Reading: Romans 6.
“What
we in glory soon shall be
It doth not yet appear;
But when our blessed Lord we see
We shall His image bear.”
[“Behold, What Love” by M.S. Sullivan]
The
words upon which we have based our meditations correspond
with those words. “The earnest expectation of the
creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God”; “Conformed to the image of his Son”;
“We shall His image bear”. We have covered a
great deal of ground in connection with divine thought
and purpose, passing through four of the letters of the
apostle Paul.
In all
of those letters there is one note struck upon which we
have not dwelt particularly, although we have mentioned
it from time to time, and it is that of the cross of
Christ; and to go on from this time without recognising
the place of the cross, in relation to God’s purpose
of conforming us to the image of His Son, would be to
make the greatest of mistakes and to leave out the most
fundamental thing. We will, therefore, briefly consider
its place in these four letters of the apostle Paul, from
Romans to Galatians. That does not mean that we are going
to deal with every reference to the cross in each letter,
but rather with the place given to it and its specific
connection in each letter.
The
Cross in Relation to Sin
It is
quite clear that the place of the cross in the letter to
the Romans is its relation to the whole question of sin,
and until that matter is settled there is no prospect
whatever of conformity to the image of God’s Son.
Now the terms used here make it abundantly plain that it
is a matter which is settled once for all. It is
something that is done at the beginning. But let us
hasten to point out that it is not sins that are being
dealt with. Sins are not the subject, but sin.
Leading
up to this chapter the whole question of sin and
righteousness has been under review, and there has been a
search through the universe for righteousness in man as
man’s nature. That search has extended through the
whole pagan world, and then to the whole Jewish world,
and when all the ground of Jew and Gentile has been
surveyed the verdict is that, not only is man not
righteous, but that he is unrighteous by nature.
“There is none righteous, no not one”. So that
all men are by nature included under unrighteousness.
There is, therefore, no foundation upon which God can
build His purpose; for God must have a foundation suited
to that purpose. If it is His purpose that the image of
His Son should be reproduced in men and women, in a
creation, then the foundation thing surely must be
righteousness; for that is where you begin with the
character of Jesus Christ, the nature of Christ. It is a
matter of righteousness. How, then, shall God provide
Himself with an essential basis without which He is
defeated in His purpose? God sent His Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and, related thus to the unrighteous
race, He was made sin. He took the unrighteous nature of
man upon Him in His cross, in a representative way,
although in Himself there was no sin. But as the
substitute and representative of a race that is
condemned, judged and lying under death, He, as a racial,
inclusive representative, died under the hand of divine
judgment, and in Him the race was caused to die from
God’s standpoint. That is how God views it. In Him
sin is dealt with, unrighteousness is put away. In His
resurrection He was “raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father”. There is no glory except where
there is righteousness. In His resurrection you have a
representative righteous one, as in His death you have a
representative unrighteous one. In His death He is
offered a substitute for the sinner; in His resurrection
He is presented a substitute for the believer, for the
saint. Now the challenge is, Who is righteous?
The
whole of the argument in this letter to the Romans, as
you know, has to do with that righteousness which is by
faith in Jesus Christ. That is, as to whether, on the one
hand, we will exercise faith toward Jesus Christ as our
substitute in death, in judgment, under the hand of God
for destruction, and will lay our hands upon His head in
faith and say, That is for me, for my sin, that is my
judgment, my death; and on the other hand, as to whether,
viewing Him as risen, with sin all done away, we will by
faith lay our hands upon His head and say, This Righteous
One is accepted for me, this one is my representative
before God, His righteousness is mine. That is exercising
faith in Jesus Christ and God accounts His righteousness
ours, places it to our credit, and so the sin question is
done away in the death and burial of the Lord Jesus. As
we identify ourselves by faith with Him in death and
burial, we are found where the whole body of sin is done
away, and then, as by faith we identify ourselves with
Him in resurrection, the whole body of righteousness
abounds, and we are accounted righteous by God.
That
is the simple element of the gospel. You are familiar
with that, but that is where God begins, and that is the
foundation. In the cross the whole body of sin, that
which was interfering with God in the realisation of His
purpose, is put away from God’s sight. God Himself
has put it away, and God has brought in righteousness by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and in
that way provided Himself with the ground upon which to
take up His work, His purpose of conforming believers to
the image of His Son.
