THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST
[p. 162] THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST
I want to speak about a very old truth, one that is generally recognised — that is, Christ as Head. There is so much of vital importance connected with it that I feel justified in bringing it under attention. When I speak of Christ as Head, I do not mean Head of the church, His body. There are three senses in which we find Christ spoken of as Head in Scripture: He is Head of the body, as the husband is head of the wife; He is Head of all principality and power; but then, He is Head of every man, in the same sense in which Adam was head of every man. Adam brought in sin and death, and their application is universal; Christ, in that sense, is the antitype of Adam. He fills the place of Adam in a much greater way; and now, towards all men, in connection with His being the Head of every man, there is the grace of God unto justification of life. I think people have better understood the thought of headship in connection with the body than the bearing of Christ’s headship in connection with every man. The testimony of grace to man is founded on that. The one important point was the introduction of the Head, and there is not forgiveness of sins or repentance apart from the Head. Whatever God witnesses to man is witnessed in the name of one Man. The grace of God, and the gift by grace, is by one Man, Jesus Christ. In the commission at the close of the Gospel of Luke, repentance and remission of sins were to be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem: in the name of one Man, in contrast to Adam. The Son of God has become Man and has taken the place of head of every man according to God’s will. Another time I may speak about Christ as Lord, which involves the kingdom and the authority of God. A kingdom must convey the thought of sway or authority, and [p. 163] Lord is a title connected with the kingdom. But you could not get “Lord” without “Head”: you must have a head in order to have a kingdom. There could be no kingdom of God without a head; it is part of the ways of God. All the human race descended from Adam; he was the head of every man; the world stood or fell in connection with a man. When that man fell, it meant the fall of the world. The statement in Romans 5: 12 recognises that all have sinned; but sin entered into the world by one man, and death by sin. Now the principle of restoration is by one Man, and the reason is that one Man becomes the fountain of life for men, having died for all. Without a Head who could be a fountain of life for man the kingdom would be fruitless: there would be no meaning in it. There might be the authority of God in Christ, but there would be nobody in regard to whom that authority could be exercised. The kingdom is connected with the living God. The world as it is could not be a kingdom for the living God, because it is under death. The kingdom all depends on the introduction of one Man who could be a life-giving spirit to man, so that man might live to God. The thought of Christ as Head is essential to the thought of Christ as Lord. But the idea of the Head is much less familiar to people than that of Lord.
I will just read again 1 John 2: 21 - 23. I was saying a moment ago that the idea connected with Christ as Head is that He should be a fountain of life. Now I am going to state a very important principle in connection with that, and that is, that life can only be in the presence of light. Christ was Himself the light of men, and in Him was life; but in the application of these things to men, as men, life must be in the presence of light. If you go back to the beginning of Genesis you will see how the principle comes out there; Genesis 1: 16 - 20. In connection with the earth, in the ways of God, life came in consequent upon light.
[p. 164] Light had been brought in at the outset; there was the “fiat” of God, and light came out of darkness; but the idea of light in Scripture is more generally of a constituted light. God appointed the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. The Lord said, “I am the light of the world”; He was the appointed light of the world. I think the church has now that place. The Lord said to the disciples, You are the light of the world; they were the appointed, constituted light of the world. Consequent upon Christ having come out in that way, you get life. I am sure of the rightness of the principle; what it means is that life must be in the light of God. You will see how that works out in connection with the Head. Light is the revelation of God; He is in the light now, and life is in the light of God. When you get the light of God in Christ, then it is that you get life. Christ was the light of the world when in it; He is light still, and at the same time He is Head, because He is the light, and from the Head you get the communication of life. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit.
I desire to bring before you the importance of Christ in that connection, and to speak about His qualifications as Head. All comes out in the chapter before us; but the first point is, God is revealed, His love is declared, and life now is in the presence of the love of God. That is where the believer lives. Morally I do not think that any Christian lives in this world. If I live at all, it is in the light of divine love. If one lives in this world, he lives in confusion and darkness; the world where man seeks his own will, and his glory is all confusion. God has brought us out of darkness into His marvellous light, and it is there that we live. No man of the world can understand a Christian, because he is not privy to the moral atmosphere in which the Christian lives. An unconverted man can know [p. 165] nothing whatever about the love of God. It is only when the light has shone into man that he can know anything at all about divine love in which the Christian lives. If he does not live there, he does not live at all, because there is no other scene in which he can really live. If you were carried up to heaven, you might live in heaven, but you are not in heaven. If I cannot live in the confusion and darkness of the world, where am I to live? In the presence of divine light. Light has come in, a constituted light in Christ; God has brought us into His marvellous light, and there it is that we live. That is in connection with the Head, and I want to make the point of the Head clear.
