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FAITH AND LIFE

'CONFERENCES' IN THE ORATORY
OF PRINCETON SEMINARY

BY

OCT 9r^ ]

BENJAMIN B. WABFIELD

PROFESSOR IN THE SEMINARY

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

FOURTH AVENUE & 30th STREET, NEW YORK
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS

1916

Copyright, 1916
BY BENJAMIN B. WARFIELD

PRESIDENT OF WILSON COLLEGE
SOMETIME PRESIDENT OF LAFAYETTE COLLEGE

A BROTHER BELOVED
IN THE FLESH AND IN THE LORD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

The Cause of God (1 Kings 19:9) 1

Old Testament Religion (Psalm 51:12) 14

The Wrath of Man (Psalm 76:10) 24

: For Christ's Sake (Matt. 5 :11) 32

This- and Other-Worldliness (Matt. 6:33) 43

Light and Shining (Mark 4 :31-35) 53

; Childlikeness (Mark 10:15) 65

" The Glory of the Word (Jno. 1 :1) 81

Looking to Men (Jno. 5 :44) 93

y A Half -learned Christ (Jno. 6:68:69) 103

The Conviction of the Spirit (Jno. 16:8-11) 116

Christ's Prayer for His People (Jno 17:15) 128

The Outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2:16, 17) 135

Prayer as a Means of Grace (Acts 9:11) 146

Surrender and Consecration (Acts 22:10) 154

,. The Summation of the Gospel (Acts 26:18) 165

The Spirit's Testimony to Our Sonship (Rom 8:16) .... 179

The Spirit's Help in Our Praying (Rom. 8:26, 27) 193

All Things Working Together for Good (Rom. 8:28) 202

Man's Husbandry and God's Bounty (1 Cor. 3:5-9).. . . 211
Communion in Christ's Body and Blood (1 Cor. 10:16

-17) 222

The Spirit of Faith (2 Cor. 4:13) 231

- New Testament Puritanism (2 Cor. 6:11—7:1) 243

^ Paul's Great Thanksgiving (Eph. 1 :3-14) 259

Spiritual Strengthening (Eph. 3:16) 267

The Fulness of God (Eph. 3:19) 279

The Sealing of the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30) 289

-7 Working Out Salvation (Phil. 2:12, 13) 298

vii

viii TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

The Alien Righteousness (PhU. 3:9) 314

Peace With God (PhU. 4:7) 326

The Heritage of the Saints in Light (Col. 1 ;12) 340

The Hidden Life (Col. 3:1-4) 350

Entire Sanctifieation (1 Thess. 5:23, 24) 361

The Mystery of Godliness (1 Tim. 3:16) 373

The Inviolate Deposit (1 Tim. 6:20, 21) 385

The Way of Life (Tit. 3:4-9) 393

The Eternal Gospel (2 Tim. 1:9, 10) 402

Communion with Christ (2 Tim. 2:11-13) 415

Prayer as a Practice (James 5 :16) 428

God's Holmess and Ours (1 Pet. 1 :15) 440

Childship to God (1 Jno. 2:28—3:1) 448

n^HOSE who are unfamiliar with the life of Princeton Theo-
logical Seminary and desire to learn something of the nature
and the early history of the "Conferences "held in the "Oratory"
of the Seminary may be referred to the Life of Archibald Alexander
by his son, James W. Alexander, pp. 420 ff ; the Life of Samuel
Miller by his son, Samuel Miller, vol. ii, p. 400; and the Life
of Charles Hodge by his son, A. A. Hodge, pp. 453 ff ; with the
last of which may be compared the Preface to Conference Ad-
dresses by Charles Hodge.

FAITH AND LIFE

THE CAUSE OF GOD

1 Kings 19:9: " What doest thou here, Elijah? "

The history of Elijah suppHes us with one of
the most striking, and, we may add, one of the
most instructive, sections of the Old Testa-
ment. With him begins the wonderful history
of Prophetism. Through him we obtain a glimpse
which we would not willingly lose of God's deal-
ings with His people: His faithfulness to them
when they were unfaithful to Him; His unre-
mitting efforts to withdraw them from sin and
keep them in that intimate and obedient relation
to Him in which alone was safety to be found.

At first sight the narrative may appear ob-
jective to a fault. We are told nothing of who
Elijah w^as, how he had been trained, whence he
came as he passes across the page of history.
In the midst of Ahab's wicked rule suddenly he
stands before the idolatrous King and pronounces
the curse of God, which for his sake should fall on
the land which he had polluted with his apostasy.
And as suddenly as he appears, so suddenly he
withdraws again. Hidden at Cherith or at Zarep-

g FAITH AND LIFE

hath for a period measured by years, he appears
on the scene of public history once again as un-
expectedly and as much a messenger from on
high as at first. Everywhere he goes the powers
of heaven accompany him, and his appearances
and disappearances are almost as sudden as the
bolts of heaven themselves.

But, however rapid the action, and however
much, at first view, the narrative may seem to
wear the appearance of objectivity; however
much it may seem to be concerned only with the
history of Israel and God's endeavour through the
words and works of His prophet to awaken His
people to righteousness and rescue them from the
slough of their idolatry; the story of Elijah yet
manages to be primarily and above all else the
story of Elijah. Somehow, as in music some-
times a secondary strain is carried on, shot through
the dominant theme of the composition, in har-
mony with it and yet separable from it, and need-
ing but a little emphasizing to make it the chief
burden of the whole; so within the bosom of this
narrative of how God sent His prophet to Israel
with His thunder-message calling it back to the
service of Him, of how He dealt thus faithfully
with His people and sought to save them from
themselves and for Him, there lies, not hidden,
but embraced and preserved for us, the touching
account of how God dealt with and trained the
prophet himself. As Jesus, when He sat in the

THE CAUSE OF GOD 3

judgment hall of Annas offering Himself a victim
for the saving of the world, yet had time to turn
a significant glance upon Peter as he stood deny-
ing Him before the courtyard fire, and thus saved
His poor repentant follower in the saving of the
world; so God in His use of Elijah for the teach-
ing of Israel also found time to train the heart
of the prophet himself.

These chapters are crowded with teaching for
us. We must select, from the wealth they bring
to us, some one thing on which our minds may
especially dwell to-day. Let it be this instruc-
tive element in them: God's way of training His
prophet. Let us observe in the case of Elijah
how God dealt with him in His grace so as to
bring him to a better knowledge of himself, of
God and of the nature of the work to which he
was called. When once we approach the narra-
tive with this purpose in view, it becomes diflScult
to see anything else in it. We forget Israel in
Elijah. Israel seems only the instrument upon
which and by means of which Elijah's heart and
soul were taught. We have in a word empha-
sized the subordinate strain until it becomes domi-
nant; and the very possibility of this is a clear
proof that the subordinate strain was planted in
the music by the Great Composer, and that it was
meant that our ears should hear it.

We are told, we say, nothing of the early life,
the early training, or directly, of the character of

4 FAITH AND LIFE

Elijah. He appears suddenly before us as the
messenger of God's wrath. Like his great anti-
type— who was greater, our Lord being witness,
than even he — he is a voice from the wilderness
crying the one word, Repent! He is the human
embodiment of the wrath of God. AMierever he
goes destruction accompanies him. Drought,
fire from heaven, floods of rain, death for the ene-
mies of God, follow hard on his footsteps. He is
embodied law. And as such he is a swift witness
against his people. Obedience, repentance, strict
account, these form the essence of his message.

God chooses appropriate instruments for His
work. And we have reason to believe that the
sternness of Elijah's mission was matched by the
sternness of his aspect and the sternness of his
character. We are therefore justified in having
said that he was, not merely the messenger of
God's law and wrath, but their embodiment. He
was by natural disposition, as framed under prov-
idential circumstances, and by \artue of the side
of God which he had as yet apprehended, nothing
loath but rather naturally inclined to act as the
witness of God against his people, well-fitted to
call down the vengeance of God upon them and
to delight in the overthrow of His enemies. He
was in danger of thinking of God only as a law-
giver and the just avenger of His wounded honour.
Hence arose the necessity of the training of the
prophet. Every incident of his career, as it is

THE CAUSE OF GOD 5

recorded for us, entered into this training. As
we cast our eye over it, we observe that what
Elijah needed to be taught was (1) dependence on
God; (2) fellowship with man in his sufferings;
(3) confidence in God's plans; and (4) a sense
of their essential and broad mercifulness.

These lessons are brought home to him by
means of two stupendous miracles over nature,
wrought for the purpose of teaching the people
that Jehovah and He alone is God, — so closely
intertwined were the two lines of Divine work,
the training of the people and the training of
Elijah. No sooner had the prophet declared to
the apostate King the word of God sent to him,
"As the Lord, the God of Israel liveth, before
whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain
these years but according to my word," than a
special personal message came from the Lord to
him saying, "Get thee hence, and turn thee east-
ward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is
before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt
drink of the brook, and I have commanded the
ravens to feed thee there." Thus it was brought
about that both Israel and Elijah were simul-
taneously learning the lesson of the littleness of
man before God. But diversely. Israel was
learning that it could not with impunity break
God's law; Elijah that even God's servants de-
pend on Him for their every want. The self-
willed nation was learning to submit to its Lord;

6 FAITH AND LIFE

the perhaps too self-confident prophet was learn-
ing the weakness of flesh and man's utter depend-
ence on his Maker.

In the silence of the wilderness, hidden in one
of those torrent-clefts which fall into the Jordan
valley, Elijah was dependent on God's hand for
his daily food; on the water which flowed at
first in quantities full enough for his needs over
the rocks of the brook's bed, but gradually grew
less and less until it trickled in drops scarcely
numerous enough to moisten his parched lips;
on food brought to him by the unclean ravens.
Thus gradually he learned to sympathize with his
suffering fellows and to rest on God. It was meet
that he who seemed to have the dominion of the
heavens in his hands, who prayed that it should
not rain and it rained not, should share in the
want which resulted; and should learn to sym-
pathize with poor suffering, even if sinful, human-
ity, like that greater one who was yet to come and
learn also how to sympathize with us through His
participation in our griefs. How fully he learned
his lesson the subsequent narrative tells us in the
beautiful story of his dealings with the widow of
Zarephath with her cruse and barrel, and her sick
and dying child — one of the most Christlike nar-
ratives among all the Old Testament miracles.
Thus then as Israel was prepared for repentance,
the prophet was prepared inwardly to be a fit
messenger to his suffering brethren, bringing

THE CAUSE OF GOD 7

them relief from their sore affliction. We re-
peat it, God sends His messages by fit instru-
ments.

And so, in due time, Elijah comes to bring the
famished land relief. We all remember the story
of the tremendous scene wherein Elijah — the
"prodigious" Tishbite, as an old author calls
him — challenges the prophets of Baal to meet him
in a contest of worship on Carmel, and defeats
them by simply calling on his God; and then
draws down rain on the parched ground by the
almighty virtue of his prayer. No scene of higher
dramatic power is to be found in all the world's
literature. As we read, we see the prophet ruling
on the mount; we see him bent in prayer on the
deserted summit; we see him when, the hand of
God upon him, he girded up his victorious loins
and ran before the chariot of Ahab, the sixteen
miles through the driving storm, from Carmel
to Jezreel. No scene we may say could have
been more nicely fitted to his mind or to his nature.
Here the king of men was king indeed and his vic-
tory seemed complete. But God's children must
suffer for their triumphs. Were there no thorns
in the flesh, messengers of Satan, sent of God to
buffet them, there would be no one of men who
could serve the Lord in the scenes of His triumph
without grave danger to his own soul. And
Elijah needed to learn other lessons yet. He
needed to learn that God's victories are not of the

8 FAITH AND LIFE

external sort and are not to be won by the weapons
of men.

How quickly after the triumph comes the mo-
ment of dismay. "And Ahab told Jezebel," says
the simple narrative, "all that Elijah had done,
and withal, how he had slain the prophets with
the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto
Elijah, saying, *So let the gods do to me and more
also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of
them by to-morrow about this time.' And when
he saw that, he arose and went for his life and came
to Beersheba." Thus, Elijah has his lesson to
learn again after his miracle. We need not won-
der at his sudden flight. It is the price that strong,
fervent spirits pay for their very strength, that
they suffer a correspondingly strong reaction. So
it was with the prophet's antitype, John the Bap-
tist, when in the prison he lost his faith and sent
to ask Him whom God had Himself pointed out
to him on the banks of Jordan, whether, indeed,
He was the Coming One. So it was with Peter
also, who could venture on the waves, but only
to cry, "Lord save me, I perish"; who could
draw his sword and smite the High Priest's ser-
vant, but only at once to deny his Lord at the
challenge of a servant maid. So now it was with
Elijah. God's hand had been outstretched at his
call. He had shut up the heavens at his bidding
and had nourished him at Cherith and given him
miraculous sustenance at Zarephath, and the

THE CAUSE OF GOD 9

widow's son back from the grave. He had sent
down His fire from heaven and dehVered the
priests of Baal into his hand and opened the
heavens at his prayer. But Elijah could not
trust God, now, to deliver him from a woman's
hate; and that, although her very message bore
in it the betrayal of her weakness.

Was there not a deeper spring for this distrust
still.? With all his training, Elijah did not as
yet know his God. His life had fallen on evil
days, times of violence that demanded violent
remedies for their diseases. And he could not
beheve in the efficacy of any but violent remedies.
Fresh from Carmel and the slaughter of the priests
he was impatient of the contuiuance of evil, and
expected the miracles of Carmel to be but the
harbinger of the greater miracle of the conversion
of the people to God in a day. \Mien Elijah
awoke on the morrow and found Israel altogether
as it had been yesterday, he was dismayed. Had
then the triumph of yesterday been as nothing.?
Was Jezebel still to lord it over God's heritage?
What then availed it that the fire had fallen from
heaven? That the false priests' blood had flowed
like water? That the rain had come at his bid-
ding? Was the hand of God outstretched only
to be withdrawn again? Elijah loses heart be-
cause God's ways were not as his ways. He can-
not understand God's secular modes of working;
and, conceiving of His ways as sudden and mirac-

10 FAITH AND LIFE

ulous only, he feels that the Most High has de-
serted His cause and His servants. He almost
feels bitter towards the Lord who had let him
begin a work which He leaves him without power
to complete. Hence Elijah must go to the wil-
derness to learn somewhat of the God he serves.
After his first miracle of closing the heavens, he
learned what man was in his sufferings and in his
needs. Now he has opened the heavens and is to
learn what God is and what are the modes of His
working and the nature of His plans.

There is no mistaking the purpose of God in
leading the prophet into the wilderness; nor the
import of the teaching He gives him there. The
disheartened prophet, despairing of the cause of
God because all things had not turned out as he
had anticipated, throws himself on the desert
sands to die. But there God visits him; and leads
him on to Horeb, where the Law had been given,
where it had been granted to Moses to see God's
glory, the glory of the Lord, the Lord God, mer-
ciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in
mercy and truth. Reaching the Mount the
stricken prophet seeks a cave and lodges in it.
And then the word of the Lord came to him with
the searching question, '* What doest thou here,
Elijah.^ " We do not need to doubt that there
was reproof in the question; but surely it is not
reproof but searching inquiry that forms its main
contents. The Lord had Himself led Elijah here.

THE CAUSE OF GOD 11

for his lesson. And now the Lord probes him
with the deepest of questions.

After all, why was Elijah there? The question
calls for reflection; and reflection which will bring
light with self-condemnation; and with the self-
condemnation, also self -instruction. " What doest
thou here, Elijah? " The honest soul of the prophet
gives back the transparent truth: "I have been
very jealous" . . . and so on. Here we see dis-
trust in God and despair of His cause; almost
complaint of God, for not guarding His cause bet-
ter; nay, more, almost complaint of God that He
had left His servant in the lurch. The Lord deals
very graciously with His servant. There is no
need now of reproof; only the simple command
to go forth and stand upon the mount before the
Lord. And then the Lord passed by; first a
great, strong wind rent the mountains and brake
in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but it was
not in the wind that the Lord was. And after
the wind, an earthquake; but the Lord was not in
the earthquake. And after the earthquake, fire;
but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the
fire, a sound of gentle stillness. Elijah does not
now need to be told where the Lord is. The
terror of the storm, of the earthquake, and of the
flame, is as nothing to the awesomeness of the
gentle stillness. "And it was so, when Elijah
heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle,
and went out and stood in the entering in of the

12 FAITH AND LIFE

cave." Did he already begin to suspect that he
had mistaken the storm that goes before Jehovah
for Jehovah's self? The terror of the law for the
very hand of Him whose essence is love? The
terrible preparation for the Gospel for the Gospel
itself? But there is still no word of direct instruc-
tion. Only the old question still sounds in his
ears. "And behold there came a voice to him
and said *What doest thou here, Elijah?'" To it
he returns the same answer as before; but surely
in deep humility of spirit. Be that as it may, how-
ever, the Lord proceeds to tell him that He has
yet work for him to do and sends him back with
instructions which imply that there is a long future
for the fruition of His plans. And whether at
once or more slowly we cannot doubt that the
lesson had its effect and Elijah learned not to
lose hope in God's cause because God's ways in
accomplishing it are not our ways.

How full all this is of lessons to us! Let us at
least not fail to learn from it: (1) That the cause
of God does not depend on our single arm to save
it. "I, I only, am left," said Elijah, as if on him
alone could God depend to secure His ends. We
depend on God, not God on us. (2) That the
cause of God is not dependent for its success on
our chosen methods. Elijah could not under-
stand that the ends of God could be gained unless
they were gained in the path of miracles of mani-
fest judgment. External methods are not God's

THE CAUSE OF GOD 13

methods. (3) That the cause of God cannot fail.
EHjah feared that God's hand was not outstretched
to save and fancied that he knew the dangers and
needs better than God did. God never deserts
His cause. (4) That it is not the Law but the
Gospel, not the revelation of wrath but that of
love, which saves the world. Wrath may pre-
pare for love; but wrath never did and never will
save a soul.

We close then, with a word of warning and one
of encouragement. The word of warning: We
must not identify our cause with God's cause;
our methods with God's methods; or our hopes
with God's purposes. The word of encourage-
ment: God's cause is never in danger; what He
has begun in the soul or in the world, He will com-
plete unto the end.

OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION

Psa. 51:12: "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation."

"And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned
against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David,
The Lord also hath put away thy sin." It may al-
most seem that David escaped from his crime too
easily. We may read the narrative and fail to
observe the signs of that deep contrition which
such hideous wickedness when once recognized
surely must engender. There is the story of the
sin drawn in all its shocking details. Then Nathan
comes in with his beautiful apologue of the ewe-
lamb, and its pungent application. And then we
read simply: "And David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned against The Lord. And Nathan said
unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin."
After that comes only the story of how the child
of sin was smitten, and how David besought the
Lord for its life and finally acquiesced in the
Divine judgment. One is apt to feel that David
was more concerned to escape the consequences
of his sin than to yield to the Lord the sacrifices of
a broken and a contrite heart. Does it not seem
cold to us and external, David's simple acknowl-
edgment of his sin, and the Lord's immediate re-
mission of it? We feel the lack of the manifesta-

14

OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION 15

tions of a deeply repentant spirit, and are almost
ready, we say, to wonder if David did not escape
too easily from the evil he had wrought.

It is merely the simplicity of the narrative
which is deceiving us in this. The single-hearted
writer expects us to read into the bare words of
David's confession, " I have sinned against the
Lord," all the spiritual exercises which those words
are fitted to suggest and out of which they should
have grown. And if we find it a little difficult to do
so, we have only to turn to David's penitential
Psalms, to learn the depths of repentance which
wrung this great and sensitive soul. One of them
— perhaps the most penetrating portrayal of a truly
penitent soul ever cast into human speech — is
assigned by its title to just this crisis In his life;
and I see no good reason why this assignment
need be questioned. The whole body of them
sound the depths of the sinful soul's self-torment
and longing for recovery as can be found nowhere
else in literature; and taken in sequence present
a complete portrayal of the course of repentance
in the heart, from its inception in the rueful review
of the past and the remorseful biting back of the
awakened heart, through its culmination in a true
return to God In humble love and trusting confi-
dence, to its issue in the establishment of a new
relation of obedience to God and a new richness
of grateful service to Him.

Let us take just these four. Psalms 6, 38, 51, 32.

16 FAITH AND LIFE

In Psa. 6 sounds the note of remorse — it is the
torment of a soul's perception of its sin that is
here prominently brought to our most poignant
observation. In Psa. 38, the note of hope — not
indeed absent even from Psa. 6 — becomes dom-
inant and the sorrow and hatred of sin is coloured
by a pervasive tone of relief. In Psa. 51, while
there is no lessening of the accent of repentance
there is along with the deep sense of the guilt and
pollution of sin which is expressed also a note of
triumph over the sin, which aspires to a clean
heart and a steadfast spirit and a happy service
of God in purity of life. While in Psa. 32, the
sense of forgiveness, the experience of joy in the
Lord, and the exercises of holy and joyful service
overlie all else. Here we trace David's penitent
soul through all its experiences; his remorseful
contemplation of his own sin, his passionate reach-
ing out to the salvation of God, the gradual re-
turn of his experience of the joy of that salvation,
his final issuing into the full glory of its complete
realization.

In some respects the most remarkable of this
remarkable body of pictures of the inner experi-
ences of a penitent soul, is that of Psa. 51. It
draws away the veil for us and permits us to look
in upon the spirit in the most characteristic act
of repentance, just at the turning point, as it de-
serts its sin and turns to God. Here is revealed
to us a sense of sin so poignant, a perception of the

OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION 17

grace of God so soaring, an apprehension of the
completeness of the revolution required in sinful
man that he may become in any worthy sense a
servant of God so profound, that one wonders in
reading it what is left for a specifically Christian
experience to add to this experience of a saint of
God under the Old Testament dispensation in
turning from sin to God. The wonderful depth
of the religious experience and the remarkable
richness of religious conception embodied in this
Psalm have indeed proved a snare to the critics.
"David could not have had these ideas," says
Prof. T. C. Cheyne, brusquely; and, indeed, the
David that Prof. Cheyne has constructed out of
his imaginary reconstruction of the course of re-
ligious development in Israel, could not well have
had these ideas. These are distinctively Chris-
tian ideas that the Psalm sets forth, and they
could not have grown up of themselves in a purely
natural heart. And therein lies one of the values
of the Psalm to us; it reveals to us the essentially
Christian type of the religion of Israel; it opens
to our observation the contents of the mind and
heart of a Spirit-led child of God in the ages agone,
and makes us to know the truly Christian charac-
ter of his experiences in his struggle with sin and
his aspirations towards God, and thus also to
iJnow the supernatural leading of God's people
through all ages.

For consider for a moment the conception of

18 FAITH AND LIFE

God which throbs through all the passionate lan-
guage of this Psalm. A God of righteousness
who will not look upon sin with allowance; nay,
who directs all things, even the emergence of acts
of sin in His world, so that He may not only be
just, but also "may be justified when He speaks
and clear when He judges." A God of holiness
whose Spirit cannot abide in our impure hearts.
A God of unbounded power, who governs the
whole course of events in accordance with His
own counsels. But above all, a gracious God, full
of lovingkindness, abundant in compassion, whose
delight is in salvation. There is nothing here
which goes beyond the great revelation of Ex.
34:6, "a God full of compassion and gracious,
abundant in lovingkindness and truth; keeping
lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin." Indeed the lan-
guage of the Psalm is obviously modelled on this
of Exodus. But here it is not given from the lips
of Jehovah, proclaiming His character, but re-
turned to us from the heart of the repentant sin-
ner, recounting the nature of the God with whom
he has to do.

And what a just and profound sense of sin is
revealed to us here. The synonymy of the sub-
ject is almost exhausted in the effort to complete
the self -accusation. "My transgression, my in-
iquity, my sin;" I have been in rebellion against
God, I have distorted my life, I have missed the

OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION 19

mark; I have, to express it all, done what is evil
in Thy sight — in the sight of Thee, the Standard
of Holiness, the hypostatized Law of Conduct.
And these acts are but the expression of an inner
nature of corruption, inherited from those who
have gone before me; it was in iniquity that I
was born, in sin that my mother conceived me.
Shall a pure thing come from an impure? Nay,
my overt acts of sin are thought of not in them-
selves but as manifestations of what is behind
and within; thrown up into these manifestations
in act, in Thine own ordinance, for no other
cause than that Thy righteous condemnation on
me may be justified and thy judgment be made
clear. For it is not cleanness of act merely that
Thou dost desire, but truth in the inward parts
and wisdom in the hidden parts. Obviously the
Psalmist is conceiving sin here as not confined to
acts but consisting essentially of a great ocean of
sin within us, whose waves merely break in sinful
acts. No wonder the commentators remark that
here we have original sin "more distinctly ex-
pressed than in any other passage in the Old Tes-
tament." Nothing is left to be added by the
later revelation in the way of poignancy of con-
ception— though much is, of course, left to be
added in developed statement.

Accordingly, the conception of the radicalness
of the operation required for the Psalmist's de-
liverance from sin, is equally developed. No sur-

20 FAITH AND LIFE

face remedy will suffice to eradicate a sin which is
thus inborn, ingrained in nature itself. Hence the
passionate cry: Create — it requires nothing less
than a creative act — create me a clean heart —
the heart is the totality of the inner life — and
make new within me a constant spirit — a spirit
which will no more decline from Thee. Nothing
less than this will suffice — a total rebegetting as
the New Testament would put it; an entire mak-
ing over again can alone suffice to make such an
one as the Psalmist knows himself to be — not by
virtue of his sins of act which are only the mani-
festation of what he is by nature, but by virtue
of his fundamental character — acceptable to Him
who desires truth in the inward part; nay, noth-
ing less than this can secure to him that stead-
fastness of spirit which will save his overt acts
from shame.

Nor does the Psalmist expect to be able, un-
aided, to live in the power of his new life. One
of the remarkable features of the doctrinal sys-
tem of the Psalm is the clear recognition it gives
of the necessity, for the cleansing of the life, of the
constant presence and activity of the Holy Spirit.
"Take not thy holy Spirit from me and uphold
me with a spirit of willingness." Thine to lead,
mine to follow. Not autonomy but obedience,
the ideal of the religious life. The operations
of the Holy Spirit in the sphere of the moral life,
the ethical activities of the Spirit, His sanctifying

OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION 21

work, are but little adverted to in the Old Tes-
tament, and when alluded to, it is chiefly in
promises for the Messianic period. Here, David
not merely prays for them in his own case, but
announces them as part of the experience of the
past and present. His chance of standing, he
says in effect, hangs on the continued presence
of the Holy Spirit of God in him; in the up-
holding within him thereby of a spirit of wiUing-
ness.

Thus we perceive that in its conception of God,
of sin, of salvation alike, this Psalm stands out
as attaining the high-water mark of Old Testa-
ment revelation. It was by a hard pathway that
David came to know God and himself so inti-
mately. But he came thus to know both his
own heart and the God of grace with a fullness
and profundity of apprehension that it will be
hard to parallel elsewhere. And it was no merely
external knowledge that he acquired thus. It
was the knowledge of experience. David knew
sin because he had touched the unclean thing
and sounded the depths of iniquity. He knew
himself because he had gone his own way and had
learned through what thickets and morasses that
pathway led, and what was its end. And he
knew God, because he had tasted and seen that
the Lord is gracious. Yes, David had tasted
and seen God's preciousness. David had ex-
perience of salvation. He knew what salvation

22 FAITH AND LIFE

was, and He knew its joy. But never had he
known the joy of salvation as he knew it after
he had lost it. And it is just here that the spe-
cial poignancy of David's repentance comes in:
it was not the repentance of a sinner merely, it
was the repentance of a sinning saint.

It is only the saint who knows what sin is; for
only the saint knows it in contrast with salva-
tion, experienced and understood. And it is only
the sinning saint who knows what salvation is:
for it is only the joy that is lost and then found
again that is fully understood. The depths of
David's knowledge, the poignancy of his con-
ceptions— of God, and sin, and salvation — car-
rying him far beyond the natural plane of his
time and the development of the religious con-
sciousness of Israel, may be accounted for, it
would seem, by these facts. He who had known
the salvation of God and basked in its joy, came
to know through his dreadful sin what sin is,
and its terrible entail; and through this horrible
experience, to know what the joy of salvation is —
the joy which he had lost and only through the
goodness of God could hope to have restored.
In the biting pain of his remorse, it all becomes
clear to him. His sinful nature is revealed to
him; and the goodness of God; his need of the
Spirit; the joy of acceptance with God; the de-
light of abiding with Him in His house. Hence
his profound disgust at himself; his passion-

OLD TESTAMENT RELIGION 23

ate longing for that purity without which he
could not see God. And hence his culminat-
ing prayer: "Restore unto me the joy of Thy
salvation."

THE WRATH OF MAN

Psa. 76:10: — "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee."

The Seventy-sixth Psalm is represented by a
very old tradition — it is already embodied in the
Septuagint version — as a hymn of praise to God
for the destruction of Sennacherib. There is no
reason why this tradition may not be supposed to
preserve the truth. But its truth or falsehood
does not particularly concern us. The Psalm
was in any case written upon some such occasion
as the destruction of Sennacherib. It celebrates
a great deliverance wrought by the power of God;
a deliverance beyond all expectation, wrought by
God alone. The essence of its representation is
that Jehovah is a man of war, above all comparison
great. When He enters the field, all the machin-
ery of conflict stops. The lightning-like arrows
which fly from the bow cease in their courses;
the shield and the sword fall helpless to the ground;
the stoutest-hearted with their chariots and horses
drop into the inactivity of death. For Jehovah
is terrible. None can stand before Him when
His wrath begins to bum but a little.

As the Psalmist contemplates the certain de-
struction that befalls all the foes of Israel, when
Jehovah speaks, he rises from the particular to

24

THE WRATH OF MAN 25

the general. He proclaims the praises of the
eternal and universal providence of God, as it is
illustrated in the great fact that even the most
violent passions of men are under His control,
and conduce only to the fulfilment of His ends.
"Surely," he cries, "the wrath of man shall praise
Thee, and the residue of wrath Thou wilt restrain,"
or "the residue of wrath wilt Thou gird upon
Thee." The fundamental sense is that the ebul-
litions of the wrath of man, however violent and
outbreaking they may be, are, nevertheless, like
all else that occurs, under the complete control of
God and are employed by Him as instruments for
working out His ends. Like all else that comes to
pass, then, they illustrate God's glory. For the
rest, the passage teaches, according as we con-
strue the last half of the verse, either that all the
wrath of man which would not conduce to the
divine glory God restrains and does not permit
to manifest itself in action, so that the complete-
ness of His control over man's wrath is what is
emphasized; or else, that after all the wrath of
man raging in its utmost fury has exhausted itself
in vain struggles against the rising wrath of Je-
hovah, there remains to Jehovah, in opposition
to it, the fullness of wrath, with which He girds
Himself for action, so that the resistless might of
Jehovah as over against the puny weakness of
man is what is emphasized. We need not now
attempt to decide between the two interpreta-

26 FAITH AND LIFE

tions; it is enough to fix our minds on the main
declaration — this to wit: that the wrath of man
also is under divine control, and it too, like all
else that occurs in the world, conduces only to
the divine glory.

It is well for us to remind ourselves of this great
fact in a time like this. It may seem to us as if
the fountains of the great deep were broken up
and the world were on the point of being over-
whelmed by the violence of human passion. Men
seem to have broken away from the government
of conscience, and even from the guidance of the
common instincts of humanity. The whole earth
appears to have become a churning mass of rage.
We see millions of our fellow-creatures flying at
one another's throats in a ruthless struggle, and
whole countries harried and reduced to ruin.
Up from the battle-fields, and up from the v;asted
lands behind the battle-fields, rise only cries of
rage and despair. It is good for us to remember
that the Lord God Omnipotent reigns over all.
That all this welter of blood and iron He holds
well in hand. That none of it would have oc-
curred without His direction; that nothing can
occur in it apart from His appointment; and I do
not say merely that He will overrule it all for
His glory, but that all of it will conduce to His
praise. For, "surely the wrath of man is to Him
for praise, and the remainder of wraths will He
restrain."

THE WRATH OF MAN 27

It may be hard for us to understand or even to
believe it — for our sight is dim and the range of
our vision is narrow — but all things work together
under God's governing hand for good. Even the
things which in themselves are evil, in all their
workings work together for good in this world of
ours; for it is God's world after all, and He is the
Governor of it, and He governs it for good, and
that continually. John Calvin reminds us that
though Satan may rage about like a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour, yet he has a bit in
his mouth and it is God who holds the reins.
"Oh, Assyrian, the rod of My anger," cries Je-
hovah. It was for his own ends — lust of con-
quest, delight in power — that the Assyrian on his
part was doing it. He knew not that he was but
the instrument in God's hands for working higher
ends, and that when they were secured, the sword
would drop from his inert fingers and he would
himself fall on sleep. "Glorious art Thou and
excellent," sings the Psalmist, "more than the
mountains of prey: the stout-hearted are made a
spoil, they have slept their sleep; and none of the
men of might have found their hands. At thy
rebuke, O God of Jacob, both chariot and horse
are cast into a dead sleep." In the midst of the
turmoil of war, let us remember that war too is of
God, and that it, too, will in His hands work for
good: that even the wrath of man shall be to
Him for praise.

28 FAITH AND LIFE

But there is more than even this in the Psalm
for our learning, at least by implication. We
read in it not only of the wrath of man, but also
of the wrath of Jehovah; and the wrath of Je-
hovah is set over against the wrath of man as
greater than the wrath of man — greater, more
lasting, more prevailing. None can stand when
the wrath of Jehovah only begins: when all other
wrath is quenched the wrath of Jehovah abides —
He girds Himself with it and is terrible to the
kings of the earth. We must not then fall into
the fancy that all wrath is evil, and that we must
always and everywhere suppress it. There is a
righteous anger, as well as an unrighteous. Else
we would not read, "Be ye angry, and sin not."
If to be angry were already sin, we could not be
exhorted not to sin in our anger. God is angry.
He is angry with the wicked every day. His
wrath is revealed from heaven against all that
work iniquity. If it were not so, He would not
be a moral being: for every moral being must
bum with hot indignation against all wrong per-
ceived as such. That is precisely what we mean
by a moral being : a being which knows right and
wrong, and which approves the right and repro-
bates the wrong. If we do not react against the
wrong when we see it, in indignation and avenging
wrath, we are either unmoral or immoral.

Therefore also, Christ was angry. The Gos-
pels are filled with instances of the manifestation

THE WRATH OF MAN 29

by Him of the emotion of anger in all the varieties
of this emotion: from mere annoyance, as when
He rebuked His disciples for forbidding the chil-
dren to be brought unto Him, to burning indigna-
tion, as when the imfeeling Scribes would not
permit Him to heal the suffering on the Sabbath
day — yes, even to what the Evangelists do not
scruple to call outbreaking rage which shook with
its paroxysm His whole physical frame, as when
He advanced to do battle with death and sin — the
destroyers of men — at the grave of Lazarus. Even
the Lamb feels and shows wrath. Christ is our
perfect example. And if we are to be His perfect
imitators, we not only may, but must, be angry;
we not only m.ay, but must, exhibit wrath — when-
ever, that is, good is assaulted and evil is exalted.
We too, must be found, on proper occasion, with
the whip of small cords in our hands; we too,
must not draw back when righteousness is to be
vindicated or when the oppressed are to be res-
cued. In this sense too, the wrath of man is to
God for praise. We please Him when we are
righteously angry. He who never feels stirring
within him the emotion of just indignation is not
like God in that high element of the image of
God in which he was made — His moral nature.
Indignation is an inevitable reaction of a moral
being in the presence of wrongdoing, and it is
not merely his right, but his duty to give it play
when righteousness demands it.

30 FAITH AND LIFE

No doubt we are to seek peace and ensue it.
But this is the peace not of the condonation of
evil, but of the conquest of it. We are to con-
quer evil in ourselves. We are to know no in-
ordinate anger. We are to be slow to anger and
quick to put it aside: we are not to let the sun
go down upon our wrath. We are to remember
that anger is a short madness, and not trust our-
selves too readily in wreaking it on others — even
when we think it righteous: not avenging our-
selves, but giving place to the wrath of God,
knowing that in His own good time and way He
will avenge us. W^e are to conquer it in others:
by the soft word which takes away anger, by the
patient endurance which disarms it, by the un-
wearying kindness which dissolves it into repen-
tance and love. Love is the great solvent; and
love is the bond of peace. Where love is, there
wrath will with difficulty live, and only that
wrath which is after all outraged love can easily
assert itself. But so long as there is wrongdoing
in the world, so long will there be a place in the
world for righteous indignation.

It is only when the world shall have been re-
made and there is no longer anything in it that
can hurt or destroy that the lion and the lamb shall
lie down together — because now the lion has
ceased to be a lion. These things are to us an
allegory. They mean that peace is the crowning
blessing of earthly life and comes in the train of

THE WRATH OF MAN 31

righteousness. Peace is, in the strictest sense, a
by-product and is not to be had through direct
effort. He works best for the world's peace who
works for the world's righteousness. It is only
when the world shall come to know the Lord and
obey Him, that the peace of God can settle down
upon it. We may cry, "Peace, peace," and there
be no peace. But he who cries, "Righteousness,
righteousness," will find that he has brought peace
to the earth in precisely the measure in which he
has brought righteousness. Jesus Christ is the
Prince of Peace, because He takes away sin; and
you and I are workers for peace when we preach
His Gospel, which is the Gospel of peace just be-
cause it is the Gospel of deliverance from sin. Sin
means war, and where sin is, there will war be.
Righteousness means peace, and there can never
be peace where righteousness has not first been
realized.

FOR CHRIST'S SAKE

Matt. 5:11:— "For My Sake."

"He came to his own and his own received him
not." Though they had been for generations
under the tutelage of the law, the schoolmaster
to lead them to Christ; though the forerunner
had come to prepare the way before Him, pro-
claiming repentance to be the gate to His spiritual
kingdom; yet He found the majority of the people
inflamed by earthly hopes and passions and
wedded to their expectation of a kingdom of
flesh, in which they as kings and priests should
revel in the discomfiture of all their enemies.
Consequently we find our Lord taking an early
opportunity in His ministry, w^hen He saw the mul-
titudes before Him, to teach them the real nature
of the kingdom which He came to found. In this
aspect, the Sermon on the Mount is closely anal-
ogous to the marvellous discourse on the Bread of
Life, recorded for us in the sixth chapter of John.
In both alike our Lord found Himself in the pres-
ence of a carnal-minded crowd whose hopes were
set upon an earthly kingdom of might and worldly
glory, and who sought Him only in the hope that
through Him they might gratify their ambitious
aspirations. In both alike the purpose of the

32

FOR CHRIST'S SAKE 33

Divine teacher is instruction and sifting, or sifting
through instruction. They knew not of what
spirit they were; He would open to them the
nature of the work He came to do, the nature of
the spiritual kingdom He came to found.

By historical necessity, the Sermon on the
Mount is, then, the proclamation of the law of
the kingdom. How beautifully it opens! Not,
as the listening crowd, hanging eagerly upon the
lips of the wondrous teacher, expected, with a
clarion call to arms, or a ringing promise of re-
ward to him who fought valiantly for Israel.
Not as we might expect, with a stinging rebuke
to their carnal hopes and a stern correction and
repression of their ungentle spirit. But gently
and winningly, wooing Ihe hearers to the higher
ideal, by depicting in the most attractively simple
language the blessedness of those in whom should
be found the marks of the true children of the
kingdom. When the Lord speaks to His chil-
dren it is not in the voice of the great and strong
wind that rends the mountain and breaks in
pieces the rocks, nor in that of the earthquake, or
of the fire, but in that still small voice or "sound
of a gentle stillness" in which He spoke to Elijah
in the mountain. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah
had come and He opens His mouth and blesses
the people in the voice of a Lamb.

Look at this ninefold twisted cord of the be-
atitudes and learn what the followers of the Lamb

34 FAITH AND LIFE

must be. As we look does it seem a mirror giving
us back the lines and features of our own faces?
Or rather, some strange picture of an unknown
race brought home by some traveller to a far
country — a race of almost unhuman lineaments,
so different are they from our own? Indeed,
here is the portrait of the dwellers in a far land,
even a heavenly; here we trace in living charac-
ters the outlines of those who live with God; the
citizens of His kingdom whose home and abiding
city is above, where Jesus is on the right hand of
God. They are not of lofty carriage — but "poor
in spirit"; nor are they of gay countenance —
they "mourn" rather, and "hunger and thirst"
eagerly "after the righteousness" which they lack
within themselves; they are "merciful, poor in
heart, peacemakers." Surely then, they are well-
esteemed among men! Nay, this is another of
their characteristics. They are supremely lov-
able; but men hate them. They are persecuted
for their very righteousness' sake. But they have
their reward. Blessed are they — nay, "blessed are
ye — when men shall reproach you and persecute
you and say all manner of evil against you falsely
for Christ's sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven."

The promises of Christ are not earthly but
heavenly. He promises His servants evils here
below; so true is it that "prosperity is the blessing
of the Old Testament, adversity of the New."

FOR CHRIST'S SAKE 35

Yet in the midst of all this lowliness and evil,
they are blessed. As heaven is higher than earth
so high is their blessedness above any earthly
success or glory or delight. Though they see
their earthly house of this tabernacle being hter-
ally worn away, then, by afflictions oft and en-
durances many they need not faint; for even this
affliction is light in comparison with the weight
of yonder glory. More, they may rejoice and be
exceeding glad, for great is their reward in heaven.
The more suffering for Christ here, the more
glory with Christ there. As an old writer has
it, the more the vessels of mercy are scoured here,
the more may they be assured that God wants
them to shine there; the more clear it is that we
are being preserved not in sugar but in brine, the
more clear that God is preserving us not for a
season but for eternity. The last of the beati-
tudes thus pronounces blessed those who suffer
affliction for Christ's sake and bids them rejoice
and be exceeding glad, because their reward shall
be great

Let us punctually observe, however, that it is
not affliction in itself that is pronounced blessed.
It is affliction for Christ's sake. This is the key-
phrase which locks up the whole list of beatitudes.
For Christ's sake. It is this that transmutes pov-
erty of spirit into heavenly humility, that brings
comfort to the mourning, and glorious riches to
the meek, and plenty to those that hunger and

36 FAITH AND LIFE

thirst after righteousness. It is this that has been
the spring of mercy in the merciful, of purity in
the pure of heart, of peace in the peacemakers.
And it is this and this only that makes it a glory
to endure the scoffs and revilings and persecutions
of men. As truly as we may say that the blessed-
ness of affliction and persecution is due to its re-
lation to the reward, is due to the fact that it is
the gateway to the kingdom, so also may we say
that it depends on its cause. For Christ's sake
is the little phrase that points us to its source and
law.

When we selected these three words, "For my
sake" as the centre of our meditation this after-
noon, therefore, we elected to ask you to give
your attention this hour to the great determining
motive of the Christian life, above which the
Scriptures know no higher, above which no higher
can be conceived. Christ adverts to it as the
great moving spring of Christian activity and en-
durance in the ninth beatitude. When reproach
and persecution and reviling are endured on
Christ's account, then and then only are we
blessed. But this is not the only place or the most
moving way that this motive is adduced. The
Scriptures are full of it. Let us sum up what we
have to say of it in two propositions. (1) For
Christ's sake is the highest motive which could
be adduced to govern our conduct. (2) For
Christ's sake ought and must be our motive in all

FOR CHRIST'S SAKE 37

our conduct. In other words it is the grandest
and most compelling, and we should make it our
universal and continual motive, in all our conduct
of life.

Let us consider then, the greatness of this motive
as a spring of action, and here let us observe, first,
that its greatness as a motive is revealed to us by
the greatness of the requirements that are made
of us on its account. This ninth beatitude is an
example in point. Men are expected to endure
reproaches and persecutions and all manner of
evil for Christ's sake. That is, "for Christ's
sake" is expected to sweeten the bitterest cup,
and to make every affliction joyful to us. Dis-
graceful scourgings, unjust imprisonments (Matt.
10:18), burning hates (10:22), malignant slanders
(Luke 6:22), death itself (Matt. 10:39), and that
with the utmost refinement of cruelty and the
deepest depths of disgrace; all these are enumer-
ated for us as things before which no Christian
should hesitate when it is for Christ's sake. All
these are things which Christians have joyfully
met with praises on their lips for Christ's sake.
The enumeration in the eleventh chapter of He-
brews is but a bare catalogue of what since then
has been endured with delight by those who bore
this strengthening talisman in their bosom. For
Christ's sake. These too have had trial of mock-
ings and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonments,
of stonings and sawings asunder, and of long

38 FAITH AND LIFE

lives of privation in deserts and eaves and have
for Christ's sake witnessed a good confession.
These all, in one word, have testified to us the
supreme strength of the motive "for Christ's
sake," by joyfully suffering everything for Christ,
that they might be glorified with Him, becoming
sharers in His sufferings that they might be par-
ticipants in His glory.

And this leads us to observe, secondly, that the
greatness of this motive is revealed to us by the
greatness of the promises that are attached to
living by it. So in this ninth beatitude, those
who are afflicted for Christ's sake are pronounced
blessed, and are called upon to rejoice and be ex-
ceeding glad, because — because, so it is added,
"great is your reward in heaven." And so is it
everywhere. "Every one" it is said, without
exception (Matt. 19:39), "every one that hath
left houses or brethren or sisters or fathers or
mothers or children or lands for my name's sake,
shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit eter-
nal life." Thus it is that those whose eyes are
opened may see the recompense of the reward
and may be enabled to account the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
He that denieth Christ before men may, indeed,
receive the applause of men; but men pass away
and their applause is empty air. But, he that
denieth men for Christ's sake is received into the
eternal habitations. "He that findeth his life

FOR CHRIST'S SAKE 39

shall lose it; but he that loseth his life for my sake
shall find it." If we suffer with Him so also shall
we be glorified together with Him (Rom. 8:17).
There is, indeed, no limit to the reward promised;
truly "great is our reward in heaven." And the
greatness of the motive may be justly measured
by the greatness of the reward. As high as heaven
is above earth, as long as eternity is beyond time,
as great as perfection is above lack, as strong as
stability is above that which endureth but a
moment; so high is the heavenly reward above
the earthly suffering and so strong is the motive to
act for Christ's sake.

But, thirdly, let us observe that the greatness
of this motive is revealed to us by the fact that
God honours it as the motive of His own most mys-
terious acts of redemption. He not only asks us
to do for Christ's sake what is hard for us, but He
Himself for Christ's sake does what is hard for
Him. What could be more difficult for a just and
holy God than to pardon sin and take the sinner
into His most intimate love and communion.^
Yet for Christ's sake God does even this. "I
write unto you, little children," says the beloved
Apostle, "because your sins are forgiven you for
his name's sake" (1 John 2:12). All the instru-
mentalities of grace are set at work in the world,
only for Christ's sake. It is for His sake that we
are accepted by God, that we have the gift of
the Spirit, that we are regenerated, adopted, jus-

40 FAITH AND LIFE

tified, sanctified, glorified. Nay, even the little
things of life are for His sake. It is not only for
His sake that we are received by God, but for
His sake that we are treated even here and now
while yet sinners as God's children, allowed free-
dom of access to the Throne of Grace, and have
all our petitions (little and great alike) heard and
answered. "Verily I say unto you," says the
Saviour, "whatever ye shall ask in my name, that
will I do" (Jno. 14:13).

And thus we are led finally to observe that the
greatness of the motive rests on the greatness of
Christ's work for us. As He has stopped at noth-
ing for our sakes, so we must not stop at anything
for His sake. All that we are and all that we
have are His. And as He has loved us and given
Himself for us, so must we love Him and give
ourselves to Him. Behind the phrase "for thy
sake" lurks thus all the motive power of a great
love, the fruit of a great gratitude. As we can
never repay Him for our redemption, so there is
nothing that we can pause at, if done for His
sake. Is not this the core of the whole matter.^
What difference will it make to us what men may
judge or what they will do? Need we hesitate
because they consider us beside ourselves.^ If
this is lunacy, it is a blessed lunacy! Nay, shall
we not rather say with the Apostle of old, " whether
we be beside ourselves it is to God. . . . For the
love of Christ constraineth us." And why should

FOR CHRIST'S SAKE 41

the love of Christ constrain us? "Because we
thus judge, that if one died for all then all died;
and He died for all that those that live should no
longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who
for their sakes died and rose again." Yes, here
it is : for our sakes He died and rose again. And
because He died for our sakes, we shall live for
Him, yea, and if need be, for His sake also die.
Is there, can there be asked, a stronger motive
than this.f^

Or need we ask at this point how universal is
this obligation — how far, into what details of life,
we should carry it as our motive .^^ It is clear that
there can be no call so great that this motive
should not dominate it; we must be glad and will-
ing to go to death itself "for His sake." But
perhaps, the other side needs emphasis too. Can
there be a call so small that this motive need not
govern us.^ Nay, we are bought with a price and
are asked not only to be ready to die, but also
(sometimes a harder task) to be ready to live for
Christ. Whatever we do, however small, how-
ever seemingly insignificant — must needs be for
Him. We are now new creatures — no more
worldlings but Christ's children; let us see to it
that we live like Christ's own children; doing all
we do for Him and for His sake. So the Scrip-
tures teach us to do: "Whatsoever ye do in word
or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

42 FAITH AND LIFE

"Whatsoever ye do, do from the soul, as unto the
Lord, and not unto men; knowing that from the
Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the m-
heritance." (Col. 3:17, 23.) As Christians, let
us be Christians, recognizably followers of Christ,
doing His will in all we do and trying our duty at
every stage simply by these questions: Is it ac-
cording to His will.^ Does it subserve His glory?
Is it for His sake? So doing, we cannot but ap-
prove ourselves before man and God as followers
of Him.

THIS- AND OTHER-WORLDLINESS

Matt. 6:33: — "But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteous-
ness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

This verse is in a sense the summing up of the
whole lesson of the Sermon on the Mount up to
this point. This great discourse had opened
with an enumeration of the classes to whom the
advent of the kingdom would bring joy and bless-
ing, in whom the leading characteristic is seen to
be other- worldliness. It then proceeded to enun-
ciate the law of the kingdom, which demanded
holiness before God rather than external right-
eousness before men. At the nineteenth verse of
the sixth chapter the summing up begins with a
direct appeal to lay aside care for earthly things
and to set the mind on heavenly things. This
summing up culminates and finds its fullest ex-
pression in the verse before us: "But seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto you." This is
the precipitate of the whole sermon; in a few
words it contrasts the two cares which press on
man, the two seekings which may engage his at-
tention. It does not commend to us a nerveless
life of Buddhist-like retirement from desire and
destruction of activity. It presupposes in all
men who are men, desire, energy, activity directed

43

44 FAITH AND LIFE

to a goal. But it discriminates activities and
goals. We are to seek. But not what the heathen
seek — worldly ease and goods and advantages.
We are to seek heavenly things. Hence, it bans
one class of seekings and commends the other.
Our chief end is not to gain earthly things but
heavenly.

Approaching the verse somewhat more closely,
we observe of it — that it is a protest against prac-
tical atheism. There is a formal atheism of opin-
ions and words and reasonings which declares
that there is no God and seeks to sophisticate the
understanding into believing that there is none.
This the Bible describes as an open folly: the
fool has said in his heart, There is no God. But
even when the lip and the mind behind the lip
are true to right reason and confess that there is
a God who rules the world and to whom Ve are
responsible in our every thought and word and
deed, there is often a practical atheism that lives
as if there were no God. Formal atheism denies
God; practical atheism is guilty of the possibly
even more astounding sin of forgetting the God it
confesses. How many men who would not think
of saying even in their hearts. There is no God,
deny Him practically by ordering their lives as if
He were not.^^ And even among those who yield,
in their lives, a practical as well as a formal ac-
knowledgment of God, many yet manage, prac-
tically, to deny in their lives that this God, ac-

THIS- AND OTHER-WORLDLINESS 45

knowledged and served, is the Lord of all the earth.
How prone we are to limit and circumscribe the
sphere in which we practically allow for God!
We feel His presence and activity in some things
but not in others; we seek His blessing in some
matters but not in others; we look for His guid-
ance in some affairs but not in others; we can
trust Him in some crises and with some of our
hopes but not in or with others. This too is a
practical atheism. And it is against all such prac-
tical atheism that our passage enters its protest.
It protests against men living as if they were the
builders of their own houses, the architects of their
own fortunes. It protests against men reckoning
in anything without God.

How are we to order our lives .^ How are we
to provide for our households — or, for our own
bodily wants.? Is it true that we can trust the
eternal welfare of our souls to God and cannot
trust to Him the temporal welfare of our bodies.?
Is it true that He has provided salvation for us
at the tremendous cost of the death of His Son,
and will not provide food for us to eat and
clothes for us to wear at the cost of the directive
word that speaks and it is done.? Is it true
that we can stand by the bedside of our dying
friend and send him forth into eternity in good
confidence in God, and cannot send that same
friend forth into the world with any confidence
that God will keep him there.? O, the prac-

46 FAITH AND LIFE

tical atheism of many of our earthly cares and
earthly anxieties! Can we not read the lessons
of the birds of heaven and the lilies of the field
which our Father feeds and clothes? What a
rebuke these lessons are to our practical atheism,
which says, in effect, that we cannot trust God
for our earthly prosperity but must bid Him wait
until we make good our earthly fortunes before
we can afford to turn to Him. How many men
do actually think that it is unreasonable to serve
God at the expense of their business activity?
To give Him their first and most energetic ser-
vice? How many think it would be unreasonable
in God to put His service before their provision for
themselves and family? How many of us who
have been able to "risk" ourselves, do not think
that we can "risk" our families in God's keeping?
How subtle the temptations ! But, here our Lord
brushes them all away in the calm words, "Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness ;
and all these things shall be added unto you."
Is this not a rebuke to our practical atheism?
But the verse does not take the form of a re-
buke; it takes the form of an appeal; and we
observe next of it, therefore, that it is an appeal
to make God's kingdom and righteousness the
prime objects of our life. And looking closely at
it we see that it is not an empty appeal but in-
cludes a promise. We are, primarily, to make
God's kingdom and righteousness our chief con-

THIS- AND OTHER- WORLDLINESS 47

cem; but, doing so, we shall more surely secure
the earthly things we need. The passage does
not proceed on the presumption that we do not
need these earthly things; it asserts our need of
them. It does not proceed on the assumption
that they are not to be in their appropriate place
and order and way the objects of seeking. It
merely corrects our mode of seeking them. We
may seek them without and apart from God or
we may seek them in and of God. It tells us that
the former way — the atheistic way, in which we
seek to provide for ourselves — is the way not to
get them; the latter way in which we seek them
in and from God is the way to get them. Who
can doubt it.?

In the first place we have God's promise. He
tells us that if we will seek first His Kingdom and
His righteousness He will add all these things. He
tells us in effect that to godliness there is the prom-
ise both of this world and of the world to come.
Men find it hard to believe this. It is a standing
problem of the wise of the earth and has been
from Job's day down. But we have the promise.

In the next place we may add, despite the diffi-
culties of life and the clouding of judgment, it,
after all, does stand to reason. Isn't, after all, it
the best way to secure the reward, to enter into
the service of the King.? And God is the King
of all the earth. How shall we obtain the goods
of the earth better than by hearty service of the

48 FAITH AND LIFE

King of the earth? True we shall obtain them as
gifts and not as acquired by us. But is not the
best path for man, to seek them at His hands?
The King suffers not His faithful servants to
want.

But more fundamentally still, we may add that
it belongs to the very nature of things. If we
want to enjoy those earthly goods which God has
placed in this world for the benefit and use of His
children, the best way to secure their enjoyment
is obviously not to seek to do it individually but
socially. It is a social axiom that everything that
betters the condition of society as a whole increases
our enjoyment of our material goods. A savage
acquires a pot of gold. How shall he enjoy it?
His fellow savages covet it; and who shall secure
it to him? He is liable to be waylaid at night for
it. Every bush hides an enemy; the poisoned
arrow may fly upon him from any tree; his sleep
is driven from him as he seeks to protect his life.
Hidden by friendly darkness he may bury his
treasure under some great tree in the tangled
forest; and anxiously guard its neighbourhood lest
he may have been watched and still be bereft of
it. In such conditions there is no enjoyment of
the treasure for him; he can enjoy only the pro-
tection of it. But, now, he is a wise savage and
instead of giving his energies to protecting his
treasure, he gives it to civilizing his people. Out
of the savage tribe rise the rudiments of a state;

THIS- AND OTHER-WORLDLINESS 49

the majesty of law emerges— protecting under
its powerful aegis the person and property of its
citizens. What a change! No need of hiding
the treasure now. He can wear it displayed upon
his person. He now can enjoy at least its pos-
session. But a higher stage is still possible; the
community may be not only civiHzed but Chris-
tianized; Christian principles take the place of
external laws; love the place of force. And he,
touched with the same spirit, goes about with his
treasure, transmuting it into aid for the suffering
and needy. Now he is truly enjoying it, enjoying,
not only protecting it, not only possessing it but
using it. When such a time fully comes to this
world of ours — that is what we mean by the Mil-
lennium— the kingdom of God has come for
which we daily pray in the prayer our Lord has
taught us, when men no longer prey on one an-
other but help and support one another.

Meanwhile how shall we approach it.^ By cur
Lord's prescription— by seeking the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. In proportion as we
seek and find this kingdom, in the measure in
which we bring it into practical life in the narrow
circle around us, is it not necessarily true that we
shall have and enjoy the best goods of this earth.?
Is there not a deep foundation in the nature of
things for our Lord's promise: "Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added to you?" Is not this

50 FAITH AND LIFE

the most hopeful way to obtain and hold and
enjoy these other things?

But it is time for us to take note of another and
the most characteristic element in this appeal.
When we observe it narrowly we will see that it is
not an appeal to seek the kingdom of God and
His righteousness on the ground that this is the
best way to obtain the other goods. It does not
say: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness" "because" — but simply "and"
— "and all these things shall be added unto you."
It is a fact that Godliness has also the promise of
this life, but that is not the reason why Godliness
should be sought. It is a better reason that it
has the promise of the life to come. It is a bet-
ter reason still that it is Godliness. Nor does our
passage itself fail to bring this out. It does not
say "and all these things shall be your reward."
It does not propose to pay us for seeking God's
Kingdom and righteousness by giving us earthly
things. It says: "and all these things shall be
added unto you." The Greek word is not the
word for pay, reward, but for the small gratuitous
addition to the promised wages, given as we should
say "in the bargain." The worldly goods that
come to us are in a word here represented not as
our reward, but as something "in the bargain."
The appeal of the passage is made to rest else-
where; that is, in the contrast between goods
earthly and goods heavenly. We are to seek the

THIS- AND OTHER-WORLDLINESS 51

heavenly, not for the sake of the earthly, but for
their own sake. For, as Paul says, after all the
Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but
righteousness. And our passage sets, as Bengel
points out, this celestial food and drink over
against the earthly.

Herein resides the "hft" of the passage. It
places the highest good before us — God and His
righteousness — fellowship with God; and pries at
our hearts with this great lever of. Who will seek
earthly food and drink when they can seek the
kingdom of God and His righteousness.? In the
restitution of the harmony between man and God
thus involved, every blessing is included. Here is
something worth losing all earthly joys for. Here
is something worth the labour of men, the very end
of whose being is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever. Would we not purchase it with loss of all
earthly — if we can speak of loss in the exchange
of the less for the greater.? Will we not take this
for our seeking when in addition to this great
reward, we shall have also "all these things added
to us".? See the tenderness of our Lord in this
constant regard for our human weakness.

And there is another tender word in the pas-
sage when restored to its right reading, which
reaches down into our hearts to summon another
motive from their depths, whereby we may be led
to seek God's kingdom and righteousness. The
fact that this is the best way to obtain these very

52 FAITH AND LIFE

eaTthly blessings which we need may be a suffi-
cient motive. The glory of the things sought
may be a higher and more prevailing motive.
But there is a more powerful one still; it is
love — love not to a principle but to a person.
And our Lord does not fail to touch on this.
In its right reading the passage does not run:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness," but " Seek ye first His king-
dom and His righteousness." And the ante-
cedent to "His" is "your heavenly Father."
Here our Lord is tugging at our hearts. " For
your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
need of all these things. But seek ye first His
kingdom and His — your heavenly Father's —
righteousness; and all these things shall be added
unto you." Did we say the passage is a protest?
Did we say it is a command.? Do we not now
see that it is rather a pleading .^^ O, the subtlety
of love! Love speaks here to us; will not love
respond in us.'^ Under such pleading what can
we do but seek first our heavenly Father's
kingdom, our heavenly Father's righteousness.'^
And because He is our Father, we are sure both
that we shall find it, and with it — how compari-
tively little it seems now! — whatever else we
need, added to us.

LIGHT AND SHINING

Mark 4:21-25: — "And he said unto them. Is the lamp brought
to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not to be put
on the stand? For there is nothing hid, save that it should be
manifested; neither was anything made secret, but that it should
come to light. If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. And
he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure
ye mete it shall be measured unto you; and more shall be given
unto you. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that
hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath."

One of the peculiarities of our Lord's method
of teaching is His repeated use of a number of fav-
ourite sayings — or maxims, we may call them — in
varied connexions and in differing applications.
This gives a remarkable piquancy to His speech
and must at the time have served the double
purpose of fixing the several teachings which He
embodied in these gnomic sayings firmly in the
minds of His hearers, and of attracting them to the
matter of them as something peculiarly weighty.
In the passage before us we have a cluster of
these "proverbs," all of which meet us elsewhere
and sometimes with other applications, but which
are combined here to give pregnancy and force
to the specific message of this passage. Here is
the beautiful parable of the lamp. Here is
the amazing paradox of secrecy in order to open-
ness. Here is the crisp proverb that ears are

53

54 FAITH AND LIFE

given for hearing. Here is the simile of equitable
measures. Here is the gnome of the relation of
possession to receptivity. No one of these is a
stranger to readers of the Gospels. They are
found elsewhere also in much the same connexion
as here; but they are found elsewhere also in
other connexions. They are marshalled to-
gether here to give wings to a specific teaching.

What is that specific teaching .^^

Well, there is too much in it — too much depth
of suggestion, too many implications of meaning,
for us to attempt to draw it all out at once. But
we may direct our attention to at least four
things that lie on the surface. Obviously this
cluster of sayings lays before us an important
declaration, presses on our attention an urgent
exhortation, reveals to us a profound philosophy
of life, and founds on this a serious warning.
Let us attend for a moment to these four things.

The important declaration that is made in
these sayings amounts to this: that there is no
esoteric element in Christian teaching. This is
the primary suggestion of the parable of the lamp
and the explicit assertion of the startling paradox
which immediately follows it, to the efiPect that
"there is nothing hid save that it may be man-
ifested, neither has anything been made secret
save that it might come abroad." For a lamp
exists, the parable tells us, for no other purpose
but to illuminate; it comes not to be put under

LIGHT AND SHINING 55

the bushel or under the couch, but on the stand —
that its light may shine. And, the paradox adds,
there is to be nothing cryptic or apocryphal in the
whole sphere of Christian teaching. It is, in
effect, the very contradiction of Christianity as
truth, to imagine that it can exist for any other
end but to serve the purpose of truth — to en-
lighten.

The strength of our Lord's emphasis on this
important declaration just on this occasion finds
its explanation of course in the need that had
arisen to guard from misapprehension His own
methods of teaching. For a change had just
been introduced into His modes of instruction,
from which His disciples might be tempted to
infer that Christianity was a double system,
with an esoteric and an exoteric aspect. Our
Lord, who had hitherto spoken plainly, had sud-
denly begun to speak in parables; and He had
not concealed from His disciples that His object
was to veil His meaning. Was there not intro-
duced thus the full-blown system of esoterism?
It is to correct this not unnatural inference that
our Lord declares so emphatically that the truth
He is teaching — even in parabolic form — is a
lamp, and has for its one end to shine; that what
is now hid and made secret under this parabolic
veil, is hid and made secret not that it may not be
made known, but just that it may be made known.
The impulse to use parables thus arises from wis-

56 FAITH AND LIFE

dom and prudence in teaching, not from a desire
to conceal. He teaches in parables in order
that He may teach; not in order that He may
not teach. This method of veiled teaching, in a
word, is forced on Him by the conditions under
which He is teaching and arises from the state
of mind of His hearers; it is not chosen by Him
in order to conceal His meaning, but in order to
convey it to those for whom it is intended. It is
with Him either to teach thus or not to teach at
all; and He consequently teaches thus. This is
the fundamental doctrine of parabolic teaching.
I do not say it is the whole account to be given of
it; we may see in the sequel that there is more to
say, and that the adoption of paraboHc teaching
has a punitive side — as, indeed, it could not fail
to have — with reference to those who could and
would not endure sound doctrine; whom it puz-
zled, therefore, rather than instructed. But this
is the fundamental account of it.

