THE BODY
[p. 178] THE BODY
Colossians 2: 6 - 23; 1 John 4: 11 - 15
I think all would consent to the thought that the church is left in the world in testimony. It is that which led me to read the passage in 1 John 4. The height of the testimony is the presentation of God. This is not in what people say, the witness is in what people are. The apostle, taking up a form of expression which is found in the gospel, “No man hath seen God at any time”, adds, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us”. His love abides in us in testimony here. In the church there should be the expression of God. That came out in Christ, otherwise it could not come out now. The point is, that there should be the perpetuation of that which came out in Christ.
It is impossible to understand a great many things which are found in the epistles if you do not apprehend the purpose that the church should be a witness, not simply to Christ, but of God, morally. It goes on in the subsequent verses to say, “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world”. This is bearing witness in word, but, at the same time, the great witness is moral. The church is witness for God by the Spirit, in order that in it the nature of God may find its expression here.
Now, we come to the same thought in Colossians, “from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God”. Like a body in a healthy state, it increases all over proportionately. There is an energy in it by which every part increases. What I bring under your attention is, the point for which the church is left here. I am going to work up to that, for I feel the great importance of our learning the special purpose of [p. 179] the church here.
I have been trying on previous occasions to shew how God has gathered up every thread of His ways in the church. The church is the first-fruits of redemption. There were dealings of God in the past, but now we have come to the end of the world: the consummation of the ages: God is accomplishing His purpose, and the first-fruits of this is the church. Christ has been brought in upon the scene. You do not get any light with regard to the church until He had ascended up on high. He has ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things, and now we get the truth of the church, and see that every thread of divine dealings previous to Christ is gathered up in Him and in the church.
The more I meditate upon things the more I see that the real point of departure for God is Christ. Every dealing of God up to Christ was in anticipation of Christ. That was true from the beginning of the world. The very order of things at the outset, the position in which Adam was placed, the relation between Adam and Eve, and all the detail in the Old Testament was in anticipation of Christ, so that it is true in a moral point of view, though not historically, that Christ is the beginning. He “is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence”. He has not come in simply as a kind of remedy after previous failure.
But there is another thing which is almost of more importance, God has come out. Everything is fulfilled and centred in Christ. He is the centre and bond of the moral universe, but the moral universe subsists in the full light of God. The full light of God has shone out in Christ. “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. The reference here is evidently to what took place in the beginning of the creation. But that was not the true beginning, there was material light, but the [p. 180] true light is the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That is moral light, and in it all God’s purposes are accomplished.
Now, the starting-point for us is in verse 6 of our chapter. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him”. The apostle is speaking to gentiles, people who had been idolaters. The Colossians are taken up in that way, and the apostle is speaking of what had been true among them. I refer to that because there was a difference between the Jew and the gentile. The Jew had the oracles of God committed to him, while the gentile was left, in the main, without light; the gentile was left to philosophy, which was not light from God. All that it had to go upon were the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world. There were traditions preserved among men concerning creation and the flood and other things, and there were the rudiments of the world — the elements in which men had been educated in the world, whatever these might be. That is all philosophy had to go upon. There was no more to be had, simply because they had no revelation from God. They had the light of creation. This was a witness to God which ought to have had an effect upon men, but it was not revelation, therefore, as far as man’s instruction was concerned, he was dependent upon the traditions of man, and if he went beyond that he must trade upon imagination. There could not be any light in philosophy, it was impossible that it could go beyond the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world. Philosophy may ignore revelation, but philosophical writers cannot now help being affected by a certain knowledge of christianity, though they themselves may not admit it.
When the apostle Paul wrote, men had been brought up in the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world. But man by wisdom knew not God. Philosophy never found God out. He never intended to be found out by it. If man’s mind could find Him out, man [p. 181] would be as great as God. All that world came to an end morally. That is what God intended. The world by wisdom knew not God, and in the death of Christ it came to an end before God. “Now is the judgment of this world”, the Lord could say, and “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out”. The world came to an end in the death of Christ, and, consequent upon that, you get the real starting-point of God.
