In order to be able clearly to apprehend what the Apostle Paul calls " My Gospel," it is necessary for us: to understand what preceded it. Judgment, which is se great a quality of the spiritual mind, is the power of nicely distinguishing between two points in which, there is the -least difference; and where there is a spiritual mind, its aim is ever to distinguish things that differ.; and whenever this distinction is not made, and in proportion as this is lost sight of, there is not only ignorance, but defect in the exercise of the spiritual mind, which would have grappled with it, and through grace have counteracted it. The Word is given us to guide and instruct the spiritual mind, and to lead it to that judgment which would set the truth in its due place and order. I propose, therefore, to examine the Gospel which was proclaimed and taught before there was any revelation unto Paul; and having done so, to present as clearly and fully as I can, the Gospel entrusted to Paul as to its nature, characteristics, etc. I know and feel that I undertake a task which, though so interesting, is so little known, that if I had not the assurance of the Lord's mercy in helping and encouraging every little effort of His people, to clear His truth of any mixture which leavens it, I could not attempt it. But with this conviction, I assure myself that any, however feeble, tracing out and presentation of the truth as it has been revealed, will be helpful and useful.
First, then, I would examine the nature and scope of the Gospel preached during our Lord's walk on the earth; and then, the Gospel preached after His resurrection, until the revelation given to the Apostle Paul. I trust that every student of Scripture will admit that there is some difference, at least, in the Gospel preached in each of these three periods. It must surely need but few words to convince a Christian that the Gospel which was preached before the death of Christ, could not be the same, as to fullness, as that preached after His resurrection. It is true that when Mark commences the narrative of our blessed Lord's ministry (Chapter 1:1) he calls it " the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God;" but this passage indicates the nature of the narrative which he was about to give; that is, good tidings relating to Him as the Son of God, rather than the nature or subject-matter of the Gospel preached. This last (the Gospel preached) is definitely stated in verse 14 of the same chapter, where it is said, " Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel." Now, what was that Gospel? Surely not the same as that preached by the Apostles after the resurrection, or as that revealed to Paul. It was the Gospel of the kingdom of God, as Mark plainly tells us; and that was, that God's kingdom was now offered to the Jew in the person of the Heir. Now the effect of repenting and believing this Gospel is set forth in the prayer which our Lord taught His disciples, who, as the faithful of that day, had accepted this Gospel. It was good tidings that God was offering to man His kingdom in His Son, the Heir of all. The disciples believed this and hence our Lord teaches them a prayer expressive of the state of soul which they, as believing in this Gospel, should have; that is to say, they, through grace, were bound to have the sentiments which that prayer comprised. Prayer when true properly expresses the relation in which the soul stands with God. You cannot, if you pray truly, take higher relation than that in which you are set. When you pray to God you present yourself in that relation which you feel is alone justifiable before Him; that which you can truly assume. If I pray to God assuming a false relation, I must, on the face of it, feel in my conscience that I disown the nature of God; that I lose the sense of His being God. Even ordinarily, if I make a petition: to one who knows my condition, I am careful not to represent it in a false light, not to presume on my claim and relation beyond what I think will be acceptable. We find in Luke 8:11And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, (Luke 8:1) that the Lord " went throughout every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings (or Gospel) of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with Him." And then in Chapter 11 when " He had ceased praying, one of His disciples said unto him, Lord teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray say, Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." In this prayer the Lord teaches His disciples to address God as their Father, because He had been exhibited here on earth in His Son, who could say, " he that bath seen me hath seen the Father." Hence He requires of them to address God in this name. " Hallowed be thy name," shows that they were on earth, and desiring that the Father might be hallowed on earth; and as hallowed, that His kingdom might come; the kingdom of which the good tidings or Gospel had been proclaimed by the Lord Himself. The Gospel of the kingdom was a Gospel, but this prayer shows the extent and position in which, under divine teaching, that Gospel placed souls before God. No one can study the subjects contained in this prayer without seeing that the condition of soul described as expressing itself therein does not go beyond this earth. And while it treats done believing in God on the earth, there is no thought of heaven