THE LAW OF CHRIST
[p. 97] THE LAW OF CHRIST
It will be allowed that what was really operative and true in the apostle Paul should be true and operative in us. The principle on which the apostle walked is the principle on which we have to walk, and there is no other true principle. God had not one rule for the apostle and another for us. The apostle speaks of himself, but he speaks of himself as an example, and that comes out in the end of the second chapter. The fact is that he presents for us the truth in himself. The “I” is not exactly personal, but more the personification of the truth in himself. He says, “I, through law, have died to law, that I may live to God”. The same would be true of any christian who had been under law. The fact is that the law had demonstrated to the apostle how contrary he was to God. The law was the ministration of death and made plain to man that the sentiments and springs in man are contrary to God. The law prohibited this and that, but the principle of it made plain and was intended to make plain to man his contrariety. It was said, “Thou shalt not covet”. God does not covet. If man covets, he is contrary to God, and where is the than that does not covet? There were things in man that were not in accord with God, and if contrary to what is in God they could not be right in man. God created man in His own image and likeness, and therefore if there is found in man that which is contrary to God, it proves that man has departed from God, and the law made that manifest. All of us know this, for there is no one in the world of whom it can be said, he does not covet. Well, the law brought that home to the apostle and led him to say here, “I, through law, have died to law”, that is, in other words, the law killed him, because it demonstrated to him that there was that in him which was contrary to God. That is, it killed him in his conscience, but [p. 98] that was met and he accepted it. He says, “I, through law, have died to law, that I may live to God. I am crucified with Christ”, His mind was brought into accord with the crucifixion of Christ, so it is with regard to us. We are able to say, “I am crucified with Christ”. Christ was crucified in fact, we are crucified with Him by being in accord with that which has taken place in Him. That ought to be the case with every christian, for the cross of Christ came in, not simply that we might live, but that in the first instance we might accept death. Death and the curse lay upon us, and the death of Christ came in so that we might accept it, and by so doing might find life, the other side of death, in Christ. That is a point of all moment, and hence we are in accord in mind with that which took place in Christ in fact. But on the other hand the apostle says, “no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me”. That is, that the object of the death of Christ was that we might accept death in regard of the course of things in which we previously lived, but then it is that “Christ lives in me”. Then the apostle adds a word, “in that I now live in flesh”, that is in that I live here in responsibility, I live by faith, that is, not by law, “the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”. Now I will tell you the practical import of faith. What you believe governs you. That is always a test of faith. The devils believe and tremble, but they are not governed by what they believe. They only tremble. When the Lord was here upon earth demons knew Him as Son of God, but were not governed by this knowledge. Faith apprehends unseen things, and what marks the christian is that he is governed by unseen things. I think people sometimes make a mistake about faith. A great many people here have never seen England and yet all believe there is such a place as England, but there is no faith in that, because if you had the opportunity you could go to England and verify it. That is not faith. Faith is the acceptance of things on sufficient testimony, that you cannot verify, and yet you are governed and controlled by [p. 99] the things that you cannot verify. You accept them on testimony. God gives testimony, and God has taken care that there shall be ample evidence to the testimony; but we have to accept things on the testimony of God, and if you could verify them there would not be faith. The truth is that we believe in things which are not seen. We know them only on the report from God, and yet they are of such import to us down here that they govern us in all the detail of life. That is virtually what the apostle says here, “in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”. One effect of that in the apostle was that he overcame the world. We read elsewhere, in the writings of the apostle John, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but be that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” Christ overcame the world, and so did the apostle. The world sought to overcome Christ, and so, too, the apostle. The apostle in overcoming the world had to encounter all the force of man and to overcome it. The apostle did not trim his sails to suit either Jew or gentile. He was apart from the Jew, and from the gentile as from the Jew, because by faith he overcame the world, and did not accommodate himself to what was here.
Law no longer governed the apostle, nor idolatry, philosophy, nor anything here. The spring and principle of the apostle’s activity and life was the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him. If that was true for the apostle it should be true in regard of you and me. You cannot go right except by Christ. There is not a single thing we can do right except under the influence of Christ. Everything you do under His influence is right. There is nothing else that is right or suitable to God. The apostle’s life was under the influence of Christ, whether it was joyful or sorrowful. It was a sweet savour to God. The same principle applies to us. What we do under the influence of Christ is acceptable to God and nothing else, and in so doing we overcome the world. Many of us have suffered as much from the approaches of the world as [p. 100] from the opposition of the world. If they cannot subdue you one way, they try another, but it is all no good, the point is to overcome the world, and the principle on which you overcome is the faith of the Son of God. I should suppose we are entitled to individualise the Son of God as the apostle did here. He had been as perverse as any one. He was the leader and apostle of opposition to Christ, and yet Christ had loved him and given Himself for him. I think one may appropriate the Son of God to himself in that way. If Paul said it, I would be glad to say it, and I would be glad that anybody else should appropriate the Son of God in the same way, and that is the principle and spring of conduct down here upon earth.
