1 PETER 3
We get servants, wives, and husbands taken up in this epistle; not exactly the same classes that the Apostle Paul addresses. The great principle among saints is subjection, and it is the great principle to be maintained in Christianity. Wilfulness and insubjection bring in mischief, therefore servants and wives are to be subject. They are the two subject classes. Husbands are to dwell with their wives according to knowledge. On the other hand, the husband is not to tyrannise over the wife, he is to give honour to her. What a moral beauty and delicacy there is about these exhortations! It is great grace that the Lord has given them to us by one who was in the relationship. I think Paul spoke from a great elevation and from a knowledge of human nature, but Peter’s touches are so extremely delicate. There are certain things with regard to which the mind of God never changes. What was suitable for God in woman at the time of the patriarchs is suitable now. The adorning is to be like the adorning of the holy women who trusted in God. Things have not changed morally; what Sarah was the wives are to be now. The great adornment is to be moral; external adornment will not commend a person to God, nor will it to any one accustomed to view things morally. The apostle is going back to what characterised holy women in the primitive days of society, thousands of years ago. It is curious to have to go back to that to see the character and the adorning of a holy woman.
It is that which is not corruptible, it is what is [p. 52] formed by the word, the hidden man of the heart. It is remarkable how little advance the world has made. There is advance in the sciences and arts, but no advance morally. In some respects the advance has made life more agreeable, but it has not tended to happiness. The pace at which things are going, the facility for travelling, etc., has tended to produce restlessness. There is no happiness apart from contentment. A man may have a hundred thousand a year, but if he is not content, his position is spoiled to him. I can understand the apostle saying, godliness with contentment is great gain. Surrounded with many who are so much better off than oneself, the tendency is to be discontented, so piety with contentment is great gain. What marked these holy women was that they trusted God. It is the natural thought of man to do the best for himself, and this tends to leaving God out. The essence of piety on the other hand is to bring God into our circumstances.
The adorning is not to be external, it is in the hidden man of the heart. It is what the heart cherishes, the heart having a kind of ideal, and after all, what is hidden in the heart comes out; the ideal you cherish is what you practise, a person given to vanity is so because it is in the heart. Christ was the very expression of a meek and quiet spirit, He was meek and lowly in heart. A person has got the ideal in his own heart — the hidden man — not comparing himself with others, which means that the ideal is outside, not inside, and our tendency is to compare ourselves with people better off than ourselves.
A meek and quiet spirit is not much appreciated in this world. A person makes no mark in this world unless he has not only ability, but self-assertion. This raises the question whether we judge of things before the world or before God. It is a beautiful expression, “a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price”. We might all covet this,
[p. 53] and it is not corruptible. It is that which is to be cultivated, and so cultivated that it becomes characteristic, and so in that sense it is put on. When it is first in the heart and cherished there, it becomes an ornament. It is no good if it does not come this way, it must begin in the heart.
Honour is to be given to the wife as to the weaker vessel. This is often forgotten; she ought to receive consideration. It is well known that where the light of truth has not reached, the women are not held in respect, they are really degraded. But the true standard is that they are heirs together of the grace of life. “The grace of life”, is what is given in race. It is an important element in the treatment of a wife that they are heirs together of the grace of life. If there is friction between husband and wife, domestic prayer is hindered. The relationship will not last throughout eternity, but the opportunities the relationship affords bring that which goes on to eternity.
Scripture is perfectly aware of the difficulties even in natural things. God’s knowledge is brought in for our benefit, and more than that, where God gives no particular judgment He gives the benefit of the judgment of a spiritual man. Most persons have found that the apostle’s judgment in 1 Corinthians 7 was right, but it is not laid down as obligatory.
Rem What a company we should be if all these injunctions were carried out!
FER Yes, “having compassion one of another”, for instance. All these injunctions can only be carried out in the sense of grace, “knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing”.
Ques What is the blessing (verse 9)?
FER I think it is what one would call abstract. It is a great thing to be conscious of blessing. Man is under a curse. The blessing of God means the sense of His favour and nearness. The quotation is from [p. 54] Psalm 37. It applies to the remnant in a world of evildoers; they are called to blessing, and therefore are not to fret themselves but to wait on the Lord.
