LIFE AMONG THE SAINTS
[p. 51] LIFE AMONG THE SAINTS
Romans 6: 4; Romans 8: 1 - 10; Romans 12: 1
I wish to speak of life. The idea of life is found in Genesis chapter 1; it is at first vegetable life, which is brought in on the third day of creation. It says that “the earth brought forth grass, herb producing seed after its kind, and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in them, after their kind” Genesis 1:12. Life is indicated in the seed which is found in the fruit of the tree. The Lord uses this feature of life (vegetable life), to speak of Himself, under the figure of a grain of wheat: “Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit”, John 12: 24. After having brought in vegetable life, God made the lights, on the fourth day: “the great light to rule the day” Genesis 1:16, placed by God in the expanse of the heavens, is a figure of Christ in glory. Then, on the fifth day, we have animal life. These two features of life — vegetable life and animal life — are applied to believers.
The highest thought relating to life is life in man. Man obtained life in a different way from the lower creation: “Jehovah Elohim formed Man, dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Man became a living soul”.
In the epistle to the Romans, we find exactly this feature of life. In the first passage we read, it speaks of walking in newness of life; this follows from the raising of Christ from among the dead by the glory of the Father. What a wonderful truth is presented to us in the resurrection of Christ! “... in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”. In Christ, the believer has life, and his practical life results from the fact that He has been raised. The expression “in newness of life” indicates that until then there had been nothing like it; it is some [p. 52] thing new, the first feature of life that can be considered in the believer: “We have been buried therefore with him by baptism unto death, in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”. It appeared in Jesus; we have the life of Jesus, but it is a life altogether new. When this epistle was read in the assembly at Rome, the believers must have understood that this new life differed from every other kind of life in Rome, and they must have wondered how they could realise this newness of life; each one could reflect that in all that he did, his deportment ought to be different from what it had been up till then. Thus the christian takes on an absolutely new character. It will not be a life without interest; the believer will be happy in that life. He will not be able to think that to be different from the world is a loss of joy; on the contrary, he will enjoy true happiness, and will enjoy it in newness of life, so that at Rome there will be a testimony for God, in persons who are different from others.
In chapter 8, the apostle speaks of “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”, not the spirit of life at Rome; the idea is that the life is in a Person, “in Christ Jesus”. “The Spirit of life” is something inward, something which one enjoys; it is only intelligible to those who have it, but it has a powerful effect: “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”. It is “the Spirit of life”; but in verse 10 it says “the Spirit life”. It is necessary to distinguish between these two thoughts. “The Spirit life on account of righteousness” is a power in the soul to practise righteousness; so that a christian does not practise righteousness in a legal way, but in a spiritual way. There is with the believer something that corresponds to God, in the practice of righteousness: “If ye know that he is righteous, know that every one who practises righteousness is begotten of him”, 1 John 2: 29. The Spirit being life is a constant power to make us [p. 53] practise righteousness. And righteousness is now practised in power where the body had been in bondage to sin. God is thus glorified where He had been dishonoured. That is an important characteristic in relation to a local assembly. The persons of a local assembly belong to their locality: the Corinthians belonged to Corinth, the Thessalonians to Thessalonica. In a local assembly the persons glorify God where they had dishonoured Him; they manifest in that way that there is in them the evidence of life. They walk “in newness of life” (chapter 6: 4), their mind being governed by a law, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (chapter 8: 2), and the Spirit in them leads them to practise righteousness (chapter 8: 10). Thus believers are practically in testimony.
The epistle to the Corinthians is the counterpart of the epistle to the Romans. The epistle to the Romans places believers in justification of life: the boards of the tabernacle are set up on the bases of silver; the teaching of the epistle to the Romans constitutes believers as these boards, so that they are viewed as standing together erect in the testimony. The epistle to the Romans does not unfold, in a general way, the truth of the assembly; it is true that chapter 12 alludes to the body, but the whole truth of the assembly is not developed there, while the epistle to the Corinthians views the same persons as placed in the assembly; that is the collective side: the boards are in place and the tabernacle is set up. The saints at Corinth are called “the assembly of God which is in Corinth” 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 2:1. And the principles of which we have spoken are put into practice by the saints collectively, by the assembly of God at Corinth. The epistle to the Romans develops a living state of things among the saints, even as regards sacrifice, of which the thought is presented in chapter 12 — a living sacrifice. The Lord had said: “He that follows me ... shall have the light of life”, John 8: 12. He who follows Jesus reaches the sphere of life; he has “the light of life”. When down here, the Lord Jesus was the light of men, because in Him was life. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” John 1:4. He is now in heaven; the Holy Spirit has come down: and life can be seen to develop with the believer. Life is in evidence: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren”, 1 John 3: 14. If a soul follows the Lord Jesus, it will be led into this sphere of life, and it will not be satisfied until it has reached it. If there is a living state of things in a meeting, it may be small, others will be attracted; sitting down alongside those who are living, they will breathe a living atmosphere and will get the gain of a living service. The apostle attaches no value to religious practices; the very bodies of the saints are living.
Along with the subject of life and righteousness, the epistle to the Romans teaches us priesthood, not as it is understood in religious circles, for all believers are priests. The apostle Peter speaks of “a holy priesthood” and of “a kingly priesthood” 1 Peter 2:5,9 that does not belong only to a certain category of christians, but to all, so that there is a living state of things: we serve “in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter” (Romans 7: 6), and at the end of this same chapter the thought of the law is again presented: “I myself with the mind serve God’s law” (verse 25). Every brother or sister assumes that responsibility. You see how the idea of priesthood is found again in these passages, priesthood being carried out in the service of God in a living and spiritual way. So we are not bound by customs; it is evident that there must be order, and the apostle insists, in the epistle to the Corinthians, on suitable order in the assembly, which is of great importance, since the assembly is the expression of divine order, for God is a God of order; but we must be marked by life, each one acting in a living way and with intelligence: “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”.
We are therefore exhorted in chapter 12 to present [p. 55] our bodies as a living sacrifice. Each believer learns individually to act with the others, so as to be together in the service of God. Besides, each one of us has something to offer: each one of us has a body. All are presented, as it says, “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your intelligent service”. Intelligent service is priestly service: “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge”, Malachi 2: 7. The tenth chapter of the epistle to the Corinthians is addressed to intelligent persons; we gather in assembly as intelligent persons. The epistle to the Romans shows the responsibility of each brother, and lays the basis for the collective action outlined in the epistle to the Corinthians: in chapter 11 the saints are gathered in assembly; being gathered intelligently, they exercise each one their function in the assembly; it is a collective action. God is worshipped in spirit and in truth. Thus, dear brethren, we are formed into a living organism. The twelfth chapter of Romans speaks of “one body in Christ”; that is what gives it its dignity; it is not a human organisation, but one body in Christ: “As in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office; thus we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other”. According to the epistle to the Corinthians, we have all been baptised in the power of one Spirit into one body.
The service of God is carried on therefore in a living and intelligent way. That is what I had in mind, that there should be among the saints a living state of things, that God may be worshipped in spirit and in truth.