GREENWICH, JUNE 28TH, 1901

GREENWICH, JUNE 28TH, 1901

Mr. R. Anson.

My Dear Brother, — I am glad to send you a line though I cannot pretend to much intelligence on the points which you raise, though they have come at times under my notice. As regards the use of the word rhema in Ephesians 5:26, I think that the idea there is the fiat or utterance of God, which is the sword of God. It is this rather than the moral idea, though both are necessarily intimately connected. I do not think Scripture says ever that Christ is the rhema. He is the logos. Other cases in which the word rhema is used seem to confirm this. The fiat or utterance of God is that which is enduring, and it is with that one has to be girded. As regards Numbers 19, I do not know why the heifer was to be red. I have heard a reason suggested for its being a heifer, not a male, and that was that it was Christ in connection with Israel that was in view in the heifer, that is that in the death of Christ was the end of the system that God had formed in connection with Israel in the world, all with its glory came to an end in death, and thus the water of purification is furnished. We are cleansed in this way from the pollutions of the world. But this ^[p. 176] will not explain the meaning of the red, and I fear I cannot help you in reference to this. If all goes well, we shall hope to go again to Scarborough in the coming August, and if I see an opportunity of paying you a visit at Hull I will take care to give you timely notice. Please give my love in the Lord to Mr. Young and with the same to yourself, believe me,

Your affectionate brother,
F. E. Raven.