THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.
-JUNE 18.-COL.
3:1-15.-
“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.”
FOLLOWING our
consideration of our Lord’s death and resurrection, it is appropriate that we
apply to ourselves the two-fold lesson therein taught:-
(1) The lesson of man’s depravity through the fall and his consequent need
of a redemption and restitution. As we have seen, the death of Christ was man’s
ransom-price, and the resurrection of Christ was God’s attestation of the
acceptableness of the sin-offering, and preparing of the way for the blessing
of mankind by raising up to superhuman life, divine glory and power, the
Redeemer,-constituting him “Lord of all,” and thus fitting him for the great
work of blessing Adam and his family in due time-after the establishment of his
Millennial Kingdom.
(2) We should note God’s purpose to select from mankind a “little flock”
on whom to confer Kingdom power in due time, making them his representatives
and agents in the work of blessing the world of mankind with all the favors
secured by the ransom sacrifice. The Scriptures show us that this plan or
purpose of God was foreknown, forearranged, by him before the foundation of the
world. They show us also that in the divine purpose our Lord Jesus was the
Head, the First, the principal One, the Lord of this little flock, and that
God’s dealings with him and the method by which he was prepared for his present
high position were an illustration of the method by which his Church is to be
prepared for joint-heirship with him in his Kingdom.-Eph. 1:3,4, 4:15; Col.
1:18; 1 Pet. 1:20.
It is with this latter feature or lesson that we now have to do. In the
Scripture under consideration the Apostle is addressing, not mankind in
general,-not even believers in general,-but a specific class, namely, “the
saints and faithful brethren in Christ.” (Col. 1:2.) He is addressing,
therefore, those who have taken the two steps of grace:-(1) The step of
justification from Adamic sin and death to reconciliation with the Father
through faith in the atonement accomplished by his dear Son. (2) Having thus
been justified reckonedly, or by faith, lifted out of the condition of sin and
condemnation, these, according to the Lord’s invitation, have consecrated
themselves in the fullest sense and degree to the Lord for obedience and
service “even unto death.” This full consecration of every talent and power
and opportunity is Scripturally called death-because the will has died,
self-will has gone, and the Lord’s will has been accepted in its stead. And
since the will is the real ego, the real person, the thought is that the
old ego, will or person has died, and that the new creature, having no
will of his own, but being wholly under subjection to the divine will as
expressed in Christ, who is the Head of this body, has come into control. Let
us not lose the thought-picture here conveyed. We are not new individuals or
persons, for it was individually and personally that we ceased to be when we
gave ourselves over by full consecration to the Lord: our new condition is that
of members or parts of the larger corporation or body of which our Lord Jesus
is the Head. Whoever has a will of his own is properly to be considered an individual;
but whoever has dropped his own will, and accepted instead of it the will of
another, has creased or figuratively has died as an individual. And this is
the picture which the Apostle presents in this and in various other
presentations of this subject. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 12 the same
writer declares that the entire Christ is not in the members but in the Head.
To whatever extent, then, the Lord’s people have fully consecrated themselves
to him as members of the body of Christ, they should be in absolute
subjection to the will of God in Christ; and so far as their own wills are
concerned they should have none, but in that respect should be “dead.”
This is the Apostle’s thought in this lesson; but he carries it further,
saying that as our own wills, ambitions, aims and hopes were consecrated and
reckoned dead, so we should reckon ourselves as members of the Christ, risen
from the dead: new creatures, possessed and controlled by the new will, the
mind of Christ. It is this class that the Apostle addresses, and from this
standpoint that he declares, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”
The thought is that all of this class have, as justified earthly beings,
desiring and hoping to attain joint-heirship with Christ in his Kingdom, been
taught of God and inspired by the exceeding great and precious promises of his
Word to come to this position of self-consecration. We are to note how
our Lord Jesus laid down his earthly life, and was by the Father exalted to a
heavenly condition and the right hand of power,-as a criterion for our course
as followers in his footsteps. We are to remember continually that
joint-heirship with the Lord in that spiritual condition and in his heavenly
power and Kingdom are the hopes set before the Church of this age, and we are
to “seek those things”-“seek chiefly the Kingdom of God”- seek to
make our calling and election sure to participation with our Lord in the
Kingdom honors and glories to which he already has attained as a reward for his
faithful sacrifice.-Verse 1; Matt. 6:33; Rom. 2:7; 2 Pet. 1:10.
