Painful it is to have to sit down again, and answer one, who as to his light and knowledge on the Scriptures one had hoped better things of. But it is on that very account that his doctrines are so dangerous to the saints; Satan delighting to use those who have influence to mar the work, and testimony, that God and His instruments have raised up in these last days.
Thus it was in the days following the apostle Paul’s departure, grievous wolves entered in, not sparing the flock, also amongst the saints men arose speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:29, 3029For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:29‑30)). Such arose even amongst the elders!
I have no hesitation in saying that the book is a bad book. Not only are there contradictory statements, far more so, than any he seeks to prove against his brethren, but I must say, a bold reasoning away plain Scriptures to mean exactly the opposite of what they say. If I did not know the writer, and so hope better things of him, it would really make me doubt if there was a true state at bottom. And all this is done not without warning and beseeching, by the writer of these pages, and other brethren in letters, which makes it all the more sad, looking like a determined will to make a breach of fellowship with his brethren whatever happens. In the book itself there is practically no word of retractation, beyond a formal word at the beginning, as to the paper originally edited, under the title of “Life and the Spirit,” but really a development of the statements therein put forward. It is reiterated that Old Testament saints had life in the Son, without a Scripture to support the theory; that there is no further communication of life than quickening, to the saints of the present dispensation, and that all the Christian blessings go with this quickening—which is immediately followed by the sealing of the Holy Ghost—consequently, to be consistent, there is no interval of time betwixt new birth and sealing, no middle class, as the writer himself says, pages 25 and 83, and uses Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9) to prove it. Yet he says at the beginning of his paper, page 6, “that it is not in contention that quickening and sealing are distinct things, not even whether they are distinct in time, they surely are. Moreover the interval may be, as we see in the Acts it has been, one of some duration!” And this is largely proved afterwards from page 35 to 52.
Now here are two distinctly contrary statements, which the writer has got to explain and reconcile. But evidently this is the result of judging his brethren; God has allowed him manifestly to fall into contradictory statements himself.
But this is not the worst feature of the book. The direct statements of the Word of God are reasoned away. Ch. 3, page 53-64 give us a painstaking effort to show that we can have all the blessings of Christianity and not know it, we can be forgiven and not know it, we can have justification and not know it, we can have peace and not know it, we can have the Spirit and yet be in bondage. I put some of F.W.G.’s statements and those of the Word of God side by side, in order to show his direct contradictory statements.
Word of God
Gal. 4 – “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying Abba, Father.”
2nd Cor. 3:17 – “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
John 14 – “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”
F.W.G.
Page 56, line 29 – “But suppose with forgiveness of sins known in this way, liberty is there at once for the forgiven soul, it is still another thing to say that every forgiven soul has it. We at least, thank God, may say that liberty is for the forgiven soul.”
Page 60 – “Of course if conscious having is meant, there can be no dispute, but is it not possible to possess what we are not conscious of possessing?”
Page 61, line 18 – Alluding to J.N.D.’s plain comments on these passages, he says, “There is no contention except as to the word invariably, and, as we have seen, this is, in fact, by those who contended for it, given up. That ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty,’ is fully owned as characteristically true, and nothing more can be maintained by those who can accept as consistent with it, that those who are sealed may remain in the spirit of bondage, after
all, etc. This admits all that is contended for.”
Page 62 – After quoting another passage from brethren, he says, as himself going with it, “Thus though where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, sealed ones may be in bondage. Though in that day ye shall know that . . . ye are in Me and I in you, they may not be consciously in Christ and Christ in them. Though the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, they may not have conscious sonship.
Page 63 – “ Who would argue from this passage that if a man never thirsted he had never received the Holy Ghost!
“Look around, then, and ask, in such a day as the present, How many are Christ’s sheep?
“But why quote further passages? Is it not plain, that they are all characteristic, not absolute, and that the question is not here raised of how far Christians may fall short of the Christian character.”
These are just samples of the way our brother reasons away the Word of God, though I know he hides himself behind some apparent contradictory statements of his brethren, but as going along with these statements, and whatever he may say, I for one firmly believe what the Shepherd of the sheep says, in an absolute manner, My sheep hear My voice, and a stranger will they not follow. I do not believe the true sheep of Christ will follow this new voice. They may be misled for a while, but the Shepherd’s voice is true, and those that do follow strangers, will eventually be found to be not of His sheep.
