WE now come to consider Paul's doctrine. And here I quote the opening passage of Mr. Gran’s tract:—
“My first proposition, then, is, that we are in Christ' by virtue of the life we have in Him. It is plainly stated, ' Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus' (Rom. 6:11,11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:11) Gr.); and again, ' The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord' (ver. 23).
"This is Paul's doctrine; John's is parallel, but different: ' God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son;' and again, We are in Him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ: this is the true God, and eternal lift." (1 John 5:11, 2011And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1 John 5:11)
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).)
“The parallelism of these expressions it is hardly possible to doubt. In the same sense in which Paul affirms that we have life in Christ, John affirms that it is in the Son. It is of course the same Person; the difference is that while the Son of God He ever was, ' Christ' is what He has become; and become not simply as man born into the world, but rather as risen and ascended after His work accomplished, as Peter announced at Pentecost, 'God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ' (Acts 2:3636Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)). Of this the Spirit poured out then was witness.
"At the present moment, therefore, he who has life in the Son has it in Christ, because the Son is Christ," &c.
As to the above I would, in calling attention to the characteristic reasoning of which it is a sample, remark, that the first paragraph assumes what has to be proved; the second is misleading, as the reader will see in a moment; the third, insisting on the parallelism, is false; and the fourth is rationalistic inference.
Mr. G. states that in the same sense in which Paul affirms that we have life in Christ, John affirms that it is in the Son. Is the sense the same? Does not every Christian feel, in reading the passages quoted, that "Christ" and "the Son" are by no means interchangeable expressions?
The apostle says in Gal. 2:20,20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) that the life he lived in the flesh was by faith in the Son of God; but does he say “the Son of God lives in me "? Or could it be said that the Son of God is "formed in us" (Gal. 4:1919My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, (Galatians 4:19))7 Every Christian would resent such an idea. In Col. 3:4,4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4) we find that "CHRIST is our life;" but where is it said in this way that "the Son" is our life? And whore again is it stated of eternal life, as characterizing it; "this life is in Christ"? This idea of parallelism betrays the whole system, destroying the precious distinctions of the written word.
This will be yet more manifest as we look further into "Paul's doctrine." The first striking difference already apparent between Paul and John, we may note at once however: John shows the character of the life in itself, whereas Paul is occupied with the position of the believer, the sphere in which the life is manifested. "In Christ,” is where God has set me, and as such has its own proper value in every passage; it stands, too, in contrast with "in Adam" as the responsible man, thus introducing us into relationship with God, and into an order of blessing in which Adam never stood. "In the Son" tolls me what the life is in itself, its nature and being, and only possessed as being in Him, the Son.
The very verse quoted from Rom. 6, makes the distinction felt: "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." "Jesus our Lord," added to "Christ," hinders its being a descriptive statement of what the life is; but it sets forth blessedly the relationship with Christ, into which we are brought through the grace of God, who gives us "eternal life." Moreover the special aspect of eternal life hero, and all through Romans, is that of a slate of life into which we enter at the close, hence future (compare chap. 2:7); and "alive unto God" and "eternal life" are not here synonymous terms. Verse 11, too, tells us what faith is to reckon, in applying to ourselves what is absolutely true as to Christ's position, and so true of us as in Him and with Him ( Job 3:33Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. (Job 3:3)). We know Him as Christ, as Jesus, and as Lord. "In the Son," on the contrary, tells of relationship with God the Father, and describes the life of which the Son is the mediatorial source and dispenser. How can it be said that the expressions are parallel and employed in the same sense?
