totally failed
of its eect. It simply produced nothing. It is absolutely
powerless against the truth, because it is not the truth; and
the heart has truth for its rule. Wiles are not the truth: this
is quite enough to prevent our being caught by them, that
is, if the heart be thus governed.<P392>
e breastplate of righteousness: a good conscience;
the feet shod with peace in the path of peace
In the second place there is the breastplate of
righteousness- a conscience that has nothing to reproach
itself with. e natural man knows how a bad conscience
robs him of strength before men. ere is only to be added
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here the way in which Satan uses it to entrap man in his
snares. By maintaining the truth we have Satan for our
enemy. If we yield ourselves up to error, he will leave us in
that respect at peace, except in using our faults and crimes
to enslave us more, to bind us hand and foot in that which
is false. How would a man who has the truth, who has
perhaps even escaped error, if his conduct were bad, bear
to have it exposed to the eyes of all? He is silent before the
enemy. His own conscience even will make him silent, if
he is upright, without thinking of consequences, unless a
confession be necessary. Besides this the strength of God
and spiritual understanding will fail him: where could he
have gained them in a wrong walk? We go forward boldly
when we have a good conscience. But it is when we are
walking with God, for the love of God, for the love of
righteousness itself, that we have this breastplate on, and
thus we are fearless when called to go forward and face
the enemy. We gain a good conscience before God by the
blood of the Lamb. By walking with God we maintain it
before men and for communion with God, in order to have
strength and spiritual understanding, and to have them
increasingly. is is the practical strength of good conduct,
of a conscience without rebuke. “I exercise myself” always
to this, said the Apostle. What integrity in such a walk,
what truthfulness of heart when no eye sees us! We are
peremptory with ourselves, with our own hearts, and
with regard to our conduct; we can therefore be peaceful
in our ways. God also is there. So walk, says the Apostle,
and the God of peace shall be with you. If the fruits of
righteousness are sown in peace, the path of peace is found
in righteousness. If I have a bad conscience, I am vexed
with myself, I grow angry with others. When the heart is
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at peace with God and has nothing to reproach itself with,
when the will is held in check, peace reigns in the soul. We
walk on the earth, but the heart is above it in communion
with better things; we walk in a peaceful spirit with others,
and nothing troubles our relations with God. He is the
God<P393> of peace. Peace, the peace of Jesus, lls the
heart. e feet are shod with it; we walk in the spirit of
peace.
e shield of faith: full and entire trust in God’s love
and faithfulness as well as His power
But, together with all this, a piece of defensive armor
is needed over all the rest, that we may be able to stand in
spite of all the wiles of the enemy-an armor, however, which
is practically maintained in its soundness by the use of the
preceding ones, so that, if the latter is essential, the others
have the rst place in practice. is is the shield, faith; that
is to say, full and entire trust in God, the consciousness of
grace and of His favor maintained in the heart. Here faith
is not simply the reception of God’s testimony (although it
is founded on that testimony), but the present assurance of
the heart with regard to that which God is for us, founded,
as we have just said, on the testimony which He has given
of Himself-trust in His love and in His faithfulness, as
well as in His power. “If our hearts condemn us not, then
have we condence towards God.” e work of the Spirit
in us is to inspire this condence. When it exists, all the
attacks of the enemy, who seeks to make us believe that the
goodness of God is not so sure- all his eorts to destroy or
to weaken in our hearts this condence in God and to hide
Him from us, prove fruitless. His arrows fall to the ground
without reaching us. We stand fast in the consciousness
that God is for us: our communion is not interrupted. e
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ery darts of the enemy are not the desires of the esh, but
spiritual attacks.
e helmet of salvation: the knowledge of God
us we can hold up our heads: moral courage, the
energy which goes forward, is maintained. Not that we
have anything to boast of in ourselves, but the salvation
and the deliverance of God are fresh in our minds. God has
been for us; He is for us: who shall be against us? He was
for us when we had no strength; it was salvation, when we
could do nothing. is is our condence-God Himself-not
looking at ourselves. We have the helmet of salvation on
our heads. e former parts of the armor give us freedom
to enjoy the two latter.<P394>
e one oensive weapon-the sword of the Spirit, the
Word of God
us furnished with that which protects us in our walk,
and in the practical condence in God, and the knowledge
of God that ows from it, we are in a state to use oensive
weapons. We have but one against the enemy, but it is
one that he cannot resist if we know how to handle it:
witness the Lord’s conict in the wilderness with Satan.
It is the Word of God. ere Jesus always answered with
the Word by the power of the Spirit. It sets man in his
true position according to God as obedient man in the
circumstances around him. Satan can do nothing there: we
have but to maintain that position. If Satan openly tempts
us to disobedience, there is no wile in that. Not being able
to do anything else, Satan acted thus with the Lord, and
manifested himself as he is. e Lord drove him away by
the Word. Satan has no power when he is manifested as
Satan. We have to resist the wiles of the devil. Our business
is to act according to the Word, come what may; the result
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will show that the wisdom of God was in it. But observe
here, this sword is the sword of the Spirit. It is not the
intelligence or the capacity of man, although it is man who
uses the Word. His sword is highly tempered, but he can
neither draw it nor strike with it if the Holy Spirit is not
acting in him. e weapons are spiritual; they are used by
the power of the Spirit. God must speak, however weak the
instrument may be.
Complete dependence on God expressed in prayer
e sword is also used actively in the spiritual warfare,
in which it judges all that is opposed to us. In this sense it
is both defensive and oensive. But, behind all this armor,
there is a state, a disposition, a means of strength, which
quickens and gives all the rest its power: this is a complete
dependence on God, united to trust in Him, which
expresses itself in prayer. “Praying always”; this dependence
must be constant. When it is real, and I feel that I can
do nothing without God, and that He wills my good in
all things, it expresses itself. It seeks the strength which
it has not: it seeks it from Him in whom it trusts. It is
the motion of the Spirit in our hearts in their communion
with God, so that our battles are fought in the communion
of His strength and His favor, and in the consciousness
that we can do nothing, and that He is<P395> all. “At all
times”; “with supplication.” is prayer is the expression of
the man’s need, of the heart’s desire, in the strength that
the Spirit gives him, as well as in condence in God. Also
since it is the Spirit’s act, it embraces all saints, not one
of whom can be forgotten by Jesus; and the Spirit in us
answers the aections of Christ, and reproduces them. We
must be watchful and diligent in order to use this weapon;
avoiding all that would turn us away from God, availing
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ourselves of every opportunity, and nding, by the grace of
the Spirit, in everything that arises, an occasion (by means
of this diligence) for prayer and not for distraction.1
(1. Prayer is founded on the immense privilege of having
common interests with God both as to ourselves and as to
all that are His, yea, even as to Christ’s glory. Wondrous
thought! Unspeakable grace!)
Paul’s heartfelt request; his condence in the
Ephesians’ aection for him
e Apostle asks from his heart for this intercession on
their part, in the sense of his own need and of that which
he desires to be for Christ.
e mission of Tychicus expressed Paul’s assurance of
the interest which the love of the Ephesians made them
take in having tidings of him, and that which he himself
felt in ascertaining their welfare and spiritual state in
Christ. It is a touching expression of his condence in
their aection-an aection which his own devoted heart
led him to expect in others.
e standpoint of the epistle as written to the
believers in the heavenly places in Christ; the position
and privileges of the children and of the assembly as
united to Christ
He presents the Ephesians as enjoying the highest
privileges in Christ, and as being able to appreciate them.
He blames them in nothing. e armor of God-by which
to repel the assaults of the enemy, and to grow up in peace
unto the Head in all things, the preservative armor of
God-was naturally the last thing that he had to set before
them. It is to be noticed that he does not speak to them in
this epistle of the Lord’s coming. He supposes believers in
the heavenly places in Christ; and not as on earth, going
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through the world, waiting till He should come to take
them to Himself, and restore happiness to the world. at
which is waited<P396> for in this epistle is the gathering
together of all things under Christ, their true Head,
according to the counsels of God. e blessings are in the
heavens, the testimony is in the heavens, the church is
sitting in the heavens, the warfare is in the heavens.
e Apostle repeats his desire for them of peace, love,
and faith; and concludes his epistle with the usual salutation
by his own hand.
is epistle sets forth the position and the privileges
of the children, and of the assembly in its union with
Christ.<P397>
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73253
Philippians
Philippians as the epistle of proper Christian
experience
In the Epistle to the Philippians we nd much more
of Christian experience, and the development of the
exercise of the heart, than in the generality of the epistles.
It is in fact proper Christian experience. Doctrine and
practice are found in them all, but, with the exception
of the Second Epistle to Timothy which is of another
nature, there is none that contains like this, the expression
of the Christian’s experience in this toilsome life, and the
resources which are open to him in passing through it, and
the motives which ought to govern him. We may even say
that this epistle gives us the experience of Christian life
in its highest and most perfect expression-say, rather, its
normal condition under the power of the Spirit of God.