It is a help to see the natural divisions in the epistle. The division into chapters is very artificial, but in the natural division we get things in a kind of moral sequence. We were seeing that, down to the twenty-first verse of the first chapter, the point is that we are brought into attachment to God; our faith and hope are to be in God. Then in the next section, down to the tenth verse of the second chapter, we get our relation one to another; we are a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood. Then, down to the seventh verse of the third chapter, we get our individual path in the world as pilgrims and strangers, while in the following portion now under consideration we get our relation to the moral government of God. The previous section refers to what you see; “Honour the king”, “Love the brotherhood”, these things are all seen. But the moral government of God is not now seen. It will not always be hid, it will have an issue, it will become manifest then that the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. The Psalm adds, “to blot out the remembrance of them from the earth”. When all becomes manifest, the moral government of God will become manifest; it will no longer be hid. Those who believe are now the subjects of that government. People may prosper in the world as they please, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, and it is well for us to take into account that the moral government of God will have an issue. It will come out in the world to come. If Christians do evil they will have the moral government of God against them. It is in your favour if you do well. The great point is that in the midst of a world of sin and evil, Christians might know on the one hand what is agreeable to God, and on the other what is repugnant to Him. When all is brought to an issue, things will be manifest [p. 55] enough, but while things are entangled and mixed up, it is not so easy to discern.
There never was a moment when the face of the Lord was not against them that do evil. This is no new principle. At the present moment, however, it needs faith to accept the fact that God’s moral government prevails above all the confusion. When Christ was crucified, righteousness was divorced from judgment, but the time will come when righteousness will return to judgment. People attribute the crucifixion of Christ to the Jews, but Scripture attributes it to the princes of this world. The responsibility is extended beyond the Jew, though he was more guilty than all.
At times it does not look very much as if the eyes of the Lord were over the righteous, for they appear to go to the wall; but I do not believe they really go to the wall, for God turns it to discipline. The moral government of God must prevail in the long run, it must come to that issue.
One thing has to be avoided, that is, connecting the moral government of God with man’s government of the world, save as permitting it. God has put authority into the hand of the Gentiles, but you cannot connect God with the detail. According to God, Gentile power is a “beast” (see Daniel 7).
This question of God’s moral government is very important; I think Christians forget it. Christianity and the knowledge of grace do not take you out of it. You cannot use Christianity as a cover for evil. It remains ever true, as we get in Romans 2 that there is tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, but glory, and honour, and peace to every one that worketh good. If a man is righteous, whoever he is, the eyes of the Lord are over him; so, too, in regard of the evil, the face of the Lord is against the evildoer. The principle is unchanged, that whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. God governs [p. 56] according to certain immutable principles of right and wrong, and He never relaxes them. I do not think man’s government is moral; I see expediency and the like, but I see nothing moral in it.
Who would not like to love life and see good days! (verses 10, 11). If he does, let him eschew evil and do good, let him seek peace and ensue it. The “life” is life in connection with God. Piety is life with God, practical life down here. We cannot be insensible to the state of things about us, but there is a delight in the fact of life with God, and that apart from eternal life. The Lord could say, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places”. There is pleasure in a life with God down here.
All this is under government. The ways of God are severely retributive, and it is so with us as Christians. If you are hard and severe, it will return upon you some way or other. Those who are much under the government of God, prove that His ways are retributive. We do not escape government by becoming subjects of grace; it is by becoming subjects of grace that we come under the government. The people with whom the Lord is specially occupied are the righteous. The government of the wicked, which is judgment on them, is future. “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous”; and again, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities”; Amos 3: 2. But the wicked will yet be cut off, though God allows many things to pass in the world which He would deal with in the righteous. God’s moral government is directly in connection with them, but then the blessed thing is that God turns it to account for us.
Ques Is it those practically righteous?
FER Yes, I should say so, because it is put in contrast to doing evil. Those who practise righteousness are righteous, even as He is righteous. We are all put to the test down here. We have to refrain [p. 57] our lips from evil. There is evil all around us, and we have to choose between the two, between good and evil. All this was verified in the life of Christ, and we have to walk as He walked.
Rem The general effect of the moral government of God, as spoken of here, is to encourage us.
