A SMALL pamphlet, bearing the above title, has recently been put into circulation, having for its object, as it states, to give believers greater "accuracy of thought" on these subjects. The writer observes, "that the form in which truth is expressed must be considered," as well as the truth itself, and yet we cannot help remarking that -to us at least-he himself fails in the very line to which he draws special attention; and by not following scripture itself, and " the form, in which the truth is expressed," instead of giving accuracy of thought on the subjects he takes up, he throws them into confusion, and treats them in a way calculated to destroy their divine force and true significance in the soul.
The entire tract is a striking instance of a mind occupied with its own thoughts, going to scripture to find support and authority for them; and so powerfully is this motive in activity, that one habitually and carefully critical ceases to be so, or, at least, is only so where the points sought to be proved require it, and even then is not fairly so; not that we mean to imply by these words that there is a conscious intention to mislead. The writer evidently thinks he is stating with critical accuracy what the scriptures teach; and it is plain, from the whole cast of the tract, that he is doing battle, as he conscientiously believes, in the interests of truth and souls, against some doctrine that he regards as derogatory to God's glory.
The key-note of the tract is " the throne of God:" " nothing," he says, " is higher in the universe than the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." The highest conception the writer has of God, is, as sitting on His throne, and, consequently, the highest conception he has of the saints' position in blessing, is, as standing before His throne: " no higher position," he says, " can the saint have than standing before that throne." To prove the truth of this is the burden of all he writes.
Now, is this the teaching of scripture? Is there a divine basis for this thought about the throne of God, and all that is founded upon it? Or is it the reflected state of the writer's own limited apprehension of Christian truth and Christian blessing? Let the scriptures themselves answer these questions, for we are quite at one with the writer, where he says," the form in which truth is expressed must be considered," and that " this will lead to an accuracy of thought about it which might not have otherwise occurred to us. The use of scripture terms will thus force themselves on our attention, and both the wisdom of their selection, and their special value, we shall be able, as taught of God, in some measure to apprehend." To be " taught of God," to have only what scripture teaches, is the one desire of our hearts, for ourselves, as well as others; and therefore we will " search the scriptures, whether these things be so."
But before examining, in the light of scripture, these novel doctrines, it will be necessary to get clearly before the mind the force, or meaning, attached by the writer to the special terms he uses.
His contention is with regard to the Christian's" standing and condition;" terms which, as " scripture uses" them, he thus defines (page 28): " By standing is meant the title and ability, through grace, for a fallen and once guilty creature to be before the throne of God, without judgment overtaking him. By state, or condition, is meant, what the person is, or the circumstances in which he is." To this we must add, to make things quite clear, that, with him, " standing" and " position" are convertible terms, and so " state" and " condition." His distinction between "standing" and "state" is founded upon the scriptural use of these terms; he uses these words critically, and, as we are surely led to apprehend, with the force that attaches to them in the original languages in which the Old and New Testaments were written. The whole tract has a critical basis, and is written by one undoubtedly competent to write critically. It opens with a very refined bit of criticism: " The opening [rather than entrance] of thy words giveth light: it giveth understanding to the simple" (Psa. 119:130); doubtless an instructive correction, but of which, to save himself from misapprehension, it would have been well, we think, to have unfolded the true force a little.
Then, on page 9, the importance of which in the connection in which it is used being apparent, we are told, " To this may be added 1 Peter 5:12, when rightly read, In which stand ye;" but we think it might have been added, that this is a disputed reading, and that in " A New Translation," by one whose spiritual judgment and critical acumen are beyond question, it reads, " in which ye stand;" and though he adds, in a note, " many read stand," he does not himself accept this reading-putting the verb in the imperative, and which, of course, changes the entire significance of the passage.