Page 65 to the end, is simply a development of F. W. G.’s views in his former paper, as to Rom. 7, and is fully met by my paper called “Remarks on Life and the Spirit,” See p. 8-18. If justification is not treated of as complete till Rom. 8:1-31There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For 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 8:1‑3), and goes along with deliverance from the power of sin, as shown in that paper, then his whole argument falls to the ground. Justification and life in Christ are part of the gospel, not an after experience for fruitfulness and holiness.
That paper, which while affecting to despise, he cannot answer, also meets the subjects raised, whether eternal life, justification, peace, and acceptance with Christ, etc., go with quickening or with the reception of the gospel, and the immediate consequent sealing of the Spirit, which take up largely the book, from pages 15 to 28. (“Remarks,” pages 2-8.) So I do not take it up over again, and send this out as a sequel to “Remarks on a Paper called Life and the Spirit.”
If there is, besides quickening, “eternal life in the Son,” and the consequent communication of that life, as more abundant life, on the reception of the gospel, then it meets all the questions, as to the Old Testament saints not having it, in common with us; it also meets the difficulties of justification and life going together, as the portion of those linked with the last Adam, and of quickening together with Christ being no more than quickening, and of forgiveness going along with it, as in Col. 2.
Born again Old Testament saints were, and millennial saints will be, John 3:3, 53Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)
5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5). Christians are now, John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25); and that too in a new way by the Son’s quickening, who was the eternal life now manifested, but if we have not this life communicated in more abundant life besides, we are brought down as to the communication of life to a common level with them. If eternal life is the same as new birth, then Old Testament saints knew God in grace revealed in light as we do, they knew the Father also, for all through John the communication of eternal life is connected with that revelation, and is defined in John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3), as that they might know thee, (i.e., the Father,) the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
We read of the Assembly of the Firstborn written in heaven, as a distinct company, and marked with life distinct from the spirits of just men made perfect in Heb. 12:2323To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23), an epistle that does not speak of union with Christ by the Spirit, but rather of life in the real ones, as constituting them sanctified brethren, and priests unto God.
So as my former paper practically meets what is said in the pages before mentioned, I have only to add a word as to “life in the Son,” and “life in Christ.” Had Old Testament, saints “life in the Son,” putting them on common ground with us as to this life therefore, or they had not? But first of all, what is it to be “in the Son?” Is there such a thing hinted at in Old Testament scripture? Not in one passage. F.W.G. cannot produce one and does not. He reasons round that it means life and nature, not position, then says that life was in the Son in the beginning, and that He was the Eternal Life ever with the Father, and then concludes that if they had life, it was life in the Son, meaning connection with Him, as I understand him, by life and nature, and that this was eternal life.
I ask then, why is Old Testament Scripture absolutely silent on the whole thing? How can F.W.G. dare to tread where Scripture is absolutely silent?
I have looked through the passages where “in the Lord” or “in Him” are mentioned in the Old Testament, and in every case, where “in the Lord,” or “in Him,” could be referred to our question in point, the Scriptures refer to Israel’s connection with Jehovah in the millennium. See Isa. 45:19, 24, 2519I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. (Isaiah 45:19)
24Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. 25In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. (Isaiah 45:24‑25); Jer. 3:2323Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. (Jeremiah 3:23); Psa. 72:1717His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. (Psalm 72:17), etc. Twice it is mentioned in Josh. 22:25, 2725For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the Lord: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord. (Joshua 22:25)
27But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the Lord. (Joshua 22:27), as to having part in the Lord, as belonging to His one nation, whose land the land of Canaan was. But, as to being “in Jehovah,” as a present thing, much less being “in the Son,” Scripture is absolutely silent. Saints could trust in the Lord, could delight themselves in the Lord, etc., as it is expressed often in the Psalms, but as to themselves being “in the Lord,” nothing is said. Neither is eternal life mentioned but twice, Psa. 133:33As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. (Psalm 133:3); Dan. 12:33And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:3), both passages referring to the millennium, and future blessing of Israel.
Why then does our brother dare to tread upon ground as to which Scripture is absolutely silent. Abraham was called of the God of glory, Acts 7:11Then said the high priest, Are these things so? (Acts 7:1); so Samuel, 1 Sam. 4, consequently they were born of God, as has been shown. Abel received testimony he was righteous. Noah and Abraham were justified by faith. See Heb. 11:4, 74By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4)
7By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:7); Gen. 15. Enoch walked with God, which was impossible to do unless he had a nature by which he could do it. But as to anything further than such like examples, Scripture is absolutely silent, and we shall find it our wisdom to be silent too.