in it. The " kingdom " is God's earthly kingdom, and the highest desire is to have God's will done here, as in heaven; while for oneself daily bread was the measure of desire; a looking for forgiveness according to their practical power to forgive, and this with preservation from temptation and deliverance from evil. Surely all this very clearly describes to us the state in which the believers in the Gospel of the kingdom were placed. Nothing was assured; everything was in expectation. They had accepted it; they believed in God; but as such, the Lord could not teach them more than this prayer embraced.. He gave them the words which to the utmost suited their condition; and no believer could now really be satisfied with a condition Which did not go beyond this. God is addressed as Father, it is true, but when this relationship is fully known as now, through the "spirit of the Son," it only makes the condition in which this prayer supposes and sets one, the more unsatisfying; for surely, as such, I should expect and ask Him for more than is here set forth. Surely the prodigal, the thief on the cross, every Christian, now knows Him in a higher, an inconceivably higher way than this prayer presents. I adduce it merely to show the position in which the. Gospel of the kingdom as preached before Christ's death set souls before God. And if I go further and note the manner and ways of the Apostles at this time, I see in them no moral power, no correct idea of the things of God, though they, to the joy and rest of their hearts, were in a surpassing way sheltered by Jesus in person. Would saints in the present day approve of being, or consent to be no better in power, hope, or intelligence thin the Apostles before the resurrection, who slept when asked to watch with Him, and who all forsook Him and fled?
And, " as yet they knew not the Scriptures that He must rise from the dead." Now, these were' believers in the Gospel of the kingdom, and in the spirit of their minds they were according to the prayer in Luke 11 Hence, when saints now-a-days limit their standing to that prayer, they cannot practically rise above the Apostles at that hour, in power, hope, or intelligence; and, sad as it is to say it, they literally do not!
Now on the resurrection of Jesus the Gospel obtains a remarkable breadth and fullness not known before that great event. The Lord not only stands in their midst, a risen One, assuring them of peace, but He breathes on them, and says, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John 20:19-2319Then 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 20:19‑23)). Now they are to realize that they not only believe in God, but also in Him. And they receive from Him the commission, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned " (Mark 16:15,1615And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:15‑16)). Here in precise and unmistakeable language is declared to us the blessing of the Gospel now to be proclaimed. The Gospel at that time was that every one believing in Jesus risen, and taking his place in accordance with this fact on earth through baptism, would be saved. The Gospel now conveyed salvation, and the power of the Holy Ghost on earth, but nothing beyond this. " These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly -thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." And we read (ver. 20) the Apostles " went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." It is important to notice the nature and character of the Gospel presented; because according to it must be the consequent blessing; and if I, like Apollos, preach only the baptism of John, as he did at Ephesus, is it any wonder that the believers at Ephesus, as we see from Acts 19 knew nothing more, and never had heard that the Holy Ghost was now on earth? The Gospel that I preach is of all importance, for though God (blessed be His name!) saves and secures blessing for me according to His love in Christ, still my sense of it, my joy and strength because of the blessing, must be determined by my knowledge and faith in the nature of the blessing. Now if some have not advanced beyond the Gospel preached during our Lord's life here, many more think they have gained the heights of grace when they proclaim with much energy and faithfulness the truth that salvation follows, and is assured to the soul on believing in a risen Christ. It is doubtless a truth of unspeakable magnitude that a lost sinner-at a distance from God and under fear of judgment-finds himself now, through faith in Jesus Christ, fully and finally saved by Him. It marks a new and wondrous era in the grace and mercy of God; and on the descent of the Holy Ghost Peter insists on this blessed truth, showing that the manifestation of the power of the Holy Ghost was indicative of the time when it should be fulfilled, and " it shall be that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21). And further (ver. 36) " Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." The Savior was Lord and Messiah; and hence, in verse 40, he calls, on them "saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received His word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved." I give this large quotation in order to show where the Gospel then preached set souls. