Reader, need we wonder that the enemy should seek to mutilate and misapply the solemn and searching address to the church of Laodicea--the professing body in the last dreary stage of its history?
We have no hesitation in saying that to apply it _merely_ to the case of an unconverted soul is to deprive the professing church of one of the most pertinent, pungent, and powerful appeals within the covers of the New Testament.
Thus, in the days of professing Christianity, as in the days of the patriarchs--in the times of the New Testament, as in those of the Old, we see the same value and importance attached to a hearing ear and an obedient heart. Abraham, in the plains of Mamre, the pilgrim and the stranger, the faithful and obedient child of G.o.d, tasted the rare privilege of entertaining the Lord of glory--a privilege which could not be known by one who had chosen his place and his portion in a sphere doomed to destruction. So, also, in the days of Laodicean indifference and boastful pretension, the truly obedient heart is cheered with the sweet promise of sitting down to sup with Him who is "the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of G.o.d." In a word, let the condition of things be what it may, there is no limit to the blessing of the individual soul who will only hearken to the voice of Christ, and keep His commandments.
Let us remember this. Let it sink down into the very deepest depths of our moral being. Nothing can rob us of the blessings and privileges flowing from obedience. The truth of this shines out before our eyes in every section and on every page of the volume of G.o.d. At all times, in all places, and under all circ.u.mstances, the obedient soul was happy in G.o.d, and G.o.d was happy in him. It always holds good, whatever be the character of the dispensation, that, "To this man will I look, even to him who is of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My word."
Nothing can ever alter or touch this. It meets us in the fourth chapter of our blessed book of Deuteronomy, in the words with which this section opens--"Now therefore _hearken_, O Israel, unto _the statutes_ and unto _the judgments which I teach you_, for _to do_, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord G.o.d of your fathers giveth you." It meets us in those precious words of our Lord, in John xiv, on which we have been dwelling--"He that hath _My commandments_ and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me," etc. And again, "If a man love Me, _he will keep My sayings_."[8] It shines with peculiar brightness in the words of the inspired apostle John--"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward G.o.d. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, _because we keep His commandments_, and _do those things that are pleasing in His sight_. And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him." (1 John iii. 21-24.)
[8] There is an interesting difference between the Lord"s "commandments" and "sayings." The former set forth, distinctly and definitely, what we ought to do; the latter are the expression of His mind. If I give my child a command, it is the statement of his duty; and if he loves me, he will delight to do it. But if he has heard me _say_ I like to see such a thing done, although I have not actually told him to do it, it will touch my heart much more deeply to see him go and do that thing in order to gratify me, than if I had given him a positive command. Now, ought we not to try and please the heart of Christ? Should we not "labor to be agreeable to Him"? He has made us accepted; surely we ought to seek, in every possible way, to be acceptable to Him. He delights in a loving obedience; it was what He Himself rendered to the Father.--"I delight to do Thy will; yea, _Thy law_ is within _My heart_." "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father"s commandments, and abide in His love." Oh, that we may drink more deeply into the spirit of Jesus, walk in His blessed footsteps, and render Him a more loving, devoted, and whole-hearted obedience in all things! Let us earnestly seek after these things, beloved Christian reader, that His heart may be gratified, and His name glorified in us, and in our entire practical career from day to day.
Pa.s.sages might easily be multiplied, but there is no need. Those which we have quoted set before us, in the clearest and fullest way possible, the very highest motive for obedience, namely, its being agreeable to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ--well-pleasing to G.o.d.
