The need of righteousness in order to be able to stand before God is a thought quite natural; it is expressed clearly enough, even by the heathen, in their cruel sacrifices; yet it is a truth which Satan has perverted to evil. As ever, he has sought to cause confusion between the Creator and the creature, to change the truth of God into a lie. That which he has done among the heathen, he has given a second edition of among Christians, in a more subtle form; and he has, alas! but too oft succeeded. How often do we meet with persons who, while they profess to believe in Christ, have no assurance that righteousness is imputed to them; who, instead of having all their expectation from God, expect something from themselves, thus confounding the work of God with the works of their own hands! In order to live happily in the presence of God, the possession of a human righteousness suffices not; we must have the righteousness of God, a righteousness which results from the substitutional suffering of Jesus, for he was made sin for us, in order that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
If we are content with what man can do, we are content with very little, or rather with nothing at all; for all that man does is spotted with sin, and thereby bears the stamp of worthlessness. Man may amuse himself by tying fruit to a fir-tree, but he will never make of it a fruit-tree; man may dress himself up as much as it is possible, he remains, nevertheless, man, who has never brought forth fruit, and who, even when blessed and cared for by God (comp. Matt. 21:33-4133Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: 34And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 35And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. 39And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. (Matthew 21:33‑41)), ends by rejecting Him who comes to seek for fruit. The impossibility of producing fruits presentable to God proceeds from the death which reigns in the members of man; and how could one ask for fruit from a tree that is dead? If we want that we must first of all seek for life, even that life, of which the Spirit of God speaks to us in the Epistle of John, life which is in Jesus, and which is communicated from the vine (Jesus) to the branches (John 15). It cannot be that the branches bring not forth fruit, if they abide in union with the tree, which has an exhaustless flow of life, even as it is impossible that they should bring forth fruit if they be separated from the vine.
The first Epistle of John presents us with the nature of God in the Christian, by means of the love of God, manifested in Jesus, and shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us. It is the spirit which quickens, sustains the life, and which makes fruits to be brought forth to the glory and praise of God. Be it remarked, all is represented according to its reality before God, and not according to our thoughts. This is just the reason why many souls feel embarrassed in the reading of this epistle; for man is ever ready to judge things according to his own thoughts, instead of submitting himself to the judgment of God and abiding by it. Christ has done all: to Him alone pertains the honor of having glorified the Father, in every respect. That is the first principle, of which we must not lose sight, if we would understand what God has communicated to us in his word. Christ has brought us life, not merely with a view of showing it to us, but as a gift of grace, in such sort that he that possesses Jesus, possesses eternal life, for he possesses God; he is in direct fellowship with the Father and with the Son. Without a doubt, it is faith alone which puts us in possession of so precious a possession; faith which sets to its seal to the truth of the testimony of God in Jesus. "And this is the testimony, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:11-1311And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:11‑13)).
What assurance! what certitude! There is not a shade of doubt, the life is in Jesus! You who as yet believe not in Him, believe and you will have life; and you who do believe, you have eternal life.
All that has been from the beginning, all the counsels of God are manifested as being realized in the person of Jesus, so that whosoever desires to know Him that is from the beginning, and wishes to be a father, has but to seek the knowledge of Jesus. God has at all times wrought for the putting of men into communion with Himself, in order that they may love what is dear to Him; and Jesus is the perfect and infallible means by which we enter into this precious communion with God (comp. 1 Cor. 1:99God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9)); consequently, it is above all things needful to have Jesus, for without him we can do nothing. Jesus is the light, so that if any one wishes to see clearly, if he desires to be able to distinguish between good and evil, according to the thoughts of God, he has only to abide near to Jesus, for by Him we enter into the true knowledge of what God is, and at the same time of that which we are not. Without Him we are blind; and yet it is worth our while to see clearly, which will never be the case if we are not in the light-if the light is not in us. Indeed, it is impossible for us to walk in the light without seeing clearly.
Do we desire to abide in God and that God should abide in us? We are sure of being in that blessed position if we are witnesses for the Son of God (ver. 15); whereas whoever denies the Son is declared to be a liar (2:22), and thereby delivered over to Satan, who is the father of lies.