FER Yes, it is in favour of those who do good. Men of the world have no idea of it; they think the point is to do the best they can for themselves. Since God retired from the world His moral government became hid. David became the subject of it, and many others; properly speaking, it applies to individuals, though as to Israel God’s ways were public and manifest. We do not want to be obnoxious to the moral government of God. The fact that many do not take account of it may involve us in suffering. We are likely enough in a world of sin to suffer for righteousness’ sake, and I believe the time will come when men will suffer more. Many a workman has to suffer when he refuses to join the combinations of men. It will become full blown when nothing can be done but by the number of the beast. I am very sorry for those who are in the peculiar difficulty of standing apart from these combinations, and are not able to get work. It is a case when suffering for righteousness’ sake becomes a very real thing indeed. People do not in a general way harm those who do good, but there is the possibility of having to suffer on account of righteousness. Verse 13 is the general principle, and verse 14 the possible exception to it. The primary principle of righteousness is always in reference to God, as with the two tables of stone — one referred to God, the other to man; therefore the first principle of righteousness is to God.
“Sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, etc”. Suffering for righteousness is really suffering for Christ, and the great point is that you sanctify the Lord Christ, i.e., give Him the right place in your heart. Give due [p. 58] place to Christ. He is the Sun and Centre of righteousness, and if you do not give place in your heart to Him, I do not see how you can suffer for righteousness. The practical working of it is, that you cannot cherish in the heart what is unsuitable to Him. It is a great thing that the Lord Christ should have His proper place in the affections of the saints. I believe He has His place in their faith, but not in their affections. A few years ago, we got very much into the way of thinking only of faith and standing, and the result was, pluming ourselves in orthodoxy. What I get in Scripture is not only faith, but faith working by love, which is really the Spirit’s work in us, and love is really the divine nature. Faith and standing are ineffective if not accompanied by the Spirit’s work in the believer.
Our knowledge is always in advance of what is made good in us; what a man apprehends mentally and intelligently is always ahead of his faith. Then faith works by love, and love becomes the great operative power in the believer, the effective principle in him. Someone has said, “The eyes see further than the feet go”.
Righteousness in the Christian is really self-judgment. The cross is entirely exclusive of sin, so we are to sanctify the Lord Christ, so that every thing of lust and the flesh is disallowed. A man who does allow these cannot lift up his head. We must accept the cross and the teaching of the cross. The great subject of God’s testimony is Christ; God has no other testimony. In the Old Testament we get it coming out in detail, and so we had several testimonies, but now all centres in Christ. People say, Christ is in the scripture; I think Christ is found in the heart of the church. The divine mind is Christ in the church. The testimonies all centred in Christ personally, but they are all accomplished in Christ and the church — that is, Christ dwelling in the heart by faith.
[p. 59] We are to be strengthened by the Spirit of the Father in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, and the end of it is that the divine mind may be set forth in the church. Christ is to be known in the church in the coming ages. I do not believe that Christ personally is to be manifested again. He comes to be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believe. The three great testimonies of God all centre in the heavenly city. It becomes in the future the source of living waters. This is what the church really is now.
Christ is the Man of God’s purpose, and there is nothing for God outside of Christ. He takes precedence of Adam. Christ is second as to coming and order, but first as to purpose. Christ is the Man of God’s purpose. The first covenant was not the covenant of purpose; it was connected with the responsibility of man. The new covenant is the covenant of purpose. The principle of recovery is in Christ, but at the same time He is the Man of God’s purpose. The real principle and power of recovery is new creation. This is the substance of all the epistles, whether Peter’s, James’, John’s or Paul’s. It is not an uncommon idea with people that Christ has come in by way of remedy for sin; well, I admit recovery for man, but the first thing is, Christ is the Man of God’s purpose, and nothing is owned of God save what is of that Man. Even such things as genius and acquirements are inadmissible since Christ has come in. Two things have come in in Christ, moral perfection in man, and the revelation of God. Everything that characterises the man which is suitable to God depends upon revelation. Without the knowledge of God there could be no righteousness, nor holiness, neither could you have life, for life is dependent upon light. Darkness and death go together, and light and life go together, and therefore, for righteousness or holiness or anything else, you must have the light of God.
