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GREENWICH, MARCH 21ST, 1890

I have thought it well, I trust before the Lord, to reprint, on my own responsibility, the text of my letter to Mr. O. of December 6th, 1889, adding some notes in explanation of points that in the text may not be quite clear, or may appear open to question. The text remains unchanged, save that the last paragraph is omitted for the reason that I believe some of the thoughts therein referred to have been withdrawn or modified. I take the opportunity of avowing in the most distinct and emphatic way that I never had in my mind the thought of separating eternal life from the Person of the Son of God, or of asserting that eternal life is, for a christian, any other than Christ. I would add that I have not been nor am without exercise of heart or sorrow before the Lord in regard to the strained and painful state of feeling existing amongst us; and I regret, on my own part, the measure in which it has been contributed to by obscure or defective expressions of mine which have gone abroad, taken from letters to individuals, or reports of readings. I can only say I wrote or spoke according to the light I had, and I have since sought to make all the amends in my power, without sacrificing the truth, by rendering explanation, I trust in patience, to all who desired it, both publicly, privately and by letter. Believing that what I have sought to maintain is substantially the truth as to christianity in its proper ^[p. 15] heavenly character, such as it has been brought before us by those most highly esteemed, I have confidence that the Lord will care for the simple who desire God’s will, and assure their hearts as to what is or is not of God.

F E. Raven.

The key to almost all that I have said lies in my objection to apply in an absolute way^† to the believer in his mixed condition down here statements in Scripture which refer to what he is, or what is true of him, viewed as in Christ.^† Such a practice results in the statements becoming mere dogmas, conveying

^†That is, in such a way as to exclude every other thought about him.

^†In Ephesians the believer is seen in Christ, according to the sovereign purpose and counsels of God who has raised Christ from the dead and set Him at His right hand by the working of His mighty power. Hence, as ‘in Christ,’ the believer is looked at as quickened together with Him by the same power of God. He is thus of a new order, morally of a new creation, which is outside the present creation or order of things in which he actually is, though the character and beauty of it are to come out in every sphere owned of God. In Romans the believer is, on the other hand, seen as alive on earth. He is justified, has peace with God, the Holy Spirit is given to him, he is dead to sin, and to reckon himself so and alive to God in Christ Jesus, and sin is not to reign in his mortal body to obey its lusts; he is dead to the law to be to Christ; not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, the righteousness of the law is to be fulfilled in him, and not a debtor to the flesh to fulfil flesh’s lust; has to do with the groaning creation, though he has the firstfruits of the Spirit. It is the life of responsibility here, though carried out in divine power. Truths which view the christian in one aspect cannot be used to weaken the force of the truth about him in another aspect. A christian is of God in Christ, a new creation, where old things have passed away and all things become new, in which is neither male nor female; but the truth which describes him in that aspect does not describe what he is in himself. At the same time, what he is in Christ is for faith as positively true as what he is and is recognised to be in himself as a man down here in the world.

^[p. 16] little sense of reality. This may be seen in regard to divine righteousness as spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5:21. The believer is in Christ, and as there,^† is become God’s righteousness in Christ; but besides this, he still is in a condition here, in which the existence of sin and the flesh are taken account of^† (the Spirit lusts against the flesh), and this is wholly distinct from our state in Christ, to which divine righteousness in its fullest sense applies. Christ in glory is the full expression of divine righteousness, and to be there as He is, is that into which grace introduces us in Christ. Hence, Paul looked to be found in Him having the righteousness which is of God by faith^†.

The above in no sense weakens or sets aside the reality of the believer’s present standing in Christ; it is his true position according to grace; but it needs to be borne in mind, that it is the position of the believer before God, distinct from his actual condition here with the consciousness of the existence of the flesh in him.

I may add a word of explanation as to the use of the word ‘state’. I have commonly used it as indicating that which is true of us as new-created in Christ (as seen in the new man) apart from any question of the christian’s walk here.

Next, as to eternal life. It was God’s purpose in Christ^† from eternity; it was, in essence, with the

^†That is, as in Him.

^†Not in a judicial way, but in fact.

^†I judge that 2 Corinthians 5:21, in its full scope, refers to the saints becoming in Christ in glory the witness or expression of God’s righteousness; because that righteousness was displayed in setting Him there. A comparison of verse 21 with verse 17 shows that the passage has reference to new creation, and therefore the remarks in the second note apply. The believer is made the righteousness of God ‘in Christ.’ It is in no sense a progressive thing in him, nor dependent on his practical state or experience.

^†That is, as to us. See 2 Timothy 1:9,10; Titus 1:1-3.

Father in eternity,^† but has now been manifested in the only-begotten Son of God, who came here declaring the Father, in such wise as that the apostles could see it,^† and afterwards declare it by the Spirit — but I regard it of all importance to maintain, clear and distinct from any purpose of blessing for man, the true Deity, the eternal Sonship of the Word. Eternal life is given to us of God, and is in God’s Son — for us it is the heavenly relationship and blessedness in which, in the Son, man is now placed and lives before the Father, the death of Christ having come in as the end before God of man’s state in the flesh^† “He that has the Son has life”; the testimony he has received concerning the Son is, by the Spirit, the power of life in the believer, he having been born of God to receive it.^† He has also eaten the flesh of the Son of man, and drunk His blood. But at the same time, the believer still has part in seen things here (which the Son has not^† and all that is seen is temporal, and will come to an end. It has no part in eternal life though it may be greatly influenced by it. As to eternal life being a technical term, it simply referred to the fact of its having been a term in common use among the Jews without any very definite meaning. They frequently

^†That is, in the Son, though I intended to convey this by the succeeding clause.

^†The apostles are mentioned in the text because they were the inspired instruments of declaring what they had seen. Others also were with Jesus and saw Him to be the eternal life, who to the unbelieving eyes of men was only the son of Joseph, the carpenter.

^†This is not intended as a definition of eternal life but an endeavour to convey the thought that eternal life means for a christian a wholly new order of things, which is in its nature outside the world and seen things — it belongs to another scene.

^†It might be added here that it is by the Son that the believer lives, he is in Him that is true, that is, in His Son Jesus Christ, who is the true God and eternal life.

^†Though in the days of His flesh He had.

^[p. 18] came to the Lord with questions as to it, and thought they had it in the Scriptures.

As to our relationship with God, whether of child or son, it is of gift, conveyed through the gospel. We are sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. Christ came to redeem that we might receive sonship. It is the full fruit and effect of redemption. Hence, it is in resurrection Jesus says to His disciples, “I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. (John 20:17) The full consequences of redemption belong now to every one who has faith in the Person and work of Christ; none the less, the real entering of the soul on heavenly blessing, of which relationship is the highest part, is in the putting on of Christ, and demands “the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which has been shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour”. (Titus 3:5) It is the Spirit of God’s Son sent forth into our hearts that cries, Abba, Father.

I may add a few words in regard to new birth. It is an absolute necessity for man, if he has to do with God in blessing. It lies at the beginning of all — without it a man cannot see, much less receive any saving testimony. It is the sovereign act of the Spirit of God. Peter and John both recognise that those who were really in the faith of Christ were born again of the word of God, or born of God — a seed of God has been implanted in them from the outset. None the less, new birth of itself does not conduct into heavenly relationship or blessing.^† For this, something more was needed, namely, redemption, which in its full power, sets man in Christ in glory, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which fits man for the new order of things. Of course, these are now, through grace, the portion of the believer.

F E. Raven.

^†On the other hand, the Son of God, who is the life of every believer, is the source of all life for men.

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