We may see this from an illustration. Take
as such the teaching which was the immediate
occasion of these remarks of our Lord's. He
had just been delivering the first cycle of the
parables of the Kingdom. Why had He taught
the fundamental facts as to the Kingdom in par-
ables? Briefly, because He could not have taught
them in any other way. For His conception of
the Kingdom was at just the antipodes of that of
the people He was addressing. Should he have

LIGHT AND SHINING 57

plainly and didactically proclaimed just what
their error was, just what the truth was? He
certainly would have been understood in that
case. But there would have been an end to His
teaching and so of His mission as Teacher. And
so, instead, He told them some beautiful stories.
In these stories He embodied the whole funda-
mental doctrine of the Kingdom. What was the
effect? To those open to His instruction the
whole doctrine of the Kingdom was conveyed.
Those not receptive to it were simply puzzled;
instead of being outraged and driven to violence,
they were simply puzzled and thrown back into
dull inertia. When He said, the Kingdom of
Heaven is like the sower, and the like, they could
only look perplexed and shake their heads. The
Kingdom of Heaven as they understood it was
like nothing less than these things. What could
He mean? And thus He obtained opportunity —
the Great Sower that He was — to sow His seed
and to exemplify His own parable. Meanwhile
receptive souls pondered and understood, under-
stood, that is, more or less. For even His own
disciples, nay, the Apostles themselves, were not
yet capable of receiving the truth in its purity
and entirety. And, accordingly to them too. He
taught as occasion offered, in parables, by which
He lodged the truth in their minds that it might
germinate and grow.

Nothing is more obvious than that this wise

58 FAITH AND LIFE

prudence in the mode of disseminating the truth
has nothing in common with esoteric teaching;
and our Lord's broad denial of esoterism was as
justified as it was needed. A lamp that is shaded
is shaded, not for the benefit of the lamp, as if it
were too good for common use, or existed for some
other end than enlightening, but for some extrinsic
end. There may be a violence of wind from which
it needs temporary protection; there may be weak-
ness of eyes which require guarding. So with the
truth which Jesus came to teach. It is not too
sacred for the knowledge of men; it exists to be
known. But it may require temporary protec-
tion from violent opposition; it may require
veiling because of the weakness of men's under-
standing. Hence it is spoken under the veil of
parables. But this is that it may be spoken,
that it may be made known, and not that it may
be concealed. No crypticism, no apocryphalism
is in place here !

Accordingly, then, within this declaration there
is embodied also an urgent exhortation. It is
interlaced with the declaration in this passage of
Mark^so as to be scarcely distinguishable from it.
Elsewhere it is brought out most explicitly and
with tremendous emphasis. It is an exhortation
to the recipients of the truth to see to it that it is
not quenched in the darkness of their own hearts,
but permitted to act in accordance with its nature
as light — to shine. In Matthew, for example, we

i

LIGHT AND SHINING 59

read: "Even so let your light shine before men,
that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven." Here it appears
only in the way of implication. Jesus says in
eflFect: The truth I am delivering in this veiled
form is, like all truth, of the nature of light; it
comes to enlighten; temporarily it is veiled, but,
emphatically, it is hid only that it may be man-
ifested; it is made secret only that it may come
to light. Ye are my chosen witnesses; to you I
say with significant emphasis, "If any man have
ears to hear, let him hear." There is a subtle
implication that not the truth only which He
spoke is the lamp, brought to be put on the stand;
but these disciples of His, to whom the truth has
been brought, have been lighted by the truth,
and having been lighted, are lighted that they too
may shine. In effect, there is a solemn commis-
sion given here to His disciples — not to His
Apostles only, but (as. verse 10 shows), to the
whole body of His disciples, to see to it that what
He is now preaching in parables shall be in its
due season brought out on the housetop. There
is careful provision made, in a word, for the cul-
tivation of the seed He was now sowing. He was
speaking in parables — the times required it — but
they are to see to it that what is thus taught
veiledly shall in due time be announced openly.

No doubt, in this whole procedure, there is di-
vine sanction given to the principle of wise adap-

60 FAITH AND LIFE

tation of our preaching to times and circum-
stance. But, O, how easy it is to misapply this
principle and pervert it to cowardly ends of per-
sonal profit. Preach to our times? Yes, of
course. But preach what to our times? Our
Lord's example does not give warrant to the sup-
pression of unpalatable truth. It only sets an
example of how still to preach the unpalatable
truth while staving off for the fitting time the
inevitable rupture, and providing for its full
proclamation in the end. He spoke in parables?
Why in parables? First, because by speaking in
parables, He could still teach the unpalatable
truth. If He had been willing to suppress the
unpalatable truth He would have had no need of
preaching in parables. There will be no need of a
veil if we remove the thing to be veiled. And
secondly, because He would so teach the unpala-
table truth, that men must needs hear it before
they know what they are hearing, and thus He
would catch them with holy guile. You see
there is nothing here so little as an example of
suppression of the truth. There is only an exam-
ple of finding a way to preach to men, despite
their opposition, what they do not choose to hear.
Christ does not yield to men; He triumphs over
men. And this is the commission He gives to us:
Let your light shine! Do not think you are imi-
tating Him when you quench your light; when
you permit the clamours of men to drown your

LIGHT AND SHINING 61

voice of teaching. You imitate Him only when,
despite men's opposition, you find a way to make
your voice heard and the truth with which you
are charged a power among them. Silent, Christ
was not; compromising. He was not; He was
only persistently inventive in modes of procla-
mation. You imitate Him least of all when you
put your light under a bushel or under a couch;
to be like Him you must let your light shine.

It is already clear to us, no doubt, that there is
implicit in this passage a fully developed philos-
ophy both of teaching and of life. Why did
Christ preach in parables? To conceal the truth
or to teach the truth? The proper answer is,
of course, both. The two are not mutually ex-
clusive. Fundamentally we say, it was in order
to teach the truth. Proximately it was, of course,
so far to conceal the truth as to be able to teach
it in the circumstances in which He stood. People
who would not listen when He told them plainly
what the Kingdom He came to found was like,
would listen to His story and so have the unpal-
atable truth told them before they were aware.
But this is not the whole story. There is more
to be said and Christ says it. Truth so taught
becomes a touchstone and discriminates among
men. When Jesus said "the Kingdom of God
is like to . . ." that was an opening familiar
enough to the whole body of His audience. The
most rigid Pharisee, the most fanatical zealot

62 FAITH AND LIFE

would prick up his ears at that. But when He
went on and told them what — in His view — the
Kingdom of God was like, what would the Phar-
isee, what would the zealot, make of that? Noth-
ing. The disciples themselves could not make
much of it. The others naturally could make
nothing. Thus, the method of teaching by par-
ables, certainly did not succeed in illuminating all.
The plainest teaching under heaven could not
have illuminated those minds. They were too
filled with preconceptions, prejudices, personal
desires, to be accessible to the truth. How could
veiled teaching dispel their darkness? It could
only avail to make the darkness of their minds
deeper; they could only say in puzzlement, "We
do not understand ! " How can the glorious King-
dom of Heaven — God come to triumph over Is-
rael's foes, how can this be like the sower sowing
His seed, and the like? So our Saviour explains
that the teaching is given to them in parables,
that seeing they may see and not understand.
In effect, parabolic teaching becomes the test of
men. Whether men understand or do not under-
stand the teaching veiled in the parable, is the
revelation of their state of mind and heart, or, as
it is fashionable nowadays to call it, of their
receptivity. Parabolic teaching then comes into
the world as a rock of decision; those who are
open to the truth understand, those not open to
the truth do not understand.

LIGHT AND SHINING 63

Observe how pointedly our Lord develops this
idea in the later verses of our passage; with what
piercing directness He asserts the effect in the
last verse of all : For he that hath to him shall be
given, and he that hath not from him shall be
taken away even that which he hath. Here is
the underlying philosophy of parabolic teaching;
and along with it of all teaching. And is it not
so, our own hearts being the judge.? Let the
parables fall on the ears of one instructed in the
Kingdom of Heaven and how beautifully rich in
their teaching they are. Points of attachment
are discovered at every step and the conceptions
that rest half-formed in us are developed in the
richest manner. Let them fall on the minds in
which no thought of the Kingdom of Heaven was
ever lodged; and they are but as rocks in the sky.
All teaching as to divine and heavenly things is,
in a measure, parabolic; we can reach above the
world and ourselves only by symbols. All such
teaching comes to us, then, as a test, and the prox-
imate account of its varied reception may be
found in the condition of the ears that hear it.
Have we ears to hear this music. f^ Or does it
beat a vain jangling discord only in our ears.^*
The philosophy of the progress of the Kingdom in
the world rests on the one fact — the condition of
the hearer. He that has ears to hear, hears;
he that has no ears to hear this music, remains
unmoved.

64 FAITH AND LIFE

Accordingly, then, the passage culminates in
a great warning. "Take heed how ye hear."
And this warning is supported by the verses al-
ready incidentally adduced: "With what measure
ye mete . . ." ; "He that hath . . . ; He that
hath not ..." The warning is, of course, of
universal application. It is spoken here to
Christ's immediate disciples, and it is most im-
mediately a warning to them to look with care
and loving scrutiny on the teaching He was giv-
ing about the Kingdom. Do you not fail, it
says, to hear and ponder; to understand and
profit by this teaching. But it stretches further.
As we, too, are His disciples it comes in these
times also to us. Let us not fail to-day to hear
and ponder and understand and profit by the
teaching brought to us by these pungent words!

CHILDLIKENESS

Mark 10:15: — "Verily I say unto you. Whosoever shall not re-
ceive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter
therein."

The declaration embodied in this verse, ap-
parently very simple, and certainly perfectly
clear in its general sense, is not without its per-
plexities when examined in its detailed implica-
tions. The occasion of its enunciation was an
incident in the life of our Lord which manifests
His beautiful tenderness as few others of those
narrated in the Gospels. In the prosecution of
His mission He went up and down the land, as we
are told, "doing good." It was characteristic
of His teaching that the common people heard
Him gladly. It was of the essence of the benefi-
cent impression that He made that He drew to
Him all who were afflicted and were suffering
with diverse diseases.

The Evangelists stud their narratives thickly
with accounts of how the people flocked to him,
bringing all their sick and receiving from Him
healing of body and mind. This appeared to
His closest followers well worth while. It was all
part of his office as One sent from God to heal the
hurt of Israel. But the people did not stop
there. Mothers brought their babies also to Him,

65

66 FAITH AND LIFE

and asked Him to lay His hands on them and bless
them, too. Here His disciples drew the line.
These babies were not sick and did not need the
healing touch of the Great Physician. By the
very fact that they were babies they were incap-
able of profiting by His wonderful words. To
intrude them upon His attention was to interfere
unwarrantably with His prosecution of His press-
ing labors, and to supplant those who had superior
claims on His time and strength. So the dis-
ciples rebuked the parents and would fain have
sent the babies away.

But the Lord, perceiving what was toward, was
moved with indignation and intervened with His
great, "Let the little children come to me, pre-
vent them not." And taking them in His own
arms. He laid His hands on them and blessed
them; the word employed being a very emphatic
one, meaning a calhng down fervently of blessings
upon the objects of the prayer. The mothers
went away comforted, bearing their blessed babies
in their arms.

What a picture we have here of the Master's
loving -kindness ! It is not strange if, when we
read the narrative, we stop, first of all, to adore
and love Him. It is a revelation of the charac-
ter of Jesus; and what can we contemplate with
more profit than the character of Jesus .^ But
we soon begin to realize that the incident is
freighted with instruction for us relatively to

CHILDLIKENESS 67

our Lord's mission as well, and to question what
messages it brings us from this point of view.
We ask why was our Lord "moved with indigna-
tion" at His disciples for intercepting the ap-
proach of the mothers with their babies to Him.
They meant well; surely He needed protection
from unnecessary and useless draughts upon His
energies. Indignation was certainly out of place
unless there was some very harmful misunder-
standing somewhere.

And so it begins to dawn upon us that the dis-
ciples ought to have known better. And that
means ultimately that they ought to have
known better than to suppose that Jesus' mis-
sion was summed up in instruction and heal-
ing. Were this all that it was, it had been right
enough to exclude the babies from His pres-
ence. Only if He had something for these babies
too; only if His blessing on them — not needing
healing and incapable of instruction — neverthe-
less, brought to them the supreme benefit; would
it be a crime to shut them out from His oJ95ces.
Whence we may learn that the blessing which
Jesus brought was something above His instruc-
tion and superior to His healing ministry. A
great physician, yes; a prophet come from God,
yes; but above and beyond these, the bearer of
blessings which could penetrate even to the help-
less babes on their mothers' breasts.

Perhaps if the disciples stopped short of this,

68 FAITH AND LIFE

it is not inexplicable that men of to-day, having
proceeded so far, should show a tendency to stop
right here and utilize this much gain with such
devotion that they do not stay to search further.
We have obviously here a warrant for infant
baptism, they say. For does not Jesus declare
that infants are to be permitted to come to Him
and are not to be hindered — aflSrming further
that the Kingdom of Heaven is of such, and taking
them in His arms and blessing them.^ And can
His Church, representing Him on earth, do less.^^
Must not His Church suffer the infants to be
brought to Him and take them in her arms and
mark them with His name and bless them.'^ Nay,
say others, this and more: A warrant here for con-
fidence in the salvation of infants. For how can
we believe that He who on earth so tenderly and
solemnly took them in His arms and blessed them,
forbidding their access to Him to be hindered,
will now in heaven refuse to receive them when
they come flocking to His arms? And does He
not distinctly declare that the Kingdom of God
belongs to such; and does that not mean first of
all — whatever else it may mean — just this simple
thing, that infants as such are citizens of His
heavenly kingdom and must be accredited with
all the rights of that heavenly citizenship.^

It is no part of my purpose to stop and examine
the validity of these inferences. Let it be enough
for us to-day to note clearly, merely that they are

CHILDLIKENESS 69

inferences. And having noted that they are in-
ferences, let us for the moment at least pass them
by, and engross ourselves in the teaching which is
explicit and for the sake of which, therefore, we
must suppose that the incident is recorded. For
our Lord did not leave His disciples to draw in-
ferences from the incident, unaided. He draws
one for them; and that one is what we have
chosen as the subject of our meditation to-day.
In this inference He withdraws our minds from
the literal children He had taken and blessed,
and focuses them upon the spiritual children who
should constitute the Kingdom of Heaven.

You will observe that He passes at once from
the one to the other. When He says "For of
such is the Kingdom of God," He does not mean
that the Kingdom of God consists of literal in-
fants, but rather of those who are like infants.
You may assure yourselves of this by turning to
the first beatitude: "Blessed are the poor in
spirit; for theirs" — or "of them" — "is the King-
dom of heaven." That is to say, the Kingdom of
heaven belongs to — or is constituted of — the
"poor in spirit." So, here, if what were in-
tended were that the Kingdom of God belongs to
— is constituted of — infants, we should have:
"For of them''— or "theirs"—" is the Kingdom of
God." What we do have, however, is not that,
but, on the contrary, "For of such as they — of
their like — is the Kingdom of heaven." The

70 FAITH AND LIFE

Kingdom of heaven is declared, therefore, to be
constituted not of children but of the childlike.
And the declaration is at once clinched by the
words of our text, introduced by the solemn
formula "Verily," "Verily I say unto you, Who-
soever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child, he shall in no wise enter therein."

The message which the incident is made by our
Lord to bring us, therefore, — and which, accord-
ingly, the passage directly teaches us with no
inferences of ours — does not concern either in-
fant baptism or infant salvation, but distinctly
the constitution of the Kingdom of God. The
Kingdom of God, it asserts, is made up, not of
children, but of the childlike. And that con-
cerns directly you and me. The Kingdom of
God, our text asserts, is made up of people like
these children whom our Lord took in His arms
and blessed. And that being so, we are warned
that no one can enter that Kingdom who does not
receive it "hke a little child." This is as much as
to say, not only that childlikeness characterizes
the recipients of that Kingdom, but that child-
likeness is the indispensable prerequisite to en-
trance into it. It certainly behoves you and me
who wish to be members of the Kingdom of God
to know what this childlikeness means.

Well, many think at once of the innocence of
childhood. The statement is, in effect they say,
that the Kingdom of God consists solely of those

CHILDLIKENESS 71

who are in their moral innocence like children.
Only such can enter it. A grave difficulty at once
faces us, however, when we enunciate this view.
That is that Jesus does not seem elsewhere to
announce innocence as a — as the — condition of
entrance into the Kingdom which He came to
establish. On the contrary, He declared that He
came not to call the righteous, but sinners, and
announced that His mission was to seek and save
what is lost. The publicans and harlots. He tells
us, go into the Kingdom before the righteous
Pharisees. To give point to this we note that in
Luke's narrative the parable of the publican and
pharisee praying in the temple immediately pre-
cedes the account of our present incident, and is
placed there evidently because of the affinity of
the two narratives. It would read exceedingly
oddly if the publican was justified and the phar-
isee, with all his righteousness, rejected, and im-
mediately afterwards it were asserted that the
Elngdom was solely for the innocent. No, there
is nothing clearer than that Jesus' mission was
specifically to those who were not innocent — that
it is characteristic of those who enter His Kingdom
that they do not feel innocent — that, in a word,
the Kingdom is built up from and by the "chief
of sinners" like Paul, and those who say of them-
selves that "if any man say he hath no sin he is a
liar, and the truth is not in him," like John. Not
the "righteous" but "sinners" Jesus came to save.

72 FAITH AND LIFE

Remembering the pharisee and publican, shall
we not say, then, that the trait of childhood here
celebrated is, if not exactly innocence, at least
humility? It was precisely humility that char-
acterized the prayer of the publican and our
Lord elsewhere commends humility as in some
sense the primary Christian grace. "Blessed,"
He says in that first beatitude, which we have
already cited, "blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs — of them — is the Kingdom of heaven."
Is not this an express parallel to our present pas-
sage, saying in plain words what is here said in
figure.'^ When we read, then, that the Kingdom
of heaven belongs to those who are childlike, and
only he can enter it who receives it as a child — is
not the very thing meant, that none but the
humble-minded, the poor in spirit, can possess
the Kingdom? Indeed, is not this very thing
spoken out in so many words in a closely related
previous incident when Jesus took a child and set
it among His disciples, as they were disputing
as to who should be greatest, and bade them to
humble themselves and become as that little
child if they would be great m the Kingdom of
heaven — enforcing the lesson moreover with a
declaration almost the sa,me as that of the text:
"Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn and be-
come as little children, ye shall in no wise enter
into the Kingdom of heaven"? It certainly
seems as if in that passage at least the humility

CHILDLIKENESS 73

of little children is just the thing signalized, and
entrance into the Kingdom is hung on the pos-
session of that specific virtue.

Even in that passage, however, it may be well
to move warily. Is humility the special charac-
teristic of childhood? To become like a child
may certainly be an act of humility in one not a
child, and it is very intelligible that our Lord
should, therefore, tell those whom He was ex-
horting to become like a child that they can only
do it by humbling themselves. But is that quite
the same as saying that humility is the charac-
teristic virtue of childhood, or that a humble
spirit is the precedent condition of entering the
Kingdom of heaven .^^ We seem to be in danger of
reading the passage too superficially. Our Lord
tells His disciples that they cannot enter the
Kingdom which He came to found except they
turn and become like little children; and He tells
them that they cannot become like little children
except by humbling themselves, and, therefore,
that when they were quarrelling about greatness
they were not "turning and becoming like little
children." But He does not seem to tell them
that humility of heart is the characterizing quality
of childlikeness; in this statement it is rather the
pathw^ay over which we must tread to attain
something else which is the characterizing quality
of childlikeness. Childlikeness is one thing; that
by which that state is attained is another.

74 FAITH AND LIFE

Much less is humility suggested to us in our
present passage as the constitutive fact of child-
likeness. These babies that Jesus took into His
arms, in what sense were they lowly minded, and
the types of humility of soul? If they were like
other children of their age, they were probably,
so far as they showed moral characteristics at all,
little egotists. There is no period of life so
purely, sharply, unrelievedly egotistic as infancy;
and there is, consequently, no period of life less
adapted to stand as the typical form of that
lowliness of mind which seeks another's, not one's
own, good.

Others have gone further and I think done bet-
ter, therefore, when they have suggested that it is
the simplicity of childhood, its artlessness and
ingenuousness, which is the trait which our Lord
intends when He declares that the Kingdom of
Heaven is made up "of such" as they, and that
no one who does not receive that Kingdom like a
child — that is, in childlike simplicity and ingen-
uousness— shall enter into it. Above everything
else the mental life of a child is characterized,
perhaps, by directness. It lacks the sinuosities,
double motives, complications, of the adult in-
telligence. The child does not think of "serving
two masters," but gives itself altogether to one
thing or the other, and possesses at least the
single purpose if not always that precise single-
ness of eye which our Lord commends. We know

CHILDLIKENESS 75

what an encomium our Saviour passed on that
singleness of eye because of which the whole body
should be full of light; and what an echo of this
teaching His apostles sound in the praise of that
singleness of heart or simplicity of soul in which
they make the Christian disposition to consist.
May it not, then, be this lack of duplicity in
thought and feeling, this clear simplicity of heart
which results in singleness of devotion, that our
Lord declares here to be characteristic of child-
hood and of those spiritual children who alone
may be true disciples?

This is a very attractive idea; but attractive as
the idea is, it seems a little artificial and not easily
deducible from the passage itself. It might fit
very well in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew —
and, indeed, would give a far better sense there
than the conception of humility; but it seems to
be outside the scope of our present passage.
These children were mere babies — and in what
clear and outstanding sense are babies charac-
terized by simplicity of heart and singleness of
soul.^^

We feel, then, that a great step is taken when
others step in and suggest that the particular
trait which our Saviour has in mind when He de-
clares that only the childlike can enter His King-
dom is the trustfulness of the child. Here we
touch, indeed, what seems really the fundamental
trait of the truly childish mind, that colors all its

76 FAITH AND LIFE

moral life, and constitutes, not merely its dominant
but we might almost say, its entire disposition —
implicit trustfulness. The age of childhood is,
above everything else, the age of trust. De-
pendent upon its elders for everything, the whole
nature of the child is keyed to trust; on trust it
lives, and by means of trust it finds all its means of
existence. Its virtues and its faults alike grow
out of trust as its fundamental characteristic.
There is no picture of perfect and simple and im-
plicit trust discoverable in all the world com-
parable to the picture of the infant lying peace-
fully and serenel}^ on its mother's bosom. And
we must remember that this is the spectacle that
our Lord had before Him. The mothers were
bringing their babies to Him to be blessed; He
looked at them as they approached; and, observ-
ing the utter trustfulness of the attitude of the
child reclining in the nest of its mother's arms.
He announced that here is the type of the King-
dom of God and of its children. In these trust-
ing babies He saw the symbol of the citizens
of His Kingdom. "Of such as these," He de-
clared, *'is the Kingdom of God"; and then He
added that no man who did not receive the King-
dom like one of these little trustful babies, could
even enter it. Trust, simple, utter trust, that is
the pathway to the Kingdom.

We cannot doubt that in thus directing its
attention to the trustfulness of little children

CHILDLIKENESS 77

as their characteristic trait, the mind has been
turned in the right direction for the proper un-
derstanding of our Lord's declaration. But even
yet, I think, we have scarcely reached the bot-
tom fact. You will observe that all the supposi-
tions hitherto made move in the subjective sphere.
Dispositions of mind alone have been suggested;
men have been seeking to discover the disposi-
tion of mind which is most characteristic of child-
hood; to which we may suppose, therefore, that
our Saviour, referred, when He declared that His
disciples must be like children if they would enter
His Kingdom. But our passage says nothing
of dispositions of mind; and why should we.^^

Why not seek an objective characteristic here?
These babies, which Christ took in His arms —
what dispositions of mind had they.^^ We must
now revert to the narrative, and observe with
care that these children were, in point of fact,
mere babies. Perhaps we have been thinking of
them rather as well-grown children, and picturing
them as standing around our Lord's knees, giving
Him eager, if wondering attention, as He spoke to
them. Nothing of the kind. They were babies
in arms, perhaps of only a few weeks or months
old, perhaps of only a few days. TJiey had no
disposition of mind. Luke calls them distinctly
infants, and speaks, therefore, of their being
brought as remarkable: "They were bringing to
Him even their babies." And that is the reason

78 FAITH AND LIFE

why the disciples rebuked their parents for bring-
ing them — mere babies who could get nothing
from the Master. The same thing is less clearly
but equally really suggested in the other narra-
tives; we read that they were brought; that
Jesus took them in His arms, and the like. We
must think of them, then, as distinctively babies.
What dispositions of soul were characteristic of
them.^ Just none at all. They lay happy and
thoughtless in their mother's arms and in Jesus'
own arms. Their characteristic was just helpless
dependence; complete dependence upon the care
of those whose care for them was necessary.
And it would seem that it is just this objective
helpless dependence which is the point of com-
parison between them and the children of the
Kingdom.

What our Lord would seem to say, then, when
He says: "Of such is the Kingdom of heaven," is
that the Kingdom of heaven is made up of those
who are helplessly dependent on the King of the
Heavens. And when He adds that only those
who "receive" the Kingdom like a child can
enter into it He seems to mean that the chil-
dren of the Kingdom come into it hke chil-
dren of the world into the world — naked and
stripped of everything, infants who are to be
done for, who can not do for themselves.
There is every indication of this as our Lord's
meaning. Among others we note that the rec-

CHILDLIKENESS 79

ord of the incident is followed immediately in
all three Gospels by the record of the incident
of the rich young man — which goes on, you see,
to illustrate the same idea. For what was the
trouble with the rich young man? Just this:
that he could not divest himself of everything and
come into the Kingdom naked. "He had great
possessions." "How hard, children," — this "chil-
dren" is possibly a reminiscence of His demand
that they should be "like children" — "children,
how hard it is for a rich man — or for anyone — to
enter the Kingdom of heaven." Into this King-
dom we can enter only as poor and naked and
helpless as children enter the world. That we
have nothing is the condition that we may have
all things. Perhaps it may not be too much even
to say that what the passage teaches is that we
enter the Kingdom of heaven as we enter the
world only by a birth — a birth which comes to us
— which we do not secure. In that case we have a
parallel passage in the third chapter of John which
is one of the very few passages in John where the
term "Kingdom of God" occurs.

The upshot of it all is, then, this: that the
Kingdom of God is not taken — acquired — laid
hold of; it is just "received." It comes to men,
men do not come to it. And when it comes to
men, they merely "receive" it, "as" — "like" —
"a Httle child." That is to say, they bring noth-
ing to it and have nothing to recommend them to

80 FAITH AND LIFE

it except their helplessness. They depend wholly
on the King. Only they who so receive it can
enter it; no disposition or act of their own com-
mends them to it. Accordingly the Kingdom of
God is "of such as little children." The helpless
babe on the mother's breast, then, now we can
say it with new meaning, is the true type of the
Christian in his relation to God. It is of the
very essence of salvation that it is supernatural.
It is purely a gift, a gift of God's; and they who
receive it must receive it purely as a gift. He
who will not humble himself and enter it as a
little child enters the world, in utter nakedness
and complete dependence, shall never see it.

THE GLORY OF THE WORD

John 1:1: — "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God."

The first verse of the Gospel of John contains
one of the most weighty statements of the deity
of our Lord in the New Testament. It is not
the only weighty statement, much less the only
distinct statement, of the deity of our Lord in
the New Testament. Rather, the whole New
Testament is a testimony to our Lord's deity;
and we can read no part of it sympathetically
without catching this note sounding through it.

Particularly we need to disabuse our minds of
the banality by which the Synoptic Gospels used
to be distinguished as the Gospels of the human
Jesus, from the Gospel of John as the Gospel of
the Divine Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels teach
the deity of Jesus as truly and, indeed, as em-
phatically as the Gospel of John, though not in
precisely the same manner. Whatever else
William Wrede did or did not do with his book on
the Gospel of Mark, he made it impossible for-
ever afterwards to look upon Mark as a naive col-
lection of all that His followers could recall of the
human Jesus; and Johannes Weiss will not be
gainsaid when he points out that the Jesus of "the

81

82 FAITH AND LIFE

oldest Gospel" has already advanced far toward
the Jesus of the latest Gospel. He is to be crit-
icized only for speaking of an "advance" in this
connexion, and of that *' advance" as not
quite complete. Recent critics are fairly falling
over one another in their rush to recognize that
the conception of a Divine Messiah was not only
Primitive-Christian, but Pre-Christian, and that
belief in the deity of Jesus, was, therefore, al-
ready included in acceptance of Him as Messiah.
We meet no new thing, then, when we read in
the first verse of John's Gospel a crisp declara-
tion that Jesus is God. But we do meet some-
thing new in the manner in which this declaration
is made. It would not be quite exact to say that
it is new that John begins his Gospel with a dec-
laration of the deity of Jesus. Mark also begins
his Gospel with a declaration of the deity of Jesus;
if, at least, the reading is right which makes him
use the term, "the Son of God," in his opening
sentence — "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God." It can hardly be main-
tained that the "Son of God" is not to be under-
stood here in its ontological sense. The differ-
ence between the Synoptics and John here is only
a difference in what we may call their mode of
approach to the common theme. It would not
be misleadingly expressed if we said that in the
Synoptics the divine nature of the man Jesus is
exhibited, while in John the human life of the

THE GLORY OF THE WORD 83

divine Word is portrayed. In this sense, John
does take his start from the deity of our Lord as
the Synoptics do not. The deity of our Lord is
made by John his point of departure in his dehnea-
tion of this divine hfe in the world, while the Syn-
optics take their start from the birth of Jesus,
or the opening of his public ministry.

It is due to this difference that John's Gospel
alone opens with a prologue, which takes us back
at once into the depths of Eternal Reality, and
tells us who and what that being actually was,
whose life-history in the world is about to be
depicted. There is probably no more pregnant
piece of writing in the world than this prologue to
John's Gospel. And there is no part of this preg-
nant prologue more pregnant than its first verse.
There are just seventeen words in it; we can
count only eight different words in it: but these
few words are simply bursting with significance.
In the first place, our Lord is designated here
by a unique name, and that a name big with
meaning. And then, under this unique name,
three declarations are calmly made of Him — so
calmly as almost to betray us into taking them as
mere matters of course — each of which, separately
considered, is of tremendous import, and the three
together, in combination, of more tremendous
import still. When we have read these three
limpid sentences — *'In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the

84 FAITH AND LIFE

Word was God" — we have read things which
even the angels, desiring to look into them, might
well despair of plumbing.

When we say that the name given here to our
Lord — the "Word" — is unique, we have, of
course, the New Testament only in mind. And
even so, to be absolutely exact, we must note
that John repeats it a little lower down in this
prologue, when he tells us of this Word, here de-
clared to have been in the beginning, with God,
and Himself God, that he became flesh; and in-
deed echoes it in the opening words of his first
Epistle and in a splendid description of the con-
quering Christ in the Apocalypse. These in-
stances, however, do not abate the fact that this
designation belongs in a very special sense to
these opening clauses of John's prologue. There
is nothing to prepare us for it here: it just sud-
denly appears before us in these three great dec-
larations in unrelieved startlingness. And per-
haps the most striking thing about it is that John
does not present it to us as a mysterious designa-
tion of Jesus, as a remarkable designation of Him,
or, we must add, even as a new designation of
Him. He employs it quite simply and without
apparent consciousness that he is doing anything
either startling or new.

That it is not a new designation of our Lord to
either John or to his readers, is already apparent
from the fact that no emphasis falls on it what-

THE GLORY OF THE WORD 85

ever. It occurs three times, it is true, in these
three short clauses. But the words are so ar-
ranged that the emphasis is always thrown else-
where— on what is asserted of the Word, not on
the designation itself — while the designation ap-
pears as a matter of course. And the employ-
ment of the same designation in the opening
words of the contemporaneous First Epistle of
John is a clear proof that it was not first applied
to our Lord in this prologue. We must dismiss
from our minds, therefore, the fancy that John
invented the designation, "The Word," for our
Lord. We must suppose it to have been a current
designation of our Lord in the circles for which
John was writing, and that it needed no explana-
tion from him of its meaning.

Whence the term came, and precisely what
it means when applied to Jesus, are, of course,
another matter. We cannot talk of its being
borrowed from Philo, or from the philosophy
which Philo represents. There is nothing more
certain than that John does not use it in the
sense which it bears in Philo, or in the philosophy
which lies behind Philo. It is not much more
likely that it was borrowed directly from the
native Jewish speculations, which, like the specu-
lations of Philo and those whom he most closely
followed, are governed by the need for something
to mediate between the transcendent God and
the world of space and time. But this general

86 FAITH AND LIFE

type of thinking was very widely diffused, and
the modes of speech which it developed naturally
penetrated, in more or less modified meanings,
much more deeply into the life and language
of the people than the conceptions these modes of
speech were invented to express. All terms
of this sort have their roots in some system
of thought, but come to those who ultimately em-
ploy them with a varied history behind them, in
the course of which they have lost much of the
shades of suggestion with which they started, and
have picked up others on the way. We have no
safe guidance to their meaning on the lips of any
given speaker, except his actual usage of them.
And to judge by John's actual usage of the term,
"the Word," applied as a designation to our Lord,
it has travelled far indeed from its Neo-Stoic or
Philonian beginnings — if those were its begin-
nings— ^before it reached his hands. What he
means by it is obviously so different from what
Philo or the Neo-Stoics meant by it, that, in most
important respects, it is its precise contradiction.
What is clearest about it is that he uses it as a
designation of Jesus of the highest import, as
attributing to Him properly divine functions, if
not directly a properly divine nature. As a man's
word is the expression of his being, so, when Jesus
is spoken of as the Word by way of eminence, that
is, as the Word of God, He is designated as the
manifested God.

THE GLORY OF THE WORD 87

Speaking thus of Jesus by this great designation,
John makes three assertions concerning Him,
In the first of these he declares His eternal sub-
sistence. In the second, His eternal intercom-
munion with God. In the third, His eternal
identity with God. Let us look briefly at these
three great assertions in turn.

The first of them runs in our English version
thus: "In the beginning was the Word." This
rendering, however, scarcely brings out its full
sense. The words are so ordered in the original
as to throw all the emphasis — and it is a strong
emphasis — on the words, "in the beginning," and
"was." The verb "was," in other words, is not a
mere copula, but a strong assertion of existence.
We might perhaps bring part of its meaning out
by changing the order of the words and reading:
"In the beginning the Word was.'* What is de-
clared is that "in the beginning" — not "from the
beginning" but "in the beginning," — when first
things began to be, the Word, not came into being,
so that He might be the first of those things which
came into being, but already was. Absolute eter-
nity of being is asserted for the Word in as pre-
cise and as strong language as absolute eternity of
being can be asserted. The Word antedates the
beginning of things; He already was — the imper-
fect of continuous existence — when things began
to be. Go back now to the first verse of Genesis,
of which there is an obvious echo here, and read

88 FAITH AND LIFE

that in the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth — the Hebrew periphrasis for the
universe. The Word already was before God
thus began to speak things into existence. We
cannot be surprised, then, to read in the next
verse, with the emphasis of accumulated asser-
tion, that "all things" without exception "were
made by Him, and apart from Him there was not
one thing made which has been made." The
Word was not made; He always was. All that
has been made was made by Him.

To this great assertion of express eternity of
being, there is now added in the second clause an-
other equally great assertion; or rather a greater
assertion, for these three clauses are arranged in a
climactic series. "In the beginning the Word
already was — and the Word was with God."
This new assertion is still under the government
of the words, "in the beginning": it declares the
eternal mode of existence of this eternally ex-
istent Word. And the mode of existence declared
for Him places Him in an ineffable immediacy
of relation to God. The phrase, "with God,"
is not the common expression for "with God,"
but a more pregnant one. It intimates not merely
co-existence, or some sort of local relation,
but an active relation of intercourse. The Word,
existing from all eternity, exists from all eternity
in intercommunion with God. His eternal exist-
ence was not a solitary one. A relation is as-

THE GLORY OF THE WORD 89

serted; and a relation implies a duality. The
relation which is asserted is a very intimate one;
and it is a distinctly personal one. There can
be intercourse only between persons. When it is
said, then, that the Word "was" — it is still the
eternal "was" of continuous existence — "in the
beginning" in communion with God, the eternally
distinct personality of the Word is not obscurely
suggested. From all eternity the Word sub-
sisted alongside of God in personal intercom-
munion with Him. He has been from all eternity
God's Fellow.

The intimacy of the relation intimated is start-
lingly brought home to us by a later phrase of
this prologue. Here we are told in language of
almost unexampled pregnancy that the Word —
called on this occasion by the tremendous name
of "God Only-begotten" — is (the timeless pres-
ent of eternal existence) ceaselessly, not merely
in, but "into the bosom of God." This is the
expression for the closest and most intimate re-
lation conceivable for persons; and the language
in which it is cast conveys the idea at once of a
continuation of its unbroken continuity and of its
ceaseless renewal. It is in this intimacy of com-
munion that the Word is declared to have been
eternally "with God."

But even this great assertion is not enough to
declare of the Word. There is a supplement to
even it; and a supplement which is so far a cor-

90 FAITH AND LIFE

rection that it seems purposely added to prevent
it from being supposed that enough has already
been said. The Word is not merely even thus
closely associated with God; He is God Himself.
"And the Word was with God — and the Word was
God." Eternally subsisting alongside of and in
communion with God, the Word is yet not a
separate Being over against God. In some deep
sense distinct from God, He is at the same time in
some high sense identical with God.

It is difficult to reproduce in English the strength
of this assertion. The term "God" not only oc-
cupies the position of emphasis, but is placed in
immediate juxtaposition with the words "with
God" of the preceding clause, and, therefore, in
sharp contrast with them. The term "God"
thus comes out with a tremendous corrective
force. "The Word was with God, do I say — nay
God is what the Word was!'' The rapidity of the
movement of thought and the stress thrown thus
on this new assertion are extreme. The meaning
is that John was not willing to have the one state-
ment made without its complement being at once
added to it. He wishes us to understand that it is
too little to say of the Word even that He is God's
co-eternal Fellow. We must say of Him that He
is the eternal God's very self.

The term God in this great assertion is without
the article. This does not weaken the affirmation.
It is primarily merely a grammatical fact. The

THE GLORY OF THE WORD 91

predicate regularly lacks the article; quasi-
proper names, like "God," require it only when
an individualizing emphasis is necessary. The
bearing of the absence of the article here on the
force of the assertion is that thus there is thrown
into relief the quality of Godhood in the God with
whom the Word is identified. Whatever makes
God the Being which we call God, that John
affirms the Word to have eternally been. Thus
the Word is with the utmost energy and explica-
tion asserted to be all that God is; and yet the
correction of the assertion that the Word "was
with God" as incomplete, is not pushed into a
contradiction of it as untrue. The Word, though
identical with God, is not in such a manner iden-
tical with God, that he may not also be declared
to be "with God" — in communion with God.
There remains a duality of Persons standing in
the express relation of intercommunion, while
there is established an identity of Being. What
is asserted is that He who has been eternally with
God has been at the same time in an ineffable
fashion eternally God's self.

Certainly these are three tremendous assertions
which John makes here of that Word, who, hav-
ing become flesh, we know as Jesus Christ — eter-
nal subsistence, eternal intercommunion with
God, eternal identity with God. The conception
in which they can combine is certainly not an easy
or a simple one. It is what we know as the doc-

92 FAITH AND LIFE

trine of the Trinity. In telling us who and what
Jesus Christ really is, John thus introduces us to
the doctrine of the Trinity. If we were told
nothing about the Trinity except what we are
told in this single verse, it would yet lie before us
in its whole principle. There is no other key
which will unlock the mj^stery of the eternal Being
of the Word as here described to us. We are but
expressing John's meaning, then — in other words,
but nevertheless nothing but his meaning —
when we declare that Jesus Christ is the Second
Person of the Adorable Trinity. This is, in
brief, what John teaches us in the first verse of his
Gospel.

LOOKING TO MEN

Jno. 5:44: — "How can ye believe, which receive glory one of
another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?"

The fifth chapter of John marks one of the great
turning points of his narrative. Up to this point,
he has given us great typical representations of
how Jesus wrought faith in the hearts of His
hearers — at Jerusalem (in the case of Nicodemus),
in Samaria (in the case of the Samaritan woman),
in Galilee (in the case of the nobleman of Caper-
naum). Now he begins to show us the develop-
ment of the opposition. With the fifth chapter
the conflict begins; and in three great typical in-
stances, each gathering around a miracle, we see
how Jesus' work gathered opposition to itself,
until opposition culminated in the black tragedy
of His death. Here we have laid bare the springs,
nature and deeds of unbelief.

Not that we have no longer an exhibition of
Jesus begetting, by word and work, faith in His
life-giving Person. In each instance in which the
process of the hardening of unbelief is pictured to
us, there is a picture of faith too, in contrast with
it. The impotent man, the man born blind, the
family of Lazarus, are heroes of faith, and nothing
can be more beautiful than the manner in which

93

94 FAITH AND LIFE

it is shown how simple, unsophisticated faith fixed
itself on Jesus. But on each occasion of faith-
begetting work, blind unbelief hardened itself to
deeper and deeper blackness, and it is this progress
which forms the salient feature of the narrative.

In the fifth chapter the grounds of unbelief
are laid bare to us, as rooted in an essentially self-
seeking and worldly spirit. No part of the chap-
ter is unimportant for understanding the lesson
which is most pointedly expressed in the verse
more especially before us. The miracle out of
which grew the discourse, of which this verse is
the culmination, is, of course, appropriate to its
lesson; and the conversation and discourse are
carried inevitably up to this end.

The miracle was wrought on an impotent man,
and out of it was to grow the discourse which was
to uncover the impotence of sinners, on their own
part, to believe in the Saviour of the world. Long
had the man lain helplessly by the very pool of
healing, where the ordinary means of cure were;
but he had no power to make a healing use of
them, nor was there any to help him — until Jesus
passed by and spoke the wonderful word of heal-
ing to his weary soul. But it was on the Sabbath
day, and the Jews, the types of that Pharisaic
religiosity which loved to make long prayers on
the corners of the streets and to make broad their
phylacteries to be seen of men, whose religion in a
word was a religion for men to mark and praise,

LOOKING TO MEN 95

at once judged that the due observance of the
Sabbath law was of more importance than the
heahng of a diseased sinner. At once are brought
into contrast the religion that seeks God's ap-
proval and that which seeks the applause of men.
Jesus meets the healed man and bids him sin no
more; they meet Jesus and in their rage at the
disregarding of their laws seek to slay him.

Our Lord does not permit the contrast to pass
unnoticed. And this is the burden of His dis-
course. All He did was of the Father and to the
Father and for the Father; and sought only His
approval. All they did was of man and to man
and for the approval of man. His eye was turned
upwards, theirs downwards. And, therefore, they
were impotent to believe in Him; though He, the
water of life, was in their reach, they could not
reach out and take and live. How could they be-
lieve, though in word and work the Father was
bearing witness to Him, when they cared nothing
for the Father, but only for men; when they were
receiving glory from one another and not seeking
glory from God, the Only One.

Now note: —

(1) Our Lord asserts that the Jews were unable
to believe. He asserts a true inability to faith in
them; but by no means allows that they have
thereby become irresponsible. How can ye — how
are ye able to — believe.'^

(2) He traces this inability to its source in a

96 FAITH AND LIFE

wrong disposition. He asserts that the reason
that they could not believe was because of their
condition of mind and heart. How are ye able to
believe, seeing that ye are receiving glory one of
another and seek not the glory that cometh from
the Only One.?

(3) The special sin that darkened their eyes to
Christ's truth and worthiness as one sent from God
was the sin of hving for the world's eye, not God's;
of seeking the world's applause, not God's ap-
proval. They wished a Messiah for worldly
glory, not for salvation.

The passage will teach us then :

(1) That a true inability may well consist with
responsibility; an inability that rises out of the
moral condition and is constituted by the im-
manent choice.

(2) That the habit of living for the applause
of our fellow men in religious things is deadly to
the religious affections and life, which in their
very nature are Godward and must look upwards
only to Him.

(3) That from God alone can true glory come;
and He is the sole source of the Christian's
glory.

There can be no doubt that our Lord asserts
of these Jews that they could not, were not able,
had not the ability to believe. And He assigns
the reason for this; a reason not derived from any
outward compulsion, and not due to any lack of

LOOKING TO MEN 97

evidence. They had sent to John and John had
testified to Jesus, and if they would look to the
Scriptures they witnessed to Him; nay, would
they look to heaven, heaven itself bore witness
to Him in His wonderful works. They were
caught in a network of evidence. Whence it all
the more fully follows that if they believed not, it
was due to some inabihty. Yes, a true inability,
an induration of beheving tissue which rendered
it unable to react to any testimony, however
great. But this inabihty did not render them
irresponsible for their lack of faith. Our Lord
closes His discourse with a solemn asseveration
that they did not need Him to accuse them to the
Father: "There was one that accused them, even
Moses, on whom they had set their hopes. For if
they believed Moses, they would have believed
Him, for he wrote of Him." In a word, our Lord
arraigns them for their inability to believe, not as
though it was an excuse for their lack of faith, but
as though it was the blackest item in the indict-
ment against them. They could not believe, but
it was because of their wicked hearts, because
they had set their hearts on earthly things and
cared not for the heavenly.

And now we understand why the healing of the
impotent man is the miracle out of which this dis-
course grows. All Christ's miracles are parables.
For thirty-eight years this man had lain there just
alongside the healing floods, and he was impotent

98 FAITH AND LIFE

to use them for the heahng of his disease — neither
had he anyone who could apply them to him.
And here before these Jews stood One offering
the water of life, and they were impotent to reach
out their hand to take it, because they were re-
ceiving their glory one frt)m another and sought
not the glory that comes from the Only One. It
is the impotence of man by his natural powers to
believe — be the evidence never so convincing —
that Jesus would teach us by His parable and by
His discourse. The impotent man might have
ocular evidence every time the water moved of its
healing virtues. What good did the demonstra-
tion do him, when he could not reach out and take
the healing floods.^ These impotent Jews might
have, did have, demonstrative evidence that the
Lord of Life stood before th'em. John had
spoken, God in His word had spoken, God by
sign and miracle had spoken. And yet what good
did evidence do them so long as they could not
believe, because their hearts were set on the earth
and not on the heavens?

Is it not plain to you that it is not evidence alone
that produces faith .^ Did the abundant evi-
dence of the Divine mission of Christ convince
the Jews; who sought His life the more vindic-
tively for every item of evidence they could not
resist; who answered His demonstration of deity
by hanging Him on the tree? Nay, be the evi-
dence never so perfect, we cannot believe who have

LOOKING TO MEN 99

evil hearts of unbelief. Never until that Divine
voice, freighted with supernatural power, which
said to the impotent man, Arise, take up thy bed
and walk, has sounded with a personal message to
our souls, do we gain the power to believe, though
Moses himself and the law written in our hearts
pronounce us inexcusable.

Now as we have learned a doctrinal lesson from
our text, let us learn also a practical one. Surely
the text teaches us that the habit of living in
religious things for the observation and applause
of our fellows is deadly to all religious affections,
and, indeed, to all religious life itself. Nor could
it indeed be otherwise. Are not the religious af-
fections in their very nature God ward .^^ And is
not the religious life dependent on our preserving
in ourselves an attitude of dependence and recep-
tivity with reference to God.^^ Turn our eyes from
Him, and religion in any true sense of the word is
gone. Rites may remain; forms may remain;
genuflections and prayers may remain; a strict
mode of life may remain, but not religion. The
husk of religion — like the shell of nuts — may en-
dure when the kernel is gone; it is often harder
to destroy the hull and husk than that subtle
kernel, for which alone the husk exists. But of
what worth is the husk after what it was formed
to protect is gone.^^ Of course this is not to con-
demn the outward forms of religion. This is in-
volved in the very figure used. Like the shell of a

100 FAITH AND LIFE

nut, it is needed; needed for the protection and
preservation of the kernel. But without the ker-
nel? That is a different matter.

As ministers, we have, and we ought to recog-
nize it, special temptations to religiosity, as
distinguished from religion. We are profession-
ally religious men. Let the lesson come home es-
pecially to us then, that the habit of being relig-
ious for the eye of men is deadly to true religion.
It does not follow that we ought to be careless of
our influence over men. It only follows that we
ought to be careful with respect to what we in-
fluence them. We should set an example to
them to be truly religious, lovers of God and
seekers only of His approval; and not only to seem
to be religious. How subtle the temptation is!
How grand a thing to have the reputation of being
the most religious man in the community, the
most careful in our religious services, the most
punctual in our religious duties! Well, the Phar-
isees were all this. No men in the land were more
religious; they were models for all men in the
strictness of their lives. And they could not be-
lieve! There is a better thing than having the
reputation of being religious; and that is being
rehgious. And the difference is just this: That
the one has praise of men and the other of
God.

And thus we are led to lay emphasis, in closing,
on the third point of teaching which I would have

LOOKING TO MEN 101

you receive from our text: that all true glory
comes from God only. This is the pointed an-
tithesis of the text; and Christ uses it as the suf-
ficient uncovering of the failure and folly of the
Jews. They received glory from their fellow men,
and did not remember that true glory comes from
God only. It is hard for men to feel this. We
do so long after the approval of our fellows. Men
go in crowds. Truth has a poor show, when the
tide sets against it. How hard it is to face the
gibes of our companions. "Old Fogy," "Nar-
row-minded"— these are not very bad words in
themselves, but they have a baleful power. How
natural to desire to be "in the swim"! How
delightful to feel the approval and to enjoy the aid
of our fellows pressing us on. It is human to love
human applause and to seek it.

But it is Divine to stem the tide for God. Jesus
preached unpopular truth. Men could so little
endure it that they crucified Him for it. Paul
preached unpopular truth, and suffered a thousand
deaths for doing so. Will we say that they were
wrong? After all, it is only when the "vox populi"
is really the "vox dei"as well, that we can afford
to follow it. When the "vox populi" stands in
opposition to the "vox dei," let us breast it at all
hazards! In other words, let it be the "vox dei"
that we unhesitatingly and unwaveringly follow;
and if the "vox populi" agree with it, so much the
better for the "vox populi." As ministers of

102 FAITH AND LIFE

God's grace let us make up our minds firmly and
once for all to seek His glory and not men's. After
all, is it not to his own Master that every man
stands or falls?

A HALF-LEARNED CHRIST

Jno. 6:68, 69: — "Simon Peter answered him. Lord to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have
believed and know that Thou art the Holy One of God."

The first impression made on us by this re-
sponse of Peter's to our Lord's pathetic appeal,
"Surely ye too will not wish to go?" is the nobil-
ity of the confession which it contains. We are
not surprised to find one of the commentators,
therefore, speaking of it as "this immortal reply ";
nor are we surprised that it is commonly treated
by commentators and expounders alike from
this point of view. Thus, for instance, one ex-
pounder develops it as a "serious answer" to our
Lord's "searching inquiry"; and finds in it, (1)
a "reverential address" — "Lord"; (2) a signifi-
cant inquiry," which is only a "strong way of
asserting not alone that our Lord's disciples in-
tended to adhere to Him, but that they reckoned
Him the only Teacher, Messiah, Saviour, to whom
they could adhere" ; (3) a "confidant avowal" —
viz., that He had the words of eternal life; and
(4) a "simple confession," that they saw in Him
none other than "the Holy One of God," — God's
own incarnate Son.

Now, we should certainly be sorry to miss this
103

104 FAITH AND LIFE

side of the matter. Surely, the verse does con-
tain, fundamentally, a confession of Peter's and
through him of the apostles' faith; and assuredly
this confession is, in contrast with the thought
of Jesus entertained by the crowds which had
been flocking to Him, a very noble confession,
which explains why the twelve cleaved to Him
in the midst of the general defection that had now
set in. At bottom, this confession does mean
that these men were seeking in Jesus satisfaction
for spiritual and not carnal wants; and that they,
therefore, understood Him incomparably better
than the crowds of carnal men which had hitherto
surrounded Him; and that, finding satisfaction in
Him for their spiritual needs, they could not leave
Him as the others left Him, however puzzlingly
He spoke, but could not fail to recognize in Him
the very consecrated messenger from God whom
their hearts craved.

To mean this was, at that time and in those cir-
cumstances, to mean almost incredibly much.
But it is not to mean everything. There is an-
other side to the declaration, and this other side
is obviously the side that was in John's mind when
he recorded it. For clearly he does not put it
forward as a supreme confession, marking a com-
plete appreciation of Jesus' person and claims,
and standing out, therefore, in startling and in-
structive contrast with the unbelief of others, to
the manifestation of which the whole preceding

A HALF-LEARNED CHRIST 105

chapter is consecrated — as exhibiting in a word
the immense contrast of the fullness of the apos-
tles' faith and appreciation with the slowness or
rather grossness of heart of the lesser followers of
Christ. On the contrary, he presents it evi-
dently as standing in contrast, indeed, with the
unbelief and incapacity to believe of the others,
and therefore marking out the apostles as
Christ's especially faithful followers; but as,
nevertheless, exhibiting more fully the great crisis
that had come into our Lord's life by showing how,
even among His closest companions, there existed
no full appreciation of Him in His work and claims.
When Jesus, out of the midst of the scenes that
lay about Him, turned to this innermost circle of
His followers with the sorrowful inquiry: "Surely
ye too will not go away!" — Oh, the pathos of it! —
He obtained no doubt a reassurance. No, they
would cleave to Him. And this reassurance must
have been a balm to His wounded human spirit.
But the reassurance He obtained was so little
to His mind, that He felt it necessary to meet it
with a rebuke: "Was it not I that chose you — the
twelve; and of you, one is diabohcal!" This very
confession was an element, thus, in the crisis
through which He was passing, the manifestation
of how little even those who were nearest to Him
really understood Him or were ready to carry on
His work.

Surely it will not be without its lessons to us to

106 FAITH AND LIFE

seek, without derogating from the essential nobil-
ity of the confession, to trace out also the elements
of incompleteness that enter into it, and that
make it less than what a confession of Christ
ought to be.

First of all, then, we notice that there seems to
be an element of boastfulness in this confession.
This suggests itself by the obtrusion of the personal
pronoun. We might read our English version and
think of the emphasis falling on the beheving
and knowing which is asserted. We cannot so
read the Greek. The emphasis falls rather on
the "we." "And as for us," says Peter, "we at
least" have believed. Peter is contrasting him-
self and his fellow apostles with others and priding
himself on the contrast. We will remember that
our Lord had just said, "The words that I have
spoken unto you are spirit and are life; but there
are of you some who do not believe." Peter
seems to swell with pride to think that he is not
of these. Repeating his Master's words, he says,
"Thou hast words of eternal life, and as for us,
we at least have believed!" You see Peter is
Peter himself in this confession. How often do
we find him pushing forward with his rash and
boastful words. "That be far from Thee, Lord,"
he cries on a similar occasion — to receive the sharp
rebuff, "Get thee behind me, Satan!" "Although
all shall stumble," he had yet to boast on still
another occasion, "yet will not I. If I must die

A HALF-LEARNED CHRIST 107

with Thee, I will not deny Thee." We all know
with what sorrowful sequence. And so here; "As
for us, we, at least, have believed." We perceive
the pride in his faith which dictated the words.
And now we understand the sharpness of our
Lord's rebuke, with its emphasis on the personal
pronoun. "You boast yourselves," replies Jesus,
"that you at least have believed — was it after
all you that believed in Me, or I that chose you —
the twelve? And even so, of you, one at least is
a devil ! ' ' Poor Peter — always boasting and always
getting the "Get thee behind me, Satan."

How plain the lesson to us is. A warning,
clear, sharp, overwhelming, against all spiritual
pride. I am afraid that we too are prone to pride
ourselves on what we have only received, as if
by our own power we had done these things.
There is nothing more unlovely than pride in
spiritual things. Do we not feel it moving in us
sometimes, however, in the precise form in which
it attacked Peter here.^^ Are we not inclined, not
merely to felicitate ourselves, but also to boast
ourselves that we have believed in Jesus, as if it
were the mark of some peculiar excellence in us?
But, brethren, if we do indeed believe, who, who
is it that has made us thus to differ? Is it that
we have believed, or that He, our Lord and Mas-
ter, has chosen us? Surely it is not we but He
who deserves the glory. Let the "Soli Deo
Gloria" ring ceaselessly in our breasts. For, we

108 FAITH AND LIFE

may well believe it, not pride but humility is the
root of the Christian life; not boasting of ourselves
but glorying in God the Saviour is becoming in
us. God give us that small measure of humility
which will be willing to acknowledge that it is
of Him and not of ourselves that we are partakers
of Christ. So shall we learn Peter's lesson: "It
is not ye that have believed, but I that have
chosen!"

We notice in the second place that Peter's
confession in its form looks very much like what
we may perhaps call a counsel of despair. "Lord,
to whom shall we go," he asks, "Thou hast words
of eternal life?" Here, too, our English version
may lead us astray as to the tone of the remark.
There is no emphasis on the "Thou"; there, in-
deed, is no "Thou" at all in the Greek. Christ's
person, in other words, is not put prominently
forward. It is rather conspicuously kept in the
background. Neither is there any article to give
significance to "words of eternal life." We do
not read ^'the words of eternal life" as if Peter
recognized in Jesus' words their supreme peculi-
arity, that they were themselves spirit and life.
The phrase is purely general; Peter has found
"words of eternal life" in Jesus' talk; that is all.
In fact, there is little more here than an echo of
our Lord's words a few verses earlier. Our Lord
had declared that the words He had spoken were
words of spirit and life; Peter echoes that Jesus'

A HALF-LEARNED CHRIST 109

words were words of eternal life. It is to his
credit that he recognizes them as such; it shows
that he is really at bottom spiritually minded.
But we cannot help feeling that — like echoes in
general — there is some lack of substance in this.
There appears to be exhibited acquiescence rather
than intense conviction. Peter was, as a spirit-
ually minded man, in search of spiritual nourish-
ment; his heart was keyed to and set upon eternal
things — the everlasting welfare of his soul rather
than the temporal pleasure of his body. He finds
satisfaction in Christ. He finds such satisfaction
in Him as he had found in no one else. He can-
not look with anything but dismay at losing Him.
He recognizes Him as unique among the teachers
of Israel and rejoices in Him as such. But there
he seems as yet half inclined to stop. And to
stop there is to stop fatally short of a true appre-
ciation of Jesus. For there is something negative
rather than positive attaching to this position.
It would, doubtless, be going too far to say that it
all amounts to no more than satisfying oneself
with Jesus in the absence of a better. But there
is a suggestion of such a state of mind in it. "Will
you too leave me.'^" Jesus asks. "Why, to whom
should we go?" is the reply; "Thou hast words of
eternal life." There is no adequate entering into
the supremeness of Jesus' claims here; there is
only a recognition that none better than He could
be found. Now, it is not its uniqueness that

no FAITH AND LIFE

makes a thing really precious to us. That
is a negative attribute. It is the appreciation
of the positive content of preciousness in any-
thing which makes the thing unique — because
nothing conceivable could surpass it or take its
place.

It is well worth our while, brethren, to ask our-
selves seriously to-day if we are perhaps our-
selves adhering to Christ only because, and so far
as, and while, we have no one else to go to.^^ Is
our reason for enrolling ourselves His summed up
only in this — that we know no better.'^ Well, it is
certain that we shall never know a better. For a
better does not and cannot exist. Because He is
the Supremely Best. Better recognize this at
once, however, and feel the uplift of His glory!
"Christ and other Masters" — in collocation — is
derogatory to Him. His uniqueness is absolute,
not relative; and our attitude to it must be a posi-
tive and not a negative one. There is enthusiasm
demanded here. Let us be bound to Christ by a
true appreciation of what He actually is, and we
will never question whether perchance we may not
some time discover a better; and will never feel an
impulse to express our devotion to Him in such
words as these, "We must cling to Him because
we know not to whom else to go." No, no, we
must cleave to Him because He is such that to
separate from Him would be to separate from all
that makes life worth living, all that gilds this

A HALF-LEARNED CHRIST 111

world or blesses the next. This is the attitude
that does justice not to what we would fain find
in Him but to what He really is.

And this leads us to notice an element of (shall
we say?) selfishness in Peter's confession. Peter
adheres to Jesus because — so he says — he does
not know where else to find the blessings which
Peter wants. Now Peter was a spiritually minded
man and he was not seeking earthly but heavenly
good. This is greatly to his credit. It shows a
high and noble nature, with high and noble aspira-
tions, living on a high and noble plane, above all
the dross which satisfies so many men. But it
is possible to be selfish even on this high plane;
and a dash of this selfishness seems to show itself
in Peter's confession. He cleaves to Christ, for
what reason,^ Because his longing for words of
eternal life is satisfied by Christ. It would be
going too far to say that Peter clung to Christ for
what, as the coarse saying goes, he could get out
of Him. But this coarse language hints at the
true state of the case. Surely we will feel that
there is something lacking in this attitude, the
attitude which cleaves to Jesus because we do not
know where else to go to obtain what we want,
even though we want the highest good — eternal
life itself. Does it not place it on a distinctly
lower plane than that fine self-abandonment
which cleaves to another, like Ruth to Naomi,
out of pure appreciation and love? Think of

112 FAITH AND LIFE

Ruth and think of Peter: do not we feel that
Ruth was living on a higher plane?

Now, I am not going to preach to you the gospel
of "disinterested love" in the sense of the mystics.
You all know the fine story of the vision of a
woman going forth with fire and water, to burn
up heaven and put out hell, that men may here-
after love God neither for fear of hell nor for desire
for heaven, but for His Lovely Self alone. We
feel the inspiration of it. But we feel doubtless
that there is something a little too absolute in its
antithesis. There is a proper self-seeking — a
proper place for self-love — to which Jesus Him-
self appeals, and which should be operative to
draw us to Him. It is not wrong, but distinctly
right, to long for heaven and to fear hell. xAnd
that we find all the higher wants of our souls satis-
fied in Christ is surely no mean commendation of
Him to us. The desire for eternal life is no low
longing. He who can supply this desire is worthy
of our adherence and love.

There is assuredly a place in life for all these
things. But after all, they are not quite the
highest things. They are the things with which
we should begin, not those with which we should
end. Let us come to Christ for our own sakes —
for our own sakes how can we not come to Him ! —
but when, having come to Him for our own sakes,
we find all that He is, let us learn to love Him and
cleave to Him for His own sake. For His own

A HALF-LEARNED CHRIST 113

sake, because He is altogether lovely and One to
be desired above our chief joy. Why, even in
these earthly unions, which we call marriage, we
take the loved one "for better, for worse." Shall
we take Jesus only for better.? And should the
worse come to the worst, are we to leave Him and
seek some other one who seems to us to have words
of eternal life.'^ There is a sense, let us try to un-
derstand that, in which it would be better, in-
finitely better, to perish with Jesus, than to live
without Him. Thank God, such an alternative
can never occur. With Him is life, and nothing
but life; life ever more and more abundantly.
But it is well worth our while to distinguish and
to see that we love Him and cleave to Him, not
merely for the life that is in Him for us, but for all
the glorious perfections that are in Him Himself.
To do this we must, of course, know Him as He
is and in all that He is. And here we see the
final flaw in Peter's confession. He had not yet
come to know Christ fully. And that is, doubtless,
the ultimate reason of all the other shortcomings
we have found in it. Had he known Christ fully,
he never would or could have confessed Him only
thus — with a boastful spirit as if he had found
Christ out instead of having been found by Him;
with half-hearted zeal as if He were only the best
he had yet found; and with a somewhat selfish
outlook as if it were only because he could obtain
from Him satisfaction for his felt needs. I am

114 FAITH AND LIFE

not blaming Peter for not yet knowing Christ
better. It rather is wonderful, when all is con-
sidered, that he knew Him actually so well, and
was ready boldly to declare Him, in the face of all,
to be "God's Holy One." It was a great thing
for Peter to have seen this clearly; and a great
thing for him to have been ready to announce it
in the presence of the great defection which was
going on at the moment. Herein lies the nobility
of this noble confession. But there is a great deal
more than this to be known and confessed about
Jesus, and Peter afterwards learned it.

The point of importance to us is, Have we
learned it? We may be quite sure that our whole
attitude to Christ will turn on the fullness and the
intimacy with which we know Him. We have no
such excuses as Peter had for not knowing Christ
in all the fullness of His Being and all the splen-
dour of His Nature. Surely, He must, for instance,
be something more to us than "the Holy One of
God" — "God's saint" — that is to say, no doubt,
by way of eminence, the one whom God has
chosen and consecrated and endowed for His ser-
vice. We have seen how in Peter's case even,
such a knowledge of Him did not suflfice to make a
full confession. And surely He must be something
more to us than "the historical Christ" — espe-
cially if we begin to doubt or bicker over what
history it is that we will accept as a trustworthy
account of this "historical Christ." Christ the

A HALF-LEARNED CHRIST 115

Teacher, Christ the Example, Christ the Founder
of the Kingdom of God, Christ the King — surely
He must be something much more than even all
these to us if we are to confess Him aright. The
historical Christ, yes, but also the exalted Christ.
Christ our Prophet, yes, and Christ our King; but
also Christ our Priest and Christ our Sacrifice.
Christ that died and also Christ that rose again.
The Son of Man and also the Son of God. To
Peter as yet He was not all these things, though
Peter was feeling His way towards them. To us
He is all these things, and more, even Christ,
the All in All. Ah, brethren, if we could only see
Him in His beauty, how our hearts would go out
to Him! No boastful, half-hearted, selfish con-
fession then! Only adoration and joy and un-
speakable satisfaction in Him! Let us see and
know and confess Him, as He is, and in all that
He is!

THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT

Jno. 16:8-11: — "And he, when he is come, will convict the
world in respect of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment: of
sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because
I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; of judgment, be-
cause the prince of this world hath been judged."

These chapters which contain the closing dis-
course of Christ to His disciples are wonderingly
dwelt upon by every Christian heart, as the deep-
est and richest part of the riches of this Gospel.
That we may obtain an insight into the marvellous
words which we take as the subject of our med-
itation to-day, it is essential for us to realize the
setting which our Lord gave them in the midst
of this discourse. He had described to His dis-
ciples the conditions of their life, in continuous
union and communion with Him, purchased as
they were by His death for them and elevated to
the lofty position of His special friends from whom
He withholds nothing — not even His life itself.
Then He had opposed to this picture of their exal-
tation, a delineation of their condition in the world,
opposed and hated and persecuted and slain ; while
they, on their part, were to bear quietly their wit-
ness, endure their martyrdom, and trust in their
Redeemer. But was this all.? Were they con-
demned to a hopeless witness-bearing through all

116

THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT 117

the coming years, while the world triumphed over
them and in them over their crucified Lord?
What an end to the hope they had cherished that
this was He who should redeem Israel!

No, says the Lord, not the world but they were
to win the victory; the laurel belongs by right not
to Satan's but to His own brow. But we will not
fail to notice the air of reproof with which He
opens the section of His discourse which He has
consecrated to an exposition of the victory over
the world which He intended that they — as His —
should win. "But now," he says, "I am going
to Him that sent me, and no one of you asketh
me, 'Whither goest thou.^^', but because I said
these things to you, sorrow hath filled your hearts."
They had, indeed, expected Him to redeem Israel.
It was therefore that they had given Him their
trust, their love; that they had left their all to
follow Him. But now sad days had come; and
they saw their trusted Lord on the eve of giving
Himself up to death. Was not this a dashing of
their hopes .^^ And had they, then, been so long
time with Him and had not learned that the
Father had ten myriads of angels who were en-
camped about Him and who would bear up His
every footfall lest by chance He might dash His
foot against a stone .^ Nay, that He had Himself
power to lay down His life and to take it again .^^
How could they look upon this coming death as
an interference with His plans, the destruction of

118 FAITH AND LIFE

their hopes, and so sorrow as those without hope,
instead of rejoicing as those who see the bright
promise of the coming day in the east?

On the hnes of these needs of the babes with
which He had to deal, our Lord disposes His com-
forting words. The sorrow of their hearts He
deprecates, not merely because He might expect
them to rejoice like friends in His approaching
departure to the higher and better life, but be-
cause He might expect them, after so much that
He had done in their sight and spoken in their
hearing, to have confidence in His mission and
work, and to know that the power of Satan could
not prevail against Him. What a spectacle we
see here ! The Master girding Himself for His last
stroke of battle with the joy of victory in His eyes,
while His surrounding friends are with stream-
ing tears anointing Him for burial! He plants
His foot firmly upon the steps of His Eternal
Throne; and they smite their breasts with the
sorrowful cry, " We had hoped that thou mightest
have been He that should have redeemed Israel! "
No wonder that He gives them the loving rebuke,
" But now I go my way to Him that sent me," —
to Him that sent me; on the completion of His
work, then; not as balked, defeated, — " and no
one of you asketh me ' Whither goest thou? ', but
because I have said these things sorrow hath filled
your hearts."

Note how our Lord presses forward His per-

THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT 119

sonality here. " But I tell you the truth " —
none of you has asked me, but I lovingly
volunteer to tell you, — "It is good for you that I
go away." This departure is not a forced one, by
way of defeat and loss; it was planned from the
beginning and is part of the great plan by which I
am to redeem not only Israel but the world. Note
the emphatic "I": "It is good for you that I
go away." Why this emphasis .^^ Because there
is another to whom this work has been committed
and whose offices are necessary for the consum-
mation of the work. "Because unless I go,
the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will
send Him to you ; and it is He who, on His coming,
will convict the world as to sin, and as to right-
eousness and as to judgment."
Let us observe: —

I. That Christ proclaims the victory.

II. That He announces the agent through

whose holy offices the victory will be
realized in the world.

III. That He describes the manner in which

the victory will be realized — by con-
victing the world.

IV. That He names the three elements in

which this conviction takes effect — sin,
righteousness and judgment. And finally,

V. That He points out the means which the

Spirit uses to bring home this conviction,
in each element, to the hearts of men.

120 FAITH AND LIFE

Christ, I say, proclaims here the victory. Why
are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? he says in
effect to his tearful disciples. I go to the Father,
and the world will hate you as it hated me, and the
world will persecute you and the world will slay
you. But still the world is conquered. It is not
because Satan is victor that I go to the Father;
it is because I have completed my work, because
redemption has been won, and I go to take my
place upon the throne, that from that throne I
may cause all things to work together for your
good, — that from it I may send the Helper forth
to you, who will convict the world.

Here He announces the agent through whom the
victory is to be realized in the world. He has
won the victory; the Spirit is to apply His work
that the fruits of the victory may be reaped to the
full. A new age has dawned on this sin-stricken
world; the Prince of the Power of the Air is de-
throned; the Prince of Peace reigns. Henceforth
men strive not single-handed against the spiritual
hosts of wickedness in high places; they have a
Comforter, Advocate, Helper, Paraclete ever at
their right hand, and He will give them the vic-
tory. It will be observed that Christ is here
dealing with His apostles, not merely as individ-
uals striving against the sin that is within them,
but as His Lieutenants, leading His hosts against
the sin that is in the world. The world may per-
secute them — and slay them. But they will win

THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT 121

the victory; by the power of their Helper they
will lead captivity captive.

Hence the nature of the victory that is to be
realized in the world is here declared for us. It
is a moral victory, a spiritual victory, and its
essence is not physical subjection but mental and
moral conviction. That Christ dies, that His
followers are imprisoned, persecuted, slain, in no
wise detracts from the victory; these things are
disparate to it; they move on different planes and
cannot conflict. What the Helper is to do is to
convict the world; and in this conviction rests
their victory.

It is easy to see that this was a hard saying. No
doubt when it was spoken it fell like a deeper
knell on the hearts of the apostles; instead of
comforting, it pained, instead of encouraging,
it slew. But then, Christ was not yet risen and
their eyes were holden that they should know
neither Him nor His victory. But turn to Pen-
tecost. Then the Spirit came as He was prom-
ised and gave the convicting power to Peter's
sermon that here was announced. See the joy in
the victory, the exulting courage of the apostles,
from that day to the end. Paul declares that he
spoke not in the wisdom of the world but in the
demonstration of the Spirit and in power. Al-
though he uses a different word, what he means by
the demonstration of the Spirit seems to be what
Christ here promised under the name of the proof.

122 FAITH AND LIFE

convincing, conviction of the Spirit. This phrase
of Paul's, indeed, is perhaps the best verbal com-
mentary on our passage. The best actual com-
mentary is found, doubtless, in the narrative of
the results of the apostolic preaching in the Book
of Acts. This, then, is the victory; not an ex-
ternal one over men's bodies, but the conquest of
the world to Christ by the demonstration of the
Spirit in the proclamation of the Gospel, whereby
the world is convicted of sin and righteousness and
judgment. The conquest is a spiritual one; the
apostles are the agents in it; but the source of the
power is the Holy Ghost — our one and true Helper
in the world, who convicts the world of sin and
righteousness and judgment.

We approach now the center of our subject
and perceive what it is that the world is convicted
of by the demonstration of the Spirit. The Sav-
iour pointedly discriminates between the three
elements: As to sin, as to righteousness, as to
judgment. Conviction of the world is the work
of the Holy Ghost. Conviction as to what.^^ (1)
As to sin. The world which as yet knows not sin
is convicted of it as the first and primary work of
the Holy Ghost. It is not without significance
that this is placed first. There is a sense in which
it underlies all else, and conviction of sin becomes
the first step in that recovery of the world, which
is the victory. Once convicted of sin, another
conviction is opened out before it. (2) It may

THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT 123

then be convicted of righteousness, that is, of
what righteousness is and what is required to form
a true righteousness, and (3) it may be convicted
of judgment, that is, of what judgment is, what
justice requires and its inevitableness. These
two together form the correlates of sin. It is
only by knowing sin that we can know righteous-
ness; as it is only by knowing darkness that we
know hght. We must know what sin is and how
subtle it is, before we can realize what righteous-
ness is. We must know how base the one is be-
fore we can know how noble the other is. We
must know the depth that we may appreciate the
heights. In like manner we must know sin in
order to know judgment. We mu^t know sin in
its native hideousness that we may understand its
ill-desert, and perceive with what judgment the
sinner must be judged. So, too, we must know
righteousness to know judgment. Not only the
depths of sin, but also the heights of righteousness
are involved in the judgment. Sin on the one side,
righteousness on the other; these give us our true
conviction of judgment. And the work of the
Holy Ghost in the world is declared to be convic-
tion; and by convicting men He conquers the
world. The Gospel is preached and it everywhere
brings a crisis to men. Shall they hear or forbear?
Some hear; to some it is hid; but on all the con-
viction takes effect. Sin is made known; right-
eousness is revealed; judgment is laid bare. And

124 FAITH AND LIFE

men convicted of their sin have but a choice of the
righteousness or judgment.

For our Saviour does not leave us in ignorance
of the import and instruments of this threefold
conviction.

(1) "Of sin," he says, "because they believe
not on me." This does not seem to mean that
there would be no sin save for rejection of Christ,
but that the proclamation of Christ is the great
revealer of sin, the great distinguisher of men.
When Christ is preached the touchstone is ap-
plied and men are convicted of being sinners and
of the depths and hideousness of their sin by their
exhibited attitude towards the Son of God. The
Gospel is never hid save to them whose eyes the
god of this world has blinded, lest they should see
the glory of the Saviour and come to Him and be
saved. There is no revelation of character so
accurate, so powerful, so unmistakable, so inev-
itable, as that wrapped up in the simple question,
"What think ye of Christ.?" Like a loadstone
passing over a rubbish heap, His preaching draws
to His side all that is not hopelessly bad. And all
who come not are demonstrated to be sinners, and
the depth of their sin is thus revealed.

(2) "As to righteousness," he adds, "because
I go to my Father and ye see me no more." This
seems to mean that the fact of Christ's completed
work, closed by His ascension to His primal glory,
is the demonstration of righteousness. Convicted

THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT 125

of sin, the world is also convicted of righteousness ;
that is, of the need of a righteousness such as it
cannot frame for itself, and such as will match in
its height, the depth of its own sin. This is
brought to light only in the Gospel, in which a
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith. The convicting of the Holy Ghost con-
sists no more of a conviction of human sinfulness
and need of salvation than it does of the perfect
righteousness of Christ wrought out on earth and
sealed and warranted by His triumphal departure
from this world. Men are convicted of sin, be-
cause of their unbelief in Christ: of righteousness
because of His finished work.

(3) But there is one more step. "As to judg-
ment, because the Prince of this world has been
judged." If there is a sin, and a righteousness,
there is also a judgment. And men must know
it. The third element in the Spirit's demonstra-
tion is the conviction of men of the overhanging
judgment. This He performs by means of the
obvious condemnation in Christ's person and work
of the Prince of this world, involving those who
hold of his part in the same destruction. That
the world and all that is in it is of the Evil One,
that there is no life in it and no help for the chil-
dren of men, is one element of the Spirit's testi-
mony to the preached Gospel; that this world
is under condemnation and reserved for the eternal
fire is but another element of it. Everywhere

126 FAITH AND LIFE

where the Spirit carries His demonstration men
know what judgment is, and they know it by
perceiving the judgment of the Evil one.

We should not permit to slip from our minds
that we have here the Saviour's own exposition
of the method and manner of His spiritual con-
quest of the world. This conquest is assured. It
is the Spirit who performs it. And the method
of His work in it is by accompanying the preached
word with His demonstration and power. This
demonstration of the Spirit consists in convicting
the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
Is conviction of sin then, we may ask, necessary to
salvation .f^ Is conviction of sin the first step of
salvation? Let those smitten souls at Pentecost
answer, who cried aloud. Men and Brethren, what
shall we do.^^ Is conviction of righteousness neces-
sary to salvation.'^ A convinced and convicted
appreciation of the needs of our soul which alone
can be found in. Christ Jesus .^^ Ask him who has
proved to us that the whole world lies alike under
the wrath of God, and that by the works of the
law no flesh can be justified, and who adds to
this word of terror the only word of hope: But
now apart from the law a righteousness of God
has been revealed, even the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ, unto all them that
believe; for there is no difference, for all have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And
as to conviction of judgment, ask Felix, who

THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT 127

trembled as this same Paul reasoned of right-
eousness and temperance and judgment to come.
Assuredly, my brethren, would we be saved,
we must know what sin is, we must know what
righteousness is and where it may be found, and
we must tremble before the judgment which that
righteousness must pass on our sin. Christ has
performed His work, and with the shout of "It
is finished" upon His lips, has ascended to His
throne on high, and there, seated by the right
hand of God, He has shed forth this which we
even now see and hear. The Spirit is in the
world and wherever the Gospel of God's grace is
faithfully preached He attends it with His dem-
onstration and power. And what does He dem-
onstrate to our souls .f^ That we are sinners;
that we need a God-provided righteousness; that
otherwise we must partake in the judgment of
the Prince of this world. This is God's way and
it is the only way. Let us be fully assured of it!

CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE

Jno. 17:15: — "I pray not that thou shouldst take them from the
world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one."

The text suggests strongly the contrast be-
tween the world and heaven, and the relations
which the servants of Christ bear to each. The
world and heaven are contrasted ideas; con-
trasted places, and contrasted states. And the
peculiarity of the relations which Christians bear
to these contrasted places and states is that they
may be at the same time in very express relations
to both. Our Lord Himself, while walking this
earth of ours as a man among men, was yet in the
bosom of the Father. And the Christian, His
follower, while still in the world, the object of the
world's hate and the recipient of its persecution,
may yet be in the heavenly places with his Lord.
Let us resolve the paradox, by considering in turn :

I. Our Lord's idea of "the world."
II. His idea of heaven.
III. His desire for His followers.

It is often said, and this is the first thought
that occurs to us on facing this paradox, that our
Lord's idea of "the world," as recorded in John, is
an ethical rather than a local one. But this must
not be taken too exclusively. Our present verse

128

CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE 129

is the disproof of too exclusive an attribution of
the ethical idea to the Lord. Christ prays that
his followers should not be taken out of the world,
but yet should be kept from the evil. In this
single prayer, the word "world" is used in quito
a variety of implications. In the fifth verse it
means apparently the universe, as a creation. In
the eleventh verse, it is equivalent to the earth,
with the implication that it is the world of man
that is in mind. It is plainly the world of man
in the fifteenth verse. But as man is sinful man,
it usually in this sense has the connotation of what
we call the sinful world, and this sense comes out
strongly in the ninth verse, where Christ's follow-
ers are contrasted with the world, and more
strongly still in verses fourteen and sixteen, where
the world is said to hate the good, and so also in
the twenty -first and twenty-third verses. In a
word, then, the term world means usually the
world of mankind, which, because man is uni-
versally sinful, comes to bear the implication of
the world of sinful man, which then is brought
into contrast with Christ's children in whom the
power of sin is broken and a radical divergence
from the world begun. Accordingly, when they
come to Christ, they come "out of the world,"
even though they remain in the world. The
"world" therefore designates a place, but this
place as the abode of man, and this man as sinful.
And though there is an ethical colouring to the

130 FAITH AND LIFE

term, yet this ethical colouring does not constitute
its essence. Because there is an ethical colouring
to it Christ represents His people as gathered out
of the world; and because this ethical colouring
does not constitute its essence, we can, neverthe-
less speak of them remaining in the world while
kept from its evil.

The idea of heaven, as the contrast to that of
the world, must, therefore, partake of this two-
fold sense. It is primarily a place, to which
Christ's children would be removed if they were
taken out of the world. But as the world is a
bad place, so heaven, its contrast, is a good place;
and those who are good are, therefore, already in
principle in it. Therefore Paul tells us that our
citizenship is in heaven, and that we may even
here and now be with Christ in the heavenly
places. The word "heaven" does not occur in
this prayer. It does occur in the introduction to
it, where we are told that "Jesus, lifting up his
eyes to heaven, said Father," as if His pure eyes
pierced the wall of space and saw the Invisible
One. Heaven is, therefore, in this context, the
place where God is in His manifested glory, in
contrast with the world where the "god of this
world" manifests his power for a season. Ac-
cordingly our Lord speaks of it as the place where
God can be known and enjoyed, or with more per-
sonal point and pathos, as the place where He
Himself should be, in His destined glory which

CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE 131

was also His primal glory; where He, as He is,
and not as, in His humiliation. He has seemed,
should be and be manifested, and where His
children should be partakers of His glory.

And now what is Christ's desire for His people?

It is certainly not that they should remain in
the world, in its ethical sense. Already they had
been given Him out of the world, and therefore
they were no more of the world — no more than
Christ Himself was. The truth had already been
given them, that truth which should free from
sin, — God's own name had been manifested to
and in them, — and they were in radical opposi-
tion to the world, so that the world hated them.
Accordingly His prayer distinctly is that they
should be kept from that evil which constituted
the very characteristic of the world, and that their
sanctification should be continued in the truth.
He does not desire them to remain in the world in
this sense. He has instituted a radical contrari-
ety between them and "the world" ethically con-
sidered; and He is providing for this contra-
riety to widen into an ever broadening gulf.

Just as certainly, it is not that they should
remain always in the world, in its more local sense.
The tone of joy with which the Lord notes that
the time of His sojourn on earth is over and He is
ready to re-enter His heavenly glory is unmis-
takable. Equally unmistakable is the tone of
sadness with which He adverts to leaving His

132 FAITH AND LIFE

followers in the world. They are in danger there;
in danger from the world's hate; and in danger
from the world's temptation. They are away
from their true and proper home there — in the
enemy's country — not householders at home, but
soldiers on duty, pilgrims on their journey. He
longs for them to enter their rest. And though
He leaves them joy and the means of more joy
in the word of truth. His desire for them is some-
thing higher than they can find here below. Nay,
His distinct "will" for them is that they also may
be with Him where He is to be; that they may be-
hold His glory; that they may share in that glory.
He wishes for them what His servant afterwards
declared to be "far better," that they too like
Him should go out of the world and enter into
glory — where Christ is on the right hand of God,
where God dwells and His knowledge is, and where
love is perfected in all.

But it is that they may temporarily remain in
the world, out of which they have in one sense
already come, but in which, in the other sense,
they are still left, while kept from the evil
of it.

Why? Well, for one thing, for their own sakes
— that they may be sanctified. God's name has
already been manifested to them; God's words
have already been given them; and they have re-
ceived them; and men hate them for it. The
good work is already, therefore, begun with them.

CHRIST'S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE 133

Its fruits are already shown in their radical de-
parture from the world and the world's conse-
quent hatred. But the work is not completed.
Therefore, the Saviour prays that "they may be
sanctified in the truth," that "they themselves
also may be sanctified" in truth, just as He had
been. They are to remain in the world then for
their own sakes that the good work begun in them
may be perfected unto the end. This appears as
needful. Not, of course, as if they might not
conceivably, like the dying thief, be prepared
for heaven in a moment. God's almighty grace
can work wonders. But that is not God's or-
dinary way; the muscles of holiness must grow
by practice; hence temptation itself and trials are
blessings. Hence, too, it emerges that sanctifi-
cation is to take place in this life, in the ordinary
provision of God. God's children are to remain
in the world for their sanctification.

For another thing, for others' sake. God's
plans need their presence in and work for the
world. They are not the whole harvest, but the
first fruits only. And that the first fruits may
share in the harvest, it is needful to have them
stay and labour here. They are to be the seed —
** the good seed are they who ..." And after a
while this sowing is to ripen into a goodly in-
gathering. Accordingly, our Lord prays not only
for them but for them also who believe — through-
out the whole future — on Him by their word. His

134 FAITH AND LIFE

glance takes in His whole Church, of all the ages;
and these are to abide for it.

For still another thing, for the sake of the world
itself. There is a testimony to be borne to the
wicked world itself. "The wicked world," ap-
parently, because in contrast here not only with
those whom Christ left behind, but also with
those who should believe on His name through
their word. The world is to be convicted of sin
and convinced of Christ's mission and glory. His
own are to remain in the world and to propagate
and grow into a mighty, unitary Church, in order
that the world itself may know that the lowly
Jesus whom it has despised and rejected is none
other than the Son of God; and that these lowly
followers of His, despised and persecuted by it,
are loved of the Father even as the Father loves
Him. The mighty testimony of the Church of
God! How little we are bearing it! How we
ought to bestir ourselves to it!

And then, finally, we must say also, for the
Son's own sake. For He, too, reaps advantages
from their abiding below. So, and humanly
speaking, so only, may His mission be vindicated
and His glory manifested to the world, in His
Church; may His glory be fully manifested to
His own, when at last they come to Him; may
His love then be perfected in them.

For these reasons, at least, it is well that Christ's
people remain for a season in this wicked world.

THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT

Acts 2:16, 17: — "This is that which hath been spoken through
the prophet Joel. ... I will pour forth of my Spirit."

In any attempt to estimate the significance of
the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, consid-
ered as the inauguration of the New Dispensa-
tion, the following two considerations must be
made fundamental.

The Spirit was active under the Old Dispensa-
tion in all the modes of His activity under the
New Dispensation. This is evinced by the rec-
ords of the activities of the Spirit of God in the
Old Testament, which run through the whole
series of the Spirit's works; and by the ascription
by the writers of the New Testament of all the
working of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament
to their own personal Holy Ghost. Thus, for
example, the inspiration of the Old Testament
prophets and writers is ascribed to the Holy
Ghost (2 Pet. 1:21; 1 Pet. 1:11; Heb. 3:7, 10:15;
Matt. 22:43; Mark 12:36; Acts 1:16, and 28:25).
The authorship of the ritual service of the sanc-
tuary is ascribed to Him (Heb. 9:8). The leading
of Israel in the wilderness and throughout its
history is ascribed to Him (Acts 7:51). It was in
Him that Christ preached to the antediluvians

135

136 FAITH AND LIFE

(1 Pet. 3:18). He was the author of faith then
as now (2 Cor. 4:13).

Nevertheless, the change of dispensation con-
sisted primarily just in this: that in the New Dis-
pensation the Spirit was given (so John 7:39;
16:7; 20:22; Acts 2).

The problem, therefore, is to understand how
the New Dispensation can be thus by way of dis-
crimination the Dispensation of the Spirit, char-
acterized by the giving of the Spirit, while yet He
was active in the Old Dispensation in all the modes
of His activity under the New. For the solving
of this problem we shall need to exercise a humble
courage in embracing the standpoint of Scripture
itself.

In order to do this, we must observe that the
operations of the Holy Ghost were forfeited by
man through sin. Adam enjoyed the influence
of the Holy Spirit and it was through the Spirit's
inworking that Adam was enabled to withstand
temptation, and by it that he might have been
led safely through his probation and afterwards
confirmed in holiness. When Adam sinned he
lost the gift of original righteousness, indeed, but
with it also the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the
depravation into which he and his posterity
sank — according to the fearful history recorded
in the first chapter of Romans — has lying at its
foundation the deprivation of the Holy Ghost's
influences.

THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 137

The Lord never, indeed, wholly turns away from
any work of His hands; did He do so, it would fall
at once on the removal of His upholding hand,
like the unhooped barrel, back into nothingness.
In His providence, and in what we call His com-
mon grace. He continues to work among even
His sinful creatures who have lost all claim upon
His love. But just because they are sinful, they
have forfeited all the operations of His grace and
deserve at His hands only wrath. After the sin
of Adam, the whole world lies in wickedness; and
just because it lies in wickedness it is deprived
of the inhabitation of the Spirit of holiness.

But though the race has thus by its sin for-
feited the right to the inward work of the Holy
Ghost, God may in His infinite grace restore the
Spirit to man, as soon as, and in so far as. He can
make it just and righteous so to do. In the aton-
ing work of Christ, He has laid the foundation
for such a restoration in righteousness. But we
are dependent on the Scriptures to inform us how
far this restoration extends intensively and ex-
tensively. We are not authorized to argue that
because of the remedy for sin offered in Christ,
God must or may treat sin as if it never had ex-
isted, so that all that the race has lost in Adam is
restored in Christ, and that for all the sinful race
alike. It may be consonant with what we could
wish to be true, so to argue. But it is obvious
that were this, in fact, the state of the case,

138 lAlTlI AND LIFE

th(* Titer, would luivc Ix'rn rcstorcrl in Christ, from
the inoincnt ol' Aihim's fiill, and would have been
continued iji holy development unbrokenly.
Adam's sin wouhJ, in that case, have been a ben-
efit to the race; it would have curtailed its pro-
bation and placed the nice at once at tin; goal of
attainment which h.id been promised to obedi-
ence. Obedience and (iisobedience obviously
would, in th.it case, have been all one; the end
ol)tained would have been precisely the same.
Whence it woidd follow that Ailam's probation
was a mere farce, if not even that the Divine re-
gard for moral distinctions was a pretence.

Nothing can be more obvious according to either
Scrii)tnre or the experience of the race than that
this course was not taken. The Lord did not, at
once, treat sin as if it had never occurred. He
did, inch'cd, at on(!e institute a remedial scheme
by which the ed'ect of sin rrnght be obliterated
to the extent and in the mariner whic'h was pleas-
ing to His glorious judgment; but clearly it was
not |)lea,sing to Dim, on I he basis of the atone-
ment, to set aside the fad of sin altogether. ITow
far, on this basis. He was pleased to set aside the
fact of sin and restore to men the Spirit of holiness
of whom they had been deprived on account of
sin, we are wholly dependent u|)()n His Word to
tell us.

On the basis of the Scriptural declarations, it is
perfectly evident that it was not the plan of God

TUK OnTPOTIRFNG OF TTIIO SIM HIT 1.S9

to rcslon' I lie lo.sl, Spiril, lo man universally. 'Vhr.
(ircadfnl fact, .slarcs ns full in tli<' face that, God
lias llioii^dil w<ll l<» \rnvr soiric men <'t(Tnally
vvillioiil IIk' Spiril of liolirH'ss. 1 1 is ohvions l,li;il,
in I lie cxrculion of Mis pl.-iri of <iis(TiininaLion
afiion^ irMMi, il, w.js fioI His plan lo <lisl,ril)iit(; the
saving operations of His Spiril, e(jnally tliroii^Ii
eillier si)a('e or time. His sov<'rei^nly shows it-
self not only in f)assin^ hy one individujil and
^'ranlin^ His /^q;ie<' l,o ;inolli<*r; l>nl also in i)assin^
hy one nnlion, or one ;i^e, ;iiid ^r.irilin^ His ^rae(^
lo another. And in His insernl;d)le wisdom it
has obviously heen His plan to eonfin<' IIm^ op(Ta-
lions of His ^vncv Ihrouf^h many a^M's to on<;
people of His choice, passing hy llw rial ions of the
world at lar^'e, arul leaving IImmu to I heir sin.
This is IIm' riManiri^' of llie choice of Israel and IIk;
divine ^niidance of llial, chosen people.

W<' cannot fa I horn all the i)uri)ose of (iod in
I his dis[)osition of His ^'rac<'. W<' may Me<' (h*-
reclly, however, that III us a, twofohi <'rid was se-
cured. Sin was allowed t,o work ilself out on the
sta^<' of a, world-wide life, willi the result that it
cxhihii.ed all ils horror and all its lu'lplessncss.
And ^ra<'e conlinuously had its lroi)hies on the
sialic of Israel itisli life. Israel thus served as a
foil to exhihit t}i<' corrui)l.ion of the nalions;
and at the sanie lime pr*es<'rved th<' continuity of
(iod's people thr'oii/^h lime and suf)plied the
starting' point for the universal extension of His

140 FAITH AND LIFE

Kingdom when at length the set time for its in-
auguration should come. At all events, it is a
fact that the Scriptures, on which we are depend-
ent for all knowledge of the work of God's Spirit,
confine all their declarations of the work of the
Spirit through these gathering years to the theo-
cratic people. Only within and for the benefit of
the theocracy does the Spirit of God work from
Adam to Christ — from the first man through
whom came death to the Second Man through
whom came redemption.

And now we are, perhaps, in a position to under-
stand the contrast between the first and second
dispensations, when the second is called the Dis-
pensation of the Spirit, inaugurated by the visi-
ble outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, al-
though the Spirit had been the guide of Israel,
and the sanctifier of the people of God from the
beginning. The new dispensation is the Dispen-
sation of the Spirit, whether we consider the ex-
tent of the Spirit's operations, the object of His
operations, the mode of the Divine administra-
tion of His Kingdom, or the intensity of the Spir-
it's action.

The new dispensation is the dispensation of the
Spirit because in it the Spirit of God is poured
out upon all flesh. This element in the change is
made emphatic in the predictions w^hich prepared
the way for it — as in the prophecy of Joel which
Peter quotes in his Pentecostal sermon; and it is

THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 141

symbolized in the miraculous attestation by
which it is inaugurated — in the tongues that dis-
tributed themselves on the heads of the agents
of the new proclamation — "as if of fire" — and
in the "gift of tongues" by which the universality
of their mission was intimated. Here is the central
idea of the new dispensation. It is world-wide
in its scope; the period of preparation being over,
the world-wide Kingdom of God was now to be
inaugurated, and the Spirit was now to be poured
upon all flesh. No longer was one people to be its
sole recipients, but the remedy was to be applied
to all peoples alike.

The new dispensation is the dispensation of the
Spirit, again, because now the object of the Spir-
it's work is, for the first time, to recover the world
from its sin. Of course, this was its ultimate
object from the beginning; but during the period
of preparation it was only its ultimate, not its
proximate object. Its proximate object then
was preparation, now it was performance. Then
it was to preserve a seed, sound and pure for the
planting; now it was the reaping of the harvest.
It required the Spirit's power to keep the seed
safe during the cold and dark winter; it requires it
now to plant the seed and water it and cause it
to grow into the great tree, in the branches of
which all the fowls of the air may rest. The
Spirit is the leaven which leavens the world; in
Israel it is that leaven laid away in the closet until

142 FAITH AND LIFE

the day of leavening comes; when that day comes
and it is drawn out of its dark corner and placed
in the heap of meal — then, indeed, the day of the
leaven has come. Or to use a figure of Isaiah's,
during all those dark ages the Kingdom of God,
confined to Israel, was like a pent-in stream.
The Spirit of God was its life, its principle, during
all the ages; it was He that kept it pent in. Now
the Kingdom of God is like that pent-in stream
with the barriers broken down, and the Spirit of
God driving it.

The new dispensation is, once more, the dis-
pensation of the Spirit, because now the mode of
the administration of God's Kingdom has be-
come spiritual. This is in accordance with its
new extent and its new object, and is intended to
secure and to advance its universality and its
rapid progress. In the old dispensation, the
Kingdom of God was in a sense of this world;
it had its relation to and its place among earthly
states; it was administered by outward ordinances
and enactments and hierarchies. In the new dis-
pensation the Kingdom of God is not of this
world; it has no relation to or place among earthly
states; it is not administered by external or-
dinances. The Kingdom of God now is within
you; its law is written on the heart; it is admin-
istered by an inward force. Where the Jewish
ordinances extended, there of old was the King-
dom of God; where men were circumcised on the

THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 143

eighth day, where they turned their faces to the
Temple at the hours of sacrifice, and whence they
went up to Jerusalem to the annual feasts. A
centralized worship we say; for the Temple at
Jerusalem was the place where God might be
acceptably worshipped and they were of the
Kingdom who owned its sway. Now, "where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the Church" —
as Tertullian and Irenseus and Ignatius tell us;
wherever the Spirit works — and He works when
and where and how He will — there is the Church
of God. We are freed from the outward ordi-
nances. Touch not, taste not, handle not; and are
under the sway of the indwelling Spirit alone.
An inward power takes the place of an out-
ward commandment; love shed abroad in our
hearts supplants fear as our motive; a Divine
strength replaces our human weakness.

Finally, we may say that the new dispensa-
tion is the dispensation of the Spirit, because now
the Spirit works in the hearts of God's people
with a more prevailing and a more pervading
force. We cannot doubt that He regenerated and
sanctified the souls of God's saints in the old dis-
pensation; we cannot doubt that He was operat-
ing creatively in them in renewing their hearts,
and that He was powerfully present in them,
leading them in right paths. "Create within me
a new heart and renew a right spirit within me"
is an Old Testament prayer; and it must repre-

144 FAITH AND LIFE

sent an Old Testament experience. And yet we
seem to be not merely authorized but compelled
to look upon the mode of the Spirit's work as
more powerful and prevailing in the new dispen-
sation than in the old. For in these new times,
God seems to promise not only that He will pour
out His Spirit upon all flesh, but that He will pour
Him out in an especial manner on His people.
In what sense would the fact that He will pour
out the Spirit on the seed of Israel be character-
istic of the new dispensation, if there were not
some advance here on the old.^^ Such a passage as
Ezekiel 36:26 or Zech. 12:10 would seem to mean
as much as this: that the Holy Spirit will work
so powerfully in the hearts of God's people in the
new time, that the sanctification which had lagged
behind in the«old should be completed now. That
is to say, there is here the promise of a holy
Church. This too, no doubt, is of progressive
realization. After a number of Christian cen-
turies we have cause still to weep over the back-
slidings of the people of God as truly as Israel had.
But Christ is perfecting His Church even as He
perfects the individual, and after a while He will
present it to Himself a holy Church, without spot
or wrinkle or any such thing.

Surely it must mean much to us that we live
in the dispensation of the Spirit, a dispensation
in which the Spirit of God is poured out upon all
flesh with the end of extending the bounds of

THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT 145

God's Kingdom until it covers the earth; and
that He is poured out in the hearts of His people
so that He reigns in their hearts and powerfully
determines them to do holiness and righteousness
all the days of their lives. Because we live under
this dispensation, we are free from the outward
pressure of law and have love shed abroad in our
hearts, and, being led by the Spirit of God, are
His Sons, yielding a willing obedience and by in-
stinct doing what is conformable to His will.
Because this is the dispensation of the Spirit we
are in the hands of the loving Spirit of God whose
work in us cannot fail; and the world is in His
powerful guidance and shall roll on in a steady
development until it knows the Lord and His
will is done on earth as in heaven. It is because
this is the dispensation of the Spirit that it is a
missionary age; and it is because it is the dispen-
sation of the Spirit that missions shall make their
triumphant progress until earth passes at last
into heaven. It is because this is the dispensa-
tion of the Spirit that it is an age of ever-increasing
righteousness and it is because it is the dispensa-
tion of the Spirit that this righteousness shall
wax and wax until it is perfect. Blessed be God
that He has given it to our eyes to see this His
glory in the process of its coming.

PRAYER AS A MEANS OF GRACE

Acts 9:11: — "For behold, he prayeth."

We read these words, "For behold, he prayeth,"
of Saul of Tarsus, immediately after the account
of how, when he was journeying from Jerusalem
to Damascus on his persecuting errand, he was
smitten to the ground by the Divine hand and
raised again by those gracious words — how gra-
cious, how inexplicably gracious they must have
seemed to him! — which promised him service for
the very One whom he was now persecuting.
And when we read them our first thought is likely
to turn on the appropriateness of prayer in the
circumstances. Thus the theme is obviously sug-
gested of prayer as the appropriate expression of
the renewed sinner's heart. On this subject I
I shall not, however, speak to you just now. I
wish to call your attention, rather, to another sub-
ject for meditation which also lies in our passage,
though perhaps not so prominently. That is,
Prayer as a means of Grace.

If we look closely at this verse we shall see that
it suggests prayer as a means of grace. You will
notice that it reads, ''For behold, he prayeth, and
he hath seen" a vision of Ananaias coming to him
to restore him to sight. ''For behold he prayeth

146

PRAYER AS A MEANS OF GRACE 147

and''; that is, this statement is given as a reason,
and as a reason why Ananaias should now go to
him. And the reason is that Paul is now pre-
pared for the visit. And the preparation con-
sists of the two items that he is praying and that
he has seen in a vision Ananaias coming. In
other words, that he is in a state of preparedness
for the reception of grace in general is evidenced
by his being in prayer; while he is prepared for
Ananaias' coming in particular through the vision.
The passage thus represents prayer as the state of
preparedness for the reception of grace; and,
therefore, in the strictest sense as a means of
grace. We purpose to look at it for a few mo-
ments in this light.

Even if we should not rise above the naturalis-
tic plane, I think we might be able to see that the
attitude into which the act of prayer brings the
soul is one which especially softens the soul and
lays it open to gracious influences. Say that we
hold with those who believe in prayer, but do not
believe in answer to prayer. Well, is not the
mental attitude assumed in prayer, at least, an
humble attitude, a softening attitude, a bene-
ficfal attitude .f^ Do we not see that thus the very
act of prayer by its reflex influence alone — could
we believe in no more — will tend to quiet the soul,
break down its pride and resistance, and fit it
for a humble walk in the world. ^^ In its very na-
ture, prayer is a confession of weakness, a con-

148 FAITH AND LIFE

fession of need, of dependence, a cry for help, a
reaching out for something stronger, better, more
stable and trustworthy than ourselves, on which
to rest and depend and draw. No one can take
this attitude once without an effect on his char-
acter; no one can take it in a crisis of his life with-
out his whole subsequent life feeling the influence
in its sweeter, humbler, more devout and restful
course; no one can take it habitually without
being made, merely by its natural, reflex influ-
ence, a different man, in a very profound sense,
from what he otherwise would have been. Prayer,
thus, in its very nature, because it is an act of
self-abnegation, a throwing of ourselves at the
feet of One recognized as higher and greater than
we, and as One on whom we depend and in whom
we trust, is a most beneficial influence in this hard
life of ours. It places the soul in an attitude of
less self-assertion and predisposes it to walk simply
and humbly in the world.

The significance of all this is, of course, vastly
increased, when we rise above the region of natur-
alism into that of supernaturalism. If when we
believe only in prayer but not in its answer, if
when we look only for a natural, reflex influence
on our life of the attitude into which prayer
brings us, we can recognize in it a softening,
blessing effect; how much more when we perceive
a Divine person above who hears and answers the
prayer. If there were no God, we can see that it

PRAYER AS A MEANS OF GRACE 149

would be a blessing to men to think there was a
God and throw themselves at His feet in prayer.
If there is a God who sits aloft and hears and an-
swers, do we not see that the attitude into which
prayer brings the soul is the appropriate attitude
which the soul should occupy to Him, and is the
truest and best preparation of the soul for the
reception of His grace? The soul in the attitude
of prayer is like the flower turned upwards to-
wards the sky and opening for the reception of the
life-giving rain. What is prayer but an adoring
appearing before God with a confession of our
need and helplessness and a petition for His
strength and blessing.^ What is prayer but a
recognition of our dependence and a proclamation
that all that we dependent creatures need is
found abundantly and to spare in God, who gives
to all men liberally and upbraids not.^ What is
prayer but the very adjustment of the heart for
the influx of grace .'^ Therefore it is that we look
upon the prayerful attitude as above all others the
true Christian attitude — just because it is the
attitude of devout and hopeful dependence on-
God. And, therefore, it is that we look upon that
type of religious teaching as, above all others, the
true Christian type which has as its tendency to
keep men in the attitude of prayer, through all
their lives.

Every type of religious teaching will inevitably
beget its corresponding type of religious life.

150 FAITH AND LIFE

And that teaching alone which calls upon man to
depend wholly on the Lord God Almighty — our
loving Father who has given His Son to die for us
— for all the exercises of grace, will make Chris-
tians whose whole life is a prayer. Not that other
Christians do not pray. But only of these Chris-
tians can it be said that their life is an embodied
prayer. In so far as any Christian's life is a
prayerful life, pervaded by and made up out of
prayer, it approaches in its silent witness the ideal
of this type of teaching. What other attitude is
possible to a Christian on his knees before God but
an attitude of entire dependence on God for His
gifts, and of humble supplication to Him for His
favour? But are we to rise from our knees only
to take up a different attitude towards God.^ Says
one of the greatest thinkers of modern times:
"On his knees before God, every one that has
been saved will recognize the sole efficiency of
the Holy Spirit in every good work. ... In a
word, whoever truly prays ascribes nothing to
his own will or power except the sin that con-
demns him before God, and knows of nothing
that could endure the judgment of God except it
be wrought within him by the Divine love. But
whilst all other tendencies in the Church preserve
this attitude so long as their prayer lasts, to lose
themselves in radically different conceptions as
soon as the Amen has been pronounced, the Cal-
vinist adheres to the truth of his prayer, in his

PRAYER AS A MEANS OF GRACE 151

confession, in his theology, in his Hfe, and the
Amen that has closed his petition re-echoes in
the depths of his consciousness and throughout
the whole of his existence." That is to say, for us
Calvinists the attitude of prayer is the whole
attitude of our lives. Certainly this is the true
Christian attitude, because it is the attitude of
dependence, and trust. But just because this
is the attitude of prayer, prayer puts the soul
in the attitude for receiving grace and is essen-
tially a means of grace.

But once again, prayer is a means of grace be-
cause it is a direct appeal to God for grace. It is
in its very innermost core a petition for help and
that is — proportionately to its sphere — for grace.
The means — the most direct and appropriate,
the most prevailing and sure means of obtaining
aid from a superior, is to ask for it. If a com-
munity desires a boon from the government, it
petitions for it. The means above all others by
which we are to obtain God's blessing is natu-
rally and properly to petition for it. It is true
that all prayer is not petition. The Apostle gives
us a list of the aspects of prayer in 1 Tim. ii:l sq.
under the names of "supplications, prayers, in-
tercessions, thanksgivings." All these elements
enter into prayer. Prayer in its full conception
is then, not merely asking from God, but all in-
tercourse with God. Intercourse, indeed, is the
precise connotation of the standing word for

152 FAITH AND LIFE

prayer in the New Testament — the second in the
list of 1 Tim. ii:l, translated in our version sim-
ply "pra^^ers." The sacred idea of prayer "per se
is, therefore, to put it sharply, just communion
with God, the meeting of the soul with God, and
the holding of converse with Him. Perhaps we
would best define it as conscious intercourse or
communion with God. God may have com-
munion with us without prayer; He may enter
our souls beneath consciousness, and deal with
us from within; and because He is within us we
can be in communion with Him apart from prayer.
But conscious communion with Him is just prayer.
Now, I think we may say, emphatically, that
prayer is a means of grace above everything else
because it is in all its forms conscious communion
with God. This is the source of all grace. When
the soul is in contact with God, in intercourse
with God, in association with Him, it is not only in
an attitude to receive grace; It is not only ac-
tually seeking grace; it is already receiving and
possessing grace. And intercourse with God is
the very essence of prayer.

It is impossible to conceive of a praying man,
therefore, as destitute of grace. If he prays, really
prays, he draws near to God with heart open for
grace, humbly depending on Him for its gift.
And he certainly receives it. To say, Behold he
prayeth! is equivalent, then, to saying, Behold a
man in Christ! Dr. Charles Hodge used to

PRAYER AS A MEANS OF GRACE 153

startle us by declaring that no praying soul ever
was lost. It seemed to us a hard saying. Our
diflSculty was that we did not conceive "praying"
purely enough. We can, no doubt, go through the
motions of prayer and not be saved souls. Our
Saviour tells us of those who love to pray on the
street corners and in the synagogues, to be seen
of men. And He tells us that they have their
reward. Their purpose in praying is to be seen
of men, and they are seen of men. What can
they ask more.^ But when we really pray — we
are actually in enjoyment of communion with
God. And is not communion with God salva-
tion? The thing for us to do is to pray without
ceasing; once having come into the presence of
God, never to leave it; to abide in His presence
and to live, steadily, unbrokenly, continuously,
in the midst of whatever distractions or trials,
with and in Him. God grant such a life to every
one of us !

SURRENDER AND CONSECRATION

Acts 22:10:— "What shall I do. Lord?"

When Paul was stricken to the ground on his
way to Damascus by the glory of the risen Christ,
bursting on him from heaven, he had but two
questions to ask: Who art thou, Lord? and What
shall I do. Lord? By the first he certified him-
selt as to the person before whose majesty he lay
prone; by the second he entered at once into His
willing service.

In this, too, Paul's conversion is typical. No
one can call Jesus Lord save by the Holy Ghost;
but when the Holy Ghost has moved with power
upon the soul, the amazed soul has but two ques-
tions to ask: Who art thou, Lord? and What shall
I do, Lord? There is no question in its mind as
to the legitimacy of the authority claimed, as to
its extent and limitations, as to its sphere, as to
its sanction. He whose glory has shone into the
heart is recognized at once and unquestioningly as
Lord, and is so addressed no less in the first ques-
tion than in the second. Who art thou. Lord?
is not a demand for credentials; it is a simple in-
quiry for information, a cry of wondering adora-
tion and worship. And it is, therefore, followed

at once with the cry of. What shall I do, Lord?

154

SURRENDER AND CONSECRATION 155

In this latter question there unite the two es-
sential elements of all religion, surrender and con-
secration— the passive and active aspects of that
faith which on the human side is the fundamental
element of religion, as grace is on God's side, when
deahng with sinful men. "What shall I do. Lord? "
In that simple question, as it trembled on the lips
of Paul lying prostrate in the presence of the
heavenly glory, there pulsated all that abnegation
of self, that casting of oneself wholly on Christ,
that firm entrusting of oneself in all the future to
Him and His guidance, — in a word, the whole of the
"assensus" and "fiducia," which (the "notitia"
being presupposed) constitute saving faith. And
saving faith wherever found is sure to take this
position, perhaps not purely — for what faith of
man is absolutely pure.^ — but in direct propor-
tion to its purity, its governing power over the
life. Surrender and consecration, we may take
it then, are the twin key-notes of the Christian
life: "What shall I do, Lord.^^" the one question
which echoes through all the corridors of the Chris-
tian heart.

And as our life as ministers of the Gospel is
nothing else but one side of our Christian life —
the flower and fruit of our Christian life — sur-
render and consecration must be made also its
notes. It is in direct proportion as they are made
its key-notes that we may hope for success in our
ministry; for only in this proportion are we

156 FAITH AND LIFE

Christ's ministers and not servitors of our own-
selves. Let us, then, approach this holy calling
in this spirit, the spirit of Paul before us and of
every child of Christ through all the ages. Let us
now as we enter these halls to begin or to re-begin
our preparation for the great work before us, have
no reservations — that we will serve the Lord in
this sphere, but not in that; that we will serve
Him to this extent, but not to that; that we will
serve Him in this mode, but not in that. Let
surrender and consecration be our watch-words.
"What shall I do, Lord.^" — ^let that question be
the spirit of all our lives.

And now let us observe what is involved in such
a spirit. I think we may say this much on even a
surface survey of the matter — (1) that there is an
element of humility that enters into it; (2) that
there is an element of true dignity that enters
into it, and (3) that there is an element of power
that enters into it. Humility, dignity, power —
at least these three things.

Humility — what a difference in this regard be-
tween Saul the Pharisee and Paul the Christian!
Before his conversion Saul seems to have had no
doubt of what he should do. His fundamental
characteristics seem to have been those of the
type of character which we call masterful. He
was a man of decision, of energy; somewhat self-
sufficient, as indeed a Pharisaic training was apt
to make one; little inclined, one would think, to

SURRENDER AND CONSECRATION 157

defer to the guidance of others. We must guard
against supposing him to have been a man of
violent and wicked impulses, as we may be misled
into fancying by his career as a persecutor and
his own words of subsequent sharp self -rebuke —
after his eyes were opened. A man of deep relig-
ious heart at all times, set on serving the Lord,
his very vices were but the defects of his virtues.
But somewhat headstrong, opinionated, undocile,
perhaps; bent on serving God with a pure con-
science, but constitutionally apt to go his own way
in that service — for the God of Israel had never
bidden him persecute the saints, and that was an
outgrowth, we may be sure, of his habitual self-
direction. What can I do to glorify the God of
Israel — we may be sure that he had often asked
himself that very question — nay, that it was always
echoing through his soul and was the lode-star
of all his life. There was nothing small or little
in Paul's Pharisaic life; no reserves in his devo-
tion to his ideal, and no shrinking from labor, or
diflSculty, or danger. Paul never was a place-
seeker, never was a sycophant, never was self-
indulgent, or self-sparing. The elements of a
great character wrought in him mightily. What
he lacked was not readiness to do and dare; what
he lacked was humility. And the change that
took place in him on the road to Damascus was
in this regard no less immense than immediate.
It was a totally new note which vibrated through

158 FAITH AND LIFE

his being, that found expression in the humble in-
quiry, "What shall I do. Lord?" It is no longer
a question directed to himself: "What shall I
do? — what shall /, in my learning and strength
and devotion — what shall I do to the glory of
God?" It is the final and utter renunciation of
self and the subjection of the whole life to the
guidance of another. "What shall I do, Lord?''
Heretofore Paul had been, even in his service to
God, self -led; hereafter he was to be, even in the
common affairs of life, down to his eating and
drinking, God-led. It is the characteristic change
that makes the Christian; for the Christian is
particularly the Spirit-led man : they that are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
And as the Christian more and more perfectly
assumes the attitude of a constant and unre-
served "What shall I do, Lord?", he more and
more perfectly enters into his Christian heritage,
and lives out his Christian life — the very key-
note of which is thus easily seen to be humility.

Dignity — there is an element of dignity which
enters into this attitude also. For humility is
not to be mistaken for a degrading supineness.
Lowliness of mind is far from being the same with
lowness of mind. When Paul ceased to be self-
led and became Christ-led, he did not by that step
become low in mind or morals; it was a step up-
wards, and not downwards. There is a lurking
feeling in most of us, no doubt, that our dignity

SURRENDER AND CONSECRATION 159

consists just in our self-government. Self-suf-
ficiency is its note, or, as we perhaps prefer to
call it, self-dependence. That man is really a
man, we are prone to think, who carves out his
own fortune, rests on his own efforts, and seeks
favour and certainly direction from no one. Now
there is a proper basis for this feeling; we need
courageous men who call no man master and
swear in the words of none; this self-centred,
self-poised, and independent nature is one of the
best gifts of God — cultivate it! But it is very
easy for a proper self-pride and a high-minded in-
dependence to pass into a very improper self-
sufficiency. We were not intended to defer with
servile incapacity to any fellow-creature's direc-
tion; but there is a place for authority in the
world after all; and as liberty must not be allowed
to lapse into licence, so independence must not be
permitted to degenerate into self-assertion. God
did not create mankind atomistically but as a
race; and it is the part of true dignity to find our
true relations and to subject ourselves to them.
It is not a mark of manhood to separate ourselves
from the bands that unite mankind into an organ-
ism, but to take each his place in the organism
and thoroughly to fill it.

He who hitches his chariot to a star is not
thereby sinking to a lower status. True as this
is in worldly matters it is superlatively true in
spiritual aflPairs. The man led by the Spirit of

160 FAITH AND LIFE

God — the Christ-led man — is the man of highest,
and not of lowest, dignity. As it is the mark of a
Christian man that he is "under orders," so it
is the source of all his dignity that he is "under
orders." With that odd . penetration into the
essence of things, which so often characterizes
the words of Rudyard Kipling, he seems to have
grasped and set forth this fundamental fact of the
Christian life in the refrain of one of his "Barrack
Room Ballads." He says:

" The 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood and
stone —
'E don't obey no orders, unless they is 'is own."

The point is, of course, the fine soldierly concep-
tion of the value of order and discipline; the sol-
dier recognizes the fact that he is "under orders"
as the source of all that gives value and worth to
his life; his coming "under orders" was his trans-
mutation from a "hoodlum" into a "soldier";
the discipline of the army has made, as we say, a
man of him. But Rudyard Kipling has so
phrased his refrain as to make it hint a far wider
and higher truth. The characteristic of heathen-
ism, as he sees it, from this soldier-like point of
view, is precisely that the heathen man — like the
hoodlum, — that the heathen world — like a mob —
obeys no orders; each man goes his own way; is
left, as the Scriptures say, to his own devices.
On the other hand, the characteristic of the Chris-
tian man is that he has orders to obey — he is

SURRENDER AND CONSECRATION 161

"under orders." And the soldier, conscious of
all that being under orders is to him — of what it
has wrought in him — of how it has given him
self-respect, a sense of his value, a consciousness
of dignity and worth, — sees in this parallel fact
the essence of Christianity. The Christian man
is the man who is under orders; the heathen, he —
who like the man in the slums — obeys nothing but
his own caprices.

Rudyard Kipling was, perhaps, speaking more
wisely than he knew; for what is the primary
characteristic of Christendom but just this, — that
God has taken charge of it, given it His orders, a
revelation we call it; while heathendom is with-
out this book of general orders. And what is the
characteristic of the Christian man but just this:
that he has found his Captain and receives his
orders from Him? "What shall I do, Lord?" —
that is the note of his life. And is it not clear
that it is the source of an added dignity and worth
to his life? Just as the soldier is nothing but the
hoodlum licked into shape by coming under orders
— under the establishing and forming influence of
legitimate and wise authority — so the Christian is
nothing but the sinner, come under the formative
influence of the Captain of us all.

Power — it lies in the very nature of the case
that such a coming under orders is the source of a
vast increase also of power. For it is at once to
find our place in a great and powerful organism.

162 FAITH AND LIFE

So the soldier finds it, though this is not the
primary fact of his betterment which he per-
ceives as a result of his coming under orders.
That, as Kipling rightly sees, is the subjective
effect on himself, the increase of self-respect and
of general dignity and conscious worth which
comes to him. But the increase of power also is
a factor of high moment. A cog wheel is a use-
less piece of iron by itself; but in its legitimate
place in the machine it works wonders. An in-
dividual is as nothing in this seething mass of
humanity which we call the world; be he never
so energetic he can work no effect, but all his ac-
tivity is like the aimless dashing of a moth about
the destroying flame. But let him find his true
place in the organism of humanity, and the weak-
est of us becomes a factor in the inevitable rush
of the whole towards its destined end. See, then,
the element of power in the question, "What
shall I do. Lord?" For we must keep fully in
mind that this human race of which we are mem-
bers is not simply a chance aggregation of indi-
viduals, like a mass of worms crawling restlessly
this way and that as the native impulse of each
directs. It cannot be atomistically conceived.
It is an organism, in which each individual has
his appointed place and function. It is not
merely the dictate of wisdom but the condition of
eflSciency and power that we should each find this,
our place, and fulfil our own function.

SURRENDER AND CONSECRATION 163

If sin had never entered the world, this would
doubtless be an easy task; we should each fit well
into the place in which we find ourselves and
should fulfil our required functions smoothly and
easily, and each in his appointed measure advance
the race to its destined goal. But sin has spoiled
all; and the disjointed mechanism lies broken
and dismantled and unable to work at its task.
It is, therefore, that Christ Jesus has come into
the world, the head of a new humanity, for the
restoration of the race to its harmony with itself,
the universe, and its appointed work. It is only
through Him and through His direction as the
Captain of our salvation that we may discover
or occupy our place in His Church, which is only
another name for reorganized humanity. There-
fore the noble figure of Paul, which compares the
Church to a body and us to members in particular.
How shall the members of a body act? Each
going his own way, independently of and incon-
siderately of the others.^ Where then would be
the body.f^ But how find our true place and task
in this organism of the body of Christ.^ There
can be but one way and that way is pointed to by
Paul's question, "What shall I do. Lord.?" He
and He only can appoint to their functions the
members of His body, and thus the way of con-
tinued humility and dignity is easily seen to be
also the way of power.

Take another example from military affairs.

164 FAITH AND LIFE

What shall the soldier in battle do, if he would
wish to be effective as a factor in the result?
Go his own way, or obey orders? Let each seek
to go his own way, and that army is doomed.
But let each only strictly obey orders, and if
the leading is wise and sure — as our leading under
our Divine Captain is — the end is certain victory.
Each soldier may seem to himself isolated as he
makes his way through the underbrush; he can
see no companion; he can hear no neighbour. It
may seem to him that on his sole arm is laid the
whole burden and heat of the day. Let him but
obey orders and he is, on the contrary, a link in
the one great design, and after a while, as the
brushwood is threaded and the open plain is
reached, the bugle sounds the charge, and out he
charges — all by himself — to find suddenly that
he is not by himself. Out of the ground as it
seems, to the right and to the left of him, others
start up — who have obeyed orders like himself —
and they sweep a united band to the victory.
Brethren, that is the way we are to conquer the
world; and our part in it is just to obey orders.
"What shall I do. Lord?" is to be our one ques-
tion, and simple obedience to the response our
one duty. Ah, in all our ministerial life, if we
value success — the success of Christ — let us make
Paul's question the one single, simple matter of
our lives. Let "Lord, what shall I do?" be our
sole chart for all the journey of life.

THE SUMMATION OF THE GOSPEL

Acts 26:18: — "To open their eyes, that they may turn from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that
they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among
them that are sanctified by faith in me."

We are given in the Book of Acts three accounts
of Paul's conversion — one by Luke in the course
of his history of the advance of the church, and
two from the lips of the Apostle himself in ad-
dresses reported by the historian in the course of
his narrative. The account in the apology which
the Apostle in chains made before King Agrippa
is the fullest account of the three, and especially
in the report it makes of the words spoken by
Jesus to Paul. We may be especially grateful
for this. For these words are simply marvellous
in the compressed fullness of their content and
the richness of their teaching to us, even after
the passage of so many ages.

The superior completeness here of the narrative
of what passed between the Lord in heaven and
him whom He would make a chosen vessel for the
conveyance of His precious Gospel to the world,
is already apparent in certain preliminaries to
the main declaration — comparatively unimportant
no doubt, but not without their significance.
Here only we are told that the ascended Christ

165

166 FAITH AND LIFE

addressed the future Apostle in the Hebrew dia-
lect,— the sacred tongue in which all the prophets
had spoken and Moses, when they foretold His
sufferings and how first out of the resurrection of
the dead He should proclaim light to the people
and to the Gentiles. Here only also are we told
that to the sad inquiry, "Saul, Saul, why perse-
cutest thou me?" was added that proverbial say-
ing, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks"
— intimating that like the harnessed ox he was
in the hands of a master who would direct his
path whither He would, and it was useless for him
to strive against the performance of the duties
which were appointed him. Better accept the
commission given you and perform the work of
the Lord assigned to you, with joy that you are
chosen to serve the Lord, than to seek hopelessly
to go your own way.

But it is not until we reach the words by which
Saul was commissioned to be the Lord's Apostle
that the full richness of this report breaks upon us.
* 'Arise and stand upon thy feet" — so the record
of the words runs — "for it is for this that I have
appeared to thee; to ordain thee as a servant and
a witness both of those things because of which
thou hast seen me and of those things because
of which I shall appear to thee, delivering thee
from the people and from the nations, unto whom
I send thee." Here is Paul's appointment to
the apostleship. Was ever man appointed to an

THE SUMMATION OF THE GOSPEL 167

oflSce in a manner so authoritative or with words
so decisive? Christ comes from heaven itself
to make the appointment. The appointment is
to the work of a servant, a servant of Himself.
The nature of the service required is that of wit-
ness-bearing; "a servant and a witness," that is,
a servant whose service is witnessing. The mat-
ter to be witnessed to is provided by the appointer:
"a witness of that with respect to which I shall
appear unto thee." The witness is to add noth-
ing of himself but to testify only what he has
heard, what he has seen with his eyes, what he
beheld and his hands have handled. And as the
scope of the testimony is thus set him so also is
its sphere; it is to be borne to the "people and
the peoples" — to Jew and Gentile, — unto whom,
says the voice, "I send you" — with majestic em-
phasis on the "I."

Truly it is to the office of a servant that Paul
is called, a servant with a specific work to do and
with specific instructions how to perform it. Thus
he was made an "apostle," an apostle by the
same call to the same work which all the apostles
had received. It is even odd how perfectly
Paul's commission accords with the very terms
given to his fellows: "Go, and make disciples of
all the nations . . . and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the world." "The people and
the Gentiles unto whom I send thee" — here is
the universal commission; he is to go to Jew and

168 FAITH AND LIFE

Gentile alike, to all the world. "Delivering thee
from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom
I send thee" — here is the accompanying promise
of "Lo, I am with thee." xAnd note the nature
of the apostolic promise. It is not that Paul
shall suffer no harm from Jew and Gentile, that
he shall not be hard-bested, baffled and perse-
cuted. How could Paul the prisoner have re-
peated such a promise as that.^^ It was that he
should not be balked in his witness-bearing to
them; that through divine intervention he should
be successful in performing his duty as a servant
and witness. Here, says Calvin, we see the
Divine hand instilling courage into His servant
for his task by assuring him of Divinely given
success and at the same time forewarning him of
the cross he was to bear. He shall need deliver-
ance; but he shall have it.

What then is the task laid upon this servant?
We have it already adumbrated in the call. He is
called to serve as a witness. Witness-bearing is
his one function. But in the wonderful words
which are more particularly before us to-day, we
have it opened out to us in all its richness. I
send thee to all peoples, says the heavenly King,
in imposing upon him His mission: I send thee
to all peoples, "to open their eyes." There we
have in the briefest compass possible, the whole
apostolic mission. The apostles are sent into a
world, blinded by sin, sunk in the darkness of

THE SUM]VL\TION OF THE GOSPEL 169

soul that comes from sin, "to open men's eyes."
Witness-bearers as they are, their duty corre-
sponds with their equipment: they have received
of the Lord, let them impart of what they have
received to others. They have only to "open
men's eyes," to open them to a clear vision of
their state, of their danger and destiny, and of
the love of God in Christ which has provided a
reprieve from the danger.

To what end are they to open men's eyes?
"To the end," says the heavenly King, "that they
may turn from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan to God." As the whole apostolic
duty consists in opening men's eyes, so the end
for which they perform this duty consists wholly
in the "conversion" of men; they are to open
men's eyes to the end that men may "turn" —
turn "from darkness to light and the power of
Satan to God."

Why should they thus turn? The heavenly
Xing condescends to explain even this to us. It
is that "they may receive forgiveness of sins and
inheritance among the saints." Those who are
in darkness and under the tyranny of Satan,
having had their eyes opened to their true state
and the provision for their relief made by a lov-
ing God, may turn from the darkness to light
and from the power of Satan to God. The con-
dition of so doing is to have their eyes opened.
This the Apostle was to perform. The effect of

170 FAITH AND LIFE

so doing was to receive forgiveness of sin and a
lot among the saints. This God was to do; and
He alone could do it. Turning to God, they re-
ceive from God these blessings.

How then do they receive them? The heav-
enly King does not omit to tell us plainly, though,
no doubt, it is involved in the nature of the case.
If, by turning to God, they receive from God
these blessings, it must needs be by faith that
they receive them, for what is faith but a looking
to God for blessings .f^ Nevertheless the ascended
Christ fails not to state the matter for us and to
state it in a manner and in a position in the sen-
tence which throws upon it a tremendous em-
phasis. "By faith" He says; and He says more,
— "by faith in Me." And there is where the
Christianity of the declaration comes in.

One might be sent to open men's eyes without
being a Christian. Socrates was so sent; and he
opened men's eyes to much that was true, and
right, and good; and Sakya Muni was so sent;
and Zoroaster and Confucius; and since them a
host have been so sent, who, by their investiga-
tions into nature or their profound philosophy,
have made men to know things, and, let us hope,
have made men's darkness less intense — though
we must never forget that the world by all its
wisdom does not know God. Men might be
even sent to open men's eyes as to their religious
state — so that their religious darkness might be

THE SUMMATION OF THE GOSPEL 171

ameliorated and they be led to see some rays of
religious light, and to long to be delivered from
the power of Satan and to turn to God — without
being Christians. Even should we say that we
are sent to open men's eyes that they may turn
from darEness to light and the power of Satan to
Gqd^nd so might obtain forgiveness of sins and a
lot with the sanctified — the proclamation might
remain not yet Christian. Nor would the mere
addition of the words "by faith" Christianize it.
But when we say that all this is obtained by faith
in Jesus, and say this as the ascended Jesus has
said it here — then, indeed, we have a Christian
proclamation, or let us rather say, the Christian
proclamation. For in these words we have the
very essence of Christianity.

And now, perhaps, we shall be able to under-
stand why, ever since the Book of Acts has been
written, men have been accustomed to look upon
this little verse as one of the most pregnant in the
whole scope of revelation, and why they have
learned to call it the "Breviarium Apostolicum,"
the "Summarium Evangelicum." It is the com-
pendium of apostolic duty. It is the summation
of the Gospel. It tells the Apostle briefly that
his one duty is to "open men's eyes"; it tells the
world briefly that the Gospel consists in forgive-
ness of sins and a title to eternal life through faith
in Jesus. Out of one and out of the other it ex-
tracts the core and holds that up to us for our un-

172 FAITH AND LIFE

distracted contemplation. As such it surely is
worthy of our most serious consideration.