It is
important, then, for us to recognise that the whole sin
question was settled, the whole body of sin was done away
in Jesus Christ, and by faith accept that position, as
also that the whole body of righteousness in Jesus Christ
has been brought into view with God in resurrection, and
that this is for such as will believe. We are accounted
righteous before God by faith in Jesus Christ. Until that
is settled we can get nowhere. While we have questions
about that, God cannot go on with the conforming. That is
why we said the question at issue is not that of sins but
sin. We shall find, after that we have reached settlement
on the matter, that there are elements of that old
creation still about us, but that now God begins upon the
basis of righteousness to deal with those, to conform us
to the image of His Son, so that righteousness overcomes
unrighteousness, and the nature of the Lord Jesus
overcomes the old nature. But the essential beginning of
God’s operations is that we accept the whole as
already accomplished in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is as
though God were taking from the full and the final store
which is in the person of His Son and making that good
for us as we exercise faith in Him.
We
need not say more about the letter to the Romans. It may
be that some have not yet got past Romans 6. Well, the
call is very clear, the position is unmistakable. The
apostle says that this position can be taken in faith,
and baptism is the way in which testimony is borne to the
fact that we have taken that position. In our baptism we
took the position of declaring that we were planted
together with Him in His death, and are also united with
Him in the likeness of His resurrection. That is where we
begin. We have righteousness to begin with, God’s
essential foundation. If ever you get back behind that
you arrest the work of God. If ever you have questions
again about your standing before God on the basis of
divine righteousness, you at once put God’s hand
from you in the conforming of you to the image of His
Son, but while you take that position of faith,
God’s hand can do it. Do not argue about it; do not
have all sorts of questions about it; do not allow the
mere psychological elements to come into it, which say,
“Well, is this trying to make ourselves believe
something, an endeavour to take a position which is not
actual and real?” Because we mentally take that
position it is as a kind of subjective fact in us. Do not
allow all that realm to come in, for it will certainly do
so if you allow it. If you will positively and definitely
reckon yourself, with regard to the sinful body of the
flesh, to have been taken to death in the person of
Christ, and if you will positively and definitely by
faith reckon Christ’s righteousness as yours, then
God says, I will make that good to you, and will go on
working in you towards My full end. You do the reckoning,
and I will do the working, God says. You operate in
faith, and I will operate in work. Thus God works on the
basis of a settled thing in our hearts through faith. It
is possible that we shall meet everything that can
counter this possibly, as did Luther, the great exponent
of this very truth of the letter to the Romans. He was
continuously pursued by the enemy, who sought to bring
him again under accusation and condemnation, but he
always cleared himself by a strong and positive
affirmation, right in the very face of Satan, that in
Christ no sin was attributed to him; he was righteous.
Thus it was he found the victory. That is to be our
position; not to argue with the devil but to tell him the
truth: and this is the truth, that in Christ we are by
God regarded as sinless. We must honour Christ as our
representative.
The
Cross and the Natural Man
We
pass from Romans to the first letter to the Corinthians,
and here in chapter 2 verse 2 we have our reference to
the cross: “For I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”.
That
is a definite resolution, a determination. When Paul says
a thing like that, he has made up his mind to take a
certain position, and we may be sure that he has very
good reason for doing it. The reason is perfectly patent
as you read this letter. Here were believers in the Lord
Jesus, Christians, who were nevertheless bringing into
their Christian life all the elements of nature. These
elements are very many, as the letter discloses. They are
seeking to live in relation to the Lord Jesus on a basis
of natural life, natural wisdom (that is the subject of
chapters 2 and 3), natural strength; nature’s
preferences, nature’s likes and nature’s
dislikes. The apostle does not say that they are
unregenerate. He calls them the Lord’s people, but
he says of them that they are carnal; that is, fleshly
Christians. They talk as men naturally talk. They think
as men naturally think. They desire and choose, and
select as do men naturally, and in every way they are
doing what men do by nature. He sets that over against
what men think, and say, and do, and feel, and desire,
and select when spiritual. So he sets two men in
opposition here, the natural man and the spiritual man.
The one he calls the man of soul, the man of nature; the
other he calls the man of spirit, the spiritual man. The
word used for the latter is a very interesting word when
you break it up — “pneumatikos” man.