In a word, all the fullness of God is in Jesus: has not God loudly declared, that His pleasure is in His Son; has he not said, " Hear him?"
You will say to me, " But the Christian?" If you understand by that name a man according to the flesh; I answer you, " He is sin, and he will be sin even unto death, which is a most irrefragable proof of it: the body is dead because of sin; the flesh always loves the things of the flesh, and this affection is death; the flesh is enmity against God." But let attention be paid to it; who is He who judges of it thus? Is it the flesh which judges itself? O confound not the action of the Spirit of God with that of the flesh. The flesh is condemned from top to bottom. The Spirit is the judge, who makes us understand what we are, and the more we live according to the Spirit, the more aware shall we become of the wiles of the flesh. If we walk in the light, we shall not say that we are without sin. It is just this which the word of God presents us with in 1 John 1:88If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8). If we can content ourselves with the virtue of humanity, if we seek only to walk like men in the light, we may flatter ourselves, perhaps, with the notion that we are without sin; but if we seek the walk worthy of God in the light, having understood that we are a royal priesthood, in order to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, we certainly shall not say that we are without sin; rather shall we feel impelled to seek the realization of the resurrection of Jesus, and to follow on to apprehend that for which we have been apprehended by Christ; not as though we had already attained it, but as pressing on toward it.
There are three points of view under which we may look at sin: 1. Sin as a principle reigning in the flesh; 2. Sins as the manifestation of sin before conversion; 3. Sins after conversion or falls.
Sin is a vile plant, which bears sins for fruit; and the soil where that vile plant is met with is the heart of man, out of which proceed all sorts of evil things, some of which Jesus enumerates for us (Matt. 15:1919For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: (Matthew 15:19)), Man without God remains in this bad state, the vile plant grows on him freely, whilst the heart of a man converted to God is exercised by the hand of God. He hews down the vile plant, plows up the earth and prepares the soil, in order to cast in the good seed which brings forth fruit to the glory and praise of God. This cultivation, which is continuous, explains to us simply enough why the children of God are exposed to so many trials, which are but tokens of the love on the Father's part towards his children, in order to detach them from the world and to attach their hearts to Him. May we always give heed thereto I We cannot, however, for a moment admit even the thought that the flesh is changed; it remains that which it is, that is to say sin. It is, therefore, that it was judged in Christ, for God, in sending His own Son in the likeness of flesh, which had sin, and for sin has condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:33For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3)). We have here that which is true as to sin, considered as a principle natural to the flesh. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). God has condemned sin in the flesh; the old man is crucified with Jesus (Rom. 6:66Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)), so that the members of Christ are no longer under the sad empire of that which characterizes the natural man. No; the man of God is by no means sin; he is the righteousness of God.
Sins are but the manifestation of what man is. The child of God easily sees that acts positively against God were quite natural to him, when he was but a man of the world. For these sins committed before his conversion he is humbled; he has shame; but he has no more anguish as to them, because he knows that Christ died only for
sinners, and for sinners such as he. Paul, mighty instrument of the grace of God, had no fear in recalling to mind what he had been, because that at the same time recalled to mind that he had found mercy, and he adds (
1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)), " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." His conscience is not charged with these sins, for the blood of Christ has purified him from them. It is just the same with every Christian, for how can any one be a Christian without having the pardon of his sins? That forgiveness it is which characterizes the children,(