On page 20, as to a. verse in Eph. 1, in which, for the view held by the writer, it was of the utmost importance to make a change, we read, " The Authorized Version does not give what is now generally accepted as the true reading of the passage; viz.: Having predestinated us unto adoption by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he hath freely bestowed in the beloved';" adding, in a note, " So Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, and Westcott and Hort, read the passage, on the authority of the uncials, A B P, and the Codex Sinaiticus, as it was, doubtless, originally written." Here, again, as the author is not above referring to the author of " A New Translation " to confirm his views as to another critical reading, it would have been happy had he supplied the reading as given in that translation, with the note attached to it, which-scarcely allowing the statement, " generally adopted"-runs thus: "Having marked us out beforehand for adoption, through Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to [the] praise of [the] glory of his grace, wherein he has taken us into favor in the beloved;" to which is attached the note, " ἐχαρίτσεν, taken us into favor;' put us into a position of grace and favor.' Accepted us' is too formal a doctrine here, not so general as χαδιτόω. But shown us grace or favor' does not give the force of the word. ' In the Beloved' is then merely an instrument; whereas it is in the Beloved that we enter into favor. If we accept ἧς, which seems to be the best attested reading, we should say, the favor, or acceptance in grace, which he has freely bestowed on us.' χάριτος ἧς
(by attraction for ἧν) ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς. T. R. and Tisch. Read ἐν ᾗ.
On page 30, pains are taken. to define the difference between the force of the words, δικαίωμα, δικαίωσιν ξωῆς, and δικαισύνη, which " implies," as he says, " to use the language of another (the author of ' A New Translation'), ' a state of accomplished, subsisting righteousness before God, in which justification places us,' and is contrasted, as the reader may see, with condemnation."
We have referred to these four instances of the author's critical use of words, in order that the critical character of the tract may be fairly before the mind, and as a proof that we are justly entitled to conclude that the terms, standing" and " state," as made use of in the scripture quotations that are brought forward in support of his doctrine, as to the difference between the believer's standing and condition, are used critically, and are represented in the originals by words that can bear no other meaning.
With no pretension to scholarship ourselves, but as having, in a Beroean spirit, looked up and examined these passages, we give our readers the result of our investigations, that they may form for themselves a judgment of the value of the verbal basis upon which the author founds his doctrine as to " Christian standing and condition;" and, we cannot help adding, the reliance to be attached in this instance to his critical use of words so fundamentally affecting the believer's blessing and joy.
We take them in the order that they occur. As to " standing," we have eight quotations from the Old Testament, and four from the New.
"The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment." (Psa. 1:5.) The Hebrew word (קום) used here has not properly the force of standing, in the sense of a fixed. standing or position, but of rising up, and would more justly- be rendered, " shall not rise," and in this way, or sense, it is almost universally rendered in the other passages in which it occurs, such as, " that Cain rose up against Abel his brother" (Gen. 4:8); " and the men rose up from thence" (Gen. 18:16); ".Yow will I arise, saith the Lord" (Psa. 12:5); " Though war should rise against us" (Psa. 27); " Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered." (Psa. 68)
" The foolish shall not stand in thy sight." (Psa. 5:5.) The Hebrew word (יצב) used here has not the force of a fixed or settled position; it means personal presence before another, or in. a certain place, but not in a judicial sense; as, " the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord" (Job 1. 61); " Satan came also amongst them, to present himself before the Lord" (Job 2:1); "and present yourselves in the tabernacle" (Dent. 31. 14); " And the angel of the Lord stood in the way." (Num. 22:22.)
" Who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?" (Psa. 76:7); " If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities; 0 Lord, who shall stand?" (Psa. 130:3); " Who can stand before his indignation?" (Nah. 1:6); " Who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner, and like fuller's soap" (Mal. 3:2); " Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God r (1 Sam. 6:20); "Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; for we cannot stand before thee because of this." (Ezra 9:15.) The Hebrew word (יצב) used in these six passages, has the force of settled, fixed position, or continuance, whether in rest or motion; hence, as a noun, is used for a standing-place, station, or state, but it does not appear to have anywhere the force of a judicial standing before a throne of judgment. It is a word largely used in the senses indicated: we read, " Abraham stood yet before the Lord" (Gen. 18:22); " The place whereon thou standest" (Ex. 3:5); "that standeth to minister" (Dent. 17. 12); " Happy are these, thy servants, which. stand" (1 Kings 10:8); " It stood upon twelve oxen" (2 Chron. 4:4); " Our feet shall stand within thy gates" (Psa. 122:2); " The glory of the Lord stood there" (Ezek. 3:23); " They stood in their place" [or, standing] (2 Chron. 30:16); " and set them in their place" [or standing]. (Neh. 13:11.)
