(1) THE GOSPEL AND ITS PREACHERS.
([p. 440] 1) THE GOSPEL AND ITS PREACHERS.
In the Scriptures the Spirit of God has seen fit to give us a picture of the church, not only when all was in order, as at Jerusalem in early days, but also when things had fallen into disorder. In this epistle the apostle Paul has shown us that in which his heart found comfort and resource when this was so. There are several elements in this epistle which indicate the pass to which things had come. There were those who had become “enemies of the cross”. In such a state of things the Spirit of God is pleased to show us in what the apostle found satisfaction. There are many in our day of the same character as those described by the apostle, not enemies perhaps of Christ, but enemies of the cross, that is, who sanction the flesh. If the state of things which characterised the apostle’s day marks ours, I do not see why there should not be here at the same time that which is for the Lord’s satisfaction, something which He can approve. I do not believe we could have a more just ambition than to give satisfaction to the heart of Christ.
The church here is correspondent to Christ in glory. There is a connecting link between the church now and the church in glory. The house of God, that form of God’s dwelling, will come to an end, the heavenly city will supplant it; but the body of Christ is the connecting link between the present and the future; it will be as real then as it is now.
The moral idea in the body is that the mind is set forth in it; my body is the part which is patent, my spirit cannot be penetrated, but the body is that in which my mind is set forth. So, too, the body of Christ is that in which Christ is set forth; you get the expression, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”, that is, Christ set forth in His body. The church down here is morally the reflex of Christ in glory; it is the mystery, the presentation of Christ in a body, in the scene from which He has been rejected. It is not we to be seen, but Christ; not simply Christ in the individual, but Christ in the company.
In chapter 2 of this epistle we have the company — the circle. In chapter 3 is the race, and that is individual; there is a race, and there is a circle. Chapter 4 is supplementary, and gives the bearing of one who is running the race of the third chapter. There are two things that mark the Christian — the calling, and the race. These come out in Hebrews, in which chapter 10 gives the calling, and chapter 12 the race. So here in chapter 2 we get the Christian circle, with which the calling is connected. If you are answering to the mind of Christ with regard to the circle, then you will run the race; chapter 3.
But previous to speaking about the company, we find the apostle describing the outward state of things in profession and in the world. This is brought out in a remarkable way in chapter 1; the scene is not rose-coloured, but the real state is laid bare to us. Much corresponds to what marks the present time, and if so, let it be our desire to see a company answering to what is set forth in chapter 2. The Lord’s arm is not shortened, He can work this now.
I will speak of the outward state of things in connection with three centres: (1) Jerusalem, where Christianity began; then (2) Antioch; and (3) subsequently, Rome. These were centres of the Spirit’s activity in the testimony. What opposed the testimony in Jerusalem was the religious element; the Jewish leaders, the priests and scribes, were the opposers. God’s testimony now, as then, is Christ Jesus in glory; and God does not display anything until He has first set it forth in the way of testimony; this is God’s way, and it could be proved all through Scripture. The promises were given in the way of testimony, and they are not in display yet, though confirmed in Christ.
The testimony now is Christ in glory, and God does not display Christ until there has been a full testimony to this. We form part of that which is the present testimony to His glory. The testimony consists not in what people say, but in what they are. Testimony, in the divine thought of it, is what people are. Abraham and those who had promises gave testimony to them by what they were. They were strangers and pilgrims, and sought a heavenly city. Moses’ testimony was in identification with the people of God in reproach. If we are in the light of Christ’s glory, we must accept the other side too, we must be identified with His reproach — with the cross. Do you think that anyone in the light of the glory of the Lord is governed by what people are here? He is carried in superiority to all here, and that is the testimony.
If you read the beginning of the Acts you can see what the apostles bore witness of; what had they to testify of but the sufferings and glory of the Lord? The apostle Paul did so, too, when he was converted, but he gave witness also to His fuller glory — that He was the Son of God. The twelve bore witness to the exaltation of Christ as the Holy Spirit taught them, but in the apostle Paul’s case, Christ having been revealed to him from glory, immediately he preached that He is the Son of God, and this was additional light to what the twelve had testified. “It pleased God to reveal HIS SON in me”, and this was for preaching.
