FIRST PRINCIPLES
John 1:1-9, 14, 18; 10:39,40; 2 John 7-9;
I would seek help, beloved brethren, to suggest that first principles support the unity of grace. Peter could write that he could put persons in remembrance, and I think that in gatherings like this, the Spirit would help us to be put in remembrance of first principles. We spoke in the reading of the house of God and right representation. There are principles that govern God’s house and He has a right to maintain these principles through the saints, just like a father in his house would have certain principles that those occupying the house would honour.
These scriptures that we have read would give us a fresh view of first principles. John 1 is not theoretical; we are put in contact with divine Persons. What was to be expressed of God’s heart came out in a Man. The deity of Christ is something that we hold on to reverently, and how He of His own volition came in to this world. In this scripture, He is distinguished; “the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. It is very clear. There is much in the way of anti-christian teaching that would be used by the devil to set that aside. I say anti-christian teaching; although it is against Christ, which the word anti-christ would convey literally, it is also instead of Christ. So this teaching in John 1 would be bedrock in our souls. It is
‘God manifest in flesh, O wonder of His universe’
(Hymn 400)
Here is the Creator Himself. Nothing was brought into being without Him – He did it. In Hebrews, it is perhaps more the thought of Christ as the instrument of God, but here in John, it is what He did of His own volition. So “not one thing received being which has received being”, except through Him. It would stimulate real reverence in our souls that God has made Himself known in such a wonderful way, not only to express everything in His heart, because God is light, but also to express what God is. God is love absolutely. We could not exactly say that love is His essence, because He is more than that; He is also light, in contrast to the darkness in the world, but He is love absolutely.
It is wonderful to think of the sovereign love and movements of God coming into the world in this way, to express His heart on the one hand, and to expose and deliver us from darkness on the other. Then the apostle calls attention to John the baptist as a witness. “There was a man sent from God, his name John”. John the baptist was not the light, but God used him. The Lord Jesus was the light of the world when He was here. Everything was opened up by Him as the Light of the world. Beloved, nothing has changed with the Lord. He took on a new condition, came into a condition in which He could take up the matter of sin, in order to lay down that condition, redeem us from the darkness and reconcile us to God. Now there is no distance, and God is absolutely complacent because Jesus is our acceptance. We are before God as Christ is in manhood – how wonderful that is. So “the Word became flesh”; this is a new movement, as it were, when a new order of man was found on the earth. Heaven had waited for this moment. The Lord Jesus came into the world and He declared God in a wonderful relationship of grace and love. That is the relationship that God intends man to be brought into; we come into this now by the Spirit.
I thought of John 10, relating it again to first principles. “They sought therefore again to take him; and he went away from out of their hand and departed again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptising at the first”. The Lord Jesus in His earthly ministry taught by example; He left us an example that we should follow in His steps (1 Pet.2.21). The way that He went is the way that we have to go. But the Lord Jesus also left us a testimony; John writes here about how Jesus “departed again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptising at the first”. True ministry quickens our affections for Christ, and links on with what has gone before in what God has given and what the Lord Jesus has given through manifestations of the Spirit. Spiritual intelligence links on with what has been given in that way since the beginning of Christianity. So the Lord Jesus linked on with the ministry of John the baptist. John was a bit surprised – he thought it should be the Lord baptising him, but no, Jesus links on with the movement of righteousness in the saints. I thought it was significant that He returned to where John was baptising at the first. Jesus links on with that, and then He opens everything up.
The second epistle of John has to do with our abiding in the doctrine, abiding in the teaching. I want to be careful in what I say, but we need not only the Scriptures, but also guidance to understand them. We must have Scripture to help us and protect us, and we must enquire into them to get fresh light for our souls, but we also need what the Lord has given us through gift in the ministry that has come down to us in the recovery of the truth. The Lord Jesus moved on in recovery in 1890 so that the truth of eternal life in the company of the saints might be made known. As things developed in the recovery, the sonship of Christ was clarified, as was the truth of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power. You can see that the wisdom of God was in that in view of intelligence in God’s service. In every movement of the testimony, there has been conflict, so that fresh light could be made available to the body of the saints. We would do well to think about that, and understand the way that the Lord Jesus Himself, as Head of His assembly, has opened up the truth. The Spirit brings us into the enjoyment and intelligence of it. The enemy is against such ministry, against the manifestations of the Spirit, and indeed in direct but subtle opposition when conflict comes; we can see that he throws dust in the air. I believe earnestly that when conflict comes, we have to be ready to stand on first principles and in the unity of grace. When the truth is at stake, the issue is always Christ.
A scripture was used during the week in one of our readings, that if the Lord has laid down His life for us, “we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives”, 1 John 3:16. If I am going to lay down my life for the brethren, that removes me out of sight. That is how the truth is maintained, so that we are not carried away. Young families require good moral leadership and a commitment to the Lord Jesus who is the Truth, so that they come into it, and are able to stand when conflict comes. We do not live on conflict, but we must be ready for it. Christ lives in us for the enjoyment of heaven and we enter into these relationships which are entirely spiritual, to enjoy eternal life, which has been called an out of the world condition and relationship of being – a profound statement.
So it says here that we are to abide in the doctrine. We have to be very careful about what we read. It was explained to me some time ago by a brother who is now with the Lord that there is nothing inside the camp that is going to help me in my exercise to go outside the camp, bearing His reproach, or it would not be in the camp – it would be outside. Another thing which was said to me in regard to an exercise to read in order to maintain first principles, was that we must be very careful what we eat. You may have a box of chocolates, and maybe twenty two of them are good, but there are twenty four in the box. You may not be able to discern where those two are.