Christ now is all, and the first principle in that connection is, that God has come out. In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead. God has disclosed Himself. In the very fact that He is revealed we have a point of the greatest moment. Apart from what God is revealed to be, the very fact of His having revealed Himself becomes the touchstone of everything. In Christ “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”. That word “bodily” brings the revelation of God in close touch with man.
When the Lord was here His body was the temple of God, and in that way the oracles of God were brought to man. The Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. It is difficult to understand how the revelation of God would have been available to man, or even possible, but in a man. But God has revealed Himself and the power of that revelation remains. No power in the universe can uproot christianity, because it is based on the revelation of God, and is maintained by the Spirit of God.
The truth of God came out in Christ, and that stumbles man to the present day. In Him we have the revelation of the Godhead: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Until He came no one had any real idea of it. The Lord speaks about His being one with the Father, and when the Jews heard it they accused Him of blasphemy; but there was the only-begotten, and all dwelt in Him. The Father was in Him and the Holy Spirit, and in that way the fulness of the Godhead was brought close to man.
[p. 182] It is in that connection that God has come out. We know what He is. We apprehend in Christ God’s attributes, righteousness, holiness, mercy, grace, all that He is has come out, and, at the same time, His love. What God is in nature was disclosed in Christ, so that He could say, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father”. The revelation of God in a man is the first principle of the new order of things: of that universe of bliss of which Christ is the beginning and Head. This universe subsists in the light of the revelation. The present world does not.
Heathenism, idolatry and philosophy, all were here in the absence of the light of God. They throve in darkness, but now the light has come in. It is of profound moment that God has revealed Himself, but you need to go a little further, that is, to enter into that which God has revealed Himself to be. Had there not been the Trinity we could not have had redemption. “The Father sent the Son, to be the Saviour of the world”. There could be no living bread come down from heaven to give life to the world had there not been the Father and the Son. No seeking of man. Everything that came out in Christ’s ministry is dependent on the revelation of God. The revelation of God is essential in order that we may be able to enter into the ways of God in Christ. Those ways are dependent upon what God is. It would be irreverent to speak of God dying, yet the One who died was God, and God has come out in the only-begotten Son, and redemption has been accomplished. The Son of God has become Man that He might be to man the bread of life, give life to the world and take away the sin of the world. All that is dependent on the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily, to make it available to man.
We come now to the universe of bliss: God’s world in contrast to the world that is; Christ is the Head of all principality and power. People plead strenuously for subjection to the powers that be, and I am not disposed [p. 183] to be insubject to them, but not for a moment am I going to be dazzled by their glory. No glory has any real place if it is without moral foundations. Such glory is shame rather than otherwise, and we are compelled as christians to form a judgment even of principalities and powers because Christ is the Head of them. They now have a standard in Christ, and have to be judged of by christians according to Christ. If they do not answer to Him they are not of much account.
In Psalm 45 we read, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows”. It is very important to apprehend that when the throne of God is established it has its foundation in perfect discrimination between good and evil. There is glory according to God. Jesus received upon the mount of transfiguration glory and honour when there came to Him such a voice from the excellent glory, “This is my beloved Son”. The foundations are moral. In the ministry and pathway of the Lord Jesus upon earth there was the testimony to His fitness to occupy the throne. When here He found abundant lawlessness and very little righteousness, but He loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, and therefore He is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows.
Christ was among the meek of the earth, and the meek are to inherit the earth. He rode into Jerusalem as Zion’s King, meek and sitting on an ass, and on a colt the foal of an ass. Meekness was characteristic of the King who was to occupy the throne of David, which is really the throne of God. Christ is now brought into view as the One in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and the Head of all principality and power. God has brought to light the system in which He will be glorified, and that system is subsisting at the present moment in Christ. Until Christ came every [p. 184] allusion to it was prophetic, but now it is brought into view because Christ is brought into view. The foundations are laid of that universe of bliss which has its beginning, centre and bond in Christ. We have to accept the order of things here until God interferes to put it aside, but at the same time we are compelled to form our judgment of principalities and powers by Christ because He has come in and is Head of them.
