Third. Another point which should be noticed in this connection is, that when the Holy Ghost set up the church on the day of Pentecost, and thence forward, the law was not brought in as the order by which the church was to be governed; but on the other band, while Jewish disciples and Judaizing teachers from time to time are dragging in the law, the Holy Ghost is, at the same time working to put it out: and we need only refer to one chapter in the Acts, the 15th, (though there are many other portions,) to settle the point to the satisfaction of every candid inquirer after truth. The first verse, " And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small discussion and disputation with them they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question..... And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto -them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a great while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe..... And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?"
Note particularly this last verse, " Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." And James adds his sentence, "That we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: For Moses of old time
Mark this declaration of the word of God dear reader, -a For it SEEMED GOOD TO THE HOLY GHOST, and to us," day the apostles and elders and church, at Jerusalem, " to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." What necessary things!? That though, undo' grace, they were under the law as well? No I For the law was the very yoke, which those to whom it was given, were not able to bear. The conclusion is inevitable, that they as Gentiles Were not to be in bondage to a system, which, those to whom it was given, as Jews, were not _able to bear, And be it remembered, they did not divide the system, by saying, the ceremonial and the civil law are not binding, but the moral law is. And for the simple reason, that the Holy Ghost had never recognized such a distinction.
And still another thought deserves our notice for a moment; as it is often supposed the word " commandment " in the New Testament, is a reference to the law of Moses.
Now this word " commandment" is often used in scripture when it does not refer to the law at all; but simply the word of God, as doctrine, and so of the word " law."
" Thy law is my delight," 119th Psalm. Here °the word translated law, is used 25 times, and in the 19th Psalm 7th verse, (see margin,) so also in the prophets. And in the gospels, John 10;18, " This commandment have I received of my Father." Also, John 12:49-5049For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. (John 12:49‑50), " but the Father which hath sent me, He gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should preach. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting." These passages and many more like them, show, of themselves, that it is not a reference to the law of Moses at all. Com. John 14,15,21,23 and 24.
The law is not abrogated, nor set aside. It has its place, and its power; and if I claim to walk by it, its place and power, is to curse me now, just as much as anciently to curse the Jew or Israelite, and instead of honoring the law I am breaking it, and thus dishonoring God.-Rom. 2:2525For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. (Romans 2:25), " Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?" There is, then, but one way to honor the law, and that is, to take the sentence of death which it gives, as Paul says, Gal. 2:1919For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. (Galatians 2:19), "1 through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God." What claim has the law upon a dead man?
To recapitulate.. We have seen that the law was not given until Moses,-twenty-five hundred years after Adam went out of Eden; and then, only to Israel, and not to the nations or Gentiles; and that it was never acknowledged by the Holy Ghost and the apostles, as the standard for the church.
We come now to consider three other points, viz., For what was the law. given? Why is not the Christian under it, as a rule of life; and what is the rule of life for the child of God? To the first question this answer comes up first of all: That man having ruined himself, has ruined everything which God has committed to him, i. e., he has failed utterly to meet his responsibilities. Adam first failed, Noah failed, Abraham failed, Moses failed, Israel under the law failed-, the church also has grievously failed.
Not as regards the councils of God,-that-He should present it to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing-for that is the rock against which the gates of hell shall not prevail,-hut as regards its responsibility in the world, it has utterly failed, and, we ourselves have utterly failed, and nothing but ruin surrounds us in this scene here below.
The two grand elements of sin and ruin, lust and self-will," sin in the flesh" are the ruling elements in everything around us. These were born in Eden the first-begotten of Satan, in the first Adam, and are never remedied, but cast out only by the power of the Second Man, the Only-begotten 'of God. Man having thus failed, the law comes in by the way to bring out transgression and make it more apparent, and was thus the last great test of man in responsibility. So that when Christ comes, it is no longer a question of human responsibility, but of the grace of God, for man has been tried every way, and found wanting, no good, no righteousness in him, according to Rom. 3:9-209What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:9‑20).
Mark well this passage, dear reader. It is not a question here, of relative good, one man toward another, but of absolute good; that which can stand before God. For man, in order to stand before God must have righteousness; not human righteousness, but divine righteousness. And that is not a thing inherent in sinful flesh at all, and never can be, for it was not in Adam before he sinned, much less after he had sinned. Hence the answer to our first question comes out again, in Rom. 5:2020Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (Romans 5:20), "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound." The life of sin was there, and it only needed the law to bring out its fruit to perfection. Hence Rom. 7, " I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupicence; for without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." 1 Tim. 1:99Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, (1 Timothy 1:9), " Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers -of mothers, for man-slayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for man stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." These scriptures are very 'clear, very definite, they need no comment. They show for what and for whom the law was given.
