"...that I might live unto God... that which I now live
in the flesh, I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself up for me". Galatians 2:19-20.
Let us for a moment reflect upon that well-known statement:
"...that I might live unto God... I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and that which I now live... I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of
God..."
I think it is a matter of very great importance indeed that
we should recognize the objective aspect of the Apostle's faith, and of the
faith which is to be likewise in us. I mean that the Lord Jesus is the object
of faith as presented here, and that makes faith objective, and if we grasped
that as we should, clearly and strongly, it would make us very safe, and it
would deliver many of the Lord's people from those perils which so often beset
them.
Now note: the Apostle says, "I have been crucified with
Christ..."; not, I am being crucified with Christ; not, I am going to be
crucified with Christ; not, I once started being crucified with Christ and am
going on being crucified with Christ to the end. That is not what is said,
but, "I have been crucified with Christ". What he means is that the thing was
done in totality when Christ was crucified; not that a part of me was
crucified, and a good deal more left to be crucified, but the whole was
crucified in Him. Now says he, in effect, I have definitely accepted that as a
full and complete thing, an actuality: in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave Himself up for me, I have been crucified. That is where the life of faith
begins. It was done.
Faith in the Indwelling Christ
It is not therefore, my business to be seeking every day to
be crucified, to be taking myself into account and keeping myself in all that
I am by nature in view, in order that it may be crucified: all that rests
entirely with Him, as I repose faith in Him. That is not my business, it is
His. I have been crucified, I am alive; and yet it is no longer I, but Christ
who liveth in me. Now my position is one of faith in Him, who in Himself took
me to the Cross, in whom I was crucified, who gave Himself up for me; faith in
Him, that He will perfect all that which concerns me. I repose faith in Him
objectively as one who, while in me, linked with me, is nevertheless apart
from me in Himself. Faith in Him to make everything good was bound up with
that Cross. It is not a case of my worry, my care, my fret, my anxiety, my
strain, but of faith in the Son of God.
Now if you have any question as to whether that is the
meaning of the word here, and the value of it, you have just to look at the
context. In what connection did Paul say this? "I through the law died unto
the law... I have been crucified with Christ." The connection is with the law.
What was the purpose and object of the law? The law is good, and the law is
perfect, and the law is intended to make us God-like, to reproduce godliness
or God-likeness, or godly features in us. The law is an expression of God's
mind, what God's thought and attitude is toward life, both against many things
and for many things. Thus the law was intended to make men holy, to make men
perfect, and the Apostle applied himself to the law in order to be holy, to be
according to God's mind. He found that the law could not effect this, because
of what he himself was. Paul makes this clear in the letter to the Romans,
where he shows that the failure of the law was "because of the weakness of the
flesh". Nevertheless, that was the object of the law.
The law, then, has failed because of weak man; but there is a strong Son of
God. I have been crucified unto the law, in order to live unto the strong Son
of God. The law is exchanged for the Son of God. The Son of God takes the
place of the law. The law cannot make God-like, but the strong Son of God can,
and that because He lives in me. The law found nothing in me of strength, of
capacity, of ability to satisfy God. That is where the law failed, because
there was nothing in me. But now Christ lives in me; and I live; "yet no
longer I, but Christ liveth in me". Not then by straining to keep the law,
which ever means failure, but by trusting in the Son of God, I reach God's
end, and come to the place where the law was intended to bring me, but failed
so to do because of there being no strength, no good in me. But now I get to
that end because Christ is in me and able to bring me to it, and all that is
required is that I repose implicit faith in Him, not continually worrying
about my crucifixion. That is done in Christ, and I leave all the outworking
of that with Him. Oh, the infinite peril, the multitudes of perils in that
self-consciousness which is born of a wrong kind of subjectivity, a
subjectivity which is occupied with what we are and what we are not, instead
of the right kind of subjectivity. Christ is the subject within, and I am
occupied with Him - "faith which is in the Son of God"; occupied, not with my
imperfection, but with His perfection; not with my weakness, but with His
strength; not with my inability, but with His power; not with myself at all in
any way, but with Him. The occupation of the man of faith is with the Son of
God, "who loved me, and gave himself up for me".
So we must never be found occupied with how we happen to be
at the moment, or at any time. It is just possible to be occupied with
ourselves when we are feeling fine, and saying, We are better today. That may
be as fatal a ground for the enemy to catch us upon as our being occupied with
the miserable side of our beings. No, not good, bad, or indifferent; none of
the phases or features of our selves and our own condition must hold us at any
time, but we must ever be "looking off unto Jesus, the author and finisher of
faith".