There is another circumstance about it which
gives it an especial claim on our attention. These
are the words of the ascended Christ. Men
to-day seem to find it very difficult to discern an
authority in religion. Surely we cannot trust
the mere "ipse dixit" of men in the affair of the
salvation of the soul ! Let us find firm footing for
our feet ! And so the cry has risen, Back to Christ !
Back even from the apostles whom He commis-
sioned to make Him known to men; back to
Christ Himself! But when we go back to Christ,
a new doubt seizes the wavering soul. Was not
Christ, too, in the time of His sojourn on earth,
a man? Mayhap — so it is suggested — mayhap
He not only walked as a man and spake as a man,
but thought as a man and taught as a man. Can
we trust even His deliberate declarations in the
days of His flesh? Well, if we are earnest in all
this, we may find relief for our souls in a passage
like the one before us. In it we have gone back
to Christ. It is He who speaks these words to us.
And we have gone back, not to the earthly Christ
but to the heavenly Christ. It is not the Christ
in His humiliation but the Christ in His glori-
fication who here speaks to us. He has put off
the Servant-form, and been exalted to the right
hand of the Majesty on High; and He rends the
heaven to give to men from the very Throne, this

THE SUMMATION OF THE GOSPEL 173

"Breviarium Apostolicum," this "Summarium
Evangelicum." It may, indeed, be that Hke an
Old Testament hero we are ourselves unstable as
water — "like the surge of the sea driven of the
wind and tossed" — and cannot feel our footing
firm though the Eternal Rock be beneath our
feet. But surely if we are earnestly in search of a
secure basis for our faith, the word spoken from
heaven by the exalted Christ supplies it to us;
making known to us what the duty of the Apostle,
and of us, too, the successors of the Apostles in
witnessing to the Word, is, and what the Gospel
is to which as Christ's messengers we are to bear
witness.

Approaching the passage in this spirit, let us
mark well the supreme lessons it brings to us, as
messengers of the grace of God in the Gospel — as
seekers of the salvation that is in Jesus.

Mark, then, first of all, the function which the
Ascended Jesus assigns to His witnessing servants.
It is summed up in a single term — it is "to open
men's eyes." Now, of course, the eye of the
heart can be opened only by the Spirit of God;
and it is not this unperformable duty which
Christ lays on His servants. But the eyes of
the mind are opened, in a lower sense, by the pres-
entation of the truth and it is this that the Lord
requires of His servants. They are "witnesses";
their duty is not to tickle men's ears or to allay
their fears; their duty is to make known the

174 FAITH AND LIFE

truth, though it is precisely the truth that is not
agreeable to their ears and that arouses and
gives leash to their most terrifying fears. What
men need is to have their eyes opened, and the
duty laid on Paul and on all who would be fol-
lowers of Paul is to open men's eyes. That it
was in this sense that Paul understood his com-
mission is obvious from the succeeding context.
He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, he
tells the king, but having been sent to open men's
eyes, that they might turn to God, he preached
the Gospel of repentance and turning to God,
bearing his witness to small and great alike. So
will we, too, fulfil our commission as messengers
of God's grace. We owe, as ministers, a teaching
duty and our prime duty — our one duty — is to
teach : we must open men's eyes.

We must not fail to mark the honour which is
thus put by the Ascended Jesus on what we have
learned to call by way of eminence, the Truth, —
or, the Gospel message. Everything is made to
turn on that. It lies at the root of all. The
Apostle's duty is to open men's eyes. Whatever
of salvation may come to men comes subsequently
to that and as an outgrowth of this root. "Truth
is in order to godliness" — that is a true formula.
But it must not be read — should we wish to re-
main in harmony with the Ascended Christ — as
a depreciation of the value of "truth" and
"knowledge" (its subjective form), but as an

THE SUMMATION OF THE GOSPEL 175

enhancement of their importance. Truth exists
only to produce godliness; that is true and needs
to be kept constantly in mind. But no truth, no
godliness, — that, too, is true and that, too, needs
to be kept fully in mind. The only instrument
in your hands or my hands for producing godli-
ness is the truth; we are not primarily anything
else but witnesses to truth; and the truth of God
is the one lever by which we can pry at the hearts
of men. Preach the Word; that is our one com-
mission. And it is no more true that the Word
cannot be preached without a preacher, than that
the preacher cannot preach without a Word.
Men are in darkness, they need light, and we are
sent to give it to them.

It is equally important to observe that the im-
plication of our Ascended Saviour's words of
commission as to the condition of men, is that
they are in darkness. That is the reason why
they require to have their eyes opened. In what
darkness let the Apostle who received the com-
mission elsewhere tell us. As to the Gentiles, he
tells us sufficiently in the first chapter of Romans;
they have held back the knowledge of God in un-
godliness until their foolish mind is darkened and
they cannot know God; and under what bondage
to Satan this has brought them, let the cata-
logue of evils with which that chapter closes in-
form us. Nor are the Jews in better case: for a
Veil lies on their hearts also which will not be

176 FAITH AND LIFE

taken away except on turning unto the Lord.
The dense darkness in which men live, the terrible
bondage into which they have been brought; this
is part of the revelation of the Ascended Saviour,
connected with which is the necessary implication
of their hopelessness apart from the preaching of
the Gospel. The appointed means of breaking
this darkness is the proclamation of the Gospel
by which alone can men's eyes be opened.

As it is the single duty laid by the Ascended
Christ on His messengers that they shall open
men's eyes, the single duty He lays on their
hearers is correspondingly that they should turn
from the darkness to the light, and (what is the
same thing) from the power of Satan to God.
It is, of course, as evident that men cannot turn
from darkness to light, from the tyranny of Satan
to God, in their own strength, as it is that men
cannot open other people's eyes by their own
power. As in the one case, so in the other, the
immanent work of the Holy Spirit is not excluded
because it is not mentioned. But as in the one
case, so in the other, the action of man is required.
Christ requires His apostle to "open men's eyes"
— that is, to proclaim the truth which opens their
eyes. Christ requires their hearers to turn from
the darkness to the light, to shake off their bond-
age to Satan and turn to God. In both cases. He
requires the "sowing" and "watering," while it is
He alone who gives the increase. What we need

THE SUMMATION OF THE GOSPEL 177

to mark is that in this we have the one require-
ment of the Gospel. All that the ascended Christ
demands is that when the light is brought to the
eye the eye shall follow the light; that when the
darkness is made visible to it as darkness, it
shall not cling to the darkness by preference; that
when Satan and God are set before it, it shall not
choose Satan's bondage rather than the liberty
which is in God.

Let us mark now the declaration made by the
Ascended Christ of the benefits received from the
Gospel. Those who under the message turn from
Satan to God receive "remission of sins and a
share with the sanctified," and that is to say, they
receive a complete salvation. For what does man
want in this world of darkness and subjection to
Satan.f^ What but, on the one hand, remission of
the sins by virtue of which alone he can be held
under Satan's tyranny, and, on the other, a title to
the bliss prepared for the saints.^ Here are the two
sides of what is technically termed Justification,
proclaimed as the essence of salvation from heaven
itself. Freedom from sin — that is the negative
side; an inheritance among the saints — that is
the positive side. Saints may have an inherit-
ance— a lot or share — in bliss on their own ac-
count. But surely a sinner has no right to share
it with them. Not even if his sins be forgiven
him has he a right to share it. Enough for him
that his sins are forgiven. On what ground shall

178 FAITH AND LIFE

he receive so great an additional reward? But
the Gospel offers him not only relief from the
penalty of sin but a place among those who are
sanctified. "Who have been sanctified" — that
he cannot yet say of himself. But by God's
grace he has a title to a place among those who
can say it. Holy angels and sanctified men —
they stand before God's face forever.

Nor must we fail to mark the emphatic ad-
junction of the means by which they receive these
gifts — the instrumental cause of their reception
of them. The Ascended Jesus says it is by faith,
and adjoins the emphasized definition — "that
faith which is in Him." Thus the whole procla-
mation is bound together. Paul is to be Christ's
witness. What he is to preach is what he has
seen of Him and is to see of Him. It is Christ
that is preached. It is the preaching of Christ
which is to open blind eyes and lead men to turn
to God. It is, therefore, through faith in this
preachment of Christ that men are to receive for-
giveness and adoption; through faith in the Christ
preached that all the reward comes. Surely here
is the centre of the Gospel. Ministers are sent
forth to open men's eyes; men's eyes are opened
that they may turn to God; men turn to God to
receive forgiveness and acceptance; men receive
this forgiveness and acceptance by faith — the
faith that is in Christ.

THE SPIRIT'S TESTIMONY TO OUR
SONSHIP

Rom. 8:16: — "The Spirit himself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are children of God."

"The Spirit himself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are children of God." This is one
of the texts of the Bible to which the Christian
heart turns with especial longing and to which
it clings with especial delight. On it has been
erected the great Protestant doctrine of Assur-
ance— the great doctrine that every Christian
man may and should be assured that He is a
child of God — that it is possible for him to attain
this assurance and that to seek and find it is
accordingly his duty. So much as that it cer-
tainly, along with kindred texts, does establish.
The Holy Spirit Himself, it affirms, bears witness
with our spirit that we are children of God; and
then it goes on to develop the idea of childship to
God from the point of view of the benefits it
contains — "and if children then heirs, heirs of
God and joint heirs with Christ."

It is quite obvious that the object of the whole
is to encourage and enhearten; to speak, in a
word, to the Christian's soul a great word of
confidence. We are not to be left in doubt and

179

180 FAITH AND LIFE

gloom as to our Christian hope and standing. A
witness is adduced and this no less a witness than
the Holy Spirit, the author of all truth. We are
not committed to our own tentative conjectures;
or to our own imaginations and fancies. The
Holy Spirit bears co-witness with our spirit that
we are God's children. Surely, here there is firm
standing ground for the most timid feet.

No wonder that men have seized hold of such
an assurance with avidity, and sought and found
in it peace from troubled consciences and hesi-
tating fears. No wonder either if they have some-
times, in their eagerness for a sure foundation for
their hope, pressed a shade beyond the mark and
sought on the basis of this text an assurance from
the Holy Ghost for a fact of which they had no
other evidence, if, indeed, they did not feel that
they had evidence enough against it; an assur-
ance conveyed, moreover, in a mode that would be
independent of all other evidence, if, indeed, it
did not bear down and set aside abundant evi-
dence to the contrary. This occasional use of
the text to ground an assurance which seems to
the observer unjustified if not positively negatived
by all appearances, has naturally created a cer-
tain amount of hesitation in appealing to it at all
or in seeking to attain the gracious state of as-
surance which it promises. This is a most un-
profitable state of affairs. And in its presence
among us, no less than in the presence of a some-

ASSURANCE OF SONSHIP 181

what exaggerated appeal to the testimony of the
Spirit, we may find the best of warrants for seek-
ing to understand just what the text affirms and
just what privileges it holds out to us.

And here, first, the text leaves no room for
doubt that the testimony of the Holy Spirit
that we are God's children is a great reality. This
is not a matter of inference from the text; it is
expressed by it in totidem verbis. Exactly what is
affirmed is that "the Spirit himself beareth wit-
ness with our spirit that we are children of God."
The actuality of the Spirit's testimony to our
childship to God is established, then, beyond all
cavil; it is entrenched in the same indeclinable
authority by which we are assured that there is a
Spirit at all, that there is any such thing as an
adoption into sonship to God, or that it is possible
for sinful mortals to receive that adoption, — the
authority of the inspired word of God. That the
Spirit witnesses with or to our spirits that we are
children of God is just as certain, then, as that
there is such a state as sonship to which we may
be introduced or that there is such a being as the
Spirit of God to bear witness of it. These great
facts all stand or fall together. And that is as
much as to say that no Christian man can doubt
the fact of the testimony of the Spirit that we are
children of God. It is accredited to him by the
same authority which accredits all that enters
into the very essence of Christianity. It is in

182 FAITH AND LIFE

fact one of the elements of a full system of Chris-
tian truth that must be acknowledged by all who
accept the system of Christian truth.

It would seem to be equally clear from the text
that the testimony of the Spirit is not to be con-
founded with the testimony of our own conscious-
ness. However the text be read, the "Spirit of
God" and "our spirit" are brought into pointed
contrast in it, and are emphatically distinguished
from one another. Accordingly, not only does
H. A. W. Meyer, who understands the text of the
joint testimony of the Divine and human spirits,
say: "Paul distinguishes from the subjective
self-consciousness, I am the child of God, the
therewith accordant testimony of the objective
Holy Spirit, Thou art the child of God"; but
Henry Alford also, who understands the text to
speak solely of the testimony of the Spirit, borne
not with but to our spirit, remarks: "All are
agreed, and indeed the verse is decisive for it, that
it is something separate from and higher than all
subjective conclusions" — language which seems,
indeed, scarcely exact, but which is certainly to
the present point. It is of no importance for
this whether Paul says that the Spirit bears wit-
ness with or to our spirit; in either case he dis-
tinctly distinguishes the Spirit of God from our
spirit along with which or to which it bears its
witness. And not only so but this distinction is
the very nerve of the whole statement; the scope

ASSURANCE OF SONSHIP 183

of which is nothing other than to give the Chris-
tian, along with his human conclusions, also a
Divine witness.

Not only, then, is the distinction, here emphat-
ically instituted, available, as Meyer reminds us,
as a clear dictum probans against all pantheistic
confusion of the Divine and human spirits in
general, and all mystical confusion and inter-
smelting of the Divine and human spirits in the
Christian man, as if the regenerated spirit was
something more than a human spirit, or was in
some way interpenetrated and divinitized by the
Divine Spirit; but it is equally decisive against
identifying out of hand the testimony of the
Spirit of God here spoken of with the testimony of
our own consciousness. These are different things
not only distinguishable but to be distinguished.
The witness of the Holy Ghost is something other
than, additional to, and more than the witness of
our own spirit; and it is adduced here, just be-
cause it is something other than, additional to,
and'more than the witness of our own spirit. The
whole sense of Paul's declaration is that we have
over and beyond our own authority ,a Divine
witness to our childship to God, on which we may
rest without fear that we shall be put to shame.

It is to be borne in mind, however, that dis-
tinctness in the source of this testimony from that
of our own consciousness is not the same as sepa-
rateness from it in its delivery. Paul would seem,

184 FAITH AND LIFE

indeed, while thus strongly emphasizing its dis-
tinct source — namely, the Divine Spirit — never-
theless to suggest its conjunction with the testi-
mony of our own spirit in its actual delivery. This,
indeed, he would seem frankly to assert, if, as
seems most natural, we are to understand the
preposition in the phrase "beareth testimony
with," to refer to our spirit, and are to translate
with our English version, "The Spirit itself bear-
eth witness with our spirit." So taken, the con-
junction is as emphatic as the distinction. It
must not be overlooked, however, that some
commentators prefer to take "our spirit" as the
object to which the testimony is borne: "the
Spirit beareth witness to our spirit" — in which
case the emphasis on the conjunction of the tes-
timony of the Spirit of God with that of our spirit
may be lost. I say, may be lost: for even then
the preposition in the verb will need to be ac-
counted for; and it would seem to be still best
to account for it by referring it to our spirit —
"the Spirit itself beareth its consentient witness
to our spirit," its witness consenting to our spirit's
witness. And I say merely that the emphasis
on the conjunction may be lost; for even if this
interpretation be rejected and the force of the
preposition be found merely in the accordance of
the witness with the fact, by which it is the truth
and trustworthiness of the testimony alone which
is emphasized; nevertheless the connection of the

ASSURANCE OF SONSHIP 185

verse with the preceding one is still implicative of
the conjoined witness of the two spirits. For it
is in our crying "Abba, Father," that the wit-
ness of the Spirit of God is here primarily found —
the relation of this verse to the preceding being
practically the same as if it were expressed in the
genitive absolute — thus: "the Spirit which we
received was the Spirit of adoption whereby we
cry Abba, Father,— the Spirit Himself testifying
thus to our spirit that we are children of God."

The fact that the conjunction of the two wit-
nesses thus dominates the passage, however its
special terms are explained, adds a powerful reason
for following the natural interpretation of the
terms themselves and referring the preposition
"with" directly to the "our spirit." It is with
considerable confidence, therefore, that we may
understand Paul to say that "the Spirit himself
beareth witness together with our spirit that we
are children of God," and thus not merely to imply
or assert — as in any case is the fact — but pointedly
to'emphasize the conjunction, or, if you will, the
confluence of the Divine testimony with that of
the human consciousness itself. Distinct in its
source, it is yet delivered confluently with the
testimony of our human consciousness. To be
distinguished from it as something other than,
additional to, and more than the testimony of our
human consciousness, it is yet not to be separated
from it as delivered apart from it, out of connec-

186 FAITH AND LIFE

tion with it, much less, in opposition or contra-
diction to it. "The Spirit of God," says that
brilUant young thinker whose powers were the
wonder, as well as the dependence, of the West-
minster Divines, "is not simply a martyr — a wit-
ness— but co-martyr — qui simul testimonium dicit
— he bears witness not only to but with our spirit;
that is, with our conscience. So that if the wit-
ness of our conscience be blank, and can testify
nothing of sincerity, hatred of sin, love to the
brethren, or the like, then the Spirit of God wit-
nesses no peace nor comfort to that soul; and the
voice that speaketh peace to a person who hath
no gracious mark or qualification in him, doth not
speak according to the Word, but contrary to
the Word, and is, therefore, a spirit of delusion."
— "So that in the business of assurance and full
persuasion, the evidence of graces and the testi-
mony of the Spirit are two concurrent causes or
helps, both of them necessary. Without the evi-
dence of graces, it is not a safe nor a well-grounded
assurance; without the testimony of the Spirit,
it is not a plerophory or full assurance." And
then he devoutly adds: "Therefore, let no man
divide the things which God hath joined to-
gether."

These remarks of George Gillespie's will al-
ready suggest to us the function of this testimony
of the Holy Ghost, as set forth by Paul as a co-
testimony with the witness of our own spirit. It

ASSURANCE OF SONSHIP 187

is not intended as a substitute for the testimony
of our spirit — or, to be more precise, of "signs
and marks" — but as an enhancement of it. Its
object is not to assure a man who has "no signs"
that he is a child of God, but to assure him who
has "signs," but is too timid to draw so great an
inference from so small a premise, that he is a
child of God and to give him thus not merely a
human but a Divine basis for his assurance. It
is, in a word, not a substitute for the proper evi-
dence of our childship; but a Divine enhance-
ment of that evidence. A man who. has none of
the marks of a Christian is not entitled to believe
himself to be a Christian; only those who are
being led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
But a man who has all the marks of being a Chris-
tian may fall short of his privilege of assurance.
It is to such that the witness of the Spirit is super-
added, not to take the place of the evidence of
"signs," but to enhance their effect and raise it to
a higher plane; not to produce an irrational, un-
justified, conviction, but to produce a higher and
more stable conviction than he would be, all un-
aided, able to draw; not to supply the lack of
evidence, but to cure a disease of the mind which
will not profit fully by the evidence.

We are here in the presence of a question which
has divided the suffrages of Christian men from the
beginning. The controversy has raged in every
age, whether our assurance of our salvation is to

188 FAITH AND LIFE

be syllogistically determined thus : the promise of
God is sure to those who believe and obey the
Gospel; I believe and obey the Gospel; hence
I am a child of God : or is rather to be mystically
determined by the witness of the Holy Spirit
in the heart. Whether we are to examine our-
selves for signs that we are in the faith, or, neg-
lecting all signs, are to depend on the immediate
whisper of the Spirit to our heart, "Thou art a
child of God." The debate has been as fruitless
as it has been endless. And the reason is that it is
founded on a false antithesis, and, being founded
on a false antithesis, each side has had something
of truth to which it was justified in clinging in the
face of all refutation, and something of error which
afforded an easy mark for the arrows of its op-
ponents. The victory can never be with those
who contend that we must depend for our assur-
ance wholly on the marks and signs of true faith;
for true assurance can never arise in the heart save
by the immediate witness of the Holy Spirit, and
he w^ho looks not for that can never go beyond a
probable hope of being in Christ. The victory
can never be with those who counsel us to neglect
all signs and depend on the testimony of the Holy
Spirit alone; for the Holy Spirit does not deliver
His testimony save through and in confluence
with the testimony of our own consciences that
we are God's children. "All thy marks," says
Gillespie with point, "will leave thee in the dark, if

ASSURANCE OF SONSHIP 189

the Spirit of Grace do not open thine eyes that
thou mayest know the things which are freely
given thee of God"; and again with equal point,
**To make no trial by marks and to trust an in-
ward testimony, under the notion of the Holy
Ghost's testimony, when it is without the least
evidence of any true gracious mark ... is a
deluding and an ensnaring of the conscience."

It is obvious that the really cardinal question
here, therefore, concerns not the fact of the testi-
mony of the Holy Spirit, not its value or even its
necessity for the forming of a true assurance, but
the mode of its delivery. It is important, there-
fore, to interrogate our text upon this point. The
single verse before us does not speak very decis-
ively to the matter; only by its conjunction of the
testimony of the Spirit with that of our own spirit
does it suggest an answer. But nowhere than in
these more recondite doctrines is it more neces-
sary to read our texts in their contexts; and the
setting of our text is very far from being without
a message to us in these premises. For how does
Paul introduce this great assertion.^ .As already
remarked, as practically a subordinate clause to
the preceding verse, with the virtual effect of a
genitive absolute. He had painted in the seventh
chapter the dreadful conflict between indwelling
sin and the intruded principle of holiness which
springs up in every Christian's breast. And he
had pointed to the very fact of this conflict as a

190 FAITH AND LIFE

banner of hope. For he identifies the fact of the
conflict with the presence of the Holy Spirit work-
ing in the soul; and in the presence of the Holy
Spirit is the earnest of victory. The Spirit would
not be found in a soul which was not purchased
for God and in process of fitting for the heavenly
Kingdom. Let no one talk of living on the low
plane of the seventh chapter of Romans. Low
plane, indeed! It is a low plane where there is
no confiict. Where there is conflict — with the
Spirit of God as one party in the battle — there is
progressive advance towards the perfection of
Christian life. So Paul treats it. He points to
the conflict as indicative of the presence of the
Spirit; he points to the presence of the Spirit
as the earnest of victory; and on this experi-
ence he foimds his promise of eternal bhss.
Then comes our passage, introduced with one
of his tremendous "therefores." "Accordingly,
then, brethren," — since the Holy Spirit is in you
and the end is sure, — "accordingly, then, we are
debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh, but
to the Spirit to live after the Spirit. . . . For as
many as are being led" (notice the progressive
present) "by the Spirit of God, these are sons of
God, for" (after all), "the spirit that ye received
was not a spirit of bondage, but a spirit of adop-
tion, whereby we cry Abba, Father, — the Spirit
Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we
are children of God." "The Spirit Himself"

ASSURANCE OF SONSHIP 191

bearing this witness? When? How? Why, of
course, in this very cry framed by Him in our
souls, "Abba, Father!" Not a separate wit-
ness; but just this witness and no other. The
witness of the Spirit, then, is to be found in His
hidden ministrations by which the filial spirit is
created in our hearts, and comes to birth in this
joyful cry.

We must not fancy, however, that, therefore,
the witness of the Spirit adds nothing to the syl-
logistic way of concluding that we are children of
God. It does not add another way of reaching
this conclusion, but it does add strength of con-
clusion to this way. The Spirit is the spirit of
truth and will not witness that he is a child of
God who is not one. But he who really is a child
of God will necessarily possess marks and signs
of being so. The Spirit makes all these marks and
signs valid and available for a true conclusion —
and leads the heart and mind to this true con-
clusion. He does not operate by producing con-
viction without reason; an unreasonable conclu-
sion. Nor yet apart from the reason; equally
unreasonable. Nor by producing more reasons
for the conclusion. But by giving their true
weight and validity to the reasons which exist
and so leading to the true conclusion, with Divine
assurance. The function of the witness of the
Spirit of God is, therefore, to give to our halting
conclusions the weight of His Divine certitude.

192 FAITH AND LIFE

It may be our reasoning by which the conclusion
is reached. It is the testimony of the Spirit
which gives to a conclusion thus reached inde-
fectible certainty. It is the Spirit alone who is
the author, therefore, of the Christian's firm as-
surance. We have grounds, good grounds, for
belie\^g that we are in Christ, apart from His
witness. Through His witness these good grounds
produce their full effect in our minds and hearts.

THE SPIRIT'S HELP IN OUR PRAYING

Rom. 8:26, 27: — "And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the
Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth
what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God."

The direct teaching of this passage obv-iously is
that the Holy Ghost, dwelling in Christian men,
indites their petitions, and thus secures for them
both that they shall ask God for what they really
need and that they shall obtain what they ask.
There is here asserted both an effect of the Spirit's
working on the heart of the believer and an effect
of this. His working on God. Even Christian
men are full of weakness, and neither know what
they should pray for in each time of need, nor
are able to pray for it with the fervidness of desire
which God would have them use. It is by the
operation of the Spirit of God on their hearts
that they are thus led to pray aright in matter
and manner, and that their petitions are rendered
acceptable to God, as being according to His will.
This is the obvious teaching of the passage; but
that we may fully understand it in its implica-
tions and shades it will be desirable to look at it in
its context.

The eighth chapter of Romans is an outburst
193

194 FAITH AND LIFE

of humble triumph on the Apostle's part, on real-
izing that the conflict of the Christian life as de-
picted in the seventh chapter issues in victory,
through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Evil
may be entrenched in our members ; but the power
of God unto salvation has entered our hearts by
the Holy Ghost and by the prevalent working of
that Holy Spirit in us we are enabled to cry Abba,
Father; and being made sons of God are consti-
tuted His heirs and co-heirs with Jesus Christ.
Not as if, indeed, we are to be borne withbut
effort of our own into this glorious inheritance —
"to be carried to the skies on flowery beds of
ease." No! "Surely we must fight, if we would
win." For, after all, the Christian life is a pil-
grimage to be endured, a journey to be accom-
plished, a fight to be won. Least of all men was
the Apostle Paul, whose life was in labours more
abundant and in trials above measure, liable to
forget this. It is out of the experiences of his own
life as well as out of the nature of the thing that he
adds, therefore, to his cry of triumph a warning
of the nature of the life which, nevertheless, we
must still live in the flesh. If "the Spirit Him-
self beareth witness with our Spirits that we are
the Sons of God," and the glorious sequence fol-
lows, "and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ," no less do we need to be
reminded further of the condition underlying the
victory — "if so be that we suffer with Him that

HELP IN OUR PRAYING 195

we may also be glorified with Him." To share
with Christ His glory implies sharing with Him
His sufferings. "Must Jesus tread the path alone
and all the world go free.^" Union with Him im-
plies taking part in all His life experiences, and we
can ascend the throne with Him only by treading
with Him the pathway by which He ascended the
throne. It was from the cross that He rose to
heaven.

The rest of this marvellous chapter seems to be
devoted to encouraging the saint in his struggles
as he treads the thorny path with Christ. The
first encouragement is drawn from the relative
greatness of the sufferings here and the glory yon-
der; the second, from the assistance in the jour-
ney received from the Holy Ghost; and the third
from the gracious oversight of God over the whole
progress of the journey. This whole section of
the chapter, therefore, appears as Paul's word of
encouragement to the believer as he struggles on
in his pilgrimage — in his "Pilgrim's Progress" —
in view of the hardships and sufferings and trials
attendant in this sinful world on the life in Christ.
It is substantially, therefore, an Apostolic com-
mentary on our Lord's words, "If any man would
come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me;" "he that doth not take
up his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of
me." These sufferings, says Paul, are inevitable;
no cross, no crown. But he would strengthen us

196 FAITH AND LIFE

in enduring the cross by keeping our eye on the
crown, by assuring us of the presence of the
Holy Spirit as our ever-present helper, and
by reminding us of the Divine direction of it
all. Thus he would alleviate the trials of the
journey.

Our text then takes its place as one of these en-
couragements to steadfast constancy, endurance,
in the Christian life — to what we call to-day
"perseverance." The "weakness," "infirmity,"
to which it refers is to be taken, therefore, in the
broadest sense. No doubt its primary reference
may be to the remnant of indwelling sin, not yet
eradicated and the source of all the Christian's
weaknesses. But it is not confined to this. It
includes all that comes to a Christian as he suffers
with Christ; all that is included in our Lord's
requirement of denying ourselves and taking up
our cross. Paul's life of suffering for the Gospel's
sake may be taken by us, as it, doubtless, was felt
by him as he penned these words, as an illustra-
tion of the breadth of the meaning of the word.
He who would live godly must in every age suffer
a species of persecution; a species, differing in
kind with the tone and temper and quality of
each age, but always persecution. He who would
follow after Christ must meet with many opposers.
A strenuous life is the Christian life in the world;
it is appropriately designated a warfare, a fight.
But we are weak. And the weakness meant is in-

HELP IN OUR PRAYING 197

elusive of all human weaknesses in the stress of
the great battle.

The encouragement which Paul offers us in this
our confessed weakness, is the ever-present aid of
the Holy Ghost. We are not to be left to tread
the path, to fight the fight, alone; the Spirit ever
"helpeth" our weakness, "takes our burden on
Himself, in our stead and yet along with us," as
the double compound word expresses. He does
not take it away from us and bear it wholly Him-
self, but comes to our aid in bearing it, receiving
it also on His shoulders along with us. In giving
this encouragement of the ever-present aid of the
Spirit in our weakness, the Apostle adds an illus-
tration of it. And it is exceedingly striking that,
in seeking an illustration of it, the Apostle thinks
at once of the sphere of prayer. It shows his
estimate of the place of prayer in the Christian
struggle, that in his eye, prayer is really "the
Christian's vital breath." Our weakness, he
seems to say, is helped primarily by the Spirit
through His inditing our prayers for us. Per-
haps this will not seem strange to us if we will fitly
consider what the Christian life is, in its depend-
ence on God; and what prayer is, in its attitude of
dependence on God. Prayer is, in a word, the
correlate of religion. The prayerful attitude is
the religious attitude. And that man is religious
who habitually holds toward God, in life and
thought, in act and word, the attitude of prayer.

198 FAITH AND LIFE

Is it not fitting, after all, that Paul should encour-
age the Christian man, striving to live a Chris-
tian life — denying himself and taking up his
cross and following Christ — by assuring him
primarily that the Holy Ghost is ever present,
helping him in his weakness, to this effect that his
attitude towards God in his conscious dependence
on Him, should be kept straight? For this it is
to help us in prayer.

Nor can it seem strange to us that Paul adverts
to our need of aid in prayer in the very matter of
our petitions. It is worth noting how very vitally
he writes here, doubtless, again out of his own ex-
perience. "We know not what we should pray
for," he says, "in each time of need" — according,
that is, to the needs of each occasion. It is not
lack of purpose — it is lack of wisdom, that he in-
timates. We may have every desire to serve God
and every willingness to serve Him at our imme-
diate expense, but do we know what we need at
each moment.? The wisest and best of men must
needs fail here. So Paul found, when he asked
thrice that the thorn in the flesh might be re-
moved and stayed not till the Lord had told him
explicitly that His grace was sufficient for him.
How often we would rather escape the suffering
that lies in our path than receive of the grace of
God! Nay, a greater than Paul may here be our
example. Did not our Lord Himself say, "Now
ismy soul troubled; and what shall I say.? Father,

HELP IN OUR PRAYING 199

save me from this hour." Quick though came the
response back from His own soul, "But for this
cause came I unto this hour: Father, glorify thy
name," yet may we not see even in this momentary
hesitation a hint of that uncertainty of which all
are more or less the prey? It is not merely in the
recalcitrances of the Christian life — God knows
we have need enough there ! — but it is not only in
the recalcitrances and the mere unwillingnesses of
the Christian life that the Spirit aids us; but in the
perplexities of the Christian life too. Under His
leading we shall not only be saved from sins, but
also from mistakes, in the will of God. And thus
He leads us not only to pray, but to pray "ac-
cording to the will of God."

And now, how does the Spirit thus aid us in
praying according to the will of God.^ Paul calls
it a making of intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered; making intercession for
us or in addition to us, for the word could have
either meaning. It is clear from the whole pas-
sage that this is not an objective intercession in
our behalf — made in heaven as Christ our Medi-
ator intercedes for us. That the Spirit makes in-
tercession for us is known to God not as God in
heaven, but as "searcher of hearts." It is
equally clear that it is not an intercession through
us as mere conduits, unengaged in the intercession
ourselves; it is an intercession made by the Spirit
as our helper and not as our substitute. It is

200 FAITH AND LIFE

equally clear that it is not merely in our natural
powers that the Spirit speaks; it is a groaning of
which the Spirit is the author and "over and
above" our own praying. It is clear then that
it is subjective and yet not to be confused with our
owTi prayings. Due to the Spirit's working in
our hearts we conceive what we need in each hour
of need and ask God for it with unutterable
strength of desire. The Spirit intercedes for us
then by working in us right desires for each time
of need; and by deepening these desires into un-
utterable groans. They are our desires, and our
groans. But not apart from the Spirit. They
are His; \\Tought in us by Him. And God, who
searches the heart, sees these unutterable desires
and "knows the mind of the Spirit that He is
making intercession for the saints according to the
will of God."

Thus, then, the Spirit helps our weakness. By
His hidden, inner influences He quickens us to the
perception of our real need; He frames in us an
infinite desire for this needed thing; He leads us
to bring this desire in all its unutterable strength
before God; who, seeing it within our hearts, can-
not but grant it, as accordant with His will.
Is not this a very present help in time of trouble.^
As prevalent a help as if we were miraculously
rescued from any danger? And yet a help
wrought through the means of God's own appoint-
ment, that is, our attitude of constant dependence

HELP IN OUR PRAYING 201

on Him and our prayer to Him for His aid? And
could Paul here have devised a better encourage-
ment to the saints to go on in their holy course and
fight the battle bravely to the end?

ALL THINGS WORKING TOGETHER
FOR GOOD

Rom. 8:28: — "And we know that to them that love God all
things work together for good, even to them that are called
according to his purpose."

There is a sense in which this verse marks the
climax of this glorious eighth chapter of Romans.
The whole chapter may properly be looked upon
as the reaction from the depths of the seventh
chapter. The key-note of that chapter is sounded
in the despairing cry, "O wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me out of the body of this
death." The key-note of this is sounded in the
blessed shout, "If God is for us, who is against
us?" In the seventh chapter Paul uncovers the
horror of indwelling sin; in the eighth he reveals
the glory of the indwelling Spirit. The Christian
life on earth is a conflict with sin. And therein is
the dreadfulness of our situation on earth dis-
played. But we are not left to fight the battle
alone. The Christian life is a conflict of God —
not of us — w^ith sin. And therein is the joy and
glory of our situation on earth manifested. As
sinners we are in terrible plight. As the ser-
vants of God, fighting His battle, we are in glori-
ous case.

The whole eighth chapter of the Romans is a
202

ALL WORKING FOR GOOD 203

development of the blessedness which arises from
the discovery of the Holy Spirit within us, as the
real power making for righteousness which is in
conflict with indwelling sin. It opens with the
proclamation that the liberation of the sinner is
effected by the presence in him of the "law of the
spirit of life." It proceeds by dwelling on the
blessings that are ours by virtue of this great fact
of the indwelling Spirit. First, a new and uncon-
querable principle of life and holiness is implanted
in us (1-11); next, a new relationship to God, as
His sons and heirs, is revealed to us (12-17);
still further, a new and unquenchable hope is
made ours (18-25), which has respect amid what-
ever sufferings attend us here to the supreme
greatness of the reward. Lastly, a new support
in our present weakness is granted us (26-30).

The section from verse 26 to verse 30 is thus re-
vealed to us as one of the grounds of the Chris-
tian's encouragement amidst the evils of life.
It was not enough for Paul to paint the coming
glory. Even in the present weakness we are not
left without efficient aid. It is true that in this
weakness — it is part of the very weakness — we
cannot be sure what we need and cannot even
pray articulately; we can only, like nature itself
(vs. 22), groan and travail in pain, for we scarcely
know what. But there is one who knows. In
these very inarticulate groans the Spirit's hand
is active; and the searcher of hearts according to

204 FAITH AND LIFE

whose appointment it is that the Spirit inter-
cedes for saints, understands and knows. There
is no danger, then, that we shall fail of the needed
help. Maybe we do not know what we need —
God does. He can and will read off our groans
of pain and longing in terms of intelligence and of
love. "For we know that with those that love
God, God co-worketh in respect to all things unto
good." There is nothing that can befall us which
is undirected by Him; and nothing will befall
those that love Him, therefore, which is not di-
rected by Him to their good.

The fundamental thought is the universal gov-
ernment of God. All that comes to you is under
His controlling hand. The secondary thought is
the favour of God to those that love Him. If He
governs all, then nothing but good can befall those
to whom He would do good. The consolation
lies in the shelter which we may thus find beneath
His almighty arms. We are weak, we are blind;
He is strong and He is wise. Though we are too
weak to help ourselves and too blind to ask for
what we need, and can only groan in unformed
longings. He is the author in us of these very
longings — He knows what they really mean —
and He will so govern all things that we shall reap
only good from all that befalls us. All, though for
the present it seems grievous; all, though it be
our sin itself, as Augustine properly saw and as
the context demands (for is not the misery of the

ALL WORKING FOR GOOD 205

seventh chapter the misery of indwelling sin, and
is not the joy of the closing verses of the eighth
chapter the joy of salvation from sin?) — all, there
is no exception allowed: in all things God co-
operates so with us that it can conduce only to
our good. Our eternal good, obviously; be-
cause it is throughout the good of the soul, the
good of the eternal salvation in Christ, that is in
evidence.

We say this is the climax of the eighth chapter
of Romans. After this nothing remains but the
psean of victory that fills the concludmg verses.
If there is not only a power withm us making for
righteousness to which the final victory is as-
sured; not only an inheritance far surpassing the
present evil, awaiting us; but also everything that
befalls us is so governed that it, everything, is for
our good and befalls us only because it is for our
good; why we certainly are m excellent case.

It is possible to say, indeed, that there is noth-
ing revealed here which deserves to be thought of
as the culmination of a specifically Christian en-
couragement. What, indeed, is here announced
that devout souls have not always possessed.?
In what does this fervent declaration, for example,
go beyond the philosophy of Joseph in the world's
early prime — in the simple days of patriarchal
faith— when, looking back on the fortunes of his
own chequered life, on the plots of his brethren
against his person when sold by them into Egypt,

206 FAITH AND LIFE

and the marvellous befallings which came to him
there, he said to them at the last, "As for you, ye
meant evil against me; but God meant it for
good, to bring to pass as it is this day ? " Did not
Joseph already hold the secret of Paul's consola-
tion— that God is Lord of all, that nothing comes
to us except by His ordering, that therefore to
those who serve Him, all that occurs to them, black
as it may seem to their short vision, is meant for
good and will bring to pass the peaceable fruits of
joy and righteousness? Nay, did not that half-
heathen Jew, the son of Sirach, who wrote the
book of Ecclesiasticus, have adequate under-
standing of the whole matter, when he wrote, in a
context which magnifies the all-reaching power of
God, "For the good are good things created from
the beginning ... all these things are for good to
the godly," adding on the other hand, that evil
things are equally created for sinners and what is
good for the godly is turned into evil for sinners?
Lideed, is there anything here to which the
heathen themselves could not attain.^ Can we
forget, for example, that beautiful discussion in
the tenth book of the Republic in which Socrates
reasons with Glaucon on the rewards of virtue.^
Must we not suppose, he urges, that the gods accu-
rately estimate the characters of men, and know
thoroughly both the just and the unjust? And
must we not suppose that they look with friendly
eye upon the just and with enmity upon the un-

ALL WORKING FOR GOOD 207

righteous? And must we not suppose, still further,
that they will be good to those whom they recog-
nize as their friends, and grant them every good —
excepting, of course, only such evil as is the con-
sequence of their former sins? "Then, this,"
Socrates continues, "must be our notion of the
just man, that even when he is in poverty or sick-
ness, or any other seeming misfortune, all things
will in the end work together for good to him in
life and death : for the gods have a care for anyone
whose desire is to become just and to be like God,
as far as man can attain His likeness by the pur-
suit of virtue." What is there in Paul's assevera-
tion that goes beyond this calmly expressed con-
viction— the very language of which is so closely
assimilated to Paul's — except a little characteristic
fervency of tone?

Well, it is to be admitted at once that there is
much in Paul's great statement which is not pe-
culiar to it. The assurance of God's providential
conduct of the whole complex of the universe that
He has made; the conviction that in His control
of the details of life He will not forget those who
are specially well-pleasing to Him; the firm faith
therefore that the path of happiness is to see to it
that we are well-pleasing to God ; that, as all that
occurs is of God's ordering, so all that occurs to
the friends of God will work out good to them —
this is, of course, of the very essence of natural
religion, and he who really believes in a personal

208 FAITH AND LIFE

God clothed with ethical attributes, must needs
believe it. All the more shame, then, when men
who profess to believe in such a God — to be The-
ists — relax the height of this great and most fun-
damental faith, as many of the heathen have done;
as some even of our modern Christian teachers
have done, asking doubtfully or denyingly, for
example, whether God sends trouble, as if trouble
could come to one of God's beloved ones without
His behest, — and totally failing to retain, we will
not say Paul's height, but even the height of the
higher heathenism, which could see that it is a
higher as well as a truer view that trouble is an in-
strument of God's good to God's friends. Never-
theless, there is more in Paul's statement than was
reached by the heathen sage; something more even
perhaps than underlies the more enlightened and
more penetrating view of Joseph.

We cannot stop to develop the differences in
detail. But we may note briefly at least one of
the most fundamental of them, one so funda-
mental that it transforms everything.

This is the difference in the ground of the assur-
ance which is cherished. The ground on which
the heathen sage founded his conviction was the
essential righteousness of the expectation. God
owes to those who love Him different treatment
from that accorded to those who hate Him. Pos-
sibly we may think that the modern heathen rise
a step higher when they substitute the idea of

ALL WORKING FOR GOOD 209

goodness for that of bare righteousness, and say
that God will do good to those who love Him be-
cause He is essentially love and will do good to all
men. The ground of Paul's assurance is some-
thing far higher. It is not merely an inference
from a conception of God not obviously validated
by a broad survey of His works. It is not even
an inference from the ineradicable and thoroughly
authenticated conviction that He is righteous. It
is an express declaration of God's own. It is a
"revelation from heaven" spoken by the lips of
prophets and of the Son Himself.

To the heathen God is to bless His friends be-
cause they are His friends; to Paul they are His
friends because God blesses them. The whole
basis of the heathen's conviction is a judgment in
righteousness; it is purely abstract; if a man is
righteous then God must treat him as such.
Granted. But, is a man righteous .^^ I — am I
righteous.'^ If a man is righteous, God will, un-
doubtedly, treat him as such; God owes him good
and not evil. But I — I myself — how will God
treat me? Will that depend on whether I am now
righteous? And on what my past sins deserve?
Well, w^ho is now righteous? And what do my
past sins deserve? For the righteous man — who
has no present and no past sins to come into con-
sideration— this may be satisfactory enough. But
where is that righteous man? This is what we
mean by saying that the heathen's proposition is

210 FAITH AND LIFE

purely abstract. It is true enough; but it is of
no personal interest to sinners.

Paul was thinking not of righteous men but of
sinners. It is concerning sinners that he is talk-
ing, concerning those who had had and were having
the experience of the seventh chapter of Romans.
Essentially different, his good tidings to sinners
from the cold deduction of reason which Plato
offers to the just! And this is the exact differ-
ence: righteous men amid the evils of earth seek
a theodicy — they want a justification of God;
sinners do not need a theodicy — all too clear to
them is the reason of their sufferings — they want
a consolation, a justification from God. Paul's
words are in essence, then, not a theodicy but a
consolation. Such a consolation can rest on noth-
ing but a revelation; and Paul founds it on a rev-
elation which he represents as of immanent knowl-
edge in the Church: "We know," says he, "that
all things work together for good to them that
love God." We bless God that we know it! For
we are sinners, and what hope have we save in a
God who is gracious rather than merely just?

MAN'S HUSBANDRY AND GOD'S BOUNTY

1 Cor. 3:5-9:— "What then is Apollos? And what is Paul?
Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave
to him. I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that water-
eth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and
he that watereth are one: but each shall receive his own reward
according to his own labour. For we are God's fellow- workers: ye
are God's husbandry, God's building."

These verses form a natural section of this
Epistle. The Corinthians had sent a letter to
the Apostle, making inquiries on several important
matters. But when the Apostle came to make
reply, he had matters to speak to them about
which were far more important than any of the
questions asked in their letter. Trusty friends
had reported to him the serious deterioration
which the Corinthian Church was undergoing,
the strange, as we may think them, and certainly
outbreaking, immoralities into which they were
falling. Chiefest of these, because most funda-
mental and most fecund of other evils, was the
raging party spirit, which had arisen among them.
Greek-like, the Corinthians were not satisfied
with the matter of the simple Gospel, in whatever
form, but had begun to clothe its truths (and to
obscure them in the act) in philosophical garb
and rhetorical finery; and had split themselves

211

212 FAITH AND LIFE

into factions, far from tolerant of one another,
rallying around special teachers and glorifying,
each, a special mode of presentation. So far
had this gone that the rival parties had long ago
broken the peace of the Church, and were threat-
ening its unity.

Paul devotes himself first of all to the sham-
ing of this spirit and the elimination of its results.
In doing so he cuts to the roots. He begins with
a rebuke of the violence of the Corinthians' party
spirit, sarcastically suggesting that they had made
Christ, who was the sole Redeemer of God's
Church and in whom were all, a share; and so par-
celled Him out to one faction — as if others had
had Paul to die for them and had been baptized in
his name, and so on. He then sets himself seri-
ously to refute the whole basis of their factions and
to place firmly under his readers' feet the elements
of the truth. To do this, he first elucidates the
relation of wisdom — philosophy and rhetoric, we
would say now — to the Gospel; pointing out that
the Gospel is not a product of human wisdom and
is not to be commended by it; although, no doubt,
it proclaims a Divine wisdom of its own to those
who are capable of receiving it. Thus he de-
stroys the very nerve of their strife. Then, with
our present passage, he turns to the parallel oc-
casion of their strife and explains the relation
of the human agents through which it is propa-
gated to the Gospel. This he declares to be none

MAN'S HUSBANDRY AND GOD'S BOUNTY 213

other than the relation of hired servants to the
husbandry of the good-man of the farm. Pro-
ceeding to details, Paul and Apollos, he declares,
are alike but servants, each doing whatever work
is committed to him, work which may no doubt
differ, externally considered, in kind, though it is
exactly the same in this — that it is nothing but
hired service, while it is God that gives the in-
crease. There is no difference in this respect;
not that the work is not deserving of reward;
reward, however, not as if the increase was theirs
but only proportioned to the amount of their
work as labour. The harvest is God's; that har-
vest which they themselves are. They, the
labourers, are fellow-labourers only, working for
God. They, the Corinthians, do not belong to
them; they are God's husbandry, God's building.

Thus the Apostle not only intimates but em-
phatically asserts that the Church of God is not
the product of the ministry; no, nor is any indi-
vidual Christian. Every Christian and the Church
at large is God's gift. God sets workmen to labour
in His vineyard; and rewards them richly for
their labour, paying each all his wages. But these
labourers, it is not theirs to give the increase, nor
even to choose their work. It is theirs merely to
work and to do each the special work which God
appoints. The vineyard is God's and so is the
increase, — which God Himself gives.

Now, looking at this general teaching of the

214 FAITH AND LIFE

passage in a broad and somewhat loose way, we
see that the following important truths are in-
timated.

(1) Christianity is a work which God accom-
plishes in the heart and in the world. It may even
be said to be the work of God : the work that God
has set Himself to do in this dispensation, and
hence the second creation.

(2) Shifting the emphasis a bit, we perceive
that the passage emphasizes the fact that Chris-
tianity is a work which is accomplished in the
heart and in the world directly by God.

(3) Men are but God's instruments, tools,
"agents" (ministers) in performing this work.
They do not act in it for God, that is, instead of
God; but God acts through them. It is He that
gives the increase.

(4) All men engaged in this work are in equally
honourable employment. If one plants and an-
other waters and another reaps, it is all "one."
They are all only fellow-labourers under God; equal
in His sight and to be rewarded, not according to
what they did, but according to how they did it.
This would not be true if man made the increase;
but the reaper no more makes the harvest than
the sower. Nor would it be true if the reaper had
the increase. But it is not the reaper's "field."
He is a hired labourer, not an owner. It is God's
field. Each gets his wages; little or much ac-
cording to the quality of his work. Wages are

MAN'S HUSBANDRY AND GOD'S BOUNTY 215

measured fey labour, not results. And therefore it
is all one to you and me, as labourers in God's field,
whether He sets us to plough, plant, water or reap.

Looking at these truths in turn:

What an encouragement it is to the Christian
worker to know that Christianity is, so to speak
(in the figure of the text), the crop which God the
great husbandman has set Himself to plant and to
raise in this "season" in which we live. There-
fore this dispensation is called "the year of sal-
vation." And therefore, when pleading a little
later with these same Corinthians to receive the
grace of God not in vain, Paul clinches the ap-
peal with the pointed declaration that now, this
dispensation, is that accepted time, that day of
salvation, at last come, to which all the prophets
pointed, for which all the saints of God had
longed from the beginning of the world. It is
therefore again, leaving the figure, that this same
Apostle declares that our Lord and Saviour has
for the whole length of this dispensation assumed
the post of the Ruler of the Universe, in order that
all things may be administered for the fulfilment
of His great redemptive purpose; in order that
all things may, in a word, be made to work to-
gether for good to those that love Him. Li a
word, God is a husbandman in this season which
we call the inter-adventual period; and the crop
that He is planting and watering and is to reap is
His Church.

216 FAITH AND LIFE

No wonder our Saviour declared the Kingdom
of Heaven like unto a sower who went forth to
sow; who spread widely the golden grain, and
reaped it too, a harvest of many-fold yield. For
God's husbandry cannot fail. Other husband-
men are not in this wholly unlike their hired ser-
vants: they plant and water, — but they cannot
compel life; and what may be the results of their
labour they know not. The floods may come, the
winds may blow, the sun may parch the earth,
the enemy may destroy the grain. But God gives
the increase. It is therefore that the Redeemer
sits on the throne, that floods and rain and sun —
all the secret alchemy of nature — may be in His
control, that "all things shall work together for
good to them that love Him." There, I say, is
our encouragement. Christianity is the work of
God, the work He has set Himself to do in this
age in which we live. As we go forth as His ser-
vants to plant and water, we may go upheld by a
deathless hope. The harvest cannot fail. WTien
the sands of time run out and God sends forth
His reapers, the angels, there will be His harvest
thick on the ground — and the field is the world.
The purpose of God stands sure. We may not be
called to see the end from the beginning. But if
God calls you and me to plant or to water, it is
our blessed privilege to labour on in hope.

All this is just because the result is not ours to
produce or to withhold. It is God that gives

MAN'S HUSBANDRY AND GOD'S BOUNTY 217

the increase. As Christianity is the work which
God has set before Himself to accompKsh in this
age; so Christianity in the world and in the heart
is a work which God alone can accomplish. It is
not in the power of any man to make a Christian,
much less to make the Church — that great or-
ganized body of Christ, every member of which is
a recreated man. Why, we cannot make our own
bodies; how much less the body of Christ! If
in this work Paul was nothing and Apollos noth-
ing, what are we, their weak and unworthy suc-
cessors! This is the second great lesson our pas-
sage has to teach us; or, rather, we may better
say this is the great lesson it teaches, for it was
just to teach this that it was written. The fault
of the Corinthians was that they had forgotten
who was the husbandman, who alone gave the in-
crease. Hence their divisions, making Christ only
the share of one party, while others looked to Paul
or Apollos or Cephas, just as if they stood related
to the harvest in something of the same way as
Christ. Nay, says Paul, Christ alone is Lord of
the harvest. It is God alone who can give the
increase.

Paul had reason to know this in his own
experience. He knew how he had been gath-
ered into the Kingdom. He was soon to ac-
quire new reason for acknowledging it, in that
journey of his from Ephesus to Macedonia, in
which, while his heart was elsewhere, all unknown

218 FAITH AND LIFE

to himself God was leading him in triumph,
compelling ever-increasing accessions to his
train. Nor did he ever stint his declaration of it.
Thus, take that passage (Eph. 2:10), where he,
completing a long statement of God's gracious
dealings with Christians in quickening them into
newness of life, without obscurity or hesitation
outlines the whole process as a creative work of
God. " For it is by grace that ye are saved, through
faith: nor is this of yourselves, it is God's gift;
not of works, lest some one should boast. For
we are His workmanship — creatures — created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
afore prepared that we should walk in them."
This is Paul's teaching everywhere: that as it is
God who created us men, so it is God who has re-
created us Christians. And the one in as direct
and true a sense as the other. As He used agents
in the one case — our natural generation (for none
of us are born men without parents), so He may
use instruments in the other, our spiritual regen-
eration (for none of us are born Christians where
there is no Word). But in both cases, it is
God and God alone who gives the increase.

Let us not shrink from this teaching; it is the
basis of our hope. Though we be Pauls and Apol-
loses we cannot save a soul; though we be as elo-
quent as Demosthenes, as subtle as Aristotle, as
convincing as Plato, as persistent as Socrates, we
cannot save. And though we be none of these.

MAN'S HUSBANDRY AND GOD'S BOUNTY 219

but a plain man with lisping lips, that can but let
fall the Gospel truth in broken phrases — we need
no eloquent Aaron for our prophet. We need
only God for our Master. It is not we who save,
it is God ; and our place is not due to our learning
or our rhetoric or our graces, it is due to the hon-
ouring of God, who has mercy on whom He will
have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.

Hence we have the great consolation of knowing
that the responsibility of fruitage to our work does
not depend absolutely on us. We are not the
husbandman; the field is not ours; its fruitage is
not dependent on or limited by our ability to
produce it. All Christian ministers are but God's
"agents" (for that is the ultimate implication of
the term used), employed by Him to secure His
purposes; God's instruments, God's tools. It is
God who plans the cultivation, determines the
sowing and sends us to do it. Now this is to
lower our pride. Some ministers act as if they
owned the field; they lord it over God's heritage.
More feel as if they had produced all the results;
made, "created," the fruit. They pride them-
selves on the results of their work and compare
themselves to others' disadvantage with their
neighbours in the fruits granted to their ministry.
This is like a reaper boasting over the sower or
ploughman, as if he had made the crop it has been
allowed him to harvest. Others feel depressed,
cast down, at the smallness of the fruitage it has

220 FAITH AND LIFE

been allowed them to see from their work, and
begin to suspect that they are not called to the
ministry at all, because the work given them
to do was not reaping. And herein is the con-
solation: just because we are not doing God's
work for Him, but He is doing His own work
through us; just because we do what work He
appoints to us; not we but He is responsible for
the harvest. All that is required of stewards is
that they be found faithful.

Hence — and this is the final and greatest con-
solation to us as ministers — it ought to be a mattei*
of indifference to us what work God gives us to
do in His husbandry. Reaping is no more honour-
able than sowing; watering no less honourable
than harvesting. Men disturb themselves too
much over the kind of work they are assigned to,
and can scarcely believe they are working for God
unless they are harvesting all the time. But in
the great organized body of labour it is as in
the organized body to which Paul compares the
Church later: if all were reapers, where were the
sowing, where were the cultivating, where the
watering? And if no sowing, and no watering,
where were the reaping .^^ It is not ours to deter-
mine what work we are to do. It is for us to de-
termine how we do it. For none of us will fail
of our wages and the wages are not proportioned
to the kind of work, as if the reaper because he
reaped would have all the reward. The field

MAN'S HUSBANDRY AND GOD'S BOUNTY 221

is not liis, and the harvest is not his. He does
not get the crop because he reaped it. He gets
just what the planter and waterer get, his wages.
Wages, I say, not proportioned to the kind of
work, but to the labour he does. Each one, says
Paul, shall receive "his own reward" according
to his own labour. The amount of labour, not the
department of work, is the norm of our reward.
What a consolation this is to the obscure work-
man to whom God has given much labour and,
few results; reward is proportioned to the labour,
not the results ! And this for a very good reason.
God apportions the work on the one hand and
gives the increase on the other. But it is we that
do the labour. And, of course, we are rewarded
according to what is done by us, not God. Let
us then labour on in whatever sphere God gives
it to us to labom', content, happy, strenuous, un-
tiring, determined only to do God's work in God's
way; not seeking to intrude into work to which He
has not appointed us, and not repining because He
has given us this work and not that. Each one
to his own labour, and God the re warder of all!

COMMUNION IN CHRIST'S BODY AND
BLOOD

1 Cor. 10:16, 17: — "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not
a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break,
is it not a communion of the body of Christ? Seeing that we,
who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the
one bread."

There are few injunctions as to methods
of interpretation more necessary or more fruitful
than the simple one. Interpret historically.
That is to say, read your text in the light of the
historical circumstances in which it was written,
and not according to the surroundings in which,
after say two thousand years, you may find your-
self. And there is no better illustration of the
importance of this injunction than the interpre-
tations which have been put on the passages in
the New Testament which speak of the Lord's
Supper. Little will be hazarded in saying that
each expositor brings his own point of view to the
interpretation of these passages, and seems in-
capable of putting himself in the point of sight
of the New Testament writers themselves. He
who reads the several comments of the chief
commentators, for instance, on our present pas-
sage, quickly feels himself in atmospheres of very
varied compositions, which have nothing in com-
mon except their absolute dissimilarity to that

222

CHRIST'S BODY AND BLOOD 223

which Paul's own passage breathes. If we are
ever to understand what the Lord's Supper was
intended by the founder of Christianity to be, we
must manage somehow to escape from the com-
mentators back to Paul and Paul's Master. Here
then is a specially pressing necessity for inter-
preting according to the historical circumstances.

The allusion to the Lord's Supper in our pres-
ent passage, it will be noted, is purely incidental.
The Apostle is reasoning with the Corinthians on
a totally different matter; on a question of casu-
istry which affected their every-day life. Im-
mersed in a heathen society, intertwined with
every act of the life of which was some heathen
ordinance, the early Christian was exposed at
every step to the danger of participating in idol-
atrous worship. One of the places at which he
was thus menaced with what we may call con-
structive apostacy was in the very provision for
meeting his need of daily food. The victims of-
fered in sacrifice to heathen divinities provided
the common meat-supply of the community. If
one were invited to a social meal with a friend, it
was to an idol's feast that he was bidden. If he
even bought meat in the markets, it was a por-
tion of the idol sacrifice alone that he could pur-
chase. How, in such circumstances, was he to
avoid idolatry.^

The Apostle devotes a number of paragraphs in
the first Epistle to the Corinthians to solving this

224 FAITH AXD LIFE

pressing question. The wisdom and moderation
with which he deals with it are striking. His
fmidamental proposition is that an idol is nothing
in the world, and meats offered to idols are noth-
ing after all but meats, good or bad as the case
may be, and are to be used simply as such, on the
principle that the earth is the Lord's and the full-
ness thereof. But. side by side with this, he lays
a second proposition, that any involvement in
idol worship is idolatry and must be shunned by
all who would be servants of the One True God
and His Son. ^Miether any special act of par-
taking of meats offered to idols involves sharing
an idol worship or not, will depend mainly on the
subjective state of the participant: and his free-
dom with respect to it is conditioned only by his
debt of love to his fellow Christians, who may or
may not be as enlightened as he is. The Corin-
thians appear to have been a heady set and the
Apostle evidently feels it to be the more pressing
need to restrain them from hasty and unguarded
use of their new-foimd freedom. He does not
urge them to treat the idols as nothing. He urges
them to avoid entanglement with idolatrous acts.
And our passage is a part of his argument to se-
cure their avoidance of such idolatrous acts.

The argument here turns on a matter of fact
which would be entirely lucid to the readers for
whom it was first intended, but can be fathomed
by us only by placing ourselves in their historical

CHRIST'S BODY AND BLOOD 225

position. Its whole force depends on the readers'
ready understanding of the nature and signifi-
cance of a sacrificial feast. This was essentially
the same under all sacrificial systems. The eat-
ing of the victim offered whether by the IsraeUte
in obedience to the Di\Tne ordinances of the Old
Covenant, or by the heathen in Corinth, meant
essentially the same thing to the participant.
Therefore the Apostle begins the passage by ap-
pealing to the intelligence of his former heathen
readers and submitting the matter to their natural
judgment. He asks them themselves to judge
whether it is consistent to partake in the sacri-
ficial feasts of both heathen and Christian. This
is the gist of the whole passage.

Participation in a sacrificial feast bore such a
meaning, stood in such a relation to the act of
sacrifice itself, that it was ob^-ious to the meanest
intelligence that no one could properly partake
both of the \'ictims offered to idols and of that
One Victim offered at Calvary to God. To feel
this as the Corinthians were expected to feel it,
we must put ourselves in their historical position.
They were heathen, lived in a sacrificial system,
and knew by nature what participation in the
victim offered in sacrifice meant. We may put
ourselves most readily in their place by attending
to what Paul says here of the Jewish sacrificial
feasts, which he adduces as altogether parallel,
so far, with the significance of the same act

226 FAITH AND LIFE

on heathen ground. "Consider Israel after the
flesh," he says, "are not those that eat the sac-
rifices, communicants in the altar?" Here it is
all in a nut-shell. All those who partake of the
victim offered in sacrifice were by that act made
sharers in the act of sacrifice itself. They — this
body of participants — were technically the offerers
of the sacrifice, to whose benefit it inured, and
whose responsible act it was. Whether a Greek,
sharing in the victim offered to Artemis or Aphro-
dite, or a Jew sharing in the victim offered to Je-
hovah, or a Christian sharing in that One Vic-
tim who offered Himself up without spot to God,
the principle was the same; he who partook of
the victim shared in the altar — in the sacrificial
act, in its religious import and in its benefits.
Is it not capable of being left to any man's judg-
ment in these premises, whether one who shared in
the One Offering of Christ to God could inno-
cently take part in the offerings which had been
dedicated to Artemis .^^

The point of interest for us to-day in all this
turns on the implication of this argument as to
the nature of the Lord's Supper in the view of
Paul and of his readers in the infant Christian
community at Corinth. Clearly to Paul and the
Corinthians, the Lord's Supper was just a sacri-
ficial feast. As such — as the Christians' sacri-
ficial feast — it is put in comparison here with the
sacrificial feasts of the Jews and the heathen. The

CHRIST'S BODY AND BLOOD 227

whole pith of the argument is that it is a sacrificial
feast. And if we wish to know what the Lord's
Supper is, here is our proper starting point. It is
the sacrificial feast of Christians, and bears the
same relation to the sacrifice of Christ that the
heathen sacrificial feasts did to their sacrifices
and that the Jewish sacrificial feasts did to their
sacrifices. It is a sacrificial feast, offering the
victim, in symbols of bread and wine, to our par-
ticipation, and signifying that all those who par-
take of the victim in these symbols, are sharers in
the altar, are of those for whom the sacrifice was
o£Pered and to whose benefit it inures.

Are we then to ask, what is the nature of the
Lord's Supper .f^ A Babel of voices may rise about
us. One will say. It is the badge of a Christian
man's profession. Another, It is the bloodless
sacrifice continuously offered up by the vested
priest to God in behalf of the sins of men. His-
tory says, briefly and pointedly, it is the Christian
passover. And, so saying, it will carry tis back
to that upper room where we shall see Jesus and
His disciples gathered about the passover meal,
the typical sacrificial feast. There lay the lamb
before Him; the lamb which represented Himself
who was the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. And there was the company of
those for whom this particular lamb was offered
and who now, by partaking of its flesh, were to
claim their part in the sacrifice. And there

228 FAITH AND LIFE

stood the Antitype, who had for centuries been
represented year after year by lambs like this.
And He is now about to offer Himself up in ful-
filment of the type, for the sins of the world!
No longer will it be possible to eat this typical
sacrifice; typical sacrifices were now to cease, in
their fulfilment in the Antitype. And so our
Lord, in the presence of the last typical lamb,
passes it by and taking a loaf, when He had given
thanks, broke it and said. This — I hope the em-
phasis will not be missed that falls on this word,
this — no longer the lamb but this loaf — is my
body which is broken for you; this do in remem-
brance of me. And in like manner also the cup
after supper, saying, This cup is the New Cove-
nant in my blood; this do in remembrance of me;
for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this
cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death, until He come.
How simple, how significant, the whole is, when
once it is approached from the historical point of
view. The Lord's Supper is the continuation of
the passover feast. The symbol only being
changed, it is the passover feast. And the eating
of the bread and drinking of the wine mean pre-
cisely what partaking of the lamb did then. It is
communion in the altar. Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us; and we eat the passover when-
ever we eat this bread and drink this wine in
remembrance of Him. In our communing thus
in the body and the blood of Christ we partake of

CHRIST'S BODY AND BLOOD 229

the altar, and are made beneficiaries of the sacrifice
He wrought out upon it.