Of the order of things in that universe of which I speak the church is the first-fruits. I want now to shew the peculiar purpose which is intended to be served by the body. Every family in that order of things will serve its own particular appointment. The Old Testament saints will fill their part, as will also Israel, the nations, and every family; all in that order of things which is centred in the Sun of righteousness will fulfil its own appointed place. They are all named of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The point for us is, what place has the body?
First, I may ask, what is to form the mind of the christian? The mind of philosophers was formed by the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world, but the christian mind is by Christ. If you want intelligence according to God it comes from the apprehension of Christ. There are those who would like expansion of mind, but the point is to get it according to Christ, because then you get it according to truth. It will be intelligence characterised by goodness. I have known of men in the world of great intelligence both as to men and things, but their intelligence has been disfigured by cynicism. When you come to the intelligence which is according to Christ it is heavenly intelligence, and always replete with goodness. That is the great importance of what is according to Christ, and it is very different to philosophy. The result of philosophy is, that people believe nothing and have no confidence in anything. When you get intelligence according to Christ it forms you after Him. The formation of the [p. 185] mind is a very important point in regard of each of us. We are formed according to Him who is the Head of all principality and power. We are complete in Him.
The apostle is leading up to the thought of the body, and in order to come to an adequate idea of it he brings in the reality of our association with Christ. You cannot understand the body if you do not see that it hangs upon association with Christ. We get a great deal of the body in the New Testament. It seems to be a kind of understood expression, but we have to consider what it means.
Nothing can be plainer than that the body is consequent on the Spirit. The moment the baptism of the Spirit took place, of necessity, there was the body. “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling”. Men, under the baptism of the Spirit, could no longer remain isolated. “By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body ... and have been all made to drink into one Spirit”. Though the Spirit was not given through Paul — it came in connection with the twelve — yet the particular testimony which we have from Paul is the unfolding of all that depends upon the presence of the Spirit. We get thus the truth of the body. You could no longer have the idea of children of God scattered abroad, they were gathered together in one, and therefore you get the body.
In Colossians we do not get a word about the baptism of the Spirit, but we get the suitability of saints for association with Christ. That is the peculiar privilege of those who compose the body: they are called into association with Christ, and are rendered capable both in mind and affections. I understand “circumcision”, “buried with him in baptism” and “risen with him” to be a question of mind. The mind of the believer is in accord with the death and resurrection of Christ. All in the world to come is fulfilled on that ground, and if my mind is not in accord I cannot enter into the truth of the universe of bliss. It is impossible. The effect [p. 186] would be that I should connect christianity with the world that is. God has before Him a world which is based on resurrection, and that is the principle on which Israel will stand; and now my mind is to be in accord with Christ. I am buried with Him in baptism: I am dead to this world, but, as to the state of my mind, I am in accord with the resurrection of Christ. I have a little bit of apprehension of the operation of God by which He intends to establish the universe of bliss.
All is connected with Christ risen, and in the universe of bliss the principle which runs through everything is resurrection. That brings me to another point, that we are quickened with Him. If the mind is not in accord with Christ it would be vain to talk about being quickened with Him. How can two walk together except they are agreed? What is true in Christ is circumcision and resurrection. If they have come to pass in Him your mind must be in accord with them. It is not said that you are risen with Christ in any other sense, for we are here in flesh, and it can only be in the state of our mind that we are now risen with Him. The mind of the christian may be, and ought to be, in accord with the death and resurrection of Christ. It means this, that, by the death of Christ, I have passed out of one order of things, and I have entered on another of which He is the beginning and centre; I am risen with Him.
In being quickened with Him you are capable of association in point of affections. The Spirit had wrought effectually in the Colossians, and the well of water had sprung up to everlasting life. They were brought consciously and suitably into association with Christ. It is that to which we are called, and the work that God carries out in His people is to render them suitable to Christ, and competent in heart, ‘Close to thy trusted side, in fellowship divine’. That is where the drawing of the Father leads us. It is the privilege of every christian to be close to Him, and how can that be but in spiritual affections?