As an illustration of it, I will ask your attention to John 9: 34 - 39. You see the Lord had virtually left the world. In the previous chapter He had passed out of the midst of the Jews. He had not yet died, but He had left the world in spirit. Well, He had given sight to the blind man, and the blind man had found out the hollowness of the world. I cannot say he had quite judged it all, but he had found its hollowness and had been cast out. He had simply attributed the fact of his having sight to the work of Jesus. Then the Lord finds him and brings him to the point of confession that he believes in the Son of God. Then it was, I take it, that he overcame the world. I have no doubt when he was first cast out that he was miserable enough, for he was alone, but it was another thing when Jesus found him, then he believes on the Son of God and does Him homage. He could not perhaps go so far as to say, “the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me”, but he could have said the Son of God who has opened my eyes. It is an illustration, in that sense, of one who had overcome the world. You have to take into account that the Son of God has now no part in the course of things down here. The Son of God is at the right hand of God, and we walk by the faith of Him, and what we believe governs us in our course and conduct down here. In human things a wife does right when she [p. 101] walks and lives in the sense of her husband’s love. So with a child in a family, it does right while it is under the influence of its parents’ affection. That is the secret of right conduct on earth. I believe it would be the same even between employer and employed — if the employed had respect and affection for the employer, they would act rightly. And I am sure it is so in regard of christians. The principle and spring of everything right is in the heart being under the influence of the Son of God.
Now I want to go on to another point, that for which I read a passage in this same epistle, that is, “faith which worketh by love”, (chapter 5: 6). When saints get away from the influence of the love of Christ, they soon get to biting and devouring one another. They do not give up outward proprieties; the tendency of the Galatians was to go back to circumcision and law. No doubt regard to circumcision and law would bring about a good deal of outward propriety, but, as regards one another, love was not there. Depend upon it, where people are legal the tendency is to bite and devour one another. That is where the Galatians had got to. People begin to stand on their rights, and that is always a dangerous thing. It is only one step from biting and devouring one another. In contrast to that the apostle says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any force, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”. That is the point I desire to touch on.
We do not know much about circumcision or uncircumcision, but in their place we get orthodoxy and heterodoxy and there is no power in one or the other. Circumcision was better than uncircumcision because it was ordered of God. So good doctrine may be better than heterodoxy, but neither in orthodoxy nor heterodoxy is there power. The correct man, like the Pharisee, has a good deal of credit attaching to him, but there is no more power in it than in heterodoxy. The divine principle is faith that worketh by love; that is a most important principle. We cannot talk much about faith if there is not love. When [p. 102] the heart is under the influence of the Son of God, then it is that faith is operative by love, and I think I may say that it is a true principle that if you fail to find love in the saints you may depend upon it faith is not very bright.
Just to give you an illustration of that, I will call your attention to Luke 10: 38 - 42 and John 12: 1 - 7. 1 refer to Luke 10 because that is the first allusion we have to Mary of Bethany and the attitude of Mary was that of sitting at Jesus’ feet and hearing His word. That is, in other words, she was under the influence of the Son of God. The Lord commended her. Martha found fault with her, because she was herself occupied with serving. She was legal and where people are legal they are fussy and active. That is generally an evidence of legality. It was not but what she believed in Christ just as really as Mary, but she had not come under the influence of the Son of God and Mary had. That is seen in her sitting at the feet of Jesus. It is blessed to sit at Jesus’ feet because you come under His influence. When a little child sits at the feet of its mother, and hears her word, he not only hears what the mother has to say, but comes under the mother’s influence. In John 12 faith is seen operative in Mary by love, that is, that Mary would devote the most precious thing that she had, to distinguish the Lord; she thus made evident her faith. It was operative by love. She would anoint the Lord for His burial. What she had before her mind in connection with Christ was His burial. There may have been faith as to His resurrection, but the Lord’s interpretation was that she anointed Him for His burial. It was an act of devoted affection on her part. The disciples blamed her for it; they thought it waste. They were poor judges. I have seen this in life — if faith is operative in you, people of the world will blame you. They will think you are losing opportunities. You must be prepared for that. When faith works by love it will break through the laws of human prudence, but human prudence is not very far off from covetousness. Christ was life to Mary and she sought to distinguish her life. Every [p. 103] one tries to distinguish his life. She was dead in a certain sense, but she distinguished her life. The fact of your living down here is not morally your life. Let me give you a word of admonition. Take pains to distinguish Christ. To want to be yourself conspicuous is a mistake. Try and make Christ distinguished. But I can understand any one saying, we have not Christ here; we are not like Mary; she had the Lord before her in the house in Bethany, and a great opportunity of doing honour to Him. It is true that we are not brought into the same personal contact with Christ that Mary was. But I think I can meet that difficulty.
