THE SUBSTANTIALITY OF CHRISTIANITY
[p. 126] THE SUBSTANTIALITY OF CHRISTIANITY
1 Corinthians 10:17; Hebrews 6:4 - 6; 2 Peter 1:4; Hebrews 3:1
I have read these scriptures because they each contain the word ‘partaker’; by the Lord’s help I wish to dwell on the word in these four settings. I have particularly in view to stress that Christianity is substantial, not merely theoretical or doctrinal, as in ancient and current religions accepted by the world.
Christianity is substantial in a spiritual sense, based on the great fact of the incarnation, which is substantiated by Paul, and is an essential thought. God is said to be a spirit, but in the economy He has come into He is known in manhood, as it is said, “God ... manifest in flesh”. Much is developed from that fact, to establish the great principle of substance in a spiritual sense in such wise as to be within the range of the creature, to be intelligible to us whose constitutions are substantial. True indeed, man’s condition involves spirit. ‘Spirit, soul and body’ is the formula by which he is known, and our Lord Jesus has become partaker of this condition. The word used is ‘partaker’. It is a real matter, not imaginary humanity, but a real humanity; so much so that the angel Gabriel, speaking of the Son of God to Mary, the mother of our Lord, said to her, “The holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God” (Luke 1:35). It is not holy Person or Babe, but holy Thing.
John says by the Spirit, any spirit that confesses not Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God. It is not that He was Jesus Christ before becoming flesh, but the allusion is to the Person who had part in the Deity as presented in John. In this gospel he presents the Word as with God, and the Word was God. But to make this come within our range involved the fact of the [p. 127] incarnation. It is Jesus Christ come in flesh, and moreover He came by water and by blood; that does not refer to birth, but to His death. Jesus Christ come in flesh alludes to incarnation. Jesus Christ coming by water and by blood refers to the death of Christ. Incarnation alone would have been ineffectual. There could be no redemption save that He came by water and by blood. The condition in which we were needed water for cleansing of our moral state, and blood for dealing with our transgressions, offences and guilt. His coming in flesh refers to tangible things, and pours contempt on mysticism and spiritism.
Christianity is founded on substantiality and divinity, and so, as I said, Gabriel begins with that thought, that holy Thing which is to be called Son of God. How much and how effectively the Spirit of God enables the saints to understand the holy name of Christ, and would impress upon our hearts that although it is in relation to birth, it, nevertheless, marks Him off as divine, such as is in mind in Romans 1:4, “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”. A wonderful thought. He is marked off. The writer of the Hebrews says, “Since therefore the children partake of blood and flesh, he also, in like manner, took part in the same”, Hebrews 2:14. The children alluded to were the saints in Old or New Testament times. “He does not indeed take hold of angels by the hand, but he takes hold of the seed of Abraham”, (Hebrews 2:16). It was a genuine real thought. He took flesh and blood in that condition, in order to yield what was in the way of divine blessing for the children, the divine thought for man. So that is what I have in mind in these remarks.
We are dealing with what is substantial, and God would bring us into substantiality in ourselves, and not to be mere hearers, as many are, mentally assenting to doctrines and principles without substantial results in our souls. And so the first scripture alludes to the [p. 128] saints as a body, and this is a substantial thought. What I have in mind corresponds with our Lord as He partook in flesh and blood, and took a body. We have to distinguish between the idea of the body, and the idea of the condition. Of course the condition involved the body, but the idea of the body furnishes an instrument, and the thought is carried on to the saints from Christ. The thought in this verse is — we being many are one body, all partakers of that one loaf. The bread which we break is the communion or the fellowship of the body of Christ. We Christians, although many, are one body, expressed in the symbol in the Lord’s supper, but expressed spiritually, and in spiritual substantiality. The links and bonds by which we are held, held by joints and bands, all that enters into the organism. The saints sitting down to partake of the Lord’s supper as a unit are held as a body, and the idea corresponds with what was said by the Lord, coming into the world, “Thou hast prepared me a body”,(Hebrews 10:5). It was not something previous to, but begins with, incarnation, coming here, as in Luke, and He speaks in it, and intimates to God that He would glorify Him in it. All the divine will should be, and was, carried out. He has now gone up to heaven bodily, but the idea of the body remains in a substantial way in the saints collectively. They are usable to God as units. But the one great idea of God in the saints in relation to Christ, and of the saints answering to the thoughts divinely seen, such as “So also is the Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12), is that the saints are baptised by one Spirit into one body, and are viewed as a holy vessel here. It is a wonderful thought.
