THE MORAL BASIS FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST
[p. 571] THE MORAL BASIS FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST
CAC As the truth of the place that the saints have as the body of Christ is a most distinctive truth, we thought it would be helpful to look at it together. We do not get the thought of the body of Christ in Romans; we get the moral basis for it.
Ques. What is that?
CAC What stands in relation to the truth of the body, as the foundation does to a house. The foundation must correspond with the structure, otherwise the plan would be thwarted. At the close of this epistle the apostle speaks of God as One “able to establish you, according to my glad tidings and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery”. The glad tidings preached by Paul correspond with the mystery, so the gospel if rightly presented would prepare us for the truth of the mystery — what the church is as the body of Christ. The truth of the mystery was involved in the word said to Saul of Tarsus, “Why dost thou persecute me?” (Acts 9: 4). I was thinking of the greatness of the thought in the mind of God; He kept it secret for many centuries, He kept it hid — there was something of value that God could treasure. We all should be concerned to know this peculiar secret in the heart of God which was never known until the present period. The fact that Jesus would sit at God’s right hand was not a mystery, that He would ascend and lead captivity captive was not a mystery, but the fact that His body was to be on the earth was hidden. We ought to be concerned that we understand it, and that we are in it in spiritual reality. I thought that Romans giving us the glad tidings, and securing to us the good of the Spirit was the moral basis for the body. The Spirit in the saints as life — that is the moral basis of the truth of the body.
[p. 572] Rem What is brought into evidence in the preaching of Paul’s gospel is that it is a gospel very different from the relief of man. We get the Spirit indwelling and are able to say, “Abba, Father”. As saints we should take to heart the immensity God has in view. Think what a testimony is going forth!
Ques Speaking of what is distinctive as to the body, is it beyond the assembly?
CAC The assembly is the body, but there is an aspect of the assembly as the congregation of God which does not go so far as the truth of the body. Is not the basis of it very much the preaching of Jesus Christ? That is the gospel. The first thing is that we are brought into line with God, and the means that God uses to bring us into line with Himself is the preaching of Jesus Christ. We all have noticed how prominent that title is in this epistle. He is the one Man for God.
God is causing that one Man to be preached so that He should become the one Man for us. He is before us as the one Man through whom grace, righteousness and life are available. Everything in the nature of blessing is stored in that one Man, in contrast with one man who brought in sin and death. We all know experimentally what was brought in by Adam; now God has brought in another Man, Jesus Christ. He is the Man God is presenting, showing the wonderful things that are secured in and through that Man. Those who believe the preaching of Jesus Christ come into line with God, and what is most wonderful of all is that if we come into line with God in that way, the Spirit of God can dwell in us; that is not the seal, or the earnest or the adoption; it is the Spirit of God dwelling in you, at home with you, for that is what dwelling means. If I believe the preaching of Jesus Christ, if I believe those glad tidings, I can understand all that is there in Jesus Christ, and I come into line with God; I appreciate the one Man as an Object of faith. Then the Spirit says, ‘I can come and be at home with you’. Think of a company of persons on [p. 573] this earth with whom the Spirit of God can be on such terms that He can come and dwell with them; it is fine! This is preparing us individually so that we can come to be one body in Christ. It is not the body of Christ in Romans, but one body in Christ.
Ques It would be helpful if you would open that up to us. What is it to be one body in Christ?
CAC There is a unity brought about in Christ that is altogether apart from Adam, the man after the flesh. A wonderful unity is brought about in Christ; that is the extent that we get in Romans. If we do not know what it is to be one body in Christ, we do know anything of the body. One body in Christ is moral unity.
Ques Is the thought of the body to take me apart from Adam?
CAC The point of harmony is one Man, Jesus Christ. I see more and more that we are not defective in top storeys but in foundation. There is nothing in the way of blessing outside one Man Jesus Christ. When we believe these glad tidings we are in such harmony with God that the Spirit can be at home with us; that is the idea of dwelling. If I believe in that one Man Jesus Christ, the Spirit can be at home with me. If you think of a company of persons on earth with whom the Spirit is at home, is not that wonderful? A company in harmony with Jesus Christ! We must distinguish between this and sealing; this is more than sealing. God may put His seal on me, or give me the earnest of what is coming, but the Spirit of God dwelling in us is something beyond; we do not think enough of it.
Ques Is this a further thought than believing on Him as Saviour?
CAC It is a more comprehensive thought. This is a wonderful basis of unity; we see a number of persons in whom the Spirit is complacent. Do we understand it? Can we each say, The Spirit of God is complacent with me? The [p. 574] indwelling of the Spirit is the evidence of the complacency of God with those who come into harmony with Him. Every believer is a miniature of the whole.
Ques Are individual exercises in view of the body?