“Eikos” is likeness, form; an icon is a form, a
likeness, an image. “Pneuma” is spirit. So that
the word you have when you piece it together is
“formed after the spirit”, or “made
suitable to what is spiritual”. The other man is
formed after nature, after the soul. Now that is why Paul
determined not to know anything amongst them that was
merely natural knowledge. That is to say, he was not
coming down to their level, that everything should be
known by natural ways on a natural basis. He saw that
this was ruining the interests of the Lord in their life
and destroying their testimony. Ah, but he knew this,
that the cross of the Lord Jesus had not only dealt with
the whole sin problem, but also with the whole problem of
man himself. The natural-man question was settled as well
as the sin question. In the death of the Lord Jesus, not
only had man died as a sinner, but he had died as a man,
a kind of being, a sort of creature who thinks like this,
who speaks like this, who feels like this, who likes like
this, who chooses like this. It is all according to
nature, and in the cross of the Lord Jesus that man died,
and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ another man, a
man of spirit is brought in, who is spiritually minded,
who thinks and desires and feels, not as natural men do,
but as the Lord Jesus does: one who has the mind of
Christ, who has the sensibilities of Christ, who has the
inclinations of Christ, who has the tastes of Christ; and
all that is so opposed to what you have here at Corinth.
The
cross of the Lord Jesus, then, brings an end to a kind of
man, namely, the natural man, and makes way for another
man, a spiritual man. If you have any difficulties about
that term “spiritual man” just remember the
word means “one formed suitably to things
spiritual”. If you want to know what that is read on
here: “Now the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God… he cannot know them, because
they are spiritually judged. But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things…” (1 Cor. 2:14-15). That is
a man who is so constituted that by new divine faculties
he is now capable of understanding divine things, and
having communion with divine things, and living according
to divine things. He is constituted, formed for that
which is of God. The cross of the Lord Jesus cleaves
between those two kinds of men. On the one hand it brings
an end to the natural, and on the other hand it brings in
the spiritual man. That is absolutely essential to
God’s end. God can never reach His end of conforming
us to the image of His Son on natural grounds, in a
natural man. If you and I come down on to that carnal
level of life, so that we are thinking, feeling,
speaking, desiring, choosing and acting upon a natural
basis, God can get nowhere with us. That has all to be
brought to an end. We are to be fashioned after the
Spirit and the spiritual, and then God’s end lies
full in view, conformity to the image of His Son.
The
Cross, the Divide Between Two Creations
Now we
pass to the second letter to the Corinthians, and we find
our passage in chapter 5 verses 14-18. This is but an
advance upon the position in the first letter. There we
have seen that the cross brings in the spiritual man in
the place of the natural man. The same thing is said
here, but the matter is carried further, and enlarged.
Its scope is now that of a whole creation. What is
clearly before us here is this, that the individual
believer through the cross of the Lord Jesus is
constituted a new creation, a member of a spiritual
creation, and that everything in this creation in a
related way is spiritual; that is, there is a new race,
and the natural relationships of all members of that new
race are lifted up into the Spirit. The distinction is
drawn between that which is after the flesh, and that
which is after the Spirit; between anything that is
according to the old creation and anything that is
according to the new creation; and the cross stands
between. “All died”, says the apostle; but he
says here that all died in Christ in relation to all
others. Formerly we knew one another after the flesh, our
relationships were carnal relationships, the
relationships of an old creation, and we apprized one
another according to old creation standards, we judged
one another on an old creation basis, our relationships
with one another were all along that level of nature, the
old creation. Therefore, seeing we have all died in
Christ, and have risen, on the new basis we no longer
know one another after the flesh, but our relationships
are brought into the Spirit; that is, we have been lifted
into a new creation realm, into another creation and our
fellowship has as its basis the fact that there is a new
creation life in us. The fellowship of God’s people
would not exist five minutes if we were to drop on to the
level of nature. It would be in fragments. What is it
that holds the people of God together and makes up that
very blessed fellowship which is one of the strongest
testimonies to the victory of the cross of the Lord
Jesus? It is the fact that they share one Spirit, a new
creation life, where all is of God. The old things are
passed away. We have to act on that basis. We have to
adjust ourselves to it.
You
notice that this second letter very clearly follows on
the position of the first letter. In the first letter you
have this: “Ye are carnal; and the proof that ye are
carnal is this, that one says, I am of Paul! and another
says, I am of Apollos! and another says, I am of Peter!