We may consider very briefly the Epistle to the Galatians, as being the one epistle of Paul which in its line of teaching approaches most perhaps to that of John. It was Christianity itself which was in jeopardy there, through the influence of Judaizing teachers, and the very foundation had to be re-laid by the apostle. The first chapter, in which Paul refers to his conversion, affords a fit opportunity for recalling how God prepared specially His chosen vessels for communicating the truth. John had known the Lord personally on earth, had rested on His bosom and enjoyed His love. Paul, "as one born out of due time," was arrested in his course of religious madness against Christ by seeing Him in heaven, finding himself enveloped in light "above the brightness of the sun," and hearing His voice in tender grace-words which proclaimed the oneness of the members on earth with the Head in heaven. John was to unfold what the Lord was personally, as the Son of the Father, the Incarnate Word, the "eternal life." To Paul was committed the gospel of God to be preached among the nations, and the revelation of the mystery of the body and bride of Christ, and of the Lord's coming as the Church's hope, and, in general, the truths contained in the heavenly calling of the saints, whether as a present portion (Ephesians), or as a future hope (Hebrews). Christ's present place in glory, as having accomplished redemption, Son of man and Son of God, and the consequent coming of the Holy Ghost, is the basis of all our participation in the blessing, in both John and Paul; but the former is specially occupied with the personal truth, the latter with the place, and Christian position. Of the doctrinal Epistles of Paul, that to the Galatians is the one which says least about the place: nothing about it as a present portion, and only alluding to it once as the believer's hope (chap. 5:5). The person of Christ and His cross are before us; for upon this everything depended as to the foundations of Christianity.
In the opening verses, an unwonted emphasis is laid upon the relationship with God which characterizes the present dispensation. Three times the "Father" is mentioned in the first four verses in no other epistle of Paul do we find the same. In verse 16, the apostle describes his conversion, as having been God's good pleasure "to reveal his SON" in him; and in chapter 2:20, the life he lives is by faith, "faith of the Son of God," he says, "who loved me and gave himself for me." This characterized his ministry, as we find in Acts 9:20: "Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God." The apostle insists upon it in the whole of these two first chapters, against the Judaizing influences which were at work in Jerusalem, and under which even Peter fell at Antioch "'when certain came from James." That is, it is Christianity displacing what went before it.
When he comes to speak of the Spirit's presence in the believer in the four following chapters, he insists in the most distinct and positive way on the entire change wrought out at the CROSS. Up to that time was a state of bondage under the elements of the world, and the law was then the schoolmaster: sonship was not revealed, not known. Only when redemption is accomplished does adoption, in this sense, become possible; and then, too, "because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.' Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir" (chap. 4:4-7).
Here, again then, we find full confirmation of the truth presented in the Gospel of John as to eternal life. The cross is the basis, and the beginning of it as far as we, whether Jews or Gentiles, are concerned: the "corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die," or it "abides alone." "Adoption"—that is, sonship— the relationship of Son with the Father—is the explanation the blessed Lord gives of eternal life, "life in THE SON." And that this began at the cross is the doctrine of Galatians. To give it a retrospective effect is to deny the whole teaching of the Epistle; and do over again the work of the Judaizing teachers, against whom the apostle so earnestly strove. "If I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor: for I through law am dead to law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith, the [faith] of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (chap. 2:18-20). And God gives the Spirit—"the Spirit of His SON"—to those that are sons, that they may cry in conscious enjoyed sonship, "Abba, Father.”
The cross was death to the religious Saul of Tarsus, the zealous persecutor of the saints; it was a stumbling-block to the Jews, an offense to the Judaizing teachers; but though suffering persecution for it, it was Paul's glory—for there he found the end of himself; there he had "crucified the flesh;" there he had been separated from the world (chap. 2:20; 3:1; 5:11, 24; 6:12, 14).
It is not so much the death of Christ, as presented in the Epistle to the Romans, and followed by the resurrection (for, except in the opening verses, this is not even mentioned in the Epistle); but the cross as the central point in God's ways with man, bringing to an end all that was before it, and introducing the faith of Christ, by which righteousness comes (chap. 2:16, 21); and to this the "hope" is attached (5: 5),— the hope for which we wait through the Spirit,—for "faith worketh by love.”
The law is absolutely incompatible with this new state of things. Its curse was met in the cross; for it fell on Christ, and this opens the door of blessing to Gentile as well as Jew, (chap. 3:10-14); as indicated indeed by the very promise the apostle quotes from Gen. 12:3: the blessing cannot now have a Jewish character. "Abraham's sons" are those that are on the principle of faith. When the fullness of time was come, Christ came as "under the law," to redeem them that were under it, that sonship might be introduced in righteousness (chap. 4:1-5); for we were all concluded under sin (chap. 3:22). In the cross too, the power of the law as a schoolmaster comes to an end, its bondage ceases; we are "no longer undo it," “for ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus;" and now Christianity is expressed by "having put on Christ," the entrance into it is through the waters of death, figured in baptism (chap. 3:23-27), which is the personal application to us individually of the cross of Christ: so faith accepts it. The life which begins with the cross is characterized by "faith of the Son of God," and by the crucifixion of the flesh and of the world, which is implied in it. Faith works by love, and the love of which we are the objects, as expressed in the cross, is the moral power for the walk. This characterizes the "new creation" (compare chap. 5:5, 6, with 6:15). The Holy Ghost “In Christ Jesus " defines sheds it abroad in the heart, and makes good in the soul the liberty of sonship in those who are born according to the Spirit. "We live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (chap. 4:25-31; 5:25).