God has condescended to furnish us with this beautiful
picture of it, as well as with the truths that enlighten us,
and the rules that direct our walk.
e occasion for the epistle; Paul in prison; his need
and the Philippians’ love
e occasion for it was quite natural. Paul was in prison,
and the Philippians (who were very dear to him, and who,
at the commencement of his labors, had testied their
aection for him by similar gifts) had just sent assistance
to the Apostle by the hand of Epaphroditus at a moment
when, as it appears, he had been for some time in need. A
prison, need, the consciousness that the assembly of God
was deprived of his watchful care, this expression on the
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part of the Philippians of the love that thought of him
in his necessities, although at a distance-what could be
more adapted to open the Apostle’s heart, and lead to his
expressing the condence in God that animated him, as well
as what he felt with regard to the assembly, unsupported
now by his apostolic care, and having to trust God Himself
without any intermediate<P398> help? And it was most
natural that he should pour out his feelings into the bosom
of these beloved Philippians, who had just given him this
proof of their aection. e Apostle therefore speaks more
than once of the Philippians’ fellowship with the gospel:
that is to say, they took part in the labors, the trials, the
necessities which the preaching of the gospel occasioned
to those who devoted themselves to it. eir hearts united
them to it- like those of whom the Lord speaks who
received a prophet in the name of a prophet.
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Philippians 1
e inner life, the common aections of Christians
towards each other, experienced by Paul
is brought the Apostle into a peculiarly intimate
connection with this assembly; and he and Timotheus,
who had accompanied him in his labors in Macedonia, his
true son in the faith and in the work, address themselves
to the saints and to those who bore oce in this particular
assembly. is is not an epistle which soars to the height
of God’s counsels, like that to the Ephesians, or which
regulates the godly order which becomes Christians
everywhere, like the two to the Corinthians; nor is it one
which lays the foundation for the relationship of a soul
with God, like that to the Romans. Neither was it destined
to guard Christians against the errors that were creeping in
among them, like some of the others which were written
by our Apostle. It takes the ground of the precious inner
life, of the common aection of Christians towards each
other, but of that aection as experienced in the heart of
Paul, animated and directed by the Holy Spirit. Hence also
we nd the ordinary relationships which existed within an
assembly: there are bishops and deacons, and it was the
more important to remember them, since the immediate
care of the Apostle was no longer possible. e absence
of this immediate care forms the basis of the Apostle’s
instructions here, and gives its peculiar importance to the
epistle.<P399>
Philippians 1
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e evidences of God’s work in the Philippians; the
true and living source of all blessing, remaining and
unchangeable
e aection of the Philippians, which expressed itself
by sending help to the Apostle, reminded him of the spirit
they had always shown; they had cordially associated
themselves with the labors and trials of the gospel. And
this thought leads the Apostle higher, to that which
governs the current of thought (most precious to us) in
the epistle. Who had wrought in the Philippians this spirit
of love and of devotedness to the interests of the gospel?
Truly it was the God of the glad tidings and of love; and
this was a security that He who had begun the good work
would fulll it unto the day of Christ. Sweet thought-now
that we have no longer the Apostle, that we have no longer
bishops and deacons, as the Philippians had in those days.
God cannot be taken from us; the true and living source
of all blessing remains to us, unchangeable, and above the
inrmities, and even the faults, which deprive Christians
of all intermediate resources. e Apostle had seen God
acting in the Philippians. e fruits bore witness of the
source. Hence he counted on the perpetuity of the blessing
they were to enjoy.1 But there must be faith in order to
draw these conclusions. Christian love is clear-sighted
and full of trust with regard to its objects, because God
Himself, and the energy of His grace, are in that love.
(1. Read in verse 7 as in the margin, “Because ye have
me in your heart.”)
e fruits of God’s essential grace in the walk of
the Philippians leading the Apostle to the source of
condence
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To return to the principle-it is the same thing with the
assembly of God. It may indeed lose much, as to outward
means, and as to those manifestations of the presence
of God, which are connected with man’s responsibility;
but the essential grace of God cannot be lost. Faith can
always count upon it. It was the fruits of grace which
gave the Apostle this condence, as in Hebrews 6:9-
10 and 1 essalonians 1:3-4. He counted indeed, in
1Corinthians 1:8, and in Galatians, on the faithfulness of
Christ in spite of many painful things. e faithfulness of
the Lord encouraged him with regard to Christians, whose
condition in other respects<P400> was the cause of great
anxiety. But here-surely a much happier case-the walk
itself of the Christian led him to the source of condence
about them. He remembered with aection and tenderness
the way in which they had always acted towards him, and
he turned it into a desire for them that the God who had
wrought it would produce for their own blessing the perfect
and abundant fruits of that love.
Paul’s earnest desire for them of every excellence and
likeness to Christ
He opens his own heart also to them. ey took part, by
the same grace acting in them, in the work of God’s grace
in him, and that with an aection that identied itself with
him and his work; and his heart turned to them with an
abundant return of aection and desire. God, who created
these feelings, and to whom he presented all that passed in
his heart, this same God who acted in the Philippians, was
a witness between them (now that Paul could give no other
by his labor among them) of his earnest desire for them all.
He felt their love, but he desired moreover that this love
should be not only cordial and active, but that it should be
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guided also by wisdom and understanding from God, by a
godly discernment of good and evil, wrought by the power
of His Spirit; so that, while acting in love, they should also
walk according to that wisdom, and should understand that
which, in this world of darkness, was truly according to
divine light and perfection, so that they should be without
reproach until the day of Christ. How dierent from the
cold avoidance of positive sin with which many Christians
content themselves! e earnest desire of every excellence
and likeness to Christ which divine light can show them is
that which marks the life of Christ in us.
e Christian’s normal condition in his daily walk
Now the fruits produced were already a sign that God
was with them; and He would fulll the work unto the end.
But the Apostle desired that they should walk throughout
the whole of the way according to the light that God had
given, so that when they came to the end there should be
nothing with which they could be reproached: but that, on
the contrary, set free from all that might<P401> weaken
or lead them astray, they should abound in the fruits of
righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and
praise of God. A ne practical picture of the Christian’s
normal condition in his daily work towards the end; for,
in the Philippians, we are always on the way towards our
heavenly rest in which redemption has set us.
Such is the introduction to this epistle. After this
expression of the wishes of his heart for them, reckoning
on their aection, he speaks of his bonds, which they had
remembered; but he does so in connection with Christ and
the gospel, which he had most of all at heart. But, before I
go beyond the introduction into the matter of the epistle,
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I would notice the thoughts which lie at the foundation of
the sentiments expressed in it.
Pilgrimage in the wilderness; salvation as a result at
the end of the journey
ere are three great elements which stamp their
character on it.
First, it speaks of the Christian’s pilgrimage in the
wilderness; salvation is viewed as a result to be obtained
at the end of the journey. Redemption accomplished by
Christ is indeed established as the foundation of this
pilgrimage (as was the case with Israel at their entrance
into the wilderness), but the being presented risen and in
glory before God, when victorious over every diculty, is
the subject in this epistle, and is that which is here called
salvation.
e assembly by itself maintaining the conict and
having to overcome
In the second place, the position is characterized by
the Apostle’s absence, the assembly having therefore itself
to maintain the conict. It had to overcome, instead of
enjoying the victory gained over the enemy’s power by the
Apostle when he was with them and could make himself
weak with all who were weak.
e assembly cast more immediately on God
And, third, the important truth, already mentioned, is
set forth, that the assembly, in these circumstances, was
cast more immediately on God-the inexhaustible source
for it of grace and<P402> strength, of which it was to avail
itself in an immediate way by faith-a resource which could
never fail it.1
(1. We shall nd the whole tenor of a life which was the
expression of the power of the Spirit of God brought out
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in it. It marks this, that sin, or the esh as working evilly in
us, is not mentioned in the epistle. It gives the forms and
feature of the life of Christ; for if we live in the Spirit, we
should walk in the Spirit. We shall nd the graciousness of
Christian life (ch. 2), the energy of Christian life (ch. 3), and
its superiority to all circumstances (ch. 4). e rst more
opens the Apostle’s heart as to his actual circumstances and
feelings, as was natural. Exhortation begins with chapter 2.
Still even in chapter 1 we nd the Apostle entirely superior
to circumstances in the power of spiritual life.)
Paul’s imprisonment and the jealousy of others
overruled by the One who orders all things
I resume the consideration of the text with verse 12,
which begins the epistle after the introductory portion.
Paul was a prisoner at Rome. e enemy appeared to have
gained a great victory in thus restraining his activity; but
by the power of God, who orders all things and who acted
in the Apostle, even the devices of the adversary were
turned to the furtherance of the gospel. In the rst place,
the imprisonment of the Apostle made the gospel known,
where it would not otherwise have been preached, in high
places at Rome; and many other brethren, reassured as to
the Apostle’s position,1 became more bold to preach the
gospel without fear. But there was another way in which
this absence of the Apostle had an eect. Many-who, in
the presence of his power and his gifts, were necessarily
powerless and insignicant persons-could make themselves
of some importance, when, in the unsearchable but perfect
ways of God, this mighty instrument of His grace was set
aside. ey could hope to shine and attract attention when
the rays of this resplendent light were intercepted by the
walls of a prison. Jealous but hidden when he was present,
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they availed themselves of his absence to bestir themselves;
whether false brethren or jealous Christians, they sought
in his absence to impair his authority in the assembly, and
his happiness. ey only added to both. God was with His
servant; and, instead of the self-seeking which instigated
these sorry preachers of the truth, there<P403> was found
in Paul the pure desire for the proclamation of the good
news of Christ, the whole value of which he deeply felt,
and which he desired above all, be it in what way it might.