The Apostle wishes us to understand how we are to “seek” those
things. We are not merely to seek them in prayer, although prayer is an
excellent aid in the seeking. We are to seek them by setting our affections on
those things, and by lifting our affections from earthly things.
Comparatively few realize to what extent we have the forming of our own
characters-to what extent our minds, our affections, are gardens, in which we
may plant either the thorns and thistles of sin, or plant the merely moral and
practical qualities corresponding to the useful vegetables, or plant those
seeds which will produce the fragrant and beautiful flowers which more
particularly would represent the heavenly and spiritual graces. That which a
man soweth he shall also reap in kind, whether he sow to the flesh or to the
spirit. Whoever, therefore, seeks for the heavenly things, joint-heirship in
the Kingdom etc., must plant or set out in his mind, in his affections, those qualities
and graces which the Lord marks out as essential to the development of
characters such as will be “meet for the inheritance of the saints in
light.”-Col. 1:12.
Thus the Lord throws upon all those whom he calls to this “high calling,”
this “heavenly calling,” and who accept the call and covenant thereunder, the
responsibility of their success or failure in attaining it. Through his Word he
tells of their own natural weaknesses and imperfections, and shows them how he
has provided a full off-set or counterbalance for these imperfections in the
merit and sacrifice of the Redeemer: he shows them also what are the fruits and
graces of the spirit which they must possess, in heart at least, if they would
be joint-heirs with Christ: he shows them also in the Redeemer’s life as well
as in his teachings the copy which all must follow who would reach the same
glorious station and be his joint-heirs. We might look at this matter merely
from the standpoint of the responsibility which it throws upon us, and might
well feel over-awed thereby; rather, however, we should view it from the
standpoint of divine grace, and consider what a blessed privilege has been
granted us, not only of being transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we
might come more and more to know and to strive for the good, acceptable and
prefect will of God, but in addition to all this God has set before us the
grandest reward imaginable for the doing of that which is merely our duty and
reasonable service-the doing of that which would bring us the largest measure
of joy and peace, aside from a future reward.-2 Pet. 1:3,4.
There is a natural attraction to earthly things for all mankind: even
though the earthly things, during the reign of evil, be blemished and in many
respects distasteful to those who have learned to love righteousness and hate
iniquity, there is nevertheless still a strong attraction to the marred and
blemished earthly things. Like weeds, earthly affections and desires spring
spontaneously from seeds which come we know not whither. The Christian,
therefore, who would keep his heart in the love of God must not only keep
planting out or setting his affections on heavenly things, but he must keep
rooting out the weeds of earthly desire and attraction.
As the Apostle intimates, our new life is not manifest to all, nor upon
all occasions; it is a life of new desire, new aims, new aspirations,-which the
world can neither see nor fully appreciate, though it see some outward
manifestations of the new life in our daily conduct. Even the “brethren” may
not be able to appreciate the progress of the new life in us; and even
ourselves may at times be somewhat perplexed respecting the rapidity and
strength of its growth, and we may need to look back over weeks or months, or
perhaps years, in order to determine unquestionably that it is growing. Our
new life, represented by our endeavors to follow the new will of Christ, is hidden
thus in Christ and in the Father.
It is in harmony with this thought that the
Apostle Paul declared in one place that neither the world nor the brethren were
capable of judging him-that only the Lord, who could read the heart and know
all the conditions and testings and weaknesses to be striven against, could
properly judge him. He even declares, “Yea, I judge not mine own self.”
(Rom. 14:4; 1 Cor. 4:3; Jas. 4:12.) It is an
excellent plan neither to condemn others who claim to be walking
conscientiously as children of the Lord, nor even to condemn ourselves under
similar circumstances. We should simply press along day by day, doing the best
we can to cultivate the heavenly graces and to serve our Master, leaving all
the results with the Lord. He careth for us, and so long as our hopes
and aims and objects of life are centered in the heavenly things, and our lives
thus hid with Christ in God, we need fear no evil, present or future, for the
Lord will be with us and bless us and keep us from falling and ultimately
present us blameless.-Psa. 23:4; Jude 24; Col. 1:22.
This condition of things is to last throughout the entire Gospel age, and
is to apply to all the members of the body of Christ. All are to be dead to
the world and all are to have their ambitions and hopes of life hidden with
Christ in God. As the Father has done for our Lord, so he wills for all those
who are truly united to him; and the time for bringing these blessings to the
Church is, the Apostle states, at the second coming of the Lord. Then the
Lord’s people will no longer be misunderstood by each other nor by the world;
then the faithful will all appear with the master in glory, and then will begin
the work of blessing all the families of the earth with a knowledge of the
truth and with an opportunity for full restitution to all that was lost in
Adam.