" Into this grace wherein we stand" (Rom. 5:2); " and thou standest by faith" (Rom. 11:20); " For God is able to make him stand" (Rom. 14:4); " For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. 6:17.) The Greek verb (ἵστημι) used in these four passages of the New Testament has the general significance of standing erect on the feet, though sometimes used to signify settledness and security, in a moral sense. The apostle Paul almost always uses it in this moral sense, and its general force in this way may be gathered from the other instances in which it occurs in the Epistle to the Romans: "Yea, we establish the law" (chap. 3. 31); " to establish their own righteousness" (chap. 10. 3); " Yea, he shall be holden up." (Chapter 14:4.)
As to " state," we have four quotations from the Old Testament, and four from the New.
" The man asked us straightway of our state, and of our kindred." (Gen. 43:7.) There is no word in the Hebrew here for state, and the more exact translation would be, " The man asked very closely after us, and after our kindred."
" Let the king give her royal estate to another:" (Esther 1:19.) There is no word in the original for " estate," the meaning of the Hebrew word (מלזה), translated " royal estate," signifying simply, " kingdom;" the same word as is used in verse 14 of the same chapter
" Sat first in the kingdom;" and in the earlier part of this same verse 19: " Let there go a royal commandment" ' [lit., commandment of the kingdom].
" Who remembered us in our low estate." (Ps. 130-6. 23.) There is no word in the original for estate, and the
Hebrew word (שפל) simply means lowness, or low place, as in Eccl. 10:6: " The rich sit in low place."
" Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate." (Ezek. 16:55.) There is no word in the original for " estate;" the Hebrew word (קרמה), rendered former estate, signifies former, old. Compare Isa. 23:7-" Whose antiquity is of ancient days;" and Dan. 6:10-" As he did aforetime" [lit., from before this].
" The last estate [or condition] of that man is worse than the first." (Matt. 12:45; Luke 11:26.) Here, as even the English text shews, there is no word in the original for state or condition; the thought of condition may be supplied, but the literal translation of the Greek word (τὰ ἔσχατα), is, " the last of that man became worse than the first;" the same form in the Greek-a peculiar one, the word being in the plural-occurs in 2 Peter 2:20: "the latter end is worse with them than the beginning;" and in Rev. 2:19: "and the last to be more than the first." " He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden." (Luke 1:48.) There is no word for state in the original, the Greek word (ταπείνωσις), translated " low estate," signifying humiliation. It is used four times only in the New Testament: (Acts 8:33) In his humiliation his judgment was taken away;" (Phil. 3:21) "who shall change our vile body" [lit., body of humiliation]; James 1.10: " But the rich, in that he is made low" [lit., in his humiliation].
"I may be of good comfort when I know your state." (Phil. 2:19.) There is no word for " state" in the original; the Greek words (τὰ περὶ ἱμῖν) simply meaning, concerning you ("how ye get on"-new translation). It is the same form of expression as in the next verse-" will naturally care for your state" ("how ye get on").
" I have learned in whatsoever state I am, to be content." (Phil. 4:11.) There is no word here for state in the original; the Greek words (ἐν οῖς εῖς) would be more simply and expressively translated by, " I have learned, in those circumstances in which I am, to be satisfied."
Now, what there is to build a special doctrine on, as to the difference between "Christian standing and condition," as far as the mere respective terms used in these scriptures, viewed in the light of the brief analysis we have made, is concerned, we are quite at a loss to understand. For the term, standing, in the eight passages drawn from the Old Testament, three different and non-related words are used in the original; they have not the same force; and in none of them is it a question of personal standing before God's throne for judgment as to sins, in view of justification, or of eternal condemnation. It is a question of the government of God on the earth: of practical righteousness, as forming the ground of blessing on the one side; and of iniquity and ungodliness, as bringing temporal judgment, on the other. Mercy and forgiveness are doubtless, even governmentally, based on the cross of Christ, but to confound the dealing of God in government, albeit mingled with mercy, with the grace that justifies the sinner before God revealed in righteousness, as in the New Testament, and to make standing in the Old Testament the same as standing in the New, is, to say the least, most misleading. Then, as to the use of the term, in the passages taken from the New Testament, how little can be built upon the mere word used, the other passages cited, from the Epistle to the Romans, are evidence enough; and when to this we add, that in the passage in Rom. 5, of which so much is made, and where justification, based upon Christ's work for us on the cross, really is the point, it is no question of a " standing before the throne of God," but of the " grace wherein we stand," as " the form in which truth is expressed," we are astonished that even the attempt should have been made to found a doctrine, as to Christian standing, on the mere terms used, and these, too, as found in our English version.