(1. In the rst edition I had taken this as the eect of
the Apostle’s imprisonment in arousing the faith of those
inactive when he was active. And this would be the sense of
the English translation and is a true principle. But it seems
that the force of the words is, “Rather got condence as to
my bonds.” ey were in danger of being ashamed of him,
as if he were a malefactor.)
e normal condition of the assembly, as presented
in Ephesians, and its partial failure and the Spirit’s
restoring energy, given in Corinthians and Galatians
Already the Apostle nds his resource for his own
case, in God’s operating independently of the spiritual
order of His house with regard to the means that He uses.
e normal condition of the assembly is that the Spirit
of God acts in the members of the body, each one in its
place, for the manifestation of the unity of the body and
of the reciprocal energy of its members. Christ, having
overcome Satan, lls with His own Spirit those whom He
has delivered out of the hand of that enemy, in order that
they may exhibit at the same time the power of God and
the truth of their deliverance from the power of the enemy,
and exhibit them in a walk, which, being an expression
of the mind and energy of God Himself, leaves no room
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for those of the enemy. ey constituted the army and the
testimony of God in this world against the enemy. But
then, each member, from an apostle down to the weakest,
acts ecaciously in his own place. e power of Satan is
excluded. e exterior answers to the interior, and to the
work of Christ. He who is in them is greater than he who is
in the world. But everywhere power is needed for this, and
the single eye. ere is another state of things, in which,
although all is not in activity in its place, according to the
measure of the gift of Christ, yet the restoring energy of
the Spirit in an instrument like the Apostle defends the
assembly, or brings it back into its normal condition, when
it has partially failed. e Epistle to the Ephesians, on the
one side, and those to the Corinthians and Galatians, on
the other, present these two phases of the history of the
assembly.
e assembly deprived of normal energies, but not of
God; the reason it was allowed
e Epistle to the Philippians treats-but with the pen
of a divinely inspired apostle-of a state of things in which
this last resource was wanting. e Apostle could not
labor now in the same manner as before, but he could give
us the Spirit’s view of the<P404> state of the assembly,
when, according to the wisdom of God, it was deprived
of these normal energies. It could not be deprived of God.
Doubtless the assembly had not then departed so far from
its normal condition as it has now done, but the evil was
already springing up. All seek their own, says the Apostle,
not the things of Jesus Christ; and God allowed it to be
so during the life of the apostles, in order that we might
have the revelation of His thoughts respecting it, and that
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we might be directed to the true resources of His grace in
these circumstances.
Man’s inability to maintain God’s work; what faith
brings out
Paul himself had to experience this truth in the rst
place. e bonds that united him to the assembly and to the
work of the gospel were the strongest that exist on earth;
but he was obliged to resign the gospel and the assembly
to the God to whom they belonged. is was painful; but
its eect was to perfect obedience, trust, singleness of
eye, and self-renunciation, in the heart, that is, to perfect
them according to the measure of the operation of faith.
Nevertheless the pain caused by such an eort betrays the
inability of man to maintain the work of God at its own
height. But all this happens in order that God may have the
whole glory of the work; and it is needed, in order that the
creature may be manifested in every respect according to
the truth. And it is most blessed to see how, both here and
in 2Timothy, the decay of individual life and ecclesiastical
energy brings out a fuller development of personal grace on
one hand and ministerial energy on the other, where there
is faith, than is found anywhere else. Indeed it is always
so. e Moseses, and Davids, and Elijahs are found in the
time of the Pharaohs, and Sauls, and Ahabs.
Christ and souls more precious to Paul than his own
part in God’s work
e Apostle could do nothing: he had to see the gospel
preached without him-by some through envy and in a
spirit of contention, by others through love; encouraged
as regards the Apostle’s bonds, these desired to alleviate
them by continuing his work. Every way Christ was
preached, and the Apostle’s mind rose above the motives
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which animated the preachers in the contemplation of the
immense fact, that a Saviour, the deliverer sent of God,
was<P405> preached to the world. Christ, and even souls
were more precious to Paul than the work’s being carried
on by himself. God was carrying it on; and therefore it
would be for the triumph of Paul, who linked himself with
the purposes of God.1 He understood the great conict
which was going on between Christ (in His members)
and the enemy; and if the latter appeared to have gained
a victory by putting Paul in prison, God was using this
event for the advancement of the work of Christ by the
gospel, and thus in reality for the gaining of fresh victories
over Satan- victories with which Paul was associated, since
he was set for the defence of that gospel. erefore all
this turned to his salvation, his faith being conrmed by
these ways of a faithful God, who directed the eyes of His
faithful servant more entirely upon Himself. Sustained by
the prayers of others and by the supply of the Spirit of
Jesus Christ, instead of being cast down and terried by
the enemy, he gloried more and more in the sure victory of
Christ in which he shared.
(1. ere is blessed faith in this. But then a man must
have made the work his life. “To me to live is Christ.” If so,
if the work prospers, he prospers; if Christ is gloried, he is
content, even if the Lord has laid him aside.)
Christ gloried by Paul’s life or death: to live-Christ;
to die was gain
Accordingly he expresses his unchangeable conviction,
that in nothing should he be made ashamed, but that it
would be given him to use all boldness, and that Christ
would be gloried in him, whether by his life or his death;
and he had death before his eyes. Called to appear before
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Caesar, his life might be taken from him by the emperor’s
judgment; humanly speaking the issue was quite uncertain.
He alludes to this (ch. 1:22,30; 2:17; 3:10). But, living or
dying, his eye was now more xed on Christ than even
on the work, high placed as that work might have been in
the mind of one whose life could be expressed in this one
word-“Christ.” To live was for him-not the work in itself,
nor only that the faithful should stand fast in the gospel,
although this could not be separated from the thought of
Christ, because they were members of His body-Christ; to
die was gain, for he should be with Christ.<P406>
Work for the Lord or the Lord Himself: Christ
holding the rst place
Such was the purifying eect of the ways of God,
who had made him pass through the ordeal, so terrible
to him, of being separated for years, perhaps four, from
his work for the Lord. e Lord Himself had taken the
place of the work-so far at least as it was connected with
Paul individually; and the work was committed to the
Lord Himself. Possibly the fact that he was so engrossed
with the work had contributed to that which led to his
imprisonment; for the thought of Christ alone keeps the
soul in equilibrium, and gives everything its right place.
God caused this imprisonment to be the means through
which Christ became his all. Not that he lost his interest in
the work, but that Christ alone held the rst place; and he
saw everything, and even the work, in Christ.
What consolation it is, when we are perhaps conscious
that our weakness has been manifested, and that we have
failed in acting according to the power of God, to feel that
He, who alone has a right to be gloried, never fails!
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Christ and His will everything; the peace that is given
by looking to Jesus
Now, since Christ was everything to Paul, it was evident
gain to die, for he would be with Him. Nevertheless it was
worthwhile to live (for this is the force of the rst part of
verse 21), because it was Christ and His service; and he
did not know which to choose. Dying, he gained Christ
for himself: it was far better. Living, he served Christ; he
had more, as to the work, since to live was Christ, and
death of course would put a stop to that. us he was in
a strait between the two. But he had learned to forget
himself in Christ; and he saw Christ entirely occupied
with the assembly according to His perfect wisdom. And
this decided the question; for being thus taught of God,
and not knowing for himself which to choose, Paul lost
sight of himself, and thought only of the need of the
assembly according to the mind of Christ. It was good for
the assembly that he should remain-for one assembly even:
thus he should remain. And see what peace this looking to
Jesus, which destroyed selshness in the work, gives to the
servant of God. After all, Christ has all power in heaven
and earth, and He orders all things according to His will.
us when His will is<P407> known-and His will is love
for the assembly-one can say that it will be done. Paul
decides as to his own fate, without troubling himself as to
either what the emperor would do, or the circumstances
of the time. Christ loved the assembly. It was good for the
assembly that Paul should remain; Paul shall then remain.
How entirely Christ is everything here! What light, what
rest, from a single eye, from a heart versed in the Lord’s
love! How blessed to see self so totally gone, and Christ’s
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love to the assembly seen thus to be the ground on which
all is ordered!
What the assembly should be for Christ; the precious
portion given to suer with Him as well as to believe in
Him
Now if Christ is all this for Paul and for the assembly,
Paul desires that the assembly should be that which it
ought to be for Christ, and thereby for his own heart to
which Christ was everything. To the assembly therefore
the Apostle’s heart turns. e joy of the Philippians would
be abundant through his return to them; only let their
conduct, whether he came or not, be worthy of the gospel
of Christ. Two thoughts possessed his mind, whether he
should see them or hear tidings of them, that they might
have constancy and rmness in unity of heart and mind
among themselves; and be devoid of fear with regard to the
enemy, in the conict they had to maintain against him,
with the strength that this unity would give them. is is
the testimony of the presence and operation of the Spirit
in the assembly, when the Apostle is absent. He keeps
Christians together by His presence; they have but one
heart and one object. ey act in common by the Spirit.
And, since God is there, the fear with which the evil spirit
and their enemies might inspire them (and it is what he
ever seeks to do; compare 1Peter 5:8) is not there. ey
walk in the spirit of love and power and of a sound mind.
eir condition is thus an evident testimony of salvation-
entire and nal deliverance-since in their warfare with the
enemy they feel no fear, the presence of God inspiring them
with other thoughts. With regard to their adversaries, the
discovery of the impotence of all their eorts produces the
sense of the insuciency of their resources. Although they
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had the whole power of the world and of its prince, they
had met with a power superior to their own-the power of
God, and they were its adversaries. A terrible conviction
on the one side;<P408> profound joy on the other, where
not only there was thus the assurance of deliverance
and salvation, but they were proved to be salvation and
deliverance from the hand of God Himself. us, that the
assembly should be in conict, and the Apostle absent
(himself wrestling with all the power of the enemy), was
a gift. Joyful thought! Unto them it was given to suer for
Christ, as well as to believe in Him. ey had a further
and a precious portion in suering with Christ, and even
for Christ; and communion with His faithful servant in
suering for His sake united them more closely in Him.