The primary lesson of our text to-day is, then,
that in partaking of the Lord's Supper we claim a
share in the sacrifice which Christ wrought out on
Calvary for the sins of men. This is the funda-
mental meaning of the Lord's Supper as a sacri-
ficial feast. The bread and wine of the Lord's
Supper represent the body and blood of Christ;
but they represent that body and blood not abso-
lutely but as a sacrifice — as broken and outpoured
for us. We are not to puzzle our minds and
hearts by asking how His blood and body become
ours; how they, having become ours, benefit us;
and the like. We are to recognize from the be-
ginning that they were broken and outpoured in
sacrifice for us, and that we share in them only
that, by the law of sacrificial feast, we may partake
of the benefits obtained by the sacrifice. It is as a
sacrifice and only so that we enter into this union.
A second lesson of our text to-day is, that in
the Lord's Supper we take our place in the body
of -Christ's redeemed ones and exhibit the oneness
of His people. The text lays special stress on this.
The appeal of the Apostle is that by partaking of
these symbols Christians mark themselves on the
one hand off from the Jews and heathen, as a body
apart, having their own altar and sacrifice, and,
on the other hand, bind themselves together in
internal unity, for "by all having a share out of

230 FAITH AND LIFE

the one loaf, we who are many are one body be-
cause there is (only) one loaf." The whole Chris-
tian world is a passover company gathered around
the paschal lamb, and by their participation in it
exhibiting their essential unity. When we bless
the cup of blessing, it is a communion in the blood of
Christ; when we break the loaf, it is a communion
in the body of Christ; and because it is one loaf,
however many we are, we are one body, as all shar-
ing from one loaf. The Apostle very strongly em-
phasizes this idea of communion here; and it is ac-
cordingly no accident that we have so largely come
to call the Lord's Supper the "Communion." It
is the symbol of the oneness of Christians.

Another lesson which our text to-day brings us
is that the root of our communion with one an-
other as Christians lies in our common relation to
our Lord. We are "many," says the Apostle;
that is what we are in ourselves. But we "all"
— all of this "many" — are "one" — one body, be-
cause there is but one loaf and we all share from
that one loaf. Christ is one and we come into
relations of communion with one another only
through our common relation to Him. The root
of Christian union is, therefore, the uniqueness,
the solity of Christ. There is but one salvation;
but one Christian Kfe; because there is but one
Saviour and one source of life; and all those who
share it must needs stand side by side to imbibe it
from the one fountain.

THE SPIRIT OF FAITH

2 Cor. 4:13: — "But having the same Spirit of faith, according
to that which is written, I beUeved, and therefore did I speak;
we also believe, and therefore also we speak."

This verse is a declaration on the Apostle's
part of the grounds of his courage and faithfulness
in preaching the glorious Gospel of Christ. The
circumstances which attended his proclamation
of this Gospel were of the most oppressive. In
the preceding verses we have a picture of them
which is drawn by means of a series of declara-
tions which rise, one after another, to a most
trying climax. He says that in the prosecution
of his work he is in every way pressed, perplexed,
pursued, smitten down. Here is a vivid picture
of the defeated warrior, who is not only pressed
by the foe, but put at his wits, ends, — not merely
thus discouraged but put to flight, — not merely
pursued but smitten down to the earth. A lurid
picture of the befallings of Paul as a minister of
Christ amid the spiritual conflicts on this side and
that, in Galatia and in Corinth! Nevertheless
things have not come to an end with him. Side
by side with this series of befallings he places a
contrasting series which exhibits the marvellous
continuance of the Apostle in his well-doing, in
spite of such dreadful happenings to him. Though

231

232 FAITH AND LIFE

he is in every way pressed yet he is not brought to
his last straits; though he is in every way per-
plexed, yet he has not gone to despair; though he
is pursued yet he is not overtaken; though he is
actually smitten down he is yet not destroyed.

In the prosecution of Paul's work as a minister
of Christ, there is thus a marvellous co-existence
of experiences the most desperate and of deliver-
ances the most remarkable. It is as if destruc-
tion had continually befallen him; yet ever out
of destruction he rises afresh to the continuance
of his work. In this remarkable contrast of his
experiences the Apostle sees a dramatic re-
enactment of Christ's saving work, who died that
He might live and might bring life to the world.
In it he sees himself, he says, ever re-enacting the
putting to death of Jesus, that the life also of
Jesus may be manifested in his body. As Jesus
died and rose again, so he daily dies in the service
of Christ and comes to life again; and so, abiding
in life, he is ever delivered to death for Jesus'
sake that the life also of Jesus might be manifested
in his mortal flesh. Oh, marvellous destiny of
the followers of Christ, in the very nature and cir-
cumstances of their service to placard before the
world the great lesson of the redemption of
Christ — the great lesson of life by death ; to man-
ifest thus to all men the life of Jesus and the life
from Jesus springing constantly out of His death.
Thus the very life-circumstances of Paul become a

THE SPIRIT OF FAITH 233

preached Gospel. They manifest Christ and His
work for souls. They manifest it. For the dying
is for Paul and the life for his hearers.

Now Paul gives a twofold account of those cir-
cumstances in which he preached the Gospel. He
assigns them ultimately to the purpose of God.
This great treasure of the glorious Gospel has been
put into such earthen vessels for the very pur-
pose of more fully manifesting its divine glory.
In contrast with its vehicle, the power of the mes-
sage is all the more discernible. It is just that
the exceeding greatness of its power may be seen
to be of God that it is delivered to men in vessels
whose exceeding weakness may be apparent. On
the other hand, that these earthen vessels are able
to endure the strain put upon them in conveying
these treasures, is itself from God. Paul at-
tributes it to God's upholding power, operating
through faith. That in the midst of such trials
he is enabled to endure; that though smitten down
continuously he is not destroyed; that though
dying daily he still lives with a living Gospel still
on his lips; it is all due to the support of his firm
conviction and faith. "So then, it is death that
worketh in us, but life in you, and having the
same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I
believed and, therefore, did I speak; we also be-
lieve and therefore speak, since we know that He
that raised up Jesus shall raise us up also with
Jesus, and shall present us with you." Here are

234 FAITH AND LIFE

the sources of the Apostle's strength and of his
courage. It is only because of his firm faith in
the Gospel he preaches that he can endure through
the trials into which its service has immersed him.
With a less clear conviction and less firm faith in
it, he would long ago have succumbed to the evils
of his life and his lips have long ago become dumb.
But he believed; and, therefore, though earth
and hell combined to destroy him, he could not
but speak. Let earthly trials multiply; beyond
the daily deaths of earth there was an eternal life
in store for him; and the more he could rescue
from death to that life, the more multiplied grace
would redound to increased thanksgiving and
abound to God's glory. In the power of this
faith the Apostle can face and overcome the trials
of life.

There are many important lessons that may
come to us from observing this declaration of the
Apostle's faith.

Beginning at the remoter side we may be sur-
prised to observe that he seeks the noi-m of his
faith in the Old Testament saints. "Having the
same Spirit of faith," he says, "according as it is
written, I believed, and therefore did I speak" —
referring for the model of faith back to the words
of this hero Psalmist. Now we may not be ac-
customed to think of the Old Testament saints as
the heroes of faith. The characteristic emotion of
Old Testament religion, we are accustomed to say^

THE SPIRIT OF FAITH 235

was awe or even fear. The characteristic ex-
pression of it is summed up in the term, "The fear
of the Lord." The New Testament on the other
hand is the dispensation of faith. And if we have
consideration only for the prevaiHng language of
the Old Testament this is true enough. The
word "faith" is scarcely an Old Testament word;
it occurs but twice in the English Old Testament,
and it is disputable whether on either occasion
it fairly — or at least fully — represents the He-
brew. Even the word "to believe" applied to
divine things is rare in the Old Testament.

But the word and the thing are different matters.
And it may be doubted whether the conceptions
of awe, fear, and of faith, trust, are so antagonistic
as is commonly represented. Certainly rever-
ence and faith are correlative conceptions. A
God whom we do not fear with religious rever-
ence, we cannot have such faith in as the Apostle's.
And certainly the New Testament writers do
always look to the Old Testament saints as the
heroes of faith. This is the burden of one of the
most magnificent passages in the New Testament,
the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. And of others
too. It is the faith of Abraham which is the
standing model of faith to both Paul and James;
and it is he who both in the subjective and ob-
jective senses of the word is represented to us as
the Father of the Faithful. Let it be allowed
that these heroes of faith lived in the twilight of

236 FAITH AND LIFE

knowledge; knowledge and faith stand in rela-
tion to one another, but are not the measure of
one another. If there can be no faith where there
is no knowledge, on the other hand it is equally
true that the realm of dim knowledge is often the
region of strong faith, — for when we walk by sight,
faith has no place. No; he that believes in Jesus
whom he has seen, must yield in point of heroism
of faith and the blessedness promised to it, to
him who having not seen yet has believed. Those
great men of God of old, not being weak in faith,
believed in the twilight of revelation, and waxing
strong, died in faith; and we could wish nothing
higher for ourselves than that we might be like
them in their faithful faith.

It is observable next that the Apostle attributes
the faith of the Old Testament heroes to whom he
would direct our eyes as the norm of faith, to the
work of the Holy Ghost. He felicitates himself
not merely on having the same quality of faith
with them. He looks deeper. The ground of
rejoicing in their fellowship is that he shares with
them the "same Spirit of faith." "Having the
same Spirit of faith," he says. It may be doubted,
once again, if we should have naturally spoken in
this way. We may be accustomed to think of the
Holy Spirit as an esssentiall}' New Testament pos-
session; and to conceive, in a more or less for-
mulated manner, of the saints of the Old Testa-
ment as left to their own native powers in their

THE SPIRIT OF FAITH 237

serving of God. Heroes of faith as they were, it
would be peculiarly difficult, however, to believe
that they reached the height of their pious at-
tainment apart from the gracious operations of
the Spirit of God. Or shall we say that only in
New Testament times men are dead in sin, and
only in these days of the completed Gospel and
of the New Covenant do men need the almighty
power of God to raise them from their spiritual
death?

Certainly the Bible lends no support to such a
notion. Less is said of the gracious operations of
the Spirit in the Old Testament than in the New,
but to say less of it is one thing and its absence is
quite another. And there is enough in the Old
Testament itself — by prayer of Psalmist that the
Holy Spirit should not be taken away from him,
by statement of historian that through the Spirit
God gave this one and that one a new heart, by
assurance of prophet that the Spirit of God is the
author of all right belief and of all good conduct, —
to assure us that then, too, on Him depended all
the exercises of piety, to Him was due all the holy
aspirations and all the good accomplishments of
every saint of God. And certainly the New Tes-
tament tells us in repeated instances that the Holy
Spirit was active throughout the period of the Old
Dispensation, in all the varieties of activities
which characterize the New. The difference be-
tween the two lies not in any difference in the utter

238 FAITH AND LIFE

dependence of men on Him, or in the nature of
His operations, but in their extent and aim with
reference to the Hfe of the Kingdom of God. Our
present passage is one of those tolerably numerous
New Testament ones in which the gracious oper-
ations of the Spirit in the Old Covenant are as-
sumed. Paul here tells us that the faith of the
Old Testament saints was the product of God's
Holy Spirit; and he claims for himself nothing
more than what he asserts for them. "Having
the same Spirit of faith," he says. He is content —
nay, he is full of joy — to have the same Spirit
working faith in him that worked faith in them.
He claims no superiority in the matter. If he
has a like faith, it is because he is made by God's
grace to share in a like fountain of faith. The one
Spirit who works faith is the common possession
of them and of him; and therein he finds his high-
est privilege and his greatest glory. What David
had of the operations of the Spirit, that is what
Paul represents as the height of Christian privi-
lege to possess.

It may not be wholly needless to observe further
the naturalness of Paul's ascription of faith to the
working of the Holy Spirit — whether under the
Old or the New Dispensation. He means to ex-
press the confidence he has in the glorious Gospel
which he proclaims. He does not say, however,
simply "having a confident faith." He says,
"having the Spirit of faith," the same Spirit of

THE SPIRIT OF FAITH 239

faith which wrought in the Psalmist. So much
was faith to him the product of the Spirit that
he thinks of it in terms of its origin. Clearly to
him, no Spirit, no faith. Faith is, therefore, most
absolutely conceived by the Apostle as the product
not of our own powers but of the Spirit of God,
and it is inconceivable to him that it can exist
apart from His gift.

We may sometimes fall short of the Apostle's
conception and fancy that we can — nay, that we
must — ^first believe before the Spirit comes to us.
No, it is the Spirit who gives faith. Faith is the
gift of God in its innermost essence; and the
Apostle continually thanks God for it, as His gift.
We find it enumerated in Gal. 5:23 among the
fruits of the Spirit; in 1 Cor. 12:7 we find it among
the gifts which the Spirit distributes to men. In
our present passage it is emphasized as the work
of the Spirit, by its being used as a characterizing
description of the Spirit. We do not describe
or define a thing by something which is common
to it and others. The possession of a vertebral
column will not define a man; and we should
never use the designation of vertebrate as a syn-
onym of man. That the Spirit is called the
"Spirit of faith" means that faith does not exist
except as His gift; its very existence is bound up
in His working. Just as we call Him the Spirit of
life, the Spirit of holiness, and the like, because
all life comes from Him and all holiness is of His

240 FAITH AND LIFE

making, so, when Paul calls Him the Spirit of
faith, it is the evidence that in Paul's conception
all faith comes from Him.

It matters not where faith is found — under
the Old Testament or the New — in Psalmist or in
Apostle — or in the distant believers of the Twenti-
eth Century, — it matters not what degree of faith
is present, weak, timid faith which scarcely dares
believe in its own existence, or strong faith that
can move mountains, — it matters not what of
divine things be its object, God as our Ruler and
Governor, the Scriptures as His Word, Christ as
our Saviour; if it exists at all, in any time, in
any degree, the Holy Ghost has wrought it. He
is the Spirit of faith and faith is His unique
product.

Finally, it will be of interest to us who are
charged with the same duty of proclaiming the
Gospel of salvation with which the Apostle was
charged, to take especial note that he attributes
that supreme faithfulness and steadfastness which
pre-eminently characterized his work in the Gos-
pel to a Spirit-wrought faith in the Gospel which
he preached. The secret, he tells us, of his ability
to continue throughout his dreadful trials in the
work to which he had been called; the secret of
his power to faint not, that is, not to play the
coward, but to renounce the hidden things of
shame and refuse to walk in craftiness or handle
the Word of God deceitfully; the secret of his

THE SPIRIT OF FAITH 241

power to preach a simple Gospel in honest faith-
fulness in the face of all temptations to please
men, and to preach the saving Gospel in the face
of all persecution — was simply that he had a
hearty and unfeigned faith in it. When we really
believe the Gospel of the Grace of God — when we
really believe that it is the power of God unto
salvation, the only power of salvation in this
wicked world of ours — it is a comparatively easy
thing to preach it, to preach it in its purity, to
preach it in the face of a scoffing, nay, of a trucu-
lent and murdering world. Here is the secret —
I do not now say of a minister's power as a preacher
of God's grace — but of a minister's ability to preach
at all this Gospel in such a world as we live in.
Believe this Gospel, and you can and will preach
it. Let men say what they will, and do what they
will, — let them injure, ridicule, persecute, slay, —
believe this Gospel and you will preach it.

Men often say of some element of the Gospel:
"I can't preach that." Sometimes they mean
that the world will not receive this or that. Some-
times they mean that the world will not endure this
or that. Sometimes they mean that they cannot
so preach this or that as to win the respect or the
sympathy or the acceptance of the world. The
Gospel cannot be preached.^ Cannot be preached.'^
It can be preached if you will believe it. Here is
the root of all your difficulties. You do not fully
believe this Gospel! Believe it! Believe it! and

242 FAITH AND LIFE

then it will preach itself! God has not sent us
into the world to say the most plausible things we
can think of; to teach men what they already
believe. He has sent us to preach unpalatable
truths to a world lying in wickedness; apparently
absurd truths to men, proud of their intellects;
mysterious truths to men who are carnal and can-
not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Shall
we despair? Certainly, if it is left to us not only
to plant and to water but also to give the increase.
Certainly not, if we appeal to and depend upon
the Spirit of faith. Let Him but move on our
hearts and we will believe these truths; and, even
as it is written, I believed and therefore have I
spoken, we also will believe and therefore speak.
Let Him but move on the hearts of our hearers
and they too will believe what He has led us to
speak. We cannot proclaim to the world that
the house is afire — it is a disagreeable thing to
say, scarcely to be risked in the presence of those
whose interest it is not to believe it? But be-
lieve it, and how quickly you rush forth to shout
the unpalatable truth ! So believe it and we shall
assert to the world that it is lost in its sin, and
rushing down to an eternal doom; that in Christ
alone is there redemption; and through the Spirit
alone can men receive this redemption. What
care we if it be unpalatable, if it be true? For
if it be true, it is urgent.

NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM

2 Cor. 6:11-7:1. — "Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinth-
ians, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are
straitened in your own affections. Now for a recompense in like
kind (I speak as unto my children), be ye also -enlarged. Be not
unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have right-
eousness and iniquity.? or what communion hath light with dark-
ness.'' And what concord hath Christ with Belial.? or what portion
hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath a
temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living' Ood;
even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come
ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and
touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you
a Father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty. Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God."

It is not easy to determine with exactitude the
circumstances which gave occasion to this striking
paragraph, which stands out so prominently
on the pages of Second Corinthians as almost to
separate itself from its context and form a whole
of its own. Of two things, however, we may be
reasonably sure. There was a party in the Corin-
thian Church which we may perhaps fairly de-
scribe as the party of the Libertines; and out of
this party, too, there had arisen an opposition to
the leadership of Paul, and a tendency to accuse
him of insincerity and self-seeking in his work

243

244 FAITH AND LIFE

at Corinth. We must picture the Apostle, there-
fore, as compelled to defend himself and the pur-
ity of his ministry, in this Epistle, not only against
a narrow Judaistic formalism, with its touch not,
taste not, handle not, but also against a loose
worldliness which was inclined to adapt its Chris-
tianity to the usages current in the heathen society
about it. Differing in everything else, both par-
ties agreed in unwillingness to subject themselves
unreservedly to the guidance of Paul; and in de-
fence of themselves represented hfm as acting
towards the church from interested motives.

Bearing this in "mind, we may readily under-
stand how, when in the course of his self-defence
the Apostle has been led to dwell upon the hard-
ships he had suffered in the prosecution of his
mission, he should break off suddenly with an
appeal to his Corinthians to separate themselves
from heathen practices and points of view, and
themselves to walk worthily of the Gospel they
professed. "See, O Corinthians," he exclaims,
"how freely I am speaking to you, how widely
open my heart is to you. You find no constraint
on my part with reference to you; the only con-
straint there is between us lies in your own hearts.
Give me what I give you — I am speaking as to my
children; open wide your heart to me. Seek not
your standards of life in the unbelievers about you.
Remember who you are and what you should be
as organs of the Holy Spirit; and be not content

NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM 245

until you have attained that perfect holiness
which becomes the children of God." So the
Apostle transforms his defence of his ministry
into an exhortation to his readers, in which he
again exercises his ministry of love in a disinter-
ested plea to them to walk worthily of the Gospel
of hohness.

Dr. James Denney in his commentary on this
Epistle, published in "The Expositor's Bible,"
heads the chapter in which he deals with this
section, "New Testament Puritanism." On the
face of it, this is a very good designation for it.
The note of Puritanism, which is the note of sep-
aration, certainly throbs through the section.
"Come ye out from among them and be ye sep-
arate, saith the Lord" — that assuredly expresses
the very essence of Puritanism. Or, perhaps, we
may more precisely say that it is exactly that con-
formity with the world which, above all things,
Puritanism dreads, that Paul here declares, almost
with indignation, to be inconceivable in a true
Christian. "For what fellowship," he demands
"is there between righteousness and iniquity?
Or what communion is there for light with dark-
ness? Or what concord of Christ with Belial?
Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
Or what agreement has a temple of God with
idols ? " Here certainly is Puritanism at the height
of its expression.

Nevertheless we must be careful not to give the

246 FAITH AND LIFE

Apostle's exhortation a turn which does not be-
long to it. The Apostle is not here requiring of
Christians a withdrawal from the world, consid-
ered as the social organism; and most certainly
he is not asking of them to segregate themselves
into a community apart, between which and the
mass of men there shall be no, or only the least
possible, intercourse. On a former occasion, when
addressing these same readers, he does indeed
command them not to keep company with forni-
cators. But he immediately adds that he means
this aloofness only as a disciphnary measure
towards sinning brethren. If a man who is called
a Christian be a fornicator. Christian fellowship
must be withdrawn from him, that it may be
brought home to him that a man cannot be both a
Christian and a fornicator. But, says the Apos-
tle, I do not mean that you should not associate
with fornicators of the world; else you would
need to remove out of the world — a thing, he im-
plies, which would be manifestly impossible; and
let us add, for the leaven which is placed in the
world, grossly inconsistent with the prosecution of
its function in the world, which is to leaven the
whole mass. And if we will scrutinize our pres-
ent passage closely we shall quickly see that the
separation which the Apostle is urging here, too,
is not separation from men but from evil — apply-
ing, indeed, to the Corinthians in the way of ex-
hortation what our Lord prayed for in behalf of

NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM 247

His followers, not that they should be taken out
of the world, but that they should be kept from
the evil of the world. The exhortation: "Come
ye out from among them and be ye separate,
saith the Lord," is immediately followed by the
explanation, "And touch no unclean thing." And
the whole exhortation closes with a poignant
prayer that they may "cleanse themselves from
every defilement." It is not from their fellow-
men that the Apostle would have Christians hold
themselves aloof; it is from the sin and shame,
the evil and iniquity, which stains and soils the
lives of so many of their fellow-men. This is the
Apostolic variety of Puritanism.

The opposite impression is perhaps fostered
among simple Bible readers by the phrase which
stands in the forefront of the exhortation in our
English Bibles: "Be not unequally yoked to-
gether with unbelievers." This certainly appears
at first sight to represent any commerce with
unbelievers as indecorous and to forbid it on that
account. This impression is wholly due, however,
to the awkwardness of the rendering given to an
unusual Greek phrase. This Greek phrase is an
exceedingly awkward one to render; and I am
not sure that it is possible to give it an English
equivalent which will convey its exact sense. The
figure which underlies it is, no doubt, the yoking
together, in the bizarre way of the East, incon-
gruous animals for labour, say an ox and an ass.

248 FAITH AND LIFE

And the English version is a very creditable effort
to bring the figure home to the English reader;
for surely such a yoking of incongruous animals
together is a very unequal one. Yet the English
phrase fails to express the exact shade of meaning
of the Greek term. This does not say: "Be not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers" but
rather, "Become not bearers of an alien yoke
along with unbelievers" — or, in other words,
"Take not on yourselves a yoke that does not fit
you, in order to be with unbelievers." You see
the point is very different from that which is often
taken from the English phrase. What is for-
bidden is not that we should company with un-
believers; but that we should adopt their points
of view and their modes of life. It is a question,
in other words, not of intercourse, but of standards.
What the Apostle is concerned about is not that
his converts lived in social communion with their
heathen neighbours; this he would have them do.
What he is concerned about is that they took
their colour from the heathen neighbours with
whom they lived. He wished them to be leaven
and to leaven the lump; they were permitting
themselves rather to be leavened ; and this made
him indignant with them.

We see, then, that the Apostle's urgency here
is against not association with the world, but
compromise with the worldly. Compromise! In
that one word is expressed a very large part of a

NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM 249

Christian's danger in the world. We see it on
all sides of us and in every sphere of life. We
must be all things to all men, we say, perverting
the Apostle's prescription for a working ministry;
for there was one thing he would on no account
and in no way have us be, even that we may, as
we foolishly fancy, win the more; and that is,
evil. From evil in all its forms and in all its man-
ifestations he would have us absolutely to separate
ourselves ; the unclean thing is the thing he would
in no circumstances have us handle. Associate
with the world, yes! There is no man in it so vile
that he has not claims upon us for our association
and for our aid. But adopt the standards of the
world? No! Not in the least particular. Here
our motto must be and that unfailingly: No
compromise !

The very thing which the Apostle here presses
upon our apprehension is the absolute conflict be-
tween the standards of the world and the standards
of Christians; and the precise thing which he re-
quires of us is that in our association with the
world we shall not take on our necks the alien
yoke of an unbeliever's point of view, of an un-
believer's judgment of things, of an unbeliever's
estimate of the right and wrong, the proper and
improper. In all our association with unbelievers,
we, as Christian men, are to furnish the standard;
and we are to stand by our Christian standard, in
the smallest particular, unswervingly. Any de-

250 FAITH AND LIFE

parture from that standard, however small or
however desirable it may seem, is treason to our
Christianity. We must not, in any ease, take the
alien yoke of an unbeliever's scheme of life upon
our necks.

Interesting to us as this exhortation itself is,
and important beyond expression for the guidance
of our lives, it, perhaps, yields in interest to the
grounding which the Apostle supplies for it in an
explanation of the essential springs of a Chris-
tian's life. This grounding he gives in a series of
rhetorical questions, by means of which he sets
forth the absolute contrariety of the Christian's
and the unbeliever's points of view, sources of
judgment and principles of conduct. The order-
ing of these questions is such that they begin by
setting over against one another the obvious con-
tradictions of righteousness and iniquity; and
then proceed in a series of rapid and convincing
antitheses until they end in setting the believer
and the unbeliever over against one another as
the embodiment respectively — at least in prin-
ciple— of those contradictions, righteousness and
iniquity. "What fellowship have righteousness
and iniquity," the Apostle demands in support of
his exhortation not to take on themselves the
alien yoke of unbelievers, "or," he continues,
"what communion has light with darkness? or
what concord has Christ with Belial.^ or what
portion has a believer with an unbeliever? or —

NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM 251

clinching the whole matter with a reference to the
source of the entire contrast — what agreement has
a temple of God with idols?"

The force of the appeal lies in the necessary —
and inevitable — identification, as we go on through
the series, of each pair with the preceding; so
that with the fundamental "righteousness" is
identified the light; and, of course, Christ; and
because he is Christ's, the believer, who is the
temple of the living God: and with the funda-
mental iniquity is identified the darkness, Belial,
and the unbeliever, because he is the worshipper
of idols and partaker of the idolatrous point of
view. The reason, then, why a Christian must
not take on himself the alien yoke of unbelievers
is just because it is to him alien; he is in and of
himself, because a believer in Christ and, there-
fore, a temple of the living God, a different, a con-
trary, an opposite kind of being from the unbe-
liever; and it is, therefore, incongruous in the
extreme for him to put his neck in the same yoke
with an unbeliever, seek to live on the same plane,
or consent to order his life or to determine ques-
tions of conduct by his standards, in any degree
whatever.

Now it is just in this contrast drawn by the
Apostle between the believer and the unbeliever —
in its firmness, its clearness, its extremity if you
will — that we discern the most interesting, the
most important, teaching of our passage. Ac-

252 FAITH AND LIFE

cording to the Apostle, obviously, there are two
kinds of men in the world, believers and unbe-
lievers. And these two kinds of men stand over
against one another in complete, not only con-
trast, but contradiction; as complete contra-
diction as righteousness and iniquity. There can
be no compromise between them any more than
between righteousness and iniquity. There may
be intercourse — mutual action and reaction — but
never compromise.

The Apostle is far from saying, of course, that
in any given individuals this fundamental con-
tradiction is fully manifested. It finds its com-
plete manifestation only in the abstract — in the
contrariety of righteousness and iniquity; and
in the full concrete manifestation of righteousness
and iniquity in Christ and Belial. Between
Christians and unbelievers the manifested con-
tradiction is only relative. Compromise there
ought not to be — in principle there can not be —
but compromise in fact there is. Christians are
not, like Christ, pure embodiments of righteous-
ness; they require exhortation not to admit in-
iquity into the governing principles of their life.
Alas, alas, though they are temples of the living
God, they are far, far from having no commerce
with idols. The Apostle recognizes all this. On
his recognition of it he founds the urgent exhorta-
tion of our passage. Nevertheless he founds this
exhortation also on the fact that this contradic-

NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM 253

tion exists in principle — that Christians, like
Christ, their Lord, are in principle righteousness,
and that unbelievers are, like Belial, their lord,
in principle iniquity. It is because Christians
are thus in principle holy and unbelievers are thus
in principle unholy that he proclaims that it is
incongruous that Christians should adopt their
standards of life from unbelievers, who are not
merely their opposites but their contradictories;
so that there can be no mean between them but
every one must be one or the other.

There are then, according to the Apostle, two
kinds of men in the world, believers and unbe-
lievers; and these two kinds of men stand in con-
tradiction to each other. One may conquer and
eliminate the other; but there can be no mixture
between them. The ultimate source of the fun-
damental difference between them he finds in the
indwelling in Christians of the Holy Ghost: "Or
what agreement hath a temple of God with idols .^^
For we'' — emphatic here, in contrast with the un-
believers, "as for us, we are a temple of the living
God." The influx of the Holy Spirit into the
heart constitutes, then, a new humanity. Over
against those who have not the Spirit, and who
are, therefore, as another Scripture puts it,
earthly, sensual, devilish, — the children of Belial, as
this Scripture suggests, — those who have the Spirit
are a new creation, with new standards and new
powers of life alike. There can be no compromise

254 FAITH AND LIFE

between such opposites. It has become custom-
ary among theologians to speak of these two kinds
of men as the men of nature and the men of the
palingenesis; or as it is now becoming fashionable
to call them, once born and twice born men.
They who are born of the flesh are fleshly; and
they only who are born of the Spirit are spiritual;
and to the spiritual man belong all things. The
message which Paul brings to us in this passage is,
then, that we who are spiritual, because we are
believers in Christ Jesus, have in principle the
righteousness which belongs to Him, and though
it may not yet appear what we shall be, we must
in all our walk comport ourselves as what we are,
the temples of the living God, having the powers
and potencies of a new, even a Divine, hfe within
us. The ultimate reason why the Christian man
is not to compromise with the world is, because
as a Christian man, he is a new creature, born
from above, with the vigour of the Divine life itself
moving in him and with an entirely new life-
course marked out for him. Why should — ^how
can — such an one put his neck incongruously
within the yoke of worldly policy or self-seeking,
or evil-living with unbelievers; and seek to de-
flect his Spirit-given powers to a life on this lower
plane and for these ignoble ends.f^ O, says the
Apostle, O, Christian men, this is surely impos-
sible to you; do you not see that in the power of
your new life you are to — ^you must — take an

NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM ^55

utterly new course, directed to a new goal, and
informed with new aspirations, hopes and striv-
ings?

On the basis of this great declaration the Apos-
tle erects, then, his exhortation. Nor is he con-
tent to leave it in a negative, or merely inferential
form. In the accomplishment of the Spirit-filled
life he sees the goal, and he speaks it out in a final
urgency of exhortation into which he compresses
the whole matter: "Having, therefore, such
promises as these (note the emphasis), beloved,"
he says, "let us purify ourselves from every de-
filement of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in
the fear of God." It is perfection, we perceive,
that the Apostle is after for his followers; and he
does not hesitate to raise this standard before the
eyes of his readers as their greatest incitement to
effort. They must not be content with a moder-
ate attainment in the Christian life. They must
not say to themselves, O, I guess I am Christian
enough, although I'm not too good to do as other
men do. They must, as they have begun in the
Spirit, not finish in the flesh; but must go on unto
perfection.

What are they to cleanse themselves from.^^
Every defilement — every kind of defilement — not
only of the flesh but of the spirit. Aiming at
whsii? At the completion of holiness in the fear
of God ! The Apostle does not tell them they are
already holy — except in principle. They ob-

^56 FAITH AND LIFE

viously were not already holy — except in princi-
ple. They were putting their necks in the alien
yoke of unbelieving judgments. They were con-
tenting themselves with heathen standards. They
were prepared to say, O, the Lord doesn't ask
all that of us; O, there is nothing wrong in this;
O, I guess it will be enough if I am as good as the
average man; O, you can't expect me to live at
odds with all my neighbours ; O, these things are
good enough for me. Such compromises with the
spirit of the world are wrong; and the Apostle
tells his readers plainly that they are unworthy of
them as Christian men. They were, if not born
to better things, yet certainly born anew to better
things. Let them turn their backs on all such in-
consistencies and live on their own plane of life
as believers, believers in Christ, Christ the Light,
Christ our Righteousness. Let them remember
they are temples of the living God and have no
commerce with idols.

No, they were not perfect — except in principle.
But in principle, they were perfect; because they
had within them the principle of perfection, the
Spirit of the Most High God. Let them walk in
accordance with their privileges, then, on a level
with their destiny. Hear God's great promise.
And having these promises, cleanse yourselves;
O, cleanse yourselves, the Apostle cries; cleanse
yourselves from every defilement whether of flesh
or spirit, and so perfect — complete, work fully

NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM 257

out to its end — holiness in the fear of God. Let
your standard be the hoHness of the indwelHng
Spirit whose temples you are. Let your motive be,
not merely regard to the good of others, much less
to your own happiness, but joy in God's gracious
promises. Let your effort be perfect sanctifica-
tion of soul and body, cleansing from all defile-
ment. Let your end be, pleasing God, the Holy
One. In a word, says the Apostle in effect, here
as elsewhere: O, ye Christians, work out your
own salvation in fear and trembling, for it is God
who is working in you the willing and the doing
according to His own good pleasure.

We perceive, thus, in the end that the thing
Paul is zealous for is the holiness of his followers.
For in their holiness he sees the substance of their
salvation. We are saved by Christ and only
Christ; and Christ is righteous; both for us and
unto us. For it is by grace that we are saved,
through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is the
gift of God — not out of works, lest we should
boast, but unto good works, which God has afore
prepared that we should walk in them. And if we
walk not in them — are we, then, saved .^^ Holiness
of life is, I repeat, precisely the substance of sal-
vation, that which we are saved to, that in which
salvation consists. If then we are in Christ Jesus,
shall we not live like Christ Jesus .^^ "If we are
in the Spirit, shall we not walk by the Spirit?"
This is Paul's final exhortation to us; since we are

258 FAITH AND LIFE

Christ's, and the Spirit dwells in us and we are
the temples of the living God, let us be careful of
good works; let us, remembering the great prom-
ises He has given us, cleanse ourselves from all
defilement of body and soul; and let us perfect
holiness in the fear of God, so that we approve
ourselves His children and He will be to us as a
Father and we shall be to Him sons and daughters.

PAUL'S GREAT THANKSGIVING

Eph. 1 :3-14, especially 3 — "Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ."

If we would know how Paul felt about the gos-
pel of the grace of God, by which he was saved,
we could not do better than go to "the great
thanksgiving" with which he opens the epistle to
the Ephesians. The epistle to the Ephesians is,
of course, not singular in beginning with a thanks-
giving to God. That is Paul's customary method
of beginning his letters. But it is, perhaps, sin-
gular in the marvellous richness and fervor of the
thanksgiving with which it begins. And this is,
perhaps, due to what we might have thought an
entirely unimportant circumstance. The Apostle
was accustomed to draw the theme of his thanks-
giving from the special conditions and attain-
ments of those he was addressing. But, unlike
his other letters, this was addressed neither to an
individual friend and fellow-worker, nor to a
separate church with its special circumstances
fresh in the Apostle's mind. There was in this
case, therefore, no particular subject of thanks-
giving, peculiar to the person or church ad-
dressed, pressing in on the Apostle's mind and
requiring mention. He was thrown back on

259

260 FAITH AND LIFE

what was common to Christians to thank God for
in behalf of his readers. And that is as much as
to say he was thrown back on the great funda-
mental theme of the Gospel. Now, Paul's fervour
always rises when he is face to face with the first
principles of the Gospel.

What Paul returns thanks to God for here, is
nothuig less than the salvation in Christ. And
with what magnificence of diction as well as depth
of feeling and comprehensiveness of view he deals
with it! The salvation in Christ involves, nat-
urally, the saving action of the whole triune God :
and it is easy to make out a trinitarian distinction
in the parts of this long ascription of praise to God
for His salvation. Many expositors have, there-
fore, so divided it. And in any event it is useful to
note that there is described to us here the loving
activity of God the Father in salvation (in verses
3-6), of God the Son (in verses 7-12), and of God
the Holy Spirit (in verses 13-14). This successive
adduction of the work of the persons of the trin-
ity in salvation would seem, however, only an in-
evitable incident of any full description of the
process of salvation; for in it all three persons of
the trinity are, of course, concerned. And it is
more useful to us, therefore, as an indication of the
place which the doctrine of the trinity held in
the mind of the Apostle, than as a principle of
division of the thanksgiving before us. They
gravely err who imagine that the trinity is only

PAUL'S GREAT THANKSGIVING 261

rarely or incidentally alluded to in the New Tes-
tament. On the contrary, it forms the underlying
presupposition of the entire account of salvation
given in the New Testament; and its elements are
continually cropping out in the New Testament
descriptions of the saving process. It lies in the
very nature of the case, therefore, that a trini-
tarian suggestion should be visible through this
description of the salvation in Christ.

The principle of arrangement in the present
instance would seem, however, to be what we
would call chronological, rather than economical.
We would seem to be following more closely the
natural lines of the development of the passage,
if we note that Paul traces in it the salvation in
Christ for which he blesses God, consecutively, in
its preparation, execution, publication and appli-
cation: in its preparation (verses 4-5), its execu-
tion (verses 6-7), its publication (verses 8-10),
and its application (verses 11-16), both to Jews
(verses 11-12) and to Gentiles (verses 13-14).
Thus he brings before us the whole ideal history
of the salvation in Christ, from eternity to eter-
nity— from the eternal purpose as it formed itself
in the loving heart of the Father, to the eternal
consummation when all things in heaven and earth
shall be summed up in Christ as under one head,
and He shall be ready to restore the now perfected
kingdom to the Father, that God may again be all
in all. So looked upon, this splendid passage ex-

262 FAITH AND LIFE

hibits lucidly its true character as a compressed
history of the kingdom of God in the world — an
apostolic precis of human history conceived from
the point of view of the Divine activity in the es-
tablishment and development and consummation
of the kingdom.

Let us observe how the contemplation of the
unrolling of this great historical process affects
the Apostle's own mind and heart. This is re-
vealed to us in the intense fervour that informs the
whole passage — which is not a measured expres-
sion of the Apostle's thanks to God, but can be
literally described as an inextinguishable burst
of praise. Its keynote is struck in the opening
word — "Blessed!" Note the reiteration of the
term: ''Blessed be God who hath blessed us with
every spiritual blessing!" It is easy to perceive
where Paul's mind and heart were when he was
writing down these words. When a man's lips
can frame only this one word — "Blessing, bless-
ing, blessing!" we know what is in his heart.
We should not fail to observe the ingenious, and
more than ingenious, for it is the ingenuity of the
heart, correlation of the term "Blessed" here, as
applied to God, with the same term as applied to
man. Paul blesses God because God has so highly
blessed man: only, God blesses with deeds while
man can bless Him only with words. But the
thing to be especially observed is the joyful grat-
itude, the delighted wonder, the swelling praise

PAUL^ GREAT THANKSGIVING 263

that fills the Apostle's heart, as he contemplates
what man has received in the salvation of Christ.
He thinks and speaks of it as summing up in
itself every conceivable good. Blessed be God!
he cries. Why? Because He hath blessed us!
How.? With every possible blessing! For that
is what this outburst of praise means. Every
conceivable blessing, says Paul, is poured out on
us in the salvation in Christ. And the form of
the language shows that he means this to the utter-
most.

As the Apostle goes on to describe the blessings
received in the salvation in Christ, it would almost
seem as if his pen had run away with him. Only
it is not a matter of the pen, but of the heart: it
is not a question of words, but of the feelings. But
it must needs be confessed that the Apostle has
so accumulated phrases at this point in the fervour
of his emotions of gratitude and praise that it is
very diflficult to follow him in his heaped-up
epithets. He is not content to say that in the
salvation in Christ, God has blessed us with
"every kind of blessing." He adds two further
characterizations which seem to pile Pelion on
Ossa and which distress us as we unavailingly
strive to rise to the height of the great argument.
"Blessed be God," he cries, "who hath blessed
us — in every kind of spiritual blessing — in the
heavenlies — in Christ." What are we to make of
this chain of threefold enhancement?

264 FAITH AND LIFE

No wonder the commentators are divided as
to how the successive clauses are to be related to
one another. When the heart speaks, there is
such a fullness of meaning that the analyzing
.understanding stands sometimes aghast at the
task set it. Are we, it asks, to take these clauses
in one continuous string, each qualifying the im-
mediately preceding? Or, are we to take them
as parallel to one another, each further explaining,
in the light of the preceding, the one matter of the
nature of the blessing adverted to? In other
words, is this what Paul praises God for — "that
He has blessed us in the salvation in Christ with
every kind of Spirit-given blessing that is in the
heavenly places in Christ": so that he affirms
that all the blessings that heaven contains are
poured out on us by the Spirit, nay, that all the
blessings deposited in Christ, Christ the exalted
Conqueror of sin and death, seated now in heaven,
clothed with all power in heaven and earth in be-
half of His people, His body. His church, are lav-
ished on us by His Spirit sent forth to minister to
the heirs of salvation? Or is it rather this that
the Apostle praises God for — "that He has blessed
us with every possible kind of blessing that is
given by the Spirit of God — that is to say with
specifically heavenly things, supernatural things,
those precious heaven-born gifts which are so
much greater and more to be desired than any
earthly things — that is to say, rather, with Christ

PAUL'S GREAT THANKSGIVING ^5

himself, in whom are hidden not only all the
treasures of knowledge and wisdom, but of blessing
as well, and who is Himself so much greater than
all His gifts that in Him are summed up all and
more than all that we can mean by every kind of
blessing"? One or the other of these things is
what Paul seems to have meant. It is hard to
say which: and it is probable that expositors will
always differ as to which.

It does not seem to be of much importance, to
be sure, after which fashion we analyze this great
utterance of a full heart. For in either case, has
not Paul said everything that could be said, to
declare the blessing that has come to men in the
salvation in Christ the supremest blessing man
can conceive, nay, as "what eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, and what hath entered not into the
heart of man, what God hath prepared for them
that love him.^^" As he permits what God has
prepared for them that love Him to display itself
before his astonished eyes, Paul is overwhelmed
with a sense of the blessing it brings to sin-laden
men. What wonder if we are overwhelmed with
his description of what he saw! What God has
prepared for them that love Him ! Ah ! here is the
key-note of the passage. It is all of God. It is
not of our deserving : it is not of our doing. It is
all of God. It is, therefore, that Paul blessed
God for it all with such fervour of language. Were
it of man, in any of its items, so far the voice of

266 FAITH AND LIFE

his praise would be stilled. And it is, therefore,
that he simply sows his expressions of grateful
praise with asseverations of the origin of all our
blessings in Christ in God's gracious purpose, and
with acclamations of praise to Him alone for its
gift. The fundamental note in all Paul's praise is
the note of "soli Deo gloria." All that comes to
man in this salvation is of the grace of God alone,
a grace prepared of God in eternity past, poured
out on us now in the sovereign work of the Spirit,
and to abide on us to the eternities to come in ac-
cordance with His gracious purpose — all to the
praise of the glory of His grace. It is for this
cause, says the Apostle, that when he heard that
his readers now believed in Christ, he turned his
eyes in thanksgiving to God — ^because to believe
in Christ is of God, and he that believes in Christ
is in the hands of His unutterable grace. It is
obviously only another way of saying that "if
God be for us, there is none who can be against
us." And it is this thought that moves the Apos-
tle with the deepest emotion of praise.

SPIRITUAL STRENGTHENING

Eph. 3:14-19, especially 16: — "That he would grant you, accord-
ing to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with
power through his Spirit in the inward man."

This certainly may be fairly called one of the
great passages of the Bible. Note the series of
great topics which are adverted to in it: the in-
ward strengthening of the children of God by the
Holy Ghost, the continual abiding of Christ in
their hearts, their rooting and grounding in love,
their enlargement in spiritual apprehension, even
to the knowledge of the unknowable, their filling
with all the fullness of God. Surely here is a cat-
alogue of great things for God's people! These
great topics do not lie on one level, however, set
side by side as parallel facts, but are exhibited
in special relations the one to the other. Paul is
praying here for these high blessings to descend
on the Ephesian Christians. But he does not
pray for them simply as a bunch of blessings, arbi-
trarily selected to be on this occasion sought at
the great Father's hands — the Father of these
Ephesian Christians too, because He is the God
of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews, and from
Him every fatherdom derives its name. Here are
rather a connected body of blessings which go
naturally together: one being the ground and an-

267

268 FAITH AND LIFE

other the effect of the one great thing he craves
for his readers.

The central thing he prays for is spiritual
strengthening. "I bow my knees to the Father
that He may give to you to be strengthened by
His Spirit in respect to the inner man." Spiritual
strengthening, then, that is the main thing that
he prays for. By the mere term "spiritual
strengthening" two things might be suggested to
us. We might think of spiritual as distinguished
from physical strengthening. Or we might think
of strengthening by the Spirit as distinguished
from some earthly agency. The Apostle's prayer
includes both ideas. He prays that we may be
strengthened in the inner man; that is, for the
strengthening of our spirit, in distinction from the
body. And he prays that we may be strength-
ened with respect to the inner man by God's
Spirit; that is, for the Divine strengthening of our
inward man. And this, I say, is the substance of
his prayer — that we may be strengthened with
respect to the inner man by the Spirit of God.
All else is descriptive of this and tells us what it is,
and what it results in ; and so enhanees our idea of
what spiritual strengthening is.

First, Paul tells us somewhat further what it is.
It is identical, he tells us, with the abiding of
Christ by faith in our hearts. Of course it is not
absolutely certain what the relation of this second
clause is to its predecessor. It might express the

SPIRITUAL STRENGTHENING 269

aim or end of the spiritual strengthening, or (what
comes to practically the same thing) its result, as
well as (as we should take it), its more precise ex-
planation. As it is followed by a series of ex-
pressly telic clauses, formally introduced by the
proper telic particle, it would seem most natural
to take it as epexegetical of the preceding clause.
"I bow my knees to the Father, . . . that He may
give to you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with might as to the inner
man — to wit, that Christ may abide in your
hearts by faith." To be sure, the sense would not
be essentially different if we took it otherwise — ^to
the end that, or so that, Christ may abide in your
hearts by faith. In the one case it tells what the
spiritual strengthening consists in — ^it is identical
with the abiding of Christ in the heart; in the other,
what it eventuates in, — it issues in the abiding
of Christ in the heart. In either case the thing to
be noted is that it is not the coming of Christ into
the heart that is spoken of, but His abiding in the
heart; and that it is just this idea that receives
the emphasis in the sentence, the position of the
words being such as to throw a strong stress on
"abiding."

Two things result from this. The first is, that
Christ is supposed to have already entered the
hearts of those whom the Apostle is praying for.
It is not a question of His coming but of His abid-
ing. The Apostle is not praying that his readers

270 FAITH AND LIFE

should be converted; but, presuming their con-
version, that they may be spiritually strengthened.
The second result is that the spiritual strength-
ening is contingent on, or let us rather say, is
dependent on the abiding presence of Christ in
their hearts. The indwelling Christ is the source
of the Christian's spiritual strength. This is, of
com-se, not to set aside the Holy Spirit. But he
has read his New Testament to little purpose who
would separate the Holy Spirit and Christ:
Christ abides in the heart by the Spirit. The
indwelling of the Holy Ghost is the means of
the indwelling of Christ and the two are one and
the same great fact. We are strengthened in the
inner man with might by the Holy Spirit, be-
cause by the operation of the Spirit in our hearts,
Christ abides there — thus and not otherwise.
And here we learn then the source of the Chris-
tian's strength. Christ is the ultimate source.
His indwelling is the ground of all our strength.
But it is only by the Spirit — the executive of the
Godhead in this sphere too — that Christ dwells in
the heart. It is the Spirit that strengthens us,
and He so strengthens us that He gives us
"might" in our inner man. The way He does
this is by forming Christ within us.

The Apostle is one of the most fecund writers
extant, and thus it happens that he does not leave
the matter even there. It is by the Spirit that
Christ dwells in us — that is the objective fact.

SPIRITUAL STRENGTHENING 271

But there is a subjective fact too, and the Apos-
tle does not fail to touch it — it is by our faith,
too, that Christ dwells in us. "That Christ may
abide in your hearts by your faith," he says. He
does not say "by faith" merely, though he might
well have said that, and it would have covered the
whole necessary idea. But, in his habitual full-
ness of expression, he puts in the article, and thus
implies that he recognizes their faith as already
existent. They are Christians, they already be-
lieve, Christ is already dwelling in them by faith;
he prays that He may abide in them by their
faith. The stress is everywhere laid on contin-
uance. May God strengthen your inner man, he
says, by His Spirit. That is to say, he adds, may
that Christ whom ye have received into your
hearts by faith abide continuously in your hearts
by that faith of yours. As much as to say, Christ
is brought into your hearts by the Holy Ghost.
He abides there by that Holy Ghost. May God
thus continually strengthen your hearts by His
Spirit, and that, even with might. I pray to Him
for it, for it is He that gives it. But do not think,
therefore, that you may lose hold on Christ. It
is equally true that He abides in your hearts by
your faith. When faith fails, so do the signs of
His presence within: the strengthening of the
Spirit and the steady burning of the flame of
faith are correlative. As well expect the ther-
mometer to stand still with the temperature

272 FAITH AND LIFE

varying as the height of your faith not to index
the degree of your strength. Your strength is
grounded in the indwelhng Christ, wrought by
the Spirit by means of faith.

Thus we have laid before us the sources of the
Christian's strength. It is rooted in Christ, the
Christ within us, abiding there by virtue of the
Spirit's action quickening and upholding faith in
us. And only as by the Spirit our faith is kept
firm and clear, will Christ abide in us, and will
we accordingly be strong in the inner man.

Such then is the nature and source of the Chris-
tian's strengthening. What does it issue in.^
How does it exhibit itself.? Briefly, the Apostle
tells us, in love and knowledge. "May God
grant you," he says, "to be strengthened as to
the inner man by His Spirit, that is, the abiding
presence of Christ in your hearts, to the end that
being rooted and grounded in love, you may be
fully enabled to apprehend. ..." The end of
the prayer is, then, expansion of spiritual appre-
hension. May God grant that you may be
strengthened with might ... to the end that you
may be full of strength to apprehend. The ap-
propriate result of strengthening is that they may
have full strength. The Apostle accumulates
words expressive of strength to enhance the idea.
He uses three separate words, but all impinging
on the one idea, that he wishes his readers by
the Holy Spirit's operations to be raised to the

SPIRITUAL STRENGTHENING 273

capacity of spiritual apprehension indicated.
"God grant that ye may be empowered (relative
and manifested power) with might (inherent
general power), with which ye may have full
strength (as your own endowment) to appre-
hend. ..." This then is the proximate end of the
prayer: Expansion of heart for the apprehension
of spiritual things. "God grant that you may be
strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit in
the inner man, that you may have full strength
to apprehend. ..." These things to be appre-
hended are too great for man's natural powers
He must have new strength from on high given
him to compass them. He may by the Spirit be
raised to a higher potency of apprehension for
them. God grant it to you !

What are these things .^^ The Apostle speaks
quite generally about them. He says "that ye
may have full strength to apprehend with all the
saints, what is the breadth and length and height
and depth. ..." His mind is for the moment
not on the thing itself but on the bigness of the
thing. It is because the thing is so big that they
need strengthening in the inner man before they
have full strength to apprehend it. Yet it is not
something for these special readers alone, but for
all Christians. This strengthening the Apostle
asks for is the heritage of the saints. The Apostle
prays not that we may be expanded in spiritual
apprehension by these great ideas, but up to

274 FAITH AND LIFE

them. This expanding is not to be done by them,
but by the Holy Ghost. To enhance our con-
ception of how big they are, he gives us a sample, —
for that the last clause here is not adjoined as a
parallel but as a subordinate clause seems indi-
cated by the particle by which it is adjoined and
as well by the concluding words "unto the whole
fullness of God," which appear to return to a
quite general idea : that ye may have full strength
to apprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and height and depth and to know the
"knowledge-surpassing love of Christ."

Here is a sample of the broad and wide and high
and deep knowledge to apprehend which we need
to have our minds stretched: the quality of the
love of Christ. It is too high for us; we cannot
attain unto it. Do we wonder that the thing the
Apostle prays for is that we should be strength-
ened in the inner man by the Spirit of God, that
we may have full strength to apprehend this?
Do we wonder that he speaks of this and such
knowledge as too broad and wide and high and
deep for us, not to be apprehended save by him
in whose heart Christ abides? If, indeed, Christ
be in us — then, possibly, we may know Christ
without us. But surely in no other way. Here
then is the gist of the matter, as to the end of our
strengthening in the inner man. It is to give us
full strength for the apprehension of these great
and incomparable mysteries of our faith.

SPIRITUAL STRENGTHENING 275

But in that fullness of the Apostolic speech
to which we have already alluded, Paul does not
content himself with simply saying this. He so
says it as both to suggest an intermediate step
in the attainment of this large spiritual appre-
hension, and to indicate a still higher goal. He
suggests, I say, an intermediate step. He does
not say simply, " God grant you spiritual strength-
ening, that you may have enlarged spiritual ap-
prehension." He says, "God grant you spiritual
strengthening that, having been rooted and
grounded in love, you may have enlarged spiritual
apprehension." Here then is an intermediate
link between the strengthening by the Spirit and
the enlargement of our spiritual understanding.
It is "love." The proximate effect of the Spirit's
work in empowering the inner man with might is
not knowledge but love; and the proximate cause
of our enlarged spiritual apprehension is not the
strengthening of our inner man, but love. The
Spirit does not immediately work this enlargement
of mind in us; He immediately works love, and
only through working this love, enlarges our ap-
prehension. The Holy Ghost "sheds love abroad
in our hearts." Love is the great enlarger. It is
love which stretches the intellect. He who is
not filled with love is necessarily small, withered,
shrivelled in his outlook on life and things. And
conversely he who is filled with love is large and
copious in his apprehensions, Only he can ap-

276 FAITH AND LIFE

prehend with all saints what is the breadth and
length and height and depth of things. The
order of things in spiritual strengthening is there-
fore: (1) the working by the Spirit of a true faith
in the heart, and the cherishing by the Spirit of
this faith in a constant flame; (2) the abiding of
Christ by this faith in the heart; (3) the shedding
abroad of love in the soul and its firm rooting in
the heart; (4) the enlargement of the spiritual
apprehension to know the unknowable greatness
of the things of Christ.

There is yet one further step, for even this spir-
itual apprehension is not its own end. "God
grant," says the Apostle, "that you may be em-
powered with might by the Spirit, so to have
full strength to apprehend the great things of
God" — but he does not stop there. He adds "to
the end that you may be filled unto the whole full-
ness of God." Here is the goal at last. And
what a goal it is! We were weak — ^for it was
"when we were without strength" that Christ
died for us. We are to be strengthened, strength-
ened by the Spirit, by means of the constant in-
dwelling of Christ, the source of all good. We are
to be strengthened so as to know, to know the
great things of God (read some of them in the
parallel passage. Col. 1 :11). But not that we may
know for the mere sake of knowing. What good
would such a bare knowing do us? We are to
know that we may be "filled unto all the full-

SPIRITUAL STRENGTHENING 277

ness of God." Look at this standard of fullness.
"Unto" — not "with" — it is the standard, not the
material. God's fullness is not to be poured into
us; we are to be raised toward that standard of
fullness, not in one particular but in all — unto the
whole fullness of God. It may mean unto the
fullness which God possesses; or it may mean
unto the fullness which He provides. It may
mean either that the enlargement of our spiritual
apprehension is a means toward obtaining all
the wonderful goods that God has in store for us;
or it may mean that by it we shall be brought to a
height of attainment comparable only to His at-
tainments. No matter which it means. It is
enough in either meaning for any Christian's hope.
But there is no reason to doubt that it does mean
the greatest thing: we shall be filled unto the
whole fullness of God. We shall be like Him,
and like Him only of all Beings in the universe.
It is a giddy height to which our eyes are thus
raised. No wonder we need spiritual strength-
ening to discern the summit of this peak of
promise.

Of course it does not mean that we are to be
transmuted into God, so that each of us will be
able to assert a right to a place of equality in the
universe with God. Of course, again, it does not
mean that God is to be transfused into us, so that
we shall be God, part of His very essence. It
means just what it says, that God presents the

278 FAITH AND LIFE

standard towards which we, Christian men, are to
be assimilated. We are to be made like Him,
holy as He is holy, pure as He is pure. Our eyes,
even in the depths of eternity, will seek Him tow-
ering eternally above us as our unattainable
standard towards which we shall ever be as-
cending, but we shall be like Him; He and we
shall belong to one class, the class of holy beings.
We shall no longer be like the Devil, whose chil-
dren we were until we were delivered from his
kingdom and translated into the kingdom of God's
dear Son. No more shall we be what we were as
men in this world, still separated from God by a
gulf of moral difference, a difference so great that
we are almost tempted to call it a difference of
kind and not merely of degree. Nay, we shall,
perhaps, be more like God than even the holy
angels are; in our head, Christ Jesus, we shall be
in Him who in a pre-eminent sense is like God.
The process of the "filling" may take long; it is
but barely begun for most of us in this life; but
that is the standard and that the goal — "we shall
be filled unto the fullness of God"; and it shall
never cease. Such is the goal of the spiritual
strengthening spoken of in our text.

THE FULLNESS OF GOD

Eph. 3:14-19, especially v. 19:— "That ye may be filled unto all
the fullness of God."

The Epistle to the Ephesians is the poem among
the Epistles. Its whole fabric is wrought in a
grandeur of language, corresponding to the lofti-
ness of its thought. The main subject of the
Epistle is God's infinite and unspeakable mercy to
the Gentiles, and the Apostle busies himself with
two chief ends. These are (1) to beget in his
readers an adequate sense of the immensity of
their privilege, in the mercy of God, in that He
has chosen them before the foundation of the
world, redeemed them in Christ and called them
by the Spirit out of their former Gentile darkness
and alienation to be sharers in the glorious fight
of the Gospel, and to be admitted into the very
household of God; and (2) to quicken them to a
proper apprehension of the duties that grow out
of their changed relation and life.

The noble prayer of the Apostle's, which the
present passage constitutes, stands at the end
of the first section of the letter. Li that section
he has described in the most lofty and glowing lan-
guage the privileges which have been so freely
granted his readers by God, in Christ. That
section had been, it is true, closed at the end of

279

280 FAITH AND LIFE

the second chapter; and the Apostle begins the
third chapter with a clause meant to make the
transition to the* second subject that weighed on
his heart, the duties, arising from their very con-
dition, pressing upon his readers. But he has no
sooner begun the transition than he interrupts
himself to give expression to a thought which
struggled within him for utterance, concerning
the relation of his own apostleship to the announce-
ment of God's unsearchable riches to the Gentiles.
Having unburdened his soul with praise to God
for calling him to be the instrument in His hands
for working out this glorious broadening of the
boundaries of His Church, he resumes the sen-
tence that had been broken off and makes the
transition to the declaration of the duties of his
readers, once more resumed, by means of a fer-
vent prayer to God for their perfection in the
Christian life.

This prayer is one of the most wonderful pas-
sages ever penned even by this wonderful Apostle.
Look at it in its parts.

First, we observe to whom the prayer is offered.
It is to "the Father," name of love and gratitude.
But note how the Apostle expresses his sense of
what this word "Father" means when applied to
the all-merciful and all-glorious God. He calls
Him not merely "the Father" but "the Father
from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth
is named." His is not a figurative fatherhood;

THE FULLNESS OF GOD 281

He is not addressed as Father because we find
some things in Him which remind us of the ten-
derness and love of our parents and so apply to
Him, as in a figure, the name we have learned to
love in them. On the contrary, His is the normal
fatherhood; His is not derived by figure from
theirs, but theirs is the poor and broken shadow
of His. He is the Father of our Lord and Sav-
iour Jesus Christ: the gloss, though a gloss, is a
correct interpretation, and the closeness and in-
timacy and love of that relation is the norm from
which every fatherhood in heaven and earth is
named. What we know of fatherhood — dear as
the name has become to us through our earthly
relations — is but a faint shadow of what He, the
true Father, first of Christ and then of us in
Christ, is to His children. After his glowing
outline of what God had done for his readers —
Gentiles as they were, born in sin and hitherto
living in sin — in receiving them into His very
household and making them its members, not
friends merely but His children, the Apostle's
fervour cannot address Him in less full recognition
of His glorious fatherhood than this: the Father
of fathers, the normal, perfect, ideal father, of
which all other fatherhood is but a broken and
poor imitation, — "the Father, of whom every
fatherhood in heaven and earth is named."

Next, let us observe the measure of the gifts
prayed for: "according to the riches of his glory."

282 FAITH AND LIFE

No earthly measure, but only according to the
richness of that glory of the great God pictured
in His majesty, power and love in all the preced-
ing chapters. The gifts of Him who giveth to all
men liberally, were according, not to their desert,
not to their prospective usefulness, not even ac-
cording to their needs which are greater than
either, but away above all these, according to the
riches of God's glory — the glory of the Father
from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth
is named.

Next, observe the thing that is prayed for, in
this marvellous prayer. And here there is a be-
ginning and a middle and an end. The blessing
which the Apostle craves for the Ephesians is
nothing less than this: that they may be filled
unto all the fullness of God, that is, that all of
God's inestimable treasures of spiritual blessings
— life, strength, love, holiness, — shall be poured
out immeasurably imto them, — ^that they should
be filled with all those spiritual perfections which
assimilate them to the fullness of God.

The Apostle craves nothing less than that divine
perfection which belongs to children of God, for
his readers. But he knows that God does not
deal magically with His children: there are
means without which the end is not to be had.
And this end of Christian perfection of life and
heart, the being holy as God the Father is holy,
the being perfect as God is perfect, is not to be

THE FULLNESS OF GOD 283

had save in the path which God has marked out as
leading to the goal. And the Apostle prays not
for the goal but for the path which leads to the
goal. Knowledge is in order to holiness and it is
knowledge of the Gospel for which Paul prays for
his readers, that they may by it be enabled to
be "filled unto all the fullness of God." He prays
that they may "apprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and
depth," and that they may "know the love of
Christ that passeth knowledge." It is this love
of Christ that he has been speaking to them about
for the whole of the Epistle, the love of Christ
that led Him to immolate Himself for them be-
fore the foundation of the world, that led Him to
come into the world and suffer and die for them in
the fullness of time, that led Him now that He
has been taken up to the Father's right hand to
send forth the Spirit to call them inwardly, and
the Apostle to call them outwardly. This love
of Christ which the Apostle would have them
know, in order that they may become holy, is
briefly comprehended in the Gospel. And he
prays for them to have an adequate apprehension
of the riches of the "Gospel," the glad tidings of
Christ's love, in order that they may be filled unto
all the fullness of God.

But why pray for such knowledge? Is knowl-
edge to be had by prayer, or by publication.'^
Certainly not without publication, and Paul had

284 FAITH AND LIFE

published it in his long visits in Ephesus and his
journeys through Asia; and he had just repub-
lished it in the whole of the former part of this
Epistle. But such knowledge as he desires for
his readers is not to be had by mere publication.
It is not merely that they may hear the Gospel,
not merely that they may be, in an intellectual
and mechanical way, informed that nothing can
account for Christ's work but love, love compelling
Him to leave His glory behind Him in heaven
and come to earth as a servant to save men, that
he wishes for them. He wants them to under-
stand, feel, and realize this; in the language of the
present passage, to apprehend it in its height and
breadth and length and depth : to have a realizing
sense of it. For this, something more than mere
informing is needed: even a preparation of the
heart. Let the husbandman fling the seed never
so widely and strew them never so thickly: if
there is no prepared soil, how can he hope to have
a harvest? So the knowledge which the Apostle
desires for his readers is not merely external mind-
knowledge, but the real knowledge of full feeling
and apprehension; knowledge not of the mere
head but of the heart. And for this, something
more is needed than the mere proclaiming of the
Gospel, which may be grasped in its propositions
by the mere mechanical action of the intellect:
even a new heart. Spirit-made and Spirit-deter-
mined.

THE FULLNESS OF GOD 285

Accordingly, this is not all that the Apostle
prays for. As this is a means to the end sought,
that they may be filled unto all the fullness of
God, so there is a means even to this means —
that the Spirit should prepare their hearts. And
this also he prays for: "that ye may be strength-
ened with power, through His Spirit, in the in-
ward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith." This is first. Then, this is to
"the end that being rooted and grounded in
love, ye may apprehend and know the love of
Christ." This is second. Then, this knowledge
is in order that we may be "filled unto all the
fullness of God." This is the end of all.

We note then first of all, the comprehensiveness
of this prayer. Is there any blessing not pro-
vided for in it.f^ That our souls may be taken
possession of by the Spirit and Christ may dwell
in us by faith. That we may have a perfect and
realizing knowledge of the Gospel. That we may
be filled unto the very fullness of God. Is there
any good thing lacking?