True, we owe a hearty obedience on every ground. "We are not our own; we are bought with a price." We owe our life, our peace, our righteousness, our salvation, our everlasting felicity and glory, all to Him; so that nothing can exceed the moral weight of His claims upon us for a life of whole-hearted obedience. But above and beyond His moral claims stands the marvelous fact that His heart is gratified, His spirit refreshed, by our keeping His commandments and doing those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Beloved Christian reader, can any thing exceed the moral power of such a motive as this? Only think of our being privileged to give pleasure to the heart of our beloved Lord! What sweetness, what interest, what preciousness, what holy dignity, it imparts to every little act of obedience to know that it is grateful to the heart of our Father! How far beyond the legal system is this! It is a most perfect contrast, in its every phase and every feature. The difference between the legal system and Christianity is the difference between death and life, bondage and liberty, condemnation and righteousness, distance and nearness, doubt and certainty. How monstrous the attempt to amalgamate these two things--to work them up into one system, as though they were but two branches from the one stem! What hopeless confusion must be the result of any such effort! How terrible the effect of seeking to place souls under the influence of the two things! As well might we attempt to combine the sun"s meridian beams with the profound darkness of midnight. Looked at from a divine and heavenly stand-point, judged in the light of the New Testament, measured by the standard of the heart of G.o.d, the mind of Christ, there could not be a more hideous anomaly than that which presents itself to our view in christendom"s effort to combine law and grace. And as to the dishonor done to G.o.d, the wound inflicted on the heart of Christ, the grief and despite offered to the Holy Ghost, the damage done to the truth of G.o.d, the grievous wrong perpetrated upon the beloved lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ, the terrible stumbling-block thrown in the way of both Jew and Gentile, and, in short, the serious injury done to the entire testimony of G.o.d during the last eighteen centuries, the judgment-seat of Christ can alone declare it; and oh, what an awful declaration that will be! It is too tremendous to contemplate.
But there are many pious souls throughout the length and breath of the professing church who conscientiously believe that the only possible way to produce obedience, to attain to practical holiness, to secure a G.o.dly walk, to keep our evil nature in order, is to put people under the law. They seem to fear that if souls are taken from under the school-master, with his rod and rudiments, there is an end to all moral order. In the absence of the authority of law, they look for nothing but hopeless confusion. To take away the ten commandments as a rule of life, is, in their judgment, to remove those grand moral embankments which the hand of G.o.d has erected to stem the tide of human lawlessness.
We can fully understand their difficulty. Most of us have had to encounter it, in one shape or another. But we must seek to meet it in G.o.d"s way. It is of no possible use to cling, with fond tenacity, to our own notions, in the face of the plainest and most direct teaching of holy Scripture. We must, sooner or later, give up all such notions.
Nothing will, nothing can, stand but the Word of our G.o.d--the voice of the Holy Ghost--the authority of Scripture--the imperishable teachings of that peerless revelation which our Father has, in His infinite grace, put into our hands. To that we must listen, with profound and reverent attention; to it we must bow down, with unquestioning and unqualified obedience. We must not presume to hold a single opinion of our own: G.o.d"s opinion must be ours. We must clear out all the rubbish, which, by the influence of mere human teaching, has acc.u.mulated in our minds, and have every chamber thoroughly cleansed by the action of the Word and Spirit of G.o.d, and thoroughly ventilated by the pure and bracing air of the new creation.
Furthermore, we must learn to confide implicitly in every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of G.o.d. We must not reason, we must not judge, we must not discuss: we must simply believe. If man speaks, if it be a mere question of human authority, then indeed we must judge, because man has no right to command. We must judge what he says, not by our own opinions, or by any human standard, creed, or confession of faith, but by the Word of G.o.d. But when Scripture speaks, all discussion is closed.
This is an unspeakable consolation. It is not within the compa.s.s of human language to set forth adequately the value or the moral importance of this great fact. It delivers the soul completely from the blinding power of self-will on the one hand, and of mere subjection to human authority on the other. It brings us into direct, personal, living contact with the authority of G.o.d; and this is life, peace, liberty, moral power, true elevation, divine certainty, and holy stability. It puts an end to doubts and fears, to all the fluctuations of mere human opinion, so perplexing to the mind, so torturing to the heart. We are no longer tossed about with every wind of doctrine, every wave of human thought. _G.o.d has spoken._ This is quite enough. Here the heart finds its deep and settled repose. It has made its escape from the stormy ocean of theological controversy, and cast anchor in the blessed haven of divine revelation.
Hence, therefore, we would say to the pious reader of these lines, if you would know the mind of G.o.d on the subject before us--if you would know the ground, character, and object of Christian obedience, you must simply listen to the voice of holy Scripture. And what does it say? Does it send us back to Moses, to teach us how to live? Does it send us back "to the palpable mount," in order to secure holy living?
Does it put us under the law, to keep the flesh in order? Hear what it says. Yes; hearken and ponder. Take the following words from Romans vi.--words of emanc.i.p.ating, holy power: "For sin shall not have dominion over you; for _ye are not under law_, but under grace."
Now, we most earnestly entreat the reader to let these words enter into the very depths of his soul. The Holy Ghost declares, in the simplest and most emphatic manner, that Christians are not under law.