A life above the esh a glorious testimony to the
power and working of God’s Spirit
Note, here, how thus far we have the testimony of
the Spirit to a life above the esh, not of it. In nothing
he had been ashamed, and fully trusted he never should
be, but Christ magnied in his body, were his lot life or
death, as He ever had been. He does not know whether to
choose life or death, both were so blessed; to live, Christ;
to die, gain, though then labor was over; such condence
in Christ’s love to the assembly that he decides his case
before Nero by what that love would produce. Envy and
strife against himself leading some to preach Christ would
only turn to victorious results for himself: he was content
if Christ was preached. e superiority to the esh, living
above it so completely, was not that it was not there or its
nature changed. He had, as we learn elsewhere, a thorn in
the esh, a messenger of Satan to buet him. But it is a
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glorious testimony to the power and working of the Spirit
of God.
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Philippians 2
e Apostle’s desire for the happiness of his beloved
Philippians
But this, too, produced its eects. e Apostle desired
that their joy should be full, and that unity among the
Philippians should be perfect; for his absence had allowed
some seeds of disunion and disaection to germinate. Love
had been sweetly and powerfully demonstrated by the gift
they had sent to the Apostle. Consolation in Christ, comfort
of love, fellowship of the Spirit, tender mercies<P409> were
displayed in it, giving him great joy. Let them then make
this joy perfect by the full establishment of this same bond
of love among themselves, by being of one accord, of one
mind, having the same love for each other, being all like-
minded, allowing no rivalship or vainglory to display itself
in any way. Such was the Apostle’s desire. Appreciating
their love towards himself, he wished their happiness to
be complete through the perfecting of that love among
themselves: thus would his own joy be perfect. Beautiful
and touching aection! It was love in him which, sensible
to their love, thought only of them. How delicate the way
in which a kindness, which precluded reproof, made a
way for what really was one, and which a heart that added
charity to brotherly love could not leave unuttered!
“He humbled Himself”: God has “highly exalted
Him” in His just judgment and righteousness
Now the means of this union, of the maintenance of
this love, was found in the abnegation of self, in humility,
in the spirit that humbles itself in order to serve. It was this
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which perfectly displayed itself in Christ, in contrast with
the rst Adam. e latter sought to make himself like God
by robbery, when he was in the form of a man, and strove
to exalt himself at God’s expense; being at the same time
disobedient unto death. Christ, on the contrary, when He
was in the form of God, emptied Himself, through love, of
all His outward glory, of the form of God, and took the form
of a man; and, even when He was in the form of a man, still
humbled Himself. It was a second thing which He did in
humbling Himself. As God, He emptied Himself; as man,
He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death,
even to the death of the cross. God has highly exalted
Him; for he who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he
who humbles himself shall be exalted. Perfect love, glorious
truth, precious obedience! A man by the just judgment and
act of God is exalted to the right hand of the throne of
the divine Majesty. What a truth is the Person of Christ!
What a truth is this descent and ascension by which He
lls all things as Redeemer and Lord of glory! God come
down in love, man ascended in righteousness; entire love in
coming down, entire obedience by love also. Worthy from
all eternity as to His Person to be there, He is now as man
exalted by God to His right hand. It is an act of<P410>
righteousness on God’s part that He is there; and our
hearts can take part in it, rejoicing in His glory-rejoicing
also that by grace we have part in it as to our own place.
e Lord’s humiliation a proof that He is God; His
highest place and supremely glorious name
His humiliation is a proof that He is God. God only
could leave His rst estate in the sovereign rights of His
love; it is sin for any creature to do so. It is also a perfect
love. But this proof is given, this love accomplished, in
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the fact that He is man. What a place has He acquired
for us in Himself! But it is of Him, not of us who are its
fruits, that the Apostle thinks. He rejoices in the thought
of Christ’s exaltation. God has exalted Him to the highest
place, and given Him a name which is above every name,
so that everything in heaven and earth, and even in infernal
regions, must bow before this exalted Man, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father.
Jesus owned as Lord of all throughout the whole
creation
It will be remarked here, that it is the lordship of Christ
that is presented in this passage, not His divinity in itself.
His divinity is indeed the primary point of departure. All
in fact has its origin there-the love, the self-renunciation,
the humiliation, the marvelous condescension. Nothing of
all this could have been, or would have its value, without
the former; but it is of the Lord, complete in His Person
in the position which He took as man-it is of Him who
humbled Himself, who when He had gone down to the
lowest possible place, was exalted by God; it is of Jesus,
who could, without exalting Himself, be equal with God,
but who emptied Himself, who went down even into death,
that the Apostle speaks: of Jesus, Lord of all, and who, thus
exalted as man, shall be owned as Lord throughout the
whole creation to the glory of God the Father.1<P411>
(1. Observe also, that it is not with regard to that which
He suered, as the eect of His submission to the will of
God in the position which He took, that Christ is here
presented as our pattern. It is in His voluntary humiliation,
the fact that in love he took the last-the lowest-place, that
we are called to follow Him. Love serves, love humbles
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itself-readily takes the meanest position (meanest according
to the pride of man) in order to serve, and delights in it.
Christ acted from love; He chose to serve. Christ chose to
take the low place-He who was able to humble Himself-
and we?)
e obedience of Christ applied for instruction;
engaged with the enemy without Paul’s aid but not
deprived of God and His work in them
e Apostle’s heart enlarges whenever he speaks of the
Lord Jesus; but he turns to the objects of his solicitude;
and as he had spoken of the self-renunciation and the
humiliation of Christ, as a means of union which would
take all occasion from carnal rival-ship, he has also been
led to speak of the obedience of Christ in contrast with the
rst Adam and the esh. He now applies this principle,
also, for the instruction of the Philippians: “Wherefore,”
he says, “my beloved, as ye have always obeyed.” And here
the eect of his absence and removal from the work is
introduced-“not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling; for,” he adds, “it is God which worketh in
you, both to will and to do.” at is to say, while he was
among them he had labored; now they were themselves
engaged with the enemy, without the aid of Paul’s presence
and spiritual energy; but God Himself wrought in them,
and they ought to work so much the more earnestly
in that they found themselves in such a warfare, God
Himself being engaged for them as acting in them for
this conict, and they themselves striving in their own
persons, directly with the power of the enemy. is was
not the moment to boast in their little gifts, on account
of the absence of that which had thrown them into the
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shade, nor to be at strife among themselves. On the other
hand, if they were deprived of Paul, they were not deprived
of God. God Himself wrought in them. is is the great
principle, and the great consolation of the epistle. e
Christians, deprived of the important aid of the Apostle,
are cast more immediately on God. e Apostle himself,
separated from the assembly, nds his own consolation in
God; and commits the assembly in its lack of his personal
care, to God Himself, in whom he had himself found this
consolation.
Exhortation to work because God wrought in them;
two views of the Christian-“in Christ,” a complete,
perfect, present state, and yet also a pilgrim having to
attain the goal
It is to be carefully remarked here, that it is the very
opposite of an exhortation to our own working in
contrast with God’s <P412>eectual power. “Your own”
is in contrast with Paul in his absence, who had labored
for them, because God did work in them to will and to
do. ey were to work, because, if Paul was absent, God
wrought in them. I have noticed already that salvation,
every blessing, is looked at everywhere in this epistle as at
the end of the Christian’s course, even the manifestation
of their righteousness (ch. 3:9). is passage is an example.
ere are two ways the Christian is seen in the New
Testament. In Christ-here is no progress, no question: he
is accepted in Him-a complete, perfect, present state. But
he is also a pilgrim upon earth, having to attain the goal:
so always in Philippians. is gives occasion to every kind
of exhortation, warning and “if.” us he learns obedience
and dependence-the two characteristics of the new man.
But with this he is led to the sure infallible faithfulness of
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God to bring him through to the end, and bound to reckon
on it. See 1Corinthians 1:8, which I cite because they were
going on very badly; but passages abound.
Diligence and earnestness ought to characterize the walk
of Christians in these circumstances, in which immediate
connection with God and personal conict with the enemy
have to be realized.
Unity of spirit and godly walk; heavenly lights amid
the world’s moral darkness-what Christ was
e Apostle returns to the spirit of meekness and peace,
in which the fruits of righteousness are sown. “Do all
things,” he says, “without murmurings and disputings, that
ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God in the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom
ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of
life”: a very striking passage, because it will be found that
in every member of the sentence it is an exact statement of
what Christ was. Whatever may be the circumstances in
which the assembly is found, such, as respects itself, should
ever be its state and its walk. Grace sucient for this is ever
there in Christ.
e Apostle’s work and reward and the assembly’s
blessing
Unity of spirit among themselves by grace, and a walk
according to God, in order that they may be as heavenly
lights amid the moral darkness of this world-always
carrying, and thus holding<P413> forth, the Word of life:
such was the Apostle’s desire. ey would thus give proof
by the constancy and practical eect of their faith, that the
Apostle had not run or labored in vain; and they would
themselves be his glory in the day of Christ. Oh, if the
assembly had continued such! Be that as it may, Christ will
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be gloried. e Apostle thus unites his work and the reward
in the day of Christ with the blessing of the assembly. He
would not be separated from it in his death. is union of
heart and faith is very touching. He presents himself as
capable of being poured out (that is to say, his life) upon
the sacrice and service of the Philippians’ faith. ey had
shown their devotedness to Christ in thinking even of His
servant; and he looks upon all their faith as an oering to
the Saviour and to God; looking at them, Christ’s people,
as the substance of the oering, the great thing, himself
only as a libation-his life poured out upon the oering.