Having thus set forth the proper course of the Church in the line of
aspirations, hopes, etc., the Apostle turns to the other side of the question,
and gives us particular and explicit directions how we should proceed to
carry out our consecration vow of deadness to earthly things and life only
toward the heavenly things. It will be noticed that he does not counsel
retirement from the world and its busy cares to cloisters, monasteries or
nunneries, but taking the Lord’s consecrated people where they may be, he
advises respecting the methods by which they can best accomplish the desired
results of mortifying or deadening their appetites, desires, etc., which
are rooted and grounded in their fallen flesh or earthly nature. He mentions
these besetments, commencing with the more gross and ending with the most
subtle.
Fornication was very prevalent in the Apostle’s day, and he would have the
saints recognize this gross, prominent evil, and then in connection with it
notice others which they might be much more likely to overlook. First of these
in order is “uncleanness.” What a searching thought is in that word! It means
anything that is not pure, not chaste, not holy, not clean. If a good many of
the saints might feel that it was useless to mention to them so gross an evil
as fornication, they would be forced to admit that in their imperfect condition
they required guarding, counseling, on the score of “uncleanness.” This
reminds us of our Lord’s words to the disciples on the night before his
crucifixion. He said to Peter, when proposing to wash his feet, “Ye are clean,
but not all.” So the saints consecrated to the Lord are clean of heart, pure
of heart; yet they are not all clean-the members which touch the earth, their
sensibilities and passions which come in contact with the defiled human nature,
need cleansing, need “washing with water through the Word.” All filth, all
uncleanness, every “spot and wrinkle,” needs attention, and the “precious
blood: is the antidote for every stain.”-Eph. 5:25-27.
“Inordinate affection” is one of the things mentioned as needing attention
and correction by the saints: this signifies earthly or animal passions. The
saints are to mortify these, that is, to deaden them-not only to seek not to
cultivate, not to enliven, not to arouse, such passions either in themselves or
in others, but on the contrary they are to seek to deaden these as well as to
cultivate the higher and nobler joys and sentiments. The deadening or
mortifying of these, and the self-denial according to the flesh thus implied,
is a part of the antitypical fasting in which all of the Lord’s people
should seek to engage, each according to his zeal, opportunities and
possibilities.
“Evil concupiscence” (or, in more modern language, desires for
forbidden things) is a step higher in the Apostle’s list of evil tendencies
that should be rooted out and mortified, deadened. It is not sufficient that we acknowledge sin in its various
forms to be evil, and that we resolve that we will strive against it because it
is under the Lord’s ban: in addition to this we are to root out of our hearts
every longing, every desire for every thing not thoroughly
approved by the Lord. Oh, what a cleansing this would mean in the hearts and
lives, and especially in the thoughts, of many who have named the name of
Christ! Many who fail to note this point, who fail to follow the Apostle’s
admonition, find themselves continually beset by temptations, because, while
outwardly avoiding gross immoralities, they secretly harbor sympathies for
things condemned,-desiring that they might have them, if only they were
not forbidden. Under such conditions comparatively little progress can
be made in the higher life. The Apostle would set before us the proper course
to be pursued, if we would win the great prize,-namely, the high standard of
bringing the very thoughts, wishes, desire, of our hearts into full conformity
to the perfect will of God: and only those who do so are properly making
progress, running the race set before us in the Gospel.-2 Cor. 10:5.
The Apostle concludes his list of things against which the “new creature”
must war to the death by naming “covetousness,” and declaring it a
species of idolatry. In other words, if the hearts of the Lord’s people are
running after any earthly thing (even if it be not an evil thing of itself), if
they are centering their affections upon even good things of an earthly kind,
and are neglecting to set their affections upon the heavenly things, they are
failing to run the race successfully. This is amongst the most seductive
trials of the Lord’s people. Some will set their affections upon a wife or a
husband, or upon parents or children, or upon a good name before the
public, to such an extent that when testings come as to whether or not they
love these more than they love the Lord, their conduct proves that they have
given to these earthly good things a degree of love beyond that they
accorded to the Lord.