"In Christ Jesus"* defines the new standing before God, where all distinction between Jew and Gentile disappears (chap. 3:28).
We notice then, that Paul, though unfolding in this epistle, truth which in many respects is similar to that of John, does not develop the life in itself, as manifested upon earth, nor its effects in the one who has it; but sets before us Christ as the One in whom God has given us an entirely new position before Himself. Christ, who was the Object of all promise, is the One in whom we find the blessing now, which becomes ours at the cross; for there redemption was accomplished, and we became "Christ's" (chap. 3:29).
It must not, however, be inferred that "in Christ" always moans exactly the same thing; though it always carries with it its proper value in as far as the Person of Christ, and our standing in Him before God, are concerned. But the extent of its meaning depends upon the way in which Christ is presented in each place. Thus in Romans, we find His death and resurrection; His place in glory being only mentioned parenthetically in chapter 8, and, as to us, a hope; whereas in Ephesians, His place in the heavenlies is the basis of the truth set forth in connection with the counsels of God.
In Romans, man is looked at as being in sin, a ruined, guilty creature, subject to the wrath of God. The blood of Christ meets his condition judicially, so that God who has declared the extent of his evil and ruin, can forgive his sins, and manifest His righteousness in justifying him who believes in Jesus (chap. 1.-5:12). The death of Christ meets his utter incapacity for good; so that the believer has to accept it as the end of himself, finding in it the justification from sin (not sins merely), and a new life opened up to him in the resurrection of Christ, the power of which is the Holy Ghost (chap. 5:12-8.). Sin and death have entered into the world; and the law entered that the offense might abound (chap. 5:12, 20). But death has no more dominion over Christ risen; and as alive in Him unto God, sin has lost its dominion over us; the law has lost dominion too, for we have died to it (chap. 6:9-14; 7:1-6). "In Christ Jesus" expresses this new standing, where there is no condemnation for us, and no separation from God's love; and by the Spirit acting in this new sphere and according to it—the power of the life "in Christ Jesus" and perfectly expressed in Him—we are sot free from the law of sin and death.
In Ephesians, the point of view is quite different: man is looked at as dead in sins, and God introduces a new creation in accordance with His own counsels in Christ before the foundation of the world. The "new man" is created according to God, in truthful righteousness and holiness (chap. 4:24). In this Epistle, then, "in Christ" carries with it the present heavenly place and portion of the believer, before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Consequently there is no justification in this Epistle at all, nor in the Epistle to the Colossians, which holds an intermediate place between the two others, though partaking more of the character of Ephesians, and presenting Christ as our life as well as our Head, and as in us the hope of glory.
All this has been developed at length by others, and I do not enter into it further, except to notice two points which have already come cursorily before us: first, the different way in which we are associated with Christ in the three Epistles; secondly, the way in which God's work of quickening is presented in Ephesians and Colossians.
The Epistle to the Romans opens with the statement of the subject of the "gospel of God," promised afore by His prophets in the holy scriptures: it is "concerning his Son, come of David's seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead—Jesus Christ our Lord" (chap. 1:3, 4). This stamps the truth set forth in the whole Epistle. In resurrection we find Him declared Son of God in power; “He was raised from among the dead by the glory of the Father" (chap. 6:4). And we are brought in consequence into relationship with God who raised Him, and that as the result of His death for us; and so we have to walk in "newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit.”
The Epistle, however, does not develop this relationship in connection with the Father's name, but unfolds the truth of God's righteousness, now for the first time revealed in the gospel, which is "God's power to salvation to every one that believes, both to Jew first and to Greek: for righteousness of God is revealed therein on the principle of faith to faith, according as it is written, The just shall live by faith." (Chapter 1:16, 17.) The faith is in Him who "raised up from among the dead Jesus our Lord," and in His blood; for He "has been delivered for our offenses, and has been raised for our justification" (chap. 4:24, 25).