Perhaps his life would be poured out in the service of the
gospel, to which they consecrated themselves on their part,
and be a seal to this oering of theirs, which was dedicated
to God by this sacred bond with the Apostle. He rejoiced,
if it were so, that his life was poured out: it would crown his
work for the Gentiles. He desires too that they also in the
same spirit should rejoice in the same thing. It was all one
thing, their faith and his, and their common service, oered
to God, and well-pleasing to Him; and the most exalted
proof of it should be the source of the most sacred joy. is
world was not the real scene of that which was going on:
what we behold here in connection with the divine work is
but the outside. e Apostle speaks this language of faith,
which ever sees things as before God.
Timotheus to be sent to the Philippians
Nevertheless his watchful care did not cease, although
he committed the Philippians to God. It is always thus. e
love and the faith which commit everything to God do not
cease to think according to God of that which is dear to
Him. us in 1John, chapter 2, the Apostle, while saying
that the little children in Christ needed not that anyone
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should teach them, yet instructs them with all tenderness
and foresight. Here also the Apostle, full of holy solicitude
for these souls who were dear to Christ, hopes soon to send
Timotheus that he may know their state. But the condition
of things is evident. He sends Timotheus because he had
no<P414> one else in whose heart the same feelings
towards them owed forth from the same spring of love.
All sought their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
What an exercise for faith! But what an occasion for its
exercise!
Still, with regard to Timotheus, these beloved
Philippians should receive him with a heart that responded
to the Apostle’s condence. ey knew how he had served
Paul in the gospel. e bonds of love in the gospel are
but the stronger-God be praised- when all grows cold.
And observe, that God carried on His work, when as to
the common testimony of the assembly, everything failed
through a coldness which oppressed the Apostle’s heart;
for God does not weary in His work. is bond however
does not fail here with the Philippians either. As soon as
Paul knew how it would go with himself, he would send
Timotheus to them; but, as he had said, he had condence
in the Lord that he himself should come shortly.
Epaphroditus and his service: a testimony of
Christian love
But there was also Epaphroditus, who had come from
the Philippians to carry their testimonial of aection to the
Apostle; and who, the faithful instrument and expression
of their love, had risked his own life and suered from
dangerous sickness, in order to accomplish their service.
is ne testimony of Christian love breaks out here on
every side. Epaphroditus so counts upon the love of the
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Philippians, that he is much troubled, because they had
heard he was sick. He reckons on the feeling they had
towards him-the place he had in their aections. Would
it not be thus with an aectionate son, who knew that his
mother had heard such tidings of him? He would hasten
to inform her of his recovery, in order to tranquilize a heart
whose love he knew. Such is Christian aection, tender
and simple, conding, because pure and unsuspicious, and
walking in the light of God-walking with Him and in the
aections which Christ had consecrated as man. Divine
love, no doubt, goes higher; but brotherly love, which acts
before men and as the fruit among men of that divine love,
displays itself thus in grace.
e Apostle responds to this aection of the Philippians
for him who taught them and labored in the Lord for them
(the Holy Spirit also remembers it here), and he sends back
Epaphroditus,<P415> encouraging and seeking to sustain
this feeling in the heart of the Philippians. He takes part
in it himself, and brings into it God’s own tender love. Paul
would have had sorrow upon sorrow (and he had much
already), if the Philippians had lost their beloved servant
and messenger by means of the services he had rendered
them; but God had spared Epaphroditus and the Apostle
himself. He would however have them assured of it by the
presence of Epaphroditus again among them; and thus the
Apostle’s own heart freed from all anxiety, would be also
relieved. What a picture of mutual love and kind solicitude!
Compassions and aections for God’s laborers: a
precious chain of love
And observe the ways in which God, according to the
Apostle, takes part in it. What are presented to us here
are His compassions, not the counsels of His love, but
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compassions worthy of God, and aections of which He
approves among men. ese aections and this value for
laborers are sometimes feared; and so much the more so,
because the assembly has in fact to disentangle itself from
all false dependence on man. But it is in the entire failure
of manifested strength and outward organized bond,
through the Apostle’s absence, that the Spirit of God
develops the play of these inward aections and bonds
for the instruction of the assembly; as he acknowledges
all that remains of the ruins of its primitive position and
its outward bonds. He does not create these anew; but he
acknowledges that which still exists. It is only the rst verse
of the epistle which speaks of this-no more was needed; but
the inward bonds he develops largely, not as doctrine, but
as fact. God Himself, the Apostle, his faithful Timotheus,
the valued servant of the Philippians, who was so dear to
them, and the fellow-laborer of Paul, the servant of the
Lord, the Philippians themselves, all have their part in
this precious and beautiful chain of love. e graciousness
of the Christian life is thus developed in every part of
this chapter; the delicacy of his reproof of the spirit of
division; his sending Timothy when he can let them know
how it went with him, but Epaphroditus at once because
they had heard he had been sick. is graciousness, and
consideration of others, note, connects itself with a Christ
who humbles Himself.
A lowly Christ humbling Himself from Godhead form
down to<P416> death, is the spring of lowly graciousness;
an exalted One sought in glory, the spring of energy which
counts all to be dross and dung to win Him.
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73256
Philippians 3
Full enjoyment: its prevention and preservation in
Christian experience
After all it was in the Lord Himself that they had to
rejoice, and the Apostle now puts them on their guard
against that which had eaten away the life of the assembly,
and produced the painful fruits that lled his heart with
anguish, and the deplorable consequences of which we see
at this day, even as he foretold-consequences which will yet
ripen for the judgment of God. Be this as it may, the Lord
does not change. “Rejoice,” he says, “in the Lord.” ere all
is sure.
at which might prevent their thus rejoicing is
developed, as well as the true knowledge of Christ, which
preserves us from it: not here according to the doctrine
and the practice that belong to the high position of the
assembly’s union with a gloried Christ as His body,
nor according to the unity which ows from it. is is
the subject of the Ephesians. Neither is it according to
the urgent necessity of cleaving to the Head, because all
fullness is in Him. is is the instruction of the Epistle
to the Colossians. But, in accordance with the general
character of the epistle, the subject is here treated in
connection with the personal experiences of the Christian,
and, in particular, of the Apostle. Accordingly-as was seen
in his personal combats and sorrow-he nds himself on
the road to the full enjoyment of this object whom he has
learned to know, and the state which his heart desires. is
ought to be the Christian’s experience, for, if I am united by
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the Spirit to the Head as a member of the body of Christ,
and if by faith I apprehend this union, it is nonetheless
true that my personal experience (although this faith is its
basis) is necessarily in connection with the paths which I
follow in order to reach the glory this entitles me to. Not
that the sentiments awakened by that which I encounter
on this path either falsify or contradict my position in
Christ, or destroy the certainty of my starting point. But,
while possessing this certainty, and because I possess it,
I know that I have not in fact<P417> reached the result
of this position in glory. Now, in this epistle, we are on
the road, we are individualized in our relations with God;
for experience is always individual, although our union
with each other as members of Christ forms a part of this
experience.
Warnings and instructions against leaving a known
and gloried Christ to return to Judaism
In chapter 3 Paul resumes his exhortation; but it was
not burdensome to him, and it was safe for them (danger
being present and his tender love watchful), to renew his
warnings and instructions respecting the admixture of
Judaizing principles with the doctrine of a gloried Christ.
It was in fact to destroy the latter and to reinstate the esh
(that is, sin and alienation from God) in its place. It was
the rst man, already rejected and condemned, and not
the second Man. Yet it is not in the shape of sin that the
esh appears here, but in that of righteousness, of all that
is respectable and religious, of ordinances which had the
venerable weight of antiquity attached to them, and as to
their origin, if all had not been done away in Christ, the
authority of God Himself.
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To the Apostle, who knew Christ in heaven, all this was
but a bait to draw the Christian away from Christ, and
throw him back again into the ruin out of which Christ
had drawn him. And this would be so much the worse,
because it would be to abandon a known and gloried
Christ, and to return to that which had been proved to be
of no value through the esh. e Apostle therefore spares
neither the doctrine nor those who taught it.
Concision or circumcision; real love to Christ gives
evil its true character
e glory which he had seen, his contests with these
false teachers, the state into which they had thrown the
assembly, Jerusalem and Rome, his liberty and his prison-
all had gained him the experience of what Judaism was
worth as to the assembly of God. ey were dogs, evil
workers, that is, workers of malice and wickedness. It was
not the circumcision. He treats it with profound contempt,
and uses language, the harshness of which is justied by
his love for the assembly (for love is severe towards those
who, devoid of conscience, corrupt the object of that love).
It was the concision.<P418>
When evil without shame, and laboring to produce evil
under a disgraceful veil of religion, is manifested in its true
character, mildness is a crime against the objects of the
love of Christ. If we love Him, we shall in our interactions
with the assembly give the evil its true character, which it
seeks to hide. is is real love and faithfulness to Christ.
e Apostle had certainly not failed in condescension to
the weak in this respect. He had carried it far; his prison
testied it. And now the assembly, deprived of his energy
and that spiritual decision which was full of love to all which
is good, was more in danger than ever. e experience of a
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whole life of activity, of the greatest patience, of four years’
reection in prison, led to these forcible and urgent words,
“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the
concision.” e doctrine of the Epistle to the Ephesians,
the exhortation of that to the Colossians, the aection of
that to these Philippians, with the denunciation contained
in chapter 3:2, date from the same epoch, and are marked
with the same love.
