THE OLD MAN AND THE NEW
[p. 339] THE OLD MAN AND THE NEW
It is apparent that what are called the Catholic epistles — that is, epistles not addressed to any particular church — all speak of the last times. The epistles addressed to particular churches do not always do that. The Catholic epistles show to us not only the evil of the world, but the breakdown and confusion of the professing church. All was set up in perfection in the beginning; but the different scripture writers trace out the activity and result of the corruption which has come in. They show us the germs of it. We ought not to be taken by surprise since these things are brought out in the Scriptures.
No person with any intelligence can identify the state of things we see around us with the language of Scripture as to what was at the outset. If people are going along on wrong lines, and looking for improvement in the world, they will not understand the language of Scripture, for its bearing lies in a different direction. It contemplates pure water brought in in the power of the Spirit, in the beginning, but, like everything else, being left in the hand of man, it becomes corrupt, until at last it comes under the judgment of God. It is this which is presented to us in the scripture, and verified in what we see around us.
On previous occasions I have endeavoured to point out some particular features which appear in this epistle in common with other of the New Testament scriptures. In chapter 1 we contemplated a system of which God is the centre. “The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning”. Then we saw a creation of God, we are said to be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures. Just as the sun is the great centre in the material universe,
[p. 340] so Christ is the Sun of righteousness and centre of the universe of bliss. That has already come into our view, and we are — that is, Christians are — a kind of first-fruits of God’s creatures. The first-fruits are the pledge of the harvest. This is seen in connection with the feasts of Israel; they had to wave the sheaf of first-fruits, and that was the pledge of the harvest. The meaning of it was that Christ being the first-fruits of resurrection, there must be the harvest. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming”.
From chapter 2 I sought to show the principles on which Jew and Gentile are brought together in one. “By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit”. James does not speak in terms about the baptism of the Spirit, or the one body: that is Paul’s testimony. No two scripture writers go over the same ground, though they present the same thing in a different light: each in his own light, and one is very thankful for this. In chapter 2 of this epistle we have not the baptism of the Spirit, or the one body, or the one flock, but we get saints brought together morally by their works. In the case of Jew and Gentile the works of all are governed and controlled by one object, and therefore you get practical unity. If our works are completely governed by one object, there will certainly be this. It is that which linked together two such diverse people as Abraham and Rahab. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” It does not merely say, Was not Abraham justified, but Abraham our father. Abraham our father was a most distinguished man. Then of Rahab it says, the harlot, that is, a person without character. Rahab [p. 341] was a woman under shame and reproach, and Abraham a most distinguished man in the ways of God. We get the same thing in the New Testament. In John 3 we have Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, and in chapter 4 the woman who had had five husbands, and who was living with a man that was not her husband. Two such persons are brought together in Scripture. The secret of it is this — they were governed by the same object. The work of each was governed by Christ. In the time of Abraham and Rahab of course Christ had not come; but what I mean is that in principle and spirit the work of each was directed by the Spirit of Christ.
The offering of Isaac had reference to Christ in resurrection. Abraham apprehended that the promises of God could never be fulfilled in connection with Israel after the flesh, and therefore he looked on to Christ in resurrection, the life-giving Spirit. On the other hand, Rahab surrendered the land because it was the land of Emmanuel. It did not belong to the Canaanite or to the Amorite, but in spirit she recognised it as belonging to Emmanuel. I think I am justified in saying, that in their works, different as they were, Abraham our father and Rahab the harlot were really connected by the Spirit of Christ. They did not live at the same time, but there was a moral unity between them.
Now, there is unity in the church, and how are we to keep it? The only way in which we can keep the unity of the Spirit is by recognising Christ as Head. If each one of us is directed by his or her own head or wisdom there will not be unity. The only possible way of unity here is in all being directed by one Head. Take, for instance, an army. You could not have unity of action unless each unit were directed by the head of the army. So in regard of saints, unity is only possible in our being directed by one Head — Christ.
[p. 342] Take a household. If a wife is constantly opposed to the wishes of the husband, do you think there will be unity in the household? It will have a very serious effect upon the children, bringing in confusion. But if, on the other hand, the wife acts in all things according to the wishes of the husband, there will be, as the result, unity in the household. All depends upon the direction of the head being accepted. The principle of unity is the first principle of the church. It is that on which the apostle Paul insists in every epistle. In the first epistle to the Corinthians (which is perhaps the most elementary of all) we have, “By one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body”. Then again, the Lord’s supper is the expression of unity. I think all can accept this, that unity is a first principle in Christianity, and is really our testimony to Christ. We get this in Christ’s prayer in John, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. The testimony of the church in the presence of the world is in unity. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”. If you could conceive such a thing as all the Christians in the world being directed by Christ, the result would be that spiritual affections would be prevailing in every direction. There would be a witness to the world that the Father sent the Son.