Attention is called to the partakers in a locality here, a local assembly; we have the wonderful statement “So also is the Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). We are of Christ, not that we are the body; it is a question of the character of it here, not the whole thought, but the character of it, the collective idea; “Ye are Christ’s body” (1 Corinthians 12:27), where two [p. 129] or three are walking together in the light of Christ and the assembly. So this verse, as I said, suggests we are one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread and that one body, partakers in a tangible way in the Spirit, experiencing a real substantial feeling as we are together. The allusion is to the body as the vessel of the Lord. In Matthew’s account of the Supper, the Lord uses the word “Take, eat: this is my body” (Matthew 26:26) and in Mark’s, He says “Take this: this is my body”, (Mark 14:22). In John He does not speak of His body, but in chapter 6 He speaks of eating His flesh, which speaks of His condition that is to be appropriated. Both flesh and blood are connected with life. John has in mind life, that the saints are a living people here, because of His blood which has purified us. This is food with negative and positive effects on us. The Lord took up the state of death to terminate flesh and blood. God’s object is not what we are in flesh, that is not what God had in mind as to the Lord.
In John 6, one of the most substantial chapters in Scripture, the Lord has in mind that we should be in life. So that at the end of the chapter, we have Peter saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal; and we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God” (John 6:68,69). We being many are one bread, one body. This thought is to be carried by the saints in every locality. It is very practical if we understand the great thought. We may be in the holy bond of fellowship. That is what God intends us to be in this town. Of course one could say much more, but I wanted to present four sides of the subject. It is very practical as to what we are going on with; it challenges us as to whether we are making room for these things.
In Hebrews 6, the passage refers primarily to those who became partakers of the Holy Spirit, and then fell away. But that is not what I have in mind. What [p. 130] is before me is this thought of believers partaking of the Holy Spirit. That one might do that, and then become apostate, is a solemn thought. It is a very solemn thing that one might partake of the Holy Spirit, and fall away, never again to be recovered; for such there is no recovery. It is a terrible thought that one might fall away. The Spirit of God deals with strong terms in this epistle, which refers to these times of apostasy, that one might fall away, although numbered among the people of God, never again to have repentance. What a serious matter to be lost, to have no interest in these things at all, one who had once enjoyed these things. A Christian may have part in spiritual benefits, and enjoy these things and yet become apostate. Now I am speaking of the Christian partaking of these things in a real way; he knows something of joy in the Holy Spirit, joy sent down from heaven at Pentecost, all sharing in the Holy Spirit. That is the first feature in Acts, so Peter says the believers were not full of new wine; he explained that God had made Christ Jesus, Lord and Christ in heaven, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which ye now see and hear (Acts 2:33), setting forth in figure new wine — holy heavenly joy brought down and sent down from heaven, filling all persons, partakers of the Holy Spirit. It is a challenge to every heart, not what we find in our own hearts, but the love of God shed abroad in our hearts; joy in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes the heart glad; joy is there. It is said of the early Christians that one hundred and twenty were all together in one place, and heard the sound out of heaven, a rushing mighty wind. It is what came out of heaven and filled the house where they were sitting. What a place it must have been! All the house was filled with that wonderful sound from heaven. This is what we can depend on. “There appeared to them parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:3). Next to the Lord Jesus the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift heaven provided; the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. What a real thing it is to be partakers of the Spirit! These people referred to in Hebrews 6 shared in the present effect of the Spirit’s presence in the assembly. Much is said about the Holy Spirit of God. It is a real thing to be a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and to know how substantial He is.