Next we note the significant order of the re-
quests. First, the work of the Spirit in the
heart; second, the realizing knowledge of the
Gospel; third, the Christian life. Men some-
times seek other orders. We hear the cry around
us daily of first the life, then the doctrine. Paul's
order is, first the doctrine, then the life. We
hear the cry around us of first know, then believe.

FAITH AND LIFE

Paul's order is, first believe, then know. And as
this is of theological importance to-day, as well
as of practical importance in all days, observe it
more closely. We have confined ourselves to
broad outlines. Paul, however, writes with such
rich fullness that every detail is counted in, in
its proper place. What in detail is his order of
salvation .f^ Just this: first, the Gospel is pro-
claimed; secondly, there is the preparation of the
heart by the Spirit; thirdly, then faith and Christ's
indweUing through faith; fourthly, through this
indwelling we grow strong to apprehend the truth
of Christ's love; fifthly, by this apprehended
knowledge we are enabled to live a Christian life.
Search and look : and you will find the same order
everywhere in Paul and in the New Testament.

We observe then, finally, that the prayer that
Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith is the
opening prayer to a series. This is not the end
but the beginning: and just because it is a Di-
vine beginning it is a beginning that has in itself
the promise and pledge of the end. If we have
this we will have all.

(1) It itself rests on a preparation of the heart
by the Spirit : " That ye may be strengthened with
power through the Spirit in the inward man."
The idea here is a communication of power to the
soul. We almost seem to be reading the West-
minster Confession, for exactly what "power"
here means is "ability." The soul then lacks

THE FULLNESS OF GOD 287

"ability" until moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
The whole soul is there; the Spirit does not give
it more faculties. But it is weak. The action of
the Spirit is to strengthen it and the strengthening
takes place by an infusion of "ability." Now the
soul can exercise faith, and it exercises it. Faith
lays hold of Christ. And so the enabled soul
through faith obtains the indwelling of Christ.
This indwelling of Christ is mediated by faith,
and the exercise of faith is rendered possible by
the strengthening of the soul by the Holy Ghost,
by the infusion of "power," "ability."

(2) It consists in the constant presence of
Christ in the soul. Presence is predicated of God
wherever He manifests Himself, whether in the
Temple by the Shekinah or in Israel or in the
Church or in the individual. The indwelling of
Christ is then the manifestation of Christ's power.
The agent by which Christ manifests Himself to
the soul is the Holy Ghost. So that the indwell-
ing of Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit is
one and the same. But the Spirit does not enter
the soul to separate Christ and the believer but to
unite them, and hence this indwelling draws
Christ and the soul into communion. Christ
dwells in us, that is, is present in us, quickening
all our activities and making us but members of
His body of which He is the directing Head.

(3) It issues hence into all Christian senti-
ments and activities. First the Apostle mentions

288 FAITH AND LIFE

love; "being rooted and grounded in love" is
the intermediate step to the apprehension of
Christ's love. Love apprehends love. Out of
this Christ-filled and Christ-led heart, we are able
to see His love and to appreciate it. Hence, next,
knowledge. And then, out of this knowledge,
life.

Now, observe as to Christ's indwelling: (1)
Christ may dwell in us; (2) He dwells in us
through faith; (3) His dwelling in us is the source
of all our knowledge of the Gospel and of all our
Christian walk.

THE SEALING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Eph. 4:30: — "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom
ye were sealed unto the day of redemption."

It is Paul's custom in his epistles to prepare
for exhortation by the enunciation of truth; to
lay first the foundation of fact and doctrine, and
on that foundation to raise his appeals for con-
duct. The Epistle to the Ephesians is no excep-
tion to this rule. The former chapters of this
epistle are a magnificent exposition of doctrine, a
noble presentation to Paul's readers of what God
has done for them in election and redemption and
calling, and of the great privileges which they
have obtained in Christ. To this he adjoins,
according to his custom, a ringing appeal, based
on this exposition of truth and privilege. This
appeal to his readers is to live up to their privi-
leges, or, in his own words, to walk worthily of
the calling wherewith they were called. The
whole latter or practical part of the letter is thus
expressly based on the former or doctrinal part.
And this is true of the exhortations in detail as
well as in general. Paul wrote always with vital
connectedness. There never was a less artificial
writer, and none of his epistles bears more evi-
dent traces than the Epistle to the Ephesians of
having been written, as the Germans say, "at a

289

290 FAITH AND LIFE

single gush." All here is of a piece, and part is
concatenated with part in the intimate connec-
tion which arises out of — not artificial effort to
obtain logical consecution — but the living flow of
a heart full of a single purpose.

Take, as an example, the beautiful appeal of our
text. The Apostle is not perfunctorily or me-
chanically repeating a set phrase, a pious plati-
tude. He is making an appeal, out of a full
heart, to just the readers he has in mind, in just
their situation; and under the impulse of his own
vivid appreciation of their peculiar state and con-
dition. On the basis of the privileges they had
received in Christ he had exliorted them gener-
ally to an accordant inner and outer conduct; and
he had presented these general exhortations both
positively and negatively. Now he has come to
details. He has enumerated several of the sins
to which they in their situation were liable, per-
haps, in a special degree, sins of falsehood, wrath,
theft, unbecoming speech. Shall they, they, the
recipients of this new life and all these Divine
favours, fall into such sins ? He suddenly broadens
the appeal into an earnest beseeching not so to
grieve the Holy Spirit of God in w^hom they were
sealed unto the day of redemption. That they,
too, had this sealing, had he not just told them?
Nay, had he not just pointed them to it as to
their most distinguishing grace .^^ It is not by a
new or a merely general motive by which he would

THE SEALING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 291

move their hearts. It is distinctly by the motive
to which he had already adverted and which he
had made their own. It was because he had
taught them to understand and feel that they,
even they, Gentiles according to the flesh, had
been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, as
an earnest of their inheritance, and could count
on this being a living and moving motive in their
minds — or rather it is because he himself felt this
great truth as real and as a motive of power — that
he adduces it here to move them to action.

If we are«to feel the motive power in the appeal
as Paul felt it and as he desired his readers to feel
it, we must approach it as he approached it and
as he desired them to approach it, namely,
through a preliminary apprehension and appre-
ciation of the fact underlying the appeal and giving
it force. To do this we should approach the con-
sideration of the text under some such logical an-
alysis of its contents as the following. First, we
should consider the great fact on which the appeal
is based, namely, that Christians have been sealed
by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption.
Secondly, we should consider the nature of this
sealing Spirit as the Holy Spirit, and the pain
which all sin must bring to Him as the indwelling
and sealing Spirit. Thirdly, we should consider
the nature and strength of the motive thence
arising to us, who are the recipients of His grace,
to refrain from the sin which grieves Him, and

292 FAITH AND LIFE

to seek the life of holiness which pleases Him.
Time would fail us, however, on this occasion
fully to develop the contents of these proposi-
tions. Let us confine ourselves to a few brief
remarks on (1) the nature of the basal fact on
which Paul founds his appeal, as to our position
as Christians; and (2) the nature of the motive
which he seeks to set in action by his appeal.

The fundamental fact on which Paul, in the
text, bases his appeal to a holy life is that his
readers, because Christians, "have been sealed
in the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption."
Now, "sealing" expresses authentication or se-
curity, or, perhaps, we may say, authentication
and security. It is, then, the security of the
Christian's salvation which is the fact appealed
to; the Christian is "sealed," authenticated as a
redeemed one, and made secure as to the comple-
tion of the redemption; for he is sealed unto the
day of redemption.

The reference to Paul's teaching, in a former
chapter, as to the grace given to his readers, will
help us to understand the fact here adduced as a
motive to action. There we have the fuller state-
ment, that these Christians had had the Word of
the Truth, the Gospel of salvation, preached to
them; that they had heard it, and had believed
it; and then, that they had been "sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise," in other words, the Holy
Spirit who works out all the promises to us to

THE SEALING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 293

fruition; "who," adds the Apostle, "is an earnest
of our inheritance," an earnest being more than a
pledge, inasmuch as it is both a pledge and a part
of the inheritance itself. Then the Apostle tells
us unto what we were thus sealed by the Holy
Spirit of promise, who is Himself an earnest of
our inheritance, namely, "unto the redemption of
God's own possession" unto the praise of His
glory.

Let us read these great words backwards, that
we may grasp their full import. Christians are
primarily the purchased possession of God: God
has purchased them to Himself by the precious
blood of His Son. But, the purchase is one
thing, and "the delivery of the goods" another.
Their redemption is, therefore, not completed
by the simple purchase. There remains, accord-
ingly, a "day of redemption" yet in the future,
unto which the purchased possession is to be
brought. Meanwhile, because we are purchased
and are God's possession, we are sealed to Him
and to the fulfilment of the redemption, to take
place on that day. And the seal is the Holy
Spirit, here designated as the "Holy Spirit of
promise" because it is through Him that this
promise is to be fulfilled; and the "earnest of our
inheritance" because He is both the pledge that
the inheritance shall be ours, and a foretaste of
that inheritance itself. The whole is a most
pointed assertion that those who have been bought

294 FAITH AND LIFE

by the blood of Christ, and brought to God by the
preached Gospel, shall be kept by His power unto
the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the
last day.

The great fact on which Paul bases his appeal
is, therefore, the fact of the security of believers,
of the preservation by God of His children, of the
"perseverance of the saints" — to use time-hon-
oured theological language. We are sealed, ren-
dered secure, by the Holy Ghost, unto the day of
redemption: we are sealed by the Holy Spirit,
the fulfiller of the promises, and the earnest of
our inheritance, unto the full redemption of us,
who are God's purchased possession. The fact
the Apostle adverts to is, in a word, that our sal-
vation is sure.

How is this a motive to holiness.^ Men say
that security acts rather as a motive to careless-
ness. Well, we observe at least that the Apostle
does not think so, but uses it rather as a motive to
holiness. Because we have been sealed by the
Spirit of God, he reasons^ let us not grieve Him by
sin. Men may think that a stronger appeal might
be based on fear lest we fall from the Spirit's
keeping; as if Paul should rather have said. Be-
cause you can be kept only by the Spirit, beware
lest you grieve Him away by sinning. But Paul's
actual appeal is not to fear but to gratitude. Be-
cause you have been sealed by the Spirit unto the
day of redemption, see to it that you do not grieve.

THE SEALING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 295

bring pain or sorrow to this Spirit, who has done
so much for you.

It is not to be denied, of course, that the motive
of fear is a powerful one, a legitimate one to ap-
peal to, and one which in its due place is appealed
to constantly in the Scriptures. It is, no doubt, a
relatively lower motive than that here appealed
to by Paul; but as Bishop Doane once truly said,
most men are more amenable to appeals addressed
to the lower than to those addressed to the higher
motives. When men cease to be of a low mind,
we can afford to deal with them on a higher plane.
I have no sympathy, therefore, with the view,
often expressed, that man must not be urged to
save his soul by an appeal to his interests, by an
appeal to the joys of heaven or to the pains of
torment. You all know the old story of how St.
Iddo, once, when he journeyed abroad, met an
old crone with a pitcher of water in one hand and
a torch ablaze in the other, who explained that
the torch was to burn up heaven and the water to
quench hell, that men might no longer seek to
please God because of desire for one or fear of the
other, but might be led only by disinterested love.
History says that St. Iddo went home wondering.
Well he might. For on such teachings as this
he should have to forego the imitation of his Lord,
who painted to men the delights of the heavenly
habitations and forewarned men to fear him who
has power after he has destroyed the body also

296 FAITH AND LIFE

to cast into hell, where, so He says, their worm
dieth not and the fire is not quenched. The mo-
tives of fear of punishment and vision of reward,
though relatively low motives, are yet legitimate
motives, and are, in their own place, valuable.

But the Apostle teaches us in our present pas-
sage that the higher motives too are for use and
in their own place are the motives to use. Do not
let us, as Christian ministers, assume that our
flocks, purchased by the blood of Christ, and
sealed unto the day of redemption by the Spirit,
are accessible only to the lowest motives. "Give
a dog a bad name," says the proverb, "and hang
him." And the proverb may be an allegory to us.
Deal with people on a low plane and they may
sink to that plane and become incapable of oc-
cupying any other. Cry to them, "Lift up your
hearts" and believe me you will obtain your re-
sponse. It is a familiar experience that, if you
treat a man as a gentleman, he will tend to act
like a gentleman; if you treat him like a thief,
only the grace of God and strong moral fibre can
hold him back from stealing. Treat Christian
men like Christian men; expect them to live on
Christian principles; and they will strive to walk
worthily of their Christian profession.

So far from Paul's appeal to the high motive of
gratitude here, then, being surprising, it is, even
on the low ground of natural psychology, true
and right. The highest motives are relatively

THE SEALING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 297

the most powerfuL And when we leave the low
ground of natural psychology and take our stand
on the higher ground of Christian truth, how sig-
nificant and instructive it is. If the Holy Spirit
has done this for me; if He in all His holiness is
dwelling in me, to seal me unto the day of re-
demption, shall I have no care not to grieve Him?
Fear is paralyzing. Despair is destruction of effort.
Hope is living and active in every limb, and when
that hope becomes assurance, and that assurance is
recognized as based on the act of a Person,' lovingly
dealing with us and winning us to holiness, can we
conceive of a motive to holiness of equal power .f^
Brethren, we must not speak of such things
historically only. We are not here simply to ob-
serve how Paul appealed to the Ephesians, as he
sought to move them to holy endeavor; nor to
discuss whether or not this is a moving manner of
dealing with human souls. His appeal is to us.
The fact asserted is true of us, — we are sealed by
the Holy Spirit to the day of redemption. He is
in us too as the Holy Spirit whom sin offends, and
as the loving Spirit who is working in us towards
good. Do we feel the pull of the appeal.? Shall
we listen to and feel and yield to and obey Paul's
great voice crying to us down through the ages:
"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God in whom ye
were sealed unto the day of redemption"? Com-
mune with your souls on these things to-day!

WORKING OUT SALVATION

Phil. 2:12, 13: — "So then, my beloved, even as ye have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for
it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good
pleasure."

Nothing could be more fundamental to Paul's
conception of salvation than his teaching as to its
relation to "works." He is persistently insistent
that this relation is that of cause rather than of
effect. The "not out of works, but unto good
works," of Ephesians 2:9, 10, sounds the key-
note of his whole teaching. In "good works,"
therefore, according to Paul "salvation" finds its
realization: the very essence of salvation is holi-
ness of life, " sanctification of the spirit." And
equally in "salvation" "good works" find their
only root: and it is only on the ground of the
saving work of God that men may be hopefully
exhorted to good works. As it is pregnantly
stated in the passage from Ephesians we have al-
ready adverted to, God has prepared beforehand
good works, to our walk in which we are intro-
duced by a creative act on His part, in Christ
Jesus (Eph. 2:10). Accordingly Paul's epistles
(as is the whole New Testament), are full of par-
ticular instances of appeals to conduct based on
the inception and working in us of the saving ac-

298

WORKING OUT SALVATION 299

tivity of God (e.g., 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 2:13-
15; Rom. 6:2; 2 Cor. 5:14; Col. 1:10; Phil. 1:21;
2:12, 13; 2 Tim. 2:19). Possibly in the words of
our text we meet with the most precise expression
of this appeal. Here the saint is exhorted to
"work out his own salvation" just because "it is
God who is the worker in him of both the willing
and the doing, in pursuance of His good pleasure."
If there is an antinomy involved in this colloca-
tion of duty and motive, it is in this passage cer-
tainly brought to its sharpest point. There are
also many minor matters of interest in the lan-
guage of the passage, which attract us to its study.
Let us try to see briefly just what the Apostle
says in it.

It will be useful to bear in mind from the be-
ginning that the exhortation is addressed not to
sinners but to saints: it is to "the saints in Christ
Jesus" (1:1), that Paul is speaking. That is to
say, this exhortation has reference not to entrance
into Christian life but to the prosecution to its
appropriate goal of a Christian life already entered
into. This is already advertised to us by the
very verb used. Paul does not say simply "work
your salvation," but "work out your salvation" —
employing a compound verb which throws its
emphasis on the end, "bring your salvation to its
completion." It is also involved in the contextual
connection. This exhortation closes a paragraph
which had begun (1:27) with the appeal, "Only

300 FAITH AND LIFE

let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of
Christ"; and it closes it with a reversion to the
same dominant thought. These Philippian read-
ers already stood with the Apostle in the fellow-
ship of the gospel : his earnest desire for them was
a complete realization in life of all that the gospel
meant. They had entered upon the race; let
them run it through to the goal. They had in
principle received salvation in believing; let them
work this salvation now completely out in life.
At the opening of the letter Paul had expressed
his confidence that, as God had begun a good work
in them. He would perfect it until the day of Jesus
Christ (1:6). He now exhorts them to strive to
attam the same high end. "Work out your own
salvation," i.e., work it completely out, advance
it to its accomplishment, bring it to its capstone
and crown it with its pinnacles.

Had it not been brought into doubt by some
students of the passage, it would seem a work of
supererogation to pause to assure ourselves that
what Paul has in mind in his exhortation to "work
out salvation" is primarily the attainment of
ethical perfection. The eschatological reference
of "salvation" must not, of course, be obscured.
But neither must it be obscured that the pathway
that leads to the eschatological goal of salvation
is that walk in good works unto which Christians
have been created in Christ Jesus, that "fruitage
of righteousness" which is through Jesus Christ

WORKING OUT SALVATION 301

unto the glory and praise of God, with which the
Apostle longs to see the Philippians filled "against
the day of Christ" (1:10, 11). When he exhorts
his readers at the close of this paragraph "to
work out their own salvation," he obviously has
the same thing in mind which he had at its be-
ginning, when he exhorted them to "let their
manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ";
and the same thing which he explains in the course
of it to include steadfastness in testimony to the
gospel, love to the brethren, humility of mind and
the like Christian virtues. In the acquisition and
cultivation of such graces they would be "working
out their salvation," realizing in life in its ever-
growing completeness what is involved in "sal-
vation" as its essential contents.

The form and language in which the exhortation
is cast are naturally coloured by the situation in
which the writer found himself at the moment
and the condition in which he conceived his
readers to stand. For the Apostle was no ab-
stract essayist, but wrote out of a burning heart,
as a practical man to practical men, eager to meet
the actually existent state of affairs. He had
himself been interrupted in the midst of his work
and cast into prison: he was labouring under deep
anxiety lest his violent removal from the care
of the infant churches should unfavorably affect
their Christian development. He had, there-
fore, already described at considerable length how

302 FATIH AND LIFE

his imprisonment had not elsewhere injured the
progress of the gospel (1:12 sq.), and had sought
to separate the Philippians from dependence on
his initiative (1:27). He very naturally reverts
to the same consideration now and makes his
absence from his hearers only a reason for re-
doubled exertions on their part, even hinting, per-
haps, that they should know that, after all, each
man must busy himself with "his own salvation,"
and the help he can obtain from others must be in-
significant. This surely is, in part at least, the
account to give of the emphatic pronoun — "work
out your own salvation" — immediately connected
as it is with the reference to the effect which his
presence or absence should have on their activity :
"not as if (you did so), only because I was pres-
ent, but now much rather because I am absent,
work out your own salvation." It is as much as
to say, that the things that have happened to me
fall out in your case, too, rather for the furtherance
of the gospel : for if you have ever in any measure
depended on me, my very removal should stir
you up to increased effort — for after all it is your
own salvation not my joy that is primarily at
stake for you. It is possible meanwhile that this
emphasis on "your own" may be, in part, due
also to a reference back to the work of Christ so
touchingly portrayed in the immediately preced-
ing context : if Christ was willing to do and suffer
all this for the salvation of others, should not you

WORKING OUT SALVATION 303

be willing to do and suffer in imitation of Him, for
your own salvation? But in any case the main
account of the emphasis thrown on the words
would seem to be found in the reference to his
readers' possible over-dependence on Paul's in-
itiative.

One of the chief dangers in which the Apostle
had found the Philippians to stand arose from a
tendency among them to pride and high-minded-
ness, or, rather, perhaps, we should say, to party
spirit, and to selfishness (2:1-4). It was, there-
fore, that he was led to devote the early part of
this chapter to urging them to beware of faction
and vainglory and to cultivate lowliness of mind:
and it was on this account that he adduces for
their imitation Christ's great example of self-
humiliation for the good of others (2:5 sq.). Of
course allusion to their most prominent ethical
danger could not be absent from this closing ex-
hortation, in which he sums up his desire for their
ethical perfection. It is natural, therefore, that
the Apostle, after his gracious conciliatory habit,
should pause at the outset to recognize the gen-
eral submissiveness of disposition which his readers
had hitherto shown, in accordance with the ex-
ample of Christ: for the back reference of the
words, "even as ye have always submitted," to
the "becoming submissive even unto death" of
verse 8 is unmistakable. And it is due, doubt-
less, to the same clause that he throws so strong

304 FAITH AND LIFE

an emphasis, in the very exhortation itself, on the
spirit in which they were to "work out their own
salvation," namely, "with fear and trembling,"
that is to say, with due recognition of their hum-
ble estate in the sight of that God whose servants
they were, and whose salvation they were now
exhorted to use all diligence in realizing.

We must pause a moment on these words,
"with fear and trembling." For the immense
emphasis that is thrown upon them constitutes
them, as has been convincingly pointed out by E.
Schaeder, the hinge of the passage. The effect of
this emphasis is that Paul does not here exhort his
readers so much to "work out their salvation" as
to work it out specifically "with fear and trem-
bling." What he says in effect is, "Let it be with
fear and trembling that you work out your own
salvation." The whole force of the exhortation,
in fact, accumulates on these words, "with fear
and trembling." It is to the preservation of this
state of mind in the working out of their salva-
tion that the Apostle is really urging his readers.
Now it is undeniable that there seems something
strange in this. Why should the Apostle lay
such stress on "fear and trembling" as the char-
acterizing spirit of the Christian effort.^ Is
Christianity, after all, even more than Judaism,
which Hegel (though mistakenly) called the re-
ligion of fear j)ar excellence, just the religion of
slavish terror — every step in the cultivation of

WORKING OUT SALVATION 305

which is to be driven on by "fear and trembling"?
What becomes then of that fundamental tone
which resounds through every sentence and word
and syllable of this very Epistle to the Philip -
pians — that of "rejoice in the Lord" (3:1)? What
harmony can exist between the two exhortations:
"Let it be specifically with fear and trembling
that ye work out your own salvation," and "Re-
joice in the Lord always; again I will say. Re-
joice" (4:4)? What union can there be between
such carking anxiety and abounding joy, as twin
states of heart characterizing the entire Christian
walk? It is certainly puzzling to find the Apostle
throwing the stress of his exhortation on these
words; and it deserves our most careful scrutiny.
This puzzle is only increased when we observe,
as we must observe at once on reading the ex-
hortation itself — that is, the twelfth verse — in its
context, that Paul's purpose is obviously to en-
courage not to frighten his readers, to enhearten
not to dishearten them in their Christian walk.
WTien we consider the inducements which he
brings to bear on them to give force to his exhor-
tation, we cannot believe that its nerve is fear
lest they should after all not attain the end,
but rather assurance that the end shall be cer-
tainly gained. For Paul places this exhortation
between the two most powerful encouragements
that could possibly be brought to bear upon a
Christian's conduct — the example of Christ and

306 FAITH AND LIFE

the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. ''So then, my
beloved," he says, in introducing the exhortation.
And this "so then" looks back upon and takes
hold upon that marvellous exposition of the self-
abnegation of Christ and His consequent great
reward, which the Apostle had given in verses
5-11. "So then" — seeing then that you have
this great example so plainly and so powerfully
set before you, in imitation of it and inspired by
its great lesson — do you "work out your own sal-
vation." This exhortation is, to be sure, broad-
ened beyond the specific application of the pre-
mise; the particular exemplary act adduced from
Christ's great transaction is His self-abnegation,
"accounting others better than Himself"; and
the exhortation to the Philippians to "work out
their own salvation" includes more than a rec-
ommendation of self-abnegation. The logical
nexus, of course, lies in the fact that the special
fault of the Philippians, fresh in the Apostle's
mmd as requiring eradication, as they advanced
toward Christian perfection, was precisely that
high-mindedness which was slow to look on the
things of others as well as on their own things; and
the special virtues they needed to cultivate in
completing their salvation were just those vir-
tues of self-abnegation to which the example of
Christ would inspire them. Hence the fitness of
this example to their case. But there seems no
fitness in it to ground a specific appeal to "fear

WORKING OUT SALVATION 307

and trembling" as the proper state of mind in
which they should prosecute their working out of
their own salvation. Awe, reverence, humility,
yes: these would be suitable frames of feeling
for him who would work under the inspiration of
such an example. But fear and trembling, — anx-
ious dread lest failure after all should be the
end of endeavour, — how could the example of
Christ's great act of humiliation, issuing in so
tremendous a reward, fitly call out such a state
of mind?

The case is similar with the support which the
Apostle brings to his exhortation from the other
side. "Let it be with fear and trembling," says
the Apostle, "that you work out your own salva-
tion, for^^ — and this "for" looks forward to and
takes hold upon the sharpest possible assurance of
divine aid. "For He that worketh in you both
the willing and the doing, in pursuance of His
good pleasure, is none other than God." Surely
this tremendous assertion of the implication of
God Himself in the work he is exhorting his readers
to prosecute, affords no reason why they should
carry on that work in the grip of a dreadful fear
lest they should after all fail. We must not neg-
lect the emphasis that falls on the word "God"
here — second only to that which falls on the words
"with fear and trembling," so that in effect these
two ideas are brought into sharp collocation, and
each enhances the stress thrown on the other.

308 FAITH AND LIFE

Nor should we neglect to notice, what has been
well brought out by Kiihl, that Paul is adducing
here a general proposition — one in one form or
another familiar to all readers of his epistles — the
great truth central to his whole system of doc-
trine, that "it is God who in all matters of salva-
tion, is the energizer in men of both the willing
and the doing, in pursuance of His good pleasure."
It is the same great fact that the Apostle planted
at the root of the confidence of his Ephesian read-
ers (1:11), when he traced all the blessings that
had been brought them to the purpose "of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will." It is the same great fact that rings
out in the triumphant cry of Romans 8:31 — "If
God be for us, who can be against us." Surely,
when he placed the Almighty Arms beneath them,
the Apostle cannot have intended to instil into
his readers a more poignant sense of the uncer-
tainty of the issue of their labours, and to justify
to them a demand that it shall be especially "in
fear and trembling" — in doubt and terror as to
the result — that they must prosecute their great
task of "working out their own salvation." The
great fact that he adduces is awe-inspiring enough.
How solemnizing the assurance that God works
in us all our good impulses! How fitted to teach
us humility and beget in us a godly fear as we
walk the pathway provided for us ! But how little
fitted to lead us to despair of the result, to live

WORKING OUT SALVATION 309

in dreadful uncertainty as to the outcome! "K
God is for us, who is against us ! "

The context, then, certainly lends no support
to the emphatic words "with fear and trembling,"
if they be taken as an exhortation to an attitude
of doubt and hesitation — to the presentation of a
fear of failure as an incitement to diligence in
labour. On the contrary, the context demands
an encouraging, not a warning, note for the ex-
hortation. This raises the suspicion that we may
have mistaken the sense of Paul in the use of the
phrase "with fear and trembling." And a closer
scrutiny confirms this suspicion. The colloca-
tion of the two words "fear" and "trembling," it
seems, had become something of a set formula
with the Apostle, possibly grounded in the usage
of the two together in such passages of the Sep-
tuagint as Genesis 9 :2, Is. 19 :16; and this formula
seems no longer to have had the value to him of
the two words in combination, but rather to have
come to express little more than the proper rev-
erence due to a superior. For example, in Ephe-
sians 6:5, when the Apostle exhorts servants to
be obedient to their masters "with fear and
trembling," he can scarcely intend to recommend
to servants a spirit of craven fear before their
master's face. Did he not rather wish to com-
mend to them an appropriate recognition of the
distance between master and slave, and the re-
spectful reverence befitting the relation in which

310 FAITH AND LIFE

they stood? So in 2 Cor. 7:15, when we are told
that the Corinthians received Titus "with fear
and trembHng," we are surely not to understand
that they received him with a vivid dread lest
they should fall short of winning his favour, but
rather simply that they received him with the
respect and obedience due to his official position
as one set over them in the Lord. Similarly, in
1 Cor. 2:3, the Apostle surely means only to say
that he acted in his work at Corinth with due
respect to his commission and subjection to the
Spirit who accompanied his preaching with His
power.

In a word, it is clear enough that in the phrase
"with fear and trembling," we have to do with a
set formula, which, in the Apostle's mind and
lips, finds its reference to the attitude of depend-
ence, reverence and obedience befitting an in-
ferior, and is, therefore, especially related to the
ideas of submissiveness and subjection. It owes
its place in our present passage obviously to its
correlation with the immediately precedent phrase,
"As ye have always obeyed" (verse 12), which
itself goes back to the obedience of Christ's great
example (verse 8). If Chrysostom, therefore, is
formally wrong in, without more ado, para-
phrasing it by "with humility of spirit," he is not
so far astray as might at first sight be thought in
the substance of the matter. What the Apostle
would seem to say, in effect is just this: "As ye

WORKING OUT SALVATION 311

have always hitherto been submissive, so let it
be with the same submissiveness of spirit that ye
bring your salvation to its completion, seeing
that, as you know, the energizer who works in
you both the willing and the doing is God, in pur-
suance of His good pleasure." It is to reverence,
obedience, humility in their Christian walk in
the consciousness of the same power of God oper-
ating in them, to which he exhorts his readers;
not to terror and dread lest after all their labour
they might yet prove to be castaways. It is not
the difficulty of the task that he is emphasizing;
but the solemnity of it.

It is under the encouragement of these two great
facts, then, that Paul here stirs up his Philippian
readers to the sacred work of advancing in the
Christian walk steadily to the great end — the ex-
ample of Christ and the interior working of God
in their hearts. We have ventured to speak of
the latter as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not mentioned by name. But
it is obviously His indwelling work that is ad-
verted to; and accordingly the seventh chapter of
Romans, with its sequel in the eighth chapter,
really provides an extended commentary on this
passage. The process which is there displayed
to us, as the new power not ourselves making for
righteousness is implanted in the heart, and from
that vantage ground wages its victorious war
against the sin still entrenched in the members.

312 FAITH AND LIFE

is here compressed for us into one sharp, crisp
word of declaration. The Christian works out
his own salvation under the energizing of God, to
whose energizing is due every impulse to good that
rises in him, every determination to good which
he frames, every execution of a good purpose
which he carries into effect. And in view of the
great fact that this power within him making for
righteousness is none other than God Himself,
surely the only proper attitude for the Christian
in working out His salvation is one of "fear and
trembling," — of awe and reverence in the presence
of the Holy One, of submission and obedience to
His leading, of dependence and trust on His
guidance. This, in effect, seems to be the Apos-
tle's meaning. It is, in a word, an uncovering of the
sources of sanctification, and a reference of it as to
its origin in every step to God's gracious activities.

We may then perhaps attempt a paraphrase of
the passage. "So, then, my beloved, in view of
Christ's great example of self-abnegation — even
as ye have always obeyed, so now, not as if it were
only because I was present, but much more just
because I am absent, let it be in a spirit of rever-
ent submissiveness that you carry your salvation
to its completion. For remember that He that
effects in you not only the willing but also the
doing, is none other than God Himself. And He
does it in pursuance of His good pleasure." Or
more at large : " Under the inspiration of this great

WORKING OUT SALVATION 313

example that Christ Jesus has set us, an example
of humble submission even down to death, and
of His consequent reward, I may repeat and
strengthen my exhortation to you. I gladly allow
that you have never been failing in submissiveness
of spirit. When I was present with you I saw it
and rejoiced in it. I trust it was not due to my
presence only that you were able to exhibit so
Christlike a disposition. After all, it is not my
pleasure but your own salvation that should pri-
marily engage your thoughts. And if my presence
were, indeed, useful to you, how much more effort
should you make, now that I can no longer be
with you and you are thrown on your own re-
sources. Nay, let me not so speak. You are not
in any case thrown on your own resources. Let it
be with godly awe in your hearts and reverent
fear of mind that you engage in this solemn work.
For it is, you remember, none other than God
Himself who prompts you to the effort, — whose it
is to effect within you both the wish and the per-
formance : and this He does in the prosecution of
His blessed purpose of good towards you. It is
in His hands that you are in this work: it is thus a
holy work — in the prosecution of which you may,
therefore, well put off the sandals from your feet.
In devout submissiveness, then, carry it on, with
all diligence, and depend on no creature's impulse or
help : it is God who in it works in and through you
and so fulfils His gracious will with respect to you."

THE ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS

Phil. 3:9: — "And be found in Him, not having a righteousness
of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

"When we attempt to gain an apprehension of
Paul's doctrine of salvation on the ground of an
alien righteousness," remarks Professor George
B. Stevens, "we must bear in mind that Paul was
waging an intense polemic — the great conflict of
his life." The remark is true enough in itself, but
will scarcely warrant Professor Stevens' inference
from it, namely, that we must be careful therefore
not to take Paul's statements in this matter au
pied de la lettre; that we must expect (and will
find) ascertain exaggeration in his language at this
polemic point, a certain one-sidedness in his as-
sertions; and be, therefore, prepared to tone down
the extremity of his statements to more reason-
able proportions. From this warning of Pro-
fessor Stevens' we may, perhaps, learn this much,
however: that Paul's statements at this point are
radical and leave little room for that nice balancing
so dear to the hearts of so-called "moderate"
thinkers, by which they would fain retain some
room for glorying in the flesh while yet joining
in the universal song of the saints of God, Gloria
Deo Soli.

314

THE ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS 315

It is clear, at once, that the forms of Paul's
language at least do not easily lend themselves
to the notion that, though Divine aid is requisite
to salvation, yet the fundamental movement
thereunto must be of man's own making; or
even that, though salvation is predominatingly
from God, yet this is not to the exclusion of the
necessity on man's part of at least assent and con-
sent to the Divine working; that if the basis of
the Divine acceptance of man is to be found in
the work of Christ, at least faith is demanded of
man as the condition on the performance of which
alone will this acceptance be accorded to him. It
is something like this that Professor Stevens
wishes to reserve to man as his part in salvation.
And it is in his effort to rescue this to man from
the obviously unwilling hands of Paul that he is
led to remark that Paul's language must be inter-
preted as that of a headlong controversialist,
who in his zeal falls into "a certain one-sided-
ness" in his representations, and keys his reason-
ings so high that they must be taken rather as
"purposely one-sided argumenta ad hominem"
and do not fairly set forth perhaps Paul's whole
thought on the subject. Whence, we say, it
seems perfectly clear that the language of Paul,
taken as it stands, excludes even so much of a
human element lying at the basis of salvation.
What he says — whatever he means — is obviously
that our own righteousness — in every item and

316 FAITH AND LIFE

degree of it — is wholly excluded from the ground
of our salvation; and the righteousness provided
by God in Christ is the sole ground of our accept-
ance in His sight. According to his express
statements, at least, we are saved entirely on the
ground of an alien righteousness and not at all on
the ground of anything we are or have done, or
can do, — ^be it even so small a matter as believing.
For the rest, true as it is that in this matter
Paul was involved in an ineradicable conflict with
the Judaizers — in what may be with good right
called indeed "the conflict of his life" — it is
very easy to press beyond the mark in our esti-
mate of the effect of this conflict upon his thought
or even upon his language. After all, Paul's in-
terest in the ground of human salvation was a
positive one, rather than a negative one. In the
providence of God he was led to develop his doc-
trine of salvation for the benefit of his disciples in
conflict with Judaizers; and we view it to-day
in the forms of statement given it under the neces-
sities of that controversy. But there is no reason
to believe that he would not have taught precisely
that same doctrine of salvation, though, doubt-
less, in different forms of statement, had he been
required to meet erroneous teaching of a totally
different kind, proceeding from a wholly different
quarter — that is, if we really believe that the
essence of his doctrine is the truth of God, given
him by revelation, and not merely his personal

THE ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS 317

position assumed to hold standing ground for him-
self as a determined opponent of the old Jewish
party in the Church. In other words, the con-
flict with the Judaizers was not first with Paul and
his doctrine of salvation second, either in time or
importance; but, on the contrary, his doctrine of
salvation was first and his controversy with the
Judaizers both subsequent and consequent to it.
He did not hold this doctrine of salvation because
he polemicized the Judaizers, but he polemicized
the Judaizers because he held this doctrine of
salvation. He did not attain this doctrine of sal-
vation then in controversy with the Judaizers,
but he controverted the Judaizers because their
teaching impinged on this precious doctrine.
Though, therefore, the forms in which he states the
doctrine in these epistles take shape from the fact
that he is rebutting the assaults on it and the
subtle undermining of it derived from the con-
ceptions of the Judaizers, the doctrine stated is
prior in the order of time and thought in his mind
to the rise of the danger to it which he is repelling
in these expressions. The interest and impor-
tance of this to us is that it thereby is brought to*
our clear consciousness that Paul's fundamental
interest in this matter turns not on the violence
of his conflict with the Judaizers but on the pro-
fundity of his conviction of the truth of his po-
sition. Whenever he replies to the Judaizers'
assault in whatever sharpness of rebuke and

318 FAITH AND LIFE

keenness of polemic thrust, his primary interest
is not in silencing his opponents but in uphold-
ing his teaching.

We could not have a better illustration of this
than in the passage now before us. The whole of
it is suffused with an emotion which is far deeper
and far purer than polemic zeal. Nowhere do
Paul's polemics burn more fiercely. Nowhere is
his language sharper or his expressions more "ex-
treme." But nowhere is it clearer that his heart
is set on higher things than on the refutation of
errorists whom he would correct; and nowhere is
it less legitimate to pare down his expressions to
the level of mere controversial violence. The
Apostle as he opened the third chapter of this
Epistle was contemplating drawing it to a close.
"Finally, my brethren," he says, using the familiar
formula for introducing the concluding words, —
"finally, my brethren," he says, closing the let-
ter, as is his wont, with some striking fundamen-
tal thought that would abide in the mind of his
readers as a last message to their souls, — "finally,
my brethren, let your joy be in the Lord." This
is no mere formula of farewell, as some, misled
by the "rejoice" — which is to be sure an ordinary
formula of epistolary salutation — ^have imagined.
The conception of Christian rejoicing is a funda-
mental note of this letter, and here it has all the
emphasis that this gives it. And it is not merely
the idea of rejoicing that is here emphatic, but

THE ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS 319

the added idea of rejoicing "in the Lord." "Fi-
nally, my brethren," says the Apostle, "let your
joy be in the Lord." Ah, this is where the
Apostle's heart is as he opens this paragraph —
this is the thought he would leave with his readers.
"Let your joy be in the Lord" — not in your-
selves, but in the Lord. We should say, perhaps,
rather. Let your boast be in the Lord; let your
glorying be only in the Lord. It means funda-
mentally the same thing. The Apostle would
bring his letter to a close by reminding his readers
of the very core of the saving proclamation.
They are saved — not self -saving souls. Let them
rejoice, let them continually joy, in the Lord !

This is not a new theme with the Apostle. It is
rather one of his favourite subjects, this of boast-
ing in Christ Jesus. He is conscious that he
harps on it. But he is not ashamed of harping
on it; it is the heart of the Gospel and he is not
ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. But he makes
a quasi-apology for so harping on it. "I know
this is repetitious," he says at once, "but I like
to say it, and it may be useful to you." "To
write the same things to you, to me on the one
hand is not irksome, but to you on the other it is
safe." It is a joy to Paul to cry over and over
and over again, "Let your joy be in the Lord";
in Him only put your boasting; in Him alone do
your glorying; and it is a safe thing to impress on
his readers. At the mention of this, the floods of

320 FAITH AND LIFE

polemics rush in. Paul remembers those who
were endangering the purity of this attitude of
dependence on the Lord alone in his flocks, and
remembering them, what can he do but burst out
with renewed warnings?

So the letter does not close, after all, at this
point, but instead, we have the sharp exhortation,
"Mark ye the dogs! Mark ye the evil workers!
Mark ye the concision!" Why does his polemic
burn so hotly against these men? Simply be-
cause they endangered that attitude which he was
impressing on his readers, and in which the whole
Gospel consisted for him — the attitude of entire
dependence on Christ to the exclusion of every-
thing in themselves. Accordingly his rapid and
clearly cut speech leaps at once into the reason:
"Mark ye the concision, — the concision I say, the
mere imitation; for we are the circumcision, the
real sealed ones to God, who worship by the Spirit
of God and boast in Christ Jesus, and put no con-
fidence in the flesh."

We do not need to follow the subsequent turns
of the polemic into which the Apostle here enters.
It is enough for us to note that the language abun-
dantly confirms the interpretation of the drift of
the paragraph and the intent of its opening words
on which we have insisted. Paul exhorts his
readers "to let their joy be in the Lord," and he
repudiates the concision on the express ground
that their claims are antagonistic to a purely

THE ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS 321

spiritual worship, to boasting in Christ Jesus alone
and the withdrawal of all confidence from the
flesh. This is that to which the Apostle is en-
gaged in exhorting his readers therefore — ^boasting
in Christ Jesus alone and the removal of all con-
fidence in the flesh. We all know how richly he
develops this idea in the following words — enu-
merating his own high claims in the flesh and as-
serting roundly that all of them are but as refuse
to him in the matter of salvation. Christ Jesus is
all. The language of our text is but the elabora-
tion of this vital idea in other and more precise
language. All that he is, all that he has sought
after, all that he has done, — though from a fleshly
point of view far superior to what most men can
appeal to — all, all, he counts (not merely useless
but) loss, all one mass of loss, to be cast away and
buried in the sea, "that he may gain Christ and
be found in Him." On the one side stand all
human works — they are all loss. On the other
hand stands Christ — He is all in all. That is the
contrast. And this is the contrast re-expressed
more formally in our text: "not having my own
righteousness that is out of law, but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness that
is from God on faith."

The contrast is between the righteousness which
a man can make for himself and the righteousness
that God gives him. And the contrast is abso-
lute. On the one, in the height and the breadth

322 FAITH AND LIFE

of its whole idea — we cannot exaggerate here —
Paul pours contempt, as a basis or, nay, even the
least part of the basis, of salvation. On the other,
exclusively, he bases the totality of salvation.
The outcome is, that not merely polemically but
fundamentally, he founds salvation solely on an
alien righteousness, with the express exclusion
of every item of our own righteousness. The
whole contents of the passage demands this as
Paul's fundamental thought.

Now, it is not necessary for us, on this occasion,
to stop to analyze in its details Paul's thought;
to show by detailed exposition how utterly the
righteousness rejected by him is rejected and how
exclusively the righteousness laid hold of by him
is trusted in, and how completely the ground of
our trust is cleansed by Paul from every scintilla
of human works. It will suffice for the present to
accept the discrimination he makes in the large
and to try to realize how fully to him the totality
of the Gospel lay just in this discrimination. The
Gospel, to Paul, consists precisely in this: that
we do nothing to earn our salvation or to secure
it for ourselves. God in Christ does it all.

It is easy, of course, to brand such an assertion
as immoral. Men were not slow to brand it as
immoral in Paul's day, and men are not slow to
brand it as immoral ("unethical" is their way of
phrasmg it) to-day. "What," they say, "we are
to do nothing! Christ does it all! Nothing de-

THE ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS 323

pends on us! Not even our believing! Then, let
us eat, drink and be merry!" They do not stop
to consider that the repetition against those who
draw this doctrine from Paul's teaching, of pre-
cisely the same charge that was urged against
Paul, is the last thing which could be needed to
prove that Paul has not been misunderstood when
he is interpreted as advancing by set purpose just
this doctrine. Paul does not meet the charge by
explaining that he wishes his words concerning
the exclusion of all our righteousness from the
ground of salvation to be taken cum grano sails; but
by explaining that, being saved not indeed "out of
works" but certainly "unto good works," we
cannot walk in sin and yet be saved. This posit-
ing of a new antithesis, not out of works but unto
good works, clinches the essence of his doctrine,
and may be adopted by us as the sole defence it
needs against the accusations of men.

You remember how Mr. J. A. Froude in a
famous essay adduced as a speaking evidence of
the "immorality of Evangelicalism," the well-
known revival hymn beginning:

"Nothing either great or small.
Nothing, sinner, no;
Jesus did it, did it all.
Long, long, ago."

What was particularly offensive to him was the
assertion that

324 FAITH AND LIFE

"Doing is a deadly thing.
Doing ends in death";

and the consequent exhortation

"Cast your deadly doing down,
Down at Jesus' feet,
Stand in Him, in Him alone.
Gloriously complete."

It is, nevertheless, the very cor cordis of the Gos-
pel that is here brought under fire. The one anti-
thesis of all the ages is that between the rival
formulse: Do this and live, and, Live and do this;
Do and be saved, and Be saved and do. And the
one thing that determines whether we trust in
God for salvation or would fain save ourselves is,
how such formulae appeal to us. Do we, like the
rich young ruler, feel that we must "do some good
thing" in order that we may be saved? Then,
assuredly, we are not yet prepared to trust our
salvation to Christ alone — to sell all that we have
and follow Him. Just in proportion as we are
striving to supplement or to supplant His perfect
work, just in that proportion is our hope of sal-
vation resting on works, and not on faith. Ethi-
cism and solafideanism — these are the eternal
contraries, mutually exclusive. It must be faith
or works; it can never be faith and works. And
the fundamental exhortation which we must ever
be giving our souls is clearly expressed in the words
of the hymn, "Cast your deadly doing down."
Only when that is completely done is it really

THE ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS 325

Christ Only, Christ All in All, with us; only then,
do we obey fully Paul's final exhortation: "Let
your joy be in the Lord." Only then do we re-
nounce utterly "our own righteousness, that out
of law," and rest solely on "that which is through
faith in Christ, the righteousness of God on
faith."

PEACE WITH GOD

Phil. 4:7: — "And the peace of God, which passeth all under-
standing, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ
Jesus."

The exact phrase which we have given as the
subject of our reflection this afternoon, though
one of the most familiar phrases in our religious
speech, has a very slender claim to be looked upon
as Biblical. It occurs but once in the Bible
(Rom. 5:1), and then, as it seems to me (though
on this the commentators differ), not in its fun-
damental sense, or in the sense in which it is prob-
ably most prominent in the minds of most of us
here this afternoon, but in its subjective sense of
consciousness of peace with God. The thing de-
noted by the phrase is of course a frequent and
basal idea in Scripture, though not expressed by
the exact phrase now before us. The correlated
terms "enmity," "reconciliation," "peace," occur
with sufficient frequency and express what may
properly be called a fundamental idea of the
Gospel.

We are told that we are naturally "enemies" of
God, that God looks upon us as such, and that we
cherish the feelings appropriate to that condi-
tion— being enemies in our minds by wicked
works, and because of a carnal mind necessarily at

326

PEACE WITH GOD 327

enmity with the Holy God. This enmity we are
told Christ has "abolished," "slain" on His cross,
"reconciling" us with God by His propitiatory
work. As a result of this "propitiation," we are
told, He has made "peace" (Eph. 2:18); and,
therefore. He is called "our peace," and His Gos-
pel, "the Gospel of peace" (Rom. 10:15; Eph.
6:15). His whole work was "that we might have
peace in Him" (Jno. 16:33), and His gospel con-
sisted in "preaching peace by Jesus" (Acts 10:36).
Even in the Old Testament prophecy. He is prom-
ised as the "Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6), and it is
clearly perceived that He is such because the
"chastisement of our peace shall be on Him"
(Isa. 53 :5) ; in other words, because that punish-
ment by which our sins are expiated and we are
reconciled with God should be borne by Him.

There is no lack, therefore, of the most explicit
enunciation in Scripture of the fact which our
phrase expresses; it is rather one of the pervading
representations of Scripture that we are at en-
mity with God and can have peace with Him only
in the blood of Christ. Only it so happens that
the connection in which the word "peace" occurs
most frequently in Scripture is one which raises
our eyes rather to God as the giver of peace than
emphasizes the fact that it is with Him that the
peace is established. "Peace from God" hap-
pens, therefore, to be a commoner Scriptural
locution than "peace with God." "I will give unto

328 FAITH AND LIFE

him my covenant of peace" (Numb. 28:12),
though not spoken with this broad implication
may almost be represented as the primary promise
of the Old Covenant, under which the longing of
God's people expressed itself in the assurance that
"He would speak peace with His people and to
His saints" (Psa. 85:8). Wherefore that Old
Covenant saint upon whose glad eyes the dawn of
salvation had fallen, expresses his joy that the
coming of the Day-spring from on high was a
promise that now, at length, the feet of God's
people should be guided in the way of peace (Luke
1:79). Accordingly Jesus represents the result of
His work as giving peace to His followers (Jno.
16:33) — "My peace I leave with you, my peace I
give unto you" (Jno. 16:27), and His disciples
going everywhere "preached peace by Jesus"
(Acts 10:36). It is the "peace of God" that
passeth all understanding, that the Apostle would
have rule in the hearts of His converts (Phil. 4:7);
and the prayer that "peace from God" should be
on them became the fixed form of Apostolic ben-
ediction (Rom. 1:7).

This pervading longing for peace and promise
of it as one of the most precious gifts of God, cer-
tainly enhances our sense of its value. Perhaps
we may say that the chief difference in the feeling
of the two terms "peace from God" and "peace
with God" is that the primary emphasis in the
former falls naturally on subjective peace —

PEACE WITH GOD 329

though by no means to the exclusion of objective
peace; while, with the latter the reverse is the
case. When we speak of "peace from God"
coming upon us, of the peace of God that passes
all understanding "sen trying" our hearts and
thoughts, of the peace of Jesus which He left with
us, when He added: "Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be fearful," we necessarily
think first of all of the deep sense of inner peace
and satisfaction which pervades the hearts of
none in the world who have not "found their
peace" as we say, in Christ. On the other hand,
when we speak of "peace with God" our thoughts
go primarily back to that great transaction on
Calvary when He who is our peace reconciled us
to God by His cross, having slain the enmity
thereon; and we who were alienated in our wicked
minds from Him were brought nigh in the blood
of Christ. We cannot think of the one, indeed,
without thinking of the other; nor can one exist
apart from the other. We cannot have peace of
heart, until our real and actual separation from
God is bridged by the blood of Christ. We can-
not have the breach between God and us healed
without a sense of the new relation of peace steal-
ing into our hearts. And possibly we cannot do
better to-day than just to realize how inter-
dependent the two are and how rich the peace is
which we obtain in Christ Jesus.

To this end, let us consider (1) the utter lack of

330 FAITH AND LIFE

peace which man suffers by nature; (2) the full-
ness of peace brought to us by Jesus; and (3) the
process by which this peace is made the possession
of the mind and soul.

It is a curious thing if you look at it, how little
peace man out of Christ, that is, apart from God
and His right relation to him, has in the world;
how utterly out of joint he is — at war, in fact —
with even his physical environment. Every
other creature finds a place for itself in nature;
nature cares for them all. "She spreads a table
for the tiger in the jungle, for the buffalo on the
prairie, for the dragon-fly above the summer
brook." But she spreads no table for man.
Foxes may have holes and the birds of the air,
nests; but like his Lord, man has no place in na-
ture where he can safely lay his head. As a mere
animal, he is the weakest and most helpless of all,
with no natural covering to keep him warm, with
no natural weapons to protect himself, with no
speed for escape, and no cunning for hiding. The
sun burns him and the winter freezes him. A
brilliant writer, upon whom I am drawing very
freely in these paragraphs, calls him justly, the step-
child of time. Revelation accounts for it by the fall.
Man stood at the gate of Eden, an exile, facing a
wild world, a world of briers and thorns, of hos-
tile fears, of death. What man out of Christ
thinks of it, the myths he has invented tell us;
from the shrinking terror of the fetish worshipper

PEACE WITH GOD 331

at every old bone or bit of stick, to the weird
shapes and glowing myths of our own Scandina-
vian fathers. Man knows himself to be at war
with the world.

It is much if he can get his food. Most do not.
But food does not satisfy him. " Put an ox in a
fat pasture beside a clear stream and the ox is as
happy as an ox can be. The hungry tiger with
reeking jaws, tearing the slaughtered buffalo, is
happy to the utmost limit of tiger nature." But
after man has conquered nature, he is still not at
peace with her. He is no happier in the palace
than in the hut.

" In the cool hall with haggard eyes
The Roman nobly lay;
Then rose and drove in furious wise
Along the Appian Way.

He made a feast, drank fierce and fast
And crowned his head with flowers.

No easier and no swifter passed
The impracticable hours."

Man assuredly is at odds with nature; but not
only with nature, there is something deeper than
that. Man is at odds with himself. So that,
even though he were not the stepchild of nature
and all that is external to him existed only to do
his pleasure, so that like the lotus-eaters he could
merely lie and be happy; man would not be
happy. The deep unrest of his nature has a
deeper cause than merely his lack of physical ad-

332 FAITH AND LIFE

justment to his environment. He is out of joint
with himself. He has a conscience and knows the
right. But he also knows what is not right. And
this sense of sin, ineradicable instinct in every
soul, is the source of a restless uneasiness which
knows and can know no peace. His very dis-
quietedness with nature receives half its terror
from it. If man merely felt that he must manip-
ulate nature for his comfort, he might, at least, be
inwardly easy or troubled only by those natural
anxieties for the future that cluster around the
questions, What shall I eat, and what shall I
drink, and wherewith shall I be clothed. But his
inward unrest clothes nature with a thousand
terrors; her forces become avenging furies, her
thunders the voice of an accusing God, her light-
nings and tornadoes — her quietly working poisons
of miasma and disease — become the tools of God's
anger. Because he is a sinner, man's inward war
is inflicted on his outward environment. And
his conscience it is that will give him no peace.

But neither is conscience the ultimate fact.
As the terrors of nature are due to the fact that
they are not ultimate but point upwards and in-
wards to the war in the heart, so the terrors of
conscience are due to the fact that they, too, are
not ultimate but point upwards to a higher Power.
Conscience is the voice of God proclaiming war
in man; and through it man knows that he is not
at peace with God. Hence its pain and terror.

PEACE WITH GOD 333

Everywhere, man knows that because he is a
sinner, he is at enmity with God. Man's sense
of enmity with God is the source of all his terror, all
his unrest, all his misery. It is ineradicable and
universal. It must abide so long as man knows he
is a sinner. But so long as it abides, he cannot be
other than miserable.

Now the Apostle, in the text, recognizing this
state of things, promises us as if it were the fun-
damental blessing, the peace of God. And he
promises it to us in language which exhibits his
high appreciation of its nature. He calls it, a
peace that passes all conception. And he prom-
ises it as something that will guard or "sentry"
our hearts and thoughts — as if it were able to
keep us pure and holy as few things can. Let us
note then in opposition to the restlessness of man's
heart by nature the surpassingness of God's peace.

And here, note especially, the universality of
this peace of God; how it supplies the whole lack
of peace in which we are by nature.

It is fundamentally peace with God. "But
now in Christ Jesus ye that once were afar off are
made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our
peace, who made both one, and broke down the
middle wall of partition, having abolished in his
flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
and ordinances, that he might create in himself
of the twain one new man, so making peace; and
might reconcile them both in one body unto God

334 FAITH AND LIFE

through his cross, having slain the enmity there-
by." Christianity does not come crying peace,
peace, when there is no peace, and when we know
there is no peace. It does not come crying that
God is love and nothing but love, and the Father
of all, not at enmity to us, not needing any recon-
ciliation. It comes recognizing the enmity and
laying an adequate foundation for peace. It rec-
ognizes our sin and guilt and offers an atonement
for it. It recognizes our condemnation and makes
provision for its reversal. It institutes peace out
of war, and that by a method which commands our
assent as complete, availing, effective. Thus it
makes peace between us and God.

And just because it does not talk of a peace
already existing when our hearts know there is
war, it relieves also our unrest of conscience and
brings us to peace with ourselves. Looking upon
the satisfaction of Christ, the heart can comfort
itself in the knowledge of a reconciled God and
receive His promises that on the basis of that
atonement the Spirit shall come and work peace
in the soul.

And once again, this peace of soul mightily
works to produce peace in our environment, for
now the soul no longer looks upon the external
world as its enemy and no longer on the laws of
nature as purely natural forces, grinding out evil
for it. It sees that in nature and above nature a
Father sits — truly a Father, now, that He is rec-

PEACE WITH GOD 335

onciled to us in Christ, and that all Providence is
in His hands, touching us. In nature itself — in
history — the reconciled soul meets God and per-
ceives everywhere the hand of One who loves him
and cares for him. Amid all happenings he is
peaceful and serene; he knows nothing can harm
him now; he knows nothing can take away his
peace; he knows that all things shall work to-
gether for good to him. The external world is no
longer his enemy, but his friend.

In our absorption with the weightier matters of
the fundamental reconciliation of the soul with
God in Christ and the operation of the Spirit
working peace in us, we are apt to neglect this ele-
ment of peace, in which we are ourselves at peace
in the world, no longer orphans but communing
with God in all our happenings. How important
an aspect of the matter it is may be advertised
to us by the comfort which the theologians of the
school of Ritschl find in it, the only form of com-
munion with God they acknowledge, and how it
fills their hearts to be able by the revelation of
Christ to look on the world as God's Kingdom in
which His children are not orphans but sons of a
living God.

The inestimable value of the peace of God is
apparent next from the reasonableness and surety
of this peace. There may be a peace which is not
reasonable; a peace which is not assured. The
worldly man's peace on which he strives to stay

336 FAITH AND LIFE

himself is of this kind ; the peace of a drunkard in a
house on fire, the peace of a lunatic who fancies
himself a king, the peace of a fool who cries Peace !
Peace! when there is no peace. Such a peace can
be maintained only by shutting our eyes to what
we are and where we are and the relations that
actually exist about us and between us and God.
Any accident that calls us to ourselves destroys it.
Any ray of true light arising in our conscience ex-
tinguishes it. And when evil and death come,
where is it then.^^ But God's peace is a rational
peace, and a stable peace. It arises not from
shutting our eyes to our real state, but from open-
ing them to it, and the more our eyes are open and
the more we reahze our real condition, under-
standing what Christ is, what we are, and what
He has done for us, the more peace flows into our
hearts. The more searching the light we turn on
the scene, the more glorious the prospect. Light
turns a false peace into torment. Light awakes
in the countenance of the true peace, happy smiles.

Is this peace ours.'^ How can we obtain it?
Whence obtain it.^^ We must distinguish. It is
not our peace; it is God's. We do not make it;
He makes it. But we can by God's grace enjoy
it more and more.

(1) Its foundation is, of course, in Christ and
Christ's work. It can be had on no other basis,
in no other way. "Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God." We cannot go about to

PEACE WITH GOD 337

establish it; we should be doomed to utter failure.
We are by nature at enmity with God. No peace
can be found until that enmity is removed. It
cannot be removed by aught but a perfect sac-
rifice, a perfect righteousness. Christ alone can
do it. For the inestimable peace of God, there-
fore, we must look to Christ. It can have no
other foundation than His perfect work.

(2) Its formation in us is, of course, by the Holy
Ghost. We cannot produce it for ourselves, even
on the basis of Christ's work. A fountain cannot
rise higher than its source and a sure and stable
peace — an everlasting peace — an infinite and per-
fect peace — must be the work of Him who is Him-
self all this. "Now the works of the Spirit
are love, joy, peace."

(3) But the cultivation of it is placed by God's
grace in our hands. Christ may have died for
us; the Spirit may have applied that death sav-
ingly to us; and yet we may still hold back from
the full consciousness of our safety; wrong
thoughts and feelings may stand in our way. We
are at peace with God; our conscience knows it.
But we may so seldom look to Him who is our
Peace, and so much to ourselves, that we fail to take
the true comfort and joy of our changed position.

Hence a good old writer (William Bridge)
draws two useful distinctions: a distinction be-
tween Fundamental Peace and Additional Peace;
a distinction between Dormant Peace and Awak-

338 FAITH AND LIFE

ened Peace, — peace in the seed and peace in the
flower. Fundamental Peace, he tells us, is that
peace which naturally and necessarily arises from
our justification; those who are justified by faith
have peace with God. We cannot cultivate
this, we have it; it cannot be less true or be made
more true. But it is objective. There is, then,
the subjective peace, founded on this: the addi-
tional peace that arises from the sense of our jus-
fication. This we may neglect to cultivate; it
may be lost for a time. As the thief breaking in
at night can steal the accumulated income
hoarded in the safe, but cannot steal the capital
invested in the land ; so the great thief of the uni-
verse, Satan, may take away our additional peace
but never the fundamental. So we may also
speak of Dormant peace — a peace we have ever
in heart but do not realize always ; and Awakened
peace, which manifests itself to the soul.

On the one hand, the wicked man may give him-
self great comfort till the day of death comes, but
when trouble breaks forth upon him, he is at
length awake. The sin and guilt were in his heart
always; they lay sleeping there, but now they are
awakened. So the German poet sings:

The heart hath chambers twain.

Which inhabit
Sweet joy and bitter pain :
Oh joy, take thou good heed!

Tread softly,
Lest pain should wake indeed!

PEACE WITH GOD 339

Just so, on the other hand, men may have a
great reservoir of true peace within them, and
yet have never drawn on it for the supply of their
needs. After a while the need arises that breaks
the retaining wall and the whole soul is flooded
with peace. This is peace indeed! O, that we
may have this peace! Not merely Fundamental
peace — though that is the main thing — but Addi-
tional peace; not merely Dormant peace, but
Awakened peace — the sense of being at peace
with God.

THE HERITAGE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT

Col. 1:12: — "Giving thanks unto the Father who made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in Ught."

Our passage is one of those fervent descrip-
tions of the blessed state of the saved soul in
which the writings of Paul abound. It occurs in
the midst of the prayer which he says he has been
offering for the Colossians ever since their con-
version. The Colossians were not brought to
Christ by his own preaching, but by that of his
faithful minister in the Gospel, Epaphras. And
when Epaphras brought him the good news of the
turnmg of the many at Colossse from darkness to
light, the heart of the Apostle overflowed with
thanksgiving. From that day, he says, he has
been continually thanking God for the Colossian
Christians, and mingling with his thanks earnest
petitions for their Christian walk.

The gist of his petition is that they — so lately
brought to Christ and so surrounded by danger —
should be filled with the knowledge of God's will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that
they might walk worthily of the Lord unto all
pleasing. Two points are to be noted here.

The thing which Paul desires for the Colossian
converts is that they may, in their walk and con-
versation, be well pleasing to Christ. This is

340

THE HERITAGE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT 341

expressed by means of a term of rather startling
strength; a term which in its classical usage bore
an implication of cringing subjection to the whims
of another and was applied to the sycophant and
the flatterer. Of course, the nobler association
with Christ voids it of its unworthy suggestions,
but there is left on the mind a strong impression
of the fullness of the devotion which the Apostle
would fain see in the lives of Christians to
their Lord. External service — eye service — is not
enough ; our thoughts must run ahead of the com-
mand and all our lives be suffused with this prin-
ciple— that we may be well pleasing to Christ.
This is what the Apostle asks in behalf of the Co-
lossian converts.

The second thing to be noted is that Paul ex-
pected this perfection of service to be mediated
by perfection of knowledge. What he directly
asks for is that these converts may be filled with
the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding — and the word used here
for "knowledge" is the term for precise, full, ac-
curate, profound knowledge. He prays directly
that they may have the knowledge — in order that
they may walk worthily of their Lord unto all
kinds of pleasing. Obviously it seemed to the
Apostle that the pathway to a right life lay through
a right knowledge. It was only as they knew the
will of God that they could hope to please Christ
in action. Knowledge comes thus before life and

342 FAITH AND LIFE

is the constructive force of life. Thus the Apostle
teaches us the supreme value of a right and pro-
found and exact knowledge of Divine things.
Not as if knowledge were the end — life, undoubt-
edly, is the end at which the saving processes are
directed; but because the sole lever to raise the
life to its proper height is just right knowledge.
It is life — the right life — that the Apostle is pray-
ing for in behalf of the Colossians: but he repre-
sents knowledge — right knowledge — as possessing
the necessity of means to that life.

The nature of this right life is perhaps suflS-
ciently outlined in the single phrase in which Paul
gives expression to his longing. He says that he is
asking that the Colossians may walk worthily of
the Lord in every kind of pleasing. It is a Christ-
pleasing life that he wishes for them. But it is
not the Apostle's way to content himself with
broad phrases. And he proceeds at once to sug-
gest more fully what kind of a life he conceives a
Christ-pleasing life to be. There are three char-
acteristics which he throws into emphasis. It
must be a fruitful life. It must be a stable life.
It must be a thankful life. Here is the way he
develops its idea. That ye may walk worthily
of the Lord unto every kind of pleasing, he says —
(1) by bearing fruit and yielding increase in every
good work, through the knowledge of God; (2)
by being strengthened in every sort of strength
according to the might of His glory, unto all obe-

THE HERITAGE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT 343

dience and long-suffering; (3) by joyfully giving
thanks to the Father, who has qualified us for our
share in the lot of the saints in the light. Abound-
ing fruitfulness in good works; strong patience
in the trials of Hfe; joyful thankfulness for the
blessings of salvation; these are the traits of the
Christian walk which shall be worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing; these are the marks of that life
on which our Saviour will smile.