But what then is it to be “in the Son?” And what to “abide in Him?” These are questions raised by our brother, which many had supposed to be settled. The first mention of either expression, (beyond the expression of John 1:44In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4), “in Him was life,” which refers only to the Son Himself,) is in John 6:5656He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (John 6:56),
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him,
a fact too that has not yet been answered by our brother, who says that Old Testament saints had life in the Son! But here it is in connection with feeding upon the flesh and blood of the Son of man given up to death, the antitype of the Passover Lamb. Consequently those, who should be participants in feeding on the Lamb given up to death, were the ones who abode in Him and He in them. That no one did till after His redemption work was accomplished.
“Abiding in Me and I in Him” refers to the Son of man ascending up to where He was before, after having fulfilled the antitype of the Passover Lamb. Like Israel fed on the roasted lamb, inside the blood-sprinkled house, abiding in the house when they did it, so Christians in their place in Christ feed upon the Lamb slain on Calvary’s cross. Here clearly it is not mere nature and life, but place too. Our place is in the Son of man, who at the same time makes us alive with Himself as the life-giving Spirit. See vers. 62, 63.
In John 10:3030I and my Father are one. (John 10:30) the Son’s oneness with the Father is testified of, and in ver. 38 is defined in another way as:
that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him.
The Father is thus one with the Son, and the Son one with the Father, in equality of persons, in common life, nature, and place. The Son in the bosom of the Father (John 1:1818No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18))!
is not this a place, as well as community of life and nature?
This is clearly in connection with the Son on earth revealing the Father as absolutely and divinely one with Him, and yet as become man. He was going into the new place, (John 14:11Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1)), they were to believe in Him as the Son revealing the Father in that new place, as gone into it as man. But down here on earth, He was in the Father and the Father in Him, one with Him as we have seen in John 10, and the Father one with Him on earth.
Is not this “place,” as well as life and nature? Was He not going into a new place, to reveal the Father in that now place? Is not the Father’s house a place? Had he not a standing as a man on earth, the Son of man which is in heaven, and as one with the Father there? John 3:1313And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:13). Why He says so! Consequently here we have evidence it is not mere life and nature, it is oneness, and takes in too the thought of place.
John 14:2020At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (John 14:20). But going into that new place, He was to send down the Comforter to abide with the family, and in each of them. Is this “place” or not? Surely this in the case of the Comforter is distinctly “place,” He was going to abide with them on earth and in each of them. What would be the consequence? At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, in oneness, common life, nature and place, and ye in me, and I in you, in oneness, life and place with the Son in His new place as the glorified man, and He in them on earth, one with them.
John 15. Now when we come to the vine, it is clearly profession! An unfruitful branch of the vine can be taken away; if a man abide not in the Son, he is cast forth as an unfruitful or dead branch, and it is worth nothing but to be cast into the fire, and be burned. But the thought again is profession of oneness, common life, nature and place with the vine. This is tested as to reality by the test of the branch remaining in its connection with the vine, (i.e. the Son,) or not. A branch of a vine is one with the vine, and has in appearance a common life, nature and place in it till found unfruitful and cast forth.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for all that shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they maybe one in us!
Now here the unity {oneness} of the family of God was to be after the manner of the unity existing between the Father and the Son, two distinct Persons, yet One in life, nature and place. If He has His place now as man even in the bosom of His Father, ver. 5, and we have our place in Him consequent on redemption, we clearly can be said in Him, the Mediator, to have our place of oneness in the Father and the Son, as well as being joint participants in the new life, which ought to give a visible oneness here on earth. But it is wholly in the Son become a man, who has gone into death, having finished the work the Father gave Him to do, and is glorified as man with the same glory He had as Son with the Father before the world was. We are made one with Him in all the blessing he has entered into as man, consequent on redemption. He ever having the pre- eminence. He is not ashamed to call us brethren; our Father calls, us His children, His sons.
But if this is true, how could Old Testament saints be said to have “life in the Son?” He had not become a man. He was in His own incommunicable Deity. If to be in the Son is oneness and place, besides life and nature, then Old Testament saints were one with God, and so in the deity, for He was only God then, one with the Father !!
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit!
Thus no one could be one with the Son, except as consequent on accomplished redemption.
I trust our brother will recoil from such a dreadful result of his teaching.
But blessed be God we are one with the Son as become man, accomplishing redemption and entered into His glorified place, glorified as man with the glory, He had with the Father before the world was; and we by His infinite grace, and by the love of the Father are given that place of oneness and life, with all the blessings he has in fact entered into as man. His Godhead place is communicable to no one.
gives equally the thought of oneness, and dwelling-place, besides life and nature.