[p. 60] Christ is the antitype of the tree of life. Whatever is set forth in Christ as Man is God’s mind towards all men. The enemy, the god of this world, works to hide from men the glory of Christ, God’s Man — the Head. Christ is the anointed Man, the anointed Man is the Man. No one can deny Jesus, but what is denied is that He is the Christ, the anointed Man. The true origin of the Christ is, He is the Son of God, He is of God, though of the seed of David according to the flesh. Antichrist will deny that by and by. Then the same class of people who deny that Jesus is the Christ also deny the Father and the Son — that is, the revelation of God.
The Man comes out in connection with the revelation of God. Man lost God and went into death and darkness, but when the Second Man comes in, we get the light of God — we get the Man, and that Man Head of every man. You could not have the revelation of God apart from the Man. The two must of necessity go together. In Christ it was God coming into the world, all the fulness of God dwelt in Him.
The moment Christ came in there were the holy places, a place where God could walk. Where Christ was, God could walk. Now, we Christians are the holy places. You remember God said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them”. The disciples were brought into the precincts of God from being in association with Christ, we could not quite say that they were brought into holy places. Things have come to this pass, that there is more of a ministry of Christianity (i.e., as a formal system) than of Christ. The testimony of grace and forgiveness may be adapted to man, and you may thus get a system of morality; but that is Christianity, not Christ. The ministry of Christ is the ministry of another Man. The real point of Christianity is that forgiveness of sins is announced so that we may live in the Man in whom we have the forgiveness. Christ does not live in this [p. 61] world, and if we live in Christ we do not live in the world. There is a Christianity which I see adapted to man here, but it is not full Christianity; full Christianity is Christ.
Ques Where does Proverbs come in, as it is neither law nor grace?
FER Proverbs comes in to help you to discern things here in the world. We are furnished with that by which we can be fortified against what we see at work, that is, with divine wisdom. There are two things we are warned against, the violent man and the strange woman. They represent self-will, and I suppose, folly. Man is not kept from the allurements of this world unless he has a good stand-by. The fact is, however, that even in the darkest days of this world wisdom lifted up her voice. Proverbs is specially written for the young. Solomon was given to write it, as he was a man of vast powers of observation and abundant opportunity for exercising them; the Spirit of God gives us the benefit of his experience.
If you were asked to put incense on an idol altar, if you sanctify the Lord Christ in your heart you could not do it, and probably you would have to suffer; it would be for righteousness. Righteousness is not simply paying twenty shillings in the pound, but giving to Christ what is due to Him. Daniel and his fellows suffered for righteousness. They sanctified the Lord God in their hearts. With us, the truth of Christ has come in, and so it is the Lord Christ, and He is the Sun of righteousness. The suffering contemplated is suffering religiously. In early days the Christians were continually tested as to whether they would acknowledge idols. They were exhorted to sanctify the Lord Christ in their hearts.
We are to be ready to give an answer to every one who asks us a reason of the hope that is in us. After all, Christ has reference to every man. He is Head of every man, not only of believers. He is Lord to those [p. 62] who believe. If we were challenged, we should have to give out the truth, that Christ is Head of every man. He is One who has to say to every man, and it is for this reason that you are bound to be ready to give an answer to every man that asks. We forget sometimes that Christ has relation to all men — all are the property of Christ, He has bought the field. We own Him as Lord, but the One whom we so confess is Head of every man. The answer has to be as to this.
There is always a danger of our being pushed into a kind of corner, as if we were some kind of exclusive sect. That kind of ground we ought to try and avoid. It is a great point to maintain that what is set forth in Christ is available for every man.
Ques Does “That we may present every man perfect in Christ”, go out to all?
FER The apostle is stating the breadth of his mission. He announced Christ, and the object was to present every man perfect in Christ. There are two ministries — that of the gospel and that of the mystery. Even in regard of the mystery the apostle states it elsewhere very broadly, To make all men see what is the administration of the mystery, Ephesians 3: 9.
“With meekness and fear” (verse 13); Scripture takes note not only of what we ought to do, but of the way and spirit in which we are to do it.