If we were under law, sin would have dominion over us. Indeed, we invariably find, in Scripture, that "sin," "law," and "flesh" are linked together. A soul under law cannot possibly enjoy full deliverance from the dominion of sin; and in this we can see at a glance the fallacy of the whole legal system, and the utter delusion of seeking to produce holy living by putting souls under the law. It is simply putting them into the very place where sin can lord it over them, and rule them with absolute sway. How is it possible, then, to produce holiness by law? It is absolutely hopeless.
But let us turn, for a moment, to Romans vii. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also"--and all true believers, all G.o.d"s people--"are become _dead to the law_ by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto G.o.d." Now, it is perfectly plain that we cannot be "dead to the law" and "under the law" at the same time. It may perhaps be argued that the expression, "dead to the law" is merely a figure.
Well, supposing it be so, we ask, A figure of what? Surely it cannot be a figure of persons under law. Nay, it is a figure of the very opposite.
And let us mark particularly, the apostle does not say the law is dead. Nothing of the kind. The law is not dead, but we are dead to it.
We have pa.s.sed, by the death of Christ, out of the sphere to which the law belongs. Christ took our place; He was made under the law; and, on the cross, He was made sin for us. But He died for us, and we died in Him; and He has thus taken us clean out of the position in which we were under the dominion of sin, and under law, and introduced us into an entirely new position, in living a.s.sociation and union with Himself, so that it can be said. "As He is, so are we in this world."
Is He under law? a.s.suredly not. Well, neither are we. Has sin any claim upon Him? None whatever. Neither has it any upon us. We are, as to our standing, as He is in the presence of G.o.d; and therefore to put us back under law would be a complete overturning of the entire Christian position, and a most positive and flagrant contradiction of the very plainest statements of holy Scripture.
Now, we would, in all simplicity and G.o.dly sincerity, ask, How could holy living be promoted by removing the very foundation of Christianity? How could indwelling sin be subdued by putting us under the very system that gave sin power over us? How could true Christian obedience ever be produced by flying in the face of holy Scripture? We confess we cannot conceive any thing more thoroughly preposterous.
Surely a divine end can only be gained by pursuing a divine way. Now, G.o.d"s way of giving us deliverance from the dominion of sin is by delivering us from under law; and hence all those who teach that Christians are under law are plainly at issue with G.o.d. Tremendous consideration for all who desire to be teachers of the law!
But let us hear further words from the seventh chapter of Romans. The apostle goes on to say, "For _when we were in the flesh_, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto _death_. But now _we are delivered from the law_, being dead [or, having died] to that wherein we were held: _that we should serve_ in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."[9]
[9] The rendering of Romans vii. 6 in our authorized version is manifestly erroneous, inasmuch as it teaches that the law is dead, which is not true. "The law is good, if a man use it lawfully." (1 Tim. i.) And again, "The law is holy." (Rom. vii.) Scripture never teaches that the law is dead, but it teaches that the believer is dead to the law--a totally different thing.
But further, ?p??a???te? cannot possibly apply to the law, as any well-taught school-boy can see at a glance; it applies to us--believers. Were it the law, the word would be ?p??a???t??.
Here, again, all is as clear as a sunbeam. What means the expression, "When we _were_ in the flesh"? Does it--can it mean that we _are_ still in that condition? Clearly not. If I were to say, When I _was_ in London, would any one understand that I am in London still? The thought is absurd.
But what does the apostle mean by the expression, "When we were in the flesh"? He simply refers to a thing of the past--to a condition that no longer obtains. Are believers, then, not in the flesh? So Scripture emphatically declares. But does this mean that they are not in the body? a.s.suredly not. They are in the body as to the fact of their existence, but not in the flesh as to the ground of their standing before G.o.d.
In chapter viii. we have the most distinct statement of this point.--"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please G.o.d. _But ye are not in the flesh_, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of G.o.d dwell in you." Here we have the statement of a most solemn fact, and the setting forth of a most precious, glorious privilege. "They that are in the flesh _cannot please G.o.d_." They may be very moral, very amiable, very religious, very benevolent; but they cannot please G.o.d. Their entire position is false. The source whence all the streams flow is corrupt; the root and stem whence all the branches emanate are rotten--hopelessly bad. They cannot produce a single atom of good fruit--fruit that G.o.d can accept. "They cannot please G.o.d." They must get into an entirely new position; they must have a new life, new motives, new objects--in a word, they must be a new creation. How solemn is all this! Let us weigh it thoroughly, and see if we understand the apostle"s words.