[p. 187] When the Lord was here, who was closest to Him? It was John. And why? Because he appreciated Christ. Peter loved Christ beyond all doubt, but he never was so close to Him as John, and if we are to be close to Him we must appreciate the affection of Christ and answer to it. “Quickened” in general applies to the body. We are not like Christ yet, and yet we are suitable for association with Him. God has quickened us with Him, and has removed everything that existed between Himself and us, so that there might be no obstacle to our nearness to Christ.
Now we get a word of warning. “Let no man judge you in meat or in drink”, We have come to the apprehension that the body is of Christ. If you look abroad in the world there is little of Christ there. The one thing for Christ here is the body, but it belongs to another order entirely. You cannot connect Christ with this order. He is the beginning and centre of another order altogether. The body is of Christ. It does not belong to this order of things. It belongs to Christ. It is of Him, and those who have their part in it are competent in apprehension, and by the work of God, but they have to hold the Head. He is Head of all principality and power. Head of the divine system. Every part of it will take its character from Christ. But then we have to be apart from the world, that is, in spirit. Your mind must be in accord with the death and resurrection of Christ, because you are not holding the Head if you are not clear of worldly associations. The Head is great enough to fill all things, He has ascended up far above all heavens to that end. He is the Sun of righteousness.
In the vision of Christ in the Apocalypse John saw “his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength”. He is the Head of the system, and every part of it — the church, principalities, powers, Israel, the nations — will take character from Him. We have to hold the Head, but there is another point, and that is, we are in [p. 188] connection with the Head. From Him all the body fitly joined together, and having nourishment ministered, increases with the increase of God. We come to the great point which will be served hereafter in the holy Jerusalem; that is, that there might be an expression of God. The body is knit together in spiritual affections, and having nourishment ministered it increases. The natural body must have nourishment ministered, and the body of a child increases in every way proportionately. Christ’s body becomes larger and larger, and for the purpose that God may be expressed. Anything short of that is not the divine thought with regard to the body. “If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us”. It was the purpose of God in the church that there might be a continuation of what had been set forth in Christ He declared God. “The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. Now it is “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us”. The body increases with the increase of God.
It is difficult to speak of these things in the present day because they must be looked at so abstractly. But what could be more important than that there should be here an adequate answer to Christ in heaven. You may talk of people about a Man in heaven, but that is contrary to all experience. They never heard of a man going upward except in a balloon. It might be asked, What witness have you that there is a Man in heaven? I reply, God is upon earth. “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us”. The church is the real witness to the Man in heaven, and that is what God intended. “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”.
God never intended the gospel to be set forth in the world, and a testimony to be given to a Man in heaven, without adequate witness of that Man here upon earth.
[p. 189] Some might say, Is not the Spirit the witness? I quite admit it, but the Spirit never became incarnate, and if the Spirit is to be seen it must be in the practice, ways and affections of christians. In time past people were affected not only by miracles, but by what was expressed in the saints: in the body. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”. That is the evidence of the body. It was formed by the baptism of the Spirit. The suitability of the body is, that the saints are risen with Christ and quickened with Him in order that they may be close to Him. The very thought of the body is Christ. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” He is the first principle of it, and therefore we have to hold the Head.
I have the power of judging of principalities and powers, and intend to exercise that power by the grace of God. I do not care about the world system, nor its glory, because I am called into view of another system which subsists in the light of God, and where He is revealed, and which has its Head in the Sun of righteousness. I seek to hold the Head by the grace of God, and if we are all doing that we shall be held together. There will be the increasing with the increase of God. There will be growth, and the expression of God in us. If you want to be anything of a christian here upon earth you must give yourself up to it entirely. You must not allow any other consideration to come in conflict with it. Your one supreme interest must be in that which is of God: that which finds its centre and beginning in Christ.
May God be pleased to grant that we may be somewhat, in spirit and in mind, in the reality of these things, understanding that to which we are called. It is a great thing to hold the Head. A woman will hold her husband as sure as possible if there is affection for him, and so it is with Christ and us. He is absent from this scene, yet He — yea, even God — is to be reflected in the body here.
[p. 190] For the present time Christ is the test of the world, but He is coming in as its Saviour, and at the same time to establish morally an order which will take its character entirely from Himself.