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved [or, the saved]. Saved was the great leading characteristic of those who had accepted the Gospel. And on earth they were in the unity of Christ's body by the Holy Ghost, though that truth had not as yet been revealed. Now this Gospel, as far as we have seen; does not present heaven before the soul; nor does it separate man from the earth. True, it sets man so in the power of the Spirit, that selfishness has lost its influence and rule; for they "had all things common." But a hope apart from and outside earth is not presented, nor are they regarded as no longer connected with man as men on earth. On the contrary, they are a beautiful expression of God's grace to man on earth; individual selfishness set aside in the power of the bond which united them; "with one accord they continued daily in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." They kept up the earthly order divinely established, while they maintained the new bond, and the testimony to it at the same time. The Gospel that they had received was that Jesus was risen, and that he was appointed of God both Lord and Christ. And now in the power of the Holy Ghost they were in unity, but still as yet their hope was not apart from earth, nor did they regard themselves as apart from relation thereto; though they held that relation in view of their risen Lord, whose return to it they announced. It may seem almost unnecessary that I should dwell so long on this point; but it is of great moment in tracing the history of the Gospel; for it will be found that practically many earnest souls in the present day have not got beyond the Gospel of Acts 2; though alas! without arriving at the blessed results manifested there; which really now could not be manifested because the earthly connection has terminated. Are there not saints now who being assured of salvation, meet as saved ones to support an earthly order, while admitting also an expression of spiritual union, which the breaking of bread indicates; who are thinking more of their relation to earth than of their hope and place in heaven; and who regard the coming of the Lord in the light of His return to the earth, more than in that of their meeting Him in the air.
But to proceed. In Acts 3 Peter and John go up together to the temple at the hour of prayer; and there at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, they in the name of Jesus tell the lame man to walk. And when all the people ran together unto them, greatly wondering, in the porch that is called Solomon's, Peter answered them by an address, in which, if we read to the close of the chapter, we shall find that he impresses on them two points-one, that Jesus, whom they had crucified, God had raised up; that His power was present to bless; that His name, through faith in His name, had made this man strong; " Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." This is the first point, because to them first, as we read in ver. 26, " God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from His iniquities." Now the other point which comes out in this discourse is (ver. 19, 20) that "the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you: whom the heavens must receive, until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Up to this moment this was the hope presented to the Church. " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." They knew their Lord had gone into heaven, but they expected His return; and they connected all their ideas of the place He went to prepare for them with His return. His promise to them in John 14 was that he would come again to receive them unto Himself, that where He was, there they should be also; but however they understood this, it is evident from Peter's sermon, as well as the testimony of the angels, that up to this moment His return to earth was their great cardinal hope.
In the next chapter (Acts 4) we find that the " chief priests and captains of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them (Peter and John), being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day." Now after this marked rejection of their testimony by the leaders of the people and the heads of the nation of Israel; the apostles, it appears to me, adopt another style in their testimony. It is from henceforth more of the character of warning and denunciation, as from men forewarned and prepared for the rejection of it. Peter addresses the rulers of the people, and the elders of Israel, and for the first time alludes to their rejection of Christ. " This is the stone which was set at naught by you builders, which is become head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Salvation is the great point insisted on; a Savior "under heaven" not yet as seen in glory; and the more unpromising everything seemed around, the more distinctly and entirely would their testimony be confined to this momentous subject. And hence we read (ver. 33) "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resur, rection of the Lord Jesus." " And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women" (Chapter v. 14). But now the High Priest, etc., laid hands-on the apostles (not only on two now) and put them in the common prison; and' when they are brought forth and set before the council; Peter and the other apostles answered and said, "We ought to obey God rather than man. The God of our fathers raised up, Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with. His right, band to be a Prince and a.
Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And ive are His witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him." Now two things are presented here;-Christ risen and a Savior, and the Holy Ghost here on earth in testimony thereof. And this is the last recorded exposition of the gospel which Peter preached before the death of Stephen; for in the next two chapters we are told how the people and the elders and the scribes came upon Stephen and caught him, and brought him to the council; and then deliberately they not only rejected but stoned, to death the witness of the Holy Ghost who, by the word of God, appealed to their consciences not to resist the Holy Ghost. Thus, as before in the death of John the Baptist, they had proclaimed their opposition to Him whom John proclaimed; so now by the stoning of Stephen, they openly unmask and expose the hatred and rebellion of their hearts to a glorified Christ. It is now declared that there is no acceptance of Him on earth by His own people; but on the contrary, there is in act, the open avowal, " We will not have this man to reign over us." Hence, it is easy to see that the hope of Christ's return to earth, which was the hope of the' gospel preached by Peter and the apostles up to this time, can no longer be insisted on. Stephen is taken to glory with Jesus, instead of waiting here for His-return to earth as its true and only king. Now, taking into account that the gospel up to this moment set forth three things especially-1. Salvation through a risen Savior; 2. The presence of the Holy Ghost here on earth; 3. Christ's return to earth as King of Israel it is plain, that if the hope, which necessarily is a very important part of the gospel, has been set aside, a very great and momentous change must take place in the gospel to be presented. I study to be very careful and accurate here; because the point of transition, the point of juncture, between the gospel hitherto preached by the apostles, and that which, consequent on the death of Stephen, was committed to Saul of Tarsus, is one of extreme interest and importance. Christ coming from heaven to earth has been deliberately, defiantly, and outrageously refused. His witness, being stoned, has been taken to be with Him where He is;-now comes the call of Saul of Tarsus; and the gospel which is now revealed and committed to him, sets forth how God in His grace, and according to Himself, will disclose the purpose and fullness of His heart.
(a We see from Peter's epistle how he impresses on the saints who are scattered abroad " that the inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled and fadeth not away." How suitable and fitting when everything here had been broken up.)
The Lord Jesus Christ tells Saul, " I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee." And what does Saul "see "? Not only Christ risen, but Christ in glory. Stephen had seen Him there, and had consigned his spirit to Him whom he had seen there; but Saul sees Him, and is commissioned to be a minister and a witness of the things which he sees. Here then was the introduction of the gospel of God according to the fullness of His heart and purpose. To be a minister and a witness of the things which he had seen, defined and embraced the principle and scope of Paul's commis sion. Can any one for a moment hesitate to accept the beautiful order of this wondrous gospel beginning and consummated in the bright, full circle of God's presence and glory? We have seen that salvation through a risen Savior could be and was known, and the saints maintained (through the Holy Ghost here on earth) in one mind and one soul, remembering the death of Christ in the breaking of bread, while they were still linked to earth and to the temple services; and their hope entirely connected with the earth, as awaiting their Lord's return. But now that this hope could no longer be presented on account of Christ's rejection from the earth, God unfolds* through Christ the deep full counsel of His heart; and the scene where all this can be displayed is the glory into which Saul of Tarsus is now introduced; and seeing Jesus in the glory, is the pivot and the center of that gospel which is now entrusted to him.