In the first two verses of 1 John 2 and in Romans 5: 18, 19, we have the thought of the righteous One. You see the Head must of necessity be the righteous One. You could scarcely have said as much in regard to Adam; he was not the righteous one; had he been the righteous one, he would have maintained righteousness, but Adam failed of righteousness. He failed to maintain the relationships in which God had set him. Righteousness is the maintenance of the relationships which God has appointed, and is very intimately connected with faithfulness. Adam failed in the first of all relationships — that to God. Eve failed in faithfulness to her husband; she failed of righteousness. Adam brought sin into the world. When God in grace introduced a new Head, you can see that, of necessity, that Head must be in contrast to the first man, and what must characterise the Head thus brought in is righteousness. The expression, “the righteous One”, is frequently applied to the Lord. Peter testified to the Jews that He was the righteous One. John continually speaks of Christ as the righteous One. That came out in the pathway of Christ here. He glorified God on the earth; He was the true meat-offering. God was glorified in a Man: a Man in the midst of a scene of sin, maintained in [p. 166] integrity and who glorified God in regard to every relationship in which man was set. The Son of God took the place of man down here and revealed God; the very nature of God came out in Christ, for the testimony of Christ down here was not simply in what He said, but in what He was. The life was the light of men; but distinct from that He took the place of man down here, and having done so, glorified God in every relationship in which man was set. Therefore the apostle Paul in Romans 5 speaks of one righteousness and one obedience. Righteousness involves obedience; the two are intimately connected. Adam disobeyed and thus failed of righteousness; Christ maintained in integrity every relationship, glorifying God in all in a perfect obedience. He could not be holden of death, as we see in Psalm 16. That psalm is the most beautiful description by the Spirit of God of the righteous One. He could plead with God to preserve Him, for He had taken the place of man; He puts His trust in Jehovah, and finds His delight in the saints. Then in the latter part of the psalm we see that though He might enter into death He could not be holden of it. Peter quotes that psalm in preaching to the Jews, to prove that Christ could not remain in death. He must come forth by the power of God in resurrection. The Lord speaks in the same way: He lays down His life that He might take it again. I think all ought to be able to apprehend that if the righteous One enter into death it is a moral necessity that He should come forth in resurrection to life.
Now that is the first point in connection with the Head, that He should maintain in integrity every relationship in which man had failed, so that God might be glorified on the earth; the Lord could say in John 17, “I have glorified Thee on the earth”. When God gave the order of the offerings, we first get the burnt-offering, setting forth the devotion of Christ to [p. 167] the glory of God in death, but immediately after the meat-offering, showing the perfect, sinless humanity of Christ. This came into view in connection with the offering of Christ.
Now the next point is that the righteous One must bear the liabilities under which men were if He were to be the Head of every man. The moment He was born He was in a sense the Head of every man; but to take up that position so as to be a life-giving spirit to men must involve that He should bear the liabilities under which men were. How could He communicate life to men here under liabilities? He must bear the liabilities before He can communicate life to men. “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the whole world”. There were the liabilities. The apostle says, “not for ours only” — the Jew — “but for the whole world”. I believe that in the accomplishment of propitiation there was in a sense an end of all men in the eye of God. Christ terminated the whole world as after the flesh that God might begin again in Him. I have said sometimes that the moment a man receives forgiveness of sins in the name of the Head it is the termination of that man. God communicates to a man the knowledge of forgiveness of sins; the liabilities, in regard to which he would have come into judgment, are remitted; but there is an end of that man before God as after the flesh. There was his end, in one sense, in the death of Christ, but now he has come to it himself. He is not going to live for God in Adam; he is terminated in order to begin in Christ. That is a point of moment which ought to be made very plain in connection with the testimony of the gospel, to avoid the idea that man is going to be restored, or a new lease of life given to him; propitiation was the termination of the man for God. Christ was the righteous One who could not be morally of the order of Adam, the man that sinned; the righteous One [p. 168] was another order — must be, in the very nature of things. One who could take the place of man and glorify God where man had failed. Then Christ puts Himself, as He could do, under the liabilities of man, but in bearing these liabilities he terminates vicariously the man to whom these liabilities belonged. He died for all, that they which live might live to Him who died for them and rose again.
Now we see that, risen from the dead, Christ takes up the position of Head of every man. He is the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The end of the gospel is not even forgiveness of sins, but to bring souls to Christ, that they may get living water. No one can get living water without forgiveness of sins; but you may depend upon it, the object of God in the gospel is not simply forgiveness of sins — that is His announcement — but the gift of living water from Christ (John 4: 10 - 14; Revelation 21: 6). I think that all this is in connection with Christ as Head. There is the announcement of repentance and remission of sins in the name of the Head; but the presentation of Christ is in order that man may receive from Him what is the indispensable need of man, and that is living water. Man is under death; what he wants is the water of life, and it is that which Christ gives. He has become the Head that He may be the fountain of life for men. “I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely”. I do not suppose that anyone has an idea that water of life is forgiveness. Forgiveness is a means to an end; there is the announcement of forgiveness in the name of the Head in order that souls, receiving forgiveness, may get the water of life, that is, from the Head, and it is a well of water in the believer, springing up into everlasting life. The expression of divine love is in the gift of God’s only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life. Of course no one could have everlasting life if he had not [p. 169] forgiveness; but forgiveness is one thing, and eternal life is another.
