Christ in Everything
• 3 min. read • grade level: 9
Philemon
It is interesting to remark, in the Epistles, the way in which the Spirit of God enters into every minute thing that concerns us. Not like the prophets of old, such as Jeremiah, Isaiah, &c., who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, with a " Thus saith the Lord;" and they had to learn and inquire about the things of which they spake. In the Prophets the Spirit of God is communicating a certain message, and this is occasionally seen in the Epistles, as in 2 Thess. 2, for example; but in the Epistles (I am not here speaking of the Apocalypse) it is not so much a message delivered, but the Spirit of God down here, as being the soul of the body of the Church, entering into everything. Paul tells out all his thoughts, his affections, his consolations, and all that he feels. He not merely gives the details of Church order and discipline, but all the sympathies and trials of every day domestic life. Take this epistle to Philemon, for instance, where the Spirit enters into all circumstances of receiving back a runaway slave, who had run away from his master; and tells us in what spirit he is to be received back by his master. The Holy Ghost leads into the high and deep counsels of God, and also into all the minute details of the saints' walk down here. "Christ that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." The Holy Ghost therefore enters into them all, that He may bring them into the everyday walk of the saints; not by way of message sent to men, like the prophets of old; nor yet as servants, by way of commandment; but by entering into us as sons. For the Son of God having passed sinlessly through all the circumstances down here, the Holy Ghost enters into them also, that He may show them unto us in every difficulty through which we may be called to pass. And this it is which forms part of Christ's glory. Were it not so, as human beings, men down here, we should be without Christ. But thus the Holy Ghost consecrates the whole heart, thoughts, and ways of a man to God in Christ. While unfolding and bringing us into connection with all the riches of God's counsels, it is remarkable how the Spirit of God connects those mightiest things with the most minute. We are so thoroughly and entirely brought into the new creation, being dead and risen with Christ, that we cannot properly touch a single subject without bringing Christ into it. See the word to servants in Titus 2:1010Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. (Titus 2:10): "Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." This shows the way in which the Holy Ghost enters into everything, bringing into every detail the fullness of Christ; thus humbling the man, and yet exalting him, too, as partaker with Christ. It is in virtue of this connection with Christ that every direction is given as to the long hair and head-dresses of the women, in connection with Headship. "The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God." So also the servants' not purloining is in connection with "the grace of God that bringeth salvation." Again, when the mind of the Lord is given as to women speaking in the Church, the whole mind and thoughts of God about Adam and Eve are brought out. If we look into the word of God, we shall be astonished at the way in which the Spirit of God takes the soul up to Christ, and uses Him in all these things that are brought out in the New Testament.