CAC This aspect we are speaking of comes out in the house, the habitation of God. Each individual’s body is a little miniature of the universal idea of the temple; what is secured universally is seen in each believer. This is Paul’s gospel; if he came here he would say, ‘I have nothing better to tell you than that God has one Man Jesus Christ. He is risen from the dead; if you believe on Him all is yours. You come into the complacency of God, and His Spirit will be at home with you’. That is a good gospel; it is the gospel for the man in the street. There is no different gospel for the believer than for the sinner. When I preached I did not think of the company as some being believers and some sinners, I thought of them as men and women and I had got glorious news for them. I wanted them to understand it better than they did. If you preach the gospel and there are only believers there, you will find that they enjoy it immensely; their faces will shine. The gospel is something for men, women and children to believe. This is all of one piece with the mystery; it is fatal to think that the gospel is one thing and the assembly another; they are two departments of the same blessed grace, only, the gospel is for all men, and the truth of the assembly does not go beyond the saints. Then Paul goes on to say in Romans 8, “If any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him”. Having the Spirit of Christ is a matter of consciousness; we are all conscious here tonight if we have the Spirit of Christ or not. There is no uncertainty about it. You know if you have the Spirit of Christ. Suppose you find yourself hard, unforgiving, discontented with your circumstances, grumbling and murmuring, you have no difficulty in judging that that is not the Spirit of Christ. Anybody with any christian life knows the marks of the Spirit of Christ. Suppose I have not the marks and am distressed about it, it drives me to [p. 575] God. I tell God that I am grieved that there is so much about me that is not the Spirit of Christ. The very fact that I feel the contrariety is the proof I have the Spirit. If I go to God He will help me. If I have a spirit that is not of Christ and I go to Him, He will help me to get apart from it. The result of such exercises as these is that Christ is in the saints. All this is working towards the truth of the body. It is a wonderful moment when Christ gets a footing in us — “Christ in you”.
Ques Would you distinguish between having the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead?
CAC That carries you to when the mortal body is quickened on account of the Spirit that dwells in us; it looks on to the complete result. Suppose I lose my temper, I feel very grieved and I go to God and confess it; that is the Spirit of Christ, I have the feelings of Christ inwardly. It is the Spirit of Christ that leads me to go to God about that ugly feeling. This is the moral basis in the soul of the individual believer. Christ has a footing in every believer; there was a time when Christ had no footing in us. We may not be well-developed Christians yet but Christ has a footing in us. The Spirit of God dwelling in you shows how God regards you, He can be on familiar terms with you. I remember someone saying to us when I was a boy, ‘Boys, keep on good terms with the Spirit’. If we are in our true place with God the world will not trouble us, the gospel is to deliver us from the world, the flesh and the devil.
Ques Christ gets a footing in Romans 8; when does God get a footing?
CAC He gets a footing when we believe the glad tidings of Jesus Christ. If Christ gets a footing He alters everything. He will not leave things as they were, but will revolutionise the whole moral being. The body is dead because of sin; we do not understand how greatly we are controlled by our bodies as natural men and women. What we eat, what we drink, what we wear — all the pleasures of [p. 576] the world centre round the gratification of the body, but if Christ gets a link what becomes of all that? The Spirit is life now.
Rem Another Person is dominating now.
CAC J.N.D. got into an argument once with a Jesuit priest; the priest argued that the Christian was to be a corpse moved by a stick, and the father confessor was the stick. J.N.D. said, I accept your figure but the stick must be the Spirit of God. The body is dead on account of sin; my body moving naturally must lead me to sin, but the Spirit is life on account of righteousness. This mortal body is now to be energised by the Spirit. This shows us the indispensability of the Spirit every day and every moment. The Christian has to work as everyone else, but how differently he does it. He does all on the principle of obedience and dependence and with reference to God. What maintains that vitally in the believer? The Spirit of God, so the Spirit is life on account of righteousness.
Ques Is that the force of chapter 13?
CAC That is the idea. The deeds of the body naturally can only be sin, but now a new power has come in to enable us to put to death the deeds of the body; the Christian thus becomes superior to the flesh. Some of us have tried to be dead to the flesh — I did, so I can sympathise — but Scripture proposes that we should be superior to the flesh. All this is so important because we cannot touch chapter 12 without it.
In chapter 12 we get the practical working of it out on sacrificial lines. Every bit of movement practically in reference to the service of God must be sacrificial, must cost something; there is no move on this line apart from sacrifice.
Rem We are to be constantly facing things.
CAC The principal secret of discontent among the people of God is that we have not found our place in relation to being one body in Christ; therefore we are trying to take a place that has not been given to us and that brings friction and discomfort. When we learn our allotted place we can [p. 577] move on quietly, according to the measure of faith God has given to us, on the line of sacrifice and we can be supremely happy. Having learned experimentally chapter 8 we have this wonderful privilege of offering what God values more than anything else — our body.
Rem It shows that our body is worth something to God.
CAC I should like to make clear for old and young the way the Spirit becomes life in the body; that is, the Spirit maintains obedience, subjection, etc. That is life. When the body is under the control of the Spirit everything is done on the line of obedience. If we keep shop, or go to the office, or whatever we have to do, we do it on the line of obedience. The Spirit maintains that; it is not an effort but the Spirit maintains it in the soul. We all know when we are in vitality Godward; our secret exercises make us fully assured whether we are going on with God and bringing Him into things or not. On this line we find the truest happiness; the thing is to keep our bodies on the altar. Now it is to be the will of God. Naturally we dread the will of God; we have a lurking feeling that we would not like to commit ourselves to God’s will lest He might do something we did not like! That springs from the fangs of the serpent. But your body presented as a living sacrifice, the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect; you prove it so. You do not want any improvement, for your circumstances could not be improved. You have only to adapt yourself to the environment where God has set you and serve the brethren there. This truth as to the body is not an abstract thing; people talk of high truth, but in one sense it is the lowest truth, because it will search you to the roots of your moral being. When we get on to this line we find a measure of faith, and we have to work it out. There is something we have to do that is of service to the whole company as one body in Christ. It says in this chapter, “Each one members one of the other”. God would give me a sense that I need you and cannot do without you, and He would give you a sense that you need me. This works out particularly [p. 578] locally; if I am not supplying what other saints need what a gap there is! If I have a bit of value I want the brethren to get the good of it, and I want to get the good of what value is in the brethren. That is the one body in Christ, not exactly the body of Christ; it is the moral basis of all. We cannot go on to Ephesian truth if we have not got this.