But it suced to denounce them. Elsewhere, where
they were not well-known, he gave details, as in the case
of Timotheus, who had still to watch over the assembly. It
was sucient now to point out their well-known character.
Whatever Judaized, whatever sought to mingle law and
gospel, trusting in ordinances and the Spirit, was shameless,
malicious, and contemptible. But the Apostle will rather
occupy himself with the power that delivers from it. We
are the circumcision (that which is really separate from the
evil, that which is dead to sin and to the esh), we who
worship God, not in the false pretension of ordinances, but
spiritually by the power of the Holy Spirit, who rejoice in
Christ the Saviour and not in the esh, but on the contrary
have no condence in it. We see here Christ and the Spirit
in contrast with the esh and self.
Paul’s righteousness of the esh and the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus eclipsing everything
Paul might indeed boast, if needful, in that which
belonged to the esh. As to all Jewish privileges, he
possessed them in the highest degree. He had outstripped
everyone in holy zeal against innovators. One thing alone
had changed it all-he had seen a gloried Christ. All that
he had according to the esh was thenceforth loss to him.
It would place something between him and the<P419>
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Christ of his faith and of his desire-the Christ whom
he knew. And, observe, that here it is not the sins of the
esh which Christ expiates and abolishes that he rejects;
it is its righteousness. It has none, we may say; but even
if the Apostle had possessed any righteousness of the
esh-as, in fact, he did possess it outwardly-he would not
have it, because he had seen a better. In Christ, who had
appeared to him on the way to Damascus, he had seen
divine righteousness for man, and divine glory in man. He
had seen a gloried Christ, who acknowledged the poor
feeble members of the assembly as a part of Himself. He
would have nothing else. e excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus his Lord had eclipsed everything-changed
everything which was not that into loss. e stars, as well
as the darkness of night, disappear before the sun. e
righteousness of the law, the righteousness of Paul, all that
distinguished him among men, disappeared before the
righteousness of God and the glory of Christ.
Gain turned to loss and Christ become all
It was a thorough change in his whole moral being. His
gain was now loss to him. Christ was become all. It was
not evil which disappeared-everything that belonged to
Paul as advantage to the esh disappeared. It was another
who was now precious to him. What a deep and radical
change in the whole moral being of man, when he ceases to
be the center of his own importance; and another, worthy
of being so, becomes the center of his moral existence-a
divine person, a man who had gloried God, a man in
whom the glory of God shone out, to the eye of faith; in
whom His righteousness was realized, His love, His tender
mercy, perfectly revealed towards men and known by men.
is was He whom Paul desired to win, to possess-for here
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we are still in the paths of the wilderness-he desired to be
found in Him: “at I may win Christ, and be found in
him.” Two things were present to his faith in this desire: to
have the righteousness of God Himself as his (in Christ he
should possess it); and then, to know Him and the power
of His resurrection-for he only knew Him as risen-and,
according to that power working in him now, to have part
in the suerings of Christ, and be made conformable to
His death.<P420>
e death of Christ and the power of His resurrection
It was in His death that perfect love had been
demonstrated, that the perfect ground of divine and
eternal righteousness had been laid, that self-renunciation
was practically, entirely, perfectly, manifested in Christ, the
perfect object to the Apostle of a faith that apprehended it
and desired it according to the new man. Christ had passed
through death in the perfection of that life, the power of
which was manifested in resurrection.
Paul’s desire to follow his Lord in His suerings,
having seen Him in the glory
Paul, having seen this perfection in glory, and being
united (weak as he was in himself) to Christ the source of
this power, desired to know the power of His resurrection,
that he might follow Him in His suerings. Circumstances
held this as a reality before his eyes. His heart only saw, or
wished to see, Christ, that he might follow Him there. If
death was on the way, he was only so much the more like
Christ. He did not mind what it cost, if by any means he
might attain. is gave undivided energy of purpose. is
is indeed to know Him, as completely put to the test, and
thus to know all that He was, His perfection-of love, of
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obedience, of devotedness-fully manifested; but the object
is to win Him as He is.
Having seen Him in the glory, the Apostle understood
the path which had led Him there, and the perfection of
Christ in that path. Participating in His life, he desired
to realize its power according to His glory, that he might
follow Him, in order to be where Jesus was, and in the
glory with Him. is is what the Lord said in John 12:23-
26. Who had apprehended Him like Paul by the grace of
God? Observe here the dierence between him and Peter.
Peter calls himself “a witness of the suerings of Christ
and a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed”; Paul, a
witness of the glory as it is in heaven (“as he is,” as John says),
desires to share his suerings. It is the special foundation
of the assembly’s place, of walking in the Spirit, according
to the revelation of the glory of Christ. It is this, I doubt
not, which makes Peter say, that in all Paul’s epistles-which
he acknowledges moreover as a part of the Scriptures-there
are some things hard to be understood. It took man clean
out of the whole ancient order of things.<P421>
e righteousness of God in Christ and the knowledge
of Christ
Having then seen Christ in glory, there were two things
for Paul-the righteousness of God in Christ, and the
knowledge of Christ. e rst entirely eclipsed everything
of which the esh could boast. is was “mine own,” the
righteousness of man according to the law. e other was
the righteousness of God, which is by faith; that is, man
is nothing in it. It is God’s righteousness: man has part
in it by believing, that is to say, by faith in Christ Jesus.
e believer has his place before God in Christ, in the
righteousness of God Himself, which He had manifested
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in glorifying Christ, having gloried Himself in Him.
What a position! Not only sin, but human righteousness,
all that is of self, excluded; our place being according to the
perfection in which Christ, as man, has perfectly gloried
God. But this place is necessarily the place of Him who has
accomplished this glorious work. Christ, in His Person and
in His present position,1 is the expression of our place: to
know Him is to know it. He is there according to divine
righteousness. To be there, as He is, is that into which
divine righteousness freely, but necessarily, introduces
man-introduces us-in Christ. enceforth, having seen the
righteousness of God in that Christ is there, I desire myself
to know what it is to be there: and I desire to know Christ.
But in truth this embraces all that He was in accomplishing
it. e glory reveals the power and the result. at which
He suered is the work in which He gloried God; so that
divine righteousness has been fullled in His exaltation,
as man, to divine glory. And here divine love, perfect
devotedness to His Father’s glory, constant and perfect
obedience, the endurance of all things in order to give
testimony of His Father’s love for men, perfect patience,
unfathomable suerings, in order that love might be both
possible and perfect for sinners-all in short that Christ was,
being connected with His Person, makes Him an object
which commands, possesses, delivers, and strengthens the
heart, by the power of His grace acting in the new life, in
which we are united to Him by the all-powerful link of the
Spirit, and causes Him to be the alone object before our
eyes.<P422>
(1. Not, of course, as to being at the right hand of God-
this was personal.)
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Paul’s desire for Christ’s cup and His baptism; his
practical, personal experience and his own resurrection
Accordingly Paul desires to have that which Christ can
give, His cup, and His baptism; and to leave to the Father,
that which Christ left to Him, the disposal of places in
the kingdom. He does not desire, like John and James, the
right and left hand, that is, a good place for himself. He
desires Christ, he would win Christ. He does not follow
tremblingly, as the disciples did in that chapter (Mark 10);
he desires to suer-not, that is, for the sake of suering, but
to have part in the suerings of Christ. Instead therefore of
going away like the young man in the same chapter, because
he had much that could prot the esh, instead of clinging
like him to the law for his righteousness, he renounces that
righteousness which he had in common with the young
man; and all that he had he counted but as dung.
Here then we have the practical personal experience of
the operation of this great principle, which the Apostle has
set forth in other epistles, that we have part with a gloried
Christ. Also, in telling of the result as to himself, he speaks
of his own resurrection according to the character of
Christ’s. It is not that of which Peter speaks, as we have
seen, the simply participating in the glory that was to be
revealed. It is that which precedes. Having seen Christ in
the glory, according to the power of His resurrection, he
desires to participate in that: and this is the force of his
word, “If by any means.” He desired to have part in the
resurrection from among the dead. If, in order to reach it,
it was needful to pass through death (as Christ had done),
he would go through it, cost what it might, be it in ever so
painful a way-and death was at that time before his eyes
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with its human terror: he desired fully to take part with
Christ.
e resurrection from among the dead; Christ the
example and pattern
Now it is the character of this resurrection that it is
from among the dead; it is not simply the resurrection of
the dead. It is to come out, by the favor and the power of
God (as it regards Christ, and indeed us too by Him, by
the righteousness of God), from the condition of evil into
which sin had plunged men- to<P423> come out, after
having been dead in sins, and now to sin, through the favor
and power and righteousness of God. What grace! and
what a dierence! By following Christ according to the will
of God, in the place where He has set us (and to be content
with the lowest place, if God has given it us, is the same
renunciation of self as to labor in the highest-the secret of
each is, that Christ is everything and ourselves nothing), we
participate in His resurrection-a thought full of peace and
joy, and which lls the heart with love to Christ. Joyful and
glorious hope, which shines before our eyes in Christ, and
in that blessed Saviour gloried! e objects of divine favor
in Him, we come forth- because the eye of God is upon us,
because we are His-from the house of death, which cannot
detain those who are His, because the glory and the love
of God are concerned in them. Christ is the example and
the pattern of our resurrection; the principle (Rom. 8) and
the assurance of our resurrection is in Him. e road to it
is that which the Apostle here traces.