One might just see what is said in John’s gospel; the Spirit of God in that gospel is referred to in terms which present Him substantially, not as a theory, but a Person. In his first reference to the Holy Spirit, John the baptist says that he saw the Spirit descending as a dove on Jesus, a substantial thought.
Then in chapter 3 the Spirit’s activities are likened to the wind, another substantial thought. The wind is invisible but everyone knows how powerful it is. In chapters 4 and 7 we have the figure of water, speaking of how substantial and tangible the Holy Spirit is. Later the Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit as another Comforter, who would bring divine comfort and support, just the same as Jesus had. Jesus came in by incarnation, but was about to leave them, but the Spirit was to abide with them as another Comforter.
In chapter 20 the Lord speaks to them and then breathes into them. His own breath, how touching that is! Adam became a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving Spirit; He breathed into them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), something most real and most substantial. One is afraid of our having theory, but not substance. Christianity is real.
Now to come to the third point, the divine nature. We are made partakers of the divine nature, not that we could partake in deity, but it is simply what is characteristic. Peter speaks of certain qualities, for instance, divine power, life, godliness, glory, and virtue, substantial things. Then Peter says that through these ye might become partakers of the divine nature. What [p. 132] we get in this verse, what Peter speaks of here and in the whole chapter, is substantial. Peter had seen that sight on the mount of transfiguration. He says they were with Him on the holy mountain. They saw the glory that was His. He refers here to qualities which are now Christian features. God has called us by glory and virtue. That is a real thing, not merely mental, but power in which glory and virtue is effected. He has called us out of the world. These words are for our meditation; I would urge brethren to study these verses in Peter. This is substantial: may we be characterised by this substance, not simply believing in these things. They are substantial things which we have and we are to add them to each other.
So divine nature understands Christ. We could never partake in the deity of God. It is a question o what has come out in “Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant”, (Philippians 2:5 - 7). The Lord here was a real Man among men. Think of Him working as a carpenter, taking a place and moving here among men! How real it all was! and that, being found in figure as a man He humbled Himself. That is what He did when in figure as a man. Divine nature is what is in mind. The Scripture warrants divine nature. It is a question of character, what we can partake in, what God has set out here in men of God, not deity, but a moral setting out of what God is. We have part in that; it is a question of nature.
Peter says that our partaking of the divine nature is the outcome of certain qualities that have been given to us; he would have us possess them as a company.
In Hebrews 3:1 we have, “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession”. This is an appeal to all Christians, not excluding worldly Christians, by presenting greater things here. It is addressed to “holy brethren”, not simply ‘brethren’, as if the apostle would clothe the saints with God’s thoughts of them. What greater incentive could there be than to be addressed as “holy brethren”! Holiness comes about by chastening, and we have the word ‘partaker’ in that connection.
The Lord Jesus is dealing with us as sons. The thought of enduring discipline proves that we are sons. Sons do not turn aside from God; the end is that we may be partakers of God’s holiness, real holiness. We may be partakers of holiness; we are addressed as holy brethren and then as partakers of the heavenly calling; what a great prospect, dear brethren, it is to have part in this. The saints have a heavenly calling; what a great portion is ours in the assembly! This passage contemplates that we have part in it already for we are partakers of the heavenly calling.
In Philippians 3:3, which is full of the energy of the man of faith, the apostle Paul says, “We are the circumcision”, not the concision which refers to people who do not go the whole way. He goes the whole way. He wants to apprehend that for which he had been apprehended of Christ Jesus. We should never lose the sense of our heirship, it should be always in our minds: it is heavenly and is with Christ, who is in the glory with God. The goal Paul had before him was the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. John says we shall see Him and be like Him. In Philippians our body of humiliation will be transformed into conformity to His body of glory. That should be the great goal in mind for every Christian, and for the encouragement of the saints. Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. That is the word, dear brethren.
Pages 134 - 279 — “Notes of Readings in New York”, 1937 (Volume 138).