The same may be pressed as to 1 John 2:6, 8, 246He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:6)
8Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. (1 John 2:8)
24Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. (1 John 2:24). Made possessors of eternal life, we abide in Him, keeping His word, the love of God is perfected in us, which is surely “place,” it is perfected in us, not outside of us! This possession of life “is true in Him, and in us,” and if “the Word we have heard from the beginning abide in us, (what is this but place and dwelling?) we shall abide in the Son, and the Father!” Eternal life, as we have seen, is the life that constitutes the Christian state, which no Old Testament saint had. But this received in its fullness, puts us in the Son.
This is absolute, and any other interpretation of John’s epistle only shows that it is not understood. “He cannot sin because he is born of God” cannot be taken characteristically, it is an absolute statement of the man identified with the new nature.
A Christian is not only justified from all things, and in Christ before God, but he is absolutely, as John teaches, confirmed by Paul in Rom. 7:1717Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (Romans 7:17), identified with the new nature he possesses as born of God. Spirit, soul and body is set apart to God, identified before God and for faith with that new life! Though the flesh and sin still remain in him.
1 John 3:23, 24; 4:12, 15; 5:2023And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. (1 John 3:23‑24)
12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12)
15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. (1 John 4:15)
20And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20) a11 give clearly the thought of “place,” which the very word “meno” gives strength to, as well as of life and nature.
I would also add that “en” is often used in Greek to signify “in the power of.” (See Col. 1:16, 1716For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16‑17).) Sometimes also it signifies simply “in connection with,” as in instances in Romans 16 and elsewhere.
The term “in Christ,” I need not dwell on, as our brother shows it involves place as well as life and nature. The great difference, as it seems to me, between the terms “in the Son,” and “in Christ,” is the difference between relationship and place. “In the Son” has the additional blessed thought of relationship and knowledge of the Father. Christ is more the man in His now standing before God.
Old Testament saints are doubtless now, by redemption and Christ’s glorification, brought into the new heavenly place that is the result of those two things, but as our brother says, there is absolute silence as to there being any fresh communication of life; as to them; [I say, yes,] but not as to us; we have communicated Christ Himself as our life! besides the Holy Ghost dwelling in us as a distinct Person, as God! F.W.G. is surprised at the thought of a two-fold quickening or making alive; on this ground, the Son of God once born, could never have been quickened again after death, and there could be no resurrection from the dead, which is expressed in Rom. 8 as the quickening of our mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us!! Let him affect to despise this, but it is most sober truth!
In my own case of salvation, God certainly applied Psa. 71:2020Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. (Psalm 71:20), not when I was born again, but when after repentance I was led to rest on the finished work of Christ, which the Holy Ghost made me see from that verse. It was after the great troubles, that Christ was quickened again, in resurrection power. It was after God made me understand these troubles, He quickened me again, and I was sealed with the Holy Ghost.
We are born children of God on being called of God! But death and resurrection needs to be applied in the power of redemption, and it is as quickened together with Him out of death, (see 2 Cor. 5:14-1714For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 16Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑17)), we are brought into an entirely new creation, not by the Son quickening, when first called of God, but by God giving us the man quickened out of death, who is the last Adam the quickening Spirit; so that having Him we are immediately quickened together with Him, raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ {see Eph. 2:5, 6}, and this is said in Eph. 2 to be saved by His grace, which even our brother allows is more than quickening, and in Col. 2 forgiveness of sins goes with it!
And here I must be allowed to say a word in respect to what I must call the apparent dishonest way of quoting from our beloved brother, J.N.D., in support of his false doctrine. (See page 18, line 12, F.W.G.) The Synopsis, Volume IV., page 412, line 1, rends thus:—“He has quickened us, and not only that, He has quickened us together with Christ. He has not said in a direct way that Christ had been quickened, although it may be said, when the power of the Spirit in Himself is spoken of; He was however raised from the dead, and when we are in question, we are told that all the energy, by which he came forth from the dead, is employed also for our quickening,” etc.
F.W.G. to support his view, quotes J.N.D., beginning at the point, “He was raised from the dead,” five lines below where I have begun, to try and show that J.N.D. is on his side, as to there being no more communication of life than mere quickening.
