THE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE
THE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE
The above terms involve much in divine things; the first describes God’s grace, what God has done for us; the second, the work of grace in us, how we [p. 279] answer to His purpose. There is a tendency in us all to be occupied with either of them to the exclusion the other, and this is a cause of great moral defect.
There are two systems of doctrine prevalent in christendom: the one taken from the objective side is called Calvinistic - the other taken from the subjective, called Arminian. It is of deep importance for us to understand how the objective and subjective are maintained together.
In Old Testament times we see certain blessings given by God to man. After the deluge man was set up in a new way on the earth, in favour and in power, and instead of using his power for God, his independence of God culminated in Babel. There was no answer in the heart of man to God’s grace; the subjective was ignored.
When God gave promises to faith, while there was the obedience of faith, there was answer to the promise, so that the subjective state became the proof that the promise was of God, as we see remarkably in Abraham’s case. He “believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4: 3), and he proved experimentally his faith in God forty years afterwards when he offered up Isaac, a remarkable evidence of his dependence upon God, and of his obedience of faith. See James 2: 21 - 23: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness”, etc. He not only believed that the promise came from God, but he gave a most wonderful evidence of his faith in the God of promise by the experimental obedience in which he proved it. When Israel had lost faith, there was no answer in them to the promise of God. They had been carried down into Egypt (figuratively the world), and there became [p. 280] bondmen. But God delivered Israel out of Egypt. Moses fully responded to His grace; he conducted the people through the wilderness, and Joshua brought them into Canaan. There God looked for the obedience of faith; and He gave them a king after His own heart, so that the power to rule which God had given to man was now with Israel. But they forsook the Lord; there was no subjective answer to God’s grace; and they were carried into Babylon, and eventually power was transferred to the gentile, and Israel came under the rule of Rome.
We see all through how God was for them, which is the objective; on the other hand, we see how few answered to His grace with experimental ability to enjoy it, which is the subjective. It may be reasoned here that man had not then received the Spirit, and therefore was not able to answer to God’s purpose; still we see very plainly how God expected a practical course corresponding to His grace. If we study the prophets we see how Israel failed to answer to the grace of God; the objective was perfect, and continued, though at times there was no subjective, no answer to it in the people. The great plaint in the prophet Isaiah was, “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” (Isaiah 5: 4). Again, in Jeremiah the Lord says, “my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water”, Jeremiah 2: 13.
When Christ came, both had their perfect place with Him. He knew the full purpose of God’s heart, and He completely answered to it, so that He combined the two in Himself. He could say, “I do always those things that please him”. (John 8: 29) Now by the grace of God every believer is saved by what God has wrought; in this the believer has no hand nor part, all is of God’s [p. 281] pure grace. When in faith His grace is accepted, having believed on Him who raised Christ from the dead, you receive the Spirit of God, that you may not only know that God is for you, but that you may have the nature and ability to be a witness of His grace through His Spirit dwelling in you; so that it is not by any attempt of your own, or by introspection, that you answer to His grace, but by His Spirit who makes it true to you, that it is, “not I, but Christ liveth in me”. (Galatians 2: 20) The objective and the subjective should be combined in every believer, and thus he would be an imitator of God as a dear child of His; Ephesians 5: 1.
But christendom has departed from the purpose of God, and having no true idea of His grace, there has been the attempt to be subjective according to human ideas, adopting the law as a rule of life; for where the objective is lost, the subjective must be imperfect. Hence we see the varied attempts in the godly to recover lost ground ending in confusion and extremes the one contenting themselves that all is done by God, and thus losing sight of the work of the Spirit in us - the subjective effect on our side; the other ignoring or limiting the objective, or God’s purpose for us, and thinking that by persistent doing and religious exercises we may arrive at what will please God. Not knowing in themselves that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made them free from the law of sin and death, they try to improve themselves - to make themselves more fit for the eye of God, instead of seeing that they are before Him “in Christ”.
When christendom departed from the truth that the grace of God had conferred all on us, and had become leavened by Judaism, some had zeal though not according to knowledge, in attempting to establish their own righteousness, but did not submit to the righteousness of God; hence the objective being little known (which is true of christendom to this day), the subjective must be unknown or imperfect.
[p. 282] But I must add that when the knowledge of the objective - the fulness of God’s purpose in grace, was restored to the church during this century, many received it gladly; but the effect on some was that because God had done all for them, there was no claim that they were to be in moral correspondence to it; the purpose of God in grace was accepted, but the work of the Spirit in them to enable them to answer to that purpose was overlooked; consequently instead of commending the greatness of God’s grace which they knew objectively, they accepted this knowledge of His grace, without the experimental state that could enjoy it. This could only result in earthly-mindedness; and in union with Christ not being known and realised, so as to come from Him, and so to maintain His name in heavenly power on the earth.
No one can read the epistles and John’s gospel in the light of the Spirit, without seeing that the great burden of them is that Christ should be formed in the saints, so that they might be able to enter experimentally into God’s grace. If we look at the objective we have everything in Christ, but there is no fruit unless we abide in Him. In John’s epistles the great point is, “now, little children, abide in him”. (1 John 2: 28) This has nothing to do with looking in on yourself, because the first experience on Christ being formed in you is that “our old man is crucified with him”. (Romans 6: 6) “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness .. . but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”. (Romans 8: 13) This is all experimental, bringing us into personal acquaintance with the life and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Souls are deceived by separating the subjective from the objective. God bestows the gift of His grace, and by His Spirit He fits every believer for the enjoyment of His grace. It is impossible for a person walking in the Spirit not to be in a divine state to enjoy the grace given, just as the prodigal received [p. 283] the best robe - Christ, in order to enjoy the great supper.
No one can experimentally reach Christ where He is until he is conducted by the Spirit over Jordan, to the sphere of Christ’s life; there He is known as Head, and there union is realised. I have never see anyone who confined himself to the objective (though he may be very clear as to what God has wrought) who seemed to have any acquaintance with Him as over Jordan, or of being in association with Christ in heaven. Each of us must remember that we are in presence of the Laodicean phase of the church’s history, where they boast of their christian privileges and great acquisitions, without Christ, and without any practical benefit from them.