The element at Jerusalem which opposed the testimony was the religious one; it would not tolerate a testimony to an exalted Christ. We have not quite the same character of opposition now; it came directly from the Jewish leaders. Now God has [p. 443] scattered the Jews all over the world. The opposition was from without.
At Antioch you get a different form of opposition. The effort of the enemy there was to mar the testimony by bringing in a Judaising element — insisting that Christians should be circumcised and keep the law. This opposition was from within.
If we pass on to Rome, we do not get there the religious opposition, but the world-power, and the apostle was held in bondage by the world-power. This identifies that time very much with the present; the testimony has come under the world-power — not in the literal way in which it was in the apostle’s day. The world-power is allowed of God in the interests of the testimony, not to dominate it as it does. It was never the intention of God that the world-power should take the control, any more than that the apostle of the testimony should be held in bondage by it. From that time to this, more or less, the testimony has been held in bondage by the world-power. This is what marred the Reformation, it was fettered, and so is the testimony now, by the world-power.
Now I turn to a few details in the chapter in verses 12 - 20. I ask what possible satisfaction could the heart of the apostle have had in the general state of things in Rome, and even in regard of the testimony? Some were preaching Christ of contention. Yet what came to pass in the providence of God was that it became manifest that the apostle was not in bonds as an evil-doer, his bonds were in Christ — this was manifest in the palace, and to all. This was important, because, if it were not so the testimony would have been marred. This fact of his being vindicated gave an impetus to preaching, but a great deal of mixed motive was betrayed in the preaching. Though there was not satisfaction to the apostle in this, yet his heart was great enough to rise above it. And there was another thing — he saw it would work for his salvation.
[p. 444] Personally with him the point was that Christ should be magnified in his body. Salvation here means his complete deliverance from all the power and workings of the enemy, not from prison and bonds. The way of it was by their prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The apostle was so transparent that he could say, “To me to live is Christ”, and so Christ was magnified in his body. This, too, was his earnest expectation and his hope.
But we see, too, his thought in regard of the saints, not merely in regard to himself. There was that at Philippi in which the heart of the apostle could find satisfaction, as we see (verses 24 - 30). One point which strikes us is the remarkable way in which his heart went out to the saints. He was in a strait, having desire to depart, but he chose to remain for the sake of the saints, he partook in the affection of Christ for His own.
Nothing can be more beautiful than the affection of Christ at work in him, and exercising him in regard of the saints; it was the reproduction in him of Christ. You cannot understand the church if you do not apprehend the devoted affection of Christ for those whom the Father gave to Him. Death did not change Him, nor resurrection; His affection is ever the same.
Now as to the saints, the apostle wanted that their conversation should be worthy of the gospel of Christ; they were not to be afraid of their adversaries; no one could be afraid of adversaries if they stood in the light of the gospel, in the light of the glory in which God has been pleased to shine forth. We first taste the grace of God, but when the heart has become acquainted with that we learn the glory of God, that is, the effulgence of God shining out in Christ. God has achieved all the purpose of His heart; every attribute of God is set forth in a Man, and that Man is vested with power to conform all to the pleasure of God. Every attribute of God is effulgent in the face [p. 445] of Jesus Christ; but more, He has power to subdue everything to Himself, but all has to start from the right hand of God. The new man is created “after God”, in righteousness and holiness of truth. That is the work of Christ at the right hand of God, and of the Holy Spirit down here. The light has come in to discover the lost piece of silver; and the light is the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The first act of Christ from the right hand of God was to give the Holy Spirit, and His last act of power from that place will be to conform us to His own image in glory.
This is the gospel; God has no testimony but the gospel, and the gospel is the light of the glory of God. Outwardly, or apparently, we are in the world, but our souls are in the light of the glory of God. It is only thus that we can walk worthy of the gospel and not be afraid of adversaries; Christ is at the right hand of God in power. We can only bear testimony to His glory as we are in the light of His glory, and in the consciousness of the power with which He is vested to conform all to Himself. This is what God has achieved for Himself.
And our conversation is to be that which becometh the gospel of Christ; and as servants we should be characterised by the affection of Christ, which enabled the apostle to sacrifice his own personal advantage for the sake of the saints. That was really divine affection. May these things mark us more.