CHAPTER 4: 7 - 13
CHAPTER 4: 7 - 13
Ques Is the grace the gift?
FER Yes. Grace has been given that every one may be contributory. Previously the chapter has spoken of what is common to all, but here the saints are individualised; they are all contributory to the whole body. It is the same in the human body. If a man is going to fall he puts out his hand to save himself. It is a very important point which many overlook. They forget their obligation to be contributory.
The “measure of the gift” brings in Christ’s sovereignty; whatever is given, whether less or more, is according to His good pleasure. He appoints you your service. It is the sovereignty of His giving: it is not to all alike. Take Paul, for instance: what very great grace was given to him! Each one has grace; I could not say each one has gift. He did not make all apostles. People might think that because they had no particular gift they had nothing to do, but it is not so at all; grace is given to each one in contrast to that which is given to us all in common. You have individuality marked here. Of course, it is to minister to the body — the honey must be brought to the hive — but it is His sovereignty in giving.
Christ received everything for the body: He received the Spirit for it, and the gifts, too. Peter says, “Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear”, Acts 2: 33. Everything comes to the body from the Head. He has received everything for man, having received them first according to Psalm 68, “in Man”. The gifts here are the fruit of His love and care for the assembly. They are given to the assembly. You get the same thing in 1 Corinthians 12, “members in particular”, and, “God hath set some in the church”. The church is the outward thing down here. A gift might be in a mere professor who was not in the body at all. I suppose 1 Corinthians 12 contemplates such a thing. No doubt Judas did miracles like the eleven; Luke 9: 1. People came under the influence of the Spirit apart from being really born again. In Corinth they were using their gifts for their own gratification, rather than for the use of edifying. In Hebrews 6 tasting of the heavenly gift and being partakers of the Holy Spirit goes very far.
Miraculous gifts would be quite out of place in this chapter. The miracles were witnesses to His glory. The lame man at the beautiful gate of the temple was a wonderful witness to the glory of Christ. It was a notable miracle. There were certain gifts which were to be the testimony to His exaltation and glory; they bore witness to the power of His name. I think God condescended to the weakness of man. The Lord Himself went out with signs, and so did the apostles. The signs and wonders have ceased, but not the Lord’s love and care for His church.
I think the parenthesis in verses 9 and 10 is brought in to show the whole result and extent of Christ’s victory. He goes from the lowest place to the highest. “He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men”. The power of the Holy Spirit is a power commensurate with the exaltation of Christ. He went from “the lower parts of the earth” — that is, lower than any living man — up to the highest place. It is the moral height, the right hand of God. You get an allusion [p. 247] to it in chapter 1: 20 - 23. In this chapter, too, He fills all things.
He took captivity out of the hand of the captor. The captor is Satan, and He delivers those who were subject to his bondage. He leads them captive; it is a fresh captivity, but the chain is love! The prey is taken from the mighty, and it becomes the prey of another. It is a showing forth of the completeness of the victory He gained in death. It is not the victory, but the manifestation of the victory. The victory was gained in death; the manifestation of it is in His ascending up far above all heavens, and the first proof of that is in the gifts sent down. You could not use the gifts in power, unless you knew that all was in the hand of the Overcomer. You would then go in the consciousness that all that was hostile to God and man had been completely overcome in death. If a man went forth — say, as an evangelist — he must have the thought in his soul that everything has been overcome. Christ received the gifts “in Man” and for man; He received them as a Man Himself, risen and exalted. The gift is from the Father; all is viewed as having been received from the Father. The Lord Himself came forth from the Father. The Spirit comes as the Spirit of Christ, the exalted Man. In the economy of the Godhead, counsels belong to the Father, all proceeds from Him.
I feel what a poor sense I have of the victory that has been gained. Christ was in conflict with every adverse power, and in death everything was overcome. The resolution of the whole question of good and evil was accomplished at the cross. It was as though God had said to the man in Eden, ‘You had better not touch this question’. The two trees brought knowledge and life within man’s reach, but if he touched the tree of knowledge he died; that question was beyond him, too great for him. Christ is the Tree of Life, but more — the whole question of good and evil [p. 248] is in Him completely solved: good has completely overcome the evil — it has been completely solved to the glory of God, and now He stands as the Tree of Life for man. The thought of God was that man should have steered clear of this question; it was too great for him. But having taken of the fruit, the whole question must be solved in man, and Christ had to take that up. “One righteousness towards all men for justification of life”. Evil had to be overcome, and that brought in the question of death. All evil culminated at the cross, and all good was there; it was the focus of evil, and good overcame it all!
Ques In what way would you say the prince of this world has been cast out?
FER The cross was the breaking of his power. I remember how Mr. Darby used to talk of the two trees. I used to feel it was beyond me, but I think I am just getting a glimpse of it now. What an intensely solemn thing it was that man should undertake to eat of that tree! The “one offence” was the taking of the fruit. In the end of Romans 5 man is shut out and it is all Christ. It is immensely important to see the completeness of the victory. We do not see evil publicly overcome yet; we see it rampant, but we are in the faith of the victory. The place where the victory is known is in the soul of the Christian.
I feel I hardly understand the nature of this conflict. The goodness of God said, ‘Leave it alone, you are not equal to it’. His goodness prohibited it. Man was involved in the question of good and evil, and if life was to be brought to him, that must be solved first. It was solved by Christ, and He has brought in everlasting righteousness. Man was not equal to such a question, but he hankered after it. I should beseech my children not to tamper with things and questions that were too great for them, that were beyond them. The question of good and evil has been the ruin of many a one; it is beyond man. At one point every evil culminated, but there was the “one righteousness” there, and it has brought in everlasting righteousness and life. The obedience of Christ was there.
A gift is the proof of Christ’s love and also of His power. He has overcome all; you must go about in the sense of victory; you ought to be in the light of it. He has ascended up far above all heavens. The fact is, if we had a sense of the greatness of His power that could fill all things, we should have much more effective ministry. You ought to expect to see evil coming down before the gifts. “The weapons of our warfare are ... mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds”. The effect of the truth is that man is delivered from infidelity and superstition; the power of Christ effects it. It casts down imaginations, and brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10. The obedience of Christ means to be subject as He was subject.
The foundation is laid by the evangelist; his work is to bring God to the heart. Of course, all work together, all the gifts affect each individual; the evangelist does not do all the work: souls have to be built up by the pastor and teacher. “The perfecting of the saints” is the great idea. Then follows “with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ”; gifts are given with a view to that.
Many of the men in the pulpits are not gifts at all; that is not taken into account when a man studies for the ministry. The gifts may often be sitting quietly in the congregation, while the preacher might in a way have grace and yet no gift. What a state of confusion! Gift is from Christ.
To my mind a man cannot be eloquent in divine things: his language is restrained, he would have great difficulty in expressing himself. There might, of course, be an eloquence of appeal or affection.
[p. 250] The point to arrive at down here is unity — that is the end of ministry. If that should come to pass the purpose of the gifts would be served. We should then have come “unto a perfect man”; that is collective. It is not here the individual growing up; it does work in the individual, but here it is the whole body, until we are all come. ‘Unity’ governs both ‘the faith’ and ‘the knowledge’ of the Son of God. The thought is, that the church should answer to what she really is, that she should be adequate for the full display of Christ. The present state of ruin should not hinder us from working to that end. The apostle did not intend to give in. People say, The corporate testimony is all over: so it is as far as they are concerned!