And see how far the justification goes. Its applicability "towards all" is in chapter 5:18; its effect upon "the many" in verse 19: "as it was by one offense towards all men to condemnation, so by one righteousness towards all men for justification of life; for as indeed by the disobedience of the one man the many have been constituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted righteous" (vers. 18, 19). It is not merely the deliverance from the burden of sins which lay upon us, but goes on to the life manifested in the Lord's resurrection, which faith appropriates now, so that we yield ourselves to God "as alive from among the dead" (chap. 6:13), a life which we shall know in its fullness with Him in glory, when He will be manifested as firstborn amongst many brethren. Nothing less could meet the Lord's having been marked out as Son of God in power in resurrection according to the Spirit of holiness. We are therefore waiting for the "adoption," the redemption of our body; for, as it is parenthetically stated in chapter 8., in connection with the Spirit's operation, we are "foreknown" of God, and "predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son;" so that the call, the justification, and the glory, are inseparably connected.
In chapter 5., this is shown forth beautifully as the effect of the abounding grace of God in contrast with sin having come into the world by one man, and death reigning by sin: the grace of God and the gift by grace has abounded unto many (ver. 15); the act of favor is of many offenses unto justification, that is, here, a state of subsisting righteousness (ver. 16); and those who receive the abundance of grace and of the free gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by the one Jesus Christ (ver. 17). In verse 21, we find these three things again—grace, righteousness, eternal life: "But law came in, in order that the offense might abound; but where sin abounded, grace has over abounded, in order that, even as sin has reigned in the power of death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord" (chap. 5:20, 21).
In Romans, then, the subject is God's righteousness, revealed when all are found to have sinned and come short of God's glory,—God's righteousness by faith of Jesus Christ towards all and upon all who believe, Jew or Gentile. The only way of dealing with man is by death, whether his guilt be considered, or his state of ruin and powerlessness. But God has met him in grace in the death of His own Son; He has shown His love to us in not sparing Him; and through the shedding of His blood, Christ has become the "mercy-seat." He is so "set forth" by God, as the meeting-place between Himself and sinful man. We are reconciled to God by the death of His Son (chap. 3.-5:12). This same principle of death, applied in another way to the soul, gives deliverance from what would hinder all real fruit for God. For in flesh, no good thing dwells. The flesh, however it may be educated or polished, is flesh still, and in all its thoughts is enmity against God. Death alone delivers from its manifestation, and from its works, which are only evil. The cross is the end, judicially and practically, of the old man (chap. 6:6). Christ died to sin, as well as died for our sins; and faith receiving this and appropriating it experimentally, finds deliverance from self, and enters practically, as a consequence, into "newness of life,"—"like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father." And so the exhortation addressed to us, is to yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto Him— "servants to righteousness unto holiness." (Chapter 6).
The death of Christ is then what is applied to us here; it is appropriated in baptism; and our death is death to sin. Living with Christ is presented as the consequence, the hope of the redemption of the body, for which we patiently wait (chap. 8:23-25) "for if we are become identified with him in the likeness of his death, so also we shall be of his resurrection" (chap. 6:5); "if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" (chap. 6:8). And again in chapter 8:11: "But if the Spirit of him that has raised up Jesus from among the dead dwell in you, he that has raised up Christ from among the dead, shall quicken your mortal bodies also on account of his Spirit which dwells in you.”
In Colossians, where the subject is Christ as our life, and not the indwelling of the Spirit as in Ephesians, we are looked at as made meet by the Father to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, having been by Him delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, and Christ is in us the hope of glory (chap. 1:12, 13, 27). And secondly, we are "complete in Him who is the head of all principality and authority." The resurrection as well as the death of Christ is applied to us here. Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, is our object, our life, our portion, our Head, as well as the expression of our hope. We have died with Him and been raised with Him, "through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead" (chap. 2:12, 20; 3:1). Our death is to the world, not to sin merely, as in Romans. And as risen with Christ, we are exhorted Co have our minds set on things above, where Christ is sitting, at the right hand of God, and not on things on earth; "for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God; when the Christ is manifested, who is our life, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory" (chap. 3:1-4). Christ is everything as the heart's object, and in all as life (chap. 3:11).