Now it is particularly to the third of these traits
of a Christ-pleasing life that our text draws our
attention to-day. It is one of the marks of right
Christian living when we are joyfully thankful to
the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
for our introduction into the blessings of the
Christian life. For, more accurately speaking,
that is the substance of the thanksgiving which
the Apostle desires to see illustrated in the Colos-
sian Christians. The terms in which he ex-
presses it are worth our careful consideration.
"With joy, giving thanks to the Father," he
phrases it, "who made us sufficient for a share
of the lot of the saints in light." The ground of
the thankfulness which he would fain find in them
is that supernal act of the Father of our Saviour
by which he has introduced us into the company
and endowed us with the heritage of the saints.
Of course, the reminiscence of our primal estate as
aliens from the household of God underlies the
thought; but it is not explicitly adverted to until

344 FAITH AND LIFE

the next verse. What is emphasized here is the
wonder of the act by which we were transformed
into fellow-citizens of the saints, and fellow-heirs
with them of God. That, says the Apostle, is
the ground of a thanksgiving on our part which
should transfuse our whole life and by which our
life will be characterized as a Christian one.

For the development of the thought, let us em-
phasize in turn the four chief elements which
seem to enter most prominently into it. These
words of the Apostle would seem to advise us,
then, of at least these important facts :

1. That the saints have a heritage.

2. That the heritage of the saints is "in the
light."

3. That it is God and God alone who has the
power to introduce men into this heritage.

4. That it is a matter of profound thanksgiving
to men, therefore, when they find themselves in-
vested with this heritage — a thanksgiving which
should transform their whole lives and make them
conscious debtors to God to such an extent that
henceforth they should live to Him and His glory
should be their one pursuit — in a word, that
they should walk worthily of the Lord unto all
pleasing.

That the saints have a heritage is obviously the
central implication of the passage. What Paul
wishes his readers to be thankful for is their
capacitating by the Father for their share "in the

THE HERITAGE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT 345

inheritance of the saints." Our term "heritage"
may indeed be misleading in this connection. The
Greek term may not naturally emphasize the same
connotations, possibly may not contain all that
we are^accustomed to think of in connection with
it. It may be better to use the word "lot," for
example, and speak of "the lot" of the saints.
The main implication is that of a possession which
becomes ours, not by our earning it but by gift
from another. What the saints obtain is not
merited by them, is not theirs by right and their
own desert; it is allotted to them. The language
is founded on and is reminiscent of the allot-
ment of Canaan to the Tribes which composed the
ancient people of Jacob. As in that typical
transaction the whole land was the gift of God to
the people and was allotted to the several tribes
and families, each having his own portion, so, in
the antitype, the saints are conceived as having
in possession their allotted heritage, in which
each has his specific portion which is to be his in-
disputably and his forever. As under the Old
Testament, so imder the New, there remains a
land, a country, an abiding home, for the people
of God, into which abode the true Joshua leads
them to their rest. And this, I say, is the fun-
damental implication of the passage.

The designation of this country of the saints as
"in the light" follows a symbolism which per-
vades the whole Bible, and the grandeur of which

346 FAITH AND LIFE

is, perhaps, liable to be missed by us through our
very wontedness to it. Throughout the Scrip-
tures "light" is used as the designation of all that
is of consummate and unapproachable perfection,
whether in the physical, intellectual, moral or
spiritual spheres. In contrast with the darkness
of sorrow and peril we have the light of joy and
safety; in contrast with the darkness of death we
have the light of life; in contrast with the dark-
ness of error we have the light of truth; in con-
trast with the darkness of sin we have the light of
holiness; in contrast with the darkness of de-
struction we have the light of salvation. Physi-
cally, intellectually, ethically, spiritually, sav-
ingly, "light" is all that is pure and true, bright
and holy and blissful. And light is the heritage
of the saints. It is the sphere in which God lives,
for we are to walk in the light as He is "in the
light." It is the glorious city built foresquare of
luminous stones, in which the saints have their
real citizenship and the "light" of which is God
Himself. God Himself is "light" and we, as His
children, are the "children of light." In Him is
no darkness at all, or as the strongly emphatic
language of John seems to say, "Darkness is not
in Him; no not in any way" — not in the way of
physical infirmity, of intellectual error, of moral
fault, of spiritual stain, or of sullied blessedness.
In Him and in Him only, who dwelleth in light inac-
cessible, is there no darkness, — no, not in any way.

THE HERITAGE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT 347

Meanwhile we fairly wallow in darkness. But
for the saints there is a heritage "in the light"
that streams out from the Throne of God, that
light which is the source and condition of all life,
and health, and strength, and all knowledge and
righteousness, hohness and bliss. There lapped
in the actinic rays of the "light of life," dwell the
saints. There each has his appointed portion,
his home. There each obtains his own higher
qualities of knowledge, righteousness, holiness and
bliss; and becoming thus luminiferous is made
himself a "light bearer" in the world. All this
and more is meant by the Apostle when he tells
us of the "heritage of the saints in light."

Now he tells us further that it is God and God
alone who can introduce men into this glorious
region of "the light." It is God who is light and
all the light that is in the world streams from Him.
We, on our part, are under the dominion of "dark-
ness," and darkness has filled our hearts. How
can we be rescued from the rule of darkness and
translated into the kingdom of the Son of God's
love? Obviously it is only by an act of God, the
Light, Himself shining into our darkened heart.
And so the Apostle tells us, declaring that it is
God who has made us meet for a share in the heri-
tage of the saints. Our English word "meet"
probably only brokenly represents the Greek
word which he employs. In the Greek word the
idea of sufficiency, adequacy, ability, is more

348 FAITH AND LIFE

prominent than that of worthiness, suitability.
The notion conveyed is, perhaps, not so much that
God has made us fit, worthy, to be in the King-
dom of Hght — though that in any event is in-
cluded, and as to the thing itself is not inharmoni-
ous with the Apostle's main intention; but that
He has made us able to enter into this state. Im-
mersed in the kingdom of darkness, or worse than
that, with the kingdom of darkness within our-
selves, we were incapable of entering the kingdom
of light. We needed to be made "suflScient,"
"competent," "adequate," "capable," to be
"qualified," "capacitated" for entering into our
portion in the allotment of the saints. There was
no power in us for entering these light-sown re-
gions; our natural home was elsewhere. Only
by a creative act of God were we able to enter
upon their sacred precincts.

You see the idea is not that we had the power to
enter but not the fitness to abide there; it is
that we had no power to enter — the light striking
us in the face drove us away because we were of
the darkness and incapable of the light. It was
God and God alone who made us able to receive
a portion in the inheritance of the saints in light;
He alone who delivered us from the authority (we
were under its authority) of darkness and trans-
lated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
And we will utterly fail to catch Paul's real mean-
ing unless we feel profoundly how entirely he as-

THE HERITAGE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT 349

cribes the totality of the transaction by which we
are vested with a heritage among the saints "in
the light" to God and to God alone. It is to God
and not to ourselves — not to our fellow-men, nor
yet to angels, — to God and to God alone, that we
owe it that our part is with the saints in the light.
It is He that has qualified, capacitated, compe-
tentized, suflScientized us, for our part in the lot of
the saints.

And it is just on this basis that He calls on us
to spend our lives in one long thanksgiving to
God, as the one who has enabled us for our share <
in the heritage of the saints in the light. Thanks-
giving presupposes indebtedness. The nature of
the indebtedness is already enshrined in the one
word "who made us competent," but it is richly
developed in the subsequent verses. We were
held under the power of darkness; we have been
delivered from it and translated into the Kingdom
of the Son of God's love. We were under the
curse of sin; we have received in Him redemp-
tion, even the forgiveness of sins. In this great
rescue we have been made suflScient for both
things. There is obviously an objective and a
subjective side to it; an ideal and an actual pos-
session involved. But the upshot of it all is —
that God has taken us out of darkness with all
that that involves and placed us in the light, with
all that that involves. And as children of the light
we must rejoice in the light — which light God is.

THE HIDDEN LIFE

Col. 3:1-4, especially 3: — "Your life is hid with Christ in God."

We cannot hope to empty so great a text as this
into our minds and hearts in the course of a quar-
ter of an hour's study of it. It is a great fountain
filled with refreshment. But we may like to sip
a little of its strengthening waters. To do so, let
us in a very simple way just glance at its contents.

And first we observe that the text assumes a
fact. Its opening words, "If then ye were raised
together with Christ" posit a fact beneath all
that it has further to say. And the resurrection
here adverted to implies a previous death; and
looking back to the preceding chapter, we find it
also mentioned. Here, then, are the two wings
of the fact assumed: "If ye died with Christ from
the rudiments of the world"; "If then ye were
raised together with Christ." At the bottom of
all, then, lies this great fact, the fundamental fact
of the Christian religion: that Christ died and
rose again. On this great fundamental fact
everything in our present passage is based. But
not upon it as a bare fact, without further sig-
nificance than that it happened. For it is no
more a fact that Christ died than that He died
for our sins; and no more a fact that He rose
again than that He rose again for our justification.

350

THE HIDDEN LIFE 351

This then is the fact assumed in our text, that
Christ died for our trespasses and was raised again
for our justification. But if He died for our sins,
He died to take them away, and His death did take
them away. All those for whose sins Christ died,
died then with Him in the death which He ac-
complished on the cross; died with Him to sin,
that they might no longer be sinners. And if He
was raised again for our justification. He rose
again to usher us into acceptance with God and
into all that is involved in that great word, life,
and His resurrection has brought us into God's
favour and into life indeed. All those for whom
He rose again, rose again with Him, therefore;
rose again with Him to life that they might live
again to God. And here now is the great fact in
its fullness which Paul assumes and lays at the
base of our present passage: the great fact of the
participation of Christians in Christ's death and
rising again.

If we be Christians at all, we are such only in
virtue of the fact that when He died. He died for
us, and we, therefore, died as sinners with His
death ; and that when He rose again for our just-
ification, we rose again into newness of life with
Him, — the life that we now live is a new life, from
a new spring, even the Spirit of Christ which He
as the risen Lord has sent down to us. This is the
great fact of participation in the saving work of
Christ, with all that it involves. And what we

352 FAITH AND LIFE

have here is an assertion that such a participation
involves seizing of us bodily and lifting us to
another and higher plane. We were sinners, and
lived as sinners; we lived an earthly life, in the
lowest sense of that word. But now we have died
with Christ as sinners and can live no more as
sinners; we have been raised together with Him
and can live only on the plane of this new life,
which is not in sin, not "in the earth," but in
heaven. In a high and true sense, because we
have died to sin and been raised to holiness, we
have already passed out of earth to heaven.
Heaven is already the sphere of our life; our
"citizenship is in heaven" — we are citizens of the
Kingdom of Heaven, and have the life appropriate
thereto to live.

And now we observe, secondly, that on this
fact the Apostle founds an exhortation. "If
then ye were raised together with Christ, seek
the things that are above." The exhortation is
simply to an actual life consonant with our change
of state. If we have participated in Christ's
death for sin and rising again for justification;
so that with Him we died to sin and rose again
unto holiness; live accordingly. If we have thus
died as sinners, as earth born, and earth confined
crawlers on this low plane, and been raised to this
higher plane, even a heavenly one, of living —
show in walk and conversation that the change
has been a real one. It is an exhortation to us to

THE HIDDEN LIFE 353

be in life real citizens of the heavenly kingdom to
which we have been transferred ; to do the duties
and enter into the responsibilities of our new cit-
izenship. It is just as we might say to some
newly enfranchised immigrant: You have left
that country of darkness in which you were bred,
where no liberty of action or of worship existed;
you have been received into our free America, and
have been clothed with the rights and duties of
citizenship in this great Republic; now live worth-
ily of your new citizenship; be now in life and
thought no longer a serf but a freeman. So, Paul
says in effect, you have passed out of the realm of
sin and death, out of the merely earthly sphere;
you have been made a citizen of the heavenly
kingdom; do the deeds and live the life conform-
able to your great change.

And we observe, again, that the Apostle de-
scribes to us the nature of this heavenly life to
which we are committed, by passing out of the
earthly into the heavenly sphere through partici-
pation in the death and rising again of Christ.
" Seek the things that are above." " Set your mind
on the things that are above, not on the things
that are upon the earth." What is meant by
seeking the heavenly things rather than the
earthly? We may, at least, say that the following
is meant.

To seek the things that are above, in distinc-
tion from those that are upon the earth, means

354 FAITH AND LIFE

primarily to seek what is good and refuse what is
evil. It is an exhortation to a moral life as op-
posed to an immoral one. It is an exhortation to
a life of purity and holiness as opposed to a life of
sin. This at least is made evident to us by the
immediately succeeding context. For just after
giving the exhortation to seek the "things that
are above and not the things that are upon the
earth," the Apostle explains what the things that
are upon the earth are which we are to refuse.
"Mortify, therefore," he adds, at once, "your
members that are upon the earth; fornication,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetous-
ness." And he proceeds also to explain what the
heavenly things are which we are to seek: "Put
on, therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a
heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness,
long-suffering" and the like. These, then, are
"the things that are above" which we are to seek:
and those "the things that are upon the earth"
that we are to keep ourselves free from, and, when
they are already in us as members, which we are
"to mortify," to "slay." But this is as much as
to say that the heavenly life which, as those who
have shared in Christ's death and resurrection, we
are to live, is, first of all, a moral life, or better,
a holy life, a life of purity and virtue, as distin-
guished from a life of sin. And this, indeed, fol-
lows from its very conception, for our death with
Christ was a death to sin and our rising with Him

THE HIDDEN LIFE 355

was a rising out of sin, — which is the death of the
soul, — to a new life, spiritual life, which in its
very idea is holiness. Before all else, this, then,
is to seek the things that are above: to put aside
the sin that so easily besets us and to live holily
as becomes saints.

But this fundamental conception — and all in-
clusive conception, too, when rightly under-
stood— hardly exhausts, when only thus broadly
stated, the matter as it lies in the Apostle's mind
here. On closer observation we see that the Apos-
tle has also a special application of it in mind,
and we need to note it. Let us say, then, that the
seeking of the things that are above, means here
also this : the seeking of the things that are really
good in contradistinction to those that are ap-
parently good. For if the subsequent context is
the professed explanation of the fundamental
meaning of the exhortation, the preceding con-
text, furnishing the occasion of the special form
which the exhortation takes, is the explanation of
this. "If, therefore, ye were raised together with
Christ." Now, in this preceding context, the
Apostle was attemptuig to save his readers from a
grave heresy which had shown itself in their region.
The characteristic of this heresy was that, along
with certain speculative errors, a specific moral
teaching was offered: a moral teaching of ap-
parently high and lofty nature. The Apostle does
not deny that the principles thus pressed upon his

356 FAITH AND LIFE

converts as a rule of life had the appearance of
goodness, and of wisdom: "which things have a
show of wisdom in severity to the body." He
does not deny that there were real evils to be met.
There were gross indulgences of the flesh to which
men were prone: intemperance, impurity and all
the catalogue of such evils. How apparently
wise and right to preach: Handle not, nor taste,
nor touch! Should Christian men fail to join in
this great cyclone of moral reform? If they did,
were they not open to the charge of indifference to
morality itself — the very mark and sign of their
profession of having died to sin and been raised
again to righteousness .^^

Paul's deliberate judgment is that all such pre-
cepts are precepts of men; that their tendency is
to enslave men again under the yoke of legalism —
men who had become free in Christ. And his
deliberate exhortation is, to keep to the path of
seeking the really good instead of these apparent
goods. His exhortation becomes thus an exhor-
tation to seek what we call the religious, rather
than the moral way to reform man and the world.
When men come saying. Touch not, taste not,
handle not, Paul says they are offering you an
inoperative mode of saving the world from sin;
they are offering you law which only condemns,
not grace in which alone is saving power. He
says, reject such human commandments, and be
content to hold fast to the Head — that Christ who

THE HIDDEN LIFE 357

has created all these things, whose they are, and
who has given them to you for use, though, of
course, not for abuse. He says, you are living
on a higher plane than this earthly one of pre-
cepts and prohibitions; see that you live on this
higher plane; seek the real good even if you are
evil-spoken of, because you refuse a path of ap-
parent good, one which has a show of wisdom,
indeed, but is no real "specific" against the evils
of the flesh.

But there is yet another special aspect of the
exhortation, growing immediately out of these
facts, which we must notice. Just because the
seeking of the really good as over against the ap-
parent good will necessarily bring misunder-
standing, and even misrepresentation (for they
that called the Master Beelzebub are not likely to
mince matters in speaking of his followers), Paul
represents the seeking of the thmgs above, as a
seeking of the hidden good, as distinguished from
the open, publicly recognized good. This life of
ours is a hidden life; hid with Christ in God. God,
not the world, is the sphere in which it is passed.
Christ is it itself. And Christ is now with God.
The Christian in seeking heavenly things must
not seek to be known of the world to be good, but
only to be seen of God. It belongs to the Phar-
isee, not to the Christian, to do good to be seen
of men. It is a hidden life he leads ; and he must
be content to be misunderstood and misrepre-

358 FAITH AND LIFE

sented, even persecuted for righteousness' sake;
for him it is not appearances, or even appearance
that he seeks; it is only the good. Not that his
good shall always be unrecognized. There comes
a day of manifestation; "When Christ is mani-
fested, then shall ye be manifested with him, in
glory." For that day of the revelation of all, he
can afford to and he must wait.

But there is more in this hidden life than this.
Here is an intimation of the quiet of the Christian
life; here is also an intimation of its perfection.
It is better than men know or even dream. The
Christian is to refuse men's commands of "Touch
not, taste not, handle not," not because he is in-
different to morality, but because he has a better
morality and a better way. He is not to fall be-
hind human morality; he is to transcend it. He
seeks not law but grace; he seeks not to make the
outside of the platter clean — how diligently men
are willing to work at that! — but to make the
heart clean. His remedy for the world's ills, as
for his own, is — a life hid with Christ in God. He
points to Christ who can make pure the heart,
from which are the issues of life, and, in His name
and as His servant, he refuses all the outward in-
operative nostrums which are offered as specifics
for the deep disease of humanity; because they
have no help or profit in them. He refuses the
bad medicine only in favour of the good.

And now let us pass on to observe that the

THE HIDDEN LIFE 359

Apostle adduces motives for this heavenly walk.
And the motives he presents are three, drawn
from the past, the present and the future.

There is a motive drawn from the past. "If
then ye were raised with Christ." The motive
presented is our gratitude to our Lord for the great
work He has done for and in us. That we have
been made partakers of so great benefits is reason
enough for striving to walk worthily of Him.
This motive is the same as, "The love of Christ
constraineth us."

There is a motive drawn from the present. "For
your Hfe is hid with Christ in God." Notice here
that Christ is described as, not the humiliated
Christ, but the exalted Christ— "He is seated on
the right hand of God." The motive presented
is that as we all are one with Him, who is exalted
to the right hand of God, we are to walk worthily
of our high dignity. Noblesse oblige. If we are
co-regnant with Christ, how should a king in this
world walk? As grovelling in its dust and dirt?
As subject to man's petty precepts? No! As
superior to all the prescriptions of men and as
above all the temptations to evil, because one with
Christ and possessing a life hid with Him in
God.

There is a motive drawn from the future.
" When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested,
then shall we also with him be manifested in
glory." The vindication, even before men, will

360 FAITH AND LIFE

come. We shall not always be misunderstood;
we shall have the reward. And what a reward!
Co-manifestation with Christ in glory! Do not
our hearts spring within us with hope and

joy!

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION

1 Thess. 5:23-24:— "And the God of peace himself sanctify
you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved
entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it."

There is no feature of Christianity more
strongly emphasized by those to whom its estab-
lishment in the world was committed, than the
breadth and depth of its ethical demands. The
"salvation" which was promised in the "Gospel"
or "Glad Tidings" which constituted its procla-
mation, was just salvation from sin and unto holi-
ness. In other words, it was a moral revolution
of the most thoroughgoing and radical kind.
" Sanctification " is the Biblical word for this moral
revolution, and in " sanctification " the very es-
sence of salvation is made to consist. "This is
the will of God" for you, says the Apostle to his
readers in this very epistle, "even your sanctifi-
cation." A great part of the epistle is given, ac-
cordingly, to commending the new converts for
the progress they had already made in this sanc-
tification, and to urging them onward in the same
pathway.

No moral attainment is too great to be pressed
on them as their duty, no moral duty is too min-
ute to be demanded of them as essential to their

361

362 FAITH AND LIFE

Christian walk. The standard the Apostle nas
before him, and consistently applies to his readers,
falls in nothing short of absolute perfection, a per-
fection which embraces in its all-inclusive sweep
the infinitely httle and the infinitely great alike.
In the verses immediately preceding our text the
Apostle had been engaged, as is his wont in all his
epistles, in enumerating a number of details of
conduct which he wished, especially, to emphasize
to his readers. They are not chosen at hap-
hazard, but are just the items of conduct which the
particular readers with whom he is at the moment
engaged required most to have urged upon their
attention. But the Apostle would not have his
readers suppose that their whole duty was summed
up in the items he enumerates. As he draws to
the close of his exhortations he therefore breaks
off in the enumeration and adjoins one great com-
prehensive prayer for their entire perfection:
"But may the God of peace Himself sanctify you
wholly: and may your spirit and soul and body
be preserved perfect without failure, at the com-
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that
calleth you who also will do it."

Here we have obviously a classical passage —
possibly the classical passage — ^for "entire sanc-
tification"; and it may repay us in the perennial
interest which attends the discussion of the theme
of "entire sanctification " to look at it somewhat
closely, as such.

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION 363

First of all, let us settle it clearly in mind that it
is of "entire sanctification " that the passage
treats. There can certainly be no doubt of it, if
we will only give the language of the passage a fair
hearing. It is so emphasized, indeed, and with
such an accumulation of phraseology that it be-
comes almost embarrassing. The entirety, the
completeness, the perfection of the sanctification,
of which it speaks is, in fact, the great burden of
the passage. In contrast with the details with
which the Apostle had just been dealing, and
which — just because they were details — could
touch the periphery only of a perfect life, and that
only at this or that point of the circumference, he
here adverts to the complete sanctification that
not merely touches but fills not the periphery only
but the entire circle of the Christian — nay, of the
human — ^life. It is a sanctification that is abso-
lutely complete and that embraces the perfection
of every member of the human constitution, that
the Apostle here deals with.

Observe the emphatic repetition of the idea of
completeness. May the "God of Peace" — and
this very designation of God, doubtless, has its
reference to the completeness of the sanctification,
peace being the opposite of all division, distrac-
tion, hesitation and dubitation, — may the "God
of Peace," the Apostle prays, "sanctify you com-
pletely"— so as that ye may be perfect and want-
ing nothing that enters into the perfection of your

364 FAITH AND LIFE

correspondence to the ends for which you were
created. And not content with this, he adds
explanatorily, "And may your spirit and your
soul and your body be preserved entire, perfect,"
and not that merely, but "blamelessly entire, per-
fect"; "blamelessly" — that is, in a manner which
is incapable of being accused of not coming up to
its idea.

Observe further the distribution of the person-
ality which is to be perfected into its component
parts, of each of which, in turn, perfection is de-
siderated. Not only are we to be sanctified
wholly, but every part of us — our spirit, our soul,
our body itself — ^is to be kept blamelessly perfect.
The Apostle is not content, in other words, with
the general, but descends into the specific ele-
ments of our being. And for each of these ele-
ments in turn he seeks a "blameless perfection,"
that the sum of them all — the "we" at large —
may be, indeed, complete and entire, wanting
nothing.

Now, no doubt, this enumeration of parts is in
a sense rhetorical and not scientific. The Apostle
is accumulating terms to convey the great idea of
completeness more pungently to us — something
as our Lord did when He told us we must love the
Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind
and strength. But even so he makes a certain
distinction between the three elements he enu-
merates, by the accumulation of which he expresses

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION 365

completeness most emphatically. His meaning is
that there is no department of our being into which
he would not have this perfection penetrate,
where he would not have it reign, and through
which he would not have it operate to the per-
fecting of the whole.

By this double mode of accumulation, we per-
ceive, the Apostle throws an astonishing em-
phasis on the perfection which he desires for his
readers. Here we may say is "Perfectionism"
raised to its highest power, a blameless perfection,
a perfection admitting of no failure to attain its
end, in every department of our being alike, unit-
ing to form a perfection of the whole, a complete
attainment of our idea in the whole man. There
is certainly no doctrine of "entire sanctification "
that has been invented in these later days which
can compare with Paul's doctrine in height or
depth or length or breadth. His "perfectionism"
is assuredly the very apotheosis of perfectionism.
The perfection proposed is a real perfection (which
is not always true of recent teachings on this sub-
ject) and the man who attains it is a perfect man
— every part of his being receiving its appropriate
perfection (and this is seldom or never true of
recent teachings). A perfect perfection for a
perfect man — an entire sanctification for the en-
tire man — surely here is a perfection worth long-
ing for.

Let us observe next that Paul does not speak

866 FAITH AND LIFE

of this perfecting of the entire man as if it were a
mere ideal, unattainable, and to be looked up to
only as the for ever beckoning standard hanging
hopelessly above us. He treats it as distinctly
attainable. He seriously prays God to grant it
to his readers; and that as the end of his exhor-
tation to them to study moral perfection as the
aim of their endeavours.

He does not, indeed, represent it as attainable
by and through human effort alone, as if man in
his own strength could reach and touch this his
true ultimate goal of endeavour. Rather he em-
phatically represents it as the gift of God alone.
After exhorting men to their best endeavours, he
turns suddenly from man to God and besieges
Him with prayer. Strive, he says, strive always,
do this thing and do that — and so work out this,
your ethical salvation. ''But may God Himself —
the God of peace Himself" — the stress is on the
"Himself." It is in God, in God alone, the God
of peace alone, that hope can be placed for such
high attainments.

But cannot hope be placed in God for this at-
tainment? The whole gist of Paul's prayer —
nay, the whole drift of his discourse — would be
stultified, were it not so. Paul's prayer, and the
way in which he introduces his prayer, all com-
bine to make it certain that he is not mocking us
here with an illusory hope but is placing soberly
before us an attainable goal. This perfect per-

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION 367

fection is then, necessarily, according to Paul,
attainable for man. God can and will give it to
His children.

Even more must be said. Paul not only prays
seriously for it for his readers, and this implies
that it may, nay, will be given them; he defi-
nitely promises it to them, and bases this, his
definite promise, on no less firm a foundation than
the faithfulness of God. May God sanctify you
wholly, he says, and the rest of it. But he does
not stop there. He follows the prayer with the
promise: "Faithful is He that calleth you," and
he adds, " who also will do it." Thus Paul pledges
the faithfulness of God to the completion of his
readers' perfection. And we must not lose the
force and pointedness with which he does this by
failing to pay attention to the sharp, proverbial
character of this pledging clause. It has all the
quality of a maxim; and the gist of the maxim
is that God, this God of whom Paul was praying
our perfection, is not a caller only, but also a per-
former. He has called us into the Christian life.
This Christian life into which He has called us is
in principle a life of moral perfection. And this
God that calls is not a God that calls merely — He
is a God that also accomplishes. His very calling
of us into this life of new morality is a pledge, then,
that He will perfect the good work in us which He
has begun. "Faithful is He that calleth you:
who also is one that shall do."

368 FAITH AND LIFE

The accomplishment of this our perfection then
does not hang on our weak endeavours. It does
not hang even on Paul's strong prayer. It hangs
only on God's almighty and unfailing faithfulness.
If God is faithful, He who not only calls but does —
then, we cannot fail of perfection. Here you see
is not only perfection carried to its highest power,
but the certainty of attaining this perfection car-
ried also to its highest power. Not only may a
Christian man be perfect — absolutely perfect in
all departments of his being — but he certainly and
unfailingly shall be perfect. So certain as it is
that God has called him "not for uncleanness but
in sanctification " as the very sphere in which his
life as a Christian must be passed, so certain is it
that the God who is not merely a caller but a
doer will perfect him in this sanctification. Such
is the teaching of the text. And assuredly it goes
in this, far, far beyond all modern teaching as to
entire sanctification that ever has been heard of
among men.

And now, let us observe, thirdly, the period to
which the Apostle assigns the accomplishment of
this great hope. It is at once evident that he is
not dealing with this perfection as a thing already
in the possession of his readers. It is not a mat-
ter of congratulation to them — as some Christian
graces were, for the presence of which in their
hearts he thanks God, — but a matter of prayer to
God for them. It is a thing not yet in possession

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION 369

but in petition. It is yet to come to them. He
does not permit us to suppose, then, that the
Thessalonians had already attained — or should
already have attained — it. He thanks God, in-
deed, for their rescue from the state in which they
were by nature. He thanks God for their great
attainments in Christian living. But he does not
suggest they had already reached the goal. On
the contrary, a great part of the letter is taken up
with exhortation to Christian duties not yet over-
taken, graces of Christian living still to be culti-
vated. His readers are treated distinctly and
emphatically as viatores, not yet as comprehen-
sores. Not in and of them, but in and of God, is
the perfection which he prays for. What we see
is not hoped for, what we pray for is not already
attained. Moreover the very pledge he gives of
the attainment of this perfection bears in it an
implication that it is yet a matter of hope, not of
possession. He pledges the faithfulness of God,
the Caller. Accordingly, the perfection longed
for and promised is not given in the call itself; it
is not the invariable possession of the Christian
soul. He that is called looks yet for it; it is
sought still; and at the hands of the Caller whose
faithfulness assures the performance. The per-
formance, therefore, still lags.

It is clear, therefore, that Paul, though prom-
ising this perfection as the certain heritage of
every Christian man, presents it as a matter of

370 FAITH AND LIFE

hope, not yet seen ; not as a matter of experience,
already enjoyed. That it belongs to us as Chris-
tians we can be assured only by the faithfulness of
God, the Performer as well as the Caller. Can we
learn from Paul when we can hope for it? As-
suredly, he has not left us in ignorance here. He
openly declares, indeed, the term of our imper-
fection— the point of entrance into our perfection.
"May the God of peace," he prays, "sanctify
you wholly and may there be preserved blame-
lessly perfect your spirit and soul and body, at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. "^^ You see it is
on the second advent of Christ — and that is the
end of the world, and the judgment day — that
the Apostle has his eyes set. There is the point
of time to which he refers the completeness of our
perfecting.

And if you will stop and consider a moment, you
will perceive that it must be so, for the entire per-
fecting, at least, of which the Apostle speaks.
For you will bear in mind that the perfecting in-
cludes the perfecting of the body also. It is the
perfecting of the whole man that he prays for, and
this expressly includes the body as well as the soul
and spirit. Now the perfected body is given to
man only at the resurrection, at the last day, which
is the day of the second coming of Christ. Until
then the body is mouldering in the grave. Whether
spiritual perfection may be attained before then,
he does not in this passage say. But the analogy

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION 371

of the body will apparently go so far as this, at
all events — it raises a suspicion that the perfect-
ing of the soul and spirit also will be gradual, the
result of a process, and will be completed only in a
crisis, a cataclysmic moment, when the Spirit of
God produces in them the fitness to live with God.
This suspicion is entirely borne out by Paul's
dealing with the whole matter of sanctification in
this context, and in this whole epistle: as a mat-
ter of effort, long-continued and strenuous, build-
ing up slowly the structure to the end. There is
no promise of its completion in this life; there is
no hint that it may be completed in this life.
There is only everywhere strong exhortations to
ceaseless effort; and strong encouragements by
promises of its completion in the end — against
"that day." "That day" of judgment, that is,
when God shall take account of all men and of all
that is in man.

What is thus fairly implied here is openly
taught elsewhere. Men here are not compre-
hensores but viatores; we are fighting the good
fight; we are running the race. The prize is yon-
der. And not until the body of this death is laid
aside shall the soul be fitted to enter naked into
the presence of its Lord, there expecting until the
body shall be restored to it — ^no longer a body
of death but of glory. Meanwhile the gradual
process of sanctification goes on in soul and body
— until the crisis comes when the "Spiritus Crea-

372 FAITH AND LIFE

tor" shall powerfully intervene with the final acts
of renewal.

Certainly the gradualness of this process ought
not to disturb us. It may be inexplicable to us
that the Almighty God acts by way of process.
But that is revealed to us as His chosen mode of
operation in every sphere of His work, and should
not surprise us here. He could, no doubt, make
the soul perfect in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye; just as He could give us each a perfect
body at the very instant of our believing. He
does not. The removal of the stains and effects
of sin — in an evil heart and in a sick and dying
body — is accomplished in a slow process. We all
grow sick and die — though Jesus has taken on His
broad shoulders (among the other penalties of
sin) all our sicknesses and death itself. And we
still struggle w^ith the remainders of indwelling
sin; though Jesus has bought for us the sancti-
fying operations of the Spirit. To us it is a weary
process. But it is God's way. And He does all
things well. And the weariness of the struggle is
illuminated by hope. After a while! — we may
say; after a while! Or as Paul puts it: Faithful
is He that calls us — who also will do it. He will
do it! And so, after a while, our spirit, and soul
and body shall be made blamelessly perfect, all
to be so presented before our Lord, at that Day.
Let us praise the Lord for the glorious prospect!

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS

I Tim. 3:16: — "And without controversy great is the mystery
of godliness. "

"Confessedly great," says Paul, "is the mys-
tery of piety." This does not mean that piety is
exceedingly "mysterious." There is no "mys-
tery" in piety as such. As Paul means it here it
rests simply, objectively on the great fact, sub-
jectively on the hearty conviction that God was
in Christ reconciling the world with Himself. The
word "mystery," in the usage of Paul, does not
imply inherent incomprehensibility, but only
actual inaccessibility to the natural inquisition of
men. Whatever is known by revelation rather
than by unaided reason, is, in his usage, a "mys-
tery"; and the employment of the word by no
means implies that the revelation has not already
taken place and the hidden truth been made fully
known, but rather just the contrary. The "mys-
tery of piety" is thus just "the opened secret of
piety." And what Paul affirms of it is that this
"opened secret of piety" is confessedly of the
highest importance. "Confessedly great" he
says, and he throws these words forward with
sharp emphasis, "of admittedly the highest im-
portance," "is the mystery of piety."

What Paul is doing in this clause, then, is sim-
373

374 FAITH AND LIFE

ply impressing on Timothy's mind as deeply as
possible a sense of the supreme value of the Gospel,
which he calls a "mystery" only because it is a
matter of revelation, but without the faintest
implication that it is difficult to grasp when once
made known, or that it includes in it any elements
of the inscrutable or incomprehensible. Chris-
tianity, like other religions, had its mysteries,
its sacred truths, made known to its initiates;
and these mysteries, as they constituted its very
essence, were to every Christian of the most
supreme importance — to be carefully guarded,
preserved intact, and kept whole and entire, pure
and unadulterated, at every hazard. Confessedly
great, says the Apostle here with marked emphasis,
admittedly of supreme importance, is the mys-
tery, the opened secret of Christian piety, the
Gospel.

It is especially worth our while to observe two
things here. First, preliminarily, why the Apos-
tle is so strenuous in insisting here on the impor-
tance of the opened secret of piety, the value and
significance of the Gospel. And, secondly, and
more at large, because it is this that constitutes
the burden of the text, what the Apostle con-
ceived to be this " opened secret of piety," that is
to say, what he conceived to be the contents of
the Gospel which he pronounces here to have
such confessed importance.

We need not delay long on the preliminary

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 375

point. A glance at the context is enough to in-
form us that the Apostle insists on the greatness
of the Gospel here in order to impress Timothy
with the importance of attending to the direc-
tions he had been giving him as to the proper
ordering of the Church. Somewhat minute pre-
scriptions had been laid down especially as to the
conduct of public worship and as to the organiza-
tion of the Church. In particular the officers of
the Church had been enumerated, and the quali-
fications for their offices carefully described. At
the close of these directions, now, the Apostle
adds these pointed words: "I am writing these
things to you, though I hope to come to you very
soon: but if I am delayed that you may know
what sort of behaviour is incumbent in God's
house — seeing that it is the Church of the Living
God, the pillar and buttress of the truth; and
confessedly great is the mystery of piety. ..."
You see, his appeal to the confessed greatness of
the truth, for the support and propagation of
which in the world the Church exists, is intended
to impress Timothy with a sense of the importance
of the proper ordering and right equipment of the
Church for this, its high function.

It is of the more importance that we should note
this, that there is a disposition abroad to treat all
matters of the ordering of public worship and even
of the organization of the Church as of little im-
portance. We even hear it said about us with

376 FAITH AND LIFE

wearisome iteration that the New Testament has
no rules to give, no specific laws to lay down, in
such matters. Matters of church government and
modes of worship, we are told, are merely external
things, of no sort of significance; and the Church
has been left free to find its own best modes of
organization and worship, varying, doubtless, in
the passage of time and in the Church's own pas-
sage from people to people of diverse characters
and predilections. No countenance is lent to
such sentiments by the passage before us; or,
indeed, by these Pastoral Epistles, the very place
of which in the Canon is a standing rebuke to
them; or, in fine, by anything in the New Testa-
ment.

On the contrary, you will observe, Paul's point
of view is precisely the opposite one. He takes
his start from the inestimable importance of the
Gospel. Thence he argues to the importance of
the Church which has been established in the
world, so to speak, as the organ of the Gospel — the
pillar and buttress on which its purity and its
completeness rest. Thence again he argues to
the proper organization and ordering of the Church
that it may properly perform its high functions.
And, accordingly, he gives minute prescriptions
for the proper organization and ordering of the
Church — prescribing the offices that it should
have and the proper men for these offices, and
descending even into the details of the public ser-

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 377

vices. His position, compressed into a nutshell, is
simply this : the function of the Church as guard-
ian of the truth, that glorious truth which is the
Gospel, is so high and important that it cannot be
left to accident or to human caprice how this
Church should be organized and its work ordered.
Accordingly, he, the inspired Apostle — "an Apostle
of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of
God our Saviour and Christ, our Hope" — has
prescribed in great detail, touching both organi-
zation and order, how it is necessary that men
should conduct themselves in the household of
God — which is nothing other than the Church of
the Living God, the pillar and ground of the
truth. In other words, it is God's Church, not
man's, and God has created and now sustains it
for a function; and He has not neglected to order
it for the best performance of this function.

To imagine that it is of little importance how
the Church shall be organized and ordered, then,
is manifestly to contradict the Apostle. To con-
tend that no organization is prescribed for it is
to deny the total validity of the minute directions
laid down in these epistles. Nay, this whole point
of view is as irrational as it is unbiblical. One
might as well say that it makes no difference how
a machine is put together — ^how, for example, a
typewriter is disposed in its several parts, — be-
cause, forsooth, the typewriter does not exist for
itself, but for the manuscript which is produced by

378 FAITH AND LIFE

or rather through it. Of course the Church does
not exist for itself — that is, for the beauty of its
organization, the symmetry of its parts, the ma-
jesty of its services; it exists for its "product" and
for the "truth" which has been committed to it
and of which it is the support and stay in the
world. But just on that account, not less but
more, is it necessary that it be properly organ-
ized and equipped and administered — that it may
function properly. Beware how you tamper with
any machine, lest you mar or destroy its product;
beware how you tamper with or are indifiFerent to
the Divine organization and ordering of the
Church, lest you thereby mar its efficiency or de-
stroy its power, as the pillar and ground of the
truth. Surely you can trust God to know how it is
best to organize His Church so that it may per-
form its functions in the world. And surely you
must assert that His ordering of the Church, which
is His, is necessary if not for the "esse," certainly
for the "bene esse" of the Church.

But our main attention to-day must be given
to the Apostle's elaboration of the contents of this
"truth," or this "mystery of piety," to support
and buttress which he tells us the Church has been
established in the world. He moves Timothy to
zeal in properly ordering the church under his
care, by the declaration that "the opened secret
of piety," to support and buttress which the
Church exists, is confessedly of the utmost im-

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 379

portance. And then he deepens and vitalizes
the impression which this declaration is calculated
to make by abruptly enumerating the chief items
which enter into this "mystery of piety" — this
"truth" for which the Church exists.

This enumeration thus embodies Paul's con-
ception of the essence of the Gospel, and takes its
place among the numerous brief summaries of the
essence of the Gospel which stud the pages of his
epistles. It differs from most of them, however,
in this circumstance — that it is not couched in
language of his own, but the Apostle has availed
himself here, as so often in the Pastoral Epistles,
of a form of statement current in the churches,
which would appeal to Timothy's eye and heart,
therefore, with all the force of customary and
well-loved words, in which he and the congrega-
tion had been wont to express their apprehension
of the truth most precious to their hearts. Whether
the words thus adduced are derived from some
current liturgical form, or from a hymn, or merely
from some formulary of accustomed speech, we
have no means of knowing. We can only be sure
that the whole document is not quoted here and,
from the balanced, almost mechanical form of its
structure, that the original document possessed
an elevated and festal character.

The choice of the Apostle to adduce the essence
of the Gospel from such a current formulary,
rather than to frame it out of his own heart, nat-

380 FAITH AND LIFE

urally produces a certain abruptness in the words
in which it is introduced. A fragment of current
speech, torn out of its own context, is here simply
juxtaposed by way of apposition to his own declar-
ation, that the Gospel is a supremely important
thing, and left to exhibit that importance by its
contents. "Great," he says, "confessedly great,
is the opened secret of piety," this to wit: "Who
was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the
Spirit, observed by angels, proclaimed among
peoples, believed in by the world, received into
glory." There is not a word to tell us who was
the subject of all these transactions; that was a
part of the original context of the fragment, and
here goes without saying; no one of his readers —
least of all his primary reader Timothy, who knew
as well as Paul the whole document from which the
fragment was derived, — would hesitate to supply
the subject, Jesus Christ. What Paul does is
simply to avail himself of this fervent fragment
and set out the contents of the "mystery of piety"
by means of its rapid enumeration of the prin-
cipal transactions which concerned the redemptive
work of Christ — beginning with the incarnation
and ending with the ascension.

Now, of course, this means that to Paul, Christ
is the essence of the Gospel. As everywhere else,
so here, he sums up the Gospel in Christ; not
Christ, of course, merely as a person, but the ac-
tive Christ — or in other words, in the great re-

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 381

demptive work of Christ. And it will repay us
to observe in some detail how the redemptive
work of Christ is presented to us in this somewhat
artificially because artistically ordered fragment
of old Christian confessional expression.

We observe, at once, that the fragment con-
sists of a series of six passive verbs, rapidly suc-
ceeding one another, with the common subject
"Jesus Christ," each further defined by a brief
predicative qualification; the verb being put em-
phatically forward in each case: He was "mani-
fested" in the flesh, "vindicated" by the Spirit,
"seen" by angels. . . . We observe next that the
clauses are so arranged as to fall necessarily into
three contrasting pairs; and yet these three pairs
are bound together by the contrast in each case
being made to turn upon the contrariety of earth
and heaven, or of the flesh and the spirit. Thus
we have the successive triads on the one hand of
the flesh, the peoples, the world; on the other of
the Spirit, the angels, glory. There is no strict
chronological order of occurrence followed in the
enumeration, but the pairs so succeed one an-
other as yet to suggest a beginning, a middle and
an end; the inception, the prosecution, the con-
summation of Christ's work. On the one hand,
he was manifested in the flesh and vindicated by
the Spirit. Here clearly His earthly life is in
mind, with the stress laid perhaps on its inception
in the incarnation and its culmination in the res-

382 FAITH AND LIFE

iirrection. Then we have the declaration that He
was seen of angels and proclaimed among the
nations. Here the process of the saving work is
referred to, — chiasmically adduced. Finally, we
read. He was believed on in the world and received
into glory. Here the stress is laid obviously on
the result of His work. The whole constitutes an
exceedingly comprehensive description of the pro-
cess of redemption, antithetically set forth in
balanced clauses, which advert, one by one, to a
characteristic transaction of which Christ was the
object.

Let us now briefly observe the several items of
the description, seriatim.

He "was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by
the Spirit." Here we have the redemptive work
itself adduced. First, the incarnated life in the
flesh — He "was manifested in the flesh"; next,
the successful issue of that work, — He "was
vindicated by the Spirit." The two clauses
together constitute a singularly vivid though
compressed picture of the incarnated work of
redemption. Note the clear implication of the
pre-existence — the deity — of the worker: He "was
manifested," — He existed then, hidden from human
eyes, before; "in the flesh," — in his pre-existence,
then, he was something other than flesh. It is as
clear a declaration of pre-existence and incarna-
tion as the Johannean, "The Word became flesh,"
itself. There is a change of state implied, a change

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 383

by virtue of which what was hidden is now brought
to light, and it is brought to Hght because brought
into flesh. Note next the perfection of His work
estabHshed: He was "justified by the Spirit";
that is to say, though appearing in the flesh, yet by
virtue of the Spirit that dwelt in Him, His work of
salvation was vindicated; He rose from the dead,
and could not be holden of death, and so mani-
fested the completeness of His work.

He was "observed by angels, proclaimed among
peoples." Here the progress of the saving work is
outlined. It was not done in or for a corner.
The object of the wondering contemplation of the
hosts of heaven, it is made known also to the in-
habitants of earth. Performed in Judea, in a life
of confined and limited relations, to all appear-
ance, yet it was all the time the focus of the ob-
servation of the angels of God, who anxiously de-
sired to look into it; and when brought to its
glorious completion, it was made the subject of a
world-wide proclamation. Obviously it is the
glory of the Christ — of the redemptive work of
Christ — that is the theme of the whole fragment,
and in this couplet we begin to see it come to light;
and, indeed, the chiasmic arrangement might well
have advised us of it before, what is most glorious in
it being thrust forward to attract our first attention.

He was "believed on in the world, received into
glory." Here we have the issue of the work ad-
verted to; the earthly and the heavenly issue. So

384 FAITH AND LIFE

little chronological is the ordering that the con-
quest of the world by Christ is actually adduced
first, while His ascension is adduced last. The
order is climactic, not chronological; He has His
earthly reward and also His heavenly. In these
two items the whole comes to the appropriate end.
And now I think we are prepared to see clearly
that the whole fragment is a hymn of praise to
Christ. He was before all worlds; He was only
"manifested" in the flesh and vindicated by the
Spirit. He was the object of the contemplation
of the angels of heaven and proclaimed in all the
earth. He was believed on in the world and re-
ceived into glory. It is the Glory of Christ that,
according to Paul constitutes the essence of the
Gospel. "O, Jesus, Thou art our head, we are
thy body!" — so one of God's saints teaches us to
pray. "How can the body but participate in the
glory of the Head.^ As for Thyself, therefore, so
also for us art Thou possessed of that heavenly
glory: as Thou sufferedst for us, so for us Thou
also reignest. . . . O then, my soul, seeing thy
Saviour is received up into this infinite glory, . . .
how canst thou abide to grovel any longer on this
base earth? . . . With what longings and holy
ambition shouldst thou desire to aspire to that
place of eternal rest and beatitude into which thy
Saviour has .ascended, and with him be partaker
of that glory and happiness which he hath pro-
vided for all that love him."

THE INVIOLATE DEPOSIT

I Tim. 6:20, 21:— "O Timothy, guard that which is committed
mito thee, turning away from the profane babblings and opposi-
tions of the knowledge which is falsely so called; which some pro-
fessing have erred concerning the faith."

This short paragraph looks very much like a
concluding summary, added, possibly, by the
Apostle's own hand, in which the whole gist of
the First Epistle to Timothy is summed up. It is
almost as if the Apostle — after all the explanations
and exhortations in which he had instructed and
encouraged his own son in faith to perform the
great duties laid on him in errant Ephesus — had
paused suddenly and said in effect, "Hear the
sum of the whole matter. Be faithful to the Gospel
committed to you and shun all the pretentious
show of superior learning which is proving a snare
to many.'* Such an exhortation, it is manifest,
has its universal and perennial value; and is pe-
culiarly applicable to those in our situation. As
we begin another year of our intellectual prepara-
tion for the ministry of the Gospel of grace, it is
especially becoming that we should have in mind
that it will be our wisdom too, as it is manifestly
our duty, "to keep the deposit inviolate" and to
shun the worldly inanities and contradictions of
falsely so-called knowledge, by making profes-

385

386 FAITH AND LIFE

sion of which so many in every age, and in our age
too, have gone astray with respect to faith.

These latest epistles of Paul are commonly
called Pastoral because of their direct address to
the shepherds of the flock, and every word in such
an exhortation as this, in such an Epistle as this,
has a quasi-technical value. The key word among
these words is the one which I have ventured to
render after the Vulgate, "the deposit," and
which the Authorized Version deals with by means
of a paraphrase: "that which is committed to thy
trust." It does not occur very often, but it does
occur frequently enough to show that it and its
cognate verb are employed by the Apostle as a
well-known designation of the Gospel, considered
as a body of Divine truth entrusted to those whom
God has chosen as its ministers. As such, it
stands in very clear relations with another tech-
nical term employed by the New Testament writ-
ers to describe the function of the ministers of the
Gospel, — the term "witness." The Gospel is a
"deposit"; the function of the minister is, there-
fore, "witnessing." The two ideas, you see, go
necessarily together. The witness is in his es-
sential nature not a producer but a reproducer;
he is not the author of his message but its trans-
mitter; his message is, therefore, not of his own
devising but something committed to his trust, —
a deposit. I do not know where the fundamental
significance of the word "deposit" and its impli-

THE INVIOLATE DEPOSIT 387

cations as to the duty of the minister is more
richly developed than in a Fifth Century exposi-
tion of this passage, by Vincent of Lerins. His
comment is so instructive that I cannot forbear
quoting a part of it to you. "What," he asks,
"is a deposit?" "It is something," he answers,
"that is accredited to thee, not invented by thee;
something that thou hast received, not that thou
hast thought out; a result not of genius but of in-
struction; not of personal ownership but of pub-
lic tradition; a matter brought to thee not pro-
duced by thee, with respect to which thou art
bound to be not an author but a custodian, not
an originator but a bearer, not a leader but a
follower."

It is this that Paul means to emphasize when he
calls the Gospel a "deposit." I rightly say he
means to emphasize this. For he not only calls
the Gospel a "deposit," but he sets it as such in
contrast with its opposite, and that opposite
proves to be just irresponsible speculation. O
Timothy, he says, keep the deposit inviolate ! And
how is he to keep the deposit inviolate.^ "By
shunning the profane inanities and contradic-
tions of falsely so-called knowledge." You see
the contrast is precisely between the Divine de-
posit and worldly knowledge. And he describes
this worldly knowledge by epithets which are suf-
ficiently discrediting to it. It consists of a mass
of inanities and self-contradictions; it is, there-

388 FAITH AND LIFE

fore, not real knowledge but only knowledge
falsely so called. No doubt he had his eye on a
specific instance, — the nascent Gnosticism, let us
call it, which was disturbing the church at Ephe-
sus, and to rebuke and correct which Timothy
was in Ephesus. But I think that it would be
wrong to suppose that the Apostle had this ex-
clusively in mind. Rather he seems to be viewing
it as a type, of a whole class. Or, let us at once
put it as broadly as we think it lay in his own mind;
there is no reason to doubt that the Apostle would
speak in exactly these terms of any worldly knowl-
edge whatever, any form of earthly philosophy or
science, that infringed upon or sought to substi-
tute itself more or less for the "deposit" of the
Gospel of Christ. Any speculation, any philoso-
phizing, any form of learning, any scientific the-
orizing which sought to intrude itself, in the way
of modifying it in the least respect, upon the Gos-
pel of Christ, — which is a sacred deposit com-
mitted to its ministers not to dilute or to alter or
to modify, but to learn, hold, guard and preach, —
would be characterized by Paul without hesita-
tion as among the profane inanities and contra-
dictions of knowledge falsely so called.

Our memory reverts at once to the splendid
passage in the opening chapter of the First Epistle
to the Corinthians, in which Paul magnificently
contrasts the wisdom of the world with the sim-
pHcity of the message of the cross, and passion-

THE INVIOLATE DEPOSIT 389

ately declares that God has made the wisdom of
the world mere foolishness. Yes, there is pas-
sion, a holy passion, but real passion, in Paul's
renunciation of all human wisdom and declaration
that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise and
reject the prudence of the prudent. And some
of that same passion is throbbing in the vigorous
language of our present passage. Not indeed
knowledge as such, but all human knowledge as a
substitute for, or a modifying force in, the Gospel
of Christ, is to Paul a mass of mere profane inan-
ities and self-contradictions, to give oneself to
which is to miss the mark with respect to faith.
Dirt has been illuminatingly defined as matter out
of place. Any substance, no matter how previous
in itself, if out of place is nothing more or less than
just dirt. Gold-dust in your eye is just dirt; wash
it out; it is an offence there. Diamonds scattered
in your porridge are dirt; cast them out. To the
starving man seeking nourishment and life, they
are not only an offensive evil but a destructive evil.
You all know how Kjng Midas found that gold in
the wrong place could become the worst of ills.
So it is with knowledge. What, in its proper
place, is knowledge, — to be sought, loved and cher-
ished as such, to be valued and utilized for its
own good ends, — becomes knowledge falsely so
called whenever it intrudes into a place not its
own; a mass of mere inanities and self-contradic-
tions. And it is just this that Paul means here.

390 FAITH AND LIFE

He is not condemning knowledge as such. He,
too, would say with the poet —

"Who loves not knowledge? Who shall rail
Against her beauty? May she mix
With men and prosper! . . .
. . . Let her work prevail."

But just so soon as it presses beyond its mark
and presumes to substitute itself for the Gospel
of Christ, or to demand an alteration in that Gos-
pel, or a modification of it, however slight, his
righteous passion rises. Dirt! he cries, — matter
out of place! the profane inanities and self-
contradictions of falsely so-called knowledge!

"Falsely so-called knowledge" — that phrase is
his tribute to the value of real knowledge. When
thus debauched knowledge ceases to be knowledge
and becomes mere "falsely so-called knowledge."
"Profane inanities and self-contradictions,'* that
is Paul's description of what knowledge out of place
is; pressing beyond its mark to become procuress
to the lords of hell. For, says he, those that
make so much profession of such knowledge are
too often observed to miss the mark with respect
to faith. The passion that burns in these words
rises to sight everywhere in these epistles, when
the intrusion of human speculation into matters
of faith falls to be mentioned, and quite a choice
vocabulary of reprobation might be extracted
from Paul's expression of it. On the other side,
what a fervour of love is manifested for that " de-

THE INVIOLATE DEPOSIT 391

posit" which is the Gospel of God's saving grace!
He calls it in the present passage, to be sure, sim-
ply "the deposit," but I am not sure that the very
simplicity of the designation is not surcharged
with passionate devotion. "The Deposit," ''The
Deposit," ''The Deposit/' "Guard the Deposit,"
** Keep The Deposit inviolate." It is as if there
were but one deposit conceivable to him and
to those to whom he wrote. And see how he
claims it as his own, in 2 Tim. 1:12, calling it
"my deposit." "I know whom I have believed
and I am persuaded— though I fall by the way
— yet He is able to keep my deposit against that
day." To Paul his deposit was more than life
itself. Paul may go— but what then.? "The
deposit," "his deposit" is safe in the hands of
Him who committed it to him. And then, again,
two verses lower (2 Tim. 1:14), "Keep, O Tim-
othy, keep inviolate, the beautiful deposit through
the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us." Ah, it is the
devotion of Paul for "the deposit" that makes him
speak such passionate words against that which
would supplement or adulterate it. It is its sur-
passing glory which makes dull the glory of that
which away from it would itself be glorious. The
glory of the world of intellect itself fades like that
of the face of Moses, like that of the old covenant
in the presence of the new, — by reason only of the
glory that surpasses all— the glory of that glorious
Gospel of the grace of God. It is, in a word, the

392 FAITH AND LIFE

inherent preciousness of the Gospel, not the in-
herent valuelessness of knowledge, that makes all
knowledge in contrast with it, but foolishness —
but a mass of profane inanities and self-contra-
dictions which should not be permitted to intrude
into these sacred precincts.

A practical lesson imposes itself upon us. Preach
a full-orbed, a complete Gospel. The deposit is
not yours to deal with as you will; it is another's
entrusted to your care. The deposit is not your
product to be treated as you will ; it is the creation
of another placed in your keeping. You are but
its witnesses. Bear your witness truly and bear
it fully. Keep the deposit inviolate.

THE WAY OF LIFE

Titus 3:4-7: — "But when the kindness of God, our Saviour, and
his love towards man, appeared, not by works done in righteous-
ness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved
us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost, which he poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ
our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we might be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

The short epistle to Titus contains, amid its
practical and ecclesiastical directions for the giving
of which it was written, two doctrinal statements
of quite wonderful richness and compression both of
which have been easily brought into the compass
of the passage read in your hearing this afternoon.
They differ from each other in intent and content,
as you will doubtless have observed. But they are
alike in gathering into the narrow space of a few
words the essence of the Gospel, and expressing it in
words of a singularly festal and jubilant character,
words which strike the reader as at once precise and
comprehensive, as at once theologically exact and
peculiarly fitted for public credal use.

Statements of this kind are characteristic of
these latest epistles of the Apostle Paul, which we
class together under the common title of the Pas-
toral Epistles, and which share not only the late
date but also a character appropriate to their

origin at the end of Paul's life when he was busied

393

394 FAITH AND LIFE

with consolidating and extending the churches he
had founded rather than with the first planting
of Christianity in the fresh soil of an unbelieving
world. They present the doctrines of Paul, after
they had been used, and worn round by use. They
represent the sifting down of his doctrinal expo-
sitions into compact form; their compression into
something like pebbles from the brook ready to be
flung with sure aim and to sink into the foreheads
of the Goliaths of unbelief. They represent the
form which his doctrinal expositions had taken as
current coin in the churches, no longer merely
Paul's teaching, though all of that, but the pre-
cious possessions of the people themselves, in
which they were able to give back to him a re-
sponse from their listening hearts. They are no
longer mere dialectical elaboration of the truth;
but have become forms of sound words. As such,
such passages are sometimes accompanied by a
phrase peculiar to these Pastoral Epistles, which
advertises these statements as something other
than a teacher's novel presentations of truth to as
yet untaught hearers: "This is a faithful saying."
"This is a faithful saying" — a "trustworthy say-
ing"— in other words, this is a saying well-known
among you, that has been long repeated in your
ears, that has been tested and found not wanting.
This is good coin; and "worthy," it is sometimes
added, "of all acceptation."

Our present passage is one of these "faithful

THE WAY OF LIFE 395

sayings." "Faithful is the saying," the Apostle
adds on completing it, "and concerning these
things I will that thou shouldst affirm confidently."
Thus he tells us how important, how well-con-
sidered, how final and trustworthy this statement
of truth is. Let us approach its study in a spirit
suitable to so solemn an injunction.

The first thing that we observe in the passage
is the melody that rises from it of praise to God.
It is the "kindness of God our Saviour and his
love towards men" which sets its key-note. The
special terms in which God's goodness is here
praised. His "benignity" and "philanthropy," are
due, indeed, to the context. The Apostle had just
been thinking and speaking about men; and he
could not think or speak of them as either "be-
nignant" or "philanthropic." He would have
them exhorted to be subject to those over them,
obedient, prone to good works, and averse to evil
speaking and contentiousness, gentle and meek.
But such they were not showing themselves.
Christians themselves could remember how afore-
time they lived in malice and envy, hateful and
hating one another. What could be expected
from man? WHiat a contrast when one lifted his
eyes from this scene of lust and malice and envy
and hatred — men striving with one another to
surpass each other in doing injury to their fellows
— and set them on God, to see His benignity and
philanthropy! The whole passage is pervaded by

S96 FAITH AND LIFE

the suggestion of God's kindness and humanity;
thrown out into sharp relief by its contrast with
man's malice and hatred. Nothing can be ex-
pected of or from man; but God has manifested
His benignity and philanthropy to us and by
them saved us. Man would destroy, God saves.
But there is much more than this to be said.
The passage is not only pervaded by the suggestion
of God's general goodness; it is a psalm of praise to
God for His saving love. It sings not only "Gloria
Deo " but "Soli Deo Gloria." Our salvation is its
subject. It not only ascribes salvation in its root
to God's love; it ascribes it in every one of its
details to God's loving activities and to them
alone; it ascribes its beginning and middle and
end to Him and to Him only. The various ac-
tivities that enter into our salvation are enumer-
ated; and every one of them is declared to be a
loving activity of God and of Him alone. This
passage is even remarkable in this respect. Even
in that classical passage in Ephesians, which is
designed to ascribe salvation wholly to God, and
to empty man of all ground of boasting, we have
faith, at least, mentioned: "We are saved by
grace, through faith"; though it is immediately
added: "And that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God." But this passage leaves faith itself
to one side as not requiring mention. There are
no subjective conditions to salvation, in the sense
of conditions which we must perform in order to

THE WAY OF LIFE 397

obtain or retain salvation. It is God alone who
saves, "not by means of any works in righteous-
ness which we have done ourselves but in con-
sequence of his mercy" and of that alone. Not
even faith itself, that instrument of reception to
which salvation comes, can be conceived of as
entering causally into God's saving work. It is
He and He alone who saves; and the roots of
His saving operations are set deep in His mercy
only. If we are saved at all, it is because — ^not
that we have worked, not that we have believed, —
but that God has manifested His benignity and
philanthropy in saving us out of His mere mercy.
He has, through Jesus Christ, shed down His
Holy Spirit to regenerate and renovate us that
we might be justified "by His grace," — in other
words, gratuitously, not on the ground of our
faith, — and so be made heirs of eternal life.

Our passage empties man of all glory in the
matter of salvation and reserves all the glory to
God. But this is not because it does not know
how to distribute honour to whom honour is due.
Man has no part in the procuring or in the apply-
ing of salvation, but there are Three Persons who
have; and our passage recognizes the praise due to
each, and distributes to each Person of the Holy
Trinity the saving operations which belong to Him.
*^God . . . according to His mercy, . . . saved
us, through the washing of regeneration and re-
newal of the Holy Ghost, which He poured out on

398 FAITH AND LIFE

us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour." The
source of our salvation is to be sought in the loving
mercy of God the Father. The ground of the sav-
ing activities exerted on us is to be sought in the
work of Jesus Christ our Saviour. The agent in
the actual saving work is to be sought in the Holy
Ghost. Here are brought before us God our Lover,
Christ our Redeemer, the Spirit our Sanctifier, as
all operative in the one composite work of salva-
tion. To God the Father is ascribed the whole
scheme of salvation and the entire direction of the
saving work; it is His benignity and philanthropy
that is manifested in it; it is according to His own
mercy that He has saved us; it is He that saved
us; He saved us through the Holy Spirit; He
poured out the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ:
it is His salvation and it is He that has given it to
us. To Jesus Christ is ascribed the work of
"Saviour" by which the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit was rendered possible to God. The nature
of His work is not precisely outlined in our pas-
sage; but in the preceding passage we are told
that "He gave Himself for us, that He might re-
deem us from all iniquity." This it is that the
Son does for us. To the Holy Spirit is ascribed
the actual application of the redemption wrought
out by Christ. The items of this application are
very richly developed, and the development of
them constitutes the strength of the passage.
If we will scrutinize the items in which the ap-

THE WAY OF LIFE

plying work of the Holy Spirit is developed, we
shall perceive that they supply us with a complete
"order of salvation." We are told that God saves
us in His mere mercy, by a renovating work of
the Holy Spirit, founded on the redeeming work of
Christ; and we are told that this renovating work
of the Holy Spirit was in order that we might be
justified and so become heirs. Here the purchase
by the death of Christ is made the condition
precedent of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit;
but the action of the Holy Spirit is made the con-
dition precedent to justification and adoption. We
are bought unto God by Christ in order that we
may be brought to God by the Holy Spirit. And
in bringing us to God, the Holy Spirit proceeds by
regenerating us in order that we may be justified
so as to be made heirs. In theological language,
this is expressed by saying that the impetration of
salvation precedes its application: the whole of
the impetration, the whole of the application.
And in the application, the Spirit works by first
regenerating the soul, next justifying it, next
adopting it into the family of God, and next sanc-
tifying it. In the more vital and less analytical
language of our present passage, this is asserted
by founding the gift of the Holy Ghost upon the
work of Christ: "which He poured out upon us
richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour"; by in-
cluding in the work of the Holy Ghost, regenera-
tion, justification, adoption, and a few verses

400 FAITH AND LIFE

lower dowii, sanctification; and by declaring that
the regeneration of the Holy Spirit is "in order
that being justified we might be made heirs."

Now what are the practical fruits of this teach-
ing? The Apostle says it is faithful teaching,
which he wishes to have confidently affirmed, to
the end that they which have believed God may be
careful to maintain good works. It is encour-
aging teaching to believers to tell them that they
are not their own saviours but God is their Sav-
iour; that their salvation is not suspended on
their own works or the strength of their own faith,
but on the strength of God's love and His mercy
alone; that all Three Persons of the Trinity are
engaged in and pledged to their salvation; that
Christ's work for them is finished and they are
redeemed to God by His precious blood and are,
henceforth, God's purchased possession; that it is
not dependent on their own weakness but on the
Spirit's strength whether they will be brought into
the enjoyment of their salvation; that the Spirit
has been poured richly out upon them; that He has
begun His work of renovation within them; that
this is but the pledge of the end and as they have
been regenerated and justified, so have they been
brought into the family of God and made heirs of
eternal life. This is encouraging teaching for be-
lievers! Shall they, then, because they are saved
out of God's mercy and not out of works in right-
eousness which they have done themselves, be

THE WAY OF LIFE 401

careless to maintain good works? I trow not;
and the Apostle troweth not. Because of this,
they will now be careful "to maintain good works."
Let us see to it then that by so doing we approve
ourselves as true believers, saved by God's grace,
not out of works but unto good works, which He
hath afore prepared that we should walk in them !
This is what the Apostle would have us do.