I will just refer again to 1 John 2: 5. That passage depends on one thing, viz., that the One who is the Head of man has brought the light of God. Hence whoso keepeth His word, in him is the love of God perfected. The word of Christ is really the revelation of God, and whosoever abides in that, in him the love of God is perfected, that is, by the Spirit. In the death of Christ we get the revelation of God in love, and the Spirit has sealed the testimony. The great voice of God was in the death of Christ: there it was that divine love was declared, and in the one who has accepted the testimony of the death of Christ the love of God is perfected by the Spirit.
I just repeat what I have said, that the declaration or testimony of divine love was in the death of Christ. God was there declared; the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; God was in the light; He was there in the presentation of Himself, in love and righteousness. God has come out, His nature is known; He is revealed in self-sacrificing love. That is the testimony of the death of Christ. When the testimony of God has been received in the soul, the Holy Spirit is given, and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart. The Spirit of God came to seal the testimony that Christ had given. Christ left nothing to be witnessed: the Spirit sealed a complete testimony. Now the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us.
But another point comes out in connection with the Spirit. The same Spirit who sealed the testimony, and by whom the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, connects us livingly with the Head. It was the Head who communicated the Spirit; the Spirit never came until Christ went into heaven. Now, it is not simply that Christ is Head to men, but believers are [p. 170] in Him. No one can be in Christ except by the Spirit. Christ has proved Himself to us to be the Head; He is the fountain of life, and He has made us to live in the Spirit. The grace of God is towards every man, not simply towards the elect. But men do not believe it; they turn from it. On the other hand, where sovereign mercy works, there the testimony of the death of Christ is accepted; souls come into the light, and that light is sealed in them by the Spirit. The declaration of the love of God was in the death of Christ, and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit; but the Spirit having been given by Christ connects the believer livingly with Christ.
Now what comes to pass? We know that we are in Him, and the effect is, we come into righteousness. To begin with, we live in the light of love; there is the beginning of righteousness. Everyone who lives in the light of love lives to God, and everyone who lives to God lives in righteousness. Evidently God has the first claim upon my affections, and if I live to Him in the light of His love, righteousness is fulfilled. There is not only love, and myself in the enjoyment of love, but righteousness too, because I admit God’s rights, and I am myself righteous and live to Him.
Having accepted the testimony of God, we find ourselves in relationship with the Head. We are in Him. And now we love Christ. I do not think it is possible to love God without loving Christ. I have no doubt the idea is distinct, for Christ has a peculiar claim upon His people; but I think all can understand that if you love God you must love Christ. It is an impossibility to love without loving the One in whom love has become manifest; if we live in the life of God, we must love Christ.
And if I love Christ I love the saints. It is impossible to love God without loving those that are begotten of Him. If you do not love those who are of Christ,
[p. 171] it is a proof that you do not love Christ, because you cannot separate between Christ and those who are Christ’s; the loving of Christ’s is really the test of life down here. If you were to ask me how I prove myself to love Christ I should say I love Christians, and if I love Christ I love God. All hangs together. The effect is to bring us into the way of righteousness, so that we are faithful in every relationship and under every obligation in which it has pleased God to place us. God has placed us under obligation to Himself, to Christ, and to one another. If by the grace of God we are enabled to walk in the reality of these things, in divine love, then we are in the path of righteousness; and what has brought me into it? The apprehension that God has constituted a Head, who has become to us a life-giving spirit.
In verses 22 and 23 you see the effort of antichrist. The liar does not deny the existence of Jesus; you see this admitted in Unitarianism. There is hardly anyone who denies the existence of Jesus. The denial is that Jesus is the Christ; and it is the Christ who is the Head of every man. A Unitarian would not admit that Christ is the Head of every man; he does not apprehend, to begin with, the idea of the righteous One, nor that He has borne the liabilities of man, nor that He is a life-giving spirit to man. The evil which began in the apostle’s day is the evil which is working now, and which will find its climax in the man of sin. Antichrist is the one who denies the Father and the Son. I have no doubt the liar and the antichrist are intimately connected. The Father and the Son imply the revelation of God; the liar denies the Head. If you study the passage you can see the intimate connection between the revelation of God and the Head — the Christ.
Life must come out in the presence of light, so that man may live in the light of God. If the sun were veiled and there were no light I think life would not [p. 172] thrive much on the earth; probably all men would expire but for the beneficent effects of the sun. Life could not thrive in darkness; and so it is morally. Men cannot thrive without the light of God. The philosopher and the scientific man come to a miserable end, they do not know where they are going, they cannot thrive except in the light, hence light is essential. The revelation of God is essential to the introduction of life, and life has come in in connection with the Head. We have become identified with the righteous One, “He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous”.