It is the same in regard to his tract commenting on “ Sealing by the Spirit.” (See pages 53, 54, F.W.G.) He tries to set page 37, line 14, (Canadian edition) and page 29, last three lines, against page 45, line 5 &c., to try and show they are contrary one to the other. But I answer they are quite consistent. In the one case J.N.D. is describing the normal condition, of a soul sealed by the Spirit; in the other, the state of sealed souls in Christendom, “thrown back” by Judaizing teachers into bondage. Pages 38, 39, clearly explain his meaning.
Pages 29-33 need a short review. The subject is sealing by the Spirit. How was Christ sealed? Our brother says, (page 29), “Christ was sealed (with the Spirit), by the Father! the Father’s voice affirming Him to be His beloved Son.”
“With us the Spirit is the witness of sonship, the Spirit of adoption, sent forth into our hearts because we are sons to affirm it. . . . But then it follows that the Spirit is not the seal of any special faith apart from that which constitutes us sons. Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father. Gal. 4.” (F.W.G.)
Now here is the plain doctrine stated, we become sons by faith in Christ at the moment of quickening, and are immediately sealed by the Holy Ghost, because we are sons: Consequently there is no middle class, no interval, as at the beginning of his tract he argues there is, between new birth and sealing!! (See page 6.) “It is not in contention that quickening and sealing are entirely distinct things, not even if they are distinct in time, they surely are. Moreover the interval might be as we, see in Acts it has been, one of some duration!” These cases he takes up between pages 32 and 52.
I have now only to put the contradictory statements side by side.
F. W. G.
Page 6 – “It is not in contention that quickening and sealing are distinct things, nor even that they are distinct in time. They surely are.
“Moreover the Interval
Contradictory
Statements
Word of God
Romans 7:21-8:221I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. 1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 7:21‑8:2) – “I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity might be, as we see in Acts it has been, one of some duration, although the cases in the Acts have really no representative in the present day.”
Page 35, line 12 – “I do not doubt then the correctness of quoting the history of the Acts as evidence with regard to sealing!”
Acts 2:3838Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38). Page 47, line 8 – “They were to be baptized for the remission of sins. Submitting to the authority of Christ, they received the assurance of the remission of sins, the effect of His work. . . .
In that same baptism which expressed this, he was assured, that if this were truth of heart with him, his sins were washed away. . . . Here the apostle’s words are plain that repenting and being baptized for the remission of sins, they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. . . . Believers repenting and being baptized for the remission of sins, received the Holy Ghost.”
Page 48 – “Acts 8. Here we find no change of Christ ’ s people are recipients of the Spirit, and there is practically no middle class that have not yet received it. That some brief interval may exist between new birth and sealing, would not, I think, be denied by it.” (See also page 83, 16 from bottom.)
Page 6.-“The cases of the Acts have really no representative in the present day.”
Pages 6, 7 – “Our place in Christ is the inseparable accompaniment of eternal life in the believer, and his therefore from the first moment of quickening.
“If life for us is in Christ from the first moment of it, forgiveness of sins and justification, attach necessarily to this also. . . . As having life in Christ, we are dead with Christ, dead to sin, dead to the law and not in the flesh.”
“As to sealing with the Spirit, it is connected with the faith and confession of Christ risen and glorified, rather than with appropriating faith in His blessed work.”
Page 29 – “With us the Spirit is the witness of sonship, the Spirit of to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. . . . There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
1 Cor. 1:2323But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (1 Corinthians 1:23) – “But we preach Christ crucified, . . . to them that are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” It was said of already quickened souls,
Acts 8:1616(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) (Acts 8:16) – “As yet He was fallen on none of them, only they were order, but a delay in receiving the Holy Ghost. Apostles’ hands are here used to convey it.”
Pages 48, 49 – “The next case is that of Saul of Tarsus, and here again there is delay. Three days and three nights he is without sight, . . . then receives his sight and washes away his sins in baptism. . . . . He himself apparently receives the Holy Ghost after baptism
. . . Whatever he may have known the Holy Ghost is given to him after baptism , in which authoritatively his sins are washed away.”
“ Acts 10 – Cornelius was already converted! and already knew of Jesus. Peter announces Him as Lord of all, . . .. to Him give all the prophets witness, that through His Name whosoever believed in Him, should receive remission of sins. Here God comes in, at once giving the Holy Ghost apart from baptism and the laying on of hands.”
“adoption, sent forth into our hearts, because we are sons to affirm it.”
Page 46 – “God’s seal, the seal of the Holy Ghost, is the witness of the perfection which alone God can approve. . . .