The nature and scope of this gospel we shall best ascertain by tracing the lines of truth expounded in Paul's writings, which like rays, emanating from Christ, the Center and Source, lead the heart back to Himself, and feed it with His excellency and glory. Saul's first sermon gives us a clear idea of the power and greatness of the gospel committed to him. He preached that " Christ is the Son of God " (Acts 9:2020And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. (Acts 9:20)). It is not merely His official dignity, or His immediate use to souls;-it is not that He is a " Prince and a Savior;" -but that He is the Son of God. What good tidings! what wondrous tidings for any believing soul,-that his Savior is the Son of God, and that through grace, he is united to Him! The moment I get to this, I get to the outside of what merely belongs to man, to earth, and to the first creation; and am set in God, (how blessed!) and then I begin to comprehend the wonderful unfoldings of Him and His life as set forth in John's gospel. Saul has seen Christ in glory; in the divine region, and as He has seen Him there, he can accept nothing lower. He has been introduced to the highest level, and according to this must his gospel be in everything. The higher we go the more we are dissociated from that which is inferior, but further, we seek the more to rise to, and maintain the level to which we are raised. One may be restrained like Joseph from expressing oneself, or like our blessed Lord while walking through this world; but no one can know a higher order of things, and know it, so as to find his life only there, and be contented to ignore it or to surrender all hope of reaching it. To be so, is to be a moral Nebuchadnezzar, reduced from the highest dignity to take his place among the lowest.. It is impossible, I say, for me to see the high origin from which I spring, and be content Nebuchadnezzar-like to take a low carnal place: if I keep true to my origin, I must resist and refuse everything which opposes or checks the maintenance of it. I may put up with any manner of thing here as long as I do not know my high origin in Christ; but once I know it, there is -a moral necessity that I should accept nothing which would mar, cloud, or interfere with it; nay, on the contrary, I seek and cultivate everything which will contribute to, and establish me in my true condition. Hence, it is of great importance that I should see and present to the soul that Christ is the simplembject of faith; and as He, in glory, is the object of my faith, and as He who s there controls my heart, I learn that everything I have to do with, must be consistent, and in keeping with Him who is the foundation of all blessing to me. Christ is the Son of God; and the soul once in faith laying hold of this truth, according as it is-occupied with Him grows in knowledge and strength, and longs to see itself in everything in conformity to Him. As He is known to be the spring and fountain of blessing, so everything is refused and set aside which is not of Him. The Savior in glory before God once seen by faith is a starting-point of incomparable value; and, when simply maintained, the manner and ways of God's grace are then easily seen and apprehended. We sometimes try to comprehend the manner and ways of His grace, without seeing the simple starting-point of the gospel now. Christ, God's Son in glory, is the center for the soul to rest in, and it is as this, the foundation and starting point, is rested in that we are prepared to understand the nature of our position before God as opened out in Paul's epistles.
Let us turn to Paul's epistles, and seek to gather from them the characteristics proper to those who have received the gospel committed to Paul. The characteristics indicate the origin and nature; and the nature and origin in action, always express the characteristics.
In the epistle to the Romans where Paul calls the gospel, God's gospel (chap. 1:1), the gospel of His Son (ver. 9), and " my gospel" (chap. 16:25), the first characteristic we find of it is justification through faith, because God's righteousness is revealed in Christ. Here the line and order of truth is, that man, whether: under law or not, is without righteousness, but that, outside and apart from man, God has. brought in righteousness through His Son, and therefore that He is just to justify every one believing in Christ. The righteousness of God is thus a characteristic of Paul's gospel. If you have received his gospel you have found yourself in the righteousness which God in Christ reveals to faith.
Now the righteousness of God is established in the Cross of Christ-He bearing in Himself the judgment on man, so that there is an end of that which offended against God. He is made sin for us that we should be made the righteousness of God in Him. There is then an end of man as man was; the old man is crucified with Christ. Hence with the righteousness of God there is another characteristic, viz., the end of man in the flesh. Then comes life eternal-" Grace reigns through righteousness unto life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord." The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. A further characteristic is that " ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit." It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which has made me free from the law of sin and death (Chapter. 8:2), and if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His (ver. 9). Here then, we have four leading characteristics of Paul's gospel; and if I am established according to it, as he prays that I may be (Chapter 16:25), I must have learned that it confers on me, and sets me in, four distinct blessings:-1. In righteousness according to God; 2. The end of the old man; 3. In eternal life in Christ Jesus; 4. Possessing the Spirit of Christ-all summed up in Rom. 8:1010And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10). " If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Let the soul endeavor to embrace all that is in this epistle conferred on it by Paul's gospel;-righteousness -the righteousness of God established by Christ;-the ending of the old man;-the gift of eternal life;-the Spirit of Christ; so that Christ in me is the summing up, as well as the fullness of blessing. One who has received and is established in this gospel is in divine righteousness-is freed from the old man before God-is in the eternal life of the Son of God-has Christ's Spirit, and Christ is in him. What deep and wondrous blessings!