In verse 18 we get the thought of Christ coming out in a very remarkable way. He suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit. All testimony began from Christ — quickened by the Spirit; you get then the new start. “In which also he went and preached”, that is, in the Spirit in which He was quickened. It proves that all the testimony, even in the days of Noah, was on the ground of resurrection. “Put to death in the flesh” was the old order brought to an end, but “quickened by the Spirit” gives you the new start. It is in order that He should take up the place of last Adam and second Man. It was in view of this that He went and preached to the spirits in prison. Christ could not take up the place of Head of every man, save as taking up the liabilities which lay upon man.
The point the apostle has before him in the end of the chapter is that there is an analogy between the time of Noah and the present time. There is a testimony, but it goes on the principle and ground of resurrection. God could not address Himself to man save on that ground. The preaching which was by Noah in that day was in the power of the Spirit by which Christ was quickened. It was not that Christ was then in resurrection. The Spirit of Christ really awaited the resurrection of Christ. The passage connects Noah and his testimony with a risen Christ, although Noah did not know anything about it; the allusion here to the Spirit of Christ proves it. He was made alive by the Spirit, in which also going He preached to the spirits in prison.
Noah was saved by water; baptism, as a figure, also saves us. We find the same position of things down here as in Noah’s day. He was occupied with salvation, with preparation for it, but at the same time there was a testimony. We have the same things in Philippians 2 working out our own salvation and shining as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. There is preparation for salvation and a testimony of righteousness. We are in the position of Noah in regard of what he was doing in view of the coming judgment. Noah was the witness; his testimony was the result of that with which he was occupied. The two things that mark Christians are testimony without and a good conscience within. Noah in his day could not go as far as this; there was no preaching when he was in the ark. It is remarkable that we should be in the good of God’s salvation at the same [p. 64] time that a testimony is going on and the judgment just at hand. The difference between Noah’s time and ours is that the testimony is going on while we are in the good of the salvation. The gospel goes out in view of coming judgment, “the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel”, Romans 2: 16. The proof of judgment coming on this world is that the Christian judges — he judges morally; he is not taken in by it. But God will do more than this, He will judge it and punish it, He will judge it actually. We do not get the judgment of the world till Christ was rejected. “Now is the judgment of this world”. Then the presence of the Holy Spirit brought demonstration to the world of judgment. The world knows nothing of this, but the Christian does, and therefore he judges the world. The Christian gets all the light that the Spirit brings as to the world. How should we be able to judge were it not for the Spirit witnessing that all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life? We judge it morally, and God will judge it actually. The world as a system is very little judged by Christians; we are so affected by its principles, we are so acted upon by the pride of life. How few of us are free of the thought of being something in the world; well, that is “the pride of life”. How greatly we are in danger of being affected by the spirit and character of the things by which we are surrounded.
Testimony is really to present Christ as the power of God’s salvation: “I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth”, Isaiah 49: 6. This is what Christ is when rejected by His people Israel. He is a horn of salvation to the house of David, but He is also, being rejected, God’s salvation unto the end of the earth. Christ is the One in whom God’s salvation is set forth. The One who went into death is now ascended [p. 65] up far above all heavens; death is robbed of its prey, captivity led captive, and gifts given to men. This is the mighty triumph effected in Christ. Psalm 68 goes on to say, “yea, for the rebellious also”, that is, Israel.
There will not be much testimony from any one who is not rejoicing in the Lord. How can you set forth what is in Him if you are not rejoicing in Him? I wish I had a real apprehension of the greatness of what is set forth in the Lord! It is most wonderful to me that the One who went into death is now gone up to the right hand of God, captivity captive led, and He has received the Spirit to give to men. Every one who has received the Holy Spirit is a witness of the triumph; the presence of the Spirit is its proof.
The expression in verse 18, “that he might bring us to God” is sometimes used too flippantly. The full extent of it is when we are brought to God in God’s place. We are brought to God in one way in virtue of having the Spirit. We get the two things in Exodus 15. Israel was to prepare Him a habitation; but then we get, “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in” (verse 17). People are too ready to jump to this conclusion, that souls when converted are brought to God. In principle they are, if they have received the Spirit, but we cannot exclude the experimental side. “Christ has once suffered for sins”. Peter often speaks of the sufferings; in his thought they go on to death. Christ suffered under the judgment of God. The suffering refers to death, this is unmistakable, for it goes on to say, “being put to death in the flesh”.