‘For Him hath God the Father sealed.’ . . . The indwelling of the Holy Spirit can only be the witness to the perfection of the one in whom He can thus dwell, Christ’s personal perfection; ours in Him.” “The Spirit of God is the seal of the believer, as the one who is in the value of Christ’s work before God, not in the value of the apprehension of that work.”
[Thus according to this teaching, the moment a man believes in Christ be is born a son, and immediately sealed by the Holy Ghost. But according to the statements in the lst column, there is an interval. – A.P.C.]
“baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Acts 22:1616And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. (Acts 22:16) – (Ananias being sent to Saul, already converted, said to him), “and now why tarriest thou, Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling upon the name of the Lord.”
Acts 9:1717And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. (Acts 9:17) – “Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way that thou camest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”
Acts 10:1, 21There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. (Acts 10:1‑2)—Cornelius, a devout man and one that feared God, saw an angel who said unto him, Acts 11:1313And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; (Acts 11:13), “Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou shalt be saved.”
Acts 10:4343To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43) – (Peter preached to Cornelius already born again), “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.”
There is another point which has not been answered fully, and that is the statement our brother makes at the beginning of chapter 3, page 53, “as to the difference between the possession of such things as peace with God, forgiveness, justification, liberty, and the place in Christ, and the apprehension of what we possess.”
The view he maintains is “that while every believer has these things in Christ from the moment of his being such, he has nevertheless to receive them, for the most part as administered by the Word, and in such a way as that he shall enjoy them holily, or not enjoy them. Moreover that whilst the Holy Ghost is the witness to us of all our blessings and the power of the Christian life, it is by the Word that all is made known to us: error in doctrine, and unholiness, may to almost any extent hinder His witness and our realization.” I suppose this is our brother’s explanation, (and I think it is about the only one,) of his bold statement at the beginning of his book, which as written there is pure Judaizing teaching; pages 7, 8, viz., “while it is surely true that the Spirit is the witness to us of sonship, and the place in Christ, as He is of all our blessing and the power of the whole Christian life, yet it is as the Spirit of truth He acts, and only in the reception of the truth are these made good to us, while even after attainment they are still capable of being lost, if the walk is not with God, though the Spirit still, however grieved, abides.”
Now I am not going through Old Testament types and shadows to explain New Testament doctrines, which I believe is largely the ground our brother is on, and consequently goes astray, but I will go at once to the clear waters of the new testament, to let this light shine in upon the types and shadows of the old.
Now first as to the question of possession and apprehension, let us see what is of necessity to be believed first, for a soul to be born of God?
The Gospel of Matthew at once sets before the soul, Jesus as “the Anointed King,” the true Son of Abraham, the Son of David. Receiving the seed of the Word of the kingdom into an honest and good heart, and understanding it, be lives! (Matt. 13:2323But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:23).)
The Gospel of Luke sets before the soul, Jesus as “the Son of Man,” anointed with the Holy Ghost, offering Himself to man. He who hears the word and keeps it, lives! (Luke 8:1515But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. (Luke 8:15).)
The Gospel of John sets before the soul Jesus as “the Son of God.” Hearing His voice, waking up to the fact that He is a Divine Person, and has spoken to me, my soul lives. (John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25).)
Now these are the fundamental truths that the disciples accepted when Jesus was on earth. They were born of God, not yet saved, without remission of sins, without the possession of redemption or the knowledge of it. It was not accomplished. But they believed that Jesus was the Anointed King and Prophet, and believed in Him as the Son of God, as a Divine Person come from God, God and man in one Person. They were born of God. (1 John 5:11Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. (1 John 5:1); John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25).)
The fact of the Christ, the Son of God’s death did not change at once the place of the disciples, except as to God’s purpose and counsel, though in fact the blood of Christ had glorified every attribute of God’s nature, and satisfied the demands of His justice in regard to our sins. The veil of the temple was rent, and access into the holiest opened up to man. Still none of these things were yet applied to the disciples. They were as yet only born of God.
But the scene in John 20, Luke 24, etc., changed everything. The Son of God victorious over death reveals Himself to Mary Magdalene, and sends her with the glad tidings to the disciples,
That same evening He Himself comes into their midst, speaks peace to them; 1st, showing them His hands and feet, as a proof that all their sins were gone, and that justice was satisfied; 2nd, revealing the Father, and breathing into them His own life of resurrection, thus putting them into the full place of sons before the Father. Or as Luke puts it, giving proofs of his real manhood, for righteousness, life, and peace, so that they were assured of remission of sins, of righteousness, eternal life, peace and sonship, in Himself who had died for them and risen again. See John 20:16-2316Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. 18Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. 19Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:16‑23); Luke 24:5-8, 36-485And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8And they remembered his words, (Luke 24:5‑8)
36And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 42And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43And he took it, and did eat before them. 44And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48And ye are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:36‑48).
