NOTES OF READINGS ON JAMES
[p. 215] NOTES OF READINGS ON JAMES
Chapter 3 James labours to bring christians out into distinctness. The start is, “Of his own will begat he us”. Then there is the receiving the implanted word with meekness, and salvation is by the implanted word — that is, christianity. Then we get that there is no respect of persons in christianity in presence of the Lord of glory. Then in works you see unity: all distinctions are gone, and Abraham and Rahab are brought together by their works, prefiguring the Jew and the gentile together.
In chapter 3 you get the contrast brought out between the old man and the new man. The man of the world is known by the use of his tongue, the wise man — the new man — is known by wisdom; one is from beneath, the other from above. The wise man is one who has wisdom from above. The tongue is wrong, because man’s will is wrong, and you cannot set the will right. Lying belongs to or characterises the old man, and the truth characterises the new, so we get in Ephesians 4 “putting away lying”, and that the new man is created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth.
A large ship is at the disposal of the helmsman, but you can do nothing with the tongue, it cannot be tamed.
Christianity is positive and not merely negative: the tongue is not capable of being corrected. Knowledge is a great thing with us, it is not what a christian can talk, but what he knows. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge? The substance of christianity really consists in knowledge: “this is life eternal, that they might know thee”. So, too, let not the rich man glory in riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me.
Ques Should not the tongue of a christian now be used by God and [p. 216] for God?
FER I think a christian has to shew his works and guard against his tongue. You yourself are to be governed by wisdom, and then the tongue will be used in wisdom. The wise man is really another man, it is not exactly a question of restraining or reforming the tongue: the tongue can no man tame. The wise man is endued with wisdom and then endued with knowledge. The wise man is one who has appreciation of Christ, and then there is a point further, he is endued with knowledge. As you appreciate Christ, you walk as He walked in the will of God: He was found in the path of God’s will; so these things spoken of as characterising wisdom are the very things we see as characterising Him. He was pure, peaceable and so on. We appreciate that: let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness, etc., then the tongue falls into its proper place. There is a great revolution, now works are apparent and the tongue is secondary; formerly the tongue was everything and works — good works — were secondary. I want first to see righteousness in a christian, next I want to see a man in whom is abhorrence of everything unholy or impure. The new man on earth is the witness of the glorified Man in heaven, so it is a most important thing that the new man should be seen, and that is by works; you put off the old man and put on the new. Wisdom came in really in Christ coming here, but Proverbs 8 shews that wisdom was ever there for man. Truth has come in to shew everything in its proper place and proportion in regard of, or relation to, God. People may go on in such a way that they virtually lie against the truth. When you see christians eager as to getting on in this world, or self-confident or self-asserting, they are virtually lying against the truth. What can be said against a man who is first pure, then peaceable, etc. That man is a christian. Appreciation of Christ is the only thing which will effect it in man. We ought all of us to be set on entering the holiest, and if we do, we shall come out like this with the wisdom which is from above. A poor [p. 217] and wise child is better than an old king that will not be admonished. The christian is the poor and wise child, he has wisdom from above. In a christian it is apprehending what Christ is in the holiest that enables a man to come out rightly in wisdom here. Wisdom signifies really God’s resource, and you only really learn Christ as God’s resource in the holiest. The holiest was seen in the tabernacle of old, but the veil was there, and the veil would not have been there if sin had not been there separating from God; but God had a resource behind the veil — even Christ. I can go to God and I am at home in His presence. Nothing now is displayed, but I can go into His presence and see His resource there in Christ.
In coming to the assembly you must bring with you the best that you have got.
Chapter 4 We get the other part of the epistle here; it really divides at the end of chapter 3. In the first part of the epistle we see unfolded what christianity really is, we see how God wrought in us, of His own will begetting us, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.
Then we have brought before us the perfect law of liberty, and then unity of life in chapter 2, and in chapter 3, the old man and the new.
These are the great principles of christianity. James is very practical and extremely striking, he does not bring it out exactly doctrinally, but practically; it is not much good exhorting people to keep the unity of the Spirit unless you can shew them the groundwork.
Certain things are true in Christ whatever may be the practice of the saints.
In James you really get the living out the truth that is; so we get the having put off the old man and the having put on the new, and that is in connection with “as the truth is in Jesus”.
In chapters 4 and 5 the Spirit addresses Himself to the twelve tribes as they were; you find traces of christianity in the chapters. James addresses here the twelve tribes as to what was wrong among them, and reproves them; the link was not actually broken with the twelve tribes; James, however, identifies himself with those who had the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, those who were true christians. The Jew ought not to be the friend of the world, because they were His people, separated from the nations; the Jews were at all events separated from Babylon.
He does not address the twelve tribes as “my brethren”, but when he uses that term he intends the christians amongst them, those who have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. How much more is the friendship of the world wrong for the christian! Egypt is the gross world, Babylon is the world of man’s glory.
Even amongst us worldly glory has too much place. Hereditary glory is nothing worth to me; it is part of the world’s system. The christian should not be dazzled by worldly glory; Christ is the Head of every man; if you get Him in that way before you, then earthly glory pales; Babylon is the system in which man is glorified. You respect a tax-gatherer, but you would not think of glorifying him. Any part a man may have in the glory of the world will hinder him in coming in contact with the saints of God. When the blessed Lord was on earth there was nothing to stand between Him and the poorest person He came in contact with. Honour is due to those who have a place in the government of the country; as a rule they have moral worth of some kind. There is a moral dignity about the carriage of a christian here in dealing with the world, as seen in the case of Abraham purchasing the cave of Machpelah from the children of Heth.
As to praying for those who rule, it is just as important to pray for the Czar of Russia if you want peace for the [p. 219] saints, because peace really depends as much on the Czar as on England. In this country we are so peaceful that not much is heard of that prayer; if trouble arose no doubt we should hear it more; we have to leave the world to manage itself under the providence of God.
The world is not put under Christ, but the world to come is, and I must be loyal to that; Jerusalem will be the joy of the whole earth. Israel will be the centre of the world to come. The Lord does not allow you to judge your brother, or you get down below the level of the law. We have to carry out the law — not to speak evil one of another. We talk too much about one another; we are to speak truth one with another, with our neighbour, for that tends to edify. This advice, ‘that in conversation it is better to talk about things rather than persons’, is good. The hearts of christians should be exercised in love for one another, and we should be praying for one another. There is a disposition to judge one another’s motives; many things in the church which come out never would come out if there were more love and more pastoral care.
The last verse of the chapter is a moral principle, they knew the law and did not do it, therefore it was sin to them; it was a sin of omission, but it was a sin. You may do things without reference to the will of God, as in changes we may make as to our abode, etc.; you must consider the Lord in the detail of life. It is a great thing to recollect that we are strangers and pilgrims here; we are not entitled to an easy path and circumstances here.