When everyone says ‘I’, that proves ye are
carnal”. Is not that the very hallmark of the old
creation? All our relationships in the old creation do
secretly seem to be gathered round the “I”
interest; just where we figure in the matter; how the
thing affects us; what we are going to gain or lose; our
satisfaction. If a person in the old creation does not
like us we just wash our hands of them and say,
“Well, all right, it does not matter, you can
go.” That is commonly how it affects us. If, on the
other hand, people like us, then we hold these to
ourselves. We like to be liked, and we have no interest
in that which does not gratify that “I” in some
form or another. It is shot through all our social
relationships. It is shot through our commercial
relationships. It is shot through the whole of the old
creation. Somewhere you will find that “I”
element which governs.
The
apostle says that the cross of the Lord Jesus has brought
an end to that, and our relationships are on a new basis
altogether. No longer are the personal benefits from our
relationships our consideration, but we know one another
after the Spirit, and minister Christ to one another. You
are no longer an object upon which I fasten my attention
in order to get some benefit from you; my attention is
directed towards you in order that I may be of help to
you, may minister to you. You hate me; I love you all the
more. You work against me; I will pray for you. That is
the line of the new creation. It is a different kind of
thing. Henceforth we know no man after the flesh.
I am
not saying that we always live up to that level, but I am
saying that is God’s way of conforming to the image
of His Son, and when you and I feel that the attitudes of
others against us are tending to provoke us to revenge,
we have to bring it to the cross, and say, Calvary
forbids that. Whenever there is a provoking of what is of
the old creation, we have at once to flee to the cross
and see to it that it is dealt with then and there: for
Calvary means that one died for all, therefore all died,
and henceforth we know no man after the flesh.
The
Cross and Two Spheres or Modes of Life
We
will close with a word on Galatians. What a lot there is
in Galatians on the cross. As we have said, there are
four great references to the cross in the letter. Of
these one passage is especially familiar to us: “For
I through the law died unto the law, that I might live
unto God. 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 in faith, the
faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself up for me”. (Gal. 2:19-20). The cross of the
Lord Jesus, in which I have been crucified! What is the
connection of the cross there? It draws the line of
distinction between two kinds of lives. You notice what
the apostle is saying here. He is saying, in effect,
“When I was under the law my quest was for life. I
was reaching out for life. I wanted to live before God. I
wanted to know what life in fellowship with God was, and
in order to know that life of fellowship with God I
pursued the law. I followed its injunctions minutely and
carefully, I devoted myself to all its commands and its
claims. When the law said again and again, ‘Thou
shalt not’, I sought to conform that I might know;
and when the law said repeatedly ‘Thou shalt’,
I did all that I could to see that I followed the law.
But in my devotion to the law, as that law loomed before
me and set such a standard, I discovered that the life in
me was contrary to that law. The kind of life that was in
me could not correspond with that law, but was always
working to the contrary, so that the law became a burden
I could not bear, something which ground me down. Instead
of saving me, it only made me feel how bad I was. Instead
of bringing into life, it only made death a greater
reality, because of the life that was in me. I had not
the life in me that could reach to the end for which I
was seeking, and stand up to God’s requirements. The
law awoke and I died. How was I to be saved? I shall only
be saved if there is another life put into me. If another
life is put in me then I shall not need to be told,
‘Thou shalt’, and, ‘Thou shalt not’.
I shall have another standard altogether. If only I could
have God’s life then I should have God’s
nature, and no one need tell me, “Thou shalt”,
and, “Thou shalt not”, and keep plying me with
commandments. I should find that I had in me that which
was of God Himself, another life, making everything
possible”. So the apostle saw the meaning of the
cross. “The cross of Jesus Christ”, he says,
“meant the end of me in that old life, the end of
that old very devoted life, that old life that could
never get anywhere, that old life that could never stand
up to God’s requirements. I was crucified with
Christ to that life, and therefore, when that life died I
died to that realm of things, to that law. Over a dead
man no law can operate. Thus through death I escaped the
law. But now I live, and yet not I but Christ lives in
me; a new life, divine life, Christ Himself lives in me.
That is what the cross of Christ has done for me. I had a
life which was entirely and utterly incapable of bringing
me to any position of rest and satisfaction. It was a
life which was no life at all. It was a living death, and
I was kept conscious of the fact by the very presence of
the law of God. Now, I died with Christ to that life, and
died to that law, and I have been raised with Christ, and
it is Christ that lives in me now, and by the indwelling
life of Jesus Christ I have come to know what Christ
is”.