In one sense, the moral government of God has come to an issue. When you get into the Christian circle, into the house of God, you get what is really according to God. The moral government of God [p. 66] came to an issue in the flood, but inside the ark all was according to God. The proper character of the house of God is, that all there is according to God. If it is the habitation of God by the Spirit, then we are exhorted to walk worthy of it in all lowliness and meekness. We are not merely in the light of God’s moral government, but we are in the light of God Himself; that is the true character of the house of God. Christ is Son over God’s house, and all there is according to God. If you can conceive the house of God in an abstract way (Christendom is like a great house), it is where all moral questions and considerations are brought to an issue. That is why Noah and the ark are brought in.
Ques Would you say that all outside is under judgment?
FER I should not say so. The Jew is condemned already, but the Gentile has not yet come under condemnation. When apostasy takes place, when antichrist sets up and revelation is refused, then the Gentile will come under condemnation. The Jew has been tested, and he is condemned already; wrath has come upon him to the uttermost. The present moment is one in which God is favourable towards all men. What you want to unfold is that God in Christ, at the present time, is favourable to all men; Christ is presented on the part of God as light and salvation. It would be unwise to say that all men are under condemnation, indeed, it can hardly be said. It falsifies the position, the present situation.
Ques Would you not say that the wrath of God is on those who refuse the gospel?
FER No, I could not. The words, “The wrath of God abideth on him” are in Scripture, but it refers to the Jew, he is under condemnation. The position of the Jew is like the swine into which the legion of devils entered, that went violently down a steep place and perished in the sea of the Gentiles.
[p. 67] It is public to all that the Jew has come under the wrath of God, governmentally, of course. It is a great pity to becloud the gracious character of God toward all. I think that all has to be on the ground of resurrection. Every appeal which God has ever made to man has been on that ground. Even the spirits preached to in prison were preached to in the spirit of resurrection. When we come to resurrection, what we are taught is that the flesh is completely gone. God’s saving testimony to us is the resurrection of Christ; but then that is the end of the flesh, and if this is so, God is not going to sanction the flesh in me. All testimony is by Christ. “He went and preached”. We again get the fact pointed out that the time then was analogous to the present, a testimony going out in the midst of a disobedient world.
What comes out in regard to Noah is very interesting. There is a spot here upon earth where the moral government of God has come to an issue. We could not conceive God dwelling, where it was not so, but it is wonderful that there is the spot, and there all is according to God. The effect, and meaning, and power of baptism is to separate people from the outward corruption in the world to be brought into pure associations, into Christian fellowship. We have a very poor conception of the house of God. By baptism people are purged from pollutions, and are brought into relation to the place where God dwells and where all is of Him. The true idea is lost sight of in Christendom. We cannot see the thing in any defined shape, for what is around is a travesty of the truth, and therefore we have to conceive of it in an abstract way in order to apprehend its true character. If we did thus apprehend the house of God, when we went forth we should be true to our baptism, and thus there would be nothing in us which would be obnoxious to the moral government of God, If a man reckons himself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God,
[p. 68] then he is a servant to righteousness, his fruit is unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
The more Christ is promoted, the more you enter into salvation. Noah did not know about these things, yet as it was the Spirit of Christ that wrought in him, all is on the same principle both then and now.
You can only get a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. No man can have a good conscience save on that ground. If God comes out in grace, that the liability of death which lay on man should be taken up and borne, the testimony of resurrection is a witness to the great fact that death has been set aside. Therefore, man can only have a good conscience by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You cannot have to say to God save as having a good conscience. After the failure of the priesthood, the high priest could only draw near to God once a year, and that not without blood.
In Old Testament times you get men like Moses and Abraham who were apart from the world; they had the water, but they had not the blood. Abraham was outside the world and dead to the world. So was Moses. There were those who practically accepted death to the world. They had water but not expiation. Until you leave the world you are not entitled to a good conscience. You are not entitled to the benefits of God’s testimony till you are baptised, that is, till you accept death to the world.