If you will turn to John 21: 15 - 19, we can carry the thought on there in regard of Peter; he had faith, but there was a passage in his life when his faith was certainly not operative by love. Another thing came in; Peter, being a rather rash man, entered into temptation. The Lord had taught the disciples to pray that they should not enter into temptation, but Peter ran into temptation. He did what a great many of us have done sometimes. He got into a position for which he had no faith, which is always a mistake, for you are bound to fail. People may extend to you the courtesies of the world, and you may go into worldly company, having no faith for it; and it will not be for your credit or honour. You do not want to get into a position for which you have no faith. Peter did and the fear of man came in and led to the denial of the Lord. He denied the Lord three times, and that is why possibly the Lord challenged him three times. But faith in Christ was there. We have good evidence of it, because the Lord said, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not”. There was the terrible breakdown, but instead of Peter going out and giving up in despair, he wept bitterly and Peter was in result restored. But now the Lord was about to leave the earth and the faith of Peter was to become operative by love. How could it go out? Now the Lord gives direction to it. He challenges Peter three times and the point of all was this, that his [p. 104] affection for Christ was to go out to the sheep and lambs of Christ, faith was to become operative by love. The love was to find its objects in those who belong to the Lord down here upon earth. It is a wonderful thing to think that the Lord has objects here. We have an object in heaven; and it is inconceivably blessed to think that the Lord Jesus has objects down here upon earth. They are not in heaven yet; they are here upon earth. His sheep and lambs are here. There are many spirits of saints with the Lord, but they are but spirits of saints; those for whom Christ has affection at the present time are upon earth; and, if faith is operative by love, the direction love will take will be toward those who are precious to Christ here. The Lord gave that direction to Peter and he answered to the Lord, and his affection went out to the lambs and sheep as you see in his epistles. He occupied the place of a shepherd to the Jewish sheep and lambs of the Lord. So that faith became operative by love, even when the Lord was absent from the earth. Mary had an opportunity when the Lord was here; Peter had an opportunity when the Lord had gone. Now that has a voice for you and me. It is a blessed thing to know that we are to be for ever with the Lord, but that is not yet. The voice of the archangel will sound and we shall be caught up to be for ever with the Lord, and we shall have continued affection for the Lord then, but that is not just yet. We are left here for the moment to walk under the influence of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. And, if faith is operative by love, the direction of that love will be in regard of those upon earth who are precious to Christ.
Another difficulty might be raised. ‘There are so few of them one can get at. There are so many much better christians in this thing and that thing, that I never come across’. The thing is to make the best you can of what comes to hand. There is no good in hankering after those you cannot come in contact with. If you cannot get at them, make the best you can of those that are at hand.
[p. 105] What comes to hand may not be of the very highest quality, but it comes to hand, and, poor as it may be, it is within the bounds of possibility that it may be precious to Christ, and we cannot do much harm in going out to what is precious to Christ. Hence we have opportunity. Faith is operative by love and we want to cultivate it, so that instead of being governed by motives and maxims of human prudence, our love should go out to those we come in contact with; that is the word I give you. That was the principle with the apostle. He had hated christians in times past, but now faith had come in. He was prepared to spend and be spent for the sake of those who were Christ’s.
One word occurs to me in regard of him, he says, “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”. It is a blessed thing to love one another. We prove our love to Christ by loving one another. If a man told me he loved Christ I would say let me see it. Let me see what you are to the saints in service to them, and what you are to them proves the reality of your affection to Christ Himself. It is a great thing if we walk in love one to another. It was the commandment of the Lord Jesus. “These things I command you, that ye love one another”. Do not be surprised if the world hate you, but, as to you, love one another. What I have tried to bring before you is, that faith is operative by love and there is opportunity of letting your love go out to those who are the objects of affection to Christ down here.