Forgetting and pressing on; an undivided heart and
mind
But since resurrection and likeness to Christ in glory
were the objects of his hope, it is very evident that he had
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not attained it. If that was his perfection, he could not be
yet perfect. He was, as has been said, on the road; but Christ
had apprehended him for it, and he still pressed onward to
lay hold of the prize, for the enjoyment of which Christ
had laid hold of him. No, he repeats to his brethren, I count
not myself to have attained. But one thing at least he could
say-he forgot all that was behind him, and pressed on
ever towards the goal, keeping it always in sight to obtain
the prize of the calling of God, which is found in heaven.
Happy Christian! It is a great thing never to lose sight of
it, never to have a divided heart, to think but of one thing;
to act, to think, always according to the positive energy
wrought by the Holy Spirit in the new man, directing him
to this only and heavenly object. It is not his sins properly
which he here says he forgot-it was his progress that he
forgot, his advantages, all that was already behind. And this
was not merely the energy that showed itself at the rst
impulse; he still counted everything but as dung, because he
had still Christ in view. is is true Christian life.<P424>
What a sad moment would it have been for Rebecca, if,
in the midst of the desert with Eliezer, she had forgotten
Isaac, and begun to think again of Bethuel and her father’s
house! What had she then in the desert with Eliezer?
Such is the true life and position of the Christian; even
as the Israelites, although preserved by the blood from the
messenger of judgment, were not in their true place till
they were on the other side of the Red Sea, a freed people.
en he is on the road to Canaan, as belonging to God.
e walk of Christ on earth
e Christian, until he understands this new position
which Christ has taken as risen from the dead, is not
spiritually in its true place, is not perfect or full-grown in
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Christ. But when he has attained this, it is not assuredly
that he is to despise others. “If,” says the Apostle, “they were
otherwise minded, God would reveal” to them the fullness
of His truth; and all were to walk together with one mind
in the things to which they had attained. Where the eye
was single, it would be so: there were many with whom
this was not the case; but the Apostle was their example.
is was saying much. While Jesus lived, the peculiar
power of this resurrection life could not be revealed in the
same way; and moreover while on earth Christ walked in
the consciousness of that which He was with His Father
before the world existed, so that, although He endured for
the joy that was set before Him, although His life was the
perfect pattern of the heavenly man, there was in Him a
repose, a communion, which had quite a peculiar character;
instructive nevertheless to us, because the Father loves us
as He loved Jesus, and Jesus also loves us as the Father
loved Him. With Him it was not the energy of one who
must run the race in order to attain that which he has never
yet possessed; He spoke of that which He knew, and bore
witness of that which He had seen, of that which He had
forsaken from love to us, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
e various viewpoints of John, Peter and Paul
John enters further into this character of Christ: in his
epistle therefore we nd more of that which He is in His
nature and character, than of what we shall be with Him in
the glory. Peter, <P425>building on the same foundation
as the others, waits however for that which shall be
revealed. His pilgrimage was indeed towards heaven, to
obtain a treasure which was preserved there, which shall
be revealed in the last time; but it is more connected with
that which had been already revealed. From his point of
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view, the morning star on which Paul lived appeared only
on the extreme horizon. For him practical life was that of
Jesus among the Jews. He could not say with Paul, “Be
ye followers of me.” e eect of the revelation of the
heavenly glory of Christ, between His going away and His
reappearance, and that of the union of all Christians to
Him in heaven, was fully realized in him only who received
it. Faithful through grace to this revelation, having no
other object which guided his steps, or to divide his heart,
he gives himself as an example. He truly followed Christ,
but the form of his life was peculiar, on account of the way
in which God had called him; and it is thus that Christians
possessing this revelation ought to walk.
Accordingly Paul speaks of a dispensation committed
to him.
Constantly looking to Jesus as the heavenly, gloried
Christ
It was not to turn their eyes from Christ; it is on having
the eyes constantly xed upon Him that he insists. It was
this which characterized the Apostle, and in this he gives
himself as an example. But the character of this looking to
Jesus was special. It was not a Christ known on earth who
was its object, but a Christ gloried whom he had seen
in heaven. To press ever forward to this end formed the
character of his life; even as this same glory of Christ, as
a testimony to the bringing in divine righteousness and to
the assembly’s position, formed the basis of his teaching.
erefore he can say, “Be followers of me.” His gaze was
ever xed on the heavenly Christ, who had shone before
his eyes and still shone before his faith.
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Enemies of the cross of Christ without life walking
among Christians; a low tone of Christianity allowing
this; the divine, grave and solemn judgment
e Philippians were thus to walk together, and to mark
those who followed the Apostle’s example; because (for
evidently it was<P426> a period in which the assembly as
a whole had much departed from her rst love and her
normal condition) there were many who, while bearing the
name of Christ and having once given good hope, so that
the Apostle speaks of them with tears, were enemies of the
cross of Christ. For the cross on earth, in our life, answers
to the heavenly glory on high. It is not the assembly at
Philippi which is the subject here, but the condition of
the outward universal assembly. Many were already calling
themselves Christians, who joined to that great name a
life which had the earth and earthly things for its object.
e Apostle did not acknowledge them. ey were there;
it was not a matter of local discipline, but a condition of
Christianity, in which even all were seeking their own
interest; and, spirituality being thus lowered, the Christ of
glory little realized, many who had no life at all might walk
among them without being detected, by those who had so
little life themselves and scarcely walked better than they
did. For it does not appear that they who were minding
earthly things committed any evil that required public
discipline. e general low tone of spirituality among the
real Christians left the others free to walk with them; and
the presence of the latter debased still more the standard
of godliness of life.
But this state of things did not escape the spiritual eye
of the Apostle, which, xed on the glory, discerned readily
and clearly all that had not that glory for its motive; and
Philippians 3
615
the Spirit has given us the divine judgment, most grave and
solemn, with regard to this state of things. No doubt it has
grown enormously worse since then, and its elements have
developed and established themselves in a manner and in
proportions that are very dierently characterized; but the
moral principles with regard to walk remain ever the same
for the assembly. e same evil is present to be avoided,
and the same ecacious means for avoiding it. ere is the
same blessed example to follow, the same heavenly Saviour
to be the glorious object of our faith, the same life to live if
we desire to be Christians indeed.<P427>
e two ends-of those whose hearts were set on
earthly things and of the true Christian; our bodies of
humiliation conformed to Christ’s glorious body
at which characterized these persons who professed
the name of Christ was, that their hearts were set upon
earthly things. us the cross had not its practical power-
it would have been a contradiction. eir end therefore
was destruction. e true Christian was not such; his
conversation was in heaven and not on the earth; his moral
life was spent in heaven, his true relationships were there.
From thence he expected Christ as a Saviour, that is to say,
to deliver him from the earth, from this earthly system far
from God here below. For salvation is always viewed in this
epistle as the nal result of the conict, the result due to the
almighty power of the Lord. en, when Christ shall come
to take the assembly to Himself-Christians, truly heavenly,
shall be like Him in His heavenly glory, a likeness which is
the object of their pursuit at all times (compare 1John 3:2).
Christ will accomplish it in them, conforming their bodies
of humiliation to His glorious body according to the power
whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself. en
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the Apostle and all Christians will have attained the end,
the resurrection from among the dead.
Christ as the spring of energy of the Christian life and
of its graciousness of walk: the thing at which Paul aimed
Such is the tenor of this chapter. Christ, seen in glory, is
the spring of energy to Christian life, to win Christ, so that
all else is loss; as Christ making Himself of no reputation
is the spring of Christian graciousness of walk: the two
parts of Christian life which we are too apt to sacrice one
to another or at least to pursue one forgetful of the other.
In both Paul singularly shines. In the following chapter
we have superiority to circumstances. is also is Paul’s
experience and state; for it will be remarked that it is the
personal experience of Paul which runs all through his
(humanly speaking) faultless experience-not perfection.
Likeness to Christ in glory is the only standard of that. As
to this third chapter, many have inquired whether the thing
aimed at was a spiritual assimilation to Christ here, or a
complete assimilation to Him in the glory. is is rather to
forget the import of what the<P428> Apostle says, namely,
that the sight and the desire of the heavenly glory, the
desire of possessing Christ Himself thus gloried, was that
which formed the heart here below. An object here below
to be attained in oneself could not be found, since Christ is
on high; it would be to separate the heart from the object
which forms it to its own likeness. But although we never
reach the mark here below, since it is a gloried Christ
and resurrection from among the dead, yet its pursuit
assimilates us more and more to Him. e object in the
glory forms the life which answers to it here below. Were
a light at the end of a long straight alley, I never have the
light itself till I am arrived there; but I have ever increasing
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light in proportion as I go forward; I know it better; I am
more in the light myself. us it is with a gloried Christ,
and such is Christian life (compare 2Corinthians 3).
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73257
Philippians 4
The value of “standing fast in the Lord”
The Philippians were therefore to stand fast in the Lord. This
is dicult when the general tone is lowered; painful also, for
one’s walk becomes much more solitary, and the hearts of
others are straitened. But the Spirit has very plainly given us
the example, the principle, the character, and the strength of
this walk. With the eye on Christ all is easy; and communion
with Him gives light and certainty; and is worth all the rest
which perhaps we lose.
The Apostle nevertheless spoke gently of those persons. They
were not like the false Judaizing teachers who corrupted the
sources of life, and stopped up the path of communion with
God in love. They had lost this life of communion, or had
never had more than the appearance of it. He wept for them.