Christ lives! That is where we begin. Then, Christ lives in
me! And the other half of the statement is, I live by faith in Him. He lives
in me; I live in Him, by faith. Paul, as you notice, draws all the strength
away from the "I" here. "Nevertheless I live"; and then, so to speak, he half
retraces his steps, and says, "yet no longer I". It is as though he were
afraid of that "I". I live; yes, I live; yet - "yet no longer I, but
Christ..." He at once draws all strength away from that "I" and puts it all on
"Christ". That is the life of faith. Let us remember that it is not faith as
an abstract thing, which is of any value. Indeed, we might go as far as to say
it is not faith in itself at all. The thing which makes faith virtuous and
effective is its object. It is not faith, but the object of faith, that is the
main factor. Paul does not stop short and say, I live by faith. He makes that
very clear, very emphatic: "faith which is in the Son of God". The Son of God!
The full title; God in expression as Son, that is, God in emanation. It is
quite impossible for God in Himself, and what He is in His essential being, to
dwell in us, to be linked with us. It could never be. He must come in a way
which makes His union with us possible, and that way is in this expression of
Son.
In this letter to the Galatians there are three outstanding
persons. The one, of course, greater than, and eclipsing all others, is the
Son of God, Jesus Christ. He stands there as the great central, dominating
figure. But then, as before Him, on either side, there are two other great
figures, Abraham and Paul, with the Lord Jesus, so to speak, standing over
them, with a hand resting upon each. There is union between them. Paul stands
also linking hands with Abraham. In this letter Paul does join hands with
Abraham, as you will see, standing on the same ground of faith as Abraham,
linking on that ground, and then faith becomes the great factor in the letter.
This twentieth verse of chapter 2 is an all-governing
verse. It gathers up and summarizes the whole of this letter to the Galatians.
All that is in the letter is gathered into that verse. We may see that in some
measure as we go on.
The Sevenfold Ground of Faith
Now there are seven things into which faith brought Abraham, and Paul takes
hold of Abraham's hand over the years, and on the same ground of faith makes
it perfectly clear that faith has brought him into those same things; he is
with Abraham there. The issue of that is that the Church is called on to that
sevenfold ground of faith, because the Church in its peculiar fullness comes
in through Paul; I mean, so far as revelation is concerned.
Let us then look at these seven things, saying a brief word
about each.
(1) Oneness with Divine Purpose
Firstly, faith brought Abraham into oneness with Divine purpose. There was
sovereign purpose in the heart and mind of God when He appeared unto Abram in
Ur of the Chaldees, and all God's activities with Abraham were with that
purpose in view. What was the purpose? The purpose was a heavenly seed in
union with God's Son.
Now will you refer to one or two passages: Chapter 3:7,16,26-29. You see the purpose, a heavenly seed in union with God's Son. Abraham's
obedience of faith brought him into active and working oneness with that great
purpose of God. I say God came with purpose, and God made a statement, but we
know quite well that it required faith, and genuine faith, inasmuch as it
demanded a big movement on Abraham's part, for God's purpose to become an
actuality through him. God may have a great purpose: He has a great purpose
concerning the Church, and in a related sense He may have a purpose concerning
each one of us: there may be a ministry given us of God in relation to His
purpose, and that becomes the purpose of our own lives; but with all the
purpose that is in the heart of God it is rendered inoperative while faith is
lacking in us. It is held in suspense until faith is exercised on our part.
The fulfilment of all Divine purpose demands faith, and can only be on the
basis of faith. Faith brought Abraham into oneness with that great purpose of
God, and faith is likewise required to bring us into active oneness, both with
the whole purpose and with that part of it which particularly relates to us in
the thought of God. "Without faith it is impossible to please God"; and God's
pleasure is found in the realisation of His purpose.
(2) Oneness with Divine Method
Secondly, faith brought Abraham into oneness with the
method which God intended to employ throughout in the fulfilment of His
purpose. What was and is God's method? It is separation from the earth and
nature, and union with heaven (Gal. 4:25-26; 6:14-15). There is the world,
earth and nature, all cut off by the Cross: there is separation therefrom and
union with heaven. We know enough of Abraham's life to know how truly God
followed that method with him: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's house..." But that was only the beginning of
his exodus. The principle was applied right on to the end - out, out, more and
more out; out from the earthly, out from what was of this world, out from
himself, his own mind, his own judgment, his "I". And then, union with heaven;
a growing, deepening union with heaven. That is God's method of realising His
purpose. Now if there is one thing more than another which really
characterizes the Church, as the Body of Christ, it is that, on the one hand,
it is outside, of the world and the earthlies and the natural, and on the
other hand, it is in union with heaven, it is heavenly. Faith brought Abraham
into oneness with God's method, and it is perfectly patent that unless there
is faith we shall not come on to that basis. It needs a lot of faith, faith to
live with your feet off the earth spiritually; for where there is no faith, or
where there is a lapse of faith, we shall go down to Egypt as Abram did, we
shall turn to Hagar as Abram did, we shall seek for the tangible, sentient
ways of realising Divine ends, we shall lean on some earthly resource. Such,
then, is the way of faith, the way of the eternal purpose. Those two things go
together. In Ephesians we have the eternal purpose and the heavenly position
of the Church. Paul joins hands with Abraham on that ground, and both are
linked with the heavenly Christ, outside of this world and in heaven.