c. w.
(To be continued, the Lord willing.)
UNREVISED NOTES OF READINGS ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN WITH J. N. D. IN DUBLIN, 1880.
Chapter 1 IN the first part of this chapter we get abstractedly what Christ was: the Word, the Word with God, and who was God-life and light. An important element is brought out here, and that is, that when divine light tame into the world in grace, the world did not know Him; and then we get quickening-" But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
In verse 14 we have what Christ became, not what He was, essentially; I mean, of course, that this is another part of the truth. We have not His work yet, but His incarnation-" and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us." This is very simple in one sense. He became a Man; and not only that, but He " dwelt among us "-not like God visiting Abraham merely. In outward form He was like another man-He was " found in fashion as a man." (Phil. 2:8.) That is an immense truth; the Word comes and dwells among men as a Man, (more than a man, of course), " and we beheld his glory," the glory He had down here, and those who had eyes to see through it could see the Father-" he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." " The glory as of an only begotten with a father;" this is really only a comparison, yet " this is my beloved Son " the Father said more than once.
If you leave out the parenthesis the passage reads thus: " And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace upon grace." But that is not all we get in this statement of His glory; there is a math-
festation of the Father, and those who had eyes to see saw the Father revealed in the Son, but it is also the Son's revealed place as Man down here.
At the end of Matt. 3 we get in this connection a very remarkable passage. There He took His place publicly-He entered by the door into the sheepfold, being baptized with the baptism of repentance; not surely as needing repentance Himself, but taking this place, as fulfilling righteousness, with the godly remnant. in Israel in their first right step Godward. When He had taken His place there, as soon as He came up out of the water, the Holy Ghost descended on Him; heaven is opened, and the Father's voice came from thence saying, " This is my beloved Son." He stands here the expression of our place before God as our Father. But we must remark that there was no union with Christ in incarnation; no taking humanity into His Person. We are united to Him in glory; and it was after He had accomplished redemption and was risen that the Lord said to His disciples, "I ascend unto my Father and your-Father, unto my God and your God."-He had brought them into the same place He had Himself as Man. What makes this scene in Matthew still more striking is that it was the first time the Trinity ever could be revealed, though we get the Son occasionally in the Old Testament, and the Spirit often. The revelation of the Trinity-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-is identified with His taking this place-making it-for us in His own Person, and now ours actually through grace.
But to return to our verse, we get Him here as " the only-begotten of the Father," not as " the firstborn among many brethren," and He " dwelt among us "-it was not merely an apparition to them-and it was as "full of grace and truth." There had been acts of grace before, but here we have a Person who is Himself the thing: " grace and truth came [subsisted] by Jesus Christ." It was not merely a direction how to walk such as the law was. The law came with a claim on man; it was the perfect rule for man as man. Here we have this precious Person dwelling among us, full of grace and truth-all divine goodness was there, dwelling in the world, and the truth about everything brought out. It could then be said of Satan that he was the prince of this world, and the god of it, because truth itself was in the world, and brought this fact to light. " Grace and truth " (the singular is used in the original) were one thing in His Person. It was the bringing down to man, the humanizing, in a sense, of light and love; not the abstract nature of God, but the manifestation of that amongst men.
Next (ver. 15) we have John the Baptist's testimony.
Then (ver. 16) John the Evangelist takes it up again: 4` and of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace;" it really means grace heaped upon grace, when one grace was given another came upon it. There was in its plenitude divine favor in the world and truth about everything. Truth in a certain sense answers to light, but truth could not have been in the world if grace had not been there too, for it would not have been the truth about God. As believers we have all received of Christ's fullness abundance of grace; here it is what is in Himself.
