THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY
[p. 216] THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY
Christianity is a spiritual order of things which has been introduced into the world as it is, and yet is entirely apart from it. John, in his gospel, gives us the spiritual side in Christianity. Each of the evangelists emphasise among other things a particular side in Christianity, and I think John emphasises what is spiritual. It is he who tells us that “God is a Spirit”, that “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”, and that worship must be “in spirit and in truth”. The words, too, which the Lord spoke, He Himself said were spirit and life; thus we see that John enlarges on that side. Matthew enlarges on what we might call the legislative or administrative side. At the outset of his gospel you have the Lord going to the mount in order to inaugurate a new kind of administration. In Mark, He goes up to the mount to inaugurate a new kind of service, and He takes the disciples up that they might be with Him, in order that He might send them forth to preach. In Luke, He gives an entirely new order of things; but in John He introduces a totally spiritual order of things. It may help if we bear in mind that Christianity is a spiritual order of things here in which we are privileged to have part.
Referring for a moment to Luke’s gospel, in chapter 5 we get a new order of things; the chapter ends with new wine in new bottles. The new order begins, as the first part of the chapter shows, with men who know how to judge themselves. “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”. Next we see man, a leper by nature, cleansed and brought into the congregation; then the palsied man gets power; that is a new thing, and later there is Levi’s house, a totally new thing also; Christianity is seen in a very special way in the Christian household. A man [p. 217] who acts in his house in the power of the Spirit of God is sure to give character to it, and he uses his house for the Lord. Levi made a great entertainment for the Lord. It is an entirely new thing. Then you have the idea of the Bridegroom, and the children of the bridechamber fasting whilst He is away, and at the close the Lord speaks of the new wine. I think Luke gives us, in this way, a new order of things here, while the old still remains.
Whichever side is presented in the respective gospels, in each case it is new; it is new legislation in Matthew, new kind of principles; in Mark a new kind of service, because the servants are marked by being in the company of Jesus; in Luke, new circumstances for man. When you come to John, it is spiritual, and necessarily an out-of-the-world condition of things, and for entrance into this we are wholly dependent on the Spirit of God. The spiritual in John is in contrast to the natural, or the flesh. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”, not the Spirit, but spirit, the kind of thing it is; that is the fundamental basis of the new structure. I believe there is a very poor apprehension amongst God’s people of what is spiritual, and I think John helps on that line, because he insists that “God is a Spirit”, and consequently having to do with God must be on spiritual lines.
In chapter 2 there is a scene which is clearly connected with the natural. The Lord was there at the marriage. It was not a scene dominated by the principles of the world, for the Lord was invited there, also His disciples, and His being invited was not simply a question of patronising the Lord, as was the case when Simon the Pharisee invited Him to his house, but there was respect for the Lord, as well as respect for His disciples. One has often said, if you respect a man you respect his family. The [p. 218] truest way of showing your interest in him is to show interest in his family. The scene was not governed by the principles of the world, but still it was natural. The Lord was not the Bridegroom there; but He manifested forth His glory, and in that way He drew attention to Himself on spiritual lines. He manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him; they saw something there outside of what is natural.
In chapter 3 He is the Bridegroom, He is recognised as the Bridegroom, but that again is on spiritual lines. In the beginning of the chapter we see how the transition from the natural to the spiritual takes place. We are transferred in our hearts and minds from what is natural to what is spiritual. John the baptist proves himself to be spiritual in that he recognises the heavenly, and disappears in the presence of it, verses 30, 31. That is an illustration of what a spiritual man is. Now in verse 35 you have man in the Person of Christ recognised in His supremacy as Administrator. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”; that is to say, He has the administration of what is of God; and in chapter 4 we see, that what He is administering is spiritual. “The water which I shall give him shall be in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life”. Luke gives in a beautiful way God and man; but here in John it is the Father and the Son, so it is a system proceeding from the affections of divine Persons. We know that the Son will administer the kingdom in the future, and reign over the house of Jacob for ever, but John is not occupied with that, but with Christianity; and so we get, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. He has something to give, and what He has to give is spiritual, “living water”.
