Holy in Christ Part 21

NOTE F.

Note from Bengel on Rom. i. 4.

'_According to the Spirit of Holiness._ The word _hagios_, holy, when G.o.d is spoken of, not only denotes the blameless rect.i.tude in action, but the very G.o.dhead, or to speak more properly, the _divinity_, or excellence of the Divine nature. Hence _hagiosune_ (the word here used) has a kind of middle sense between _hagiotes_, holiness, and _hagiasmos_, sanctification. Comp. Heb. xii. 10 (_hagiotes_ or holiness), v. 14 (_hagiasmos_ or sanctification). So that there are, as it were, three degrees: _sanctification_, _sanct.i.ty of life_, _holiness_. Holiness is ascribed to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And since here the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, but the spirit of holiness (prop. sanct.i.ty, _hagiosune_), we must further inquire what this remarkable expression denotes. The name spirit is expressly and very frequently given to the Holy Spirit; but G.o.d is also called a spirit; and the Lord Jesus Christ is called a spirit, but in contrast to the latter. (2 Cor. iii. 17.) With this we must compare the fact that, as in this pa.s.sage, so often the ant.i.thesis of flesh and spirit is found where Christ is spoken of. (1 Tim. iii. 16; 1 Pet. iii. 18.) In these pa.s.sages the Spirit is applied to whatever belongs to Christ (apart from the flesh, although this was pure and holy, and above the flesh), through His generation of the Father, who sanctified Him: in short, His G.o.dhead itself. For here, _flesh_ and _spirit_, and chap. ix. 5, _flesh_ and _G.o.dhead_, stand in mutual contrast. This spirit is here called not the spirit of holiness, the usual t.i.tle of the Holy Spirit; but it is called in this pa.s.sage _the spirit of sanct.i.ty_, to suggest at once the efficacy of that holiness or divinity, which led of necessity to the Saviour's resurrection, and by which it was most forcibly ill.u.s.trated, and also that spiritual and holy, or Divine power of Jesus who has been glorified and yet retained a spiritual body. Before the resurrection the spirit was concealed under the flesh; after the resurrection the spirit of sanct.i.ty concealed the flesh. In reference to the former, He was wont to call Himself the Son of man; in reference to the latter, He is known as the Son of G.o.d.'

Beck, in his _Lehrwissenschaft_, p. 604, puts it very clearly, thus--

'Inasmuch as the innocence and purity of Christ were not present in His sufferings and death as a quiescent attribute, but were in full action in the indestructible life-power of the Spirit, as He sanctified His own self to G.o.d for us ("through the eternal spirit," Heb. ix.

14--therefore, in Rom. i. 4, _hagiosune_, the habit of holiness in its action or sanct.i.ty, not _hagiotes_, only an inner attribute, or _hagiasmos_, holiness in its formation)--His suffering effected an everlasting redemption.'

NOTE G.

'Freed' and 'Possessed'--The Twofold Result of Redemption.

(_From an address by Pastor Stockmaiev._)

'Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself _a people for His own possession_, zealous of good works.'

'In the redemption work of our Saviour Jesus Christ, there are two definite parts. You will never find the secret of abiding in Christ, so long as you cannot see these two definite distinct parts. The first is "Jesus for me," the other "I for Jesus." Blessed be our Saviour that He came for sinners. _He for us._ Blessed be the Lord that there is redemption from penalty; but that is not yet all that redemption means.

You must have a clear apprehension of the second part of redemption, by that same Holy Ghost who is the guide to introduce us into the full possession of all that Christ, living and dying, has wrought out for us.

He gave Himself that He might redeem us from all iniquity--not that we might have the pleasure of being pleased with our own purity or holiness, or such things; but that He might have us altogether for Himself, to purify _unto Himself_, for Himself, not for Himself and themselves, but _unto Himself_, a people of His own possession.

'What is now redemption?--freedom from self, even spiritual self. We are not to be our own centre, the centre of our joy, our progress, having in our poor weak hands the threads of our spiritual life. There is no real spiritual life but Christ's life, and He must have the care of it altogether from the beginning to the end. Lift up your eyes, dear brethren, you who were creeping on the ground. We are made for the glory of G.o.d, to be possessed by Jesus. The Lord G.o.d found a way, in giving His Son, the Lamb of G.o.d, His Lamb, to get such selfish people, who even in the line of the Christian life found means to seek and to nourish self, to get such people into His own real practical possession, to be possessed by Jesus. That is redemption, and that only; that is liberty, and that is reality; that is what satisfies, not to be satisfied with any experiences of your own, but to let go your experiences, and to say, I am free, so free as the people of Israel were coming out of Egypt, free to serve G.o.d. "Let my people go, that they may serve me." You are free, free through the blood of Christ, free through the power of the Holy Ghost--no flesh, no hand, no self being able to keep you back. The Lord has stretched out His arms upon all the powers who had kept us in the bondage of Egypt, and He triumphed over them. You are free as the bird of the air to live in Jesus--that is freedom; you are free in your daily life, free in the deepest, inmost depths of your being, free for Jesus, possessed by Him, a people of His own possession. Let my people go, said G.o.d. So, I have given my blood, said Jesus; and no flesh, no sin, no self can claim against the blood of Jesus. He has redeemed unto Himself, not for us, a people of His own possession....

'You are inquiring about the secret of abiding in Jesus. Have you not seen this in the 15th of John, that abiding and bearing fruit are inseparable? You cannot abide in Jesus for His joy, _and your inward satisfaction_. The secret of abiding is to stand as a redeemed one, as firmly in the second part of redemption as the first. I am now living for Jesus, and I have only to ask, Lord, what wilt Thou have done now? I am for Thee. I am for Jesus. I have only to follow, to follow as a sanctified one, as a possessed one, as one who is no more living for himself, who has given his life up into the hands of Jesus. Oh, how these questions of abiding become simple! It is not mysticism; it is not some special experience. It is simply a fact. I need Jesus for every moment, and my temptations as well as my duties become opportunities of realizing this life of fellows.h.i.+p with Christ. Oh, yes, this is redemption! Oh, mighty power of G.o.d the Father, G.o.d the Son, G.o.d the Holy Ghost, engaged to keep such a weak, helpless, unfaithful thing as you and myself in the centre of life! Sealed by the Holy Ghost, and G.o.d will never break His own seal.'

THE END.