God alone is self-sufficient. He can create objects in the display of His love, but He needs none outside Himself, as a creature does. Man has no intrinsic resources within himself, whether fallen or unfallen, nor do angels. Take away God: What are they? Nothing, or devils. So man; if money is his object, he becomes avaricious or covetous; if he seeks power, he is ambitious; if he looks for pleasure, he becomes a man of pleasure. In every case of a creature, what is objective is the source of the subjective state.
In Christianity, the two natures come into play, and the old nature will not have the divine object which is according to the new and is the foundation of faith, but the principle remains unchanged. That which is the objective is the source of the subjective state. We have the proper object set before the Christian in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “We all, with open [unveiled] face, beholding . . . the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Stephen
Stephen, one beholding the glory of the Lord, is a magnificent picture to consider. The whole question between Christianity and rationalism is brought to an issue. The progress of human nature, with the very elements spoken of and the contrasted result, is stated. “Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.” There is the relationship between man and the Spirit. He continues, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which have showed before of the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” Such were their ways with those who unfolded the law in a more spiritual manner, even when it was with the perfect, living witness of the Lord Jesus Himself. Such was man — flesh in opposition to the law. Such was his state: He always resisted the Holy Spirit.
Now note the contrast of the objective spiritual man. Stephen, “full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” And what was the effect, the subjective effect, in one full of the Holy Spirit, of his objective perception of heavenly objects? In the midst of rage and violence and while being actually stoned, in all calmness he not merely bears, but kneels down and says, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” So Jesus had said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Then he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” as Jesus had said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” He beheld, with unveiled face, the glory of the Lord and was changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.
What a contrast is presented to us. On the one side is man resisting the Holy Spirit, man the murderer of the Just One, now gnashing on Stephen in a rage! On the other side is Stephen full of the Holy Spirit, who, seeing the Son of Man in heaven, is changed into His image and is killed by his fellow man.
Set Free
The beauty of Christianity is that being objective, being truth, it sets us free. The truth shall set you free, and it is a person, the Son, who shall set you free. It works effectually in those who receive Christ and requires no intellectual development to receive its power. Christ is received into the heart and, dwelling there by faith, produces the effect in us. Moreover, it takes us out of ourselves, because it is objective, and we, filled with delight in an object which is perfect, are like Him.
The Love of Virtue
It is divine wisdom. Man would produce virtue by the love of virtue in himself, but then he thinks of himself and all his virtue is rottenness. God gives us a human but divine object, and our affections are divine, because we love what is so, and we are morally what we love, but when we love it in another, we are delivered from self. I would just add that I believe that this adaptation of the character of walk to our entirely new position in Christ is what is meant by the scripture, “Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before [prepared] that we should walk in them.” Hence, we are the epistle of Christ, engraved in the fleshy tablets of the heart by the Spirit of the living God.
The very starting point is opposite. Christianity treats man as a fallen being, not merely as imperfect but as departed from God, and needing a new nature and redemption. Christ met Nicodemus at once on this ground, when He said, “Ye must be born again.”
Adapted from
The Bible Treasury, 8:63-64