I should say there is not much difference between a good conscience and a purged conscience, because we get both by the testimony of the resurrection. Righteousness was fully vindicated and established in the death of Christ. Resurrection is the testimony, and glory is the celebration. The great supper in Luke 14 answers to the glory of Christ. Resurrection is the testimony of righteousness, and so we get the good conscience by the testimony, but the Supper is the celebration of righteousness. Therefore the great [p. 69] subject of testimony is the resurrection, but the man who bears the testimony starts from the celebration. In dealing with people you must see to it that there is a good conscience; no one can come to the celebration of righteousness unless he has received the testimony of righteousness. The resurrection proves that death, the judgment of sin, is vanquished. All real knowledge we have of God is by the Holy Spirit, and our first acquaintance with God must be in righteousness, because man is a sinner. Man being what he is, a poor sinful creature, it must be so, and therefore the first testimony must be the cross.
Baptism has its place and importance here. The millennium will be a state of salvation; they will be saved from their enemies and from the hand of all that hated them, that they might serve the Lord in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life. This will be a state of salvation on the earth. Now, in Christianity you do not get that, but it is, “according to his mercy he saved us”, and what is connected with the salvation is “the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit”. Paul and Peter come very close to each other here. They both had the idea of a present state of salvation upon earth, that is, being brought into Christian fellowship. The place is the house, and baptism brings into that which is connected with it, into the place where they were entitled to a good conscience. Baptism in early days had a peculiar place, and was much more of a test than now. It brought people into the precincts of Christian fellowship where the Holy Spirit was; verse 21 of this chapter is very akin to Titus 3: 5.
The “good conscience” here is in respect of God, not in regard to conduct. If a criminal were under sentence by the judge he could not have a good conscience in respect of the king, and he could not approach the king until he was free of the sentence of the judge. Until a man is free of the judgment of [p. 70] God he is not entitled to a good conscience. Baptism brings you on to the ground where you can enjoy salvation. The good conscience is a “demand”, because you could not have to say to God without it, and the resurrection of Christ is the “answer”. It is the witness of what has been effected. What a wonderful thing it is that it was the Spirit of a risen Christ that preached in Noah, and so now it is in a risen Christ that God addresses Himself to man; it is toward all men unto justification of life.
Noah preached righteousness, i.e., the rights of God, but he himself was occupied with a place of safety, the ark. God made it a condition of salvation that people separated themselves from all that with which they were previously associated. So we get, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation”, and to Saul, “Arise, and be baptised, and wash away thy sins”. The great point is that we should enjoy a good conscience in regard to our responsibility. Sin is not imputed to you. I do not think it goes further than this. Here, it is not what is wrought in a person that is in question, but what a person is entitled to enjoy. God attached great importance to people dissociating themselves from that with which they had previously been connected. It was a test. “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved”. There is no virtue in baptism but in the faith; for it goes on to say, “He that believeth not shall be damned”. Still the passage does say (and it is conclusive), “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved”. People who might refuse to be baptised were not entitled to a good conscience. The baptisms were most prompt in the Acts. They were baptised to the Lord. If you own the Lord you must go outside the world. He is not Lord to the world. The place where the Lord’s authority is owned is the house of God, and that is where you have to come. Christ is constituted Lord on the ground of redemption. If He had enforced [p. 71] His title as Lord apart from the footing of redemption, it would have been to enforce judgment. If you come to own Christ as Lord, you bring all you possess with you, not a hoof is to be left behind. The Lord claims not only myself but all that belongs to me.
The resurrection makes the salvation valid (read verse 21 omitting the parenthesis). Death is not annulled except by resurrection. Resurrection is the great triumph of God; “By man came also the resurrection of the dead”. Death came by man; therefore, if there is to be good for man death must be annulled; but resurrection is the glory of God. “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (John 11: 40).
There is a reference to the ceremonial washings of the Old Testament, in “Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh”.
The principle of God’s ways is wonderful. God had a reserve, a resource, all through. Neither Cain nor Seth could bruise the serpent’s head, nor could David’s throne be established in Solomon. It all awaited the Man. It is wonderful that recovery should be identified with the Man of God’s purpose. All is entirely new, and yet there is the principle of recovery. Man was under liability, and Christ came and took up what lay on man, and yet at the same time He was the Man of God’s purpose.
Verse 22 is Christ gone into heaven as Man — all is put under Him. Think of a Man gone into heaven, and who is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him!