Frequently the Lord’s people do not at the time realize that this is the
case. They love the Lord, and they love their families and friends, and a good
name, which is to be preferred to great riches; and they do not realize that
they love the Lord less than they love these other things. The Lord, however,
will test everyone whom he will receive to the high calling along just these lines;
he declares in advance that whoever loves father, mother, children or any other
thing more than him is not worthy of him-not worthy to be counted as a member
of the body of the Christ in glory,-the overcoming Church. The overcomers must all be proven to be such as would
sacrifice every other thing for the Lord; such as would sacrifice the love and
fellowship and approval, if necessary, of every other being, in order to retain
the love and favor of the Lord. We believe that this test is coming daily closer
and closer to the Lord’s consecrated people, and it behooves everyone of us to
remember that this is one of the elements of our trial, and to set our
affections on the heavenly things accordingly, and to mortify or deaden all
such affections toward earthly beings and things as would bring these into
competition with our Lord in our affections, service. etc.
The Apostle sums up this list of evils to be deadened by saying
that it is in the seeking of these earthly things, because of such things growing
in their hearts, that the Lord’s wrath is to come “on the children of
disobedience.” Are they the wicked, the worldly, the unregenerate? No, none
of these; for they are not “children” at all. The reference evidently is to
those who have become children of God by his legitimate arrangement of (1)
justification and (2) sanctification through faith in Christ. He is referring
to those who are of the class “called to be saints,” but who fail to make sure
their calling and election to joint-heirship with the Lord, as members of the
kingdom “little flock.” He refers to those who do not properly set their
affections on heavenly things, but allow their affections to center chiefly in
earthly things. He refers to the “great company” who, because of loving father
or mother, houses or lands, or something else, to such an extent that they fail
to keep their covenant of sacrifice, will be accounted unworthy of a share in
the Kingdom, and instead will be subjected to the great time of trouble-“the
day of wrath.”-1 Cor. 3:15; Rev. 7:9-15.
This does not signify, however, that such persons have become exceedingly
corrupt in their lives, but merely that they are continuing in the course of
life in which they were before making their covenant to the Lord. This is
clearly expressed in the seventh verse of our lesson.
Coming down to a particularization of the change which should take
place in those who have consecrated themselves wholly to the Lord, the Apostle
enumerates certain alterations of disposition which should be attempted, and,
so far as possible, accomplished; namely, the putting away of all the
following-anger, wrath, malice, evil-speaking, impurity of language, and
falsehood in its every form. At first thought such correction of life might
seem to be unnecessary to mention as being too coarse and entirely opposed to
every true Christian principle; but as we scrutinize the matter we find that
the Apostle has really taken into his list nearly all the weaknesses of the
flesh which beset those who have become “new creatures in Christ.” What is
more common with Christian people than to become angry? How many there are who
have named the name of Christ who have malicious or at least unkind thoughts
respecting others, and who harbor these, and sometimes permit them to influence
their conduct! How many there are who indulge in evil speaking, that is,
slander (here translated “blasphemy”)! This is often done in such a manner as
not only to deceive the hearer, but also to deceive the speaker as respects his
real intention in speaking of others discreditably, unkindly.
What a wonderful world this would be if all the evil or impure language
were avoided! Every Christian should see to it that henceforth every word
which proceeds from his mouth shall be such as will minister grace to the
hearers-such words as will do only good and be edifying. Finally, how much
need there is, not only of having good intentions in the heart, but also of
expressing those good intentions truthfully one to another-without deception,
without hypocrisy. But it requires that a heart be very pure and very full of
love if it would be very truthful, otherwise it would lead into trouble
continually. If the unloving, ungenerous, unkind hearts, full of evil
surmising, malice, hatred and strife, were to express themselves frankly it
would add immensely to the trouble of the world. The Apostle therefore urges
first, the purifying of the heart, and then general candor.
These corrections of life are urged as the reasonable and proper outcome
of our transformation from the Adamic and fallen nature, reckoned dead, to the
new nature of Christ, of whose “body” we have become reckonedly members,
controlled and renewed in knowledge through our new Head, Christ Jesus.
And the Apostle then shows that in this new condition, as members of the
body of Christ, we are to remember that previous differences of man are
ignored, for whoever is accepted of the Lord as a member of his body is a
fellow-member with every other member thus accepted,-whether, according to the
flesh, they were Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, Barbarian or
Scythian, bondman or freeman; because all who come into Christ are reckoned dead
to their previous condition, and alive to the new conditions which are life for
all. Thus, a slave being set free is dead to his former slavery, and may
figuratively be said to have started on a new life. Thus also a citizen may
renounce his allegiance to the land of his birth and may swear allegiance to
another country, and become a citizen of it, and thus be reckoned as dead to
the nation of which he was a citizen by birth, and to have become alive as a
citizen of the new nation to which he has been adopted. Thus it is with all
those who are in Christ: they may have been Welshman or Spaniards, Britons or
Gauls, blacks or whites, Indians or Malays, but as soon as they are accepted of
the Lord as new creatures through faith and consecration they are to reckon
themselves dead to all their former relationships and obligations, and
as having come into new conditions as citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom, and
reckonedly heirs of God, joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.