THE ETERNAL GOSPEL

2 Tim. 1:9, 10: — "Who saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own pur-
pose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times
eternal, but hath now been manifested by the appearing of our
Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and
incorruption to light through the Gospel."

Second Timothy is the last letter written by
Paul. More than that, it was written during the
last days of his life. He had fought his fight and
finished his course. What had the Gospel he had
preached done for him.'^ What was his attitude
towards the salvation in Christ Jesus which he
had so long proclaimed, now that life was over and
he could look back in a detached sort of a way
over its whole course.^ Did it seem to him in those
sad disillusioning days as — scarcely worth while .^

It certainly is interesting to catch Paul's last
thoughts about the Gospel; to learn what that
Gospel was and what it was to him as the sands of
his life ran out; to compare it with the Gospel he
had grasped with such enthusiasm at the outset
and propagated with such zeal during the days of
his strength and freedom. Well, it is reassuring
to find that the Gospel Paul preached at the end
was just the same old Gospel he had embraced at
the beginning. And more than that, that it was

the same to him.

402

THE ETERNAL GOSPEL 403

Tliere is even an odd echo in the very language
he uses here to describe the Gospel of that which
he had employed in the earlier, lustier days. To
the Romans he had written that he was not
ashamed of the Gospel, because it was the power
of God unto salvation. To Timothy he gives the
exhortation not to be ashamed of the Gospel but
to endure manfully in its behalf, with an endur-
ance measured only by the power of God mani-
fested in the salvation it had brought.

The echo in the language, I say, is oddly close,
because there is no direct connection between the
two passages; and when closely scrutinized they
are perceived to speak of two very different things.
In Romans we have an objective statement; in
Second Timothy an intensely subjective one. Li
the one case the contrast is with the scorn of
the world. Paul will not be deterred by that; he
cannot be ashamed to preach a Gospel in which is
enshrined the power of God to save. In the other
case, the contrast is with the persecution of the
world. Timothy is not to shrink back before the
dangers that now hang over the proclamation of
the Gospel, but to witness straight on, emboldened
by the saving power of this Gospel in his own heart.

One passage is then in no sense a repetition of
the other; both are rather embodiments of the
same fundamental idea for completely different
ends. This fundamental idea is that the Gospel
is the power of God to salvation and therefore a

404 FAITH AND LIFE

thing of which no man with a mind to see can
possibly be ashamed, and which no man with a
heart to feel can possibly be frightened away from
proclaiming. Because it has the dynamics of life
in it, it stands immeasurably above all the so-
called Gospels that men can proclaim. Nay, be-
cause it has the dynamics of life in it, he who has
it hidden in his heart cannot fear death.

One sees the enheartening power there is in this
perception of the Gospel as the power of God to
salvation. We cannot wonder that Paul uses this
conception, whether to enhearten himself in preach-
ing it despite the scorn of men, or in enheartening
Timothy in preaching it despite the persecutions of
men. It is natural then that it should crop out
here again, where the Apostle would fain put new
courage into Timothy in the sad time that had
come upon the Gospel proclamation. The propa-
gation of the Gospel through the Roman world had
hung largely on the arm of Paul. But that arm
was now stricken down, and Paul was lying in
the Roman prison with nothing to anticipate ex-
cept an inglorious death. Something like a panic
seems to have fallen upon the little circle of helpers
on whom he was accustomed to depend as on
hands and feet in the prosecution of his great mis-
sionary task. Though in prison and nearing the
fatal issue, the burden of the churches still rested
on his stricken arm. He enumerates the dispo-
sition of the forces he had made and was making.

THE ETERNAL GOSPEL 405

For the work at Rome, however, he was short-
handed and felt helpless. One of those whom he
had depended on for the dangerous work there
had fled. Only Luke remamed with him; he
needed two additional helpers. He turns to Tim-
othy and Mark; and it is striking to see him turn
to these two in his hour of need, and with obvious
trust and confidence in them. On a former oc-
casion Mark had forsaken him at a juncture
of importance. And many commentators have
thought that his general tone to Timothy implies
that Paul thought him little endowed with the
quality of daring. This appears to rest on a mis-
take; the effort which the Apostle makes to en-
hearten Timothy for his work does not seem to
imply special timidity suspected in him so much
as the need of special courage for what he asks of
him. At all events, his choice of Timothy for aid
in this hour of need and the express encomium
which he passes on Mark as one fitted to be his
companion in the arduous service asked of him
would seem to be a diploma of trustworthiness
given to these helpers. We may be sure that he
wishes for Timothy and Mark in this sad time
to be standing by his side, because he had special
confidence in just Timothy and Mark.

Nevertheless Paul recognizes that there is very
special need of courage and boldness for the service
he is asking. And in asking the service he points
Timothy to the source of strength. That source

406 FAITH AND LIFE

of strength to which he points Timothy is, briefly,
the Gospel, conceived as embodying the power of
God to salvation. He reminds Timothy first of
his hereditary faith; next of his endowment with
grace by the laying on of the Apostle's hands;
but finally and chiefly of the power of God he had
himself experienced in the Gospel which he was
called on to preach and for which he was to be
ready also to suffer. It was not his human
strength that was to be called on for this great en-
durance; haply that might soon be exhausted.
His endurance was to be limited only by the power
of God, of that God who had saved him and called
him with a holy calling, not according to any
works of his own, but according only to God's
own purpose and the grace that was given him in
Christ Jesus before times eternal, and has now
been manifested by the epiphany of our Saviour
Jesus Christ, in His making naught of death, and
bringing to light of life and incorruption through
the Gospel.

Surely there is gathered together in this great
exhortation everything that could be needed to fill
with deathless courage in the behalf of the Gospel
even the most timid hearts. Let us try to point
out one or two of the things that Paul does here,
calculated to enhearten his companion.

First, we shall certainly take notice that he
places beneath Timothy the eternal arms of God
Almighty. He lifts the eyes of Timothy from

THE ETERNAL GOSPEL 407

himself to God, and says to him in effect, There,
there is your strength. And observe the pains
Paul is at to impress on Timothy that the relation
in which he stands to this God, by virtue of which
God becomes his strength, is not, in any sense, —
not in the remotest degree, not in the smallest
particular, — dependent on Timothy himself, or
anything that he has done, is doing, or can do.
He would withdraw Timothy utterly from the
least infusion of dependence on self and cast him
wholly on dependence on God, that he may
realize that his weakness is not in question, but
the whole strength of God is behind him to up-
hold him and bear him safely through.

Therefore Paul describes this God on whose
power he would throw Timothy back as one
"who saved us and called us with a holy calling;
not according to works of ours but according to
His own purpose" — where the words "His own"
are thrown out with a tremendous energy, — "and
a grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus before
times eternal," — where the words "was given,"
not "was promised" or even "was destined for,"
but actually and finally and unequivocally "was
given" us before times eternal, are used with
equally tremendous emphasis, to declare that
what has appeared in time has been only a mani-
festation of what was already done, concluded, ac-
complished in eternity. How could this power of
God fail us now because of aught we can do, or

408 FAITH AND LIFE

fail to do, when its gift to us is so thoroughly in-
dependent of everything or anything that we can
do ? Obviously, what Paul is doing is so completely
to take away Timothy's consideration of himself in
this whole matter of the Gospel that he will trust
exclusively in God and feel that, therefore, there
can be no failure — just because it is God alone and
not he himself on whom the performance rests.

An appeal to the well-recognized fact that it was
thus and thus only that Timothy received his call
from God, is nothing other, then, than to cast him
back on the Almighty arms and to make him
poignantly realize that it is God and not he who is
conceived as carrying through the work so begun.
"O Timothy," says Paul, in effect, "Faint not!
It is not your own strength — or rather weakness —
that is here in question; it is the power of Al-
mighty God. Do not you remember how you
were brought into relations with this God.^^ Was
it of yourself that you were called with this holy
calling? Nay, no works of your own entered in.
It was of His own purpose that He called you; the
grace that has come to you was given you from all
eternity. What has come to you in time is only
the manifestation of what was eternally done. It
is this Almighty God who is using you as His in-
strument and organ. Nothmg depends on your
weakness; all hangs on His strength. Take cour-
age and go onward." Thus Paul strengthens
Timothy for the conflict before him.

THE ETERNAL GOSPEL 409

But there is another element in Paul's enheart-
ening exhortation which we must not fail to take
notice of if we would feel all the subtlety and force
of its appeal. Paul not only throws Timothy
back on the eternal arms of Almighty God; he
fixes his eyes firmly also on an eternal Christ.
For not less clearly than in the prologue to John's
Gospel itself is the pre-incarnate Son of God
brought before us in this great passage. So vivid,
indeed, is the Apostle's realization of the great
transaction in eternity; so pointed is his repre-
sentation of all that has been wrought out in time
as but the manifestation of what was already pre-
pared in eternity; that it would be easier to read
him as throwing an air of unreality over the tem-
poral acts than as treating the eternal ones as
merely ideal.

The use of the word "given," the "grace given"
to us before times eternal, is already a mark of his
intense perception of the reality of the eternal
transaction. But this is carried much further
by the other terms emphasized. This grace given
in eternity is only "manifested" in time; made
visible — the conception being that it was already
in existence and is only now brought to sight.
And in like manner the Christ Jesus in whom the
grace was given us before times eternal, can by no
possibility be conceived as existing only ideally in
this eternity, as if the notion were only that in
foresight of Him and His work, the gift of grace

410 FAITH AND LIFE

was determined upon and so His historical life on
earth was the logical prius and this eternal trans-
action rested on it in prevision and provision. On
the contrary, it is His eternal existence that is the
actual reality and His historical manifestation is
described as an "epiphany" — a term which dis-
tinctly describes a glorious apparition of what
already exists and now only breaks forth to the
illumination of the world. As such it is elsewhere
confined in the New Testament to the second
coming of Christ, and when here applied to His
first coming as fully implies as in the parallel case
that He who is thus manifested exists and has
existed beforehand gloriously, and now only
bursts on Man's astonished sight like the breaking
forth of the sun from thick clouds. The grace
that was given us before all eternity, was given us
in that eternity in Christ Jesus, as the then present
mediator of grace; and as the grace then given has
only been "manifested" in time, so the Christ
Jesus in whom it was then given has only "ap-
peared" in time. So clear and vital is Paul's re-
alization of the eternal transaction in a word, that
the danger would be not that we should read him
as speaking of only an ideal eternal pre-existence
of His and our Lord, but rather, as giving too little
significance to the outworking of the eternal plan
in the actual historical realization.

It is interesting to observe this very complete
doctrine of the eternal pre-existence of Jesus

THE ETERNAL GOSPEL 411

Christ in this epistle, for theological reasons, and
more particularly, for biblical-theological reasons.
Our interest in it now, however, turns on the use
which Paul makes of it for the enheartening of
Timothy. By fixing his eyes thus on the eternal
Jesus and subtly suggesting that the events of
time are (in a sense) but the shadows of the eter-
nal realities; that the salvation wrought out on
Calvary was but a corollary (so to speak) of the
determining transaction in heaven; the Apostle
leads his pupil to attach less importance to the
course of affairs on earth in comparison with the
eternal things thus vividly pictured before his
eyes. The fashion of the earth passes away; the
heavenly alone abides. This eternal Jesus — ^may
He not be relied on quite independently of the
temporary appearances of the things of earth .'^
For how many ages did He abide above — before
He was manifested as Saviour! He may have
removed again into the glory He had with the
Father before the world was. But is He, there-
fore, non-existent — unable to help? We have
seen his epiphany once, when He burst from the
skies bringing salvation. Shall we not see it
again .'^ Sufferings meanwhile may come — ^per-
secutions, trials — above what flesh is capable of
enduring. But as the grace of God has appeared
already bringing salvation, shall we not be sure
that, in due season, there shall be another epiph-
any of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ?

412 FAITH AND LIFE

Perhaps it is too much to say that the exhorta-
tion of Paul bids Timothy to look forward to this
second epiphany. But perhaps it is not too much
to say that the use of the word here, consecrated
elsewhere to our Lord's second coming, and the
whole cast of the passage, can scarcely have failed
to suggest by analogy this second coming to Tim-
othy. And if so, the remembrance of it would
add to the force of the exhortation to endurance.
In any case, this vision of the eternal Christ forms
a substantial element in Paul's great exhortation.

There is, however, a third element in it that we
must be sure that we perceive before we can say
that we have appreciated its whole force; it fills
Timothy's heart with the sense of an eternal sal-
vation. We have seen that it points him back into
eternity for the inception of this salvation. There,
we will not say merely it was prepared for, pro-
vided for; it was rather, prepared, provided.
Before times eternal there was a purpose of God —
His own sovereign purpose, independent of all
works of man — in accordance with which we have
in time been called. But there was also more —
even a grace that had been given to us already in
Christ Jesus, our eternal Lord. And it is in
accordance with this grace also that we have
been called with a holy calling and saved; in
accordance with this grace, existent eternally, and
only manifested in time, when Jesus burst on the
astonished view of man and abolished death and

THE ETERNAL GOSPEL 413

brought to light Hfe and immortality. This salva-
tion, thus manifested, therefore, is an eternal
salvation. There was no time when it was not.
Can there be any time when it shall cease to be?

What we must, above all, however, see to it that
we do is to focus our eyes on what this eternal
salvation thus manifested in time consists in. It
consists in just the abolishment of death and the
bringing to light of life and immortality. Ah,
this death that Timothy may have been in danger
of fearing — that is the real shadow. This salva-
tion— so long hidden in the heavens — that is the
reality. It may again seem to be hidden in the
heavens; death — does it not loom before him as a
hideous threat of the immediate future.^^ Nay,
the eternal salvation, revealed in Christ Jesus, is
revealed in this very act — that He has abolished
death and brought Hfe and immortality to light
through the Gospel. Surely if Paul can quicken
and give life and force to this conception in Tim-
othy's mind and heart, his encouragement of him
to face persecution and death with him for the
Gospel's sake is complete. Then, this threatened
death is naught; the Saviour has abolished death
and brought life and immortality to light.

In essence, shall we not say, then, that this
appeal finds its deepest root in the assurance of a
blessed immortality.^ That it unveils the life
beyond the tomb.^ And puts the heart into us
that was in Paul when he declared that he viewed

414 FAITH AND LIFE

with unconcern the wearing away of this earthly
house because he knew he had a building of God,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens? It is because the salvation brought
thus to Timothy is not only eternal in its incep-
tion but eternal in its endurance, that the appeal
has such force. Paul is seeking to fill the heart
and mind of his follower with the realization of an
eternal salvation, and so to lead him to courage in
facing temporal trials. Is it not our wisdom to
apply his words to ourselves.^ Shall we, too, not
endure as seeing the invisible?

COMMUNION WITH CHRIST

2 Tim. i2:l 1-13:— "Faithful is the saying: For if we died with
Him, we shall also live with him : if we endure we shall also reign
with him: if we shall deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faith-
less, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself."

The words which are before us this afternoon
form one of those "faithful sayings" taken up by
Paul from the mouth of the Christian community
and given fresh significance and force by his em-
ployment of them to wing his own appeals and
point his own arguments to his fellow Christians.
It is exceedingly interesting to observe the Apostle
thus acting as a member of a settled community
with its own standards of belief and maxims of
conduct already to a certain degree established;
and none the less so that he was himself the
foimder of the community, who had impressed on
it the faith to which it was now giving expression.
The special *' faithful saying" he now adduces
bears in it traits which point back to his teaching
as the germ from which it had grown, but also to
the teaching of our Lord Himself, a witness to the
wide diffusion of which in the churches it thus sup-
plies. If the phrase, "If we died with him we
shall also live with him" is Pauline to the core and
takes the mind of the reader irresistibly back to
such a passage as Romans 6:8; and the next suc-

415

416 FAITH AND LIFE

ceeding phrase, "If we endure we shall also reign
with him, " reminds us more remotely of such pas-
sages as Rom. 5:17; 8:17; the clause which fol-
lows that, "If we deny him, he, too, will deny us,"
cannot fail to remind us of Matt. 10:33, or rather,
of the saying of Jesus there formally recorded.

How this "faithful saying" had been formed
in the church, whether merely as a detached
gnome, or maxim, which Christians were wont to
repeat to one another for their enheartening and
encouragement; or, as a portion of some htur-
gical form often used in the church service, until
its language had become fixed; or as a passage
from a hymn that had grown popular, as its
rhythmic form may perhaps suggest, it may be
difficult or impossible to decide. The way in
which the Apostle adduces it appears in any event
to bear witness that the words were a current
formula in the church, to which he could appeal as
such, and which would, from their familiarity and
devout, if not sacred, association, appeal power-
fully to Timothy's heart. Perhaps we may ven-
ture to say that the Apostle himself felt the appeal
of these devout associations, and employs the
"saying" precisely because it had become by use
the natural expression of his own strong feelings,
at the moment aroused to a particular fervour. He,
the great Apostle, yet leans with comfort on the
church's own expression of its faith. What a tes-
timony w have here to the solidarity of the church

COMMUNION WITH CHRIST 417

of God; or, as we prefer to put it, to the com-
munion of the saints. And what an enforcement
of the great commands that we bear one another's
burdens, that we neglect not the assembhng of our-
selves together, that we do not indulge the vanity
of living each one to himself. The Church is ever
to Paul, the inspired teacher of the Church, in a
deep and true sense, the pillar and ground of the
truth, on the testimony of which he gladly rests.
The purpose for which he adduces this partic-
ular "faithful saying" is to clinch his appeal to
Timothy to steadfast adherence to his high duty
and privilege of teaching the Gospel, despite
every difficulty and danger besetting the pathway.
He appears in this context to be urging three mo-
tives upon Timothy to induce him to face bravely
the hardships of the service he is pressing upon
him. He points him first to the source of his
strength: "Remember Jesus Christ as risen from
the dead, of the seed of David"; keep your eyes
set on the heavenly majesty of the exalted Christ,
our King. Surely he who keeps vivid in his con-
sciousness that He with whonx he has to do is the
Lord of heaven and earth, who, though He had
died, yet lived again, and is set on the throne of
universal dominion, should have no fear in boldly
obeying his behests. Paul points Timothy next
to the important function performed by the
preacher of the Gospel, faithfulness in proclaim-
ing which he is urging upon him as so prime a

418 FAITH AND LIFE

duty that no danger must be allowed to intermit
it. It is by it that the elect of God attain the sal-
vation destined for them in Christ Jesus. Who
will draw back when he realizes that he is a fellow-
worker with God in bringing to their salvation
God's own elect — those elect whom God has loved
from the foundation of the world, for whom He
has given His Son to shame and death, and sent
His Spirit into the foulness of men's hearts?
Surely he who apprehends that it is laid on him to
carry this salvation to those whose own it is will
never weary in conveying it to them. Let us
learn how a brute beast may respond to an appeal
to share in such a service of good by reading
Browning's "How they brought the good news to
Ghent." Shall we be less responsive to such
appeals than even the brutes? Lastly Paul plies
Timothy with this "faithful saying," the force of
whose appeal lies in its subtle blending of encour-
agement and warning: encouragement because
it tells us what a glorious prospect lies before him
who gives himself to Christ unreservedly here;
warning because it discloses to us the dreadfulness
of the award that lies before him who is unfaith-
ful here to the service he owes his Lord.

"If we died with him, we shall also live with
him; if we steadfastly endure we shall also reign
with him," but also, "if we shall perchance deny
him, he will also deny us"; though of one thing we
may be firmly assured, "though we prove faith-

COMMUNION WITH CHRIST 419

less, He abideth ever faithful, for He cannot deny
Himself." Was ever warning and encourage-
ment so subtly blended in a single composite ap-
peal? So subtly indeed that one remains in
doubt whether the appeal comes to its close on a
note of hope or on one of despair. Is it that God
will remain faithful to His gracious purposes of
love despite our weakness; that, though we prove
untrustworthy, yet He abides ever trusty — is it
on this note of high hope and encouragement
that the Apostle's great song sinks down to rest.^^
Or is it rather, that the God who has threatened
to deny those that deny Him, will abide ever
faithful to this dreadful threat, so that he who dis-
owns Him here need cherish no hope that he shall
escape the announced disavowal there— is it on
this note of profoundest warning that the Apostle
pauses? The language is flexible to either sense;
the context leaves the way open to either; the
appeal would be alike strong under either inter-
pretation; but it is strongest of all, doubtless,
under the subtle blending of the two, to which
the phrasing of the whole "faithful saying" seems
to invite us.

For this "faithful saying" has the characteristic
pregnancy and subtlety of all its fellows, which is
the hall-mark of all true popular sayings that have
passed from mouth to mouth until they have
been compacted into the thought of a whole com-
munity. For its interpretation we should con-

420 FAITH AND LIFE

fine ourselves primarily to its own narrow com-
pass and remember that the context in which it
comes to us is not its own original context, and
can help us to its interpretation only so far as the
propriety of its adduction here is concerned. So
looking at it, it is clear that much of the current
exposition of its clauses falls away of itself. For
example, it seems obvious that the "dying with
Christ" here adduced is not physical dying with
Christ, martyrdom, but forensic dying with
Christ, justification. It is clear that our frag-
ment is a fragment of a piece in which the main
theme is Christ's work of redemption. It is es-
pecially clear that we have no right to supply
"with Christ" with the second clause. It is not
endurance "with Christ," but "steadfast endur-
ance to the end" alone that is intended, and the
conjunctive preposition is left off of this verb just
to advise us of that. Nor may we omit to note
and give effect to the changes of tense: first the
aorist, then the present, then the future, then the
present again; all of which changes are significant.
Lastly, a careful observation of the consecution
of the clauses will certainly bid us pause before we
fall in with their division into two pairs, the first
encouraging, the last warning; a division far too
simple to do justice to the subtlety of the whole
thought, or even the surface considerations de-
rived from the sequence of the tenses and verbs.
Let us look at the saying then a moment in its

COMMUNION WITH CHRIST 421

own light and then ask how it lends itself to Paul's
purpose in adducing it here.

We perceive at once that the passage consists
of four conditional sentences which stand, there-
fore, in a certain formal parallelism with one an-
other. The first of these sentences declares that
sharing in Christ's death entails sharing in
Christ's life. The idea is a frequent one in the
New Testament and must, indeed, in all Pauline
churches at any rate, have become long ere this a
Christian commonplace. The language in which
it is expressed is the same as that which meets us
in Rom. 6:8, and stands in express relation with
that of, say, 2 Cor. 5:14f. It would be most un-
natural violently to separate the statement here
from the ordinary connotation of the language.
This is reinforced by the fact that the aorist
tense is employed, and thus a dying with Christ
already accomplished by every Christian who took
this language on his lips, most naturally suggested.
It is most unnatural, therefore, to understand here
a dying with Christ not yet accomplished, per-
haps never to be accomplished; the language im-
plies rather a dying which has been the invariable
experience of every Christian heart. Are we to
say that the passage teaches that only if we share
in Christ's death in the sense that we like Him die
for the Gospel, are we to share in his life.? Or, are
we to say that the meaning is rather that every
faithful Christian that dies shall live again? The

422 FAITH AND LIFE

latter is too flat a sense to be attributed to our
passage; the former, obviously too narrow. The
reference is neither to martyrdom, not yet merely
to a Christian death. The death here is obviously
ethical or rather, spiritual, and yet not quite in
the exact sense of Rom. 6 :8, but more in that of
2 Cor. 5 :14. The simple meaning obviously is that
he who is united with Christ in His death shall
share with Him His life also; that all those "in
Christ Jesus" as they died with Him on Calvary,
as that death which He there died, since it was for
them, was their death in Him, so shall share with
Him in His resurrection life, shall live in and
through Him.

The appeal is clearly to the Christian's union
with Christ and its abiding effects. He is a new
creation; with a new life in him; and should live
in the power of this new and deathless life. For
there is a stress laid also on the persistence of this
life and a pointing of the reader to the deathless-
ness of the life in Christ. Know ye not, says the
Apostle in effect, that if ye died with Christ ye
shall also live with Him, and that the life ye are
living in the flesh ye live by the power of the Son
of God, and it shall last for ever.? The pregnancy
of the implication is extreme, but it is all in-
volved in the one fact that if we died with Christ,
if we are His and share His death on Calvary, we
shall live with Him ; live with Him in a redeemed
life here, cast in another mould from the old life

COMMUNION WITH CHRIST 423

of the flesh, and Hve with Him hereafter for ever.
This great appeal to their union and communion
with Christ lays the basis for all that follows. It
puts the reader on the plane — sets him at the
point of view — of "in Christ Jesus."

Now, the second and third clauses present the
contrasting possibilities, emerging from the situa-
tion presented in the first clause, and belong as
such together, as positive and negative state-
ments. He who is in Christ may by patient con-
tinuance in well-doing abide in union with his
Lord, and he shall not fail of his reward. The
metaphysical possibility remains open, however,
that he may deny his Lord, in which case, he shall,
himself, in accordance with our Lord's own ex-
press threat, be denied by Him. Observe the
precise justice of the contrasting expressions em-
ployed in these alternatives. The tense changes
first from the aorist to the present, because not
tJie act of incorporation in Christ, but the process
of steadfast endurance, is in question. The verbs
in the apodosis are also varied to meet the exact
case; we begin as sharers in Christ's life; if we
continue steadfastly in that life we shall share in
its glories. The thought is precisely that of Rom.
8:16, 17; if we are God's children, we are heirs,
joint heirs with Christ, "if so be that we suffer
with Him, that we may be glorified with Him
also." Only in our present passage the matter is
not conceived so distinctly as suffering or as suffer-

424 FAITH AND LIFE

ing with Christ; in preparation for the companion
clause yet to come the idea of "with Christ" falls
away here. The two cases rest with us — abiding
steadfastly or disowning. The "reigning with
Christ" is an advance on "living with Christ"; it
throws the emphasis on the reward: if we have
died with Him we are sharers of His life; if we
abide in this life we shall inherit with Him the
Kingdom.

The companion clause presents the other pos-
sibility. The "deny" corresponds to "the stead-
fast endurance" and Christ's disowning us cor-
responds to the "reigning with Him"; both as
opposite contrasts. The tense is changed in ac-
cordance with the new nature of the case. It is
not a matter of continually disowning Him; it is
a matter of breaking the continuance of our stead-
fast endurance. This is done by an act. Hence
the future, expressing the possibility of the act:
"should we disown Him," — if we shall disown
Him, why then, He (emphatic), also will disown
us! This is the dreadful contingency; all the more
dreadful on account of three things: (1) the sim-
ple brevity of its statement as a dire possibility to
be kept in mind and steadfastly guarded against;
(2) the express reminiscence of our Lord's own
words in Matt. 10:33 carrying the mind back to
the most solemn of associations possible to con-
nect with the words; (3) the emphatic "He,"
thrusting the personality of Christ for the first

COMMUNION WITH CHRIST 425

time upon the consciousness of the reader; as be-
fore, He is only gently kept in mind by the impli-
cations of the "with." This emphatic "He" is
partly due, of course, to the change of construc-
tion, by which a new subject is needed for the suc-
ceeding verb; though it would be, perhaps, better
to say the desire for emphasis is the cause of the
change of construction. We might have had a
passive verb, "If we deny we shall be denied,"
with or without the "by Him." But the person-
ality of Christ is too strongly felt here for mere
suggestion or even for relegation to the predicate.
The change to the active construction and the
expression of the subject and its expression by the
demonstrative "He," all pile emphasis on em-
phasis; "If we disown, HE, too (not merely He,
but HE, too), will disown us!" This is the climax
of the sentence and a fitting pause is reached.
"If we died with Him we shall also live with him;
if we steadfastly endure we shall also reign with
him; but if we shall ever, by any possibility, deny
Him, He, too, will deny — us!" The thought is
complete with this. Both alternatives are devel-
oped. And the effect of the whole is a powerful
incentive to abide in Christ. Patient endurance —
nay, bold, steadfast, brave endurance — ^has its
reward — reigning with Christ. But if we fall
from this and disown Christ, do we not remember
His dreadful threat: "He, too, can and will dis-
own— even us!"

426 FAITH AND LIFE

Surely there is nothing required to enhance the
terror of this situation. The poignancy of the
appeal to steadfast endurance seems scarcely to
need heightening. But on the other hand there
would seem need for a closing word of encourage-
ment to weak and faltering Christians. And there
would seem a way open for it. For the very sharp-
ness of the assertion that if there is disowning on
one side there will be disowning on the other, too,
seems to hint something else. The contrast be-
tween the present tense of the second clause ex-
pressing continuance and the tense of the third
clause expressing an act, calls for consideration:
"If we continue to — ," "If we shall perchance
ever — ." Nothing is said of the continuance of
the disowning on either side. Disowning begets
disowning. True; but is that all.^^ Shall one act
of even such dreadful sin divide us from all that
we had hoped for, in a long life of endurance .^^
What shall poor weak, faltering Christians do in
that case? It does not seem impossible, to say
the least, that the last clause comes in to comfort
and strengthen. There is hope even for the
lapsed Christian! For "though we prove faith-
less, He (emphatic), HE, at least, abides faithful:
for deny Himself He cannot!" Deny us He may
and will; every denial entails a denial. But
deny Himself, He cannot. Our unbelief shall
not render the faith of God of none effect.

If this be the construction, the whole closes on a

COMMUNION WITH CHRIST 427

note of hope. The note of warning throbs through
even the note of hope, it is true, for He who can-
not deny Himself must remember His threats
also; and no Christian holding this wonderful
"faithful saying" in his heart will fail to note this.
But the note of hope is the dominant one, and I
take it this last clause is designed to call back the
soul from the contemplation of the dreadfulness of
denying Christ and throw it in trust and hope
back upon Jesus Christ, the faithful One, who
despite our unfaithfulness, will never deny Him-
self— will never disown Himself, — ^but will ever
look on His own cross and righteousness and all
the bitter dole He has suffered, and will not let
anything snatch what He has purchased to Him-
self out of His hands.

In this view of the matter, then, the arrange-
ment of the clauses is not in a straightforward
quartet — ^two by two — but rather this:

If we died with Him we shall also live with Him;

If we endure we shall also reign with Him;

If we shall deny, He too will deny us.
If we are faithless. He abideth faithful, for Himself He camiot
deny.

PRAYER AS A PRACTICE

James 5:16b: — "The supplication of a righteous man availeth
much."

I WANT to speak to you this afternoon about
prayer, and I have chosen a text which, if we can-
not quite say of it that it brings prayer before us
at the height of its idea, yet, certainly, presents its
value to us in the most emphatic way.

Men ask, What is the use of praying? Above
all, What is the use of bringing specific petitions
to the throne of the Almighty? "To crave boons
you know little of, from a God of whom you know
nothing at all, save that you have made him in
your own image — of what profit can that be?"
That is the language of unbelief.

Much, however, which passes for belief asks
practically the same thing in somewhat more
chastened forms of speech. This half belief also
asks. What is the use of praying? We must have
a very low conception of God, it suggests, to sup-
pose that He does not know how to govern His
universe without our telling Him. Do we really
think He will subordinate His wisdom to the de-
mands of our folly? Cannot we leave the direc-
tion of affairs to Him? If He be, indeed, a good
and wise God, must we not leave it to Him? Why
rush hysterically into His presence and demand

428

PRAYER AS A PRACTICE 429

that the universe be ruled according to our no-
tions? Are we competent to give Him advice?
Do we fancy that we know what is best even for
ourselves, as He does not? He cannot hear us
unless He be God; He certainly ought not to
hearken to us if He be God. If He is "mighty
enough to make laws," why should we think Him
"weak enough to break them" at our request?
Prayer is in effect an attempt to undeify the
Deity and substitute our will for His will. It is
not only foolish and immoral, therefore, but su-
premely self-contradictory. We cannot attempt
it save on the supposition that it is God whom we
are addressing; we would not attempt it if we
really believed that He whom we are addressing is
God. Of one thing, at least, we may be assured,
that it is of no use to pray.

Well, you see, it is precisely to this point that
our text speaks. It speaks not of prayer in gen-
eral, but of the specific act of petition. "Suppli-
cation," our Revised Version calls it. It is that
precise act of prayer which is the making of a re-
quest, the urging of a desire, the preferring of a
petition. And what it says about it is that so
far from its being of no use, it is of very great use.
"The prayer," — or more specifically, the "peti-
tion," the "request," the " supphcation " — "of a
righteous man availeth much," "is of great value,"
"exerts great power." There is another word in
the sentence, but as it is of somewhat doubtful

430 FAITH AND LIFE

interpretation and in no way qualifies the sense of
the declaration for our present purpose, we may
pass it by here. It is variously rendered as quali-
fying the prayer of the righteous man that availeth
further as "earnest"; or as indicating the source
from which such a prayer alone can come, by
affirming that it is "inwrought" in him, that is,
by the Holy Ghost; or as further describing the
value of it as avaihng "in its working." It is
obvious that whether we say "the fervent prayer
of the righteous man availeth much," or "the
prayer of a righteous man availeth much, seeing
that it is inwrought," or "the prayer of a righteous
man availeth much in its working," the one main
thing asserted in every case is that a righteous
man's prayer is of high value; that it is strong to
obtain its end; that it is fully worth offering up.
And this emphatic assertion is buttressed im-
mensely by its context. The assertion is made in
order to encourage the readers to pray for one
another, and for themselves. To pray for one
another when they are sick; to pray for one
another when they are soul-sick. If any is
sick among you, exhorts James, send for the elders
of the Church and have them pray over such an
one; and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick;
yes, and if he have any sin on his conscience, it
will heal that sin. And all of you — why, confess
your sins to one another — and pray for one an-
other, and the prayer will bring healing. Take

PRAYER AS A PRACTICE 431

everything to God. If you are suffering go in
prayer; if you are in joy go in praise. But in any
and every case, go. It is strong and reiterated
advice, you see. Go continually, go always, to
God. Go, go, because prayer is not of no profit;
but, on the contrary, the "prayer of a righteous
man profiteth much!" And then James supports
this central declaration with a most telling exam-
ple. It is taken from the Hfe of Elijah. Elijah
prayed. He was a man just like us. And he got
what he prayed for. And it was no little thing
he asked for. He asked for drought and he asked
for rain. And he got the drought and the rain
he asked for. See, says James in effect, see, how
much the prayer of a righteous man is good for!

It looks as if we could not easily find a stronger
assertion of the value of prayer; and of prayer at
the very apex of its difficulty as I have said;
prayer, specifically as petition. But I do not wish
this afternoon to confine our thoughts to this one
point- the value of petition, but to take encour-
agement from this emphatic assertion of the value
of prayer, and direct our minds to a general con-
sideration of prayer in the large.

First, then, the idea of prayer. In its most
general connotation, prayer is the Godward ex-
pression of subjective religion. Subjective religion
is the state of mind consequent on the apprehen-
sion of God. Prayer is, therefore, in its most gen-
eral sense the Godward expression of that state of

432 FAITH AND LIFE

mind which is consequent on the apprehension of
God. In short, all conscious communion with
God is prayer. A great many elements, there-
fore, enter into prayer. It is not to be confined to
petition. Every form of expression of the soul
Godward is a form of prayer. Many terms,
therefore, are employed in the Scriptures, He-
brew and Greek alike, to give expression to the
various forms and modes of praying. In some
passages several of these are accumulated and
that with full consciousness of the variety of
mental state and action expressed by them.
One of the most formal of these summations
occurs at the opening of the second chapter of
First Timothy. Here four terms are gathered
together to give more adequate expression to
what Paul would have us do when we pray; four
terms which emphasize the mental movements
we call respectively adoration, petition, urgency,
thanksgiving. These four elements, at least,
ought, therefore, to intertwine in all our acts of
prayer. When we come before God, we should
come with adoration in our hearts and on our lips,
with thanksgiving suffusing all our being for His
goodness to us, and making known our desires
with that earnestness which alone can justify our
bringing them to Him.

Next, the presuppositions of prayer. Obviously
they are the presuppositions of subjective religion.
And these may be summed up in the existence.

PRAYER AS A PRACTICE 433

the personality, the accessibility and the contin-
ued activity of God in the world. The Scriptures
themselves tell us that to come to God implies
that we believe that He is, and that He is the re-
warder of those who diligently seek Him. We
must really believe in the existence of God and in
His care for the works of His hands, or we cannot
pray to Him. Not only then cannot the atheist,
or the agnostic, or the pantheist, pray; nor yet
the deist or the fatalist. But neither can ad-
herents of many a variety of our modern thought
which baptizes itself with the Christian name,
pray as men ought to pray. I have particularly
in mind in saying this, on the one hand, those ex-
treme advocates of the reign of law in external
nature who love to call themselves either spec-
ulative theists or non-miraculous Christians; and
on the other those extreme advocates of the au-
tocracy of the human will, who fancy that the
whole cause of liberty is bound up with the self-
sufficiency of the human soul.

The one of these would forbid us to pray for any
external want; the other for any internal effect on
the soul. So, between the two, they would take
away the whole sphere of prayer. Unless we
should prefer wisely to look at it from the oppo-
site angle, and to say that each refutes the other,
and between the two they allow us the whole
sphere of prayer. Certainly, that is what the
Scriptures do. They authorize, or rather require,

434 FAITH AND LIFE

us to pray both for external and internal blessings;
for rain and drought like Elijah; for the healing
of sickness like the elders of the Church; for the
healing of sin-sick souls like Christians at large.
There is, no doubt, a problem of how God an-
swers prayers for external effects ; and we may be
chary of supposing that miracles will be wrought
when special providences will serve the end; and
there is a problem of how God answers prayer
for internal changes and we may be chary of sup-
posing that violence is done to our nature, when
confluent action along psychologically indicated
lines will suffice. But one thing we must hold
firmly to : God answers prayer. And that equally,
and equally readily and equally easily, for in-
ternal and for external things.

Now, the conditions of acceptable prayer. Let
us study here the simplicity of Scripture. We
need not multiply conditions where the Scriptures
do not multiply them. And, speaking strictly,
Scripture knows of but one condition. It con-
duces to the peace and comfort of our souls to
remember that there is but one condition to ac-
ceptable prayer. It is easiest and best, however,
to state this one condition in a twofold manner:
objectively and subjectively. There is an ob-
jective condition of acceptable prayer and there
is a subjective condition of acceptable prayer.
The objective condition is that we should have ac-
cess to God. The subjective condition is that

PRAYER AS A PRACTICE 435

we should have faith. The objective and sub-
jective conditions are one, because it is only in
Jesus Christ that we have access to God and only
through faith that we are in Him.

Whatever may be said of men as men — the
creatures of God — you and I have nothing to do
with. You and I are not men as men; we are
sinners. And sinners as such have no access to
God. They may go through all the motions of
prayer, no doubt. It is like bodily exercises that
profit nothing; one might as will turn a prayer
wheel like the Thibetans. It goes no higher than
our own heads. For this is of the very essence of
sin — that it breaks communion with God. God
is deaf to the sinner's cry. He owes the sinner
punishment, not favour. In Jesus Christ alone
has the breach between God and sinful man been
filled in. In the blood of His sacrifice only can we
penetrate within the veil. In Him only, as Paul
repeatedly tells us, do we have our introduction
into the Divine presence. All prayer that is ac-
ceptable and reaches the ears of God, therefore,
is prayer that is conveyed to Him through Jesus
Christ. For sinners the atonement of Christ lays
the only basis for real prayer.

The subjective condition is faith; and faith is
the sole subjective condition. No other condi-
tion is ever announced in Scripture. And the
promises to faith are repeated, emphatic and un-
limited. He that prays in faith shall surely re-

436 FAITH AND LIFE

ceive. For faith can no more fail in prayer than
in salvation; and if faith and faith alone is not
the only but all-sufficient instrument of salvation,
then we are yet in our sins and are of all men the
most miserable. If any one is puzzled by so un-
limited a promise, let him reflect what faith is and
whence faith comes. If faith is the gift of God in
this sphere, too — as assuredly it is — then faith
can no more fail than the God who gives it can
fail. Or think you that God will deceive you by
working faith in you by His Holy Spirit when He
has no intention of correspondingly blessing you?
Man-made faith — that might fail; for that is no
faith at all. But God-inspired faith, as it is God
within you working, so is it sure to find God
without you hearkening. That is what Paul says
in that great passage in the eighth of Romans
about the Holy Spirit groaning within us unutter-
ably, and God knowing the mind of His Spirit.
It is possibly also what James says in our present
passage, when he says that it is an "energized
prayer" which is effective. But the gist of the
whole matter is that there is no condition of suc-
cessful prayer but faith.

No condition, but not therefore no character-
izing qualities, which are always present where
faithful prayer is; and the presence and absence
of which you and I can observe as marks of ac-
acceptable or unacceptable prayer. These are
customarily enumerated as sincerity, reverence.

PRAYER AS A PRACTICE 437

humility, importunity, submission. Many more
similar characteristic features of acceptable prayer
could be added. We need not dwell on these in
detail.

Lastly, the effects of prayer. These too are
both objective and subjective. Which are the
more important.^ That depends very much on
the specific exercises of prayer which we have in
mind; and on the specific things we pray for,
if it is of the exercise of petition that we are
thinking.

The main point to emphasize is that prayer has
an objective effect. It terminates on God, and
does not merely bound back like a boomerang
upon our own persons. We do not throw it up
towards the heavens to have it do nothing but
circle back to smite our own heads. But though
this is to be mainly insisted upon, it does not fol-
low that prayer may not also have subjective
effects; or that these subjective effects may not
be of unspeakable importance to us; or even that
in some exercises of prayer, they may not be
almost the most important of its effects. If the
specific exercise of prayer in which we are engaged
is adoration or thanksgiving, may not what we
call its subjective effects be the most important.?
No doubt, if we are engaging in petition, it may
be different; may be even here, not must. If our
petition be, Father, hallowed be Thy Name! — or,
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as

438 FAITH AND LIFE

in heaven! — no subjective effects can compare
with the objective value of the petition. But
suppose the petition be, "Give us this day our
daily bread!" Or for some lesser blessing "of this
life"! Is not the enjoyment in prayer of com-
munion with God of more value than any of these
things? Let us bless God that man does not live
by bread alone; nay, not even chiefly.

If we seek to enumerate the benefits obtained by
prayer, then, I think we must say that they are,
at least, threefold. There are the objective
blessings obtained by means of the prayer in the
answer to its petitions. There is the blessing that
consists in the very act of prayer, that commu-
nion with God which is the highest act of the soul.
There are the blessings that arise from the as-
sumption in prayer of the proper attitude of the
creature, especially of the sinful creature, towards
God. Perhaps these last alone can be strictly
called purely subjective. The first we may speak
of as purely objective. It is the second in which
the highest value of prayer is to be found.

We must not undervalue the purely subjective
or reflex effects of prayer. They are of the high-
est benefit to us. Much less must we undervalue
the objective effects of prayer. In them lies the
specific meaning of that exercise of prayer which
we call petition. But the heart of the matter hes
in every case in the communion with God which
the soul enjoys in prayer. This is prayer itself.

PRAYER AS A PRACTICE 439

and in it is summed up what is most blessed in
prayer. If it be man's chief end to glorify God
and enjoy Him for ever, then man has attained his
end, the sole purpose for which he was made, the
entire object for which he exists, when he enters
into communion with God, abides in His pres-
ence, streaming out to Him in all the emotions, I
do not say appropriate to a creature in the pres-
ence of his Maker and Lord, apprehended by him
as the Good Lord and Righteous Ruler of the
souls of men, but appropriate to the sinner who
has been redeemed by the blood of God's own Son
and is inhabited by His Spirit and apprehends
his Maker as also his Saviour, his Governor as
also his Lover, and knows the supreme joy of him
that was lost and is found, was dead and is alive
again, — and all, through the glory of God's seeking
and saving love. He who attains to this experi-
ence has attained all that is to be attained. He is
absorbed in the beatific vision. He that sees God
shall be like Him.

GOD'S HOLINESS AND OURS

I Pet. 1:15: — "But like as He which called you is holy, be ye
yourselves also holy in all manner of living."

The first chapter of the First Epistle of Peter
ranks with the most precious in the Bible. It
opens with a singularly rich and beautiful de-
scription of what God has done for us, and of the
glory of that salvation which He has provided.
He has given His Son to die and rise again that by
His resurrection from the dead He might beget us
anew unto a lively hope. Though we may have
to suffer now and enter not yet into this hope, He
Himself preserves for us the hoped-for inherit-
ance, incorruptible and undefiled; and keeps us
by His power for it, until the day comes when we
shall enter into it. This glorious salvation He had
prepared for us, indeed, before we were born,
even from the beginnings of the ages, annoimcing
it from time to time through the prophets who
well knew that it was for us and not themselves
that they ministered, but revealing it in its full
glory not even to the angels as it has now been
made known to us. Thus Peter makes known to
his readers that it was not they who chose God
but God who chose them; that their salvation is
not dependent on their own effort but rests on
God's almighty power; that the inheritance for

440

GOD'S HOLINESS AND OURS 441

which they hope in the end is not such an one as
they could obtain with human weakness, but such
an one as only God could prepare — more splendid
than prophets could tell, more glorious than
angels could imagine, prepared by God just for us
from the foundation of the world. By this far-off
glimpse of it, Peter would quicken our hope and
awaken our love and gratitude to God.

"Wherefore," he adds, — turning suddenly from
this glorious prospect to stir us up to make this
precious inheritance surely our own — "where-
fore" see to it that you enter into this hope and
lay such hold upon it that it cannot slip away. As
we approach the text for the day, thus, we pass
from the contemplation of the glorious inheritance
of the saints to the most earnest exhortations to
make our calling sure. Peter admonishes us by
the greatness of the hope that is set before us, in
other words, to a mode of life conformable to it.
We must gird up the loins of our minds, be sober
and set our hope perfectly on this grace that is to
be brought to us at the revelation of our Lord.
It is ready for us; it is kept in store for us in
heaven; when Christ comes it will come with Him.
Would we be meet for its reception? How then
shall we be made meet for it? We are told first
negatively and then positively.

Christ is our King and to Him we owe our duty.
Not with eye service only; not with grudging
honour; but as the very children of obedience we

442 FAITH AND LIFE

must offer Him our willing service. And this
service which He demands of us is summed up
broadly in the negative rule that we must be sep-
arated wholly from our former evil desires which
we followed in the days of our ignorance, before
He recalled Himself to us and made known to us
what a glorious inheritance He had for us. Chil-
dren of the flesh, born in the flesh, we have lived
according to the lusts of the flesh; for who is there
that sins not? But now that the eyes of our
hearts have been opened that we may see what it
is that we have done, and that we may know the
evil that we have wrought, we must turn away
from evil. This is the negative rule of life. But
mere negation brings us nowhere. To separate
from sin is not enough; we must go on to positive
holiness; "like as He which called you is holy,
become ye also yourselves holy in all manner
of living.'* Here is the positive rule of life.

Now let us look at this precept somewhat more
closely. Doing so we will observe (1) what it
is that we are exhorted to become — holy; (2)
in what we are to become holy — in every manner
of living; and (3) to what degree we are to become
holy in all our life and all its activities, — as holy as
God Himself is. In other words, we may ob-
serve here (1) that God draws back the veil and
exhibits His own holiness to His children; (2) that
He makes His hoHness the incitement to them to
become holy also; (3) that He holds His own holi-

GOD'S HOLINESS AND OURS 443

ness forth as the standard of the holiness which
they must strive to attain; and (4) that He ac-
tually proposes to share this His highest attri-
bute with us.

Observe, then, first, that God here proclaims
His own holiness and so exhibits this His crown
and glory to His children; "like as He which
called you is holy" — "for I am holy." What,
then, do we mean when we speak of the "holi-
ness" of God? We need not trouble ourselves
with the derivation of the Hebrew word, although,
no doubt, its etymological sense of division, sepa-
ration from, is conformable with its usage. The
usage of the word, which is applied primarily to
God, and only afterwards and secondarily to those
that belong to Him, — especially if we will observe
its contrasts — clearly indicates as its central idea
that of separation; and specifically separation
from the world conceived of as a sinful world.
When we call God holy, then, the central idea in
our minds concerns His absolute and complete
separation from sin and uncleanness. Not that
the idea has this negative form as it lies in our
minds. There is no idea so positive as that of
holiness; it is the very climax of positiveness.
But it is hard to express this positiveness in a
definite way, simply because this idea is above the
ideas expressed by its synonyms. It is more than
sinlessness, though it, of course, includes the idea
of sinlessness. It is more than righteousness,

444 FAITH AND LIFE

although again it includes the idea of righteous-
ness. It is more than wholeness, complete sound-
ness and integrity and rightness, though, of course,
again it includes these ideas. It is more than
simpleness, high simplicity and guilelessness,
though it includes this too. It is more than
purity, though, of course, it includes this too.
Holiness includes all these and more. It is God's
whole, entire, absolute, inconceivable and, there-
fore, unexpressible completeness and perfection of
separation from and opposition to and ineffable
revulsion from all that is in any sense or degree,
however small, evil. We fall back at last on this
negative description of it just because language
has no positive word which can reach up to the
unscaleable heights of this one highest word, holi-
ness. It is the crown of God as mercy is His
treasure; as grace is His riches, this is His glory.
Who is like unto God, glorious in holiness?

Such is the challenge of the Old Testament and
safely might it be given. The holiness of God is a
conception peculiar to the religion of the Bible.
None of the gods of the nations was like unto our
God in this, the crown and climax of His glory.
But it is just this His ineffable perfection that He
calls us to imitate. It is just the exhibition of
this His glory that He trusts to quicken an un-
quenchable thirst in us to be like Him. For ob-
serve, secondly, that it is by this exhibition of
His holiness that God incites us to holiness. "Like

GOD'S HOLINESS AND OURS 445

as He which called you is holy, become ye also
yourselves holy." "Ye shall be holy for I am
holy." God exhibits His glory to us for our
imitation and expects the sight of the beauty of
holiness in Him to beget in us an inextinguishable
longing to be like Him. Holiness is a dread at-
tribute. Reverence and awe attend its exhibi-
tion. Who can look upon the holy God and not
tremble? To the sinful man, no words so quickly
spring to the lips when he is brought in sight of
holiness as "Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord!" It is pre-eminently the holiness
of God which constitutes the terror of the Lord,
and as often as He appears to men we read the
record that they feared a great fear. Does its
contemplation not silence our tongues and abase
our hearts rather than rouse our endeavours and
quicken our efforts.^ It is but too true that sin
and holiness are antagonistic and that holiness
hates sin no less truly than sin hates holiness.
Sinful man cannot be incited to holy activity by
the sight of holiness; it begets no longing in his
heart except a longing to hide himself away from
it. When Adam sinned, he no longer wished to
meet God in the garden.

The very fact of the proposal of God to show us
His holiness as an incitement to holiness in us
means something, then, of infinite importance to
our souls. It means that we are no longer averse
to all that is good; no longer God's enemies but

446 FAITH AND LIFE

His friends. Peter is addressing here not man as
man but Christian men as Christian men. Those
to whom he speaks have been bought with a price,
have been begotten anew unto a lively hope by the
resurrection of Christ from the dead. As God's
sons they are already like God, and he only ex-
horts them to become more like Him. It is only
as God's sons that they could be attracted by the
exhibition of His holiness ; it is only as God's sons
that they could find in it an incitement; it is only
^.s such that they can hope to attain it. And it is
just because we are God's sons that the exhorta-
tion is necessary to us. If we are to call on Him
as Father we must vindicate our right to use that
ennobling name by living as His children. Thus
the very proposal of God to incite us to holiness by
the exhibition of His holiness to us, is itself an
encouragement to and a pledge of our attainment
of it. He expects us to see and to feel the beauty
of holiness and that means that He has already
recreated our hearts.

Thus we observe, thirdly, that God not only ex-
hibits His holiness here as an incitement to us, but
also reveals to us by that act His gracious and
loving purpose with us. We see God here not
calling us up to seek communion with Him in our
own strength; but rather stooping down that He
may raise us to that communion. For let us ob-
serve that it is, after all, communion with Him
to which He has summoned us. There can be no

GOD'S HOLINESS AND OURS 447

communion between the holy and the sinful. He
is here beseeching us to hold communion with
Him, and He is providing the way by which it may
be consummated. The Holy God has by the
resurrection of Christ from the dead begotten us
again into a living hope and here He holds out to
this already formed hope the incitement of the
sight of His holiness as the goal to which we must
strive to attain.

It is not unadvisedly that we say that His hoh-
ness is here exhibited as the goal to which we must
seek to attain. For not only is it in the text the
incitement, but also the standard of the holiness
for which we are to strive. We are to become
holy as God is holy. Of course the finite cannot
attain the infinite. But as the asymptote of the
hyperbola ever approaches it but never attains, so
we are eternally to approach this high and perfect
standard. Ever above us, the holiness of God
yet is ever more and more closely approached by
us; and as the unending aeons of eternity pass by
we shall grow ever more and more towards that
ever-beckoning standard. That is our high des-
tiny and it is not unfitly described as partaking in
the Divine Nature.

CHILDSHIP TO GOD

1 Jno. 2:28-3:3, especially 3:1: — "Behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called chil-
dren of God: and such we are."

The conception of the divine birth as the root
of the Christian Hfe is a specially Johannean one.
Not that the other New Testament writers do
not also teach all that is expressed by the term
"regeneration." But that they teach it prevail-
ingly under other figures, such as those of a re-
pristination, a new creation, and the like. The
Johannean expressions, "to be born again," "be-
gotten of God," do not occur at all, for example, in
Paul, whose use in a single passage of a similar
term only serves to bring out the contrast. There
is a corresponding difference in the use by Paul
and John of the conception of childship or sonship
to God. In accordance with his juridical point of
view, Paul speaks of sonship as conferred by adop-
tion, and thinks of our acquisition of the rights and
the inheritance of sons. In accordance with his
essential point of view, John speaks of childship as
conveyed through birth and thinks of growing up
into the likeness of God. Accordingly Paul pre-
fers the term "sons." We are adults received by
God's grace into the number of His sons. And
John prefers the term "children" or even "Httle

448

CHILDSHIP TO GOD 449

children." We are born into the family of God as
the infants of His household.

This difference in the use of the conception of
childship is not a difference of doctrine; it is only
a difference in the illustrative use of the concep-
tion of childship in the setting forth of doctrine.
It will not do to say on its ground that John
teaches that our sonship to God is due to regener-
ation and Paul that it is due to justification. It
will not be accurate even to say that John em-
phasizes regeneration and Paul justification. What
is true is that Paul has adopted the conception of
sonship to illustrate the title to life and holiness
which we obtain through justification, and John
to illustrate the communication of a new principle
of holy life to us in regeneration. Paul uses it of
an objective fact, John of a subjective one. Paul,
to point us to what becomes ours through the work
of Christ without us; John, to what is made ours
by the working of Christ within us. It would lead
to confusion to treat the several passages in John
and Paul as if they were teaching us the same son-
ship to God. It would lead to even greater con-
fusion to suppose that because they illustrate
different portions of the doctrine of salvation by
the same figure, they teach a different doctrine of
salvation, — one by the Christ without us, the
other by the Christ within us.

Perhaps no passage could be pitched upon which
would more richly and completely than that be-

450 FAITH AND LIFE

fore us outline to us John's presentation of his
doctrine of ehildship to God, begun in regeneration
and growing up in ever-increasing sanctification
to its goal of likeness to God. It may repay us to
run over the points of doctrine that emerge in
the course of these five verses.

First then we are to observe that the ehildship
of God of which John teaches us — as truly as the
sonship to God of which Paul teaches us — is not
a natural but a graciously conferred relation.
Neither in John's sense nor in Paul's sense, nor in
the sense of any New Testament writer, can we
speak of a universal Fatherhood of God. The
idea of the All-Father is rather a heathen than a
Christian notion; that is to say it is a conception
belonging to the sphere of natural religion, voicing
the yearning of the human heart to find in its Cre-
ator and Ruler something more than a Master or a
Sovereign Lord. It contains no more Biblical
truth than arises from the fact that according to
the Bible we are like God in so far as by our first
creation we were made in His image; He is in this
sense the Father of our spirits. For from the Bib-
lical point of view, sonship presents primarily the
idea of likeness. Therefore, the bad are the sons
of Belial and the good are the sons of God; and
the high name of the children of God is, from Gen-
esis to Revelation, reserved for those whose like-
ness to Him extends beyond the mere natural
fact that they have a spiritual nature similar to

CHILDSHIP TO GOD 451

God's, to the moral fact that they have a spirit-
ual character like God's.

Holiness of heart, not immateriality of essence,
is the ground in the Scriptural view of Divine son-
ship. And as men are by nature not holy but
wicked, they are naturally the sons of the Devil,
the sons of wrath. Sons of God they can become
only by an act of Divine mercy. The idea of the
universal Fatherhood of God represents therefore,
from the Biblical point of view, what God would
fain have been when He made man in His own
image, creating him in righteousness and true holi-
ness; what God still fain would be; not what God
is. He is in the Biblical sense, the Father only
of those who are renewed unto holiness. So John
puts it; so Paul puts it. Paul exhorts his readers
to "do all things without murmurings and dis-
putings, that they may be blameless and harmless,
children of God, without blemish": and John in
our present passage represents only those who do
righteousness as the children of God.

To John then, as we say, as to Paul and to the
whole New Testament, childship to God is not a
natural but a graciously constituted relation.
It is so in our passage, "Behold what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the children of God." It is a
matter of bestowment; it is a gift. And it is an
undeserved and unmerited gift. John cries out
in wonder and surprised gratitude at the love —

452 FAITH AND LIFE

not only the greatness, but the high quality of the
love — which God bestowed on us, with ' the in-
tent of having us called children of God: "Be-
hold, what manner of love the Father hath be-
stowed upon us to the end that we should be
called children of God." And then his feelings
overcome him as he contemplates this great, this
indescribable, kind of love, and he adds, not as
part of the statement but as an unrestrainable com-
ment on the statement, "and such we are." The
words themselves point out the ineffable mercy
and love of God in making us — such as we — chil-
dren of God. But these two words of comment of
the responding heart of the beloved disciple pierce
even deeper into our souls. As he declares the
Father's love in making us His children, he cannot
help jubilating over the blessed fact. "It is
true," he cries, "it is true!" "And we are." As-
suredly, to him this is no natural relation. We
are the children of God only by the ineffable love
of God, constituting us sons. It is not a thing
we have by nature but of grace; it is not a thing
to which we are born as men, but to which we are
born again as Christians; it is not a thing to which
all are born, but only those who are born not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God.

It is as clear as day, then, that this childship to
God, of which John teaches us, is not a product
of our own endeavours; it is a gift, a free favour,

CHLIDSHIP TO GOD 453

from God; and it has its root in the ineffable and
indescribable and sovereign love of God. "Be-
hold what manner of love the Father has be-
stowed upon us that we should be called the sons
of God." We have not earned it; the Father has
given it; not paid it to us as our just due for effort
made, labour performed, righteousness practised;
but given it to us out of His free and inexplicable
love; not out of His justice but out of His incom-
prehensible love. It is a sovereign gift. So the
New Testament everywhere and under all its
figures represents it; so John always represents it.
And it is therefore that he sings paeans to God's
love on account of it. "Behold!" "What man-
ner of love is this!" "To seek us out and make us
the sons of God!" Language could not convey
more clearly, more powerfully, the conception of
the absolute sovereignty of the gift of childship
to God. Elsewhere it is conveyed more didac-
tically, more analytically; here it is conveyed
emotionally. Elsewhere we are told that it came
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God; here we have the answer-
ing thrill of gratitude of the human heart at this
unexpected, undeserved gift. Elsewhere the sov-
ereignty is asserted, explained; here it is ac-
knowledged, honoured. Elsewhere it is claimed,
here it is yielded, admired, glorified.

But the passage gives us not merely the origin
and source of our childship to God in His love —

454 FAITH AND LIFE

free, and freely giving us this great benefit; it
points out to us the evidence of its reality. Though
we cannot purchase it by our righteousness, it is
freely bestowed, it yet evidences itself through
righteousness. It is not by righteousness that we
obtain it; but only the righteous have it. As it is
sonship to the righteous God that is conferred;
as sonship implies likeness ; it follows that the test
of such a sonship having been conferred is the
presence of the likeness, the presence of the right-
eousness. Accordingly we read: "If ye know
that He is righteous, ye know that every one also
that doeth righteousness is born of Him." This is
the test. None but the righteous are sons of God.
The Apostle does not say. None but the righteous
can become the sons of God. Then it would not
be true that the sonship is a free gift of ineffable,
sovereign love. But he does say that none but
the righteous are the sons of God.

This is, indeed, essential to his point of view,
that sonship hangs on an inward fact. Paul, too,
teaches the same doctrine even though he is
looking upon sonship as a juridical fact. For God
leaves none of those whom He constitutes His
sons by adoption without the Spirit of sonship in
their hearts, crying Abba, Father; and only those
who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
But much more will John, who is thinking of re-
generation rather than justification, under the
figure of sonship, teach the same. Only he who

CHILDSHIP TO GOD 455

doeth righteousness can really be begotten of the
Righteous One. That we do righteousness be-
comes thus the test and evidence of our sonship.
Begetting is the implanting of a seed of life, and
it is the very nature of life to live, that is, to man-
ifest its essential nature in outward activities.
But the seed implanted in this begetting is the
seed of holy living; how can it be said to be there
if it is not manifested in holy living? It is of the
very nature of the thing that only those who do
righteousness can have been begotten by the
Righteous God unto newness of life.

But is not John then blending regeneration
with sanctification.f^ If none is born of God —
regenerated — unless he doeth righteousness, is
not this to say that by the mystical act of being
begotten of God — regeneration — a man must be
made holy, and unless he has been made holy, he
is not born of God.^ Yes, and no. For John,
while insisting that no one is born of God who does
not do righteousness, does not represent him as
having already in his new birth attained his goal.
An infant is not a full-grown man. Nor is he who
is born of God already perfected in likeness to
God. John, too, represents this as a growth.
He asserts that only those who do righteousness
are the children of God; but he claims to be him-
self— ^he claims that his readers are — already chil-
dren of God. "And such we are." "Are"—
already. "Beloved, now we are children of God."

456 FAITH AND LIFE

Does he claim perfected righteousness for himself
or them? "If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Yet
throughout our passage, and beyond, he insists
with iterated emphasis that the mark of the child
of God is that he does righteousness, and that he
who does sin is of the devil. There is no contra-
diction here. John, too, knows the root and the
tree; the flower and the fruit. He, no more than
Paul, claims to be already perfect. Even the
infant is like his father; and whoever is born of
God does righteousness like the Righteous Father,
though he does it like an infant, with many a
false step, with many a fall. He must, like other
infants, grow up and learn to walk in the new path.
And so John in our passage does not look upon
the new birth as all; he expects a growth and
promises it. "Beloved, we are already children
of God" — his readers, after that formulated test
of doing righteousness, needed assurance of it;
"we are already children of God." "And it is
not yet made manifest what we shall be" — not
yet made manifest! The completed righteousness
is not yet present — "we know that if He shall be
manifested, we shall be like Him for we shall see
Him as He is." Ah, here is the goal on which
John sets his eyes! We have not yet the per-
fected likeness to our Righteous Father, merely
because we are born of God; we must grow up to
be altogether like Him. It is a process; a growth;

CHILDSHIP TO GOD 457

only when the infant becomes a man, is the like-
ness complete.

And, therefore, the Apostle has an exhortation
for us as well as an instruction. We have re-
ceived in our new birth the germ of our new life
of righteousness; but we have not received in it
that whole new life in perfection. God never
intended to carry us to the skies on flowery beds
of ease. The righteousness that we are to do does
not consist in that; it does not rest unless and
until it is done, done in spite of temptation, in
conquest of evil. And so John points our eyes to
the completed fruit of our endeavours — true, de-
veloped likeness to God — as the goal of effort,
and adds his exhortation. Are we born of God?
Is the germ within us.? What a glory! But what
a glory there is stretching yet beyond! Devel-
oped likeness to God! "And every one having
this hope within him, purifieth himself even as He
is pure." Here is John's prescription for the life
of the sons of God. Let us take it to heart and
live by it.

Perhaps, then, we may sum up by saying that
in this pregnant passage John gives us :

(1) The root of childship to God in God's in-
effable love.

(2) The creation of children of God through
God's sovereign power.

(3) The evidence of childship to God in the doing
of righteousness.

458 FAITH AND LIFE

(4) The hope of the children of God, developed
likeness to God.

(5) The duty of the children of God, to purify
themselves as God is pure.

(6) The end of the children of God — ^the as yet
unmanifested glory of perfect assimilation to
their Father's character.

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