But on the other hand, mark the glorious privilege of all true believers. "_Ye are not in the flesh._" Believers are no longer in a position in which they cannot please G.o.d. They have a new nature--a new life, every movement, every outflow, of which is agreeable to G.o.d.
The very feeblest breathing of the divine life is precious to G.o.d. Of this life, the Holy Ghost is the power, Christ the object, glory the goal, heaven the home. All is divine, and therefore perfect. True, the believer is liable to err, p.r.o.ne in himself to wander, capable of sinning. In him (that is, in his flesh,) dwelleth no good thing. But his _standing_ is based on the eternal stability of the grace of G.o.d, and his _state_ is met by the divine provision which that grace has made for him in the precious atonement and all-prevailing advocacy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus he is forever delivered from that terrible system in which the prominent figures are, "Flesh," "Law," "Sin,"
"Death"--melancholy group, most surely!--and he is brought into that glorious scene in which the prominent figures are, "Life," "Liberty,"
"Grace," "Peace," "Righteousness," "Holiness," "Glory," "Christ." "For _ye are not come_ to the mount that might be touched"--that is, the palpable mount--"and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, "And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:" and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, "I exceedingly fear and quake:") but _ye are come_ unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living G.o.d, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, the general a.s.sembly, the church of the first-born [ones] which are written in heaven, and to G.o.d the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than Abel." (Heb.
xii.)
Thus we have endeavored to meet the difficulty of any conscientious reader who up to the moment in which he opened this volume had cherished the conviction that it is only by putting believers under the law that practical holiness and true obedience can be attained. We trust he has followed us through the line of Scripture evidence which we have laid before him. If so, he will see that to place believers in such a position is to do away with the very foundations of Christianity--to abandon grace--to give up Christ--to go back to the flesh, in which we cannot please G.o.d, and to place ourselves under the curse. In short, the legal system of men is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the entire New Testament. It was against this system and its upholders that the blessed apostle Paul, during his whole life, ever testified. He absolutely abhorred it, and continually denounced it. The law-teachers were ever seeking to sap and undermine his blessed labors, and subvert the souls of his beloved children in the faith. It is impossible to read his burning sentences in the epistle to the Galatians, his withering references in his epistle to the Philippians, or his solemn warnings in the epistle to the Hebrews, and not see how intense was his abhorrence of the whole legal system of the law-teachers, and how bitterly he wept over the ruins of the testimony so dear to his large, loving, devoted heart.
But it is possible that after all we have written, and notwithstanding the full tide of Scripture evidence to which we have called the reader"s attention, he may still feel disposed to ask, Is there not a danger of unholy laxity and levity if the restraining power of the law be removed? To this we reply, G.o.d is wiser than we are. He knows best how to cure laxity and levity, and how to produce the right sort of obedience. He tried the law, and what did it do? It worked wrath; it caused the offense to abound; it developed "the motions of sins;" it brought in death; it was the strength of sin; it deprived the sinner of all power; it slew him; it was condemnation; it cursed all who had to do with it--"As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse;" and all this, not because of any defect in the law, but because of man"s total inability to keep it.
Is it not plain to the reader that neither life nor righteousness nor holiness nor true Christian obedience could ever be attained under law? Is it possible, after all that has pa.s.sed in review before us, that he can have a single question, a single doubt, a single difficulty? We trust not. No one who is willing to bow down to the teaching and authority of the New Testament can adhere to the legal system for one hour.
However, ere we turn from this weighty and all-important subject, we shall place before the reader a pa.s.sage or two of Scripture in which the moral glories of Christianity shine forth with peculiar l.u.s.tre, in vivid contrast to the entire Mosaic economy.
First of all, let us take that familiar pa.s.sage at the opening of the eighth of Romans, "There is therefore now _no condemnation_ to them which are _in Christ Jesus_. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus _hath made me free_ from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, G.o.d sending His own Son _in the likeness_ of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness [d??a??a]
of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Ver. 1-4.)
Now, we must bear in mind that verse 1 sets forth the _standing_ of every Christian--his _position_ before G.o.d. He is "in Christ Jesus."