The gospel in this epistle only reaches so far as to set the soul in Christ; and as may be seen from a study of it, the Spirit of God first shows how both Jew and Gentile have failed as men to do anything to please God; but on the contrary that there was none righteous, no not one; and at this point the apostle introduces his gospel.
Now in the epistle to the Galatians, we get this highest point (being in Christ) fully explained and unfolded. In this epistle the saints had gone back from the teaching of the gospel, which had set them in the Spirit, and they were now seeking perfection in the flesh. They were not like the Romans who were ignorant of the gospel. The Galatians had retrograded; they had begun in the Spirit; they did run well. And hence the way the apostle brings the light of the gospel to bear on them is quite different from the way he deals with the Romans; and therefore, he opens out powers and properties in the truth of it, which are not so fully declared in the epistle to the Romans. In Galatians, as it is most interesting to observe' the apostle begins with the fact of being in Christ the Son of God, outside of man altogether. He is an apostle " not of man, neither by man." And again; (Chapter 1:11, 12) " I certify unto you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." And then he explains in ver. 15, 16, what he received himself, and what it was. " It pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal his Son in me." This is the great point. God had revealed His Son in him. This gives a definite character to the nature of the gospel., In Romans, we are gradually brought to this point as the grand total, as indeed it is. But here, this total is the starting point. Paul now addresses those who had declined from the true path; the path of the Spirit, outside and apart from the flesh. If I have begun with Christ, God's Son revealed in me, it is not in the flesh I live, but Christ liveth in me. And "the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:2020I 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)). And I myself am crucified with Christ; and if I be crucified, it is senseless to revive that in myself for which He was crucified. The great point the apostle insists on as conclusive against the existence of man in the flesh, and therefore against the re-assumption of it by a Christian, is that " God had sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons God bath 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 of God through Christ.":Paul's gospel is definite and conclusive on this point. The believer receives the Spirit of Christ; Christ lives in him; and if he departs from this, he departs from Paul's gospel, which he preached to the Galatians in infirmity; but they had received him as an angel of God; even as Christ Jesus. And now that they had gone back from it, he has only to tell them-I must go Over all the old ground. " My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you," chap: 4:19. This is the point they had lost sight of; and this is the one which he will take all pains-travail in birth again, until it be restored; even that Christ should be formed in them. I need not pursue this further; but it is important to see how simply and fully Paul's gospel sets us in Christ.; and that " they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts." Everything of it is ignored and set aside judicially; and if judicially set aside, it cannot legally be resumed. But this truth certifies and simply determines man's state as in the flesh before God. And the apostle does not make this an attainment-an advance in knowledge.; but shows it as affecting the foundation of Christianity; that it is the kernel of his gospel, and that anything else is not the gospel, and not to be attended to; even though preached by an angel.: Nay, that " if any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed." In this epistle, the great point is, that I am in, Christ. Hence, it is not certain great characteristics and virtues that I have received, which are presented to me as in Romans. It is impressed on me that I am in a new order of' existence; after another order of man::Christ lives in rne. It is not that the old man has received additions and advantages as in a legal religion; but that I am made anew of Him who is the Son of God;' and that the old man has been superseded and judicially put an end to in His cross; being crucified with Christ, it has no longer any recognized existence before God; while I, in my new creation, am in Christ, and He lives in me. These are two points of the very highest importance and their presentation in this epistle, as the very kernel of Paul's gospel, is most interesting and complete.