Now, my reader, this is salvation! What I believe answers in antitype to the Red Sea. Till then they were not saved, but when saved did they not know it? When forgiven did they not know it, when at peace, did they not know it? when put into the place of sons did they not know it? Why it is all as plain as noon-day they did.
They knew Jesus as the Anointed King who had dispensed to them royal pardon; they knew Him as the Anointed Prophet, as the One who had heralded to them peace; they knew Him as the Anointed Priest who had now offered the sacrifice and had settled the whole question of their sins; they knew Him also as the Son of God, not merely as a Divine Person, but as the Son revealing the Father, putting them into the full place of sons, so that they knew the Father. They now worshiped God in the Spirit! they boasted in Christ Jesus, they had no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:33For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3)).
Now, so far as we have gone, we have seen that as long as the disciples were merely “born of God,” knowing simply “Jesus as the Christ,” they neither possessed nor had the knowledge of the possession of the blessings of Christianity, and that even after they had to accept the mere fact of His death. But that, when the glad tidings of peace were preached to them by the risen Son of God, they came into possession of all the blessings, (except as yet Assembly standing and blessing,) and at the same time came into the knowledge of their possession.
Now, I say in this we have the normal view of what our brother calls, “the possession, and apprehension of the possession.” I leave my reader to judge which is true, the Bible view of the matter or his views. But our brother will say, it was not so in the history of the Acts. There was a time when only the forgiveness of sins and salvation were known as governmental blessings. Well, first of all, I totally deny that the blessings were merely administrative in a governmental way. The apostles were not only beginning to carry out Matthew’s commission, which by the way referred primarily to the heathen nations, but especially Luke’s commission, where the Lord said,
Now this last is not a commission of governmental remission of sins. There is no mention of baptism in it. But this was what was carried out by Peter and John amongst the Jews, and afterwards more fully by Paul amongst the Gentiles.
Our brother is his paper confounds the two commissions of Matthew and Luke together, and is consequently on the high road to Romish confusion, where the forgiveness of baptism is confounded with eternal forgiveness for another world.
Now because God dealt in patience with the Jewish nation, and only unfolded to them that “Jesus was the Anointed,” and Peter and John did not go farther than preach remission of sins, and salvation to these Jews, God allowing his people at the same time to continue linked up with Judaism for a while, till the time of his patience with that nation was over, is this to be an example to us for this present day? Are we only to preach a gospel of salvation and remission of sins, and continue to be mixed up with a Judaized Christianity? Is this God’s will for us? I say, unhesitatingly, No!
If that was the case, we should have no glad tidings of heaven opened, and the Son of man in full acceptance there, as Stephen saw in Acts 7 end; no Jesus as Paul saw, as Son of God, outside Judaism altogether, and the beginner of a new creation, as well as, Head of His body, the church, which last I fully own is a matter of after apprehension to being saved.
But the gospel of Paul telling of a heavens opened, of Christ accepted and we in Him, of righteousness and the Spirit, ministered from that glorified One, is not apprehension, it is the gospel of the glory of the Christ to be received. It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
God’s way all through has been to act, in accordance with the revelation He gave at the time. He revealed Himself to Abraham as God Almighty, and he was responsible to walk up to the light God revealed Himself by then. He revealed Himself to Moses and Israel under the covenant name of Jehovah, and the real ones were quickened and blessed in accordance with that revelation. On earth, when Jesus came as a man, the disciples believed in Him as the Christ, the Son of God, a divine Person come out from God. They were born again, as receiving that revelation, the Son of God now quickening.—John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25). After redemption for a moment the full revelation was received of the Son entered into the resurrection place, revealing now God in grace, without a veil, and the Father, and the disciples were not only now born again, but put into the place of sons, as now knowing God and the Father, and having life more abundantly. For a short interval, Acts 2 to 8, the fullness of the revelation of the Gospel was kept back through God bearing with Judaism, and owing to the failure of the twelve, but with Paul the fullness of the Gospel of the glory of the Christ was preached, with a result in accordance with the fullness of the revelation, and men henceforth were responsible to receive the revelation, or else come short of God’s salvation.