[p. 219] To compare again for a moment these two gospels, Luke and John, Luke gives us more what is in the presence of the world as the result of, Christ’s death and resurrection. We have His being anointed, the official side, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor”. That is external, but depends on what is internal; the effect was public. Christianity is the result of that, seen in people known in the world, who have been taken up by the Lord, and are changed. John gives, as I have said, what is spiritual, and when you come to that, you are connected with the unseen side of things; with God and Christ, with the Father and the Son. You have access to an unseen order of things, to what is spiritual. What you get in chapter 13 depends on these things, and your thought of Christ must necessarily be spiritual.
The Lord was going out of the world, and He was going to the Father; these are two distinct things, His going out and His going in; a good many days intervened historically between them. On the mount of transfiguration Moses and Elias were speaking to the Lord about His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem, not about His going to heaven. You must go out to go in. The Lord went out in order to go in, with us there must be the acceptance of death in affection and attraction to Him; and this involves complete severance from the world. There is a great deal more in it than you are apt at first sight to think. Heaven is not your side at all, you are taken there; you could not go to heaven of yourself if you wanted to. It is no act of yours, you have no power to go; but you have obligation and power to go out of the world. I think it is well to see that: going put of the world is a question of obligation. Whilst the Lord was here in it you could not go out of it; you could not leave it whilst He was here; but He has gone out of it, and He [p. 220] went out of it at Jerusalem. You cannot go, out of the world in an unseen way; going out of the world is a public thing. We go out of it in being true to our baptism. Baptism is a public thing, but our going to heaven is not seen by the world. They did not see the Lord go; He went up to heaven from mount Olivet, but we go out of the world in public.
The Lord went out of the world at Jerusalem. He was not seen any more, and if we are true to our baptism, we are not seen any more; if we are true to our privilege we do not shine in this world. Many think they can go out of this world by keeping quiet and saying nothing; but going out of the world involves reproach. We go out because He went out. “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach”. Moses knew something about that. It is true that we have received the Spirit that we may follow Him into the new scene, but there is an intermediate period here. We go out of the world, but we do not necessarily go to the Father then. The man in John 9 was forced out; he did not go out. That shows the effect of the man’s testimony; he was in accord with the situation, he did not want to stay.
Chapter 13, which we have read shows us the spiritual order of things as maintained here. We are in the world to be here in testimony, and this chapter shows how we are maintained in it. Feet-washing supposes that we are in the world, and it provides that we should have part in the spiritual order notwithstanding that. It is affection for the Lord, understanding that He has gone out, which leads us out of the world. We can understand from this chapter that the disciples would not go out again into the world; Judas had gone out into it. In fact; the world from the moment that Judas went out into it took another character; not only had Christ left it, but Judas has gone out into it, and by [p. 221] that fact there is a totally new element of evil introduced into the world. A man who had been a companion of Christ, who knew all about Him in that sense, who had had part in the most sacred privileges, went out into the world; and the world from that day to this has a wholly new character. John, in his epistle, speaks of this. He speaks of antichrist going out, and of evil spirits having gone out into the world. Suppose you had been in the Lord’s company as contemplated here, you would never think of going out into that world. There are two distinct positions; His own circle is outside the world. The world is viewed as a distinct thing from this point onwards.
I can understand that John and Peter after they got the Spirit would understand the situation defined by being “not of the world”, but there is besides a distinct link with heaven. Being not of the world is a question of testimony: it shows you are loyal to Christ. That is why the testimony ought to be as public as possible. We are to be like Amasai as recorded in 1 Chronicles 12. When David challenged them as to their fidelity, he declared, “Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse”.
The private side is contemplated here in John 13 we are to have part with Christ in a spiritual way. The Lord felt what He was going to suffer from the power of the world outwardly; but He knew everything was in His hands, and He was wholly engaged with His own. He acted in the consciousness that He was going to the Father and that having come from God He was going to God. In John, the world and the Father are invariably contrasted. The Lord came into the world in grace, and now the hour is come when there is to be the judgment of the world. His going out of it was a deliberate act. In another sense they put Him out of it. I think God viewed as [p. 222] such is in connection with man, and man, in sonship relation, which is in mind in the name of Father.