Secondly. 'Why is not the christian under it as a rule of life? And first, because lie is a christian. To be a christian, is to be in a new state altogether. Not in the old first Adam condition, but in the condition of the Second Man, the Lord from heaven. Hence God's reckoning for the child of God, is, " after the image of Him that created him." To be born of God is to be a son of God, which Adam never was. Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9), " But ye are not in the flesh, (the first Adam state,)• but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. And if Christ be in you the body (the first Adam state and condition,) is dead, (not going to die, nor yet dying, but dead, Is DEAD) because of sin." When and where did it die? Rom. 6, " Knowing this that our old man, (the first Adam state before God,) is crucified with Him, that the body of sin, (the old state of self-will and lust.) might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we, (as to our old state,) be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died He died unto sin once, but in that He liveth He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves, (as to your old state,) to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
This is all in the reckoning of faith; while as a matter of fact you are still in the body, and the same body of sin, not a whit changed, the old state of self-will and lust are there, but held in subjection by the power of the Second Man, brought in by faith, to wait for His coming to quicken these mortal, or corruptible bodies, as the case may be, "into the likeness of His glorious body." Hence the exhortation which follows, " Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead." So that, here in the sixth of Romans it is a crucified, dead, and buried Christ; which gives to faith the ground of death, to the old state, and a risen, living, and ascended Christ which gives to faith a new life, a new path, and a new rule by which to walk. And in the seventh chapter it is the same principle of death and life which gives to faith the ground of deliverance from the law. For the law applied to the old state; it was given to the man in the flesh; it was for the old man not for the the new, as we have seen.
Hence, to faith, the old state-and condition of "sin in the flesh" being dead, as " crucified with Him," the law is honored, yea, " magnified and made honorable," for it has had its claim settled, and its prisoner is discharged through death. Rom. 7:66But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:6), " But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we were held, (our old state to which the law applied,) that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."
It is not that the law is dead, but that the old state to which the law applied, is dead to faith, and you, (if a believer " in the heart unto righteousness,") are in a new state before God.
It is not that you are discharged from responsibility, but that your responsibility is increased immeasurably, inasmuch as, " He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as he He walked." 1 John 2:66He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:6).
Hence the exhortation of the 12th and last five chapters of Romans; the cutting rebukes, and the pungent teaching of first and second Corinthians. The blessed doctrine of acceptance in the Beloved; our standing in Him, yea, raised up together and made sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and, flowing out there from, the practical instruction of last three chaps of Ephs.
In the book of Galatians, we get another effort of the Holy Ghost through the apostles to bring back the church from the spirit of legalism and law, into which they had been beguiled, by Judaizing teachers; and is of itself a complete answer to our second question, Why is not the christian under the law? " Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh "? Gal. 3. To go back to law, was to let the old man loose, which by faith, had been bound in death, in the sixth of Romans, For wherever it is a question of law, it must of necessity be with the old man alive, the old state of the flesh, and sin in the flesh to which the law applied. For I cannot apply the law to " the new man," for he has a far better, higher and more perfect rule, of which the fourth of Ephesians and the third of Colosians form a part only.
But the new man, what has the law to do with him? What had the law to do with Jesus? It was not a rule of life for Him, surely. He kept it perfectly, no doubt, and was the only man who ever did. But He did much more than that, for the law said, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But Jesus said, " resist not evil," and He lived it.
The law said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy." But Jesus said, " love your enemies, bless them that curse you, bless and curse not," and He lived this also.
He loved His enemies and gave Himself to reproach, His face to spitting, and His back to smiting, and His life in death, for the very hands that shed His blood. The law did not require anything like this, and in this also we are to follow His steps, if the will of God be so. And this brings out the answer to our third question, What is the rule of life for the child of God? " He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. C. E. H.
(Concluded from page 54.)
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
A.-To be understood this passage must be taken in connection with that which preceeds it. The Lord had just cast a devil out of a blind and dumb man. Jealous of the Lord, and hostile to the testimony of God, the Pharisees, while admitting that real devils were cast out by Him, deliberately attributed the power by which He did this, to Satan. This was not only the rejection of Himself, but blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, i.e.. to allow the activity of a power which could only be of God, and then attribute it to Satan. Not only could this sin not be pardoned, but it proved they were "a generation of vipers." To seek further signs of His power, while rejecting the clearest evidence of divine power then in their midst, in the casting out of devils, was the request of "an evil and adulterous generation," that the Lord would not gratify, for it was unbelief and rebellion that prompted the request.
As a nation they despised the Gentiles-a people under the power of Satan, worshipping idols, but Gentiles were better than they were, for the Ninevites had repented at the preaching of Jonah; and a greater than Jonah was there. Dark and ignorant as the Gentiles were, the Queen of the South had come a long distance to see Solomon, attracted by the report of his wisdom, but a greater than Solomon was there, and they would not listen to Him. True they were not idolaters worshipping stocks and stones under Satan's power; outwardly they had been delivered from his power, but at heart they were worse than even Gentiles, they were "an evil and adulterous generation" against whom the Gentiles, they so despised, should testify, but more than that, they should be judged for this rejection of Himself, by being delivered over again to the power of the unclean spirit of idolatry from which they boasted they had been delivered.
The passage we are considering is the pronouncing of this doom on the nation of Israel by the Lord, which He concludes by saying, "even so shall it be also with this generation." The state of Israel in the last days should be worse than that which it was before they had been separated from the nations by the knowledge of the one true God. At the moment when Christ was speaking they were like a house "swept and garnished." They were moral and religious, but that was no security against the unclean spirit re-possessing himself of his old house.
indeed he would come back with sevenfold power, and lead them to their own destruction by inciting them to madness against God, and those who worship Him. This passage, therefore, has no reference to the present ways of God with christians, nor is its application individual.