Paul’s doctrine is that when you have forgiveness, you know it; when you have justification, you know it, when you have peace, you know it; when you are a son, God sends forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart, and you cry Abba, Father.
Details of doctrine there are, the doctrine orderly developed, as in Rom. 1–8, to the end that the saints may be established, but the possession of the blessings themselves, and the knowledge of them, according to Paul go together.
I believe our brother confounds with many others, “enjoyment,” and “ knowledge,” or “258.” Let me say that the thought is totally different. I may know I have a thing and not enjoy it a bit. So there is not only possession, and apprehension or knowledge of what we possess, but enjoyment too. This last I fully own a saint may lose, but be cannot lose either possession, nor the knowledge of possession, unless as to the last in special cases through false teaching by Judaizing teachers or heretics, such as we see in the Epistle to the Galatians and the 1st Epistle of John. The one he has by the reception of the gospel, the second by the Holy Ghost who ever abides in Him, the third depends on his walk.
Let me direct the attention of our brother to the Epistle to the Philippians, where we have Paul pressing on to apprehend that for which he was already apprehended of Christ Jesus; but where is his start? What were the marks of the true circumcision to begin with? Otherwise they were not that at all! Phil. 3:33For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3),
We are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh!
I would ask my brother with all soberness, how is it then that his new Christian sealed by the Spirit, has still confidence in the flesh as in Rom. 7?
I have only to add a few more comparative statements of F.W.G. and the Word of God, taken from page 65-the end, as to the doctrine of Rom. 7.
F. W. G.
Page 65 – “The first and second part of Romans are thus plainly continuous, and it is not contrary to this, that in ch. 7, neither Christ nor the Spirit is mentioned till the question of deliverance comes in.”
Page 88 – “The question in chapter 3–5:11 is clearly justification and peace with God, a question which in the 7th chapter the apostle does not again take up, but that of power to live for God.” Page 67 – “Whilst it is true that Rom. 7 takes one back under law, it is now no longer to show that we are not justified by it, but that it is the practical strength of sin. . . . It is quite a different thing to realize what the flesh is in us as sinners seeking peace, and what it is in us as saints, and children of God, realizing themselves as such; quite a different thing to learn impotency to work out righteousness, and to learn our impotence even as Christians in the
Word of God
v. 17 – “They which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life, by one Jesus Christ.”
v. 18 – “By one righteousness unto all men, unto justification of life.”
v. 19 – “As by one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners, and by the obedience of one shall the many be made righteous.”
v. 21 – “So might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
v. 12 – “The law is just.”
v. 19 – “The good that I would,” viz: the positive
REMARKS
The texts in the 2nd column show how false this view is.
And here is a man according to t his continuous doctrine, first forgiven and justified (Rom. 3:11What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? (Romans 3:1) to 5:11). Then afterwards gets eternal life in Christ (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)) to set him free, then has to go under the law, and is brought into bondage to get a fresh apprehension of deliverance afterwards. And yet we are told all these blessings are given to the man when first quickened.
If justification is only found in the 1st part of the Romans; what gives the positive robe of righteousness for heaven is left out, for up to ch. 5:11 we have only the doctrine of justification from sins!
working out of holiness. It should be clear that the first of these belongs to the first part of the Romans, and is decided then, and that the second belongs to the second part, and is quite distinct. To confound these is to confound the Passover and the Red Sea.”
righteousness of the law, “I do not.”
v. 4 – “Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.”
I trust my reader will through these few remarks have his eyes opened to the utter confusion of the book, and of the doctrine of our brother.
Again I say how blessedly simply the doctrine of the word of God. First called by the sovereign grace of God, I find myself to be a guilty criminal under sentence of death, an enemy of God, a captive of sin; am brought to repentance and confession of sins, and of my Adam state, the law proving me guilty and giving me the knowledge of sin; I turn away from myself to God and find in Him, through Jesus and His blood, remission of sins, and justification of life, so that on the one hand all my sins are put away by his death, my old man crucified with Him, and on the other hand a positive righteousness in Him, who has died out from under our sins and sin, and risen into a new place before God, having left everything behind that could be brought up against the sinner for judgment. Believing in His Name for the remission of sins, and receiving in Him my new place before God as an accepted man and a son, I am sealed with the Holy Ghost and cry Abba, Father, waiting in that place for the redemption of my body when Christ comes again.
No doubt Rom. 1–8 was written to the end that the saints might be established. We need to be built up and established in an orderly system of doctrine set forward of the different parts of it. But the chapters develop the gospel, which received, is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.