This settles every thing. He is not in the flesh; he is not under law; he is absolutely and eternally "in Christ Jesus." Hence there is, there can be, no condemnation. The apostle is not speaking of or referring to our _walk_ or our _state_. If he were, he could not possibly speak of "no condemnation." The most perfect Christian walk that ever was exhibited, the most perfect Christian state that ever was attained, would afford some ground for judgment and condemnation.
There is not a Christian on the face of the earth who has not daily to judge his state and his walk--his moral condition and his practical ways. How, then, could "no condemnation" ever stand connected with, or be based upon, Christian walk? Utterly impossible. In order to be free from all condemnation, we must have what is divinely perfect, and no Christian walk is or ever was that. Even a Paul had to withdraw his words (Acts xxiii. 5.). He repented of having written a letter (2 Cor.
vii. 8.). A perfect walk and a perfect state were only found in One.
In all beside--even the holiest and best, failure is found.
Hence, therefore, the second clause of Romans viii. 1 must be rejected: it is not Scripture. This, we think, would be seen by any one really taught of G.o.d, apart from all question of mere criticism.
Any spiritual mind would detect the incongruity between the words "no condemnation" and "walk." The two things cannot be made to harmonize.
And here, we doubt not, is just where thousands of pious souls have been plunged into difficulty as to this really magnificent and emanc.i.p.ating pa.s.sage. The joyful sound, "No condemnation," has been robbed of its deep, full, and blessed significance by a clause introduced by some scribe or copyist whose feeble vision was doubtless dazzled by the brightness of that free, absolute, sovereign grace which shines in the opening statement of the chapter. How often have we heard such words as these!--"Oh, yes; I know there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; but that is if they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now, I cannot say that I walk thus. I long to do so, and I mourn over my failure. I would give worlds to be able to walk more perfectly; but, alas! alas! I have to judge myself--my state, my walk, my ways--each day, each hour. This being so, I dare not apply to myself the precious words, "no condemnation." I hope to be able to do so some day, when I have made more progress in personal holiness; but in my present state, I should deem it the very height of presumption to appropriate to myself the precious truth contained in the first clause of Romans viii."
Such thoughts as these have pa.s.sed through the minds of most of us, if they have not been clothed in words. But the simple and conclusive answer to all such legal reasonings is found in the fact that the second clause of Romans viii. 1 is not Scripture at all, but a very misleading interpolation, foreign to the spirit and genius of Christianity, opposed to the whole line of argument in the context where it occurs, and utterly subversive of the solid peace of the Christian. It is a fact well known to all who are conversant with biblical criticism, that all the leading authorities are agreed in rejecting the second clause of Romans viii. 1.[10] And in this, it is simply a matter of criticism confirming, as all sound criticism must do, the conclusion at which a really spiritual mind would arrive without any knowledge of criticism at all.
[10] It may be that the reader feels a little jealous of any interference with our excellent English Bible. He may, like many others, feel disposed to say, "How is an uneducated man to know what is Scripture and what is not? Must he depend upon scholars and critics to give him certainty on so grave and important a question? If so, is it not the same old story of looking to human authority to confirm the Word of G.o.d?" By no means. It is a totally different thing. We all know that all copies and translations must be, in some points, imperfect, as being human; but we believe that the same grace which gave the Word in the original Hebrew and Greek languages, has most marvelously watched over our English translation, so that a poor man, at the back of a mountain, may rest a.s.sured that he possesses in his common English Bible the revelation of the mind of G.o.d. It is wonderful, after all the labors of scholars and critics, how few pa.s.sages, comparatively, have had to be touched; and not one affecting any foundation-doctrine of Christianity. G.o.d, who graciously gave us the holy Scriptures at the first, has watched over them and preserved them to His Church in a most wonderful manner. Moreover, He has seen fit to make use of the labors of scholars and critics, from age to age, to clear the sacred text of errors which, through the infirmity attaching to all human agency, had crept into it. Should these corrections shake our confidence in the integrity of Scripture as a whole? or lead us to doubt that we possess, in very deed, the Word of G.o.d? Nay, rather should they lead us to bless G.o.d for His goodness in watching over His Word in order to preserve it in its integrity for His Church.