But I desire to come now to another important principle, the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new. The teaching of James is in this analogous to that of Paul. If you turn for a moment to Ephesians 4: 20 - 32, you will mark the expression, “As the truth is in Jesus”. I refer to that because James says, “Lie not against the truth”. What I want to call attention to, in connection with the putting off the old man, is that the first obligation upon us in that connection is to put away lying. It is [p. 343] with the tongue that a man lies, and the tongue is the point which James takes up. In the early part of our chapter James gives us a picture of the old man, while in the latter part we have the new man.
James was evidently a man well acquainted with human nature and the springs of it, and he takes up the question of the tongue because the tongue is the vehicle of the human will. It is the way through which human will, and I may say, human weakness, expresses itself. It is so ready at hand that it becomes the most ready vehicle for the expression of will. The will and weakness of man will not act on his hand or his foot in the same ready way that they will upon his tongue. It gets inflamed, and it inflames. It sets on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell. One has seen many a time the course of nature set on fire, while the tongue itself is set on fire of hell.
Then the tongue is so very inconsistent, “Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God”. A man’s impatience expresses itself in the tongue. If such a thing were possible as that a man could give immediate effect to his will, he would not be so impatient.
A man’s will is that which exposes him to the influence of evil. The ruling passion of a man exposes him very much to the influence of evil. Covetousness exposed Judas specially to the attack of Satan, so man’s will exposes him to the temptation of evil. His tongue is set on fire of hell. If you accept the exhortation of Paul, the first thing is to put away lying; that to which the tongue is prone. If you have put off the old man, consistency with this has to be maintained. Many of us have had often to judge ourselves in respect of the unruliness of the tongue. A word of impatience comes to the tongue most readily, and in judging the tongue we judge what is of the old man. It exhibits the character of the old [p. 344] man, which, according to the truth in Christ, we avow to have put off. Our old man is crucified with Christ, and we have to look to it that we do not allow the will of the old man in the tongue. We have to see, too, that the tongue is not a vessel of deceit. Men use the tongue to deceive, but we are not to use it to that end. We are created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We all take part in praising and blessing God, and, that being the case, we ought not to put the tongue to any use inconsistent with this in the detail of life. If you do not praise and bless God, then I suppose it is not inconsistent to use the tongue to other ends; but if you use the tongue to bless God you ought not to put it to any inconsistent use. It is rather a serious thing to use the tongue in blessing God, because it puts one under the obligation not to use it in any inconsistent way. We have put off the old man, and therefore have to put off things to which the old man is prone. James goes to the root of the matter. In the latter part of the chapter he speaks of envy and strife. How much of what is said of people may be dictated by envy and strife? Even amongst those who bless God, who are Christians, how much comes out which is dictated by envy and strife? In conversation one with another a good deal of what is said may be in that spirit. Envy and strife are not from above, and they only bring in confusion and every evil work. The world is full of confusion, for it is full of envy and strife.
Now in contrast to that we get the wisdom which is from above. In verse 17 we virtually get the putting on of the new man. There is the description of the new man, speaking morally. The new man is characterised by wisdom. Wisdom is expressed in the man. “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of [p. 345] mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy”. You get a remarkable picture presented in this verse, one which could not be perfectly realised in any man upon earth. There never was a man upon earth who bore fully that character. What is found in the verse is not characteristic of any man as man, as a child of Adam.
I would like to say a word about the Spirit and what the Spirit came here for. The Spirit came here first to seal a Man who was from above, but now the Spirit is here to form a man according to heaven. In the case of Christ Himself the Spirit came to seal the Man who was from above. He was the living bread come down from heaven, and Him God the Father sealed. He was sealed by the Spirit as living bread come down from heaven; but now, consequent upon the ascension of Christ, the Spirit has come down to form the man that is according to heaven; to form the new man down here according to God. That is the work of the Spirit now. The Spirit is the seal upon the believer. He is sealed as a Christian at the outset. “In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise”, but the work of the Spirit is to form here the man that is according to heaven. Christ was here as Man, and the Spirit could do no more than seal Him; but with us He first seals us, and then He becomes the formative power in us of the new man.