I say this, beloved, from practical experience. We have to abide in the doctrine, and hold on to first principles. Anti-christian activity is very subtle and plausible, but the test is to do with confessing Jesus Christ coming in flesh. It does not say, ‘Jesus Christ who came in flesh’, and I think that is significant. It is “Jesus Christ coming in flesh”; that has a present bearing. So the Word became flesh; a new order of man appeared on this scene. He is the last Adam, a new Head for us. He is Head of creation, and Head of His body, the assembly. He is the Head and Centre of another world. It is a new kind of manhood that continues in the saints, and we can discern and distinguish between the spirit of error and the spirit of truth through the confessing of Jesus Christ coming in flesh. To deny that is to bring back the man who deserves only crucifixion. Paul could say “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), but bringing that man back is not confessing Jesus Christ coming in flesh.
We spoke about Phinehas in the reading. Phinehas was a priest of God and to God, and He came forward in a crisis. This ought to stimulate young brethren, because younger brethren are going to have to step forward. Crises occur and the truth is always at stake, Christ is always the issue. That came before Mr Darby early on when there was indifference to Christ. Some said in effect, ‘I know that they hold what is wrong, but I do not’. But Mr Darby said, ‘No, you are expressing fellowship and therefore the principles of fellowship apply first’. Make no mistake about it, the devil is busy to attack the principles of fellowship, the truth of the one body, but the truth of the one body is inviolate. It is like the unity of the Spirit; it is fixed. Holiness and love are inseparable, which is why the Lord Jesus used the title “the holy, the true” in His address to Philadelphia (Rev.3:7). Holy love is in activity from the Head, and you cannot separate love from jealousy about what belongs to God. That is what comes out in Numbers 25 – the jealousy which is of God. It came out in Phinehas, and he dealt with the corrupting matter. The apostle could speak of those who were enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil.3:18). In what way was that displayed? In earthliness – the reference is to those who mind earthly things; they forgot about their commonwealth. We can enjoy these associations of life; everything that we enjoy by the Spirit as together has to do with what is heavenly, not earthly. And so the Babylonish subtlety is of corruption through association. That is what Phinehas dealt with, because of the things of God that he loved, and the God that he loved.
In this scripture, Daniel is very positive. We are in days of captivity in the sense that Paul’s ministry has been obliterated publicly, but Daniel shows us how to go through the captivity in faithfulness to God, and in the love of the truth. The first thing that comes to light is separation. Daniel “purposed in his heart that he would not pollute himself with the king’s delicate food, nor with the wine which he drank”. It needed decisive action, the action of priestliness. Daniel was in principle a priest. It means, beloved brethren, that we do not seek to avoid reproach, to avoid the scandal of the cross. We do not entertain our own opinions about things; Daniel applied himself to first principles. This is the way in which God took him up in separation; this is the way that he was going to stand. He could have linked up with others and avoided all that was to come upon him. But we see that God brought Daniel through, and he was not alone. There were three others who were good company to him. They, no doubt, had purposed the same thing because they were put in trying circumstances of conflict and they stood. And who stood with them? One like a son of God (Dan.3:25). These matters are urgent and important to the Lord Jesus, but they are a joy to our hearts as we come through. So new ground is gained, it has to be held, and it is more difficult to hold it than it was to get to it. That is the day we are in.
I read in Daniel 6 where a decree went forth, and there were persons who opposed Daniel because they were jealous. It is like the deceivers in the second epistle of John, and like those who looked for something out of the Lord’s mouth with which they could condemn him. But Daniel valued what Jerusalem was to God; it was in his heart and it was in his heart to stay, so he did as he did aforetime – he returned to first principles. That was his direction of mind, thought and action. He was a praying man; “he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime”. It says that “his windows being open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem”. He was in communion with God, and there was fruit for God from Daniel. How wonderful that is, young persons. Daniel was very young when he went into captivity. Parents of the younger people in baptised households are exercised about keeping them from the world practically so that the enjoyment of eternal life can be known by their children. Certain things may come into our hearts at a young age and we can purpose. Sometimes we speak of commitment to the Lord in the breaking of bread, for example. But I have to understand the truth if I am to avoid polluting myself with the king’s delicate food or the wine that might come from that area of things where there is no reproach. Balaam suggested that he was a man of God, and that he would resort to different places and come back with a word from God, but although it seemed plausible, corruption and subtlety were creeping in. The people of God had to overcome Sihon and Og; something of self was there. They had to overcome that to get into the land. The spirit of the land was carried in two persons, Joshua and Caleb, but the people had to come into the land for themselves.
The enemy is intent on using the gates of hades against the assembly; he shall not prevail against it, but he assails. So if we are going to maintain our souls in response to divine Persons for Their own pleasure, we should give space to the Spirit, and be ready to overcome like Daniel. It does not say in the Scriptures ‘if you overcome’, but “He that overcomes”. (Rev.2:11); the assumption is made by the Lord Himself that His lovers will overcome. It is so that Christ may live in us. Daniel resorts to prayer, and God providentially comes in for him. He typically valued “the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of His own”, (Acts 20:28). That is the test; there is no room for half measures. What an example Daniel is as he went through the captivity. He was a liberated man, he stood firm and held fast – a true overcomer.
These are critical times, but joy is so important to us. Let us have ears to hear, eyes to see, let us live in Christ in His impartation of life to us by the Spirit.
May God bless the word.
Address at Grangemouth
10 May 2014
D.M. Welch
Edited and Published by John A Brown
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