This does not mean, however, that the white man will become a black man,
nor the black man a white man; it does not mean, necessarily, a change of
language either, nor a revolution in all the tastes and peculiarities wherewith
one was born; nor does it mean a full release, according to the flesh, from
obligations to the land of our birth, nor imply that we should not be subject
to the powers that be, except as their demands might conflict with the positive
commands of our King; nor does it imply an ignoring of the differences of sex
and the proprieties which belong to each sex, and which, according to the
Scriptures, are to be continued and preserved during this age. It does imply,
however, that in thinking of each other as new creatures in Christ
Jesus all are to be considered as on a common plane or level-none are to be
disesteemed as “brethren” because of color, speech or sex.
With this thought before our minds,-of the oneness and equality of
those who have been accepted into the body of Christ, the Apostle urges upon
our attention the necessity, not only of putting off the evil dispositions
of our fallen flesh, but the necessity also of putting on, cultivating, the
various graces of the Spirit exemplified in our Head, Christ Jesus. He
specifies these: (1) Bowels of mercies, or, in more modern language,
compassionate sentiments; a disposition toward largeness and generosity of
heart toward everybody and everything-toward the saints, toward our neighbors
and friends and relatives, toward our enemies, and toward the brute creation.
Amplifying, he continues, showing that it would imply (2) kindness toward all;
(3) humbleness of mind, the reverse of boastfulness, headiness, arrogance; (4)
meekness, or gentleness of disposition; (5) long-suffering, or patient
endurance with the faults and weaknesses of others. It implies that we should
bear with each other’s peculiarities of temperament and disposition, freely
forgiving one another, if there be cause of offence found in each
other-learning the meanwhile to correct ourselves, as we see our own blemishes
more or less mirrored in others. And the standard for all this course of
conduct is found in the Lord’s course toward us, for he surely has been
generous, kind, forbearing and forgiving.
The Apostle wishes us to notice that he is not attempting a reformation of
the world along these lines, but merely a transformation of those who have entered
into a special covenant with the Lord, namely, the Church: “the elect of God,
holy and beloved.” Nevertheless, all who are thus covenanted to the Lord, and
hope to make their calling and election sure to membership in the glorified
Church, will not only seek to have these fruits of the spirit in their own
lives, but will seek also to cultivate the same as they may have opportunity in
their friends and neighbors: above all will such seek to exercise such a good
influence upon their own families-that as their children receive from them, as
parents, the natural life and the necessary instructions and start therein,
they may also if possible receive from them their start in the new life, and
the necessary instructions and equipment for the same.
But the Apostle, as the mouthpiece of the holy Spirit, is a thorough
instructor: not only does he tell us what dis-graces to put off and what
graces to put on, but viewing the Lord’s body arrayed in these glorious
qualities of heart,-compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patient
endurance, forbearance and forgiveness,-he adds, “And above all these
put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.” Love is thus pictured as the
“girdle” which binds and holds in place the folds of the robe of Christ’s
righteousness, with its various graces. In other words, the Apostle would have
us see that forbearance, meekness, patience, etc., must not be matters of
courtesy merely, or matters of policy merely, but however much they might
partake of these qualities at the beginning, the wearers will not be perfected
in heart, not be fit for the kingdom, until they have reached the place where
these various graces of their wills, or intentions, are bound to them by the
cords of love-love for the Lord, love for righteousness, love for the
“brethren,” and sympathetic love for the whole groaning creation. Love is
indeed the bond of perfectness, the very spirit of the Lord.
How forceful in its place is the last verse of this lesson, “And let the
peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body
[one corporation, one Church-the body of Christ], and be ye thankful.” Not
until God’s people have reached some measure of what the Apostle has here
outlined can they know experimentally the blessedness of having divine peace rule
in their hearts and lives, controlling their relationship with every member of
the body of Christ under the bond of love, and producing more and more in them
the spirit of gratitude and thankfulness to God, for mercies and blessings
enjoyed. And such gratitude will find its natural and proper outlet in
endeavors to serve the Lord: endeavors which the Lord will be sure to accept
from such hearts, reckoned holy and acceptable through Christ Jesus, the head
and Redeemer.