Christ is wisdom. He spoke about it here upon earth; He is the wisdom and power of God. When here He said that wisdom was justified of all her children. There were children of wisdom upon earth. The woman of the city who was a sinner was a child of wisdom, and many others: people very different in character were children of wisdom, but the principle of their wisdom was this, that they appreciated Christ, who was wisdom. Simon the Pharisee was not a child of wisdom for he did not appreciate Christ; he had [p. 346] a character to maintain in this world and did not appreciate the Lord. On the other hand, many, such as Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, were wisdom’s children, they appreciated wisdom: Christ.
Christ is from above and He is wisdom to us. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who is made unto us wisdom from God”. But one might say, How is the wisdom which is from above communicated to us? How do we get the gain of it? We get the gain of it through the Head. That is the way in which the wisdom from above is appropriated: in distrust of one’s own head, and in the appreciation of Christ as Head. It is a wonderful thing to appropriate Him as your Head. He is not above being Head to the simplest believer. He is just as pleased to be Head to the simplest believer as to the apostle Paul. He was Head and wisdom to the apostle, but He is as ready to be Head and wisdom to the most unintelligent Christian. He is made wisdom to us from God that we should trust Him for direction in the detail of life. We ought to refer in all things to Christ so as to act according to His wisdom.
I have known something about this world, and have seen successful men in it; but a man will not be very successful in it if he has not the power to assert himself. Assurance and adaptability are largely the secret of success in this world, they characterise human wisdom which will enable a man to be successful in the world. Such a man is competent in himself and does not want another head to guide him. He is confident in his own resources, and works successfully in the world system.
How very contrary to all this is the path of the Christian. He does not want to be successful in the world system, but is in spirit outside it and has no need of assurance to secure success. He is guided by Christ. HE could not have been successful in the world because He was without the qualities for it.
[p. 347] Every quality He had was not esteemed by man. All His qualities were agreeable in the eye of God so that He could be sealed, and He was appreciated by the children of wisdom.
Christ is wisdom for us from above, applied by the power of the Spirit so that we appreciate Himself. That is the beginning, and then by the Spirit we are formed in Him, and as we are formed in Him we get a greater appreciation of Him. We become marked and characterised by the wisdom which is from above. It is wisdom which is characteristic of and pervades the new man, which never could be found in a man of the world. People may look at you with amazement and they cannot understand you, nor can you be appreciated at all by them. The Spirit still works here with unwearied patience. He is forming believers according to Christ, and as Christ is formed in us we learn to distrust ourselves, and having put on the new man, we prove what characterises the new man. It is created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth; here in James you get the traits of wisdom from above.
Then we have, “And fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace”. That marks the new man. The first thing is that he is faithful in every relationship in which God has placed him. There is fidelity to God, to Christ and to man, therefore you have righteousness, and you get the fruit of it. There is no fruit until there is righteousness. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace, and is going to yield a crop. It is sown by peacemakers. That is our pathway here, we have put on the new man, and have to maintain righteousness and fidelity, and thus avoid confusion.
These are very important moral principles, and they are maintained in the new man. The idea of sowing in Scripture is in view of a harvest. Many a lowly Christian has walked here in righteousness and [p. 348] fidelity, and there has been the sowing of the fruits of righteousness. There is very little present result so far as man can see, but in the long run the sowing of the fruit of righteousness has produced the harvest. People may think that you are lacking in energy, but the point is to be sowing the fruits of righteousness in peace as peacemakers. We are not to have any part in envy and strife, or in the confusion which is in the world, but to be here as peacemakers.
James puts things before us in striking contrast. He speaks of qualities which never were produced in man as a child of Adam, but which have come down from above. What is depicted in the latter part of the chapter never could have been until Christ came as wisdom from above. He is wisdom to us, and the work of the Spirit is not simply to seal, but to form man according to God, that there may be the sowing of the fruit of righteousness of them that make peace.
May God give us to see the goodness and gain of this, so that we may be delivered from the workings of will and of everything else which disfigures a Christian in his pathway through the world. May God give us to answer to the injunction of the apostle, “Having put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: and being renewed in the spirit of your mind: and having put on the new man, which according to God is created in righteousness and holiness of truth. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak truth every man with his neighbour: for we are members one of another”. In doing this we are characterised by the wisdom which is from above. It is a great thing to apprehend what is suitable to the pathway of a Christian here. Every quality which would gain you rapid advancement in the world is a quality which we have to distrust.
[p. 349] It is felt that the foregoing lectures would, as they stood, when printed, give a sense of incompleteness as to the particular scripture of which they treat if some remarks were not added. A few remarks are therefore appended, more especially as to the latter part of the epistle.