In Ephesians, we are in presence of God's counsels, the good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, and which are expressed and centered in Christ: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the world's foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love; 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; in whom we have redemption through his blood..." (chap. 1:1-7). In this Epistle, we are not merely raised, but also, as sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, made to sit, Jew and Gentile together in the heavenly places IN CHRIST JESUS. (Chapter 2:6.) “In Christ," and by His blood, we have not only the forgiveness of our sins, but we are brought nigh to God, we who once were afar off (chap. 1:7; 2:13); and we learn Him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the first chapter, and first part of second, down to verse 10, we have God's work presented to us: from verse 11 and onward, it is Christ's work.
This leads us to the second point mentioned above, the way in which "quickening with Christ" is spoken of in both these Epistles—the only two places in which the expression is found. It is God's work, the fruit of His love; and Christ is looked at as in death, and as being raised out of it. In Eph. 2:4-6,4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:4‑6) we read: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love wherewith He loved us, we too being dead in. offenses, has quickened us with the Christ (ye are saved by grace), and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that he might display in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." In Col. 2:11, 12,11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:11‑12) it is written: "In whom also ye have been circumcised with circumcision not done by hand, in the putting off the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ; buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead. And you, being dead in offenses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven us all the offenses, having effaced the handwriting in ordinances which [stood out] against us....”
Ephesians gives the truth with much more detail; for the passage we have quoted is but the end of a long paragraph which begins at chapter 1:15, showing what God has wrought in Christ in raising Him from the dead, and setting Him down at His own right hand in heavenly places. It is this additional truth which characterizes the Epistle, and distinguishes it from Colossians as to the way in which we are "in Christ," and are associated with Him. We do not: find Christ's place in glory until the third chapter of Colossians; and then our relative place is presented quite: differently from what it is in Ephesians. We are not there said to be seated "in Christ Jesus;" but we are looked at as on earth, and are to have our hearts and thoughts centered in the things above where Christ is sitting. Christ is our life, and in us the hope of glory; His death is our portion here; "we have died," and our life is hid with Him in God, while we wait for the time when He shall be manifested, in order to be manifested with Him in glory.
When these distinctions are borne in mind, the incorrectness of the systematic expressions of Mr. Grant's tract are felt at once. The passages are by no means "exactly parallel," as he states on page 18. Nor is his statement on page 6 other than a misrepresentation of the scripture: he says that "life is only now in Christ," "since it is only as' risen and ascended He is made Lord and Christ." To introduce His ascension in this way when speaking of the life, is contrary to both passages; for though in Ephesians a superficial glance at the passage might seem to countenance the idea, a little attention shows it is not stated, and in Colossians it is expressly omitted. It is the display of God's mighty power in the resurrection of Christ from amongst the dead, that is applied to us here, and which faith lays hold of. We are "quickened together with him," as united with Him in life, out of the state of being "dead in sins." Only in resurrection can the word be used in this way with reference to Christ. "He loved us, and gave himself for us," going down into death where we were, without a movement of heart towards God, or oven a felt need—"dead in sins"—and God raised Christ from among the dead, and us with Him; so that the life which Christ took in rising, is the life which we now have by faith in Him, and faith in God's operation. It is past death and Satan's power, as Col. 2:1515And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:15) shows; and the law, the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, Christ has "nailed to the cross." Such is His love to us!
The reasoning of the tract based on wresting Acts 2:3636Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36) out of its connection, and thrusting it in here historically, confuses all the spiritual teaching of these passages, and deprives the believer of the direct blessing ministered by the truth in its simplicity. It was necessary in order to patch up the system; for as already shown, the omission of the characteristic truth of Christianity in the author's first essay, was too gross; but when it is introduced, it only serves to expose the weakness and the fallacy of the whole argument. As brought in by Mr. G., it gives a value to "life in Christ," which is contrary to scripture statements; and it is left out where the Spirit of God puts it in, that is in connection with "life in the Son." In both ways the system falsifies foundation truth; and the whole theory is found to be imaginary.