Thus far we have, I trust, seen how the Gospel places the soul before. God in relation to Him, and also with relation to his old man. Now this was very partially unfolded in the gospel preached by Peter. He preached salvation, perfect and final, through a risen Savior, and-:the present indwelling of the Holy Ghost; great elements it will be admitted, in the truth revealed- to Paul; but they did not set aside man as entirely and judicially ended in the cross of Christ; nor connect the soul with Christ as its life and head, though the -saints possessed it -through the Holy Ghost..
But there is another characteristic of Paul's gospel which we must notice before we attempt to say succinctly what it embraces. And that is the hope connected with it, as well as the appointed inheritance attached to it. In Col. 1:55For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; (Colossians 1:5) we read, " the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye have heard before in the truth of the gospel." And again, in ver. 23, " be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.". Also, in ver. 27, where the hope is presented as connected with Christ-" Christ in you the hope of glory." Now these quotations establish the great fact, that there is a hope connected with the gospel of such importance that- it is one of its main characteristics. Nay, that the apostle comprises all the blessings conferred by the gospel Under, two heads;: viz., faith-and hope. As for faith, it will easily and readily be admitted, as that power by which the soul-enters into and enjoys one great part of the provision of the gospel what we are in Christ; and...hope-;what We shall be must also be admitted as securing and embracing the rest: What we have hitherto seen as characteristic of the gospel committed to Paul, peculiarly referred to the grace and the manner of it, by which we, who were of the first Adam and under judgment, have been delivered there from, and raised into an entirely new and inconceivably higher existence in Christ; so that we have found ourselves set in Christ. But now comes the inquiry, Are we for heaven or for earth? What is our proper sphere, and what our inheritance?
Now if we turn to 1 Cor. 1, we see that the wisdom of God is made ours through the cross of Christ, Chapter 1:30, " Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom." Now this wisdom, in Chapter ii. 9, is described, " Eye bath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." They do not enter into man's heart; they are revealed by His Spirit that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Then, in the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, (Chapter iii.) the apostle sets forth that as the ministration of death was connected with glory which was to be annulled, how much more should the ministration of the Spirit be from glory. " If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more Both the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." The argument is, that if that which condemns is from glory, how much more that which is the expression of God's righteousness! Thus righteousness is the ground for the opening out of the glory fully; and of our unhindered entrance into it. While there was a demand for righteousness on us who had none, it was of course a ministration of condemnation; but when there issued from it, according to its own majesty, a ministration of righteousness established in the Son of God, there could then be no longer any check or vail, to the glory in its fullness. When the citizens on earth refused the Lord from heaven, Jesus in the glory was seen by Stephen, whose spirit departs to be there with Him. Hereon, Paul is called to be a minister and a witness of the things which he had seen; God will now open out in glory with Christ a place for His people. Christ has been refused His rightful place on earth; and God in His wondrous grace, now opens out glory where Christ is, as the home and hope of His members on earth. There is a ministration of righteousness from the divine presence, so complete through Christ (by whom all sin has been taken away,) that the glory in divine freeness and fullness, is able to receive and be the home of every one who is in Christ. " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." It is the sphere where Christ is, where God in all His greatness and intrinsic blessedness expresses Himself in His Son. And to this sphere we are introduced by the gospel, because Christ is there. Thus it is to the apostle the " mark" known to him at his conversion; but kept in view " and followed after " all through his course; and to each of us, according to our acquaintance with Christ, it is, or should be, the same.
But it is also our hope, for we " rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory."
