BROOKLYN, N.Y., MARCH 20TH, 1917
BROOKLYN, N.Y., MARCH 20TH, 1917
Mr. A. M. Hayward.
My Dear Brother, — I was very pleased to receive your letter and enclosure (first letter to Mr. F——— ), I need not say that both were of much interest to me.
I have looked through the letter you have enclosed and it commends itself to me. It is remarkable that this exercise,
[p. 136] having begun with certain remarks about the rapture, should now turn on the teaching of Romans. I am thankful that Romans is coming into evidence for I believe that, although the enemy is seeking to deprive us of what we may have gained, the exercise will result in the better understanding of the epistle. This will be real gain indeed. Only lately my attention has been called to an address of F.E.R.’s (’Helps’, October, 1915), which is helpful as to the matter before us. He says among other things ‘The demand of the law and the righteousness of many are fulfilled in all the children of wisdom’, quoting Romans 8: 4.
The moral element is very strong in Romans. I have always thought it a very fine phase of Moses’ history when he interceded for Israel that Jehovah should not destroy the people and make of himself (Moses) a great generation. Moses had a moral triumph in view, and this is what Romans presents to us. Man is recovered consistently with God’s righteousness. It is not one race destroyed and another created; the ‘ungodly’ man is justified. It is the same individual who had an ungodly history that is now justified. He has the Spirit; he reckons himself dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ. His body is an instrument of righteousness for God. He is not under the law, but fulfils the righteous requirement of the law as walking in the Spirit; he is more than a conqueror. It is a complete moral triumph for God where there has been complete outward defeat. The same moral idea appears in the fact that as sin and death came in by one man, righteousness and life came in by one Man, Christ Jesus. In Him we have a Head. All this is in the wilderness. New creation has Canaan in view.
It is peculiar to me that several brothers have written me to withdraw the expression ‘fulfilled responsibility’ and they say nothing as to the occasion of my exercise and that of many others, to what Mr. Giles has said. It seems to me the ‘moral’ element is lacking here.
I believe Romans is the test for us at the present time, and I earnestly pray and trust that the Lord will preserve amongst His people what He has graciously recovered for them.
Our practical safety lies in being righteous, in fulfilling our obligations. Intimating that no one but Christ can do this is a poor way of bringing it about. It is virtually saying that Scripture enjoins impossibilities.
But I am assured that the Lord is helping the brethren [p. 137] through all this exercise, and that He will preserve us all and the truth with us.
My wife joins in love to yourself and Mrs Hayward; we are very sorry to hear of her illness and we trust she is better.
Affectionately yours in Christ,
James Taylor.