The object of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus, and He presents Jesus to the soul as the object of admiration and desire as well as of salvation. It is thus that the Holy Spirit enables the believer to weigh every object of human ambition, however high and noble in itself, with “the honor which cometh from God only” (John 5:4444How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? (John 5:44)) and to see how poor and mean is that human ambition. Rivalry and contention are the great principles of human ambition, and it is hardly possible to attain human distinction without them. In contrast, Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:22Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)). This path of Jesus from the lowest humiliation to the highest honor sets forth to us a great principle: “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:1111For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 14:11)). According to this principle, rivalry and contention are disobedience to the truth. And if anyone asserts the human principle of strife and vain-glory in order to obtain the favor of God, he is really committing the highest act of unrighteousness, as setting aside the work of Christ in His humiliation and obedience unto death. The object of rivalry and contention is only the praise of men, and it seeks no higher praise. The objects which man pursues are honor and glory from men — “one of another” — and are very fleeting and uncertain here and of no eternal value. The lofty objects God presents to us can be entertained on one principle alone — the riches of God’s grace as displayed to us in the cross of Christ.
One-of-Another Honor
“How can ye believe who receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?” (John 5:4444How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? (John 5:44)). The existence of faith is morally incompatible with the way of attaining honor from men. That honor can be accorded only on the ground of personal superiority over others; how then can man recognize that before God “there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-2322Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:22‑23))? Rather, he must recognize that any difference before God is that which God makes by His own grace, and not that which man can attain by his own effort. The highest thought of man, if he thinks of salvation at all, is the thought of escape; the thought of association with Christ and witnessing as the joy of his soul the absolute supremacy of Jesus never enters into his heart. This honor comes from God only.
All Saints Have Such Honor
One remarkably distinguishing character of the honor which cometh from God only is that all saints have “this honor” (Psa. 149:99To execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 149:9)). The very honor excludes all thoughts of rivalry, because the highest honor is the common honor. It is the answer of God to the humiliation of Christ. Boasting then is excluded in glory as well as in justification. Let this place or that place be assigned to one or another of the Father; such a place is still secondary to the common honor which comes to all saints from God only.
If we descend to particulars, there is hardly any honor of which men are more tenacious than nobility of descent. But what is this honor compared to the honor of being born of God? “As many as received Him, to them gave He power [right or privilege] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-1312But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12‑13)). Viewed in the light of a divine lineage, Paul could well afford to consider his illustrious birth, among other advantages, as “loss for Christ.” Yet it is possible even for a believer to hold Christian blessings so cheap in his estimation that he prefers the smallest temporal advantage to all the high-sounding privileges he has been taught.
Divine Righteousness
There is another aspect of the honor which comes from God only, and that is divine righteousness — the conscious possession of which delivers from anxiety as to personal qualification to commend us to God, or from comparative righteousness between man and man. In the conscious possession of such a righteousness, Paul regarded the highest supposable righteousness attainable by man as loss.
The Holy Spirit
Another honor that comes from God only, and which is given to all believers, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It can come from God only and is His seal to the divine righteousness in which believers stand before God. It is an honor that came from God to the most insignificant believer as well as the Apostle Paul. The high official honor which Paul had as an apostle was not to be compared with that which he had in common with all believers.
But if the Holy Spirit is the seal set by God Himself on all believers, He is also the earnest given of God in our hearts. The best human society, moral and intellectual, is infinitely below that into which the believer in Christ is introduced. “Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2:1818For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)). How few have the privilege of introduction to earthly royalty, but the Spirit leads through Christ to the Father, thus giving the greatest possible nearness and intimacy with God, in His revealed relation by the Son as the Father. And thus, by the honor of intimacy with God in His thoughts, the believer in Christ knows the mystery of God’s will respecting the heading-up of all things in Christ; he then forms his judgment as to the bearing of all things on the revelation of that mystery.
He Is an Honor
Finally, there is one remarkably comprehensive statement to our point in 1 Peter: “Unto you therefore which believe He is precious” (1 Peter 2:7). This could also be read, “He is an honor.” All the preciousness that Christ is to God, it has pleased Him to set upon all that believe in His name. This is an all-comprehensive honor indeed! Believers are precious to God by reason of the honor He Himself has set on them. Worthless in themselves, believers have all the preciousness of Christ set upon them by God.
If we were only true to our own objects — glory, honor and incorruptibility — how it would rebuke the infidelity around us, which thinks of adapting Christianity to the exigencies of the age, to help on the course of this world! The glory and dignity of our calling have become all the more conspicuous by reason of the very progress the world has made, and they make the present glory of the world fade away before our own excelling glory “that remaineth.”
The Present Testimony (adapted)