The writer and bearer of the epistle
I think that the Apostle sent his leer by Epaphroditus,
who probably also wrote it from the Apostle’s dictaon;
as was done with regard to all the epistles, except that to
the Galaans, which, as he tells us, he wrote with his own
hand. When therefore he says (ch. 4:3), “True [or faithful]
yokefellow,” he speaks as I think, of Epaphroditus, and
addresses him.<P429>
The Lord’s grace in remembering and beseeching those at
variance as well as others who were fellow-laborers
But he noces also two sisters even, who were not of one
mind in resisng the enemy. In every way he desired unity of
heart and mind. He entreats Epaphroditus (if indeed it be he)
Philippians 4
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as the Lord’s servant to help those faithful women who had
labored in concert with Paul to spread the gospel. Euodias
and Syntyche were perhaps of the number-the connecon of
thought makes it probable. Their acvity, having gone beyond
the measure of their spiritual life, betrayed them into an
exercise of self-will which set them at variance. Nevertheless
they were not forgoen, together with Clement and
others, who were fellow-laborers with the Apostle himself,
whose names were in the book of life. For love for the Lord
remembers all that His grace does; and this grace has a place
for each of His own.
Praccal exhortaons to the faithful to walk according to
their heavenly calling; the pure, untroubled spring of joy
The Apostle returns to the praccal exhortaons addressed to
the faithful, with regard to their ordinary life, that they might
walk according to their heavenly calling. “Rejoice in the Lord.”
If he even weeps over many who call themselves Chrisans,
he rejoices always in the Lord; in Him is that which nothing
can alter. This is not an indierence to sorrow which hinders
weeping, but it is a spring of joy which enlarges when there
is distress, because of its immutability, and which becomes
even more pure in the heart the more it becomes the only
one; and it is in itself the only spring that is innitely pure.
When it is our only spring, we thereby love others. If we love
them besides Him, we lose something of Him. When through
exercise of heart we are weaned from all other springs, His joy
remains in all its purity, and our concern for others partakes of
this same purity. Nothing moreover troubles this joy, because
Christ never changes. The beer we know Him, the beer are
we able to enjoy that which is ever enlarging through knowing
Him. But he exhorts Chrisans to rejoice: it is a tesmony to
the worth of Christ, it is their true poron. Four years in prison
chained to a soldier had not <P430>hindered his doing it, nor
being able to exhort others more at ease than he.
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Moderaon and meekness in view of Christ’s presence
Now this same thing will make them moderate and meek;
their passions will not be excited by other things if Christ is
enjoyed. Moreover He is at hand. A lile while, and all for
which men strive will give place to Him whose presence
bridles the will (or rather puts it aside) and lls the heart. We
are not to be moved by things here below unl He shall come.
When He comes, we shall be fully occupied with other things.
Anxiees and disquiet silenced; encouragement to go to God
with our requests; His peace promised
Not only are the will and the passions to be bridled and
silenced, but anxiees also. We are in relaonship with God;
in all things He is our refuge; and events do not disturb Him.
He knows the end from the beginning. He knows everything,
He knows it beforehand; events shake neither His throne,
nor His heart; they always accomplish His purposes. But to
us He is love; we are through grace the objects of His tender
care. He listens to us and bows down His ear to hear us. In
all things therefore, instead of disquieng ourselves and
weighing everything in our own hearts, we ought to present
our requests to God with prayer, with supplicaon, with a
heart that makes itself known (for we are human beings)
but with the knowledge of the heart of God (for He loves us
perfectly); so that, even while making our peon to Him, we
can already give thanks, because we are sure of the answer of
His grace, be it what it may; and it is our requests that we are
to present to Him. Nor is it a cold commandment to nd out
His will and then come: we are to go with our requests. Hence
it does not say, you will have what you ask; but God’s peace
will keep your hearts. This is trust; and His peace, the peace
of God Himself, shall keep our hearts. It does not say that
our hearts shall keep the peace of God; but, having cast our
burden on Him whose peace nothing can disturb, His peace
Philippians 4
621
keeps our hearts. Our trouble is before Him, and the constant
peace of the God of love, who takes charge of everything and
knows all be<P431>forehand, quiets our disburdened hearts,
and imparts to us the peace which is in Himself and which is
above all understanding (or at least keeps our hearts by it),
even as He Himself is above all the circumstances that can
disquiet us, and above the poor human heart that is troubled
by them. Oh, what grace! that even our anxiees are a means
of our being lled with this marvelous peace, if we know how
to bring them to God, and true He is. May we learn indeed
how to maintain this communion with God and its reality, in
order that we may converse with Him and understand His
ways with believers!
A command to the Chrisan to occupy himself with good, to
be where the God of peace is found
Moreover, the Chrisan, although walking (as we have seen) in
the midst of evil and of trial, is to occupy himself with all that
is good, and is able to do it when thus at peace, to live in this
atmosphere, so that it shall pervade his heart, that he shall be
habitually where God is to be found. This is an all-important
command. We may be occupied with evil in order to condemn
it; we may be right, but this is not communion with God in
that which is good. But if occupied through His grace with
that which is good, with that which comes from Himself, the
God of peace is with us. In trouble we shall have the peace of
God; in our ordinary life, if it be of this nature, we shall have
the God of peace. Paul was the praccal example of this; with
regard to their walk, by following him in that which they had
learned and heard from him and seen in him, they should nd
that God was with them.
The Apostle’s need; his praccal experience in learning to
trust in Christ who strengthened him; the Philippians’ gi
acknowledged
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Nevertheless, although such was his experience, he rejoiced
greatly that their loving care of him had ourished again. He
could indeed take refuge in God; but it was sweet to him in
the Lord to have this tesmony on their part. It is evident that
he had been in need; but it was the occasion of more enre
trust in God.
We can easily gather this from his language; but, he delicately
adds, he would not, by saying that their care of him had now
at<P432> last ourished again, imply that they had forgoen
him. The care for him was in their hearts; but they had
not had the opportunity of giving expression to their love.
Neither did he speak in regard of want; he had learned-for
it is praccal experience and its blessed result we nd here-
to be content under all circumstances, and thus to depend
on no one. He knew how to be abased; he knew how to
abound; in every way he was instructed both to be full and to
be hungry, to be in abundance and to suer want. He could
do all things through Him who strengthened him. Sweet and
precious experience-not only because it gives ability to meet
all circumstances, which is of great price, but because the
Lord is known, the constant, faithful, mighty friend of the
heart. It is not “I can do all things,” but, “I can do all through
him who strengtheneth me.” It is a strength which connually
ows from a relaonship with Christ, a connecon with Him
maintained in the heart. Neither is it only, “One can do all
things.” This is true; but Paul had learned it praccally. He
knew what he could be assured of and reckon on-what ground
he stood on. Christ had always been faithful to him, had
brought him through so many dicules and through so many
seasons of prosperity, that he had learned to trust in Him,
and not in circumstances. And Christ was the same ever. Sll
the Philippians had done well, and it was not forgoen. From
the rst God had bestowed this grace upon them, and they
had supplied the Apostle’s need, even when he was not with
Philippians 4
623
them. He remembered it with aecon, not that he desired a
gi, but fruit to their own account. “But,” he says, “I have all,”
his heart turning back to the simple expression of his love.
He was in abundance, having received by Epaphroditus that
which they had sent him, an acceptable sacrice of sweet
odor, well-pleasing to God.
The God whom Paul had learned to know; His sure goodness
and faithfulness applied to the Philippians
His heart rested in God; his assurance with regard to the
Philippians expresses it. My God, he says, shall richly supply
all your need. He does not express a wish that God may do
so. He had learned what his God was by his own experience.
My God, he says, He whom I have learned to know in all the
circumstances<P433> through which I have passed, shall ll
you with all good things. And here he returns to His character
as he had known Him. God would do it according to His riches
in glory in Christ Jesus. There he had learned to know Him at
the beginning; and such he had known Him all along his varied
path, so full of trials here and of joys from above. Accordingly
he thus concludes: “Now unto our God and Father”-for such
He was to the Philippians also-“be glory forever and ever.” He
applies his own experience of that which God was to him, and
his experience of the faithfulness of Christ, to the Philippians.
This sased his love, and gave him rest with regard to them.
It is a comfort when we think of the assembly of God.
Paul’s greengs from himself and others and his special
salutaon
He sends the greeng of the brethren who were with him,
and of the saints in general, especially those of Caesar’s
household; for even there God had found some who through
grace had listened to His voice of love.
He ends with the salutaon which was a token in all his
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epistles that they were from himself.
The present state of the church adding increased value to the
epistle as giving proper Chrisan experience, that of a heart
which trusted God alone, while having a thorn in the esh
The present state of the assembly, of the children of God,
dispersed anew, and oen as sheep without a shepherd, is a
very dierent condion of ruin from that in which the Apostle
wrote; but this only adds more value to the experience of
the Apostle which God has been pleased to give us; the
experience of a heart which trusted in God alone, and which
applies this experience to the condion of those who are
deprived of the natural resources that belonged to the
organized body, to the body of Christ as God had formed
it on earth. As a whole, the epistle shows proper Chrisan
experience, that is, superiority, as walking in the Spirit, to
everything through which we have to pass. It is remarkable
to see that sin is not menoned in it, nor esh, save to say he
had no condence in it.<P434>
He had at this me a thorn in the esh himself, but the proper
experience of the Chrisan is walking in the Spirit above and
out of the reach of all that may bring the esh into acvity.
Special points in chapters 2-4
The reader will remark that chapter 3 sets the glory before the
Chrisan and gives the energy of Chrisan life; chapter 2, the
self-emptying and abasement of Christ, and founds thereon
the graciousness of the Chrisan life, and thoughulness of
others: while the last chapter gives a blessed superiority to all
circumstances.<P435>