Do you ask, " How have we received it?"
Because all that is in Christ is ours; all the riches of grace and blessedness; His nature, too, in one sense, because Christ is our life, the source and the fullness of it. In respect of our being sinners, the way of this we get in, " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." Christ is the reservoir of all blessedness, and we are connected with Him through death. Nobody was anointed with the Holy Ghost but Christ during His lifetime.
When the disciples looked back they could see what He was, because they had got (through the Holy Ghost, given to them after Christ was glorified) what He was in themselves; as communicated to us, it is said, " which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passed and the true light now shineth." (1 John 2:8.) At first the Light was shining in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it, the light shone-but nobody received it; now the darkness is passing, it should be (there are many still in it), and the true light does shine effectively. When redemption was accomplished, and never till then, could Christ say " My Father and your Father, my God and your God." In the earlier part of John's first epistle we get life and light, and in the latter part we get love.
The life was there objectively before the disciples, they " beheld his glory "; all is manifestation here. " The life was manifested, and we have seen it," says John.
The law was given by Moses-nothing came into the world by the law, but grace and truth came and were actually there when Christ was present. He is " the truth"-He is truth plainly out before us; and all grace was in Him, that is love adapted to the state man is in.
We are not saying here how a sinner is presented to God, but how the thing comes down from God; we do not get the sinner's side at all in the Gospel of John; we do not get the forgiveness of sins in John. It is a living Person in whom all these riches of grace have come down. It is an immense thing to see that Christ is the Fountain-Head, and that all the fullness that is in Him can flow down to us here. In all John's writings we get the flowing down towards us, not the presenting us upwards to God, that is Paul's doctrine; this other side is as just touched upon in 1 John 4:17. We have a divine Person coming down and putting others in connection with Himself, so that all the fullness that is in. Him flows into and through them.
In verse 18 we get another thing: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Here we get the Father revealed; we have all the fullness that is in the Son for us, but besides that the Father revealed to us. A most wonderful thing this, that when He reveals the Father it is as He Himself knows Him. If I were to tell you about my father, I must tell you about him as I have known him myself.
Some one asks, " why have we the name of God here?" All through John's writings, whenever it is a question of God's nature or of man's responsibility, we always get God; whenever the operation of grace is spoken of we get the Father and the Son. So we have " fellowship with the Father;" " God is light." " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth "—there we have responsibility; " for the Father seeketh such to worship him "-there we have grace.
If you take God abstractedly, that is in His essence, which is the force of this passage, we shall never see Him-" He dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen or can see." (1 Tim. 6:16.) Yet we read " the pure in heart shall see God," and Stephen saw " the glory of God;" how I do not pretend to say. The angels, too, saw God manifest in the flesh. It would be a terrible thing to spend eternity in my Father's house, and yet never to see Him.
We get this expression, " No man hath seen God at any time," also in 1 John 4:12, but we see a change has taken place in our position there, where the same difficulty is in question, and it is met in a different way. Here in the gospel we read, " The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." In that place where He was the sole and absorbing object-in the bosom of the Father where He dwelt alone, He has made Him known to us as He knows Him. Then in the epistle, we read, " If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us "-by the communication of the divine nature and by the dwelling of God in us we inwardly enjoy Him as He has been manifested and declared by the Son. Christ did reveal the Father when He was upon earth, and, when He had died and risen again, and the Holy Ghost had come, God dwelt in the believer. Thus we know God inwardly-" This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God," that is, the Father.
Some one wishes to know, what place the cross has in connection with the revelation of the Father?" All revelation of God, whether in His nature or relationships, is based upon the cross. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, but now since the cross, not being here Himself, He has ambassadors; and in principle this continues always-Christ having finished the work and gone on high, ambassadors were sent-the present action of God in reconciling sinners is by ambassadors. " God was in Christ this refers exclusively to His life-true all through His life-not His death. What is so very wonderful in the cross is that we get there the complete righteousness of God against sin and the perfect love of God to the sinner.
(To be continued, the Lord willing.)