But in addition to all that has been advanced in reference to this question, we cannot but think that the occurrence of the clause, "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," in verse 4, affords abundant evidence of its misplacement in verse 1. We cannot, for a moment, admit the thought of redundancy in holy Scripture. Now, in verse 4 it _is_ a question of walk--a question of our fulfilling "the righteousness [mark the word--d??a??a] of the law," and hence the clause is in its right, because divinely fitted, place. A person who walks in the Spirit--as every Christian ought--fulfills the righteousness of the law. Love is the fulfilling of the law; and love will lead us to do what the ten commandments could never effect, namely, to love our enemies. No lover of holiness, no advocate of practical righteousness, need ever be the least afraid of losing aught by abandoning the legal ground, and taking his place on the elevated platform of true Christianity--by turning from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion--by pa.s.sing from Moses to Christ. No; he only reaches a higher source, a deeper spring, a wider sphere of holiness, righteousness, and practical obedience.
And then, if any one should feel disposed to ask, Does not the line of argument which we have been pursuing tend to rob the law of its characteristic glory? We reply, Most a.s.suredly not. So far from this, the law was never so magnified, never so vindicated, never so established, never so glorified, as by that precious work which forms the imperishable foundation of all the privileges, the blessings, the dignities, and the glories of Christianity. The blessed apostle antic.i.p.ates and answers this very question in the earlier part of his epistle to the Romans. "Do we then," he says, "make void the law through faith? Far be the thought; yea, we establish the law." How could the law be more gloriously vindicated, honored, and magnified than in the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Will any one seek, for a moment, to maintain the extravagant notion that it is magnifying the law to put Christians under it? We fondly trust the reader will not. Ah! no; all this line of things must be completely abandoned by those whose privilege it is to walk in the light of the new creation; who know Christ as their life and Christ as their righteousness, Christ their sanctification, Christ their great exemplar, Christ their model, Christ their all and in all; who find their motive for obedience, not in the fear of the curses of a broken law, but in the love of Christ, according to those exquisitely beautiful words, "The love of Christ"--not the law of Moses--"constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. And He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again." (2 Cor. v.)
Could the law ever produce aught like this? Impossible. But, blessed forever be the G.o.d of all grace, "what the law could not do," not because it was not holy, just, and good, but "in that it was weak through the flesh"--the workman was all right, but the material was rotten, and nothing could be made of it; but "G.o.d sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who," as risen with Christ, linked with Him by the Holy Ghost, in the power of a new and everlasting life, "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
This, and only this, is true, practical Christianity; and if the reader will turn to the second of Galatians, he will find another of those fine, glowing utterances of the blessed apostle, setting forth, with divine force and fullness, the special glory of Christian life and walk. It is in connection with his faithful rebuke of the apostle Peter at Antioch, when that beloved and honored servant of Christ, through his characteristic weakness, had been led to step down, for a moment, from the elevated moral ground on which the gospel of the grace of G.o.d places the soul. We cannot do better than quote the entire paragraph for the reader: every sentence of it is pregnant with spiritual power.
"But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him _to the face_."
He did not go behind his back, to disparage and depreciate him in the view of others, even though "he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circ.u.mcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law; for by works of law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? G.o.d forbid [or, Far be the thought--? ?e???t?.]. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." For if the things were right, why destroy them? and if they were wrong, why build them again? "For I, through law, am _dead to law_, that I might live unto G.o.d. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live [not by the law, as a rule of life, but] by the faith of the Son of G.o.d, _who loved me_, and gave _Himself for me_. I do not frustrate the grace of G.o.d; for if righteousness come by law, then Christ is dead in vain [or, has died for nothing--d??e??.]." (Gal. ii. 11-21.)
Here, then, we have one of the very finest statements of the truth as to practical Christianity any where to be found. But what specially claims our attention just now is, the very marked and beautiful way in which the gospel of G.o.d opens up the path of the true believer between the two fatal errors of legality on the one side and carnal laxity on the other. Verse 19, in the pa.s.sage just quoted, contains the divine remedy for both these deadly evils. To all--whoever or wherever they are--who would seek to put the Christian under the law, in any shape or for any object whatsoever, our apostle exclaims, in the ears of dissembling Jews, with Peter at their head, and as an answer to all the law-teachers of every age, "_I am dead to law_."
What can the law have to say to a dead man? Nothing. The law applies to a living man, to curse him and kill him because he has not kept it.
It is a very grave mistake indeed to teach that the law is dead or abolished. It is nothing of the sort. It is alive in all its force, in all its stringency, in all its majesty, in all its unbending dignity.
It would be a very serious mistake to say that the law of England against murder is dead; but if a man is dead, the law no longer applies to him, inasmuch as he has pa.s.sed entirely out of its range.