But all these pages (13 to 18) of the tract, especially the way in which the author writes of "union," is such confusion, that I spare myself and the reader the pain of going into it. Enough has been said for those who are not under the power of the system, and blinded by it. It is grievous to find questions raised as to these blessed truths, and to be obliged to meet them; but we have to contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints: this duty has urged me on. Here then, I leave the matter, only adding a word as to the practical application of the truth we have been looking at.
Difficulty arises from mixing up distinct passages of scripture, whether as Mr. Grant does, or in other ways, and thus practically making systems in the mind. Now God who is wiser than we are, and knows best how to adapt His truth to our state and spiritual needs, has chosen to give it to us in many separate Epistles, to say nothing now of the four different Gospels. To confound being quickened or passing from death unto life, as we find it in John, with the truth set forth in these two Epistles, denaturalizes it completely. And that in two ways, both however depending upon the way in which Christ is viewed in the different scriptures In John the subject is the life as manifested in the Person of the Son, and consequently the revelation of the Father, whereas in these Epistles, it is the position in which God sets us before Himself, and Christ as the object of the heart, the Spirit forming our thoughts and affections, through feeding us with Him, and that in connection with the place in which He now is. Secondly, in John, He is seen acting, whether in His own divine nature or as giving Himself, whereas in the Ephesians and Colossians, He is viewed as: dead, and God's power is seen in raising Him.
The poverty of theological definitions becomes apparent here. For quickening, as to detail, is presented in the gospel of John in more ways than one, but not at all as in Ephesians and Colossians. In John 5:21,21For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (John 5:21) it is the Son in His own divine nature; and yet it is in connection with the love of the Father shewing the Son what He Himself does; for the Lord had just said, "The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (ver. 19). In verse 25, those who are spiritually dead hear the voice of the Son of God and live, and then the blessed Lord leads us into a fresh secret as to the life communicated: "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." Again, in chapter 6:32, 33, we read of Jesus as the life-giving bread come down from heaven, from the Father. And this reveals the double aspect of eternal life as known in Jesus, Son of God and Son of man; it is heavenly in its origin and character, and carries with it the knowledge of the Father as "His Father." In verse 27, it is the Son of man who gives the food which abides unto eternal life, "for Him hath God the Father sealed;" and yet He says (vers. 44, 45): "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Further down we find life is through feeding upon Him as dead: "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (vers. 53, 54). It is always through faith: he that believes has it. The one who receives Jesus is born of God (chap. 1:12); and so in James: "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (chap. 1:18). But to enjoy in communion with God all these different phases of the truth, the scripture must be left in its own blessed simplicity.
As to the history of any individual soul, the moment faith is produced by the action of the Spirit of God through the word, that moment there is life; and the soul is brought into the presence of God, as having to do with Him, but has to learn what the life is in its various phases as presented in the scripture, and to find out experimentally deliverance from the power of sin, and the enjoyment of the perfect love that casts out fear. This under the government of God may be a question of time; for we do not readily come to the end of ourselves, though admitting the truth that the cross is the end of the "old man," and the resurrection of Christ out of death, the beginning of God's "new creation." Then comes the mortifying of our members on earth, and a holy walk in separation from the world, and this finds our hearts weak and negligent, the moment the eye is off Christ.
But how deep is the truth brought out in these Epistles! To learn powerlessness for good is one thing, but it supposes life at least, supposes good desires; but when my condition—in which saving grace met me—is described as being "DEAD IN sins," the probe of the Spirit goes deeper into my heart. I learn that God saw me in a state of moral chaos and darkness, where the world and sin and Satan had it all their own way with me; and that, as one has said, “there was not one single thing in my heart with which God could link Himself, and nothing in heaven which my nature would like." It is out of this state that I find, in Christ's resurrection, the entry into the new creation, whore "all things are of God," and find too that He has communicated to me a nature capable of enjoying them; and, what is more, capable of knowing and loving Him. I learn His love in "the Beloved," who went down into death for me, to give effect thus to God the Father's purpose for me, and not for me alone, but for all His redeemed, and find that His grace has set us IN HIM, "accepted." More still, I find He cares that I should know something of His thoughts about the brightest jewel of redemption, the church which He loved, and for which He gave Himself-the complement of the Son of man in glory, in the Father's presence-the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all.
*** I commend to the reader's careful perusal the article on "The New Birth," in Collected Writings, vol. x., pp. 296-313.