It is
life upon which the apostle is placing the emphasis here.
“That life which I now live in the flesh (THAT life)
I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God who
loved me and gave himself up for me”. Blessed be
God, that is the way of deliverance, the way of
emancipation, the way of victory.
We
must mention the other three references without dwelling
upon them very much. Galatians 3:13-14 so much
corresponds to what we have just said, that it would be
almost like a reiteration. It is part of the same
argument. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law, having become a curse for us: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that upon the
Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ
Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith”. Here you have through the cross of
the Lord Jesus not only a new life but a new power, and
that power is nothing other than the personal presence of
the Holy Spirit in the life. We spent much time on that
in our last meditation, and need say no more about it,
but simply that if the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Ghost,
is resident within us on the basis of our
resurrection-union with Christ, on the basis of what the
death of Christ meant, then all God’s purpose is
made wonderfully, livingly possible. The Holy Spirit
resident within will surely be the power by which we
shall come to God’s end. This quite naturally works
out to the next point in chapter 5 verse 24. “And
they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with the passions and the lusts thereof”.
Here
is the cross again, and in this connection it tells us
that those who have been crucified with Christ, those who
have come into that union with Him in His death and His
burial and His resurrection, have a new disposition,
“have crucified the flesh with the passions and
lusts thereof”. They have a disposition against all
such things, and have things which are according to
Christ. It is a new disposition, or, if you like, a new
nature.
Finally,
in chapter 6 verse 14: “But far be it from me to
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and
I unto the world”.
It is
interesting to notice the particular way in which the
apostle speaks of the world here. That term is a very
comprehensive term, and includes a very great deal. Here
Paul gets right down to the spirit of the thing. You
notice the context. It is well for us to take account of
it. “For not even they who receive circumcision do
themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you
circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh”
(verse 13).
What
does the apostle mean? They want to say, See how many
proselytes we are making! See how many followers and
disciples we are getting! See how successful our movement
is! See what a power we are becoming in the world! See
all the marks of divine blessing resting upon us! The
apostle says, That is worldliness in principle and
spirit; that is the world. He sets over against this his
own clear spiritual position. Do I seek glory of men? Do
I seek to be well-pleasing to men? No! The world is
crucified to me and I to the world. All that sort of
thing does not weigh with me. What weighs with me is not
whether my movement is successful, whether I am getting a
lot of followers, whether there are all the
manifestations outwardly of success; what weighs with me
is the measure of Christ in those with whom I have to do.
It is wonderful how this at the end of the letter comes
right back upon these Galatians, and the whole object of
the letter. We recall the words in which that object is
summed up. “My little children, for whom I am again
in travail, until Christ be formed in you”.
Christ
formed in you, that is my concern, he says, that is what
weighs with me, not extensiveness, not bigness, not
popularity, not keeping in with the world so that it is
said that this is a successful ministry, and a successful
movement. That is worldliness. I am dead to all that. I
am crucified with Christ to all that. The thing that
matters is Christ, the measure of Christ in you.
You
see how the world can creep in, and how worldly we can
become almost imperceptibly by taking account of things
outwardly; of how men will think and talk, what they will
say, the attitude they will take, of the measure of our
popularity, the talk of our success. That is all the
world, says the apostle, the spirit of the world, that is
how the world talks. Those are values in the eyes of the
world, but not in the eyes of the risen Christ. In the
new creation, on the resurrection side of the cross, one
thing alone determines value, and that is, the measure of
Christ in everything. Nothing else is of value at all,
however big the thing may be, however popular it may be,
however men may talk favourably of it; on the
resurrection side that does not count a little bit. What
counts is how much of Christ there is.
You
and I in the cross of the Lord Jesus must come to the
place where we are crucified to all those other elements.
Ah, you may be unpopular, and the work be very small;
there may be no applause, and the world may despise, but
in it all there may be something which is of Christ, and
that is the thing upon which our hearts must be set. The
Lord give us grace for that crucifixion. There are few
things more difficult to bear than being despised; but He
was despised and rejected of men. What a thing is in
God’s sight must be our standard. That is a
resurrection standard. Now that is the victory of the
cross. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
So you
see that at every point the cross is related to
God’s full end, conformity to the image of His Son.
The Holy Spirit must maintain the cross in operation in
us, and we must maintain our attitude and relationship
with the cross, to keep the way open and clear for
God’s end, the image of His Son.