Now there are two things connected with glory which give a finished view, a complete idea of Paul's gospel. One is our inheritance there, from which we derive our present position in heaven; and the other, the resurrection of our bodies. The apostle says, in Rom. 8, " we are saved by hope." And as I have already noted from Col. 1:55For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; (Colossians 1:5), the word " hope, which is laid up in heaven;" was " heard in the word of the truth of the gospel." The gospel includes this hope; nay, the hope was a main part of it, and is therefore called the " hope of the gospel,'.' from which the saints were not to be moved; and which many, seeing it so distinctly insisted on, and not understanding what it truly meant, explained as the hope of salvation eventually. Now, it is as set with Christ in glory (glory being the sphere proper to our membership with Christ, that the formative process morally to that glory takes place in us) that we are "transformed from glory to glory:" Butin this glory there is an inheritance for us. Therefore the apostle prays, " that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, arid what the riches of the glory of His inheritance," of which the Spirit is now the earnest. It is beyond my subject to speak of the inheritance, but I merely desire to assure the heart of the fact that, in connection with Paul's gospel, and because of the sphere in which the believer in Christ is thereby set, there is an inheritance " incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven for you," (as Peter speaks of it) in that glory in which our association with Christ is now through the Spirit (and not merely in the future), and where we are now transformed into His image. For besides having an inheritance which is future (as Peter presents it) and which is properly the " hope," we are now seated in Christ in heavenly places; we are through faith made now to know that we have a place " prepared for us in heaven. In a word, heaven, as a definite place, is our place, and that to which we belong even now. Glory is too indefinite an idea; for wherever God manifests Himself there the glory is; but heaven is a definite place, and in this definite place, we are now seated in Christ Jesus. And hence we are the heavenly family, as surely and distinctly as there will be an earthly family. It is not only that the inheritance is in heaven, but we are now by faith seated there, because partaking of the power of Him who has been raised up, above all principality and power, and has sat down at God's right hand in the heavenly places. He is there the head of the body, the Church, of which the Spirit is the unity; which truth Paul calls " the mystery of the gospel" (Eph. 6:1919And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (Ephesians 6:19)); and we in spirit now reach up through His power to a sense of our exaltation, and our true locality in heaven because of Him. In fact (as we learn from Col. 3), if we are risen with Christ, we seek the things which are: above where Christ is. We set our affections on things above, and not on things on the earth. We are a heavenly people, though for a season on the earth; and our " conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto His own body of? glory." The body of glory will be the consummation; for when we see Him, we shall be like Him, and when He appears, we also shall appear with Him in glory.
Thus, very inadequately I know, but as carefully as I could, have I endeavored to sketch Paul's gospel. It tells a man hopeless and undone, what God is in His own nature; -and what He is for him. That He has established righteousness in Christ; that He has condemned sin in the flesh; having ended judicially there the body of sin; and that now His grace can reign through righteousness unto eternal life in. Jesus Christ our Lord. That He has set aside the first man judicially in the cross of Christ and on the ground of righteousness; He forms us anew in Christ Jesus, in His life; so that we are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit; Christ dwelling in us, and we in Him, and in His glory because of the same righteousness. That we now know by faith heaven as our definite place; our spirits' present home as well as our future inheritance; for which we shall have bodies of glory when our Lord comes, and we shall be forever with the Lord.
To sum up. The parts of this great economy committed to Paul Are:- -
1st. We are in God's righteousness.
2nd. So complete is God's righteousness, that all which offended against it has been judicially ended in the-cross of Christ; the old man crucified with Christ.
3rd.. Eternal life in Christ is given.
4th. We are in the Spirit, and not in the flesh it is Christ liveth in us, and we in Him.
5th. The glory of God is our hope, and we are there through the same righteousness in Christ..
6th. We have a definite place now in heaven, as well as a future inheritance there.
7th. We look for Him to come to change our vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like unto His own glorious, body.
The. Lord give us grace to realize somewhat in our hearts the amazing elevation to—which the blessed or happy. God., in His ineffable wisdom and love, has raised us through the gospel in His-.Son Jesus Christ our Load.