ON TRIAL FOR LIFE
“For if ye
live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”-Rom. 8:13.
There is no
intimation in this scripture of a second probation for any of those addressed:
the words were spoken and written for those who, in the present existence,
are on trial for life. It does not say, If ye live after the flesh, ye shall
have another trial; neither does it say, Ye shall be punished with eternal
torments; but it does speak of a present probation, the issue of which
shall be either life, or death-the extinction of life, cessation of existence.
Neither does the text say anything about faith in the atoning sacrifice of
Christ as a requisite to salvation: it says nothing whatever about what we
believe or do not believe, but simply and only about how we live. Shall
we, therefore, spring to the conclusion, as many do, that it teaches that it makes
no difference what we believe if we only live righteously? By no means; and
those who consider it to be in conflict with either the doctrine of restitution
(the Millennial age of judgment or trial for the world) or the ransom, or who
have failed to observe its contradiction of the theory of eternal torment, have
taken but a shallow observation of the Apostle’s teaching, and in fact have
lost its entire force.
Not noticing that the words are addressed to the church, and not to the world,
the heedless Christian applies the admonition to the world, and allows it to
lose its force upon himself. This is the very reverse of the Apostle’s
intention: he is talking to the saints, to consecrated believers in the
redemption, who have been begotten of the holy Spirit and become new creatures
in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1-8) And it is for this reason that he says nothing
here about faith in the ransom, that being conceded; nor about the Millennial
age of trial, because those addressed are on trial now, and their trial will be
over and their reward obtained before the world comes into judgement.-I Cor.
6:2.
The warning, therefore, is not at all applicable to the world, but is full of
solemn import to the church-to the consecrated believers, new creatures of
Christ Jesus, who, having been begotten of the holy Spirit, have now a
spiritual nature, the old human nature having been consecrated to death. Such,
having solemnly covenanted with God to present their bodies-their human
nature-a living sacrifice (which was acceptable through Christ, and therefore
accepted of him), and to henceforth live after the Spirit, are not at liberty
now either to annul that covenant, or to ignore it. They cannot claim again
that (redeemed human nature) to which, by their covenant, they have given up
all right, claim and title. And if they endeavor to do so, either by ignoring
or despising their covenant, they thereby forfeit their claim to the new,
spiritual nature, which can only be attained by faithfulness to the covenant of
sacrifice, even unto death.
It is therefore logically manifest, even if the Apostle had not said it,
that if we, consecrated believers, turn back again to live after the
flesh, we shall die; that for us to be carnally minded is death, but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Rom. 8:6) Our Lord’s words in Matt.
16:24, 25 are to the same effect-“Whosoever will save his life shall lose it:
and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
An important question then is, What is it to live
after the flesh? We answer, It is to live after, or in conformity to, and in
gratification of, the inclinations and cravings of the fallen human nature. And
it is the easiest thing, possible to do this. All we have to do is just
listlessly to abandon ourselves to the current of our old nature, and cease to
strive against it. As soon as we do this, we begin to float down the stream,
and by and by we find the current more and more rapid and resistance more and
more difficult.
The death to
which our text points as the inevitable end of such a course, is manifestly the
“second” death. We were redeemed from the first death and then placed on trial
for eternal life, and in the event of failure, the loss of that new life will
be the second death,-from which there can be no redemption and no deliverance.
The Apostle defines the works of the flesh thus (Gal. 5:19-2l)-“Now the works
of the flesh are manifest, which are these,-Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings and such
like.” What moral filth and pollution this describes; but such is the tendency
of the fallen human nature. Just cease to strive against the old nature, and
presently some of these noxious weeds will be flourishing and crowding out the
good that remains.
“Ah, well,” says one, “I have not all those mean qualities.” Well, we are glad
you have not: very few people have all of them; but beware, you may not know
what manner of spirit you are of. Be sure that your old nature is not without
an inherited and perhaps a formerly cultivated bias in some of these
directions. Watch and pray against them, that ye enter not into temptation.
On the other hand, consider the blessed fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23),
which are “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.” To live in the cultivation
of these graces is to “live in the Spirit.” And “if we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit”-make progress in the spiritual life. “Walk in the
Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh; for the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the
one to the other.”-Gal. 5:25, 16.
Thus the Christian life is of necessity a warfare, a battle, between the new
and the old natures, a hand to hand conflict which we dare not relinquish; for,
not only is the prize of our high calling dependent upon it, but also the
issues of life and death are in it. How solemn a thing is it, therefore, to
live under these circumstances; for daily and hourly we stand before the bar of
judgment. The words of our text have no application to the world now, but to us
who are now on trial: If we live after the flesh, we shall die;
but if through the Spirit we do mortify [put to death, refuse to gratify] the
deeds of the body [the tendencies of the old nature], we shall live.” And all
who are truly the sons of God will do this: “for,” says the Apostle (verse 14),
“as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” If
we willfully refuse the leading of God’s Spirit, we forfeit the relationship of
sons; if we listlessly disregard it, we endanger that relationship, and as
surely as we are sons, we shall receive chastisement for our correction and
discipline.
But while we should be very grateful for the chastening, restraining hand of
the Lord which thus helps to keep us in the strait and narrow way in which the
Spirit of God leads his own, we should be very careful to require just as
little of it as possible. “If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged
of the Lord” and chastened. (I Cor. 11:31, 32) But, nevertheless, with the most
careful and prayerful watching against the uprisings of the old will of the
flesh, we will doubtless make some missteps and need some of the Lord’s
chastening; for, says the Apostle (Heb. 12:5-12), “What son is he whom the
Father chasteneth not? If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons, but if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then ye are
bastards and not sons; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. Let us, therefore, not forget the exhortation
which speaketh unto us as unto children, My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.”
In the difficult course before us, and in view of all the dangers that beset
it, how blessed is the promise that our heavenly Father is ever willing to give
the holy Spirit to them that ask him, and the assurance also that if we be
filled with the spirit we shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. How
necessary is it, therefore, to live near the fountain of divine grace, to pray
without ceasing-especially in these last times when our great adversary is so
active and so cunning in his devices to deceive and lead astray the Lord’s
people.
The words of the poet are most appropriate to every one at this particular
time:
“Leave no unguarded place,
No weakness of the soul;
Take every virtue, every grace,
And fortify the whole.”