That is enough upon that point for the time being, but you
can see Galatians 2:20 in all this. "I have been crucified...": I have been
put out of myself, and I have been put out of the world; "yet I live; and yet
no longer I... Christ liveth in me". Whatever it is that I live here in the
flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. My life is in heaven; it is outside
of all that is here.
(3) Oneness with Divine Means
Thirdly, faith brought Abraham into oneness with the Divine means. By what
means does God reach His end in His people? What is God's means of achieving
His purpose? It is by the Spirit of sonship through the Cross
(Galatians 4:6-7,18; 3:14). There is much more in this letter about the Holy
Spirit, but the central emphasis in respect of the Spirit in Galatians is that
of the Spirit of sonship. The Spirit of God's Son is here pre-eminently as the
Spirit of sonship in our hearts, and there is no hope of reaching God's end,
or of even taking the first step in that direction, without the Spirit as the
Spirit of sonship. First there must be the infant cry, "Father!" There must be
that relationship brought about by the Spirit. Then the Spirit of sonship,
once He is within us, must proceed fully to form Christ in us. Thus in this
letter the Apostle says, "My little children, for whom I am again in travail
till Christ be fully formed in you". Indeed, we might say that is the
occasion of this letter, in that these Galatians were falling away from that
life in the Spirit as sons which was to bring them to God's full end. The
Apostle is in travail over this matter. It is not a case of my struggling
toward God's end, but of the Spirit of God's Son in me energising toward God's
end. Oh, that we had faith here. If you really have faith on this particular
point, you will have the secret of a profound rest.
You know, we have our "off" times spiritually; "off" times in the prayer
life when it seems impossible to pray, "off" times in many other ways
spiritually. No matter how we struggle, we can make nothing of it. What are we
going to do? Well, if my experience is of any value to you, as I believe I
have discovered just a little of the secret of things, I have come to this
position: Through the Spirit, Christ is in me, and everything is with Him, not
with me. It is not what I can do, nor what I cannot do, nor how I am today;
all is with Him. Today maybe I am not conscious of His indwelling, but on the
contrary very unconscious of His indwelling, and very conscious of other
things that are not Christ. Well, that is my state; but He is faithful, He is
true; He has given me certain assurances about never leaving nor forsaking me,
and about abiding through all the days unto the end, and He that hath
commenced a good work will perfect it unto the day of Christ. He started this
thing, I did not; He undertook this thing. Before ever I had a being - He had
undertaken to carry through His perfect work in anyone who would trust Him.
That was all undertaken for before ever I saw the light of day: so that I did
not start this, it is not commenced with me. My one thing to do is to trust
Him, trust Him, and if I cannot break through, say, Lord, I cannot pray
just at the present, I must trust You to do all the praying.
No one who really has their heart set upon the Lord will take hold of a
statement like that as a back-door way out of prayer. I am not trying to give
you some excuse for giving up praying. I am saying there are "off" times, and
I am not sure that the Lord does not allow us to have such times lest we
should begin to build again upon works. He takes us right off that basis and
throws us upon Himself, where there is no alternative but to trust Him. You
are not surrendering your prayer life in taking that course at a time like
that. If you could pray you would do so, but now in a time of real inability
you are just trusting the Lord about it. I find I have these "off" times, but
as I definitely trust the Lord, and say, "Lord, this is Your responsibility,
and I know this will not last; that prayer life will come back, and I am
trusting You in the meanwhile", it does come back, and in greater fullness and
greater blessedness. Beloved, I have proved that again and again. It comes
back. It is not merely that you get better and start again. You know quite
well that you may be perfectly fit and yet be unable to pray. No one can make
prayer. It is not a matter of health and strength to be able to pray. You may
be a perfectly strong man or woman, but you cannot get through to heaven in
prayer because you are that. Prayer has to do with an opened heaven, prayer is
fellowship with the Lord; and that is His doing, not ours. He brings that.
Trust Him. "I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me"; He has the
whole matter in hand. While my attitude is one of faith in Him, He will see
that there is a prayer life, He will see there is a life in the Word. Positive
faith in Him is the secret of everything in the will of God.
We will leave the rest for the time being. Faith brings into
oneness with Divine purpose, with Divine method, with Divine means. The
purpose is a heavenly seed in union with God's Son. The method is separation
from the earth and nature, and union with heaven. The means is the Spirit of
sonship through the Cross. All that is in Galatians 2:20. "I have been
crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in
me, and that life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith, the faith
which is in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me". And He
will see me through!