It is a wonderful thing to have part in what is spiritual. We are spiritual beings by the work of God. “He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”. Wrought us for what? To occupy a spiritual house, a house from heaven. As having the Spirit of God, and being formed by the Spirit, we are too great for our present earthly tabernacle house. Our bodies are not equal to what we are as the subjects of divine workmanship, the inner is greater than the outer. As heavenly we require a heavenly house, not a tabernacle house any more. Our present one is a tabernacle house, but the one we shall get is a house from heaven, a building from God, never to be taken down. Houses are not put up to be taken down, houses are put up to stay; tents are to be taken down.
There are many things contrasted in Scripture; the natural and the spiritual; the earthly and the heavenly; the old and the new order of things; then we have the temporal and eternal. What refers properly to Christians goes beyond the world to come.
When we get our heavenly bodies there is nothing to be added to that as regards ourselves. We may be seen in different positions, but we have already part in the eternal. Things which Christians are called to are present, and there are things to come, but we have part in eternal things. “All things” necessarily includes more than the assembly. Jesus knew that, so it is complete victory here. He knew that all things were given into His hand; in the consciousness of that He stoops down and washes the feet of His saints. The Man who has all things given into His hands is engaged with the saints.
Washing one another’s feet is a thing we ought to consider. One would like to get hold of the meaning of “one another”; that is, what saints are to each other. We can never be too thankful for each other. We are given to each other, and we are necessary to one another. We are to wash one another’s feet; so also we are to love one another and have love among ourselves. If such an One as Christ devotes Himself to the saints in this way, it shows what they are to Him. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me”. That must be spiritual, because the Lord contemplated being with the Father; and having part with Him would of necessity be of a spiritual character, not as they had had it when He was there with them corporeally.
Consequent on having part with Christ, they could have no part then in the temple; the temple system was all over for them. The world system implied what was religious, and in their case it was divinely instituted. All this is to be given up, and what is spiritual was to take the place of that for them and for us. The washing is the application of the death of Christ to our walk and ways; but, as a matter of the practical working out of it, you must have the water, and you must have the towel, before you can do this service. I think it results from the place Christ has in the soul. You go to a brother in the freshness and power of your enjoyment of the love of Christ, and it lifts the person up out of his circumstances, out of that which defiles him; and, of course, the conscience must be affected; but the difficulty often with this service is not having the towel. I think the towel implies resurrection; that is to say, the towel is that which sets a person at ease, the spirit is left at perfect ease, and the soul is at peace, but that can only be in resurrection; every disturbing thing is gone in resurrection. Being girded with the towel is the token of His service.
[p. 224] I think the towel indicates that He would be known to them in resurrection; everything that would cause a disturbance in the soul should be removed.
“If I then your Lord and master”. The point in this was to show that if such an One as He in His divine greatness rendered this service, it would be a great incentive for them to render it to one another. I have often said the first letter to the Corinthians is the water, and the second is the towel. The first brought in cleansing, and the second letter set them at their ease. The Lord laying aside His garments is an example, and on our side it is a question of laying down our dignity, if we have any. We are content to go down, to be nothing. In that way you would not be above the one you are washing. You do not give him the impression you are above him, and you have come down to help him; you take the place of being one like himself.
What an experience to be in the company of One risen from the dead. In Colossians the saints are said to be raised by the faith of God’s operation that raised Christ. As far as I see, the light of that in the soul sets it at perfect ease in the presence of God, because a risen man is suitable for going to heaven. I think resurrection takes you in spirit out of the world. Baptism in Colossians seems to imply resurrection. The whole point in this chapter is that it is an object lesson. He wanted them to know what He had done. How important it is that we should know what the Lord has done, and that as He has done we should do also. Feet washing is an act of love, it is not official. You will never wash a person’s feet unless you love him; your love would not allow a spot on him. It is a spiritual order of things in which the governing principle is love. Have love among yourselves. “One another” implies every one of us. You cannot say a gifted brother is to do it. It is “wash one another’s feet”.
Pages 225 - 294 — “Christianity — a Spiritual and Heavenly Order of Things”, New York, 1914 (Volume 22).