1 John 2:1212I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. (1 John 2:12)).
But if Christians have falls, if they commit sin after conversion? That is quite another thing. It only seems so; for at bottom it is always the same thing. By nature we are sinners, but Christ delivers us.. It very often, however, happens, that Christians, frightened at the discovery that they still sin, begin to be troubled in conscience; and end by doubting of their conversion. But what is it that warrants our thinking that the man who is converted cannot fall? Is there one single case, in the word of God, in which a regenerated man is presented to us as no more sinning? Or, when is it that Paul wrote these words so full of the feeling of sin: " Who shall deliver me from this death?" When was it that Peter stood in need of being rebuked for his hypocrisy in having refused communion with his Gentile brethren? Certainly it was after their conversion! And yet we no where find that Peter or Paul doubted of being converted. Quite the contrary, Paul adds: " I thank God by Jesus Christ our Lord." Here we find what delivers, what lifts up the fallen Christian. If after conversion we were left to ourselves, O all would be as soon lost as when man undertook the responsibility of keeping the law. But Christ is not only dead for us as sacrifice for sin, He has also lived on earth for us, His death is, in our behalf, the odor of a sweet smell before God; He is risen. Christ, moreover, is our Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:11My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 John 2:1)). It is to this last title of Jesus that we owe the full certitude of arriving, at the end of our pilgrimage, spite of falls, in the' arms of a Father, who assures us of His love in Jesus. It is He who has an abiding priesthood; therefore, also, can He save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him, ever living to make intercession for them (Heb. 7:2525Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)). " Who is he that condemneth?" Christ is He who died, and, what is better, rose again; • who is at the right-hand of God, and who intercedes for us (Rom. 8:3434Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (Romans 8:34)). Our advocate with the Father is Jesus Christ, without fault or spot-accomplished righteousness. Righteousness which is never removed before God, never loses its value: on the contrary, it demands our salvation. Yes; Jesus is our Advocate, and He can alone, after all falls, restore our communion with the Father; Jesus never ceases to wash our feet. In His adorable love, and even in His glory with the Father, He renders to us this service. O let us not be so ungrateful as to mistrust the efficacy of His intercession; and if the old man gets the upper hand, if Satan succeeds in getting us to a distance from God, let us not stop at that distance; let us haste to the feet of Jesus, and let us keep there until He restores us, He can and He will. Christ then anticipates everything. He sets us in communion with the Father and He upholds us therein. What a blessing, what joy, and what assurance!
Let us bless the love which has given to us such a Jesus. Prostrate before Him, let us adore Him, carrying everything to His feet. It is to Him we owe all; it is He who has loved us, and who loves us, who has washed us from our sins in His blood, and has made us kings and priests to God, His Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever! O my soul, forget not thou His benefits. It is He who pardons all thine iniquities, who heals all thine infirmities, who delivers thy life from destruction, who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, Amen; yea, Amen forever!
Now, also, we shall understand what the Spirit of God. says to us (1 John 3:99Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9)), " Whosoever is born of God cloth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." It is clear, that the question here is not about the flesh which the Christian drags along with him against his will; but it is that which has been born of God, to wit, the divine nature in which we participate by the Holy Spirit of God (comp. 1 John 4:1313Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:13); 2 Peter 1:44Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:4)). It is the new man, fruit of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever; it is a man born of the Spirit, born of God; it is the child of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and the flesh profiteth nothing; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and it is the Spirit which quickeneth. The definition which the word of God gives us of a child of God, is this, " Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:1313Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13)). Impossible for sin to be there, impossible for corruption to taint that which is incorruptible. No; that which is born of God cannot sin, for the simple reason that it is born of God. Nevertheless, to live by the Spirit, or to guide oneself and walk by the Spirit, are two very different things. It is not enough to know that we are children of the light, we must also walk in the light; we must follow the rule which the word of God traces for us without lowering it in the least thing; and that rule is to live as Jesus Christ Himself lived. It is not said that we can do what Jesus did. No; flesh allows not of it. Hereafter we shall do so, when, made like to Him, we shall be united around Him to sing an everlasting halleluiah; but we must always manifest somewhat of Jesus upon this earth, where none can glorify Him but His own. However weak we may be, He upholds us and abides with us even to the end. God is light, let us live in communion with Him, let us walk in the light and we shall even know more surely that we are without sin, through the grace which is in Jesus; but that we have need of mercy in order to attain unto the end. Let us not stop on the road as the old prophet; it is the beginning of a falling. Let us onward, and let us be persuaded that no one will pluck us out of the hand of Jesus, and of His Father.
Jesus gave Himself to us such as He is, let us give ourselves to Him such as we are; and we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, Amen.
(Signed) Peter Nippel.
[Taken from Etudes Scripturaires, No. vii. 14 Mai, 1852].