A point which has been before the mind of the author in these lectures has been to draw attention to the consistency of all the writers in the New Testament, and to show that all were engaged in setting forth the features of Christianity. Each does this from his own particular point of view, but there is in all perfect moral agreement. Two points in particular have occupied our attention: that is, on the one hand, the testimony to the decay and judgment not only of the world system, but of that great system that calls itself Christian. On the other hand, there is the keeping in view of that system of blessing which has its beginning, and is centred, in Christ the Sun of righteousness. This becomes very apparent in the epistle of James. We saw in the earlier part that we are the first-fruits of that universe of bliss of which Christ is the Head. Christians are begotten of the word of truth that they may be a kind of first-fruits of God’s creatures. Hence the importance of receiving the engrafted word which is able to save our souls, to give us deliverance from the world system. And further, to look into the perfect law of liberty, the expression of which is found in the New Jerusalem. In the second chapter we have further features of the world to come in the faith of Abraham and of Rahab. It is of great interest to see that their faith had in view another order of things to that in which they were. In offering up Isaac, evidently Abraham gave up all hope of the promises being accomplished in connection with man after the flesh; he saw that all was to be established on the ground of resurrection, and it is not difficult to apprehend that this must be the case since [p. 350] Christ is risen, and in some way or other all must be in accord with Him. And the land of promise will be disposed of according to the rights and mind of God; Rahab saw that the land was God’s, and that He had given it to the children of Israel. We can see thus how much the world to come was in view in the actings of saints of old, and the place that it had in the mind of James. Does it occupy the same place in the minds of Christians, and are they concerned to understand the place which they have in it, and the part which they are to take in it by the appointment of God? In the third chapter we saw the new order of man. There is much in the chapter which answers to the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new. One may say that the tongue is very distinctly representative of the old man. “Our tongues are our own: who is lord over us?” The lawlessness of man is more readily expressed in his tongue than elsewhere, and there is in the use of it the evidence of moral confusion, in that from the same tongue come blessing and cursing. However this may be right with God, it is not appropriate in the creature. The new man is, on the other hand, seen in the wisdom that is from above, which gives the character to a man of a peacemaker. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of such.
We have thus seen in the epistle the beginning of the new system which has been inaugurated by God in Christ, the maintenance by works of the rights of God, and the features of the new man that is according to God. In the succeeding part of the epistle we have the world judged in very striking terms, its votaries are enemies of God. The Lord said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out”. James follows on this line, and in close proximity to the world is seen the devil, who is to be resisted. If we take into account what characterises the early part of the epistle we can understand [p. 351] the terms in which James speaks of those that are at home in the world. He would hardly have spoken thus had not God brought another system into view. This is of all-importance in the apprehension of saints. And it is evidence of the consistency of one scripture writer with another, all were inspired by one Spirit. James singles out two classes for special rebuke, for God never gives up His judgment of men morally, that is according to their works. The first is, those that are avowedly lawless, acting on the impulse of their wills practically regardless of God. Such glory in their boastings. The second class is the rich, who do not know how to show mercy. They are represented by the rich man in the gospel of Luke, chapter 16, who, while faring sumptuously every day, had no mercy on the poor man daily laid at his gates. The rich are essentially the men of the world. Riches give man the opportunity of everything here, and make him in measure the object of the worship that is paid to the mammon of unrighteousness. A man is hardened in general by the gain of money, and would readily become oppressive as regards the poor, save for restraints which are imposed in the providence of God. Thus we have had brought together the world and its friends, the devil, its prince, the lawless, and the wanton and oppressive rich. It is not difficult to find all these in Christendom.
The coming of the Lord is then brought into view, as a ground for patience and the establishment of the heart. That coming will display and bring into force all that is spoken of in the first part of the epistle. It is used as an incentive to patience. The husbandman has to wait in patience for the precious fruits of the earth, he has to recognise that he is dependent on God for the early and latter rain. God will manifest all that is of Himself in due time, and will make evident the end of the Lord, that He is very pitiful and of tender mercy. In view of this, James admonishes [p. 352] the forbearing from swearing, which is evidence of the will and rashness of man, committing himself; it may be, to things that he cannot compass and by things that are not in his own power, and, on the other hand, he encourages to prayer which is the expression of dependence and confidence in the goodness of God.
I think that thus a somewhat clear general view is gained of the scheme of the epistle. The clue is the thought of the world to come, the creation of God, that which is begotten according to His own will, the taking up of His own rights in the man that is according to Himself; while, on the other hand, there is the condemnation of the present world system and of those that are its friends, as also of classes that are specially obnoxious to God — the lawless, and the rich who show no mercy. May God grant that we may be more in the light of the things presented.